Ep. 4: 4th of July Special

We bring Emily Hodge onto the mic to settle what “girl dinner” really is, from popcorn and noodles to nuggets and butter tortillas, and we turn comfort food into a surprisingly useful wine pairing lesson. Along the way, we swap Fourth of July cookout picks, explain how to spot a corked bottle, and share what we’re pouring at the farm all summer. 

• red wine and popcorn as the gold-standard comfort meal 
• the popcorn ritual: Amish kernels, Whirly Pop, peanut oil, popcorn salt 
• cheddar powder vs nutritional yeast for a cheesy finish 
• easy pairings for butter noodles, ramen hacks, and “kids menu” dinners 
• wine matches for buttered tortillas and cinnamon sugar versions 
• Fourth of July and the World Cup as a rare moment of unity 
• what a “jerry” is in skiing, surfing, and even wine and golf 
• women in wine leadership and how the industry is changing 
• what corked wine smells like and what to do about it 
• Grenache Gris vs Grenache Blanc and why “gris” exists 
• Fourth of July wine pairings for Mexican food and classic barbecue 

Come join us here in Woodinville if you would like to enjoy some From the Sky Down wine. 

On August 7th, we're having our first release party of the year. It is a public ticketed event. So for non-members, $30. If you're From The Sky Down member, then it's $15. 
Please feel free to join us for Thursday movie nights every Thursday at sunset. 

Transcript

Welcome And Meet Emily Hodge

SPEAKER_01 0:08

All right. Welcome to the 4th of July.

SPEAKER_00 0:16

Welcome back to From the Sky Down podcast. That hurt my throat. Yeah. All right, we're back. Okay, Ian. Welcome back. Yes. Today we have with us a very special guest. Yes. Say hello.

SPEAKER_04 0:28

Hello. I am the special guest.

SPEAKER_00 0:29

Yes, this is Emily Hodge, our director of finance here at From the Sky Down. She's a key, key important person, part of this operation over here. Key double keys.

SPEAKER_02 0:39

Thanks. Jeez.

SPEAKER_00 0:40

Might say key key.

SPEAKER_04 0:41

Major key.

SPEAKER_01 0:44

She has all the keys.

SPEAKER_04 0:45

Actually, I do. But we're all major keys. So thanks for having me, guys. Excited to be here.

SPEAKER_01 0:50

Thanks for coming on.

Defining Girl Dinner Comfort Rules

SPEAKER_01 0:52

So last pod, we talked a little bit about girl dinner, and we were like, we need, I feel like we need a girl here to chime in on girl dinner. So we just kind of uh transition to boyslash man dinner.

SPEAKER_04 1:03

Did you mansplain it?

SPEAKER_01 1:05

I did. Yeah. Of course. I mansplained while I manspread.

SPEAKER_04 1:08

Actually, I love that. I love working with boys.

SPEAKER_01 1:12

Hey, this camera's only waist tie. Don't show them that. Yeah. So that being said, girl dinner, I was talking about, oh, it's like red wine and popcorn. What do you feel like a girl dinner is?

SPEAKER_04 1:23

Mmm. So I don't get girl dinner enough. Girl dinner is my favorite dinner. And it depends on my mood. Honestly, red wine and popcorn is my go-to. So you are absolutely onto something. Nailed it. But I also love any form of noodles. Like sometimes I go fancy and I do ramen. Super fancy. But then I add a little razzle-dazzle of like green onions.

SPEAKER_02 1:47

Oh.

SPEAKER_04 1:47

Or like kind of a clean the kitchen type, whatever I can throw in with noodles.

SPEAKER_02 1:51

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 1:52

And then I always have a glass of wine with me. Always. I have to start with a glass of wine, have a glass of wine in the process, and then end with a glass of wine.

SPEAKER_00 2:00

We do support the consumption of wine while cooking. I think that's essential to any good. I think you have for sure.

SPEAKER_04 2:13

That's exactly right. That's why it's either popcorn or noodles. Or noodles.

SPEAKER_00 2:18

Do you have a walk for these noodles?

SPEAKER_04 2:20

No. I just do the good old school pot with water.

SPEAKER_00 2:25

Figure out, yeah. It's more of a spaghetti situation.

SPEAKER_04 2:28

Correct. I mean, if you want to, yes, that's an option.

SPEAKER_00 2:30

So one could say you don't talk ramen?

SPEAKER_04 2:32

Yes.

SPEAKER_00 2:32

Yes. You don't walk it like you talk it.

unknown 2:35

Correct. Correct.

SPEAKER_04 2:38

Correct.

SPEAKER_00 2:39

I love how all these references are so old.

unknown 2:41

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 2:42

That's right.

SPEAKER_04 2:43

Going from a Gen Z or Gen Z folks are being like, what is the thing?

Popcorn Traditions And Wine Preferences

SPEAKER_04 2:49

If you want me to note on popcorn though, popcorn and red wine. So here I have a whole situation though. So that's my that's my go-to. So I only have Amish popcorn. What is that? Apparently Amish make great popcorn. And you can get it from don't ask me the difference.

SPEAKER_01 3:05

Pennsylvania?

SPEAKER_04 3:06

Yes. So I have it shipped in. No way. I do. Yes, you can find it on Amazon. It's slightly expensive. It is my favorite. And so I and it goes the best with either A, a really crisp Save Blanc, or B, once I like, that's for like the process of cooking. Then once it's done, then you have to have like a really big cab because it really goes well with the salt. But you can't just have any popcorn maker. You gotta have a whirly pop.

SPEAKER_01 3:36

Whirly pop.

SPEAKER_04 3:36

You have to have, yes, and you have to have peanut oil and you have to have popcorn salt. You cannot, you cannot sketch it.

