In this fifth episode of our third season we had the pleasure of speaking with Sherrijon Gaspard! Sherrijon is owner of Vina Sympatica. In our conversation we talked about:

• Bubbles, Bubbles and more Bubbles
• Wanting more hours in the day
• The Vina Life
• Natural vs Artificial Flavors
• So much more!

Sherrijon Gaspard’s Bio Ms. Gaspard is the driving force and visionary behind Vina Sympatica. An accomplished client services professional, Ms. Gaspard has extensive experience successfully developing and implementing integrated marketing and client satisfaction programs. As a founding partner of EOS Ventures, LLC, she utilized her talent by fusing both marketing and client satisfaction business principles, as demonstrated by the dynamic combination of her Pepperdine MBA and highly successful marketing and client services experience. Her work experience includes over nineteen years at Alaska Airlines as a flight attendant where she has been creative and resourceful in generating new ideas and solutions applicable to both the in-flight department as well as the labor union. Prior to this, she worked in the entertainment industry, in the development and production of major motion pictures and episodic television shows. She also has in-depth experience in hospitality, team building and enhancing the customer experience while preserving/elevating brand management. A visionary with a keen eye for detail, strong organizational skills and ability to manage multiple projects on time and on budget, high quality deliverables and customer satisfaction are ensured. Effective working both independently and as part of a team, she has an exceptional ability to build strong relationships with internal corporate clients, channel partners and external suppliers. Ms. Gaspard received her B.A. with honors in Women’s Studies and Film Studies from California State University Long Beach in 1996 and an MBA from Pepperdine University’s Graziadio School of Business Management in 2009. The Last Five Sips:

1. If money were no object, what bottle of wine would you splurge on and why? Any wine from Chateau De Gaspard
2. Who would you love to share a bottle with, living or deceased? Gloria Ferrer
3. What are some of the things you do or read to keep up to speed on what is happening in the wine industry? Gary Vaynerchuk, Wine Business, Silicon Valley Bank Wine Report
4. What advice would you give you your 22 year old self? Be Bold and Be Strident
5. When you finish your day and sit down with your favorite glass of wine, what is on your music playlist? Ella Fitzgerald, Etta James, Billie Holiday, Mudbug Brass and Celia Cruz

How you can connect with Sherrijon online and on Social Media: Online: www.vinasympatica.com Facebook: @vinasympatica Instagram: @vinasympatica Twitter: @vinasympatica Email: sherrijon@vinasympatica.com Resource Links: https://www.gloriaferrer.com/ https://www.garyvaynerchuk.com/ https://www.winebusiness.com/ https://www.svb.com/wine-report/ www.mudbugbrass.com/ http://www.ellafitzgerald.com/ https://www.biography.com/people/etta-james-9542558 http://www.billieholiday.com/ https://celiacruz.com/ http://hillersden.com/our-wines/sparkling-sauvignon-blanc/

In this fourth episode of our third season we had the pleasure of speaking with Chef Rhonda Russell! Chef Rhonda is the only African American woman to hold the title of Executive Chef of Wine Arts, in the US. In our conversation we talked about:

• How growing up in Lake Charles, Louisiana has influenced her wines
• Working to teach kids about healthy eating habits
• Tasting Blinfolded!
• Picking Mayhaw’s
• Lodi, CA
• So much more!

Chef Rhonda’s Bio Chef Rhonda Russell is an Executive Chef of Wine Arts, Winemaker and owner of Taste Collection Cellars. As the only African American woman to carry this title in the U.S. she works tirelessly to not only teach, educate and demystify food and wine lovers on unique flavor pairings and combinations she is also passionate about educating children on the love of good food. Chef Rhonda volunteers monthly to teach fourth graders in Houston, Texas how to cook their own food using fresh, healthy and local ingredients. She also just launched the Taste the World subscription box – a subscription box for worldly wine lovers where she can share her extensive wine and food knowledge with the public. Born and raised in the deep food culture of Louisiana, it didn’t take long for Chef Rhonda to discover her passion for food. Many of her best childhood memories revolve around food and days spent absorbing every bit of knowledge from her grandmother’s kitchen and dishes, lots of dishes. With her passion for food ignited, Rhonda pursued formal training at the Culinary Business Academy in Rio Rancho, New Mexico, earning the title of a Certified Personal Chef. Rhonda then began a career as a personal Chef in her city of Houston, Texas, with a focus on Creole and Cajun cooking. Shortly thereafter, she began training at the International Wine Guild, completing her studies in Old World and New World wine regions and earning the title, Executive Chef of Wine Arts and Winemaker. With her advanced knowledge of food and wine, Chef Rhonda enjoys finding ways to bring out the superb taste in a wide array of food through colorful food combinations and inspired wine pairings. Her keen sense of taste brought her to create her own wine collection, Taste Collection Cellars. Chef Rhonda’s passion is to educate and demystify both wine and the food that first sparked her imagination, Creole and Cajun cooking. Chef Rhonda is a member of the world renowned United States Personal Chefs Association, James Beard Foundation, The Wine & Food Foundation of Texas and the International Wine Guild as a Certified Sommelier. She also appeared, as a contestant on Food Network’s “Cooks vs Cons” in 2016 on Season 2. The Last Five Sips:

