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PodcastRelationships and Wine

October 15, 2012by Frank Love0
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Podcast Episode:
In this episode of Frank Relationships, Frank Love and Dr. Gayl talk with wine educator and specialist Janette Wilson about wine and the wonderful ways that you can have fun with it in your relationship.

 


 

FRANK LOVE: RELATIONSHIPS AND WINE
Guests: Janette Wilson
Date: October 15, 2012

Frank: This week we’re talking wine educator and specialist, Janette Wilson, about wine and the wonderful ways that you can have fun in your relationship with it.

Welcome to Frank Relationships where we provide a candid, fresh and frank look into relationships with a goal of acceptance, respect and flexibility. I’m Frank Love and you can find me, my blog and my various social media incarnations at franklove.com. Once again, I’m joined by my co-host, Dr. Gayle. She’s my marathon running, tri-athlete participating partner and I appreciate her as a co-pilot. What’s up, Dr. Gayle?

Dr. Gayle: Good morning.

Frank: This week’s guest is certified wine educator and certified wine specialist, Janette Wilson. She’s an avid wine drinker who always had a love for wine, was intrigued by its elegance and dreamed of what it would be like to own a business doing something that she loved. Now, she’s the owner of Sipping Pretty Consultants, located in Baltimore, Maryland. And yep, she’s pretty, I’ve seen her picture. Sipping Pretty conducts in-home, corporate, non-profit and specialty event seminars. She does not, I repeat, does not sell wine nor support any specific vineyard. Her consulting seminars teach the etiquette of wine drinking; viticulture, enology, great varieties, regions, labels, laws, fermentation and much more. In fact, she notes regardless of your palette, we have an educational seminar waiting for you. Well, I’m from D.C, so I don’t know if I have a palette or not, but I’m listening and ready to learn. And maybe, just maybe after sipping on some of the wine that she’s about to teach me about, instead of the boon’s farms that I’m used to, I may get my wife to lay on a palette with me.

Ladies and gentlemen it pleases me to introduce you to Mrs. Janette Wilson.

Janette: Good morning. Thank you so much for having me.

Frank: Thank you for being with us. How are you doing?

Janette: I’m doing wonderful. How about yourself?

Frank: I’m great.

Janette: That’s good.

Frank: Okay, relationships, wine, put them together what comes to mind?

Janette: Relationships and wine. What comes to mind as just the relationship itself and how it can improve when both male and female are both engaged in a world of wine. Anywhere from your sexual libido from how you look at each other and also how you interact with each other sexually, emotionally and physically.

Frank: Let’s hear about that libido.

Janette: Alright, so one of the things about the world of wine is that, when drinking wine it goes straight to circulatory system, which speeds up all of those essences that we’re all interested in and when you look at your partner, you’re just looking at them in a different way, a different light. It’s more of an intellectual stimulant, but it really enhances the sexual reproduction organs and just makes for a better and healthier sexual life and also a stress-free life with you and your partner.

Dr. Gayle: So, that kind of makes sense why some people want to have sex after they have had a few drinks.

Janette: Oh yes. The blood system has definitely streamed up a little bit, the libido is definitely there and it’s more of an intellectual sexual position there that you’re thinking about as opposed to something that vodka or other alcoholic beverages can bring to the table.

Frank: So, is it more of the grapes or more of the alcohol?

Janette: It’s the grapes and how they interact with your blood circulatory system, but then also the chemicals that are in connection with each of the grapes and how they interact with each other as well.

Frank: Okay, well tell me a little bit about the good old grape.

Janette: Alright, so the grape is the oldest viticulture or oldest wine or oldest fruit that there is. It’s dated back to the ancient Roman times. So, a little bit about it is there are over 3,000 grape varietals out there. We are most comfortable and most familiar with the Pinot Noirs, the Pinot Grigios, the Chardonnays and for the younger palettes, the Moscatos and the Tempranillos. We teach you at Sipping Pretty, some of the ones that you have not heard about and some of the great benefits and aspects of drinking those as well. But over 3,000 great varietals, it’s really hard to start and beam in on just one though.

What we do is, we balance it based on your palette. So, if you have a younger palette and you’re a new wine drinker, we introduce you to grapes that are nice and sweet and ripe, medium age palettes, we introduce you to grapes that are most appropriate for that and for our aged palettes, we go with grapes that are more complex, with the aromas, layers of the bouquet and all the aspects that those are able to introduce or help improve an aged palette.

Dr. Gayle: I think you kind of answered this for me, Ms Wilson, but maybe you can elaborate. Do certain people have certain palettes, certain wine palettes?

Janette: Oh yes. So, have you ever been to a social environment and you’re looking around and everybody’s drinking Moscato or they’re drinking Riesling.

Dr. Gayle: Right.

