Laurie Forster (00:27)
Welcome back to The Sipping Point. I'm so excited for this week's episode because I'm gonna be joined by Karen McNeil, the author of The Wine Bible. And I'm gonna get to her background in a minute, but she, along with another couple creators, has come up with something called Share and Pair Sundays. and it's all about inviting people over to share a glass of wine and to pair it with maybe some fun foods, whether that be as little as some cheese.
or as much as maybe putting together a whole dinner party or anything in between. It's about community. It's about getting together. I was reading an article in the Atlantic recently that we just don't have parties like our parents used to, and it's leading to loneliness and social isolation. So let's do something about that. So I'm going to bring in to tell us more about Sharon Parr Sundays, Karen McNeil. She's won numerous awards, including the James Beard Award.
for Wine and Spirits, Global Communicator of the Year from International Wine and Spirits. She's had a spread on her in Time Magazine. They called her Missionary of the Vine. She's been featured on shows on Netflix and stars. She, along with the Culinary Institute of America, started the professional studies of wine there at their campus in Napa and in Hyde Park, New York.
and she also teaches wine at Stanford University. So let's go ahead and bring into the show Karen McNeil.
Laurie Forster (01:57)
Karen, welcome to the show. I'm really excited. You guys have just kicked off this campaign It's called Share and Pair Sundays. And I was immediately drawn to it as well as your come over October, which happened late fall last year, because I've always felt that wine is so much about connection
Karen MacNeil (01:59)
Thank you, Laurie.
Laurie Forster (02:18)
So tell me what was your inspiration for the campaign and how did this all begin?
Karen MacNeil (02:24)
Well, thank you. And yes, you're exactly right. It's a very simple idea on the one hand, and that is that wine and food bring us together. We have all had wonderful, I'm sure, experiences of sharing wine and food with friends, with family, sometimes even with strangers who then become friends.
because you've done it over wine and food. And you know, sometimes when people hear about Share & Pair Sundays, they imagine, you know, a very big sort of formal dinner. That's not what we mean at all. It could be standing in your kitchen, you know, drinking Pinot Grigio and having potato chips and salami or something. Maybe not potato chips and salami. That was a bad idea. But you see what I mean. It's the...
Laurie Forster (03:15)
Yes.
Karen MacNeil (03:15)
It's the being together part that is important. And wine for 8,000 years has played this role as a communal beverage, as a beverage that is meant to be shared. So Share and Pair Sundays, the campaign, is a campaign my co-founders and I, Kimberly Charles and Gino Colangelo, created last year.
in order, because we wanted to create a campaign that we thought would be fun during spring. And of course, you know, the idea of new life, new growth, all kinds of really fun foods start to, crops start to ripen in the spring. And so Share & Pair Sundays is the sister campaign of Come Over October, which you mentioned.
earlier, which was the first campaign we launched last fall.
Laurie Forster (04:15)
I love
it. And you're right. I love your idea. It doesn't have to be fancy, know, potato chips and champagne. Yay. I mean, if that's what you want to share, I love that.
Karen MacNeil (04:21)
Yes, here we go.
Laurie Forster (04:25)
But if you are so motivated to make a meal or a dish or a potluck where everyone brings something, bring your favorite wine, bring your favorite food. I was just reading this great article in the Atlantic about how people don't have parties anymore. And there's this whole epidemic of loneliness and other things in our country. And maybe it's because it's a lot to put on a party, but we put that pressure of making it perfect on ourselves.
when it could just be as easy as a bottle of wine you love and a cheese that you really dig and sharing that. And I love that you guys are enabling us, I guess, as the word to just kind of put it on the calendar because, you know, we say, I'm going to do that. I'm going to do that. But if we don't really pencil that in as a practice like Italians used to do, right, with Sunday supper, here you're giving us that opportunity.
How would people best get involved if they love the sound of it? And I don't know why they wouldn't. How do they best get involved with Share & Pair Sundays?
Karen MacNeil (05:25)
Well, we have a wonderful website, shareandpairsundays.com, where there are tools and tips, ideas for getting together. Although, you know, I also think that many people, you know, already know how to get together. We haven't been in part maybe because of COVID, but you're right, social isolation.
any doctor will tell you that social isolation is not good for us. And so the simple act of inviting a friend, a neighbor, a colleague, a family member, to, could be just one other person, but to come over, share a glass of wine and something simple is remarkably joyful for all of us. There's, we live,
Laurie Forster (06:09)
Mm-hmm.
Karen MacNeil (06:12)
because we are connected to nature through both food and wine. These are very profound joys for human beings and for the human spirit. every time I have someone over, at first I'm thinking, my God, do I have napkins and running around in the kitchen?
But after about five minutes when people are here, I think to myself, I should do this more often. It always feels good. And so we know that people will enjoy it. You just have to decide to do it. And because the world is a little topsy turvy right now, I think something like on Sunday afternoon, just having a friend or two over or a family member,
Laurie Forster (06:50)
Right.
Karen MacNeil (07:00)
is really something we need to do.