SPEAKER_00 3:44

Where did you find this recipe? Is this from like the compendium of Amish chefs or something?

SPEAKER_04 3:49

Like so my family apparently has like popcorn connoisseurs. There's been popcorn connoisseurs for like generations. There's like a popcorn bowl that goes around my aunts and uncles every few like every year my aunt gets my aunt gets it, and then the next year my mom gets it, the next year my brother gets it. It's like a thing.

SPEAKER_00 4:06

It's an artifact.

SPEAKER_04 4:07

It's a thing. And it's from their like their grandparents in Denver. It's a whole thing.

SPEAKER_00 4:11

So is this a wooden or a metal bowl?

SPEAKER_04 4:13

Oh, it's wooden. It never gets washed.

SPEAKER_00 4:15

It doesn't have like strange runes or symbols carved on the outside at all.

SPEAKER_04 4:18

It probably does. And I it's so covered in butter that you just would never know. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 4:23

Covered up butter of generations past.

SPEAKER_04 4:25

I'm gonna guess that generations past probably had like a beer with the popcorn. And then ever since wine really became something my family really enjoys, I think generations have shifted to popcorn and wine. And that's like that's our thing. And so I just adopted that.

SPEAKER_02 4:42

Wow.

SPEAKER_04 4:42

Yeah. My husband doesn't really like wine, and he sort of is getting on the popcorn train. So when he whenever he travels, I cannot like I miss him, love it. But when he travels, I get excited because I get my popcorn and wine for dinner, and no one can talk about it.

SPEAKER_00 4:56

Your family's memoir should be titled From Butter and From Flames. Yes, I love it.

SPEAKER_04 5:04

We're very proud of our popcorn, and we're very proud of our wine. So the two together is like you are Italian.

SPEAKER_01 5:11

Yes. That's a very good point. Yes. So the wine aspect is important with that.

SPEAKER_04 5:16

That is true.

SPEAKER_01 5:17

The next question do you put truffle salt on or truffle powder seasoning, whatever on the popcorn?

SPEAKER_04 5:24

You know, no. You're gonna go one step further. You guys are gonna know me really well. I do cheddar cheese. Like not the cheese, but like the super MSG, super bad for you, but it's so good. It's like the the the salt like not salt, but you know, the the popcorn seasoning?

SPEAKER_03 5:41

Yeah, powder. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 5:42

Um, it comes, yes, Devin. Don't knock it till you've tried it. Now, if you did this every day, you would have a heart attack by like day five.

SPEAKER_00 5:50

Is this like the stuff that comes in the Kraft Mac and cheese packets?

SPEAKER_04 5:53

Oh my gosh. Maybe it is. No, but it's something similar because it comes in a cake, like a little, I don't know, bottle thing.

SPEAKER_01 6:00

I think I know exactly what you're talking about. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 6:02

It has a blue label and then it has like white popcorn on it.

unknown 6:06

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 6:07

Oh, like the white cheddar popcorn powder.

SPEAKER_04 6:09

That's it. Yep. But I never thought about it being similar to cracking.

SPEAKER_01 6:13

Have you tried using nutritional yeast?

SPEAKER_04 6:16

Ooh. Make it healthy?

SPEAKER_01 6:17

Yeah. Because a nutritional yeast has a like cheesy aspect to it. Yeah. And so when sometimes I'll do that over my popcorn to make it like a little cheesy. Love that.

SPEAKER_04 6:28

So my think my next step is to start doing the different toppings with wine pairings. Because I have my go-to. You know, when you have girl dinner, you just want like what you know, it's comfort. I don't want to do all the razzle dazzle extra stuff. Yeah. But when I'm not doing girl dinner, I want to transition my popcorn exploration with different wine exploration. Yeah. And do like truffle butter with like Temper Neo. I don't know, making it up. But you're the one that can help me with that.

unknown 6:51

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 6:52

I think that's what we should do.

SPEAKER_00 6:54

I love different toppings on popcorn.

SPEAKER_04 6:56

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 6:56

Looping back to nutritional

Nutritional Yeast And Savory Pairings

SPEAKER_00 6:58

yeast. I was introduced to that via actually two girls I dated, not at the same time, mind you. Whoa. Yes, Devon and Peppin. So I had not was not familiar with the nutritional yeast game in popcorn. And independent of each other, these two women both wanted to show me the best popcorn ever in there. What this is self-described to what they would say is the best popcorn ever. And both of those recipes involve some amount of nutritional yeast. I was very skeptical to begin with. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 7:30

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 7:31

It does have a cheesy flavor, you know, for those wine nerds out there very familiar with maybe a cheesy, leazy flavor, you know, in a wine. But that yeasty note is not too different from a really intense, like surly aged wine. It kind of has that very savory flavor. Especially if you combine that where some meth malolactic fermentation might take you to that. It may be a good pairing. Yeah, that would be a good surly aged viignet with malolactic with a little nutritional yeast pop or that sounds fantastic.

SPEAKER_04 8:01

Well, what about another girl dinner? I'm gonna pivot for a minute, going back to my pasta. I am Italian. This is not Italian, but sorry, sorry. Italians would cringe at you. Yeah, they would. Speaking of nutritional yeast, using so we have to be bow tie pasta with a whole bunch of butter and nutritional yeast for the little cheesy flavor. That would be interesting because that's another girl dinner, is just noodles and butter.

SPEAKER_00 8:25

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 8:25

Just straight noodles and butter.

SPEAKER_00 8:27

Butter noodles is a classic. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 8:29

But that would be interesting to add some nutritional yeast to the like pasta. I don't know if you can do it with pasta, can you? Like, I mean, if you want other cheese, without the cheese.

SPEAKER_00 8:37

See, my my issue with nutritional yeast is that the people that love nutritional yeast put it on everything. So, and I think there is a time and a place for nutritional yeast, but I haven't truly tested the limits of where it can be.

