Cherry Pops!

June 10, 2021

Cherry Pops is a time to taste wine, sake, seltzer—you name it!—with Cherry and friends in the East Fork-verse.

Cherry Pops is a time to taste wine, with Cherry and lots of others in the East Fork-verse, and learn about low intervention wine processes, regions, varietals, fermentation methods, people making and growing wine and anything else!

Grape Harvest Week

with Brent Mayeaux of Stagiaire Wine

Cherry took the show on the road, going all the way to Treasure Island in the Bay Area to help with a grape harvest. At a shared winemaker space, Brent Mayeaux of Stagiaire Wine shared his pinot and chardonnay co-ferment Sprinkles on Top with Cherry and talked about how at harvest, sleep is less important. They discuss the challenges of being a small-scale winemaker ("wildfires near every single one of my vineyards" is just one), what the future of winemaking might be like and why people don't need to "know" about wine in order to enjoy it.

Stagiaire is French for "apprentice," a nod to Brent's approach to learning winemaking and his constant desire to keep learning but also remaining open to impermanence. He started working for people whose wine moved him, which in time led him from California to France and Australia. The wine they drank is named for Brent's friend Alex, whose nickname is Sprinkles, who came along at a critical moment during harvest last year, a year Brent called extremely difficult for him personally, to help.

Northern California Dreaming

with Christopher Renfro

Christopher Renfro and Jannea Tschirch started The Two-Eighty Project in San Francisco on city-owned land that happened to have overgrown pinot noir grapes that no one else seemed to notice and have recently yielded the first bottles. Christopher talked to Cherry about his dream of starting a Black/queer/trans American Viticultural Area (AVA), together buying little pieces of land: "Dilapidated, overrun, something that nobody wants, off the side of a highway, just buried," he said, "I see a co-op vineyard with multiple growers from different lifestyles who want to farm but might not want to stay in the same place. I see California as a spot where we can come together and it isn't just about vines but to enjoy and celebrate and be able to create a town."

From their backyards on either side of the country, Cherry and Christopher share a glass of Martha Stoumen Wines Post Flirtation White 2020.

Sparkling Fruit Wine

with Kirk Sutherland

How many times have you heard a guest on an IG Live about wine say, "I'd be honored to get a cease and desist order from Kate Bush"? We're thinking not many, but Kirk Sutherland of Erde Wines doesn't follow any rulebook. Kirk started Erde in 2020, in the midst of both the pandemic and wildfires raging in the Pacific Northwest where the fruit for Erde's wines and ciders grow. No one knows the age of the apple and pear trees that grow on the mountain that's an extinct volcano. Doesn't this wine sound like it's from another world? As Cherry takes it, he makes it clear it tastes that way, too.

It's a poignant episode of Cherry Pops!, as Cherry and Kirk reminisce about the years they worked together at Diner, in Brooklyn, and the exact glass of pinot noir, produced by a close friend of Kirk's, that got Cherry into wine in the first place. Bonus: see Cherry shake off unexpected bubbles when opening a bottle of sparkling fruit wine with aplomb.

Wine & Old Friends

with Wheeler

Cherry gets Wheeler, a sommelier who lives in Hudson, New York, on the line. They talk about wine and, crucially, about talking about wine, eschewing the terminology you might expect. A wine that conjures a stroll through a Christmas tree farm? One that reminds you of "healthy road trip snacks like dried apricots"? What are these wines? Watch and find out. Bonus: learn what the men of Sex & The City would be if they were wine.

Natural Wine Time

with Noel Téllez and Maryam Hariri

Cherry opens some bottles with Noel Téllez and Maryam Hariri talks about Bichi vineyards in Tecate, Mexico, home to 80-100 year old vines, squirrels that eat one ton of grapes every year and plenty of “dog varietals,” too.

Here are the Bichi wines they shared:

- Pet Mex
- La Gorda Yori
- La Santa

Sparkling Tea Time

with Ryan Fortwendel and Taryn Tavella

Cherry mixes up some sparkling tea-based drinks, including some great non-alcoholic versions, with Ryan Fortwendel and Taryn Tavella from Minna, and attempts to choose a favorite from among their four delicious flavors. Good luck with that, Cherry!

Martini Week

with Erin Hawley and Sari Bellmer

In this episode, Cherry builds a sopping wet martini with East Fork brand director Erin Hawley then goes behind the scenes of making our martini bitters with Sari Bellmer of Heilbron Herbs.

Italian Wine

with Mike Tiano

Cherry Pops! with the @hawriverwineman himself Mike Tiano

Need some sexy italian wine to pair with all the italian food y’all have been cooking this month!? Tune in as we talk cow manure, biodynamic farming and 80 year old women still farming and making delicious ass wine!

Cocktails & More

with Tiffanie Barriere

Our cheeks hurt!!! Watch Cherry rapid fire question the most charming and genuine bartender on Zoom, Tiffanie Barriere @thedrinkingcoach - we talk about pit bulls, gin cocktails, and how to make it make sense!

Cocktail Week

with John deBary

Part 1:

This week, Cherry is joined by John deBary, author of Drink What You Want, making an absinthe cocktail—in custome!

Part 2:

Sake Week

with Alyssa DiPasquale

This week, Cherry is joined by Alyssa DiPasquale, sake pro and founder of the Koji Club–a virtual sake bar pop-up—for a deep dive into this fermented rice spirit.

