Juno Couch:a luxurious seating area where artists may gather during Juno Weekend and exchange opinions, questions and minor insults. All for the entertainment of music fans everywhere. Music can also be played from the stage conveniently located right next to the Couches.
Just for the record, the Juno Couch only happens when the awards are hosted in Alberta. It’s been co-hosted by Jim Cuddy of Blue Rodeo – except for this year.
Year one was in the bar lobby of the Hotel MacDonald, Year two was in a restaurant at the base of the Calgary Tower and Year Three was on the streets of Calgary.
Just over a week ago, Edmonton hosted the Junos Awards. Right across the street from the Juno home base was CKUA Radio.
A perfect home for the Juno Couch because we already had two couches and a performance area.
Jim Cuddy was playing Juno Cup hockey to raise funds for Music Counts—Canada’s music education charity.
Jim made a guest appearance from the rink via The Net.
My co-hosts this year were Tom Wilson (Blackie and the Rodeo Kings) and Dan Mangan.
Guests include
Angelique Francis
Digging Roots
Shawn Hall (The Harp and Axe)
Jon Dore
Shakura S’Aida
The Weather Station
Marc Jordan and Amy Sky
CKUA Hosts
Holger Petersen
Cam Hayden
Kate Stevens
Marek Tyler
Grant Stovel
Kerry Clarke
This podcast is an edited combination of guest comments over the two-hour show. Best exchanges on the day!
Guests – Davin De Kergommeaux (author/whisky specialist) and distillery co-founder James Lester
Davin De Kergommeaux – Author & Whisky Specialist
DAVIN DE KERGOMMEAUX is an independent expert who has been writing, talking and teaching about whisky in all its forms and flavours for two decades.
DAVIN DE KERGOMMEAUX
He is the world’s leading authority on Canadian whisky and has been called “Canada’s unofficial whisky ambassador” as well as being named one of the most influential Canadians in Food and Drink by The Globe and Mail in 2016. Davin is the founder and chairperson of the prestigious Canadian Whisky Awards!
James Lester – co-founder Sons of Vancouver Distillery
Jenna Diubaldo Richard Klaus James Lester
Sons of Vancouveris a small distillery on Vancouver’s North Shore. It was born out of a young, foolhardy desire to follow passions and contribute to a growing community of independent distillers. Best known for the ever-popular No. 82 amaretto, the distillery is now running a growing whisky program and is very excited to bring super flavourful rye whiskies to the Canadian market.
Sons of Vancouver has shifted into whisky-making in a big way, with the goal of changing the standard for rye whisky in Canada. After becoming the first craft distillery to win ‘Canadian Whisky of the Year’ at the 2023 Canadian Whisky Awards, achieving this goal never seemed so possible.
They lead with big flavours, and high-rye expressions, and prefer to bottle their whiskies at barrel-proof. By allowing the whisky itself to guide the blend, each bottling is unique and provides an outlet to highlight the many facets of rye grain achieved through fermentation, distillation, and maturation.
Currently, they release whisky in limited quantities, 2 to 3 times per year. In the very near future, Sons of Vancouver will have whisky on shelves much more often. Until then, sign up for their whisky mailing list to keep current on new whisky releases, tasting events, and more!
Watch out for these releases:
Summer Road Trip Across the Mid West
Marshmallows over a Campfire
Cigarettes on a Leather Jacket
PALM TREES AND A TROPICAL BREEZE
‘2023 Canadian Whisky of the Year – Canadian Whisky Awards
The 3rd limited-release whisky from Sons of Vancouver Distillery, this 100% rye whisky was aged in used American oak, blended and transferred into bourbon barrels, and finally, rested in Virgin Islands rum casks. The rum undertones provide breezy tropical vibes that complement the natural rye spice perfectly.
The nose hits with pit-roasted pineapple and vanilla cigarillo, continuing with pine humidor and under-ripe banana on the palate. It finishes with allspice and demerara sugar, leaving you dreaming of daiquiris on the beach.
One of the founding owners of SOV, James Lester started the distillery alongside best friend Richard Klaus and partner Jenna Diubaldo
Best of all they also run a 5-day Whisky making school.
First things first – a large thank you to everyone who promoted the Couch.
The crew assembled the elements. The actual studio crew on the performance floor and up above working the video and audio.