SPEAKER_04 8:50

Let's try it.

SPEAKER_00 8:51

Yeah, yeah, try that.

SPEAKER_04 8:52

We should do some pairings. I know a spot.

SPEAKER_00 8:55

Yeah. You do?

SPEAKER_04 8:58

Right here.

SPEAKER_01 8:58

Right here. We have all the wine. All right.

Nuggets, Ramen Shortcuts, And Carbs

SPEAKER_01 9:01

I'm pretty sure girl dinner or boy dinner is basically ordering off the kids' menu for the most part.

SPEAKER_05 9:06

Absolutely.

SPEAKER_01 9:07

That's a good analogy. Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 9:08

Dino nuggets.

SPEAKER_01 9:09

Yeah, dino nuggets. Oh my god. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 9:11

I think you've mentioned you love a chicken nugget and wine situation. Oh yeah. Yeah. Come on.

SPEAKER_04 9:16

Grenache.

SPEAKER_00 9:17

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 9:18

Grenache and some nugs.

SPEAKER_01 9:20

Or some Pinot Noir and some Nugs.

SPEAKER_04 9:21

Ooh.

SPEAKER_00 9:22

Some Beaujolais and some Nugs. I like the Beaujolais or Pinot strategy here.

SPEAKER_01 9:26

I think that sounds quite nice.

SPEAKER_04 9:28

I don't know that I've had that with some chicken nuggies, but I sure would try it.

SPEAKER_01 9:31

Yeah. Or some or a chillable crunchy grenache. With some cheeky nuggies.

SPEAKER_00 9:37

I would actually go one step further and say the Chick-fil-A grilled nuggets with chillable grenache. Grilled nuggets? Not regretting them? Grilled nuggets.

SPEAKER_04 9:47

He's gluten-free.

SPEAKER_00 9:48

Oh right. Yeah, don't judge me. No one judges cornflakes.

SPEAKER_04 9:52

Cornflakes. Oh yeah, we could do that. What's your favorite? What was well I let listen to last week's podcast, but if you had to like do a different, like what's your well, I mentioned like a quick taco, I think, this week.

SPEAKER_00 10:05

And also classic rotisserie chicken over the sink. Would you approve? Disapprove. Is that also valid girl dinner? Or is that a lot of work? A lot of work. Yeah. Pulling the rotisserie chicken out of the park.

SPEAKER_04 10:15

Because I have to go to the store and buy the rotisserie chicken.

SPEAKER_00 10:17

No, no, this is leftover rotisserie chicken.

SPEAKER_04 10:19

Oh, okay. Not bad. Not bad. I just really need some carbs. Girl dinner to me equals carbs.

SPEAKER_00 10:25

Okay. Yeah. All right.

SPEAKER_04 10:26

But you can put rotisserie chicken in your pasta. Andor ramen.

SPEAKER_00 10:31

That's very true. You know, there is one that is actually passed down in my

Buttered Tortillas With Adult Wine Pairings

SPEAKER_00 10:36

family.

SPEAKER_05 10:36

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 10:37

Yeah. Little girl dinner situation from the Hispanic side of my family. Tortilla over the stove, butter, a little bit of extra salt on the butter. And then you just roll up that tortilla with the butter and salt. And that's a classic kind of. You could also just do the same thing, but add a little sugar and cinnamon to it and roll that up. Yeah. That's what I was thinking too. Very classic.

SPEAKER_04 10:59

Kid menu, for sure.

SPEAKER_00 11:00

Yeah, for sure. If you knew any Mexicans growing up, they probably showed you this.

SPEAKER_04 11:06

Love that. So what would you pair with that? Well, now that you're an adult.

SPEAKER_00 11:10

What would I pair with the salty buttered tortilla? A really full-bodied, rich Chardonnay, perhaps. I think the butter to butter thing is always, you know, quite nice. Although I don't like a super buttery chard, I'd go with something a little nuttier, you know. Yeah. You know, maybe our 2018 tenor chardonnay. Ooh. Yeah, that would be fire. That would be nice. With the cinnamon sugar combination, I'd have to go a little bit of a different route here. I think dolcetto might be interesting. Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 11:40

Tell me more about that.

SPEAKER_00 11:41

It's kind of a unique Italian varietal. I believe it's from Piedmont. Yeah. And its grapes translation is little sweet one, Dolcetto.

SPEAKER_04 11:49

I feel seen.

SPEAKER_00 11:51

Did your Nona call you Dolcetto growing up?

SPEAKER_04 11:54

No, but she should have.

SPEAKER_00 11:57

Anyway, so it's it's not that sweet when you finish making the wine. It's actually fairly dry, but it does have kind of a spiced kind of note to it. I was thinking maybe Cab Franc when I was thinking about how I would compare with the cinnamon, but I think Dolcetto has more of a baking spice note that I think would complement the cinnamon quite well. Yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 12:21

I like that.

SPEAKER_04 12:22

That sounds good.

SPEAKER_01 12:23

I like that. Or a ripe cab. Really ripe cab. With uh yeah, a lot of new French oak.

SPEAKER_00 12:31

Bring out that cinnamon. Yeah. I definitely want one with some vanilla to complement that. And I think, Ian, I think you're on the right track there. Usually with the sod something sweet, you want something with a lot of fruit. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 12:43

I think we should all bring in our favorite girl dinner or a boy dinner, depending on who you are. And we should bring in some wine. Yeah. And we should just start slicing a nice down to that. That would be fun.

SPEAKER_00 12:54

Yeah, we have to we have to surprise each other. Potluck.

SPEAKER_04 12:57

Yes, potluck. Pot dinner, potluck.

