Episode 503 - Regenerative Agriculture, Sustainability & Winemaking with Love

We’re continuing with winemaking for this episode but with a twist. I met Corlea Fourie at a wine dinner and had no idea of the winemaker she was and the accolades she’s received. It’s always better this way for me as I won’t get nervous and go completely fan girl haha. The story of how she got into winemaking is heart warming and learning more about her role and how she does things at Bosman Family Vineyards is, in a word, fascinating!! I got the chance to spend a day learning about their vineyard and their regenerative practices and I want to share that with you all, my audience as there is a lot of talk about this as it relates to what we eat and drink. Seeing first hand their efforts of how to work in a more sustainable and regenerative way, how they give back to their community at large…. Well let me stop talking about it and let you listen to Corlea tell you all about this in her words.

Semester Abroad Regenerative Agriculture, Sustainability & Winemaking with Love

Episode 502 - Wine Makers in South Africa

I gave a little teaser at the end of last week’s episode, mentioning champagne. Any other region outside of champagne must call their sparkling wine something else, even if they use the same method. I had the pleasure of meeting Andiswa Mapheleba at a wine dinner. She mentioned that she brought some of the wine she made to the dinner, the sparkling wines she made! This young black African woman is in the wine industry, but making sparkling wines at a major producer in South Africa?! Clearly we had to talk more. In today’s episode you’ll hear Andiswa’s story of how she got into wine, sparkling wine, and what’s going on in the South African wine industry right now. Enjoy!

Semester Abroad - Wine Makers in South Africa

Episode 501 - Intro to South African Wine

My first guest of this season will speak to hospitality and give us a good intro into the region as she is international Sales Marketing Manager of Kanonkop Wine Estate. From literally the second I met her, I was drawn to Deidre Taylor. I heard her laugh, then she smiled and I said, Who is that? I need to meet her. So I did and she is fantastic. A marketing dynamo she’s been called in fact. Can have a conversation with anyone and lives to tell you about South Africa wine & wine culture, specifically Kanonop. Starting off our season with the warmest South African welcome and talking about the hospitality they are known for, here is Deidre Taylor.

Intro to South African Wine

Season 5 WSD Semester Abroad South Africa

Do you have a bucket list? What’s on your bucket list? Is it a list of things you want to achieve before you turn 50? Or a list of places you want to visit? Mine was a list of places I wanted to visit and at the top of that list was wine country in South Africa. Well guess what ladies and gentlemen, that dream came true!! Goal achieved, I visited Stellenbosch, South Africa this year and tasted the most amazing wines and met some of the kindest people! Speaking of kind people, the hospitality in South Africa is top notch!

Episode 204

When you think of rosé, you probably think of sunny skies, a sandy beach, or maybe a terrasse with ‘the girls’. But what about drinking rosé in the middle of winter paired with an amazing Christmas dinner you just prepared for your family? Well, the owner of La Fete du Rosé, Donae Burston thought just that. In this episode, Donae reinvents the summer wine and tells us how he developed a new Rosé lifestyle.

Episode 204 - La Fete du Rosé

Thank you for listening to Wine School Dropout, you can find more info on Donae Burston and his wine at his website: La fete du Rose.com On Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook as well, @lafeterose. And his personal Instagram is @ThurstonBurstonIII, his nod to Gilligan's Island.

In last season’s episode Wine Language, we talked about the different words wine professionals use to discuss and describe wine. But are those words actually helpful?

Today we talk with fellow Wine Educator Curly Haslam-Coates about these words and what people really want to know about wine. Haslam-Coates shares her unique approach to teaching. Live from Tasmania, here is Curly Haslam-Coates.

Episode 203 - Take out the Scary

Curly Haslam-Coates

You can find more info and follow Curly on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter @vintageTasmania. And you can follow us on IG @wineschooldropout.

Episode 202 - Are You Living Your Best Life?

Ever think you’re not living your best life? That You can and should be doing more to live up to your full potential? Or maybe you’re just bored where you are. This week's guest Namratha found herself in a similar situation and wanted to do something about it. It wasn’t easy and it wasn’t pretty but she made the decision to gain new skills, including learning French, to see where that would take her. Well, it took her all the way to Bordeaux. Listen as Namratha recounts her steps from her wife life in India, to her wine life in Bordeaux.

Wine School Dropout Episode 202

Namratha Prashanth of Solicantus

You can find more info about Namratha and Solicantus at Solicantus.fr.

Follow us @wineschooldropout on IG.

Season Two is here!!

Hi, I’m Tanisha, host of Wine School Dropout, a wine podcast hosted and produced entirely by women of color. Since the end of our first season, the wine world has been shaken up by questions about representation in the wine industry for BIPOC. Thank you to all those who donated over the last few months to help us keep the show going. We funded Season 2 thanks to your support!!

Episode 201 - No, You’re a Robot

The Story of Billionaires Row

Starting a business is hard. Starting a business in another country and another language is even harder. But that didn’t stop this duo from taking an idea and turning it into a lifestyle brand. Patrick and William are two American men that enjoyed the finer things in life and thought, why not do more with this?

A chance meeting on a flight to France, and a champagne and cognac brand was born. Here’s the story of William Benson and Patrick Ductant of Billionaire’s Row.

You can find more info on Billionaire’s Row on Instagram @billionaires row. Twitter @billionaires row. If you want to find out more about the product or purchase the product, you can go to billionairesrow.com. You can also visit reserve bar.com, which is one of the top wine and spirits for purchase and check out their social: @WilliamLBenson and @PatrickDuctant on Instagram.

This podcast was produced by Studio Ochenta. Hosted by me, Tanisha Townsend. Our executive producer is Lory Martinez, our sound editor is Luis Raul Lopez Levi. Our theme was done by Gabriel Dalmasso. Music is by Makaih beats. Our art is by Tiffanie Delune. Follow us @wineschooldropout on IG.

Wine School Dropout Season 2 is on hold

After an amazing Season 1 full of interesting topics and questions answered, we were excited to bring you a Season 2 after a short break. But then, the entire world and our lives took an entirely different direction that we never saw coming.

Our days are now spent locked in our apartments, distancing ourselves from friends and loved ones and trying to deal with this new normal. As it stands, we cannot make it to the studio to continue production and recording our new season, nor can we release Season 1 in French as we had previously planned. We’ve put everything on hold now as we think about and deal with the pandemic that is currently affecting all of our lives. During this time, please feel free to binge listen to all 8 epidsodes of Season 1, share the podcast with your friends, and leave a review. You’re home drinking wine, why not learn a little more about it as well?

To those on the front lines of this, We at Wine School Dropout appreciate you and applaud all of your efforts. To those that have experienced this first hand, we are sorry and we sympathize with you during this time.

It is our hope at WSD that you stay safe and healthy and we look forward to toasting a glass outside again when this is behind us.