Thanks to Grant, Dan Mangan, Tom Wilson, Vish Khanna, Jasmine Vickaryous, the hosts who joined me on The Couch, the artists who were guests and the assembled audience.
Also, Gino from Rigolettos who was fantastic and Matt Thirlwell from Vintage West arranged specialty wines for all in the green room.
And what a treat to meet and work with Alex Hall!!
OK…Here’s the deal for Saturday’s show. CHECK OUT THE PLAYLIST!!
We’ll celebrate the birthday of Wicked Wilson Pickett.
Chuck Berry. Died On March 18, 2017
NEW music from
Steven Stills, Graham Nash Norah Jones and Lucas Nelson, Matt Anderson, Rufus Wainwright and Brandi Carlile, Marc Jordan, Ron Sexsmith, The Wood Brothers, Krasno, Moore Project with Cory Henry, Jill Barber, Ryan McMann, Natalie McMaster, Donnell Leahy and Rhiannon Giddens.
Throw in classics from The Beatles, Bahamas, Dylan, Neil Young, The Blasters, Rickie Lee Jones, Tedeschi Trucks Band, John Fogerty.
It’s Juno weekend and we’ll be Live on the Juno Couch on Sunday BUT FIRST, it’s the Stew on Saturday.
THE SHOW
We’ll salute the brilliance of David Lindley and Wayne Shorter.
The first-hour donor suggestion was “curate as you see fit, maybe keep it bluesy and work in a few live tracks”
Great idea.
The bluesy tracks are Shakura S’Aida, Weather Report, Marc Jordan, and Amy Sky,
Live tracks from Los Lobos, Elton John, David Lindley, and Jackson Browne.
New music from Van Morrison, Gord Downie and Bob Rock, Jenn Grant, and Amy Milan, Peach and Quiet, Dan Mangan, Wood bros, John Fogerty, Tami Neilson, Cat Stevens, and Ron Sexsmith.
Remembering David Lindley and Wayne Shorter through Weather Report, Steely Dan, Linda Ronstadt, Joni Mitchell, and Don Henley.
Wayne Shorter was a star in the jazz world. Playing with Miles Davis, Art Blakey, and the Jazz Messengers, Weather Report. He also felt comfortable enough to join other artists as a sideman. Wayne and Joni Mitchell were best friends, Steely Dan’s Aja Album for one, and Don Henley’s Grammy-winning The end of the Innocence.
David Lindley was the sideman’s sideman. He could play anything with strings and had the ability to cover what needed to be done, so that others playing with him had the creative freedom to improvise. He was also blessed with a killer dry wit.
Yes, we’ll play Jackson Browne and David working together but Running on Empty will be a live track from a tour of Spain and the album Love is Strange.
Also, David Lindley with Ry Cooder from Bop ‘til you Drop and Linda Ronstadt and Heart Like a Wheel.
SUNDAY I’ll be Hosting the fourth annual Juno Couch– From 1-3 (Mtn)Liveat CKUA Radio and video broadcast online via Facebook at
Headline – Okanagan Crush Pad becomes Haywire Wines. Guest is Christine Coletta.
THE SHOW
Tasting Room Radio began in 2007 in a studio in a barn on the Naramata Bench.
I announced to myself and the audience that I had a lot to learn but each interview and tasting would take me closer to the promised land.
One of the very first interview friends I made was Christine Coletta who had just launched Okanagan Crush Pad with her husband Steve Lornie.
Christine Coletta
I knew of Chris because of her leadership at Coletta and Associates. Her specialty was to market new and established wines to an ever-growing base of wine fans. The wineries needed a voice to speak for them. Christine was that voice.
In our first interviews, Christine talked about Okanagan Crush Pad and the need for small Indy wineries to have a facility to access when harvest came. It was a huge success and much-needed in the Okanagan.
At the same time, Chris and Steve (and their wine friends) started to groom, plant, and plan for their own wines under the Haywire label starting with the Switchback Vineyard in Summerland. Certified Organic in 2015.
The first 6 concrete tanks arrived in 2011 well ahead of the concrete “movement” in the valley.
Pinot Noir, Gamay, Pinot Gris, and Chardonnay love the Okanagan soil and the concrete allows them to be the lively & vibrant style of wine the Haywire team aims to make. Key to the popularity of Haywire wines is the winemaker Matt Dumayne.