1. If money were no object, what bottle of wine would you splurge on and why? Any wine produced from Chateau Lafite-Rothschild
2. Who would you love to share a bottle with, living or deceased? Edna Lewis and Leah Chase
3. What are some of the things you do or read to keep up to speed on what is happening in the wine industry? Oxford Companion to Wine and Wine Atlas
4. What advice would you give you your 22 year old self? Walk in your Purpose
5. When you finish your day and sit down with your favorite glass of wine, what is on your music playlist? Lindsey Webster and Damien Escobar

How you can connect with Chef Rhonda online and on Social Media: Online: www.tastebychefrhonda.com Facebook: @tastebychefrhonda Instagram: @taste_by_chef_rhonda Instagram: @tastecollectioncellars Twitter: @tastebychef Resource Links: https://www.southernliving.com/fruits/berries/what-is-a-mayhaw https://www.amazon.com/Oxford-Companion-Wine-Companions/dp/0198705387/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1519146554&sr=8-1&keywords=oxford+companion+to+wine https://www.amazon.com/World-Atlas-Wine-7th/dp/1845336895/ref=la_B000APTSNU_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1519146626&sr=1-1 https://ednalewisfoundation.org http://www.dookychaserestaurant.com/about/chef http://www.lindseywebstermusic.com/ http://dameesco.com/

Show Notes In this episode we had the pleasure of speaking with April Richmond of Sip and Swirl Events.  In this episode we speak to April about:

• The Non-Traditional route of her Sommelier Journey
• How being a Flight Attendant helped her with the Service part of the Sommelier Exam
• What is the Glamp-Out?
• The Soul of the City Wine Festival in Oakland

April's Bio Long Beach, California native, April Richmond, is the Sommelier behind San Francisco Bay Area based,  Sip & Swirl Events, and creator of some the hottest urban wine events in the country. Prior to joining the wine industry, April cut her teeth in the event planning world as one of the Event Planners for Stanford University where she was responsible for managing everything from weddings and press conferences to Passover dinners and staff meetings. Combining her love for wine and event planning, April founded Sip & Swirl Events in 2011 with a goal of bringing together Black winemakers and wine lover's through hosting unique events in unexpected venues. Since then, the company has created a number of signature events including the Soul Of The City Wine Festival, Cupcakes & Corks, The Mystery Wine Tour, and the Wine Country Glamp-Out. The company also offers Sommelier and wine services to a host of private and high-profile corporate clients including Facebook and Ikea USA. The Last Five Sips:

1. If money were no object, what bottle of wine would you splurge on and why? A $30,000 bottle of wine from a Grocery Store in Paris
2. Who would you love to share a bottle with, living or deceased? Oprah
3. What are some of the things you do or read to keep up to speed on what is happening in the wine industry? Taste, Taste, Taste and Wine Industry Insight (Lewis Perdue)
4. What advice would you give you your 22 year old self? Keep Flying and Don't Settle for the Boy! Start your wine journey now!
5. When you finish your day and sit down with your favorite glass of wine, what is on your music playlist? Marcus Johnson, Marcus Anderson, Terrance Blanchard

For more information: www.sipndswirlevents.com The Soul of the City Wine Festival: https://www.sipandswirlevents.com/events-1 http://suisunvalley.com/ http://wineindustryinsight.com/?page_id=2 Social Media: Instagram and Facebook: @sipandswirlevents