Janette: That was my Boones Farms about 15 years ago. That’s what I basically started on a drink meet. When I’m in any social environment and I hear someone say, “You know what? I’ll drink that Moscato. I’ll drink that Riesling and I’m like, “Okay, I’m going with the younger palette.” This is a person that is typically introduced or appeased by sweet wines. And those are for your younger palettes. Your middle-aged palettes, are the ones that are kind of feathering into your Pinot Grigios, your Sauvignon Blancs, your Pinot Noirs; wines that are not as sweet, but also not as big and bold as your Shirazs, your Cabs, your *(inaudible) 06:31 and there’s several other aged wines and grapes that your aged palette are more attracted to. So, I can tell how long a drinker has been drinking wine, based off of the wine that they order at the table.

Frank: I feel like I should get up and leave, because I’m already confused. Pinot Noir, Shiraz, Pinot Grigio. Slow down a little bit. Help me out. What is a Shiraz? What is a Pinot Grigio? And what is the difference between the two? Are they exclusive? Can you be a Shiraz and a Pinot Grigio or Pinot Noir? Help a brother out.

Janette: Yes. I drink all of them except for the Moscatos and the Rieslings. Those are little bit too sweet for my palette, but those are all different great varietals and it depends on the region that they’re grown from, which is going to give you the basic aspect of what you’re going to enjoy the most about each of those grapes. So, the Shiraz is a little bit more of a nice off-sweet wine. It’s more of a fuller bodied wine and it’s very complex. The Pinot Noirs is a grape that is very–it’s very difficult to grow in and everywhere. So, those are the ones that you will find perfected in the California region and you’ll also find that they’re perfected in France. So, that’s more of a softer, light, medium-bodied wine. It’s good for right now where the weather’s kind of chilly in the evening, but warm during the day. It’s kind of like one of those wines that’s not too heavy, but it goes well with any meal in addition to standing well on its own.

Dr. Gayle: Now, could we go pick up a bottle from your local liquor store or does it matter where you purchase your wine from?

Janette: Oh no, I’m a connoisseur of wines that are $10 and below. I have mastered the key of finding great grapes that have been perfected in a region. And that’s what I teach most of my clients, is if you love a Pinot Noir, go to California or go to France-and any region in France, any area or region in California. It can be a $5 bottle or it could be a $250 bottle, the climate is the same, so you are going to get a very superb bottle when you stick to the region that has perfected that actual grape and that wine. And there are a lot of aspects that go into place to get it so that level there.

Frank: So a Baltimore Vineyard is not going to give you that best Shiraz?

Janette: That is very, very true. For the best Shiraz, you want to go to either Argentina or Australia–

Frank: Okay

Janette: And you’ll get the best, yes.

Frank: Okay, about 30 years ago, I had two uncles that decided they were going to take on a project and the project was to go out and find the best cheap wine that they could find. Well, they did and they had a good time doing it. Now, if I decided I wanted to do that with my wife or if Dr. Gayle wanted to do it with her significant other, how do you do that? What are you looking for? How do you have fun doing it? Help us out.

Janette: Alright, so the best cheap wine and this is very–it is one that’s been used in a lot of statements about, “Oh, don’t bring the Two-Buck Chuck.” The Two-Buck Chuck is a very, very good wine. You can find this in most of your Whole Foods and also a lot of your–either your Whole Foods or your Wegmans but mostly in your Whole Food grocers there. But it’s a fabulous wine. They have perfected this wine in all ways. And it’s two dollars. So starting out there is giving you something of a high quality wine at the starting rate of two dollars.

What I tell most of my clients and club members is that, what you want to be looking for when you go to any of your local wine shops is the ratings. And each wine, if it has hit a level of prestige, it has been graded by a group panel of specialists. And these are connoisseurs, sommeliers, certified wine specialists and educators. We will sip these wines and will judge them. Any wine that you’ll see in your local wine shop or in your local liquor store as well is going to give you a rating point of 80 and above. Any wine that you see that’s between 80 points to 100 points is going to be a great quality wine. So, it really doesn’t matter. If its two dollars or $10, $12 or $250, the rating itself is going to tell you the quality level of that wine. So you can really have fun with just focusing on the rating points.

Frank: Is that rating on the label or is it something you need to research on the internet?

Janette: Nope, it’s on the label and it’s also right beside the price point. So, if the wine is on the shelf, you’ll see right below it, the name, the region and the actual grape and then right beside it, is going to say 80 points by wine spectator, 80 or 90 points by wine [stores] 11:42. Or it will also say, “These are our wine maker’s favorite or our wine specialists favorite wine of the month,” and you can just go right to those and I’m more than sure that you will definitely satisfied with that quality level of wine.

Dr. Gayle: Now, like Frank Love was saying, if we wanted to go with our significant other to go out to Whole Foods and Wegmans and pick up a bottle of wine, which for men and women–our palettes–we want to go on a date or have a nice dinner. Which would be the best for which gender?