Matt and Christine
So, now we come to 2023 and lots of changes at Okanagan Crush Pad.
First, the name is now changed to Haywire. The look of the Haywire release has changed as well… New labels and colors.
A modern tasting room has been constructed right next door to the crush pad and the cellar.
The Haywire winemaking facility is also the home for other unique wine labels that found a place at Okanagan Crush Pad.
Free Form, Narrative, Bizou & Yukon, and the new Garnet Valley Ranch. (more on Garnet Valley later)
While it was great talking to Chris about the name changes and new facility at Haywire it also gave us an opportunity to do what we most love doing…tasting and talking about new Haywire releases. Here’s the line-up!!
2021 Haywire Pink Bub
2021 Haywire Switchback Pinot Gris
2021 Haywire Chardonnay 2021 Haywire Gamay Rosé
2021 Haywire Gamay
2021 Haywire Pinot Noir
pinot-noir2
Pink
Gamay
Chardonnay
Gamay Rose
Check out the new Haywire website – for all the experiences available.
UNSPECIFIED – CIRCA 1976: Photo of Band (Photo by Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images)
Well, look at that – March. The first weekend in March.
What’s next? Longer days and nights? New White wines for Spring? Birds chortling in the trees?
YUP!!!
Well, let’s celebrate with 2 hours of hand-picked music.
NEW music from Taj Mahal and Ry Cooder, Van Morrison, Nathaniel Rateliff and NightSweats, Bob Dylan U2,
Allison Russell and Brandi Carlile.
Classic tracks from Mellencamp and Springsteen, John Fogerty, Colin James, Queen and Bowie, BB King and Eric Clapton, Toots, Bahamas, and Cedrick Burnside. Leslie Feist. Corb Lund and Jerry Rafferty!!
Live tracks from Tedeschi Trucks, Sheryl Crow, and Joan Osborne.
And we remember the life and songs of Richard Manuel of The Band. Lost on this day in 1986.
“Richard Manuel’s is the first voice you hear on the first Band album Music from Big Pink. After a Robbie Robertson guitar intro that sounds as if it’s being fed through Garth Hudson’s Lowry organ at its most distorted, his aching baritone launches into the first reproachful line of `Tears of Rage`. As it arches over `arms`, you can’t help thinking of Ray Charles, the singer who more than any other shaped this unlikely white soul voice from Stratford, Ontario. And by the end of the first chorus you realize why, in an almost unspoken way, Manuel’s fellow Band vocalists Levon Helm and Rick Danko always looked upon him as the group’s `lead` singer.”
–Barney Hoskyns
“Like the first bottles released in 2012, all are limited-production, with quirky names and labels derived from photos taken by Royale. There’s Call Me, a 2016 Zinfandel from the renowned Stuhlmuller vineyard in Sonoma, California; the label features a rotary phone.
… and Below the Surface, a 2013 Tempranillo from Rioja, Spain, which features a photo of entwined bodies and is a tribute to the unsung heroes behind every bottle: the growers, printers, graphic designers, shippers, importers. “It’s about all that effort that we forget about when we just grab a bottle off the shelf,” Royale says. “This is a tip of the hat toward what goes into making a great bottle of wine.”
Brad Royale is Head Sommelier for the Concorde Calgary restaurant group with venues ranging from pinball bars, to bbq smokehouses to very fine dinning at Model Milk, Bridgette Bar, to the restaurant of the year, Major Tom. Recently, he was part of the team that opened a new restaurant Barbarella.
Brad Royale
Kitten Swish
Brad started ‘Swish in 2012 as a micro-negotiant company. He works with small quantities of wine from estate producers They make the wine, Brad makes a blend from their stock, the team bottles it at the winery under the Kitten Swish label. Brad has wine imported into BC and Alberta.
The most recent was Piquette with Rhys Pender MW from Little Farm but he has bottled wines from Hungary (with John Szabo MS), USA, Spain, Germany, France, and British Columbia ( hopes to make a wine from the island next year). And has a hand in designing the label artwork. www.kittenswish.com
Little-Farm-Kitten-Swish-Piquette
Tomato Wheels
A brand new project with a partner based in Vancouver, Moirae Choquette. She heard the Kitten Swish story on a podcast and reached out to Brad to help her design her own label. She wanted Lambrusco! (Don’t we all) Brad helped her find a fourth-generation vineyard in Emilia Romagna, Italy and the wine began it’s journey.
