Hey, this is the Barrel to Bottle, The Binny's Podcast crew, jumping into your feed with a bonus episode. This is all about the Wine Expo coming up. I'm Greg Versh, I do communications at Binny's. I'm Pat Brophy, Spirits. Hi, I'm Kristen, I do wine education. We have an extra guest with us today, Barb Steadman. Hey. What do you do? I'm Assistant Director of Wine Sales here for Binny's Beverage Depot. I help with wine events and marketing, little bit of education and wine merchandising. So part of the wine events that's coming up is our big wine expo. Part of it, yeah. There's going to be some terrific content in this podcast bonus episode extra, but also it's an ad for the wine expo. Thank you. So why should people go to the wine expo? So it is becoming the biggest and best wine event for Binny's at our stores or offsite. We're looking for 1,500 to 2,000 people to come join us at Arlington Park International racecourse. We're looking for about 400 to 500 wines from all over the world at all price points, but definitely a focus on higher end offerings and new releases. Also have some special guests featuring seminars, presenting special wines, special gadgets we've never featured before in our stores, and overall just a really exciting wine experience. Question, special gadgets? Yeah, what is that? My hand shot right up. Well, if you remember from maybe three, four years ago when we started talking about the Coravin Unit, we're looking at a couple of things that are that new and exciting in the wine gadget world. We're going to hope to feature some of those, but we're reaching out to them now. Cool. That's pretty great. Yeah. Kind of like you've seen it here, you see it here first at Binny's. I hope so. Yeah. Okay. Sounds expensive. Is this an expensive expo? No, sorry. Your ticket is only $50 per person. However, this year, we are also offering a bonus VIP ticket that's an enhanced experience for $75. Enhanced experience, eh? Now you have my attention. I bet I do. That's why he's in a blue shirt, you know? So what do I get from an extra $25? Extra $25 gets you easier and expedited early access to the show. So the general admission is at 1 o'clock. VIP admission will be at 1230. So priority check. Priority check-in allows you to come on in, get your coat checked, get the lay of the land, get a sneak peek on all the exciting wine tasting tables, as well as immediate entrance to the VIP exclusive lounge upstairs. Do I get to ride a horse? There will be, unfortunately, no horses on site. We will be featuring some new things in our special Rose feature, Rose Garden, that is hopefully going to be a focus on either spritzers or maybe a Frosay. We're not sure yet, but everything is up for debate right now. We want to do more fun, inclusive, creative things with this. It's not just boring old grandpa's Napa Valley cab. Wait, wait, wait. Look at Pat. He's pink. He is brosay. Ginger brosay. So details to come, but it's going to be a lot of fun. We were there last year. The Binny's Barrel to Bottle crew was there and we were recording questions, most of which never saw the light of day, and we're going to answer them on this bonus episode. But first, we actually had a guest at last year's expo, and we're going to get them on the line now as a special micro podcast guest spot within this bonus extra episode. How many different names can you give one podcast? So, we called up special guest Anthony Mueller, Barb, take it away. Anthony, are we bothering you in gorgeous Northern California wine country right now? No, it's a little overcast, but it's still around 65 degrees. It's all good. A little more than the Arctic blast against us right now. Yeah, a little more pleasanter. So, Anthony Mueller is the brand newest addition to the reviewing team at The Wine Advocate. Congratulations. Thank you so much. We understand that you'll be covering categories of Washington State and South African wines. Is that true? That's fantastic. That's a pretty good beat. How'd you square up that beat? Is that like at the guy at Wrigley Field, who sells concessions, you have to start by selling frosty chocolate milkshakes at October, and then you're going to work your way up to Hey Bud Light at some point? I suppose so. I put my head down and did make that in. I've been in the sawmill industry now for a couple of times, I've been feeding wine beverage for over 10 years, or over 20 years now. It's one of those things where I kept getting better and better jobs, and ultimately, I needed to surround myself with a better wine community, being born and raised in Phoenix. There's a lot of cool things