Wine Business

Andrea Robinson one of the country’s leading wine educators, and is one of only 16 women in the world who have been appointed Master Sommelier by the prestigious Court of Master Sommeliers. She was the first woman ever chosen Best Sommelier in the United States by the Sommelier Society of America. In 2007 she was appointed Master Sommelier for Delta Air Lines, for whom she selects all of their in-flight wines as well as develops flight attendant wine training. Her production company JGR Productions produces informative food, wine and travel video content for Delta Air Lines, Borders Books, and broadcast media and she has worked with the Food Channel and PBS. She is the author of eight wine and food books including Andrea Robinson’s Wine Buying Guide for Everyone, and her articles have appeared in publications such as Health, Eating Well, Esquire, Real Simple, Money, and Bon Appétit. She has received a James Beard Award for Broadcast Journalism. Formerly this busy mother of three was the Wine Director at Windows on the World, and was Corporate Director of Beverage Programs for Starwood Hotels.

As part of video wine review series, Cult Wines of Crushpad, IntoWine had the delightful opportunity to catch up with Twin Oaks winemaker Mark Weiner to hear his thoughts on the Twin Oaks wines and wine topics in general. Thanks to Mark for chatting.  

What inspired the name Twin Oaks Cellars?

Named after my twin daughters, as well as the twin oak trees in our neighborhood...

IntoWine recently caught up with WineStraws founder, Jenny LaFever, to discuss what WineStraws can do for you and to get the latest on this wine drinking trend.

What inspired the idea for wine straws?

The idea was born one night in December, 2007.  I had a few girlfriends over for wine and appetizers before we headed to a holiday party.  Two of the girls had recently had their teeth professionally whitened and (dentist’s orders) had to use a straw for their wine.  The rest of the girls and I decided we didn’t want wine staining our teeth either so we all decided to used a straw.  I had seen firsthand many times what a night of drinking red wine can look like!  Right away, aside from having fun trying something new, I noticed that the wine taste and experience was not minimized whatsoever, I had no staining, and my lipgloss stayed on lips—not the glass.  The only downfall to that first experience was the straw itself… it wasn’t perfect.  After many delicious trial runs and tests, what started out as a whim of an idea amongst a few wine loving friends has now turned into the conceptualization and launch of my company: WineStraws.