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Every episode
The Best 5 Minute Wine Podcast
30 episodes
32 Harvests, Here's the Real Path - Justin Ennis Pt. 3
Ep 354 · Aug 17, 2026 · 6 min
Justin Ennis explains that his path into winemaking didn't run through a four-year degree program, but through 32 harvests of hands-on, ground-up learning that started at age 19 with the least glamorous jobs in the building: cleaning tanks, floors, drains, and barrels. From there, progression came step by step, learning to run the crush pad, organize the barrel room, and operate equipment like pumps, forklifts, and cranes before eventually taking on bigger responsibility. He stresses that intern…
Premium Blend Is Giving Away Product — For the Best Possible Reason
Ep 387 · Aug 15, 2026 · 3 min
Henry Santos of Premium Blend joins Forrest to talk about Raise a Glass for Colombia, the company's earthquake relief campaign. Premium Blend has deep roots in the Colombian community, and just two months before the earthquake they launched Brisa Ardiente, a wine-based Colombian aguardiente created with the community's support. Now they're giving back in a big way. Henry explains that the campaign has grown beyond its original scope: rather than just Colombian restaurants, Premium Blend is chall…
From the Vault: Keith Urban, Golden Road Era Pt. 3 — The Finale
Ep 386 · Aug 15, 2026 · 4 min
Then things get playful: Keith cheerfully ad-libs an Outback Steakhouse tagline ("Crikey, I just threw that one in myself"), before a rapid-fire lightning round turns up Citizen Kane, a love of tattoos, chocolate over vanilla, and his dad as his athletic hero. He signs off by picking Who Wouldn't Wanna Be Me — the same song that opens his show every night — ahead of the Farmhand benefit at the House of Blues in Anaheim. A warm, funny, generous farewell to a genuine star on the rise. Show notes T…
Why Every Winemaker Needs To Travel First - Justin Ennis Pt. 2
Ep 353 · Aug 12, 2026 · 5 min
Justin Ennis dives into the long tradition of international exchange programs in winemaking, where interns and foreign workers move between wineries to share techniques, equipment innovations, and processes that have developed differently across regions. He recalls starting in the cellar at eighteen years old, working alongside people from completely different countries, languages, and backgrounds, and how that experience opened his eyes to how much more there was to learn beyond what he'd seen…
Wine-Based Cocktails, a Cuban Escape — Premium Blend Pt. 1-5
Ep 338 · Aug 11, 2026 · 27 min
What does it take to build a 35-year-old spirits brand from scratch when nobody believes in your product, you have no industry experience, and a liquor license costs seven figures in your market? Ask Gino Santos. Premium Blend Cocktails for one of the most wide-ranging, personal, and genuinely fascinating guest conversations in TB5MWP history. The Business Concept Premium Blend produces wine-based spirits that are legally classified as wine — meaning any venue holding a basic beer and wine licen…
1 Harvest Changed Everything: Freestone Winemaker Justin Ennis's Sonoma Coast Story Pt. 1
Ep 351 · Aug 10, 2026 · 5 min
Justin Ennis, senior director of winemaking for Joseph Phelps Vineyards and the steward of its Freestone brand along the Sonoma Coast, where he's spent the last twenty years shaping the wines. Justin grew up surrounded by wine without ever planning to make a career of it — his grandfather kept a full table, and his mother's family in Healdsburg tended an old field-planted vineyard in the heart of the Russian River Valley. It wasn't until his stepfather, who worked facilities at what's now Hartfo…
Keith Urban: Golden Road Interview — Guitar Heroes & Hidden Tracks Pt. 2
Ep 385 · Aug 8, 2026 · 6 min
Keith talks his TV run on Leno and The View, a fan poll that had him wanting to see him on the big screen (right behind Faith Hill), and previews the next single, Raining on Sunday, written by Radney Foster and Darrell Brown. Keith geeks out over guitar heroes Lindsey Buckingham and Mark Knopfler, his love of Bob Seger, and reveals the surprising story behind But for the Grace of God — co-written with two members of the Go-Go's. A warm, funny, guitar-obsessed snapshot of Keith Urban on the rise.…
New Products, World Cup, Holiday Table: Premium Blend's Next Chapter Pt. 5
Ep 337 · Aug 6, 2026 · 6 min