Laurie Forster (07:03)
Yes, And I don't know if you're familiar with the term Sunday scaries, but sometimes Sunday is that day that maybe some people dread or you just kind of get anxiety of everything that needs to be done in the coming week. So I love this idea as an early afternoon, you're not going to mess with getting up late in the morning, but just to share conversation and wine and.
Karen MacNeil (07:08)
Yes.
Laurie Forster (07:28)
Having done events all over the country with wine, one of the things I notice and I know you do the same is that wine is such a great connector and you could sit people down that have absolutely nothing in common, at least they think they don't. And while they may start out talking about the wine or the pairing, eventually they're talking about their kids, their hopes, their dreams, whatever it is that's important and you realize we have more in common than we think.
I really love giving everyone the opportunity to just kind of get that in their mind. Funny little sign that I'm looking at across the room of my house said, you know, people don't care if you have a dirty house, they just care if you have wine. So don't think you have to run around, you know, cleaning everything in sight, you know, take the pressure off. I brought a pairing to the table. Hopefully you will approve.
Karen MacNeil (08:11)
Exactly.
Laurie Forster (08:17)
But I recently went into a grocery store because people were asking me how to find values at a grocery store. And I found this great Goru Verde. It's a Jumilla from southern Spain. A monastrell is the grape. And it's just really smooth and dark fruit. And this is a crowd pleaser red in my mind. And I just paired it up with, I did a little tasting before, this drunken goat cheese, which the rind is soaked.
in red wine and the two with the fruit and the great acidity that this still retains is just a really fun pairing. so $13.99 and it's organic and some people think it's 90 points if you care about that or not. What about you? What would be a go-to pairing, easy pairing if you just wanted to last minute have somebody over on a Sunday?
Karen MacNeil (09:06)
You know, I think about wine and food a little differently. I think it's important to match wine to mood more than to food. And so I am always operating from the standpoint of what am I in the mood for, you know? And if I'm in the mood for sauvignon blanc and I don't know, beef stew,
Laurie Forster (09:17)
Mm-hmm
Karen MacNeil (09:34)
Right? Things that you would think, don't know if those really technically go together. If you're in the mood for it, if that's what you feel like having, then I say go for it. by being, without a doubt though, I mean, you're right without a doubt that there are near perfect marriages of wine and food where one plus one equals three. And we've all had those kinds of experiences, I think.
Laurie Forster (09:34)
Yeah.
Karen MacNeil (10:01)
But at the same time, mood and craving are really important to people. And I can't tell you the number of people, I live in Napa Valley and I can't tell you the number of people who in the summer drink Chardonnay with steak. They're gonna barbecue a steak outside and they're gonna drink Chardonnay, which I think is perfectly fine. First of all, Chardonnay is a pretty big kind of wine anyway, but it's what...
Laurie Forster (10:05)
Hmm
Yeah.
Karen MacNeil (10:28)
they're in the mood for. So I think it's important for us to recognize that. So what would I be in the mood for? I'm always in the mood for anything with bubbles in it. And in fact, a minute ago, I was reading a recipe
Laurie Forster (10:36)
Yeah.
Karen MacNeil (10:47)
for Coco Van, the traditional French stew of chicken, actually, they used to use hens in France in the old days, but chicken, you know, in a kind of stew, it's almost like beef stew, but only with chicken. And I thought,
That sounds so great. I think I'm going to, and it's kind of one of those recipes where it doesn't matter if you put in, you you threw in, I don't know, two teaspoons of oregano versus one teaspoon is very forgiving. It's not like baking. I love dishes like that. And I thought I am in the mood for Coco Van and like a California sparkling wine. I'm, that is what I'm going to have tonight. So, but.
Laurie Forster (11:19)
He he he.
Love that.
Karen MacNeil (11:31)
But I also agree with you that cheese is pretty foolproof and cheese goes as well with white wine as with red.
Laurie Forster (11:39)
And one of the things I love, you know, in Europe, it seems like the cheese plate is a great thing before dinner and it's also a great thing at breakfast. So the cheese plate is just always delicious. Add some charcuterie meats in there and you you've got an easy thing to put out on Share and Pair Sundays. But yeah, you can even go deeper with a recipe or letting everybody pitch in so it doesn't feel like the host is overwhelmed.
In our neighborhood, we do kind of progressive things sometimes. Start at one house, there's one dish, go to another house, there's a different dish. And that way everybody's kind of in on the teamwork, if you will. I love the website, you gave some themes if you wanted to have themes around the wines that you pair and share. And I love the sharing. And even though I am a wine professional, I'll meet people that'll say, I have so many...
wines in my cellar, I'll never be able to drink them all before I die. And I find that so intensely sad because to me, wine is something to be shared. I just can't keep my wine fridge full because if somebody comes over, even if I have that special Barolo or that special bottle that I got when I was out in Napa, I want to share it with someone because I already know what it is, but I want to see that light bulb and joy go on in their face.