Janette: You can have the same wine for both genders. Basically what I would say is that you always want to start out with a nice crisp, off-sweet white wine, because in that state your palette is nice and young. It hasn’t been exposed to too many aromas, notes and tones. And it’s really good to start out with a nice crisp white wine, because it’s a conversation wine. It’s a wine that kind of sets the mood and sets the tone and then when you start to order your meals, based off the actually meal, you may want to have a wine to compliment that. And we do have a list of great food wine pairings on our website. If you’re having chicken, we would suggest a nice Sauvignon Blanc to go with that. If you’re having some steak, we would suggest a nice Merlot or a Pinot Noir or Shiraz to go with that. It’s basically how the food is going to contract with the actual wine, but if you’re just looking for “You know what? I’m going to the store, I want three wines.” I would say pick up a nice white wine. It could be a nice off-sweet white wine. Then you can transcend in to a nice red wine. So, if you need an actual name of a wine for you and your partner, start off with a nice Riesling.

I think Rieslings can start from wine that’s really sweet and then it can kind of feather into and off-sweet to a dry. You can start with a nice Voignier. It’s a French white wine. It’s very soft as well and easy to both palettes. And then you can transcend into a nice–for right now a nice Beaujolais Nouveau is really great. It’s a nice young grape and it goes with a lot of your food wine pairings as well.

Frank: In a few minutes we’ll be discussing the wine pairings a little further, because I certainly could use a greater education on the matter–and romantic wine events with your sweetheart. But before I get to that, I want to know how wine has played a part in your relationship.

Janette: In my personal relationship or just relationships in general?

Frank: In your personal.

Janette: In my personal relationship, it’s played an extraordinary part. One, I had to find a reason to drink wine everyday, because I’m an avid wine lover. So, I one of the type of people that I’m looking at my watch and I’m like, “You know what? It’s 4:30 P.M., but it’s 5:00 P.M. somewhere, so I need a glass of wine. Or you know what? It’s 3:30 P.M, but you know what? Somewhere it’s 5:00 P.M.” So, that has been my history of drinking wine. I’ve been drinking wine for over 15 years now and how it’s played a role in my relationship is that it has totally taken my stress levels down. One thing I love about drinking wine is it has so many great aspects. My skin glows, so it makes me more attractive and more beautiful to my husband.

I used to have to show him that drinking red wine has resveratrol, which is a natural agent that helps the circulatory system, so it keeps me vibrant. It keeps me active. It keeps me open and alive. It keeps me open to trying new things when it comes to my relationship and I like to convince my husband that, “You know what? I’m drinking wine everyday, but I have a low risk of Alzheimer’s, cancer, diabetes.” So, I’ve convinced him that there are a lot of strengths to me drinking these wines everyday and in addition to saying, “You know what? Well, I’m a certified specialist and I am an educator, so I have to drink wine.” So, for him, he just goes with the flow. And that’s what I like, him going with the flow, make it more easier for me to go above and beyond and things in areas he’s more pleased with. So, that’s [perspective] 15:55 for my relationship.

Frank: I want to read the following excerpt from a blog called “Not So Random Acts of Love,” that I wrote a little while ago.

Here it goes:

“I’m constantly amazed by my partner and truly mean to show her my appreciation in special ways on a regular basis, but my busy life seems to make it hard to find time to do the things that are on my mind. However, I firmly believe that we make time for the things we want to do, or we implement solutions to assist us where we fall short. For example, I happen to be a man who loves flowers. I love to have them in my home and I love to give them to my partner and other important women in my life.

I’ve often thought about how I could have beautiful flowers regularly sent to my home or delivered to my wife’s office. I considered hiring someone to do so, but the cost seemed prohibitive. I considered ordering flowers online, but that often gets expensive over time, plus I keep forgetting. I even visited a flower wholesaler not far from my home, but had to sift through mounds of undesirable flowers in order to find some that were fresh and pretty and who has time to do that on a regular basis?

Then, I was introduced to a subscription flower delivery service, where each delivery is $29 and the shipping is free. I simply provide them with a recurring delivery schedule and my payment information and the flowers magically appear, fresh and beautifully packaged. So, instead of sending my lady, my mom or even myself flowers when I think about it or once a year on Valentine’s day, I can send them like clockwork. Sure, it’s not spontaneous, but these “not so random acts of love” still make my point. That I care enough to make sure some beautiful flowers brighten her day regularly, even when my busy brain doesn’t remember.”

So, Janette, how can I dazzle my lady with wine regularly without having to make regular trips to the liquor store?

Janette: Oh, what we do have is, we have a wine club where you can join and what we will do is, we’ll ship out wines the same way that flowery guy does. We’ll ship you out based on your palette, what you and your wife likes. If you like sweet wines, dry wines or complex wines, we’ll ship those to you on a monthly basis and you just have to join our wine club.

