From Cork Dork to Cork & Fizz: How Hailey Bohlman Is Making Wine Fun

Hailey Bohlman didn’t grow up surrounded by vineyards. She’s not a sommelier by training, nor did she set out to become a wine educator. But somewhere between a small town in Wisconsin and the rolling hills of Walla Walla, she found herself completely captivated by the world of wine—and decided to bring others along for the ride.

After college, Hailey and her (now) husband moved to Seattle. A getaway to Oregon’s Willamette Valley—complete with a standout glass of Chardonnay—sealed the deal. “Are you sure you didn’t put pineapple and coconut in this?” she remembers asking. The complexity in the glass was too fascinating to ignore. That trip, and a book recommendation called Cork Dork, sent her on a deep dive into all things wine.

What began as a casual wine club with neighbors and coworkers eventually transformed into Cork & Fizz, a business built around approachable wine education. Hailey started hosting virtual tastings—complete with printed tasting mats, guided slides, and curated wine selections—all during the early days of the pandemic. As word spread, her tastings became a way for people to reconnect and explore something new, even from afar.

Hailey’s tastings are designed for everyone—from total beginners to wine lovers who just want a fresh perspective. “It’s not a homework assignment,” she laughs. “If you want to doodle in the corner or just sip and enjoy, that’s fine. But if you want to learn, I’ll help you learn.”

During the episode, Hailey walks Scott through what a virtual tasting looks like, including how she works with clients to select wines—often from local shops or even Costco—and how she leads people through tasting techniques, wine regions, and food pairings. It’s not about memorizing facts. It’s about building confidence and having fun.

Cork & Fizz has also grown to include The Cork & Fizz Guide to Wine Podcast, where Hailey shares educational tidbits, interviews winemakers, and continues her mission to demystify wine. She’s passionate about making wine feel accessible—not intimidating. “There’s no right or wrong way to enjoy wine,” she says. “My goal is to help people figure out what they like and why.”

Of course, the conversation wouldn’t be complete without talking about Washington wine. Hailey is a huge fan of Walla Walla, not just for the wine but for the small-town feel that reminds her of home. She also recommends checking out Gramercy Cellars, Grosgrain, and Delmas for standouts in the region. Her personal favorite? The Delmas Viognier—a white wine with floral richness and big mouthfeel.

Whether you’re wine-curious or a seasoned sipper, this episode is a great introduction to Hailey’s down-to-earth take on wine. It’s a reminder that wine is about experience, connection, and yes—sometimes even a little cork dork energy.

Hailey Bohlman Cork & Fizz Episode Transcript

Scott Cowan [00:00:04]:
Hello, friends, and welcome to the Exploring Washington State podcast. My name is Scott Cowan, and I’m the host of the show. Each episode, I have a conversation with an interesting guest who is living in or from Washington State. These are casual conversations with real and interesting people. I think you’re gonna like the show. So let’s jump right in with today’s guest. Alright. Welcome back, everyone, to this episode of the Exploring Washington State podcast.

Scott Cowan [00:01:01]:
K. Midwest to Seattle. You did a year or some studies abroad in Spain, which is where you kind of open you were exposed to wine. Somehow, I heard something. I think it was listened to it one of your episodes, and you and you and you said that you went to Spain when you were 20, and you’d never ordered wine before that because you’re below the the legal drinking age, which I kinda chuckled at that. I just thought that was kind of kinda cute.

Hailey Bohlman [00:01:26]:
I’m such a goodie too, too.

Scott Cowan [00:01:27]:
Yeah. I know. I was just like, oh, okay. So you go to Spain, you you’re introduced to wine. You you come back, you move to Seattle, and I know I’m leaving out a lot. So why don’t you share your backstory, Get us to when you moved to Seattle.

Hailey Bohlman [00:01:46]:
Okay. Sure. So, yeah, I’m originally from the Midwest. I’m from a super small town in Wisconsin. I feel like that helps give people a little picture of who I am. I think that’s a big part of who I am. Like, in small town, meaning, like, less than 5,000 people.

Scott Cowan [00:02:01]:
What’s the name of the town?

Hailey Bohlman [00:02:02]:
It’s called Dodgeville.

Scott Cowan [00:02:03]:
Dodgeville?

Hailey Bohlman [00:02:04]:
Yes. It’s a out of Dodgeville. What’s that?

Scott Cowan [00:02:07]:
You got out of Dodgeville.

Hailey Bohlman [00:02:09]:
I did get out of Dodge. Yes. I know. It’s, like, well known for, like, Land’s End. The clothing company is there. Okay. And then there’s a great bakery. So those are, like, I feel like the two things to know.

Scott Cowan [00:02:19]:
So for those of us that know next to nothing about Wisconsin, how close to Milwaukee?

Hailey Bohlman [00:02:26]:
About, like, two and a half hour drive. So it’s in, like, the Southwest Corner of Wisconsin. So only about, like, forty five minutes from the state capital, Madison.

Scott Cowan [00:02:35]:
Okay. So you’re close to Madison. So it’s not like you were you grew up out in the middle of of pastures and dairy fields, you know, things like that. I mean, do you mind? No.

Hailey Bohlman [00:02:43]:
I mean, there was a town. It is funny. Like, whenever talking to anybody that’s, like, not from, like, a small area, I’m like, we were actually the biggest town in the county. So,

Scott Cowan [00:02:50]:
it’s a

Hailey Bohlman [00:02:51]:
pretty big deal. We had the courthouse

Scott Cowan [00:02:53]:
and, you know So you’re the county seat. Okay. Got it. Alright. So Yeah. Yeah. Wisconsin. You grew up in Wisconsin.

Hailey Bohlman [00:02:58]:
Yes. Yeah. And so I feel like that also gives, like, a little background of, like, wine was not a thing in the, like I mean, in Wisconsin, there are some wineries. And and my my mom, now that I’ve gotten her into wine after all this, she started to, like, explore those. My family all still lives there in Wisconsin. But, anyway, I I come from a super small town, so I knew, you know, when I graduated, I did wanna explore a little bit, but big city still scared me. So I made it up to Minnesota, and I went to a slightly larger town of about 20,000 people, a town called Northfield, and went to school at Carleton College, which some people in Seattle tend to know because they had a really good ultimate Frisbee team.

Scott Cowan [00:03:35]:
Oh, okay.

Hailey Bohlman [00:03:36]:
Yeah. So, like, everybody’s like, oh, oh, you like, you must know how to throw a Frisbee. I’m like, I do not know how to throw a Frisbee. I’m so sorry. That was not something that was covered in the curriculum.

Scott Cowan [00:03:44]:
I’ve never heard okay. That’s that’s that’s very cool. Alright.

Hailey Bohlman [00:03:47]:
Right.

Scott Cowan [00:03:47]:
Alright. So you were not recruited on your abilities to throw Frisbee. Okay. No. Alright.

Hailey Bohlman [00:03:52]:
No. Unfortunately not. I did play softball for a couple years. But yeah. And so, again, I was such a goody two shoes. I drank a little bit in college, but, like, it definitely wasn’t wine. It was the sweet stuff.