In Part 2 of our second episode of Season 3 we continue talking to Dottie about wine, wine and more wine!! Dorothy’s Bio Dorothy J. Gaiter conceived and wrote The Wall Street Journal’s wine column, “Tastings,” from 1998 to 2010 with her husband, John Brecher. She has been tasting and studying wine since 1973. She has had a distinguished career in journalism as a reporter, editor, columnist and editorial writer at The Miami Herald and The New York Times as well as at The Journal. Dottie and John are well-known from their many television appearances, especially on Martha Stewart’s show, and as the creators of the annual “Open That Bottle Night” celebration of wine and friendship, the last Saturday in February. The first bottle they shared was André Cold Duck. We were wine lovers and students of wine for 25 years before we wrote a single word about our very private passion. So it’s still amazing to us to read something like this about ourselves, from George M. Taber’s book, “To Cork or Not to Cork”: “Wine retailers say that they have the greatest impact of any wine critics. After they recommend a wine, it’s hard to keep it in stock.” Or this, from Randall Rothenberg in Advertising Age: “These wine writers have managed to accomplish something most journalists — hell, most businesspeople — can only dream of: creating a bond with their audience.” We certainly couldn’t have imagined being a question on “Jeopardy.” Or having a top-selling wine book. Or Charles Osgood, who called us “the first couple of wine,” interviewing us in our sub-freezing home and getting our electricity restored. Dorothy earned a Bachelor’s Degree in Journalism in 1973 from the University of Missouri School of Journalism for which she gave the commencement address in its centennial year. With her husband, she wrote four books, including “The Wall Street Journal Guide to Wine: New and Improved,” “Wine for Every Day and Every Occasion: Red, White and Bubbly to Celebrate the Joy of Living,” and “Love by the Glass: Tasting Notes From a Marriage.” The Journal nominated Tastings for a Pulitzer Prize. Dorothy and her husband have two daughters who have Bachelor’s degrees. While a student at the University of Missouri, Gaiter served as one of the founding editors of Blackout, a newspaper published by the University of Missouri’s African-American students. Following graduation, Gaiter worked as a reporter at the Miami Herald and an editor at the Miami News before joining The New York Times as a reporter for the week in review section, the metro desk and the style section. In 1984, Gaiter returned to the Miami Herald, where she became the paper’s first African-American female editorial writer and regular Op-Ed columnist. In 1990, Gaiter became a reporter for The Wall Street Journal in Manhattan and by 1996 she had become the Journal’s national news editor in charge of race and urban affairs coverage. Her writing on race was twice nominated for the Pulitzer Prize, and she won awards from the Newswomen’s Club of New York and the National Association of Black Journalists. In 1998, when the Journal launched its Weekend Edition, Gaiter and Brecher, the Journal’s Page One Editor, added the wine column to their regular duties. They became full-time wine columnists in 2000. The Last Five Sips:

1. If money were no object, what bottle of wine would you splurge on and why? Would experience something she has never tasted before in a Nebuchadnezzar (a single bottle that holds 20 bottles of wine)
2. Who would you love to share a bottle with, living or deceased? Her Parents
3. What are some of the things you do or read to keep up to speed on what is happening in the wine industry? Taste, Taste, Taste, The Grape Collective (link below), Seven Fifty (link below), Wall Street Journal
4. What advice would you give you your 22 year old self? Spend time developing and maintaining friendships
5. When you finish your day and sit down with your favorite glass of wine, what is on your music playlist? Zoe Brecher, Miles Davis, Bill Evans

How you can connect with Dottie online and on Social Media: Facebook: @winecouple Online: www.grapecollective.com Email: djgaiter9@aol.com Resource Links: www.grapecollective.com https://daily.sevenfifty.com/ http://www.juliaconey.com/blog/2018/1/3/your-wine-glass-ceiling-is-my-wine-glass-box-an-open-letter-to-karen-macneil-and-the-wine-industry http://www.paumanok.com/history.html Books: https://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_ss_i_1_11?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=dorothy+gaiter&sprefix=dorothy+gai%2Caps%2C193&crid=8BC12QHHIFEO

Show Notes: In this second episode of our third season we had the honor of speaking with Dorothy Gaiter! Dorothy and her husband John have been studying and tasting wine for 45 years!!! In our conversation we talked about:

• Writing about Race and Race Relations throughout her career in the 70’s, 80’s and 90’s
• How wine became a respite
• The first bottle of wine that she shared with her love, John, on their first date
• Napa and Sonoma, how they have changed
• Champagne and Train Travel
• One of the many books she and John wrote, Love by the Glass: Tasting Notes From a Marriage
• So much more!