Thirty-five years. Same 800 number. Still picking up. That's Premium Blend in a nutshell — built on relationships, consistency, and a product that just keeps finding new audiences. In this final episode of the series, Gino Santos gives Forrest a full picture of where the brand is headed and what it looks like at home. Highlights include: A new Aguardiente (Colombian-style spirit) launching just ahead of the FIFA World Cup, with Miami games on the schedule and Premium Blend accounts already linin…
Greets You With… But Hits You in the Face: Inside Wine Drawings Everyone Loves Pt. 6
Ep 375 · Aug 5, 2026 · 6 min
Maryse Chevriere's illustrations — a little figure she simply calls "my little dude." He's intentionally universal, someone anyone can see themselves in, though she'll add a ponytail, a bow tie, or a mustache when a drawing calls for it. Forrest zeroes in on a favorite: a "greets you with… but hits you in the face" illustration featuring the character at a microphone under a spotlight, arms up as if shielding himself. Maryse explains the improv-style thinking behind it — "greets you with" is the…
We Didn't Come Here to Take, We Came Here to Give" — Gino & His Father's American Dream Pt. 4
Ep 336 · Aug 4, 2026 · 6 min
Every great business has a moment when the founder walks into a stranger's establishment and has to sell the dream from scratch. For Gino Santos, that pitch had three parts: increase your margins, keep your customers coming back, and make your wait staff more money — all with just a beer and wine license. In this final installment of the Premium Blend series, Forrest gets the full story: Why Premium Blend launched in plastic bottles — a practical shipping decision when you're self-distributing a…
Certified Som Flashcards to James Beard Award — Maryse Origin Story Pt. 5
Ep 374 · Aug 3, 2026 · 6 min
The series wraps by going back to the beginning. Maryse Chevriere opens with the closure debate and dismantles an old-school myth: you absolutely can have great wine under a screwcap — some of the world's best Rieslings are sealed that way. She gets the confusion, since screwcaps are also a cheaper closure found on inexpensive bottles, but her position is simple: if the wine is good, she doesn't care how it's sealed. Corkscrews have more flair, sure, and she offers a pro tip on the trickier wax-…
Keith Urban: The Golden Road Interview — From the Vault Pt. 1
Ep 384 · Aug 1, 2026 · 6 min
In Part 1, Keith laughs through a surprise call to a bed-and-breakfast in his hometown of Caboolture, Australia (where the locals are more sure about the Crocodile Hunter than the future superstar), talks about flying his mum and dad over for the CMAs, and admits the Aussie beers he still misses back in the States. He opens up about the Farmhand drought-relief broadcast beamed to Australia via satellite, his love of Farm Aid and Willie Nelson, and where his best song ideas tend to strike — the s…
100% Blue Agave in Jalisco — But It's Not Tequila. Premium Blend Product Line Revealed Pt. 3
Ep 335 · Jul 30, 2026 · 6 min
What started as a workaround for the cocktail licensing gap has evolved into something much bigger. Premium Blend's Agave Wine Collection isn't just a tequila substitute anymore — California restaurants are doing bottle service with it, customers are taking shots, and people are drinking it straight because at 48 proof, it's smoother with none of the burn. In this episode, Gino Santos walks Forrest through: The philosophy behind product development — Gino won't sell something he doesn't believe…
Good Legs and Sniffing the Cork: Wine Myths a Somm Wants Gone Pt. 4
Ep 373 · Jul 29, 2026 · 6 min
Maryse Chevriere a five-question, multiple-choice wine quiz, and her answers double as a myth-busting crash course. Why do sommeliers have you taste before pouring the full glass? To check whether the wine is corked or flawed — and, honestly, to catch whether you simply don't like it. Maryse would rather figure that out early, pour the bottle by the glass, and steer you toward something you'll love than watch you pay for a bottle you'll never finish. And that returned bottle needn't go to waste:…
Coast Guard, Cold Milk, and a Cuban Kid's First Taste of America Pt. 2
Ep 334 · Jul 28, 2026 · 6 min
Sandwiches and cold milk. That's what greeted a five-year-old Gino Santos when the U.S. Coast Guard pulled his family off a sinking shrimp boat and brought them ashore in Key West. For a kid who had just spent the crossing crammed into a shrimp hold with his grandmother, it was heaven. That same resilience and hunger would define Gino's path decades later when he and his brother Henry built Premium Blend Cocktails from nothing. In this episode, Gino walks Forrest through: The harrowing details o…