Scott Cowan [00:04:03]:
Mhmm.

Hailey Bohlman [00:04:03]:
But while in college, I got a chance to study abroad for a term. And while I was there, I mean, it was exciting to get to order wine. Like I said,

Hailey Bohlman [00:04:13]:
I didn’t do that, at home.

Hailey Bohlman [00:04:15]:
But as far as it went, it was just like, vino blanco. Like, I just, you know, vino blanco is all I really asked for. I never asked for asked about what it was or, you know, it was just like it was just fun to get to drink, and white wine tasted good while I was there.

Scott Cowan [00:04:28]:
Okay.

Hailey Bohlman [00:04:29]:
So kind of like that became, like, my drink of choice whenever I was out, and then made the move out to Seattle. I got a job out here, so brought, myself and my boyfriend who luckily was working. He’s now my husband. But he was working a, oh, what is that called? When he just, like, he could try he was traveling for work, so he could be wherever.

Scott Cowan [00:04:48]:
He was remote? Okay.

Hailey Bohlman [00:04:50]:
Yes. And so we came out here, and his parents happened to live in Portland. I promise this will all connect together at some point. Portland. You know, we’re like, Portland. Portland. They they’re now in Seattle, so I guess they felt the same way.

Scott Cowan [00:05:08]:
Alright. Alright.

Hailey Bohlman [00:05:10]:
But the reason I say that is basically what, like, really launched me into the world of wine is we took a trip down to Willamette Valley in Oregon. And the reason we did that was we had a dog, and it was easy to drop her off at her in laws to stay there for the weekend so we could have a weekend of what you know? Like, we we’re very we’re definitely your typical Seattle, you know, folks with a dog where they’re like, she’s precious. She needs to go with her grandparents for the weekend.

Scott Cowan [00:05:36]:
I’m not laughing at you. I’m laughing with you because

Hailey Bohlman [00:05:39]:
we we

Scott Cowan [00:05:39]:
plan our trips around our docks. I get it.

Hailey Bohlman [00:05:41]:
Yep. Yep. Exactly. So that worked out. We went down to Willamette Valley, and I just I just caught the bug. I thought wine was a such a there was a such a cool idea that, like, they all made a lot of Pinot Noir, a lot of Chardonnay. And I remember this, like, very specific moment tasting a Chardonnay and being like, are you sure you didn’t put coconut and pineapple in this? Because it is so strong of an aroma that is making me think of that. And it just was so fascinating to me and how they could all make Pinot Noir, and most of them would taste different even to someone who was untrained as myself at the time to, like, notice that they were different.

Hailey Bohlman [00:06:19]:
And so it really sparked this interest in me. I came home, and I got this book that was recommended while we are on a tour down there. It’s called Corkdork,

Scott Cowan [00:06:28]:
which is

Hailey Bohlman [00:06:29]:
kind of a fun name. And it just dove into all aspects of wine. I read that, and that was kind of just, like, the start of all the craziness.

Scott Cowan [00:06:37]:
Alright. One thing you didn’t share, what what what was your college major?

Hailey Bohlman [00:06:43]:
I was a computer science major.

Scott Cowan [00:06:45]:
So are you kind of taking are you are you using that comp sci mindset to approach wine? Are you are you very analytical?

Hailey Bohlman [00:06:55]:
Honestly, I feel like it’s more of, like, a reprieve from, like, the the analytical side of things. And, honestly, I don’t even know if I’ve ever been a super analytical person. I’m very driven by emotion, and I think I just, like, I have been a math person, though. I do love math and, like, problem solving, so maybe that’s kind of it. And, like, I take the, like, questioning aspect that, like, I think I did this a little bit in computer science, but not as much. It’s more, like, in my life that, like, I love asking the question why. And you can ask the question why about wine a million times.

Scott Cowan [00:07:26]:
Right. Alright. So Willamette Valley we’re talking about Oregon. I can’t no. I’m just kidding. Because Willamette Valley is well known for its, you know, its its onion. And so you cork dork. I mean, we can talk about Oregon as long as we insert the words cork dork.

Scott Cowan [00:07:47]:
That was so that was you got the bug. How long from that trip to getting the idea to start Cork and Fizz?

Hailey Bohlman [00:07:57]:
Yeah. It well, first, after that trip, I came back. Like I said, I got that book, and then I got every book on wine that I could at the library. And I knew I wanted to try more wine, but I was, like, just out of college. I was also new to an area, and so I decided to kinda, you know, kill two birds with one stone. I’d start a wine club with friends, and it wasn’t anything super serious. It was more meant to be like, hey. Everybody come over.

Hailey Bohlman [00:08:21]:
Bring a bottle of wine based on some theme that we’ve decided, and we’ll hang out. We’ll taste them. Anybody that wants to dive deeper into them, you know, I will that’s what I’ll be doing because it’ll be one, a great opportunity for me to taste a ton of wine without having to buy all of the bottles. And this was a way for me to start connecting. I mean, I invited you know, there are a bunch of coworkers, that I just started working with. We were living in an apartment at the time, so some of our, like, folks who were on the floor with us, and even this couple that we met at the dog park. Again, dog comes up everywhere. Right.

Hailey Bohlman [00:08:55]:
But a couple we met at the dog park that we invited over. And so that is essentially what started it started this wine club, and then it wasn’t until the pandemic hit, in 2020 when we couldn’t get together. And I wanna say we’ve been doing that wine club for at least a couple years since then. And then we couldn’t get together, and so I decided to host my first virtual wine tasting with them. I went, bought a bunch of wine, poured it in little plastic cups, and dropped it off at everyone’s store, and then, like, hosted a little wine tasting.

Scott Cowan [00:09:31]:
Oh my gosh. Okay.

Hailey Bohlman [00:09:32]:
So cute. Just like these little, like, packages of luxury. Here’s your wine. Funny.

Hailey Bohlman [00:09:37]:
And, that I had a lot of fun doing that, and, basically, it sparked that idea of, like, what if I did this for more people and kind of created something out of it?

Scott Cowan [00:09:45]:
Alright. Does your husband like wine?

Hailey Bohlman [00:09:49]:
He does. He doesn’t love it as much as I do, but it’s definitely been one of those things where, like, well, I’m drinking, and so he’s kind of been pulled along for the ride.

Scott Cowan [00:09:59]:
Gotcha. Okay. Yeah. See, that hasn’t worked in our house. My wife likes wine, and it just it’s well, we went for a a wine. We it was my birthday last weekend when we were recording this. And so we went up to 11 North. We’re gonna go out to dinner, and we’re walking around town, and we had some time to kill before our reservation.