Dorothy’s Bio Dorothy J. Gaiter conceived and wrote The Wall Street Journal's wine column, "Tastings," from 1998 to 2010 with her husband, John Brecher. She has been tasting and studying wine since 1973. She has had a distinguished career in journalism as a reporter, editor, columnist and editorial writer at The Miami Herald and The New York Times as well as at The Journal. Dottie and John are well-known from their many television appearances, especially on Martha Stewart's show, and as the creators of the annual "Open That Bottle Night" celebration of wine and friendship, the last Saturday in February. The first bottle they shared was André Cold Duck. We were wine lovers and students of wine for 25 years before we wrote a single word about our very private passion. So it’s still amazing to us to read something like this about ourselves, from George M. Taber’s book, “To Cork or Not to Cork”: “Wine retailers say that they have the greatest impact of any wine critics. After they recommend a wine, it’s hard to keep it in stock.” Or this, from Randall Rothenberg in Advertising Age: “These wine writers have managed to accomplish something most journalists -- hell, most businesspeople -- can only dream of: creating a bond with their audience.” We certainly couldn’t have imagined being a question on “Jeopardy.” Or having a top-selling wine book. Or Charles Osgood, who called us “the first couple of wine,” interviewing us in our sub-freezing home and getting our electricity restored. Dorothy earned a Bachelor’s Degree in Journalism in 1973 from the University of Missouri School of Journalism for which she gave the commencement address in its centennial year. With her husband, she wrote four books, including “The Wall Street Journal Guide to Wine: New and Improved,” “Wine for Every Day and Every Occasion: Red, White and Bubbly to Celebrate the Joy of Living,” and “Love by the Glass: Tasting Notes From a Marriage.” The Journal nominated Tastings for a Pulitzer Prize. Dorothy and her husband have two daughters who have Bachelor’s degrees. While a student at the University of Missouri, Gaiter served as one of the founding editors of Blackout, a newspaper published by the University of Missouri’s African-American students. Following graduation, Gaiter worked as a reporter at the Miami Herald and an editor at the Miami News before joining The New York Times as a reporter for the week in review section, the metro desk and the style section. In 1984, Gaiter returned to the Miami Herald, where she became the paper’s first African-American female editorial writer and regular Op-Ed columnist. In 1990, Gaiter became a reporter for The Wall Street Journal in Manhattan and by 1996 she had become the Journal’s national news editor in charge of race and urban affairs coverage. Her writing on race was twice nominated for the Pulitzer Prize, and she won awards from the Newswomen’s Club of New York and the National Association of Black Journalists. In 1998, when the Journal launched its Weekend Edition, Gaiter and Brecher, the Journal’s Page One Editor, added the wine column to their regular duties. They became full-time wine columnists in 2000. The Last Five Sips:

1. If money were no object, what bottle of wine would you splurge on and why? Would experience something she has never tasted before in a Nebuchadnezzar (a single bottle that holds 20 bottles of wine)
2. Who would you love to share a bottle with, living or deceased? Her Parents
3. What are some of the things you do or read to keep up to speed on what is happening in the wine industry? Taste, Taste, Taste, The Grape Collective (link below), Seven Fifty (link below), Wall Street Journal
4. What advice would you give you your 22 year old self? Spend time developing and maintaining friendships
5. When you finish your day and sit down with your favorite glass of wine, what is on your music playlist? Zoe Brecher, Miles Davis, Bill Evans

How you can connect with Dottie online and on Social Media: Facebook: @winecouple Online: www.grapecollective.com Email: djgaiter9@aol.com Resource Links: www.grapecollective.com https://daily.sevenfifty.com/ http://www.juliaconey.com/blog/2018/1/3/your-wine-glass-ceiling-is-my-wine-glass-box-an-open-letter-to-karen-macneil-and-the-wine-industry Books: https://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_ss_i_1_11?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=dorothy+gaiter&sprefix=dorothy+gai%2Caps%2C193&crid=8BC12QHHIFEO