happening, but I just needed to surround myself with a really, really tight-knit wine professional community in the Bay Area, where it's pretty much the only option that I was really looking at, to surround myself with some really serious heavy hitters in the wine profession. Just did my thing. We're all super jealous of you. Yeah, it's a cool gig. What would you say, Anthony, is your most prestigious line on your resume? I come from a pretty prolific restaurant background. A few restaurant spotlights that kind of jump out. Tricky restaurants in Michigan, wonderful, beautiful restaurants. Seen as we had world-winning chefs there, a massive monster buying list, bigger than what I worked with when I was at the French Laundry. Tarbell's Restaurant in Arizona, just fantastic staff. Did you just name the French Laundry as not your proudest restaurant? No, no, no, no. French Laundry is up there for sure, absolutely. Okay, cool. Yeah, French Laundry in Neonville, of course, and Tarbell's Restaurant in Phoenix, Arizona. Also, like that in Engelmuck, it's an honor to be a part of that history for the three years I was there, really, really cool spot. So Anthony, you joined us last year as a special guest and seminar presenter. Did you get a good feel for what the event was like and what was your favorite part of it? That's a great question. Yeah, I really enjoyed the expo last year. It was really amazing. I didn't realize how big the venue is. It's a massive venue. I got to run a small little panel on one of the Engelmuck and the history of Engelmuck with wines going back to the 80s for that. It was really, really special. With that, there was a lot of great things going on. There was a lot of great wines to be shown and tasted. And I thought it was really, really well put together and set up. What do you think folks here in Chicago are going to get the most out of the experience this time? I've talked a little bit about the added features. If you're somebody that's looking to buy a ticket and on the fence, what's going to change your mind? I think the ability to really go to one area and try all these different wines and be able to possibly even get into these seminars and learn from the pros themselves. I think it's really amazing. Barb, you said we have some pretty amazing seminars on the schedule this time. What seminars do we have? Well, the most important one will be hosted by Anthony himself here, who is going to take us through his method for scoring wines. Do you want to talk about that for a second? Yeah. So here at the Wine Advocate, we have a strict rule on transparency. We don't take it like any promotions or advertisements, everything we do, we do purely on our own. And so if someone tries to hand you a thousand bucks, say, hey, I won a little bit more, we have a higher score, we're not going to do that. So it's basically looking at the wine, understanding what it is. The elegance, the balance, the finesse, the finish, the structure, does it taste like it's supposed to? Are there any flaws of wines? And does it express where it comes from? Is it true to its nature? That should be a really, really fun session. And it's probably worth saying that if you get the VIP access for an extra 25 bucks, you get first dibs, and you get the first spot in line for a seminar with Anthony Mueller. Absolutely right. Outstanding. Hey, Anthony, since you're going to be in town, would you mind popping by the Barrel to Bottle Studios International for a episode recording, a full episode? Absolutely. I'd love to. It's actually my basement. Sometimes it is. Yeah. I have one condition though. We have drinking wine during it. Oh, it's a demand. Yeah. Yeah. We'll see what we can do. All right. Sounds good. Thanks for the call. I really appreciate it. Thanks so much. We'll see you at the expo. Thank you so much, guys. Thank you. Bye. So while we were at the Expo last year, mostly Pat and I, Kristen, what were you doing? You were like these- I was a tour guide. Yeah, you're doing tours. Tour guide, yep, yep. Oh, also there's guided tours through the Expo. So while Pat and I were manning the Barrel to Bottle, The Binny's Podcast booth, we were taking questions, and we've actually answered a couple of these questions over the last year, and given away $20 Binny's gift cards for them, but I wanted to just use the audio that we got. It's kind of garbage, so we're gonna have to edit it pretty heavily, and maybe turn your volume down if you're listening at full blast at the gym. The questions aren't garbage, just the audio. Just the audio. We're gonna play the questions that we got on tape at the last