Scott Cowan [00:10:19]:
And so she I said, do you want a good, you know, wine tasting? She’s like, yeah. So we stopped at a winery, which names escape me now. I apologize. And she, you know, went through a wine tasting, and she’s like, you wanna try it? I’m like, you know, just each one each one. There were six six options, and the only one that I cared for was they had a port. And I like the port. And I realized that I do I think for wine for me, what I like, it’s kind of the way I like my coffee, which is that thick syrupy, big mouthfeel, if you will, without trying to you know, that’s about sophisticated of wine talk as you’re gonna get from me this whole episode. I mean, you

Hailey Bohlman [00:10:57]:
you sound like you know

Scott Cowan [00:10:58]:
what you’re saying. Well, it’s I’m referencing coffee here. So I used to work at Starbucks, and they used to have this thing about mouthfeel. So I’ve I’ve known that for you know, it’s related to coffee. But what I what I do appreciate about wine as I talk to people around the state and as I as I go around the state is Washington state is this massive industry of wine. Maybe there’s a glut even right now of grapes, you know, from a from a business standpoint. But the State of Washington has embraced this industry, and there’s some really creative people out there that are doing some really cool things that even though I might not really enjoy their product, I enjoy everything else about the experience of going to their tasting room, the branding, the the vibe of it, the the the pairing of it with food, just the whole experience. If they just give me coffee, I’d be thrilled.

Scott Cowan [00:12:03]:
So I can kinda see why you would if you like wine, I could I could see why you would go this way. So I I you know? Alright. So the pandemic and it’s another we got another pandemic story going on here, which, you know, I don’t wanna go back to the pandemic. No. But there’s been a lot of really cool things created in response to what we we what we all live through. It sounds like you’re another example of that. You know? You you improvised. Yeah.

Scott Cowan [00:12:36]:
Plastic cups of wine delivered to you.

Hailey Bohlman [00:12:37]:
Yeah. Yeah. Unfortunately, legally, I can’t do that as part of the business, but it was fun with Fred.

Scott Cowan [00:12:43]:
No. And but look. Like, the state of Washington, you may not you may know this. You may not. You know, they they they opened up and let their cocktails to go.

Hailey Bohlman [00:12:54]:
Yep. Oh, yeah. A lot of liquor laws changed slightly so that they could, yeah, make I mean, especially for the restaurants that were seriously struggling.

Scott Cowan [00:13:01]:
And this state has been, in my opinion, very conservative with what it allows, and it made some significant adjustments across, not just in wine, but, you know, to go cocktails. I would have never ever thought of that. So you started Cork & Fizz in response to the pandemic. Was there a lot of demand, a lot of interest at from the very beginning with people?

Hailey Bohlman [00:13:32]:
I mean, I think the main challenge that I had was that it is this kind of new idea of wine. And I’m not saying that I’m the first one who’s done this, but it certainly isn’t wasn’t as common then, is a little more common now. But basically, this idea of creating an experience around wine, like, for people who are just not like, don’t wanna study it, but they just wanna have a good time.

Scott Cowan [00:13:56]:
Right.

Hailey Bohlman [00:13:56]:
And I think in doing that in your home, right, and if with that, the virtual sense where it started, I do believe there was this desire for something and at least like that’s what inspired me a lot of it for, like, creating the business was like everyone’s sick of the Zoom happy hours where we all just go like, so what’d you do today? How was your day? And it’s like, I stayed home and or I went for a hike because that’s, like, the only thing we can do. Right? You know? Like, it really was there wasn’t much to it. So it was like this idea of just, like, learning something new, being able to connect with folks that you couldn’t go visit in a different way. I think the biggest thing was just putting it out there and making people realize this was an option. As soon as people did it, there was a lot of just like, wow, I never realized I could, like, have an interest in something or or learn so much about something that I kinda just drink occasionally on the weekends and don’t care that much about.

Scott Cowan [00:14:47]:
Okay. Walk me through a a private virtual tasting. Let’s let’s just do that. I mean, I’m on your site and podcasts or audio only, so I gotta try to, like, paint the visual picture. But there’s a a picture of a laptop, three glasses of wine, a white rose and a red on a paper placemat that has kind of some check you know, descriptions to check it off. And off to the off to the left is a is a little plate of of cheese and crackers and olives and all that. So it’s kind of you know, you kinda set the stage here. Yeah.

Scott Cowan [00:15:27]:
Walk me through one of those.

Hailey Bohlman [00:15:29]:
Yeah. Sure. I mean, I think, basically, think about, like, my goal with these virtual tastings was, one, to create an experience similar to, like, when you were at the winery in terms of, like, getting to taste a few different things. So yes, you would usually have three wines and I love having I would encourage folks to like even if you didn’t have like the fanciest of wine glasses, like pour the wine into three different cups and have them sitting in front of you all at the same time. So you can kinda go in between them. You don’t need to finish a full glass. But that’s yeah. So you’ve described the setup beautifully.

Hailey Bohlman [00:16:00]:
You’ve got the wines in front of you. You’ve got a little tasting note sheet. If you want to take notes, I always would caveat with, like, if you’re the person who just wants to doodle in the corner, go for it. That’s fine. Like, this is not a homework assignment. This is much as like and then if you’re the person like me that’s like, I need to take notes on everything because I’m so you know, like, that’s great too. You can do that. And so the idea is once you would book a tasting, I usually put together a slide deck.

Hailey Bohlman [00:16:25]:
I’m a visual person. I mean, it’s funny. I have a podcast, but I’m also a very visual person. So when I’m learning things, I do love to, like, see what’s being talked about and have the visuals to go along with it.

Scott Cowan [00:16:37]:
Mhmm.

Hailey Bohlman [00:16:38]:
And we would just deep dive into wine. I mean, if you chose the wine one zero one theme, we would go into how does fermentation work, why you know, in the fermentation formula I told you I like math. There is, like, one formula I always teach everyone because it shows you, you know, how a sparkling wine is made and why California in a warmer climate creates wines with higher alcohol and that bigger mouthfeel that you are talking about. And we dive into each of those. We go into, like, all the different types of wine. And then the biggest part of each of my tastings and what I try to focus on is to teach people how to taste wine, how to, you know, smell the different things in the glass and and, you know, different tips and tricks for pulling things out and essentially finding what you like and what you don’t like. And because it’s totally fine. Not everyone’s gonna like every wine.

Hailey Bohlman [00:17:25]:
I wanted to help people discover what it is that they like so then they could walk into any wine shop and find that another great bottle because they knew what they liked.

Scott Cowan [00:17:34]:
Alright. So I’m on the appointment schedule thing here, and I’ve got a virtual wine tasting for one to two, three to six, and seven to ten. Right? Let’s just go. It’s just me and my wife. We’re just gonna we’ll work through the scenario. So I’m gonna click select. Hopefully, I’m not messing up your your cart.

Hailey Bohlman [00:17:50]:
I I hope not either. I mean, it’s one of those great tests.

Scott Cowan [00:17:53]:
Actually, this is pretty cool, the way you got it laid out. So you can for, so by the way, at the current price, that’s an hour and fifteen minutes for $80. Reasonable. I can get a custom wine tasting placemat design. It’s so it’s, you know, a printable for 25. Right? And then I can pick we have day drinking options. I like that snow at 03:00. So we’re picking these, and I’m just gonna randomly pick.