SPEAKER_00 12:59

Potluck style. Speaking of potlucks.

Fourth Of July And World Cup Unity

SPEAKER_01 13:02

It is 4th of July weekend. It is the 4th of July.

SPEAKER_02 13:08

Love working with boys.

SPEAKER_01 13:12

Well, happy independence day, everyone. Happy Fourth of July. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 13:15

250.

SPEAKER_01 13:16

I am actually really happy that the World Cup is kind of during falls on the 4th of July.

SPEAKER_02 13:21

It's kind of cool, huh?

SPEAKER_01 13:22

This year. Not sure if it does every year. I'm not much of a a soccer follower or a football follower. I'm more of an American football guy myself. But it is really fun to see Team USA, you know, have a winning record at the moment. Yeah. Which is amazing. I feel like it brings the United States together a lot.

SPEAKER_05 13:44

The world really, too. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 13:45

I'm seeing like a lot of folks dressing in the patriotic red, white, and blue, and like being like, hell yeah, you know?

SPEAKER_03 13:53

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 13:53

It's good to see that unity surrounded around our country because a lot of times we can be pretty divided. Yeah. Different things.

SPEAKER_03 14:01

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 14:02

So I love what sports can do to bring people together. It's it's really amazing.

SPEAKER_03 14:05

I agree.

SPEAKER_01 14:06

And also, like you said, the world. Yeah, bring all these countries together.

SPEAKER_03 14:09

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 14:10

Um, dude, it's so funny seeing all the tourists come in that people are visiting America from like the UK or whatever, and they are on the Instagram and they're like, Don't believe what the media says about America. They're all just this place is awesome. They're going to like Costco, they're going to they're going to Bucky's. Yeah.

unknown 14:31

What is this place?

SPEAKER_04 14:32

Have you seen the memes where everyone is um or the stories where the French and Italians and the Europeans really are coming to America eating all of the food that we have, and meanwhile, we're trying to go over there to like get rid of the processed food, get really good wine and alcohol, and like just have like kind of a cleanse. And then now they're coming over here like, wow, the processed food, the cheddar cheese.

SPEAKER_00 14:54

They're not acclimated to the level of MSP we have in our blood over here.

SPEAKER_01 14:57

So they're just sitting them like a truck, you know. Apparently, there are people buying ranch dressing and peanut butter in bulk and bringing it back over to Europe.

SPEAKER_00 15:07

It's pretty funny. There's a lot of US cultural staples that get translated over in media from Hollywood. And some Europeans don't think they're real. Like the yellow school buses, they thought that was only in movies.

SPEAKER_05 15:17

Really?

SPEAKER_00 15:18

Yeah. I've heard yellow school buses, peanut butter and jelly, ranch dressing are all things they're like, why would they ever do that?

SPEAKER_04 15:25

Did you see Hidden Valley made TSA-sized ranch packets for people? Legends.

SPEAKER_00 15:31

Totally legend. Very lovely. Incredible. That's a good move. Very good move. What I saw this morning was really funny. I saw some Swedes at a baseball game. I guess they were just didn't get enough of their sports fix, the World Cup, so they decided to go to a baseball game. And they're doing their big, their big chant that they do. I'm not familiar with how to do it, but they have they have this whole thing with their arms. They lift them way up. And it's it looks so out of place in a baseball game, but also amazing that they're getting so in the same time.

SPEAKER_01 16:00

There's nothing more American than going to a baseball game, traditional American baseball game, and watching a bunch of Cubans and Dominicans knock it out of the park.

SPEAKER_05 16:10

Literally. So true.

SPEAKER_00 16:13

I love it. Hey, don't forget the Japanese. They do a great job of Japanese.

SPEAKER_01 16:15

Oh, it's true. The Japanese, yeah, Ichiro. How can I forget, dude? That's true. Seattle. We need to honor legends.

Jerseys, Jerries, And Golf Confidence

SPEAKER_04 16:21

Okay, so I have a question. So let's say you're going to a World Cup game. Would you rather have a jersey that is a soccer jersey, but the wrong team, or the right country, but a baseball jersey?

SPEAKER_00 16:38

The right country baseball jersey. I think I'd go with the right colors. You wanna you wanna you wanna be a patriotic part of the crowd?

SPEAKER_04 16:45

That was a quick answer. I thought there'd be more of a debate. No. All right. All right.

SPEAKER_00 16:49

I think it's more of a personal preference thing, but I definitely think the colors.

SPEAKER_04 16:51

The countries.

SPEAKER_01 16:53

I mean, I've seen people go to Mariners games wearing a Seahawks jersey and vice versa. That's true. That's a good point. Sure. But Seattle.

SPEAKER_00 17:08

So I have a confession to make. I am one of those Jerry's wearing non-Mariners gear at Mariners Games. However, I do try to match the colors. See, that's at least an adverse that is that is important.

SPEAKER_04 17:19

That's a beige flag, not a red flag.

unknown 17:22

Okay. All right.

SPEAKER_00 17:24

Yellow color.

SPEAKER_05 17:25

And are they always soccer team today?

SPEAKER_01 17:28

And are all they are they always name named Jerry?

SPEAKER_05 17:30

Ooh.

SPEAKER_01 17:31

That's the question. Jerry. I don't know.

SPEAKER_00 17:33

I feel like the Jerry term. Yeah, very fair. I do like human music though. That's a shout-out for all those nerds out there. Anyway. What was I gonna say?

SPEAKER_01 17:42

I don't know.

SPEAKER_00 17:43

Yeah. I didn't get that from Jerry. And I thought you could read my mind. Thank you. Sometimes I can. Yes, Jerry's. Jerry's. Okay. Yeah, we have a little teleph telepathy going on. So the Jerry thing is actually something from like skiing or surfing, where someone's like a poser.