Here's what they tasted:

- Tentaka Hawk of the Heavens (Junmai)
- Dassai 50 (Junmai Daiginjo)
- Fukucho Moon on the Water (Junmai Ginjo)

Amari Week

with Chris Bower of Eda Rhyne

Cherry Pops! with Chris Bower of Eda Rhyne, a regional Amari producer based here in Asheville. Cherry and Chris pop a few bottles of Amari and talk tasting notes, Appalachian folklore, and the secret formula of Coca-Cola. Amari are a category of bittersweet liqueurs—Amaro literally translates to “bitter” in Italian. Rooted in folk medicine, Amari are regional expressions of the local terroir and are made using botanicals and medicinal plants to produce a distinctly bitter and complex spirit. They’re great for slowly sipping after dinner or mixing into a cocktail. Tune in as Chris and Cherry explore a few different iterations of this spirit.

Here’s what Cherry and Chris tasted:

- Zucca Rabarbaro
- Eda Rhyne Amaro Oscura
- Eda Rhyne Appalachian Fernet
- Amaro 18 Isolabella
- Elisir Novasalus

Spiked Seltzer Week

Blind Tastings with our CEO

A very special episode of Cherry Pops featuring our CEO and spiked seltzer dabbler Alex Matisse to join Cherry in tasting and rating 5 popular spiked seltzer brands. Opinions are mixed.

1. Corona Seltzer Lime
2. Truly with a hint of pineapple
3. Grapefruit White Claw
4. Natty Ice “House Rules: When Strawberry & Kiwi Call The Shots”
5. Grapefruit Sound Craft Seltzer

Sparkling Week

Pet-Nat vs Champagne

Petillant Naturel or Method Ancestral is the oldest known way of making sparkling wine. Winemakers press the juice and let it begin to ferment with naturally occurring yeasts in the cellar. They bottle it while it is still in a fermentation process so that process continues in the bottle. This can make Pet-Nats slightly more volatile and wild in profile but it can also produce very tight clean wines as well! In Champagne Method or Method Traditionelle, wine makers ferment the juice of grapes once, then add a dosage - an addition of sugar, grape juice or a combination of both, and let the wine ferment a second time in bottle. This process can take a bit longer that the pet-nat method, but often produces more refined tasting wines.

Meinklang 'Prosa' Frizzante Rose 2019

Osterriech, Austria

- 80% Pinot Nior
- 10% Blaufrankisch
- 10% Rotberger

Made by Angela & Werner Michlits, originally for their nuptuals! This wine is made in the Charmat method, which is similar to champagne in that it goes through two processes of fermentation, however in this case, both fermentations happen in large steel tanks before bottling. The Michlits family are stewards of a biodiverse farm in Osterrich, Austria where they grow fruit, vegetables, and wheat, and raise cattle - hence the cow on the wine's label.

For me, this wine is super lively and ripe, perfect for a sunny afternoon by a river. Deep fresh strawberry notes balanced with some bright acidity. Big mellow bubbles roll onto the tongue with ease.

Sebastian Brunet 'Le Natural' Pettient Natural

Vouvray, Loire, France

- 100% Chenin Blanc

Sebastian Brunet comes from 4 generations of wine growers in the Loire region. Brunet inherited his father's wine making practice after his passing and continues to practice organic farming, wild fermentation and low to no sulphur additions. This wine is made in the Pet-Nat method, it begins fermentation in stainless steel tanks and is bottled a few months after pressing, it gets released onto the market within the next year so it is a fairly young wine.

On the palate this wine is savory, rich, and herbaceous. I get notes of toasted almond, lemon pith, and a certain gameyness that lends itself to sitting back and enjoying at the end of the evening.

Rosé Week

What is Rosé?

For Rosé Week, I tasted two wines with a fabulous guest Bianca Sanon, a somm based in Miami and a genuinely incredible person. Bianca and I met last summer while she was shopping Crocodile Wine and we immediately bonded over our love of Conestabile de la Staffa and wines aged in amphora. Since then, she has been an incredible friend and industry accomplice (last week we were scream-laughing about why no one told had us rotberger and zweigelt are the same grape...you had to be there.)

Weingut Pittnauer Rose 2019

Burgenland, Austria

- 80% Blaufränkisch
- 10% Rotberger
- 10% St. Laurent

Gerhard Pittnauer inherited his father's vineyard at the age of 18, slowly growing his practice to oversee 15 hectares of biodynamically farmed grapes, half of which he uses to make his wines and half which he rents to other winemakers in the region. He and his wife Brigitte wait for the perfect level of ripeness before picking their fruit and pressing it for fermentation. The Konig rose is a blend of Blaufrankisch, Rotberger, and St. Laurent, picked during different times of harvest, making it fresh, juicy, and perfectly ripe.

Dolores Cabrara Fernandez 'La Araucaria'

Canary Islands, Spain

- Listan Negro

Dolores Cabrera Fernandez is a farmer and viticulturist in the Valle de la Orotava of the Canary Islands. She named her label, La Araucaria, after an evergreen tree that grows along-side the grapes she tends to in the cordon trenzado (braided cord) method. The soil in the canary islands is known for being rich and fertile because it is mostly volcanic ash mixed with clay. This wine is a co-ferment of Listan Negro for two vineyards she oversees, with 12 hours of skin maceration and aging in stainless steel tanks.

Back to blog