We have free shipping and the prices start very reasonably as well. They start out at $29 and that will get you about three bottles of either wines that are from California, Spain or Egypt or Australia and they’re just delivered right to your home. We’ve been blessed with the new wine laws has changed in July of last year that allows shippers–direct shippers to ship wine direct to your home. So, you can join our wine club and we can actually do the same thing and knowing what she likes, I or any of our other sommoliers can pick wines that will be perfect for her palette, because you do not want to just deliver her any wine, you want to deliver her wines that she will truly appreciate and she’ll show you her appreciation for each of the wines as well. So, it’s a benefit for the both of you by joining our Sipping Pretty wine club as well.

Frank: And how can we join?

Janette: You can join by our website, there’s a link there that says “Wine shop at home,” and its sippingpretty.info and it will put you through each of the channels there to just register your information. We don’t ask for any credit card information until we go over the wine list with you and we select the wines that are perfect for you and her palette and then from there we’ll start the whole process of shipping the wines to you on a monthly basis. You do not have to remember. They’ll come right to your door and they’ll be waiting for you when you get home as well.

Frank: I love it. You’re listening to Frank Relationships with Frank Love. We’re talking to wine and educator and specialist, Janette Wilson. Before we go any further, would you tell our listeners one more time how they can get in touch with you?

Janette: Alright, we have a club house that’s located in Baltimore, Maryland and it’s at 7915 Hartford Road. You can visit us via website. It’s sippingpretty.info. Our contact number is 410-497-0894 or you can follow us and communicate with us on Facebook at sippingprettyconsultants, that’s our pages. Or you can look for me personally, Janette Wilson, and any messages that you send to me on Facebook, I’m usually up all night responding, so those are the most effective ways to kind of keep in touch with Sipping Pretty.

Dr. Gayle: So, Mrs. Wilson, speaking of the wine shop, are there times where people can request hostings or wine tasting?

Janette: Yes, we do events in your home and we also do them here in our clubhouse. And any of our events that we host here in our clubhouse, we actually shut the clubhouse down for you and your guests. So, we provide more of our concierge services. We also have chef services that we like to implement when you have a clubhouse event. You just give us a call and let us know what you’re looking for, whatever the occasion is. We do customized baskets that will help set the mood and the tone as well.

We will give you like a free in-home or over-the-phone consultation, just to get an idea of what you’re looking for and we’ll give you different suggestions of services that we offer and how they can complement it. We do that both in your home and also here in our clubhouse and we do travel to D.C pretty often.

Dr. Gayle: Wow, so do couples typically utilize this service?

Janette: Oh often, all the time. Most of our wine tasting parties is for up to 10 people and these are ones that you can have either, two couples at a time or you can have five couples at a time. It’s really based off of what you’re looking for, for that event or that evening and we’ll supply the proper wine sampling in addition to the food supply that will complement each of the wines. But for couples, I like to do something, that’s called–we have a partnership with a bed and breakfast that’s in D.C. and is also here in Maryland, where we actually come out. If you’re there for an anniversary or gathering, we’ll actually come to your room or we’ll come to the social hall of where that location is and we’ll put on a wine seminar that’s very, very elegant and it’s good for you and your significant other. And it’s solely geared towards you, so you get that concierge service right there as well.

Dr. Gayle: How much does something like that run?

Janette: That one runs $150. That’s our standard package one and very cheap. It provides three bottles of wine and it also provides a platter. Sometimes when we’re working with different bed and breakfast’s, they will have their own food that they like to supply, but it’s for an hour and a half–that consultation, that’s working with you and your partner one-on-one and it’s at your location as well.

Frank: Tell us about the chef component of what you’re doing.

Janette: The chef services. I love the chef services. What he’ll do is–we have several chefs that we have in our clubhouse that are affiliated with; they’re our premier partners here. What they will do is actually prepare a three-course meal and then myself, I will come in and prepare the wines that pair well with each of those meals. So, it’s something that’s either cooked in your home or you can do it in our clubhouse as well, but it’s one that’s geared mostly toward your palette and the foods that you like. Any food that you like, I can guarantee that there’s a wine that goes well with it. But we do it. It’s very private and they’re in your home cooking and I’m in there as well, preparing wines that good with it. And all of our packages includes everything, so you don’t have to worry about stemware, dishes, wine glasses or even going to the grocery store to pick up the food. We take care of all that. The only thing you have to do is put on your very fancy cocktail dress for ladies and your suit and tie for the men and just show up and we’ll take care of the rest.

Frank: This is Frank Relationships with Frank Love and Dr. Gayle. Looking for a great book? You can’t go wrong with, How to Gracefully Exit a Relationship. Discover the important conversations to have early in your relationships and what to do if you think your partner is crazy. It’s my first book and you’ll thank me after reading it.