SPEAKER_01 17:56

Ah.

SPEAKER_00 17:57

Yeah, so well, not really. But it's it's somebody who acts with more confidence than they should in a context, and usually they're dressed using a very expensive gear that is meant for like pros in the sport. Gotcha. But then they act like fools, either on the slope or on a surfboard, don't really know what they're doing.

SPEAKER_01 18:17

Don't they call those kooks?

SPEAKER_00 18:18

Yeah. I guess surfers call them kooks. But I I guess I'm a skier, so I call them jerries. Okay, yeah. So yeah, Jerry's are on the mountain, they're coming down. They don't watch out for everybody else. They're rocketing down. They're usually like just skilled enough to be dangerous. Yeah. And wearing expensive gear. That's kind of how I perceive a jerry. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 18:35

I like it. The more you know.

SPEAKER_00 18:38

Are there wine jerries?

SPEAKER_01 18:40

Oh, yeah, for sure. Yeah. I was thinking golf jerries. There's a ton of those for sure. Wearing just like the most expensive stuff or having like the most expensive clubs.

SPEAKER_04 18:49

And you're just like no idea what they're doing.

SPEAKER_01 18:50

And then you're just like chunking it. And you're just like, okay.

SPEAKER_00 18:54

You look like you're good.

SPEAKER_02 18:56

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 18:56

You know, I felt like one of those people a couple a month and a half ago. I just bought fresh golf gear, just clothes, like pants and a shirt. But I looked great.

SPEAKER_02 19:06

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 19:06

I get out there and my the person I was gonna golf with actually bailed on me last minute. So I ended up going in as a single and got paired with this old guy who really knew his stuff. Yeah. And I'm looking really clean, really put together. I go out there and I hit the dirt with my driver hard. Oh. I do that three holes in a row.

SPEAKER_05 19:29

But you looked good.

SPEAKER_00 19:30

But I hey. If you're gonna fuck up. Look good while you're doing it. I'll edit that out. You can just bleep it.

SPEAKER_02 19:40

I'll do a eagle screeches in the world.

SPEAKER_00 19:45

Eagle screeches.

SPEAKER_04 19:49

What's better than bros talking about golf on a Friday?

SPEAKER_01 19:51

Exactly.

SPEAKER_04 19:52

Well I love my job.

SPEAKER_01 19:55

Thank you, Emily, for being the having the female energy today. We appreciate it. The podcast needs it. You know, listeners appreciate it.

SPEAKER_04 20:01

That's true. Bring a different perspective.

SPEAKER_01 20:03

And totally make fun of us for being bros.

Women In Wine And Industry Change

SPEAKER_04 20:06

Well, I don't feel like wine is really a male-dominated industry. I mean, maybe on the production side, sure. But on the retail side, and here I am.

SPEAKER_01 20:14

I do have a story. Ooh, oh brother. Okay about wine being a male-dominated industry.

SPEAKER_05 20:20

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 20:21

So when I first started in the industry, I was hearing a lot of talk about like, oh, there's like the the Women's Wine Alliance and Women's Association of Wine or whatever. And I was a little confused by it because I was like, why do usually those type of associations and groups they come about because there's lack of representation within the industry. With my how I got into wine, every every winemaker that was like a badass I knew at the time, they're all female.

SPEAKER_03 20:59

I love that.

SPEAKER_01 21:00

And then a bunch of sommelier's that were super knowledgeable, they're all female.

SPEAKER_03 21:05

Love that.

SPEAKER_01 21:06

You know, and there was like maybe like one one or two male winemakers that I really got really looked up to as well. But I was just very confused. I was like, usually, you know, these underrepresented alliances are for underrepresented people. And I'm like, I feel like I'm like a fish out of water when I walk into a room sometimes when it's filled with industry people because most of them were women. At least in Santa Barbara, it felt that way. And so I was just like really confused by it until I went outside of that little bubble, and I was like, yeah, there's not a whole lot of women winemakers and stuff like that. So it was just kind of interesting. And also watching like the Psalm documentaries and whatnot, so many awesome female Somoliers that I looked up to a lot, like Madeline Piquet and Claire Copy. And then I always butcher her name because it's super French.

SPEAKER_03 22:00

Give it your best shot.

SPEAKER_01 22:01

Pascaline Le Peltier.

SPEAKER_03 22:03

Ooh, Le Peltier.

SPEAKER_01 22:04

Yeah, she's from the Loire Valley. She's now a director for the Quartermaster Simeliers of America. Wow. So she's on the board. Love that representation. Yeah, it's awesome. Because before the quartermaster's board was all old white dudes.

SPEAKER_03 22:20

No, shocking.

SPEAKER_01 22:22

There's one Indian guy. One Indian guy.

SPEAKER_03 22:24

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 22:26

Yeah. And so when there was a bunch, there was a big scandal that happened in 2020, like a Me Too thing that happened that was, you know, it needed to happen to those men for sure. And then after that, they quartermasters decided to restructure everything thanks to Bobby Stuckey and Pascaline Le Peltier was a big part of that as well. Well, I think Madeleine Paquette had something to do with that too. She's a badass in her own right. Yeah. So that's kind of my little story. I was like, when I started, I feel like every professional was a woman.

SPEAKER_04 23:00

And shaped your path.

SPEAKER_01 23:01

Yeah, pretty sure.

SPEAKER_04 23:02

Well, we have a female winemaker too. From the sky down. Yeah, from the sky down. We have Allie Mayfield who's incredible.

SPEAKER_00 23:08

Shout out to Ali Mayfield. Shout out to Allie.

SPEAKER_04 23:10

She's lovely. Made one of the best Save Blancs I've had. It's fantastic.