A brand new order of that Lambrusco is landing right now in Alberta. www.tomatowheels.com
(Little Farm/Kitten Swish Piquette)
Kitten-Swish
Brad talks about his current “been crushing” list
– Belargus Anju Blanc (bought the Jo Pithon estate and making hard Chenin)
– Marchesseau Bourguiel (been crushing Loire Valley a lot in general lately…wicked value)
– Domaine Wachau Gruner Veltliner Kellerberg (available in BC to, sick stuff)
– Aubert Chardonnay (recent visit to Vegas my mission was to taste as much as possible…it’s good to have goals)
We cover a lot of ground over the course of this TRR – some of these wines will be harder to find or access from outside Alberta BUT they are well worth the seeking!!
Unlike anything else, you’ll see and taste in your local store. Promise.
There’s really no such thing as an overnight success!
Dreams can be experienced but it takes the work of time to find the crossroads between dreams and reality.
The Bros. Landreth dreamt of making music, just like their Dad Wally in Winnipeg.
Wally wanted that too because he kept spinning vinyl at home, like a music teacher. But no schlock..only the good stuff.
Little Feat, The Eagles, Neil Young, CS&Nash, and Bonnie Raitt.
Years later the Brothers are playing at the Winnipeg Folk Festival when they were approached by the headliner – none other than Bonnie Raitt.
She asked if they would send her songs to record because they reminded her of her friend Lowell George from Little Feat.
David and Joey Landreth wrote and rejected many songs. They felt they weren’t up to Bonnie’s standards but eventually – again years later – they sent a song they had recorded called… Made up mind.
Just so happens it’s the same song Bonnie heard them play and she said – that’s the song.
Two years later the boys hear from friends in Nashville that Bonnie is recording that song and then she makes it the first single off of Just Like That.
Both album and song go on to win Grammys this year and The Bros. Landreth have become “a thing”.
Because in the music world such stories are told again and again and just to get the story straight, here’s a discussion with David Landreth about those Grammy moments and the rest of the story. Well done boys. FYI Bros. Landreth will get to thank Bonnie personally when they play the Byron Bay Festival in Australia April 6-10
Meet the Makers / Winemakers from Culmina & Laughing Stock
THE SHOW
It was just another Friday morning when the happy invitation came in from the delightful Lindsay Kelm.
Come celebrate the harvest season with Culmina Family Estate and Laughing Stock Vineyards.
Join Winemakers Jean-Marc Enixon and Sandy Leier for an elegant afternoon sampling their latest releases and chatting about the 2022 harvest. We also have a couple of special sneak peeks in store, including the unreleased 2020 vintage of Laughing Stock’s signature Portfolio, and 2017 vintage of Culmina’s flagship Bordeaux blend, Hypothesis
Sandy Leier–Winemaker Laughing Stock (Naramata)
Here’s what I knew. I hadn’t spoken to Sandy Leier for years. At the time she was working with the legend Howard Soon at Sandhill and Calona. In 2018, after 15 years as a great team, she took over from the departing Howard. Then a series of projects with Andrew Peller, Gray Monk and Gretzky Wines. Then, this year, a major move to Senior Winemaker at Laughing Stock on the Naramata Bench. It’s the home of seriously great wines including a Syrah that makes hearts flutter and their red blend Portfolio. Sandy brings six wines to taste and discover.
(List below)
(tdm and Sandy Leier)
Jean-Marc Enixon – Culmina Winemaker – (Oliver)
(tdm and Jean-Marc)
Jean-Marc Enixon’s wine career took flight in Toulouse, France. JM gained international experience in Sonoma County, China, then back to France at Chateau Puy Guilhem in Saillans as senior winemaking director.
At the suggestion of his wife saying something to the effect of “how about making some new world wine”
Jean-Marc joined the Culmina Team as Vineyard Manager and Winemaker in 2016. Today he pours 7 wines.
As good as he is, perhaps his greatest accomplishment is welcoming two new children to the family while in the Okanagan.