Now back to our wine educator and specialist, Janette Wilson. You’ve coined the company’s mission being “edutainment.” I don’t know if you know it, but that’s a classic Boogie Down Productions album. Tell me about the company’s mission.

Janette: Oh, I did not know that, that was an album. That’s awesome. But this mission is when we’re teaching you, a lot of people are turned off at the concept of, “Oh, I’ve got to learn about something. What? I just really want to drink these wines and that’s all I want to do.” So, what we’ve done is we put together this edutainment seminar that we’re actually educating you, but it’s so much fun and it’s so interactive, entertaining that you have no idea of what you’ve actually learned until at the end of the seminar. You’re like, “I didn’t know about this,” or “I didn’t know about that.” And that’s what we’re looking for, is to capture that of the faces of our clients.

So the edutainment seminar is a combination of entertaining and educating you all at the same time, without you even knowing it or feeling overwhelmed with having to learn a lot about the world of wine. Because we understand how, prestigious it is, but also how complicated it is to peel back the different layers and essence of the bouquet. So, that’s our company’s mission is to say, “We’re here to ‘edutain’ you,” and that’s what the combination of education and entertainment both filled in at the same process.

Dr. Gayle: Now, it sounds like you have years of experience with wine, like you stated. What about someone that doesn’t have as much experience? how can someone get into that?

Janette: One of our most basic seminars is the four s’s, where we focus on see, sniff, sip and summarize. And this is one that’s really fun for the younger palettes and the younger wine drinkers. Because what it’s really focusing on is you looking at the glass, eyeing the hue, the color of the wine, you digging your nose into the bouquet and just picking up whatever you smell.

Most people say, “All I smell is grapes and alcohol,” and that’s very true. We try to help you pick up other aromas of it, but then also we teach you how to hold the glass, how to actually swivel the wine, how to look like those wine connoisseurs or the wine snobs that you typically see in restaurants. We put you on that level. We teach you those basic etiquettes and that’s in our cheapest and also our most time [elusive] 26:31 seminars that focus primarily on the four s’s. So, that’s for the younger palettes, and it’s a lot of fun. You really do enjoy holding a glass the proper way and understanding why people let the glass set on the table for like 30 minutes, because most people are like, “Just drink it already,” and we’re like, “No you really can’t. You have to let the different levels of bouquet peel itself back.” So, when you’re smelling the wine that smells okie, it should taste okie as well. Or if it smells sweet, it may not necessarily taste sweet. It may taste like something else. So, letting it set and breathe for a little bit will give you all of those true aromas and essence of the bouquet and it will really allow you to appreciate the wine for what it is.

Frank: You have a few letters behind your name, C.W.E. and C.W.S. Would you tell me what those mean? I mean, I’m just a simple guy. I’ve just got Mr. in front of my name or some call me M Love. Well, you know. What’s wrong Dr. Gayle? I can’t say that on a radio?

Dr. Gayle: I don’t know. Let’s just let Mrs. Wilson explain what her letters mean.

Janette: The C.W.E. is a Certified Wine Educator. This allows me to come into your home and teach you and also be able to focus in on different regions, different grapes. And this is a course that’s required. It’s very intense, but you go and either you study in California or we host these courses here in our clubhouse and then we send you off to D.C.–where you guys are. Washington Academy will actually allow you to take a certification test to obtain that. A Certified Wine Specialist is just one that has been really educated on the different wine regions and also the different grapes and you’re able to educate all wine palettes. So, if you’re in a room of a person that only drinks complex blends, you’re able to break down each level of the blends of the grapes. So, blends meaning it can be a Merlot, it can be a Cabernet, or a Shiraz combination. We teach you how to drink the wine and know what the actual blend is in that bottle. So, that’s a little bit more complex as well, but the C.W.E. is Certified Wine Educator and C.W.S. is Certified Wine Specialist.

Dr. Gayle: And now long did it take you to obtain those?

Janette: Oh, it takes about a good three years to obtain them in addition to a sommelier. And that’s what I am. I’m a third tier sommelier. So that is a course that has taken me three years, because my background is actually nursing. So, I was working full-time, while I was trying to study, my passion for love part-time, but if you are solely focusing on those two certifications, you can probably obtain them in less than a year.

Frank: And what’s a sommelier?

Janette: A sommelier is a fancy French word for wine stewardess and we work in restaurants to help you pick the proper food wine pairing. So, if you have a nice executive to dinner or you’re trying to impress some people at the table, you would ask us, “Hey, what wine goes well with this meal,” and we will coach you through each of the wines that are appropriate for wherever you and your guests are. So, if you’re just in the chatting session, we’ll suggest a nice white wine that would be appealing to all audience members. When you start to eat, if you have chicken, we’ll suggest a nice wine that goes well with that. If you have some beef, we’ll suggest a nice wine that goes well with that.