SPEAKER_01 23:14

Yeah, I talked to her on the phone yesterday about our new red blends that we'll be kind of creating together. Yeah. Where she already has the wines created. They're just now it's just blending time. So I'll be going down to Walla Walla to meet with her and start doing blending trials for those.

SPEAKER_03 23:29

That'll be so exciting.

SPEAKER_01 23:30

Yeah. Those samples that she sent, the two bottles of left and right banks, they were delicious. And I was like, that's a great, that's a great like benchmark to start on. Sure. I feel like I'm starting on a platform rather than the ground. So it's like that's amazing. So definitely give a lot of lot for us to work with.

SPEAKER_03 23:48

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 23:49

Yeah. And so in my opinion, I was like, now there's nothing to do but tweaking it, you know, because the wine's flawless and it already tastes amazing.

SPEAKER_05 23:58

I'm excited to see what you two create.

SPEAKER_01 23:59

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 24:00

It'll be really, really good.

SPEAKER_00 24:01

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 24:02

So it'll be it'll be

New Wines, Release Party, And Farm Plans

SPEAKER_05 24:04

really great.

SPEAKER_00 24:04

We have a lot of exciting things coming up here at From the Sky Down. And I'm not sure if that wine will be ready, but we are releasing some new wines coming up here in just just over a month. On August 7th, we're having our first release party of the year. Yep. Here at the farm. Come join us here at Woodenville if you would like to enjoy some From the Sky Down wine. We're going to be featuring our 2022 Connor Lee Single Vineyard Cab as well as our Whites and Rose coming up very soon here. So there'll be live music, food truck, and some pairings to go along with the food from said truck. It's going to be a fabulous time. We'd love to see you there.

SPEAKER_01 24:40

Yeah, it is a public ticketed event. So for non-members, $30. If you're from the Skydown member, then it's $15.

SPEAKER_04 24:49

Sobecue theme.

SPEAKER_01 24:51

Yeah. Summer barbecue theme. And thanks to Emily for getting that food truck. She had the contact and the hookup for someone special. Do they serve girl dinner?

SPEAKER_04 25:02

They actually can.

SPEAKER_01 25:03

They can serve girl dinner.

SPEAKER_04 25:04

Well that I see a theme coming up for a party.

SPEAKER_01 25:09

I did have a girl dinner

Movie Nights And Pre-Movie Wine Class

SPEAKER_01 25:11

last night.

SPEAKER_04 25:11

Uh-huh.

SPEAKER_01 25:12

So we had our first movie screening of the summer.

SPEAKER_04 25:16

So fun.

SPEAKER_01 25:16

We were playing Mrs. Doubtfire. Such a classic. Good to see Robin Williams in his in his heyday, in his prime element. In his element. And Connor, one of our guys here, he was manning the snack shack, the farm shed, the wine shed, whatever you want to call it. And he made, I think, one of the best popcorns I had. Okay. I've ever had. Absolutely. And so we're just hanging out, drinking some wine, eating some popcorn, and watching Mrs. Doubt fire on a nice summer evening.

SPEAKER_04 25:49

With some wine.

SPEAKER_01 25:50

With some wine under the ferry lights, patio lights.

SPEAKER_04 25:54

Beautiful.

SPEAKER_01 25:54

Yeah, in the lawn. And so nothing but skies above you.

SPEAKER_00 25:59

It's a vibe. Really a gorgeous setting. All you need is good weather and you're all set. Yeah.

unknown 26:03

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 26:04

If there is bad weather, we're we we're ready to bring the party inside. So please feel free to join us for Thursday movie nights every Thursday at sunset. Yep. Here at the farm. Right right about now that is between 8:30 and 9, starting the movie. Feel free to swing on by. We'd love to have you. Absolutely.

SPEAKER_01 26:20

That was fun, though. That was so cool last night. That was fun. I'm obviously a little tired. So I feel like every podcast we start, I'd be like tired today. Tired today. Every time. But last night was a late night because of the movie. But yeah.

SPEAKER_04 26:35

And your psalm class before is fantastic. So I got the luxury of participating in Ian's some we call them Psalm sessions. And it was it was great. It was a really good time. We did some side by sides, learned a lot about decanting and aging and what to look for in wine, how to detect faults. Fascinating. So it's a pretty good crowd. So that's right before movie nights, too. Psalm sessions are first and third Thursdays.

SPEAKER_00 27:02

Did you subject your Psalm session group to corked wine?

How To Spot Corked Wine

SPEAKER_01 27:08

No, corked wine is it's hard to find an example a lot of times because you have to you have to there's like a what 5% chance, you know, each bottle. It's hard to find it when you're looking for it. It shows up when you lease it. Yeah, right. And luckily our wines, we have pretty high quality corks that we bottle with, and so we don't it's so rare when we get a corked bottle here. So but I did tell them what to look for, you know, like when it smells like wet cardboard or wet newspaper or wet dog, usually you smell the cork first, and then if it smells off, then you pour a little splash and you smell that wine. If it smells corky, cardboardy, then you just put that cork right back in that bottle. You give it to take it back to where you got it from, and ask them for a different bottle in exchange. And usually that place will do that. No matter if it's a wine shop or a winery.

SPEAKER_03 28:04

They should. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 28:05

And so wineries is easier. It's gonna be an automatic yes because A, they don't want you to experience a bad product that they made, you know, and it's not not really their fault either when it's corked. And B, they want, you know, the their guests or member to have a good experience, and then they can also take that cork in that bottle, send it back to their cork supply company, and ask for a refund on their order or get a discount on their next cork order. So they kind of recoup that money a little bit.

SPEAKER_00 28:40

So the more you report corked wine to the wineries and get those bottles exchanged, the more the cork suppliers will start increasing their quality control and TCA. Because if they're getting a lot of bottles sent back to them, they're eventually going to start TCA testing their corks just preventatively for quality control. And it matters a lot as your reputation as a cork supplier if you're producing a lower volume of cork wines.