Golden Retriever Energy: Wine Book Throws Out the Snob Rules Pt. 3
Ep 372 · Jul 27, 2026 · 6 min
The best way to learn wine, Maryse Chevriere argues, isn't to read about it — it's to pour two glasses and taste the difference. In this episode she walks Forrest through the drinking games tucked into How to Sound Wine Smart, designed to make abstract concepts click through direct comparison. Think a wine you assumed was sweet suddenly revealing itself as dry when set beside an actually sweet one, a shy grape next to an aromatic Gewürztraminer, or one bottle tasted at first sip, again at thirty…
No Liquor License? No Problem. Premium Blend Cocktails Is Disrupting the Industry Pt. 1
Ep 333 · Jul 23, 2026 · 6 min
Ever wonder why your favorite neighborhood restaurant doesn't serve cocktails? Chances are it comes down to one thing: the liquor license. In many states, a full liquor license can run well into six or seven figures on the open market — making it virtually impossible for small and mid-sized venues to offer a full bar program. That's exactly the problem Gino Santos and his brother Henry set out to solve with Premium Blend Cocktails. Their wine-based spirits are legally classified as wine — meanin…
NYC Wine Bar to San Francisco: How Maryse Cracked the Wine Code Pt. 2
Ep 371 · Jul 22, 2026 · 6 min
Some people are trained into wine. Maryse Chevriere talked her way in on pure enthusiasm — and it turned out to be the perfect qualification. In this episode she tells Forrest Kelly how a manager went to bat for her despite her being "green," echoing the philosophy her chef husband lives by: give him someone hungry to learn over someone he'd have to un-train. From there, Maryse walks through the pivot that shaped her path — leaving New York not because she'd outgrown the wine bar, but because sh…
The Chef Who Turned Cancer Into a Culinary Calling — Quiz Edition
Ep 369 · Jul 21, 2026 · 8 min
Grab your scorecard, wine lovers — Rusty Cellars is popping the quiz on one of the most fascinating guests in show history. Chef Chuck Hayworth spent 35 years in professional kitchens before a rare stomach cancer diagnosis changed everything, launching a private chef career that began when fellow patients in his therapy group asked him to cook for them. In this two-round, ten-question challenge, Rusty tests your memory on Chuck's go-to Niçoise salad dressed with cold-pressed Georgia olive oil, h…
How to Sound Wine Smart — The Author Behind the Book Tells All Pt. 1
Ep 370 · Jul 20, 2026 · 6 min
Maryse Chevriere's wine story doesn't follow a straight line — and that's exactly what makes it worth hearing. In this first installment, the author of How to Sound Wine Smart (out now from Simon Element) tells Forrest how a food-website waiter with an affinity for drinks talked her way into the wine world. Maryse opens up about her three months working the harvest at a Domaine in Alsace — no real paycheck, but all the wine she could drink and a hands-on crash course she calls the best "fall cam…
N. Carolina's Medical Meal Chef Reveals His Last Meal on Earth Pt. 1-6
Ep 347 · Jul 16, 2026 · 30 min
Chef Chuck's 26-year journey from kitchen cook to medical meal chef after a rare stomach cancer diagnosis How cancer treatment forced him to relearn the four basic tastes and rebuild his palate from scratch The difference between medically-ordered diet clients and "longevity" wellness clients Why he stocks healthier snacks like date-almond bites instead of processed convenience food His approach to making healthier "uncrustables" for kids using sourdough, chia, and seasonal fruit The post-COVID…
Back Label - The Payphone Call That Saved Journey's Biggest Hit
Ep 368 · Jul 15, 2026 · 5 min
Before "Don't Stop Believin'" filled stadiums, it lived in a notebook. Jonathan Cain was out of money and out of hope when he called his father from a Los Angeles payphone and asked if he should give up. The advice he got back sat in that notebook for a year — until Cain joined Journey and the band needed one more track for their album Escape. In this episode, we break down how Steve Perry turned a father's encouragement into a masterpiece: why he chose "South Detroit," a place that doesn't exis…
The Comet, the Pizza, the Wine: Chef Chuck's Perfect Last Supper Pt. 6
Ep 349 · Jul 14, 2026 · 4 min