Scott Cowan [00:18:21]:
And I’m gonna say 05:30 on the twenty first. Fill in my name, my information, how many will be joining. Boom, boom, boom, info. How do I find cork and fizz? So how do we from this point, I don’t wanna I’m not gonna click anything else. Oh, please pick your wine theme. There you go. See? Okay. Wine one zero one.

Scott Cowan [00:18:40]:
Washington State wines. I’m just gonna we’re gonna we’re gonna play along. This is Washington State wines. K? Yeah. So I wanna do a virtual Washington State wines tasting. Walk me take take over from there for me. That’s as much decision making as I can possibly handle here.

Hailey Bohlman [00:18:57]:
So then, like, basically, like, next steps after that, you’ll when you book that, you will I will send you an email, and we’ll talk about how to get the wines to you. This is obviously something where, unfortunately, as we talked about, Washington is kinda difficult. I mean, honestly, every state is difficult when it comes to liquor laws with something like this. I am not a wine shop myself, and I actually really like that aspect of this because I can focus on the experience and the education, and it opens up to a lot of different options for how you wanna get your wine. You’re not limited to just what I have. So I’ll essentially send you a message. And one, I’ll check, do you have wines at home already that you wanna talk about and learn about? Right. If that’s the case, send me a picture of them.

Hailey Bohlman [00:19:35]:
I can help pick out from your here. I just had one recently where they’re like, here’s my list on Vivino. Which ones do you think would be good for a tasting?

Scott Cowan [00:19:42]:
Okay.

Hailey Bohlman [00:19:43]:
And did that. Or you just send me, I wanna learn more about these bottles. Or I’ll you know, they’ll say, like, no. I just wanna, like, hit connect with connect me with a local wine shop in my area, or here’s where I’m shopping. Can you give me the list of the wines? And so I’ll send you list of wines after figuring out what you like. If this is one of those scenarios where it’s like, you know, I don’t drink whites or, you know, like, there’s some people have, you know, certain wines that they do not want to even explore or try. Happy to go along with that. And then we’ll pick out your wines, and we already have the date.

Hailey Bohlman [00:20:15]:
So I’ll tell you what to do in terms of which ones to put in the fridge, which ones to leave out. Don’t put them anywhere near your kitchen when it’s warm, like, it would have been the back of your closet.

Scott Cowan [00:20:24]:
Right.

Hailey Bohlman [00:20:25]:
And then you’ll get set up for the tasting on the during the date, and we’ll join a Zoom call to start talking about wine.

Scott Cowan [00:20:33]:
So let’s just say let’s just say I want big reds. I want big, bold red wines. Okay? And you’ve already kind of well, you started out as a white wine person. Let’s just say for sake of conversation, that’s not your favorite description. You’re like, oh, but another another big reds. Oh, boy. Do you ask what my price point what I want my price point to be? Okay. Definitely.

Scott Cowan [00:20:58]:
What’s the typical? What what do people when we’re doing this, what do people kinda, like, land on? Are they, I I’m joking, are they doing, you know, Two Buck Chuck? Are they doing, you know, something from a boutique winery in Walla Walla? What’s where do people fall?

Hailey Bohlman [00:21:14]:
I think the most common is that they’re falling in, like, that 15 to $30 range, which to me is kind of like the most where I think is a great place to start or even just to stay in most of your your wine buying. It does limit you to, like, a lot of the smaller wineries in Washington, especially if you’re doing a theme like big reds. Mhmm. You’re gonna probably have to go to we’re gonna look for some bigger wineries. And a lot of times they wanna shop at places like Total Wine, or even Trader Joe’s potentially in the area, so that it’s easier. Total Wine is, like, my preference because I can just look online and find the bottles exactly. Trader Joe’s, I’m happy to go and look around and see what they got. But, yeah, I’d say, like, the fifteen to 30, unless someone kinda knows, like, what they’re certainly searching for or it’s a corporate event, in which case, sometimes we can, bump up

Scott Cowan [00:22:02]:
the price

Hailey Bohlman [00:22:02]:
a little bit.

Scott Cowan [00:22:05]:
I’m I’m trying to decide how I wanna move forward here because you said Total Wine and Trader Joe’s, which we don’t have in Wenatchee.

Hailey Bohlman [00:22:12]:
Oh, sure.

Scott Cowan [00:22:13]:
So we don’t have that. I would think if if we were doing this in Wenatchee, we’d probably go be going to Costco.

Hailey Bohlman [00:22:20]:
Oh, there you go. Yes.

Scott Cowan [00:22:22]:
Yeah. And Costco is probably the which, you know, which is fine, I guess. But it’s just we don’t have the great

Hailey Bohlman [00:22:27]:
options for wine. Yeah.

Scott Cowan [00:22:28]:
We don’t have the abundant choices that you do in, say, Seattle or or Spokane. Okay. So we’ve got our three bottles of wine. We’re gonna do Big Red’s. K. It’s the time. It’s the 03:00 in the afternoon. Sorry.

Hailey Bohlman [00:22:45]:
Well, okay. To be fair, these are virtual tastings. So the idea is also that, like, you could book it when you’re in New York at 03:00.

Scott Cowan [00:22:51]:
I know. I’m just I’m teasing.

Scott Cowan [00:22:53]:
It’s Monday. It’s 03:00. Let’s go.

Hailey Bohlman [00:22:55]:
But also, I mean, that doesn’t sound that bad to me.

Scott Cowan [00:22:58]:
No. It doesn’t. I’m I’m there’s no judgment here. I’m just kind of amused for it. I know. I know. No no judgment at all. Alright.

Scott Cowan [00:23:05]:
So we pop on Zoom, and we’ve got our three bottles of wine. Walk me through what’s next.

Hailey Bohlman [00:23:11]:
Yeah. So we’ll I usually like to start with a little intro. I’ll I share a little bit about, like, how you know, why do I know what I’m talking about? So I usually like to share. I tell this story of, you know, visiting Willamette Valley and then all of the, you know, learning from there. I am w set to, certified, which is basically just like, you you know, says that I did some studying and took a test and that I know a decent amount about wine. K. And then I always like to get things started. I’ll have everyone else that is on the virtual call.

Hailey Bohlman [00:23:38]:
So whether everyone’s all in the same room, you know, or it’s like, you know, people are joining from all over the place. So we have a few different Zoom calls, do some introductions, get people talking. And then I always like to do, like, a little we’ll start things off with just, like, what I call, like, a first sip, first impression of the wine. So before diving deep into each of these wines and, you know, doing a full tasting experience, which I I taste there or I teach there are four steps to it. First, it’s just let’s just try them. Like, they’re sitting in front of you. You’re not just gonna sit there and look at them this whole time. That’s no fun.

Hailey Bohlman [00:24:11]:
You know, let’s let’s dive in. Give it a swirl. Give it a smell. What is, like give it a taste.

Scott Cowan [00:24:16]:
Mhmm.