SPEAKER_01 29:02

Unfortunately, the TCA testing is not super accurate, and we don't really have the technology yet to detect TCA within a tree or a cork before it's bottled. There's some things that they do, but nothing is 100% guaranteed. So that's that's why you sometimes get a corked wine. It's not always guaranteed that the technology and the testing was accurate.

SPEAKER_00 29:26

Part of that's what what makes wine special is you never know what you're gonna get. Yep.

SPEAKER_04 29:30

Every bottle's an experience.

SPEAKER_00 29:33

Okay, Forrest Gump. Is Forrest Gump on the agenda for movie

Grenache Gris And Grape Mutations

SPEAKER_00 29:37

nights?

SPEAKER_01 29:37

Oh, it's not, unfortunately. So our next movie night is next Thursday, which is depending on when you're listening to this podcast, it is the ninth. Thursday the ninth. We're doing Sandlot, which is such a classic, and I'm definitely gonna be there for the whole movie because that's one of my favorites. I love Sandlot so much. So it's a good one.

SPEAKER_04 30:00

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 30:00

Real classic. There's no chocolates in Sandlot. No.

SPEAKER_04 30:04

Is there wine?

SPEAKER_00 30:06

I don't believe so.

SPEAKER_04 30:07

I mean it's a movie about kids playing baseball. Yeah, probably not. That's I mean, it's the precursor to wine.

SPEAKER_01 30:12

I guess. That's right. Yeah, there's some tobacco.

SPEAKER_04 30:15

Yeah, that's right.

SPEAKER_01 30:16

That they're throwing up on the roller coaster. There you go. Which when I was a kid, I thought they were eating chocolate.

SPEAKER_00 30:23

I did just have a wine that tasted like Capri Sun the other day. Really? I was out at one of our favorite wine shops, Ray City Wine, and he pulled out a Grenache Gris. Oh, fun.

SPEAKER_01 30:34

I love Grenache Gris. That's cool.

SPEAKER_00 30:36

Gris of Gris, so it was like a slightly coppery wine. And it had, I thought it was I I forgot what he they told me it was Grenache Gris. I saw the gris on the label, I'm like, oh, Pinot Gris, and I'm like, oh, this tastes like Capri Sun fruit crunch. Fruit fruit cup. Like, oh, it's like Pinot Gris. It was not Pinot Gris, so I kind of you know had to eat my words there, but it was delicious and juicy and had a really beautiful round profile to it. Wow.

SPEAKER_01 31:03

I love Grenache Gris, it's really interesting.

SPEAKER_04 31:05

What's the difference between Grenache Gris and Grenache Blanc?

SPEAKER_01 31:09

So each great variety uh has a genetic mutation of sorts, so that's why you all the the best example is the the Pinot mutation because it mutates a lot. So you have Pinot Noir, which noir means black, and then Blanc, Pinot Pinot Blanc, which is white, and then you have Pinot Gris or Pinot Grigio, which means gray. The reason why it's called gray is because the genetic mutation is so aggressive on that certain variety that it has kind of blush pink and and also some red berries and some green berries on the same cluster. And so when you press it off, like you're making a white wine, the juice is gray. Yeah, because you have a mixed mixed bag of color kind of leaching from the press pan or from the from the press itself. And that's why it's called gris because the juice is gray. But it usually ferments that color ferments out into a white wine. So usually gris versus blanc, for me, I feel like Grenache Gris has a little bit more body than Grenache Blanc. Grenache Blanc is very zippy and acid-driven and very refreshing and doesn't have a ton of body to it, but Grenache Gris has a little bit deeper of a mid-palette, I feel like. I had one recently from Aubon Clement. They'd grow a Grenache Gris from their Clandennin side label. So they're over in Santa Maria Valley in Central Coast, California. They make probably some of the best Pinot Noirs I've had, all their single vineyard stuff, and they have historic vineyard series as well. But yeah. Very good producer. I enjoy their wines. Yeah, they're really solid. I love them. That being said, Granage Gris goes really well, I feel like, with a 4th of July barbecue.

Fourth Of July Food And Wine Picks

SPEAKER_01 33:03

What kind of wines are you pairing with which dish for the fourth?

SPEAKER_00 33:09

First off, what dishes are you having on the fourth?

SPEAKER_04 33:11

So the 4th of July is my mom's birthday. Oh. So we always do a big birthday celebration for her. So a bunch of us are going over to their house tomorrow, and I have no idea what they're doing.

SPEAKER_00 33:21

Actually, there is traditional dishes every year.

SPEAKER_04 33:25

No. Actually, we don't. We kind of shift it up. So I have no idea. We were talking about doing catering from our favorite Mexican restaurant, Passion Tequila, down in Bothel.

SPEAKER_01 33:36

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 33:37

But or we may my we're talking about also my dad grilling. That's I guess more of the tradition. Hot dogs, hamburgers, you know. Okay. But yeah, what do you guys think I should bring? If we do the Mexican route on the 4th of July.

SPEAKER_00 33:52

You know, with Mexican food, it's hard because it is quite spicy oftentimes. And so you'd want a wine with a lot more juicy fruit to go with that spice. Ian brought up a nice juicy cab earlier.

SPEAKER_02 34:06

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 34:07

With the, you know, that cinnamon tortilla. That can be quite the root. That's a nice, juicy, really fruit-forward cab with carne asada is a great pairing. You could also take a note from the Argentinians and go with the Malbec. Oh, they're one of the highest per capita meat consumers in the world. And tends to be that the wine that defines a region is actually informed by the food that the region eats. That makes sense. So that's kind of what drove Argentina to produce, start producing so much Malbec is that they were such heavy m red meat eaters that they needed a really juicy, big red wine to have with their red meat.