expo and answer them right now. You guys ready? Ready. All right. Question number one comes from Karen. What's the difference between a corked bottle and a screw cap? What we can infer by Karen's question is that she means, can quality wines exist under screw cap and cork, right? Yeah, I think that's what she's asking. Is one better than the other? And the answer is, Karen, both closures can encapsulate quality wines in the bottle. Absolutely. That's all I have to say about that. We've seen some like 40, 50, $80 bottles of wine come under screw caps, especially from places like New Zealand. Dude, there's First Growth Bordeaux that put some of their wines under screw cap. And they're waiting to see how they are going to, they're not on the market, but they're waiting to see how those closures work for their wines over time. I think the only, really the biggest difference between the two closures is the jury is out on long-term cellaring under screw cap. That's what we're all wondering, but otherwise... Well, in terms of an oxygen transmission rate that we are afforded by Cork for long-term cellaring to make sure that that wine evolves, they've mimicked that. So that's kind of like a done deal. I love screw caps. Now it's just like, to Barb's point, now it's just waiting to make sure that that technology really does mimic it. I mean the one thing, Cork is not just infinitely replaceable though. So if you want to be conscious of the world around you, screw cap is great. The term for a corked wine, a lot of times when the wines are faulty, because of TCA or TBA, it's not always because of the cork itself. But it can be, corks crumble and age and dry out. But I'm just saying, well, that doesn't mean that the wine is corked. Oh, yeah, yeah. Corked wine means it's wine that's been exposed to TCA or TBA. Those are two components. Therefore, it could come from the environment, it could come from anywhere in the winery, if it's not clean very well, from the fermentation vessels, from the storage vessels, from the barrels, from the bottling line. So you technically can get corked wines under screw cap. Next question comes from Joe. What are the genetic differences between the saccharomyces strains used for champagne and red wine? That's just an unrepentantly nerdy question that I don't feel we are particularly qualified to answer. I will say generally yeast for red wine are going to be slightly more tolerant of higher alcohols. Cold weather. Temperature, I think, is the number one thing. Champagne, yeast, we generally mean those that are used for secondary fermentation underground in the cellars that take four to six weeks for that secondary in bottle. Have to do it in tremendous situations of cold temperatures, about 12 degrees Celsius, whatever that is in Fahrenheit, and under extreme pressure that is ever growing inside the bottle to reach 90 psi or five to six atmospheres. And so it's champagne yeast has been derived over time or has evolved over time to withstand cold temperatures and pressure and still convert to alcohol. Rock solid. Barrel is still very nerdy. Yeah, yeah. We'll give you your 20 bucks, Joe. Yeah, you got your 20 bucks, Joe. Way to go, Joe. Question number three comes from Tierney. What is your favorite junk food? That's, dude, how much time do we have? Cool Ranch Doritos. There's no Doritos besides nacho cheese Doritos. I just think chips. Does taco Bell count as junk food? Yes. I'm going to taco Bell. It is all junk and therefore junk food. I think you could tell that the Binny's Wine Expo at Arlington International racecourse is a lot of fun. It's a lot of fun. A lot of fun. Yeah. So check it out. What's the website? binnys.com, Greg. binnys.com. So hit us up, binnys.com to find the link to purchase tickets. Yeah. Lots more information on the website, including more features. Participating wineries will be listed a couple of weeks out, and then the full book will be listed, hopefully, by a couple of days ahead of time so you can get a head start on what you want to taste. Binny's Wine Expo at Arlington International racecourse, Saturday, April 6th, 1-5. It's nice that it's on a Saturday this year. Well, you can sleep in, come to the expo, then go do something at night. It's great. It's going to be fun. It's going to be wonderful. We're going to be there. Check out, see if you can find the Barrel to Bottle table. You'll find it. We'll be having fun. We'll be back next Monday with another regularly scheduled episode of Barrel to Bottle, The Binny's Podcast, and it's going to be a good one. Until then, I'm Greg. I'm Kristin. I'm Pat. Barb. Keep tasting.