Hailey Bohlman [00:24:16]:
What is the first thing that comes to mind? And it can be anything from, like, oh, I really like that. I don’t know why, but I really like it. It’s like, great. We’ll we’ll come to that later. Oh, woah. That one had like that was quite the smell on that one. And I can’t it’s not fruit. It’s not this.

Hailey Bohlman [00:24:31]:
I I don’t know what that is. And it’s like, No, that’s great. We’ll get to that. So just like a little, like, dip into the wine. And then we dove into more of, like, the part that I totally I try not to nerd out too much, but nerd out a little bit. So for Washington wine, you know, we’ll talk about the history of Washington wine and how Chateau Ste. Michelle got started actually as, like, a bulk sweet wine producer that created, like, jug wine essentially, and then how they transformed into Chateau Ste. Michelle and, how, you know, a lot of it started with home winemakers who then created larger wineries, from that and where, like, a lot of that’s how Columbia got started.

Hailey Bohlman [00:25:13]:
Columbia winery, got started. We’ll do history. We’ll talk about the geography. I’ll show you a map. We’ll look at all the areas, and then we’ll do an official guided tasting of each of your three wines.

Scott Cowan [00:25:23]:
Okay. That sounds like fun. Yeah. I would enjoy that. I might not

Hailey Bohlman [00:25:28]:
See? I

Scott Cowan [00:25:28]:
might not, you know, in being very transparent with you, you know, I I might not like all three in the you know? And but I would enjoy the process of it. So I I like the way that you’re making wine approachable. That’s one of the things that I I don’t care for is because I’m not comfortable is the what I perceive is the pretentiousness of of some people when they’re, you know, talking wines. And it’s like I don’t know. I I don’t know how to participate in that conversation because I don’t have the words. Yeah. Okay.

Hailey Bohlman [00:26:04]:
And there’s one there’s no reason. And I think too that and I’m sure, you know, we’ll get to this too. I mean, we’re talking all about wine, but when you look at it and and I’ve taken a step back to be, like, why am I obsessed with wine? Like, I mean, you’re welcome to be. There’s nothing, you know, if it is just as simple as that. But I think for me, wine is more of, like, an avenue to learn things and to connect with people. And those to me are actually more important. And maybe had it not been a trip to Willamette Valley and it had been something else,

Scott Cowan [00:26:30]:
It

Hailey Bohlman [00:26:30]:
would have been something else that, you know, was the was the thing that connected me or the avenue in which I achieved those things. But it ended up being wine, and that’s what’s most important. It’s okay if you don’t like all the wines that we try. It’s okay if you don’t like any of them. You’re like, I’d kinda rather have a beer. And I’m like, no worries. Thanks for being here. Glad you got to have a hope you had a good time.

Scott Cowan [00:26:48]:
I didn’t get that.

Hailey Bohlman [00:26:49]:
Even if it wasn’t me. Yeah. Go ahead and grab the beer from the fridge. I know you have it waiting there for you.

Scott Cowan [00:26:56]:
That’s funny. Okay. So that’s how you started. How’d the podcast get going? And what what prompted you to start a podcast? I mean, I’m I’m joking, but what’s wrong with you? I mean, I’ve been doing this one. This has been almost five years of doing the show. So, you’ve been doing yours almost two years. Right? Yeah. Oh, yeah.

Scott Cowan [00:27:22]:
So you you you you know, did you hit pod fade? Did you did you wake up one day going, why am I doing this? But what what was the motivation for you to start a podcast?

Hailey Bohlman [00:27:36]:
I I think it started with so I run a social media, mainly on Instagram to, like, promote my business. But in creating that social media and in promoting Cork & Fizz I really loved getting to, one, educate people. But the work it took to create a post and, like, create, you know, the the real or even if it was just like a carousel and graphics that I’m kind of too much of a perfectionist to just leave it and be like, oh, that’s fine. I, like, I would take way too long to put that together. And then then sometimes people wouldn’t even, like, see it, and it took so much time for me to do it. I didn’t even get to share everything I wanted to share. And so the podcast came, and I’d been wanting to do it for a little while, since doing Cork & Fizz. And just this is my favorite thing is getting to talk to people about wine, and each of my tastings.

Hailey Bohlman [00:28:25]:
I love the experience of just getting to, like, one, do the research ahead of time and then share that with everyone in a way that made sense to them. I love when I can see something kinda like click. And so I wanted more ways to do that. And one way that I could at least control it, I can’t make people book more tastings, but I can find a way to talk with more people. And so it was basically between, like, podcast or YouTube. And again, the whole, like, visual aspect, I am visual, but creating the visuals takes way too much time, in terms of making a YouTube video. So I was like, podcast seems easier.

Scott Cowan [00:28:59]:
Mhmm.

Hailey Bohlman [00:29:00]:
I can talk. I’m very good at just talking and filling up space. That would be the easy part. The hard part is the editing, and I’m like, you know what? I will hire a manager. I’m gonna take this as an investment. Cork & Fizz is still, not a full time job, and I don’t know if it’ll ever be a full time job for me. And so this way, I can take you know, create it as an investment or just as something that I do, and use my, you know, my corporate job to cover the expense of the manager. So all I have to do is, you know, talk, do the research, meet really cool winemakers, and ask them questions.

Hailey Bohlman [00:29:32]:
I love asking questions. So it just kind of, like, made sense for getting to do more of what I like to do.

Scott Cowan [00:29:42]:
So you’re not editing your own show? You’re you’re I’m hired. You’ve you’ve okay. I’ve done the sec. I don’t think I could be doing this for five years without Todd.

Hailey Bohlman [00:29:52]:
Yeah. No. I mean, I didn’t even know how to start the podcast. I mean, I started working with my manager, Liz, like, from the very beginning. So I was like, I want to do this. I have no idea how to do this. Like, please help.

Scott Cowan [00:30:06]:
Right. So we’re gonna talk podcast here for a second. Yeah. And we’re just gonna be we’re not gonna talk about one. We’re talking about podcasting and the the simple joys and how easy it is to podcast and how listeners just fall out of the sky. And growth for my show has been consistent, steady. Not not I’m never gonna make it as a marketer, but, you know, it it’s not it’s and it’s not been a vertical, you know, hockey stick growth, nothing like that. It’s just been slow and steady, which is fine because I the podcast for me is kinda like for you, the same sort of thing, conversational.

Scott Cowan [00:30:50]:
Has your show grown? And the follow-up to that is, who’s your audience?

Hailey Bohlman [00:30:57]:
Yeah. I was like, I feel like there’s a second question to that, so I was waiting. Yes. Same as you, it is slow. It is definitely podcasting is definitely like a labor of love because, I mean, the way to grow your show is to be consistent and, you know, make sure you’re putting an episode out regularly. And, like, I’ve been doing that for two years, and I’m, like, excited with every milestone I hit, but it’s still, like you know, most episodes get an average about a hundred listeners. Okay. And everyone who I talk to, like, loves it.

Hailey Bohlman [00:31:31]:
And my audience is such a mix of, like, I get a lot of, I mean, it’s it’s funny because, like, Cork & Fizz is a business. My main audience I know is primarily female.