That’s the most important thing about pairing food and wine together, is that you need to know how and marry each other and instantly on your palette. You wouldn’t want to have some sort of abrupt explosion on the back of your palette, because the wine is either too sweet or too bitter and it’s just not paired well with the proper with food. So, that’s what we do in the restaurants there.

Dr. Gayle: And does it actually matter how the age of the bottle of the bottle of wine or is that a myth?

Janette: No, it does matter, both–well, actually let me go back on that. It does not matter, a 2008 can be a 2008 or a 2006 can be that as well. That’s just meaning that’s how long the bottle has been in connection with–the wine has been in that bottle resting. You do have some wines that are your “here now” wines. Those are your table wines and those are the wines that we’re typically drinking now.

You go to your wine shop, you pick up that bottle, you come home, you open it up and you drink it right now. But there are some wines that have a very young grape that requires aging in the bottle, so that’s when that comes into effect. So, if you have a 2007 Chateau Montelena that may be something that you want to wait until 2012 or 2013 to open. And that is going to be indicated on the bottle and it’s also indicated by the price. For those you’re going to be spending a couple $100 for and you want be in tune with the wine vintage chart and we teach you a little bit about that here at Sipping Pretty as well; how to read the chart and know when it’s time to drink the bottle.

Frank: Speaking–

Janette: And these are not your table wines.

Frank: Speaking of expensive, are there bad expensive wines?

Janette: Yes there are. If the wine has been setting for too long it, if it’s reached what we call “past it’s prime,” often there’s something that’s called TCA, it’s Tetrachorazide, it’s a chemical that’s in the actual cork, that will taint the wine. So, what I usually suggest for my club members is that any time you’re holding onto a bottle for special occasions, maybe on a weekly or monthly basis, you want to take that bottle and hold it up against a very bright light and you want to look through the actual hue, the color of the bottle. If the bottle’s pretty brilliant, the color of the wine is brilliant, meaning consistent in it’s color, you know that, that’s a wine that’s definitely true with it’s color and one that’s still good. But when it starts to look a little hazy, cloudy, kind of like you’re driving through a fog with your high beams on that’s one that’s going a little bad. Or if it looks like you drove behind a dump truck, and it’s kicking out rocks and sand at you and you almost can’t see, your vision is blurred, that’s the indicator of an aged wine; a bad wine as well and that can be an aged wine also. So, anytime that you’re holding on to a bottle for an extended period of time, you do want to check it on either a weekly or monthly basis to make sure that it’s still a good wine.

Frank; So if it’s going bad, do you drink it immediately or you throw it out?

Janette: You can do one or both. If you drink it, it does not harm you and you can throw it out. But what my suggestions are is to do other things with it. You can cook with it. You can add it to any nice sauce meal or spaghetti sauce based meal or a pasta sauce based meal. Spaghetti sauce for your white wines and pasta; you can do like a nice Pinot Grigio, that’s getting a little old. You can marinate steaks with it. You can also grill with it. Or you can make a vignette with it and pour over a nice salad. So, there’s a lot of things you can do with it. You don’t have to toss it. I’m a firm believer and I don’t want to waste wine. I don’t care if it’s cheap, expensive, good or bad, so I always try to find creative ways to bring it back to the forefront and to be able to use it.

Frank: Got it. You’re listening to Frank Relationships with Frank Love. We’re talking to wine educator and specialist, Janette Wilson. Before we go any further, again would you tell our listeners one more time how they can get in touch with you?

Janette: Via email. It’s janette.wilson@sippingpretty.info. Our website: sippingpretty.info, Facebook sippingprettyconsultants–our pages. Or myself–you can put my name in, Janette Wilson. And our contact number here in Baltimore is 410-497-0894.

Dr. Gayle: Now, Mrs. Wilson as Frank mentioned earlier, I do love to run and workout and all those crazy things. What is the best, I guess, time to drink? Is it a best alcohol or best wine for women to drink to kind of try and watch their figure?

Janette: Yeah, you can do red wines. Red wines I find are much more healthier for us, because they has resveratrol, which I was speaking about the natural additive that helps promote the circulatory system. It also prevents precancerous cell lesions and that’s what we’re looking for, for the women. We want to make sure we’re looking out for our health. It has a lovely skin glow. And in addition to that, it helps improve our memory process. I would say, we call it the degree, the decrease brain power that it takes away from. I would suggest a nice red wine in the evening when you’re just relaxing after a nice stressful workout, when you’re about to introduce yourself to a healthy meal. You can incorporate a great food and wine together, but when you’re really ready to just sit back, relax and enjoy a great book or enjoy a great TV show or listen to some NPR, whatever your entertainment delight is, I would say that would be the best time for you to enjoy a great glass of wine.