Chef Chuck Hayworth wraps up this conversation by getting personal about why he does what he does — sharing the joy of medical meals and longevity cuisine with people who need it most. He leans into the old Southern saying "you are what you eat," explaining how it shapes every pairing and every plate he creates. He talks about how North Carolina's seasonal diversity, from spring berries to farmers market produce, keeps his menus constantly evolving throughout the year. Then comes the fun part: t…
Boone's Farm at the Drive-In to Château Pétrus — The Wine Coach's Incredible Journey Pt. 1-4
Ep 360 · Jul 10, 2026 · 19 min
Laurie Forster has always used humor to disarm people — it's a skill she traces all the way back to growing up in New Jersey, where you learn fast that a sharp wit is your best defense. On this episode of The Best 5 Minute Wine Podcast, Laurie shares how that instinct, combined with a supply chain degree from Penn State, a high-stakes career in Fortune 100 tech sales, and a terrifying night performing stand-up comedy at the DC Improv, quietly assembled everything she needed to become The Wine Co…
A Wine Tasting at a Rodeo in S. Dakota — It Was Better Than You'd Think Pt. 4
Ep 359 · Jul 9, 2026 · 5 min
Wine tastings at rodeos. The Hank Williams Museum. A first sip of Boone's Farm Strawberry Hill at the drive-in. In the final part of her conversation, Laurie Forster wraps up one of the most entertaining and wide-ranging wine conversations the show has ever hosted — and she saves some of the best material for last. Laurie's corporate tasting work has brought her to venues she never put on her bucket list and wouldn't trade for anything. Through all of it, her mission has never wavered: help peop…
Dinner Guest Who Got It So Wrong, Chef Chuck Had to Step In Pt. 5
Ep 348 · Jul 9, 2026 · 6 min
Chef Chuck's method for finding out why a client is resistant to wine Mocktail and kombucha alternatives for clients avoiding alcohol The cardiovascular benefits of resveratrol in red wine, in moderation Why his tasting pours are kept small — four ounces or less, down to 2.5 oz for dessert wines The real purpose of a wine pairing: accenting the food, not overpowering it A story about a dinner guest who pushed back hard against the chef's fixed wine pairing menu How 30 years in the industry shape…
The Wine Coach Who Turned Hecklers Into Stars of the Show Pt. 3
Ep 358 · Jul 8, 2026 · 5 min
Laurie Forster has performed her wine comedy show Something to Whine About in some of the most iconic entertainment venues in the country — and in Part 3, she walks through exactly what that experience looks like from the stage. Audiences at Carolines on Broadway, Caesars Atlantic City, and the HBO Women in Comedy Festival have all discovered the same thing: wine education is infinitely more effective when everyone is laughing and has four glasses in front of them. The show is built to disarm. G…
Back Label - 1 Take, 1 Payphone, 1 Song That Refused to Die
Ep 361 · Jul 8, 2026 · 5 min
In 1980, Jonathan Cain stood at a payphone on Sunset Boulevard, broke and ready to quit music for good. His father's answer became the seed of the biggest sing-along anthem in rock history. In this Back Label Story, Forrest Kelly traces how that phrase aged in a notebook for a year before Cain joined Journey and the band built "Don't Stop Believin'" around it for the Escape album. Along the way, you'll hear how Steve Perry wrote like a sommelier — capturing a smoky bar room not by how it looked,…
N. Carolina Chef Tasted a Dozen Chardonnays So You Don't Have To Pt. 4
Ep 332 · Jul 7, 2026 · 6 min
Building a tasting menu isn't a weekend project. For Chef Chuck Hayworth of theresortchef.com, the spring menu alone took nearly a year to develop — tasting over a dozen Chardonnays and half a dozen Sauvignon Blancs from across North Carolina before locking in every pairing. Every wine on the menu comes from within 60 to 75 miles of his home base in Boone, the kind of farm-to-table commitment most restaurants only talk about. The spring menu features courses like asparagus, lemon seared trout, s…
She Walked Into a Cooking Class to Meet Men, Left With a Chef Husband Pt. 2
Ep 357 · Jul 7, 2026 · 5 min
Before Laurie Forster became The Wine Coach, she was a Penn State supply chain graduate selling multimillion-dollar inventory planning systems to Fortune 100 executives — and getting quietly humiliated every time a wine list landed on the table. In Part 2 of her conversation, Laurie traces the full arc from corporate boardrooms to Australian vineyards, sharing the chain of decisions that led her to walk away from a six-figure tech career and never look back. Along the way she reveals how a cooki…
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