Scott Cowan [00:31:42]:
Mhmm.

Hailey Bohlman [00:31:43]:
But with the podcast, I’ve had quite a mix. And I get some people who are, like, studying wine and are interested in just, like, learning more. And this is a good way to kind of, like, learn about wine in a different way where they don’t have to be, like, in the middle of a textbook doing something they can just, like, while they’re driving to wherever, throw on the podcast and listen to it. I also I mean, part of my audience is made up of family and friends who found it interest in, like, wanted to support me and then actually found it interesting. Right. Because you can’t listen to a podcast just because you support someone like you would never make it through. And so a lot of it are folks who are I think, like, most of the audience, besides those people who are kinda studying, I think they make up that group where they’re like, I’m curious about wine. It’s interesting to me.

Hailey Bohlman [00:32:30]:
I might like to go out wine tasting on the weekends, but I’m not about to, like, go try to study and, you know, get a certification, or it’s not it’s yeah. It’s not necessarily a passion. It’s a hobby, and it’s a curiosity for them.

Scott Cowan [00:32:47]:
Okay. But I think there’s a lot of value to provide this type of content to that type of consumer. Yes. K. Who who’s your hosting company for your podcast?

Hailey Bohlman [00:33:04]:
Buzz

Scott Cowan [00:33:04]:
Buzzsprout.

Hailey Bohlman [00:33:05]:
Sprout, which is very terrible. Like, Liz does everything. I record and give it to her.

Scott Cowan [00:33:10]:
You record and give it to her buzzsprout. Yeah. Okay. That’s that’s what I thought. Okay. What’s the plans for the future on the podcast? Here’s a question for you. Because you you you said something. No.

Scott Cowan [00:33:20]:
You said you’re a perfectionist. I get and I respect that. You picked audio. Maybe you picked audio for some of the same reasons that I did. Number one, you don’t have to be on camera. For me, first and foremost, you and I are looking at each other. No problem with that. But if I was recording this with the intention that it would go on YouTube, I would not be on is I would not be very comfortable.

Scott Cowan [00:33:48]:
I might get comfortable, but right now, I would not be comfortable. So I picked audio because I have a face for radio. That’s the way I look at it. Okay? I also picked audio because what I believe is that the postproduction is easier than video. I also picked it because five years ago, YouTube wasn’t really interested in doing podcasts. That’s changed, but that’s those are the three big reasons. And number one being I just didn’t wanna be on camera. But why’d you pick podcasting and not do video?

Hailey Bohlman [00:34:26]:
I mean, the main reason was that, like, how much more work would have to go into it if I wanted it to be a video. Mhmm. I mean, for one, like, you’re looking at my background right now. I mean, to be fair, I’m in a rental right now, and so, like, there’s boxes strewn about, because we’re planning on moving back. And so I knew that, like, you know, if I wanted it to be video, it also needed to, like, not only did I need to look nice, the surrounding needed to look nice, and I needed that space. And I also felt like with video, there would just be too many things that would make me put it off and not do it and just be like, maybe later, maybe when I have more time, and maybe this

Scott Cowan [00:35:03]:
Mhmm.

Hailey Bohlman [00:35:03]:
Podcast. I’m not saying it’s easy, but it just felt like there was an easier entry point to just, like, I just needed to get a mic. I just needed to, you know, get that man work with a manager. I need to have something to talk about.

Scott Cowan [00:35:16]:
Mhmm.

Hailey Bohlman [00:35:16]:
And I could start with just that, and that made it so much easier to kinda jump into it.

Scott Cowan [00:35:21]:
No. I I agree with you a 100%, you know, because you could it’s Saturday morning. You don’t feel like doing your hair and your makeup. You can throw a ball cap on, speak in your microphone, and nobody knows. Nobody knows. Where if it was video, you’re like, I don’t really wanna do that today. Dog needs to go. Needs to go for a walk, which is a reference to our what’s your What’s Your Washington conversation.

Scott Cowan [00:35:48]:
Go listen to that, folks. It’s on What’s Your Washington. Anyway, I kid. Do you think you might go video though in the future? Do you think it would be advantageous to the way you wanna help educate and promote wine?

Hailey Bohlman [00:36:07]:
It’s it could go either way for me. Like, as soon as you ask that question, it goes on either side for me. Like, one, maybe, you know, the simple, like, entry point would just be to start. You know, I do record my podcast with the video on. The editing, though, is just done in audio. We just use the video mainly for social media. So, like, maybe we could bring to a point where we would edit both the audio and the video and just post that. The thing that I’m thinking about one, and I’d have to do research into this because I know I’m not the only person in the world that listens to podcasts.

Hailey Bohlman [00:36:36]:
But for me, listening to a podcast, I don’t listen on YouTube. I especially as a single person talking, maybe if there’s like a group of people. But even then, like, I listen to podcasts on the go. It doesn’t make sense for me to put them as a video. But I’m sure there’s a decent amount of people who do listen on YouTube and just like like to have it going. I don’t know. I would need to do more deep dive into whether that’s worth it. My other other thought is, like, again, focusing on my expertize or what my not necessarily my expertize, but what I think I’m good at and what I can bring to people.

Hailey Bohlman [00:37:12]:
There are some great video, like folks creating video content on wine, and I don’t know if that’s where I can provide the most value and I could be does that make sense? Like, I think they’re doing a great job and, like, maybe I could do it, but it would take so much more effort and so much more work that I don’t know if it would be worth it on my side.

Scott Cowan [00:37:37]:
I’m not trying to talk you into this at all because I’m not doing it either. So, I mean, seriously, I’m not trying to but I believe YouTube is now the second largest podcast listening platform. Technology was not our friend. Haley got so angry. She threw her Yeah.

Hailey Bohlman [00:37:54]:
I’d had enough of it.

Scott Cowan [00:37:55]:
She threw her microphone at the computer screen. It cracked. You didn’t see any of this. But I called her. I promised her that you guys would all wanna hear what she had to say, and so she’s back. But what you didn’t hear me say, Haley, was that YouTube is now, I believe, the second largest podcast consumption platform out there.

Hailey Bohlman [00:38:14]:
Which is just

Scott Cowan [00:38:15]:
yeah. I’m with you. I’m with you. I don’t I don’t think of YouTube as a mobile I Apple Podcasts, Spotify, those are mobile platforms for me to listen to when I’m out for a walk, when I’m in my car. Right. I don’t think of YouTube as like, I don’t wanna be watching YouTube videos while I’m driving. You know? Okay. Yeah.

Scott Cowan [00:38:33]:
I’m not suggesting to you that you should create a video first show. I am offering that you should publish your audio only episodes on YouTube.

Hailey Bohlman [00:38:46]:
Oh, I do that. I should’ve yes. I do yes. We do publish those. Because, like, we were on, like, Google and when I say we, it’s like me and my podcast manager, you know, the team. Where because there was, like, Google Podcasts for a little while, and then they got rid of that. So we did go up on YouTube, and, yes, there is all the audio only, at least, for now.