SPEAKER_04 34:43

That makes sense. So then what if I mean, because I think that we're going to be one of the few families with a Mexican-themed Fourth of July party. So the barbecue route, which I think is the more common. What are your guys' go-to's for like a good Fourth of July barbecue?

SPEAKER_01 34:57

We've done brats a lot in my family. A lot of brats, beef francs as well. Like a good beef franc.

SPEAKER_04 35:06

Nathan's, like a good old gotta have the good ones.

SPEAKER_01 35:10

Absolutely. I'm a Hemplers man myself. Oh, okay.

SPEAKER_04 35:13

Of course you're different. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 35:15

Of course, you know, burgers, you know, smash burgers, all that stuff. That's always fun. And then I've growing up, a lot of my friends' parents or dads were hunters. And so we'd have sometimes some venison or some elk on the grill. And that was pretty fun. Oof. Growing up. But that was that's usually more expensive, you know. Well, I wouldn't say expensive, but they usually they don't usually bring it out that often because it's their it's the kill that they they did, and it's meant for their family throughout the the year, you know. So but I like a good elk steak.

SPEAKER_00 35:53

I've never had elk steak. Love that for you. I think I've had grilled venison once, yeah, but never elk steak. I have had elk bolonets before. Oh, yeah. Interesting.

SPEAKER_03 36:03

Yeah, where were you to have that?

SPEAKER_00 36:05

I made it myself.

unknown 36:06

Oh okay.

SPEAKER_00 36:07

Uh a friend of mine's family does hunt, and they had actually over hunted, they had too much elk meat. She was giving away frozen ground elk to her friends. And so she brought me a big log of frozen ground elk, and then I made, as a thank you, I made her bolognese with the Wow. That's awesome. It was fabulous. One of the best bolognese I've ever made.

SPEAKER_04 36:27

So as an Italian, I've never heard of elk bolognese. But I would try it. Bologna.

SPEAKER_00 36:33

Bolognese.

SPEAKER_03 36:34

Bolognaise, elk bolognaise.

SPEAKER_00 36:37

At my 4th of July.

SPEAKER_03 36:38

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 36:38

Um instead, typically we go to a family friends, it's a big spread. Everybody brings something. My family usually does the appetizer, the drinks, and the dessert. But the main courses usually consist of ribs and tri-tip with Chimichurri. Oh, yeah. Tri-tip. Chimichuri, yeah. Uh yeah, we have we have someone who's quite the chef. Actually, I think he was a chef at some point. But it's it does in a fabulous job with this beautiful tri-tip every year. And so there is some wine, but typically it's pre-cur the it it's preempted by a lot of margaritas.

SPEAKER_04 37:13

That sounds fancy.

SPEAKER_00 37:14

Usually how the 4th of July happens.

SPEAKER_04 37:17

Are you a tahine or salt rim?

SPEAKER_00 37:19

You know, I love a tahine rim on a spicy mango marg. Yes. But typically on a classic marg, half salt rim. Half salt.

SPEAKER_04 37:27

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 37:27

Okay. Very nice.

SPEAKER_04 37:28

That's true. We've been to passion together. That's true. I've seen you have some margs. That's fair. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 37:34

I do enjoy a little salt rim. Yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 37:36

I'm a tahine girl.

SPEAKER_00 37:37

At the end of the night, I will say we do typically cap it off with a really big, nice cab. They are wine drinkers there. They do love really bold cabs. Big fans of Washington wine and Napa wine there. Nice. So it's either going to be a Washington or a Napa cab at the end of the night.

SPEAKER_01 37:52

Um I've done the very classic, like, I'm going to pair whatever wine I need to to make the best pairing possible with this Fourth of July barbecue thing. So with usually with hot dogs, I went with a Beaujolais. Beaujolais and hot dog go really well together.

SPEAKER_04 38:07

Yep.

SPEAKER_01 38:08

Or a Grenache and a Bratwurst, actually. Sounds good. But then I was like, okay, maybe I'll lean, try and use more American producers because it is an American holiday after all.

SPEAKER_05 38:18

True.

SPEAKER_01 38:19

And so I was doing one of my friends, Tyler Armour, has armor wines in Wenatchee, and he makes usually low intervention, like carbonic macerated wines, and he has a killer game. And so I got his gamet. I've actually had that a bunch of times. So his gamet, and also he has a carbonic barber called carbo barbo.

SPEAKER_00 38:43

I think I've tried the carbo barbo.

SPEAKER_01 38:45

Yeah, it's really cool. It's super, it's really purple. Like it stains the rim, stains the glass. Probably your teeth too. It's crazy how much color he gets out of that, but that's carbonic for you. It usually leashes out a lot more kind of bright colors out of the wine. Cool. But I did the carbo barbo with the burger.

SPEAKER_04 39:04

Oh fantastic.

SPEAKER_01 39:05

That was amazing. I've actually had that with a Dix burger before. Ooh. That was that was pretty fire. Yum. Yeah. And his Game was killer with the hot dog.

SPEAKER_00 39:18

Well, I think that about does it for our time today.

Closing Toast And Patriotism Reminder

SPEAKER_00 39:21

Yeah. I think we're getting pretty close here. Um, to everyone listening today, I want to wish you all a happy Fourth of July. Happy Independence Day. And remember, patriotism is not necessarily pride for your government. It's pride for your neighbor, pride for your country, and the people that live in it. Yes, indeed.

SPEAKER_04 39:39

Keep all ten fingers and toes.

SPEAKER_00 39:41

Cheers to you, and have a happy fourth of July.

SPEAKER_04 39:43

Happy Fourth. Thanks for having me.