Frank: I live in D.C, and I’ve had the pleasure of driving over into Virginia regularly where there are countless numbers of vineyards and places to do wine tastings and all that good stuff. I love the idea of taking my partner with me and do you have any suggestions on where to start? How to start? Is there something, some research that I should do before I leave? Or should we just jump on in, get in the car and head towards a winery and then go to another? Any advice?

Janette: Actually, Virginia has definitely placed itself on the map for producing some great wines. Williamsburg winery is one of my favorites there in Virginia. It depends on how much time you have in your day. If you want to wine-hop, you can do that. That’s very fine. You just have to be careful, because most of the times when you’re in those wineries, they’re kind of sipping you up a little bit and they give you these great coupons to buy cases of wine. And once you’ve overwhelmed your palette with so many different wines, you have no idea what’s really great or what’s bad, so you just end up buying a whole bunch of wine.

What my husband and I have done is we’ve just hopped. We got in the car, we’ve driven up there and we just went from one winery to another. We tried to limit it to about four wineries, but just going in there and tasting the wines and then coming back and actually purchasing the wines; but slowing down in between time, just so you can give your palette enough time to really enjoy it. So, if you’re not familiar with all the wineries, I would get just a global map of where they’re located just so you can make sure that you’re in a good driving position. You don’t want to go east and go back over west or go north verses south. You want to make sure that you’re consistent with the flow and the traffic of each of the wineries, so you can hit some one after another.

That’s if you don’t know the wineries there. But if you do know, just go and have some fun. Just get in the car. It does not have to be complicated. It can be something that’s fun and entertaining for both of you together; a nice personal time together. So, you can do a combination of both. Just jumping in the car and go hit the wineries or if you’re a strategic person and you have a lot of people like that, you can just kind of get a map of each of the wineries and just decide which ones you one to hit one after the other, after the other and still focus on having fun, sipping the wines, having a great time. Eventually your palette will mature to a level where it’s going to require you to leave some of the sweet wines alone and go into more complex wines. And this is what I really teach you in my seminars, is to really have fun with wine. When you stop having fun with wine, it really takes away from your ability to really learn about it, but also enjoy learning about it as you continue to drink. So, it can be a combination of both there. Me personally, I just get in the car. I hop and I go from winery to winery and just drink them, taste them and have a good time.

Frank: How do I avoid getting a DWI, when I wine hopping?

Janette: You’re going to avoid that, because any winery and including Sipping Pretty, there is a law. We can only pour two ounces per person per bottle. How you can avoid it is, avoiding the amounts of the bottles that you are going to be consuming and also drinking in the proper order of the wine. So, you never want to start out with a nice bold red and then go backwards to a sweet wine or something like that. The way that the wines are set up and the wineries’ on the table, that order there, is how you want to sip the wines.

Now, you’re only going to get two ounces per bottle per glass, but if you’re sipping eight bottles, because that winery offers eight different types of wine, you may want to stick with the wines that you are familiar with. So, if you are a sweet wine drinker, you may want to stick to that Riesling. Then maybe go to another semi-sweet or maybe go to a nice late harvest sweet red. Stick with the ones that you do like and then maybe try one that you haven’t tried before.

I would not suggest going from bottle to bottle to bottle to bottle, because by the time you get to bottle four, that’s about two, four–that’s eight ounces. That’s a full glass that you’ve sipped and the alcohol volume in each of those wines changes dramatically. So, you can go from eight percent alcohol by volume, all the way up to 15 percent alcohol by volume. So, you will find that if you’re sitting down, you’re socializing and having a good time, by the time you stand up, you’re like, “Whoa, what just happened. I sat here and drank all these wines and now I have to drive.” So, when sticking to the order of the wines and just sticking to two ounces per bottle per glass and just moving on from there.

I know that some are real tasty, but you got to limit yourself when you’re really indulging in so many different wines and different bottles.

Frank: Tell me–

Janette: That will avoid that.

Frank: Tell me about your ideal client?

Janette: My ideal client is everyone, because I love to teach everybody about the world of wine. My younger clientele, I love to teach them how to sip wine, one, without having trails of lipstick all the way around the glass. That is extremely unattractive when you’re in a restaurant or when you’re with your significant other. That’s for my younger wine drinkers. I also like to teach you how to properly handle the glass. You do not want a glass that has a ton of fingerprints on the bowl. That is also extremely unattractive. For my middle-aged palettes, I like to teach them about the different grapes that they haven’t heard of and they haven’t tried before. And for my aged palettes, I like to challenge them. These are my older wine drinkers. I like to challenge them to see how much of a wine snob are you really? I like to give you a wine that’s called the “blind taste testing” and you have no idea what this actual wine or this grape is. I like to have them identify the grapes in the bottle and then also if you’re really, really intrigued or you’re really one that knows a lot about your wine, I have you identify the regions where the wines were produced and then I have you go into the soil. So, ideally my clientele, are the ones I like to work with is a little bit of everybody, because it doesn’t matter if you’re a fresh and new wine drinker or if you’re an aged wine drinker, we have a seminar that is appropriate for all. So, we really like to have fun with everybody.