Scott Cowan [00:39:06]:
Right. And, you you know, and I get a few a handful of listens on an episode. Some lessons or not lessons. Some episodes do really, really well, and some don’t, but it’s just another point of discoverability.

Hailey Bohlman [00:39:18]:
Yeah.

Scott Cowan [00:39:19]:
Alright. So as one podcast or the other, we we kind of understand that this is so let’s just thank the listeners that are stuck with it this this far because, you know, we appreciate them, and this is a platform that works well for me. Personally, I prefer it. It doesn’t seem to meet the criteria of fast growth, and that’s okay.

Hailey Bohlman [00:39:45]:
Yeah.

Scott Cowan [00:39:46]:
And that’s okay. Alright. I’m gonna not that our tech challenges didn’t, like, totally change directions of our conversation, but I’m gonna totally change direction here. I’m gonna ask you some very specific questions now. Alright?

Hailey Bohlman [00:39:59]:
Okay. And

Scott Cowan [00:39:59]:
we’re going to talk about Washington State wines.

Hailey Bohlman [00:40:02]:
Yeah. And I’m

Scott Cowan [00:40:02]:
going to put you not on the spot, but let’s just let’s narrow our conversation down into Washington State wines. What is your favorite Washington State wine region?

Hailey Bohlman [00:40:16]:
Oh, Walla Walla.

Scott Cowan [00:40:18]:
So do you own the t shirt that says Walla Walla is for wine, Napa is for auto parts?

Hailey Bohlman [00:40:23]:
I don’t, but that sounds great.

Scott Cowan [00:40:25]:
Isn’t that a lovely, lovely shirt that you should I mean Yes. You you talk about you you you talk about wines all over the world, so you’re gonna eventually be discussing Napa Valley. But Walla Walla is for wine, Napa is for auto parts.

Hailey Bohlman [00:40:40]:
I love it.

Scott Cowan [00:40:41]:
I saw that and I just you know, I I have a a good friend of mine in Texas who is very much into wine. 5,000 bottle cellar.

Hailey Bohlman [00:40:53]:
Dang.

Scott Cowan [00:40:55]:
Very, very good taste in wine. Mhmm. She and his wife both advanced studies. They enjoy their wines. And I had dinner with them one night and we had a bottle of wine. It was delicious. It really was. All I can remember was from Australia.

Scott Cowan [00:41:14]:
Okay. And it was about a thousand dollar bottle of wine.

Hailey Bohlman [00:41:17]:
That’s insane.

Scott Cowan [00:41:18]:
And he he ordered he orders it. He’s, like, a member of their wine clothes. So he gets it the year of release, and he keeps it okay. So this was, you know, didn’t cost him a thousand bucks, but this is not something that you’re gonna run to Trader Joe’s for.

Hailey Bohlman [00:41:32]:
Sure.

Scott Cowan [00:41:33]:
Right. And it was delicious. And I explained to him, I said, there’s no way I’m going to because I think of wine as a single serving bottle. I I I don’t mean that I’m gonna drink it all, but I I don’t think of wine as something that you open today and save it till like, I I like bourbon, so I I’ll pour some pour some bourbon, put it back on the shelf. I’m not really worried about going back to it. Wine, I think it doesn’t this is my knowledge limited. You know, it doesn’t doesn’t keep well once we’ve opened it, blah blah blah blah blah. So I think of wine as a single serving bottle for more than one person, by the way, not just for our listeners.

Hailey Bohlman [00:42:13]:
Sure. Sure.

Scott Cowan [00:42:14]:
And I’m not gonna spend a thousand dollars on a single serving anything. So the next one we had with dinner, are you familiar with the, the the label, the prisoner?

Hailey Bohlman [00:42:30]:
Yes. Yep.

Scott Cowan [00:42:31]:
Have you ever had any of the prisoner?

Hailey Bohlman [00:42:33]:
I have had the prisoner. Yes. The, like, the main one.

Scott Cowan [00:42:36]:
Right. It was horrible. And I’ll tell you why, though. No. No. So here’s the thing. Had this lovely wine. I mean, it was amazing.

Scott Cowan [00:42:44]:
Seriously, it was, you know Scott likes wine if it’s a thousand bucks a bottle from this Australian

Hailey Bohlman [00:42:50]:
Yeah. Right. I’m like, you just have you just it’s not that you don’t like wine. You just have really bougie taste

Scott Cowan [00:42:54]:
and wine. Bougie taste. So he he brought out a bottle of the prisoner. And what’s the prisoner retail for in Washington? About $75? I

Hailey Bohlman [00:43:01]:
mean, I think maybe even closer to 50, but maybe I’m shopping

Scott Cowan [00:43:03]:
at, like Let’s just say 50 to 50 to a hundred. Let’s just okay. Sure. Yeah. And he and he opens the bottle and pours his glasses, and I sip and I was like, this is where I don’t know anything. And I’m like, well, this really sucks compared to what I just had. This is horrible. I look at my friend, and he’s got kind of a funny look on his face.

Scott Cowan [00:43:25]:
Look at his wife. She’s got a funny look on her face too. So I’m like, I take a couple more sips and they’re like, this is a bad bottle. Oh. So we got a bad bottle of the prisoner. So my only experience with the prisoner is that it was a bad bottle. But are you familiar with the story of that brand?

Hailey Bohlman [00:43:46]:
I am not I mean, I’m like, something’s coming to mind, but I’m like, I cannot put it. No. I’m not.

Scott Cowan [00:43:53]:
A Napa Valley Winemaker, I do not know his name, was was I was making wine for one of the large well known winery wineries there. He decided to go out on his own. He created the label. He was renting production facilities. He was buying grapes from wherever he could get them. He basically built a brand.

Hailey Bohlman [00:44:13]:
That’s right. Yes. Yes.

Scott Cowan [00:44:14]:
Okay. That brand for, like, $250,000,000. Yeah. Now just do the math. At $50 a bottle, how many bottles of wine whoever bought that thing has to sell just to recoup their initial investment and forgetting costs? Anyway, wine’s a big business. Alright. I was totally sidetracked you, but the question I asked you, favorite wine region, and you said Walla Walla, and I cut you off. What about Walla Walla do you like?

Hailey Bohlman [00:44:44]:
I I think some of it’s just, like, personal and that the experience and and being there. I so to give a little background on this, I have done a couple wine retreats out to Walla Walla that I’ve hosted myself. And so before hosting those retreats, I went out with my husband, and we were out there for a weekend. And I again, this is where, like, I really think that, like, wine is often so attached to also an experience and emotion and all of this. Because you’re right. You wouldn’t buy a thousand you wouldn’t pay a thousand dollars for, like, a bottle. Maybe if it’s attached to a certain experience, I mean, even that is, like, going a little above and beyond. But, like, that’s why I would pay upwards of 100, 2 hundred dollars a bottle because it’s the experience.

