christina pickard

The Crush: Episode 18!

11.22.2011
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She’s all grown up. It’s graduation day. Episode 18! Now she’s gonna go off and live in London with Christina where the drinking age is 18. Fine then. So. This week we address Thanksgiving wines (you know we had to), reveal some ugly truths about Beaujolais Nouveau, try to understand why New Zealand would want [...]

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Els Jelepins & Superlative Sausages

11.16.2011
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On a very rainy evening, Christina and I arrived to the “town center” of Font-Rubí (really just a building and a sign) to a smiling woman and her young daughter waving warmly to us. This was Gloria Garriga and Berta of Els Jelepins. We all loaded into Gloria’s car, Berta’s violin and all, and carefully [...]

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The Crush: Episode 17!

11.15.2011
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Can you believe it? SEVENTEEN. Episode 17. It’s real. It’s happening. High Altitude people. Not high attitude. OK- well, maybe a little. That’s why you love us! Right? Riiiiiight? OK, cool. But really- we’re chatting about the highest vineyards in the world, the best spitoon ever, all those scientific studies about whether or not red [...]

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A Day of Rioja with Peciña aka The Perfect Visit

11.10.2011
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You never know if a visit with a winemaker or to a winery will end up being thrilling or a snoozefest or somewhere in between. It’s usually the latter. But, SOMETIMES and usually with every big trip I’ve taken, there’s always that one visit that defines the whole thing. The one that you’ll laugh about [...]

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The Crush: Episode 16!

11.07.2011
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Episode 16! Viva España! We couldn’t go to Spain for 10 days and not devote an ENTIRE podcast to our trip now could we? So yeah, that’s what we did. We’re talking Cava, Priorat, vegetal water, BRUTAL wine, horse meatballs, Rioja, Txakoli, trying to speak Catalan, not even remotely figuring out Basque, one of the [...]

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The Basque High Pour

11.04.2011
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So, I think I will start at the end of my trip and go backwards. Sound good? Good. I finished and began my trip in the beautiful city of Barcelona. But, the last bit of the wine trail portion of the adventure was in Basque country. Christina and I spent our final few days together [...]

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The Crush: Episode 15!

11.01.2011
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Can I hear a UNO to the CINCO? And maybe a “hip hop hooray” while you’re at it? Episode 15 is here! We’ve got top tips for planning a wine trip in Europe, favorite hot dog wine, what beverage related books we are currently reading, all things Northwestern wine (hint, hint) and a whole bunch [...]

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The Spitoon of My Dreams

10.28.2011
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I call it the Black Knight. Also- the best spit bucket EVER made. While having a lovely tasting at Raventos yesterday, I met my spitoon boyfriend. I’ve always been on the search for THE best spitting vessel and this is the deluxe model. It has a curve that perfectly fits your hand and a large [...]

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Riding in Cars with Winemakers

10.27.2011
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This is something I do often on trips like these and I thought I’d give you a glimpse from my point of view. We had a full day of visits (and driving and eating and drinking) yesterday- Clos Mogodor, Terroir al Limit and then Laureano Serres. Rene Barbier of Clos Mogador in Gratallops. Hello there [...]

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London: Terroirs

10.23.2011
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I arrived in London yesterday. I did the following things: took one of the best naps of my life, a glorious hot shower and promptly put my “party pants” on to celebrate Christina‘s 30th. Our first stop of the evening was one of her favorite spots in London- the fabulous Terroirs. I finally got to [...]

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