Dr. Gayle: And Mrs. Wilson could you give us an example of a romantic date that either myself or Frank could kind of propose to our significant others, including wine?

Janette: Including wine. Is this one that you’re trying to do at home or are you thinking of going out to a restaurant? What would be your concept or your scene that you would like to follow?

Frank: I don’t have any money, so I’m staying home.

Janette: Alright, alright. Perfect, perfect. For staying at home, what I would suggest is a nice dinner that you can cook on your own, based on what your specialty meals are. Romantic, you want to have a nice bubble bath. I would suggest a nice sparkling. You can introduce your partner to some rose petals on the floor, that’s trailing his or her way to the rest area, where there’s a nice bubble bath that’s ran and a nice bottle of wine on one end and some candles that can be lit and just creating that special ambience. Once he or she hits that bathroom, that’s going to just totally, one, make their heart melt, and then second, you got a nice great wine that you’re in there and can really enjoy, both of you together and you can take that bubble bath to a whole different level; [that’s for at home] 43:22. Or you can have our chef come in and cook for you and you can have a nice candlelight meal that will have three different entrees and three different wines that pair well. And we will make sure that we clean all the dishes and we clean your kitchen, while you and your partner retire to the upper quarters and we will make sure that we have a very smooth exit from your home. That you can just pretty much feel comfortable with and while you’re off doing your other thing. That’s something that’s very special–

Dr. Gayle: Wow.

Janette: That you can do in your home.

Dr. Gayle: That sounds like the perfect date.

Janette: It is. It is, because you’re in the comfort of your home. If you drink too much, you’re right next to your bed. You don’t have to go too far–

Dr. Gayle: Right.

Janette: But you can also have a little bit of fun while you’re making your way there as well.

Dr. Gayle: Exactly.

Frank: Before we wrap up, would you give me a list of some of your seminar topics?

Janette: Oh sure. One of our seminar topics is the four s’s and that’s focusing on the see, the sniff, the sip and the summarize and that’s just introducing you to the actual bottle. We call that decoding the bottle. That’s one. Another is where we focus on the aroma kits. We will actually have you come in and sniff a specific aroma. So, if I tell you about that you’re drinking this Barolo and you should pick up raspberry. I’m going to give you an aroma. I’m going to reset your palette and introduce you to raspberry and clay soil, which is going to smell totally different from raspberries from your local wine shop that you may get or also your local restaurant or your local grocery store. Those raspberries are going to be a lot more sweeter, a lot more fruitier. Raspberry from clay soil is going to be kind of funky, but also a drier note. So, we have a seminar that way.

We also have seminars that we do here on Thursday’s. They’re free. They’re called BYOZ, bring your own zeno, everyone brings in a bottle of wine. We always ask that it’s at least 80 points and above. And you can get a nice 80 point bottle for $5. It does not have anything to do with the price. But what you do is, you bring your bottles in and you tell us what you like about your wine. Then we provide hors d’oeuvres, glasses and entertainment. We sip your wine, but you’re also able to sip other people’s wine as well. So, that’s kind of like a free wine tasting and we have some seminars that we’re focused and geared more to educating you about the triage, what we call it, and that’s a combination of the climate, the soil, via culture and the great varieties and varietals. Those are the tools that we’re using to help you become certified or help you obtain any sort of level of certification sommelier or wine specialist.

Frank: Got it. Any final thoughts from you, Dr. Gayle?

Dr. Gayle: This is very enlightening Mrs. Wilson. We greatly appreciate it.

Janette: Thank you. Thank you so much for having me.

Frank: You’ve been listening to Frank Relationships with Frank Love and Dr. Gayle. We’ve been joined by wine educator and specialist, Janette Wilson, who’s been educating us on array of issues pertaining to wine.

One more time Janette, please tell our listeners how to reach you.

Janette: You can reach me at sippingpretty.info/ You can reach me on Facebook under sippingprettyconsultantspages or Janette Wilson. Or you can reach me via phone at 410-497-0894. Our clubhouse is located at 7915 Hartford Road, Parksville, Maryland 21234.

Frank: Ha ha. I’ve had a great time talking with such a worldly and knowledgeable wine professional.

Janette: Thank you.

Frank: As always I hope that you’re walking away from this conversation with a heaping, helping of useful information that will help you create a relationship that’s as loving and accepting as possible. Let us know what you thought of today’s show at facebook/relationshipflove, on twitter at @mrfranklove or at franklove.com. Until next time, keep rising, This is Frank Love.

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