I think we all need more joy in the world right now. And so this is coming at the perfect time. I know you were out on social media too. You have a great Instagram page for Share and Pair Sundays and people can hashtag Share and Pair Sundays so that you and I can get a look, see as what other people are doing for their Sundays. I know I have people listening that maybe are restaurant tours or chefs or wine store owners. How can they get involved and
and really support Share and Pair Sundays so that more wine lovers like me know about this and kind of incorporate it into their spring Sundays.
Karen MacNeil (13:38)
Sure, on our Share and Pair Sundays website, we have free downloadable assets. So posters, table tents, of course the cute Share and Pair Sundays logo. And so we encourage not only wineries, but of course, restaurants, hotels, to download these assets and do promotions of their own. We know a lot of restaurants.
here in the Bay Area and in wine country that are already gearing up to encourage families, friends to just come over to their restaurant for on Sunday afternoon or early Sunday evening for Sharon Pear Sundays. So it's very easy for hospitality businesses as well as wine businesses. And retailers are just going
crazy with Share and Pair Sundays in the best way. They are putting, they're doing Share and Pair Sundays promotions so that, you at some point during the week, you can go to your favorite wine store and you'll see a Share and Pair Sundays poster and the retailer may be doing promotions on specific wines that you pick up on Wednesday or Thursday, planning to share them on Sunday.
Laurie Forster (14:35)
Yeah.
Mm-hmm.
Karen MacNeil (14:57)
So it's embraced by all aspects of the industry and starting, of course, with consumers themselves. You know, I want to say one other thing that what you had just been talking about reminded me of, and that is I find it really psychologically fascinating that when you ask someone, you know, what was the greatest wine they ever had or what was a wine that really moved them,
everyone always remembers who they were with when they had that wine. I mean, that alone is testament to how wine's communal aspect does impact us. Wine has always played this role of bringing people together in just the best of ways.
Laurie Forster (15:29)
Mm-hmm.
I love that. And I think too, not only there's the mood, I guess, it brings into the mood who you shared it with, the circumstances where you, you know, at a winery, was it a special dinner? And sometimes people will say to me, you know, I had this amazing wine, I was in Italy and on vacation, and then I brought a few bottles back and then it just wasn't the same. And so sometimes it is the people you're with when you're enjoying it, situation and
that really adds to the whole thing. I think then I'll probably get some upset people with me, but unlike any other beverage, beer, a gin and tonic, those sorts of things, wine is just always been so much a part of celebrations of even everyday life. But it's just something that is different to me than, and I love other types of beverages as well, but.
There's just something about wine that just has that connection. And I found this old proverb that I use a lot when I do events. It's Italian proverb, I believe. And it says, over a bottle of wine, many a friend is made. And I feel like, absolutely. It's not over a bottle of beer. It's not for a martini. ⁓ those are great. But wine just has this special quality in my mind that I don't see anywhere else.
Karen MacNeil (17:03)
And that is precisely why wine was and is the beverage of Judeo-Christian religions. It was wine's almost mystical ability to bring people together, to make them feel goodwill toward one another that made wine sort of the ideal beverage of both
Christianity and Judaism. So, you know, we sometimes forget, I think, that wine has this long and important history as in which it's played this communal role and very, in many cases, very spiritual role.
Laurie Forster (17:44)
Absolutely. And that's one of the things I love about your book, The Wine Bible. Not only are you getting like every region and grape and you're going through the breadth, but there's also some of that history and geography. Wine just connects to everything. And that's what makes it exciting to me. And it makes me interested in topics that maybe, you know, I didn't know I was so interested in until I see how it connects with wine. And I appreciate that, you you joined me today, that you guys
Karen MacNeil (17:48)
Hahaha.
Laurie Forster (18:12)
put on this campaign, Share in Pairs Sundays. I think it's gonna hopefully get more people together, enjoying a great glass of wine, enjoying community and food. And is there anything else you want people to know or think about as they're going forward in their Share in Pairs Sundays?
Karen MacNeil (18:29)
Yes, I'd love, as you mentioned, our Instagram is at Share and Pair Sundays. And we'd love to see photos of what you do. So jump on Instagram and show us what you're doing on Share and Pair Sundays. we'll repost that. we'd love to see.
both restaurants and kitchens and dining rooms all over the country celebrating the simple act of being together.
Laurie Forster (19:01)
Karen, thank you so much for coming on The Sipping Point. I'll be posting my Share & Pair Sundays and I can't wait to see yours. All right. Thank you, cheers.
Karen MacNeil (19:07)
Thank you, Laurie. Lovely to speak with you.
Cheers.
Laurie Forster (19:11)
If you wanna find out more about Share and Pair Sundays, go to shareandpairsundays.com. Check out their Instagram page at Share and Pair Sundays. And speaking of sharing and pairing, I hope you're gonna post on social media, hashtag Share and Pair Sundays, hashtag The Sipping Point. I can't wait to see what wines and foods you're sharing and all of your amazing get togethers.
if you love this podcast, please let another wine lover you know about the sipping point so they can tune in wherever they get their podcasts, Apple, Spotify, iHeartRadio. And if you feel inclined, would you please go on and leave a review so people know what to expect? All right, until next time, cheers.