Hailey Bohlman [00:45:28]:
And so to me, the Walla Walla love one comes from visiting there and falling in love with just the feel of that region. I said I come from a small town, and Walla Walla is a small town or a couple small towns that the region is made up of. And it’s a lot of winemakers doing a lot of fun, unique things and really highlighting the amazing things that wine can do.

Scott Cowan [00:45:56]:
Right. And I know my video is frozen, at least on my side. So

Hailey Bohlman [00:46:00]:
Yeah. I was like, I hope you’re still there at least close to me, but I can’t.

Scott Cowan [00:46:03]:
Sorry, folks. We’re flying without a net here. Alright. So I’m gonna put you on the spot. K. Not gonna ask you your favorite Walla Walla winery, but I’m gonna ask you to give me some recommendations for Walla Walla wines.

Hailey Bohlman [00:46:19]:
Oh, absolutely. Easy. Well, the first thing that I always share with folks, if you’re ever in Walla Walla, one of the best experiences you can do if you want to dove a little deeper into the wine world, the winery called Delmas offers a vineyard tour. You won’t get to taste the wine. They are a very small producing, so they don’t have a tasting room and they don’t typically offer tastings. But you will get an in-depth vineyard tour with either the winemaker, Brooke, or her father, who is one of the founders of that special region in Walla Walla that is called the Rocks District.

Scott Cowan [00:46:58]:
K.

Hailey Bohlman [00:46:59]:
And it’s just this they’re you know, they love wine, and they’re so passionate about it that it is a really cool experience to get to go out into the vineyard and learn about how and she actually started in Napa. So you get to learn a little bit about how it’s different growing grapes here in Washington versus in Napa. So that is one, an experience I would recommend if you’re in Walla Walla. As for the wines and just whether you’re out there tasting or you’re just looking to order wines, I’m a big fan. Grow Grain is a great one. It’s spelled like gross grain, g o g r o s g r a I n. Okay. They make a lot of unique, fascinating wines, lots of sparkling.

Hailey Bohlman [00:47:42]:
You’ve still got your big reds if that’s your favorite, but also some, like, lighter Italian whites and Italian reds. I’m trying to think of some other things. They just have a lot of diversity, which I think is really fun in the wine. Duclaux Cellars. I also never know if I say that right. It’s d u c l e a u x Cellars. It’s a husband and wife team, that are making amazing wines. I’m a big fan of mostly blends for the most part.

Hailey Bohlman [00:48:08]:
So, like, Rhone Valley blends are in that same area that Delmas is in. So Rhone Valley is a region in France that produces a certain style of wine. We often just call it that here in The US because it’s easier to associate it with it, but, just lots of flavor, lots of spice, lots of fruit in the wine, and it’s really good. Trying to think oh, Gramercy is another one. I fell in love with their Syrah. If you love Syrah, Gramercy has some of the best that I’ve ever had, and also a fun grape called Mourvedre, that they do really well.

Scott Cowan [00:48:39]:
So I think I think you’ve just kind of unintentionally touched on why I’m uncomfortable with wine, and that is because I’m unable to pronounce

Hailey Bohlman [00:48:49]:
Oh, fair.

Scott Cowan [00:48:51]:
Half of the grapes or half of the names of the wineries. And I always, yeah, I just self conscious ego, you know, whatever. Alright. But those are all valid. So when you go to Walla Walla, where do you stay?

Hailey Bohlman [00:49:04]:
I’ve stayed at a couple spots. For the retreats, we’ve stayed at the Finch, which is a great, motel turned hotel. That is a fun spot to stay. I’m trying to remember where we stayed when it was just me and my husband. It was more of like a bed and bath, kinda bed and bath goodness. I’m thinking like bed, bath, and beyond. It was a bed and breakfast.

Scott Cowan [00:49:23]:
So the bed, bath, and beyond in

Scott Cowan [00:49:25]:
Walla Walla has the overnight stage

Scott Cowan [00:49:27]:
now? Is that the

Hailey Bohlman [00:49:27]:
a great place to

Scott Cowan [00:49:28]:
sit. Cool.

Scott Cowan [00:49:29]:
Don’t mind us. We’re just sleeping here. Okay. Perfect.

Hailey Bohlman [00:49:32]:
It’s a bed and breakfast style, but I’m I’m forgetting the name of it. Honestly, you really can’t go wrong with any of the there’s a lot of little cute boutique hotels, in and around Walla Walla, but the Finch is where I’ve stayed for the last, for my two retreats that I did, and I was a big fan of it.

Scott Cowan [00:49:48]:
Have you gone up to Red Mountain area?

Hailey Bohlman [00:49:50]:
No. That’s one of them that’s on my list. Like, I was ready today. I know we were gonna talk about some Washington wine, and I’m like, two spaces I’ve or two Washington wine regions I haven’t been to that I want to are Red Mountain and the Columbia Gorge.

Scott Cowan [00:50:03]:
Okay. So you haven’t been to the Columbia Gorge either. Alright.

Hailey Bohlman [00:50:06]:
No. I know. I would like tasted some of their wine at Taste Washington earlier this year, and that is, like, the next, you know, on my list of, like, where we need to travel to.

Scott Cowan [00:50:16]:
Now when I think of grapes and wine, you know, I think of Central Washington. I think of, you know, Walla Walla, Yakima, the whole, you know, the the more agricultural areas of the state the that have been impacted positively by the the dams on the Columbia for irrigation and turning, you know, high desert into, you know, usable land. But there’s a fair amount of stuff that’s done on the West Side of the state.

Hailey Bohlman [00:50:43]:
There is, surprisingly. It’s not where you would think of growing wine grapes, but there is some stuff happening over here.

Scott Cowan [00:50:50]:
Have you ever been up to Orcas Island in the San Juans? Have you tried the winery up there?

Hailey Bohlman [00:50:57]:
I have tried wine from, like is the Orca Project up there?

Scott Cowan [00:51:03]:
Yes.

Hailey Bohlman [00:51:03]:
There’s a winery up there. I’ve had their wine, but that’s because they have a tasting room here in Seattle. But I’ve not been up there myself yet.

Scott Cowan [00:51:10]:
That’s a good good good journey to go to. Yeah. Because you can’t go wrong in the San Juans.

Hailey Bohlman [00:51:16]:
No. I mean, I think we’d you know, in the San Juans, we had my husband and I had a trip planned there, like, April 2020. You can imagine why we didn’t go.

Scott Cowan [00:51:24]:
I don’t know why. You you’re oh, that’s right. You were busy delivering little cups of wine

Hailey Bohlman [00:51:29]:
to That’s that’s right. Exactly. Yes.

Scott Cowan [00:51:33]:
What is I am gonna put you on the spot here. There’s no wrong answers, so I don’t want you to and, folks, when I when I ask questions like this, I’m, I guess, I understand I’m really putting you on the spot. But what’s your favorite Washington State wine?

Hailey Bohlman [00:51:49]:
Like, style of wine or specific wine?

Scott Cowan [00:51:51]:
I want I want a specific.

Hailey Bohlman [00:51:55]:
I’m gonna go back to a winery that I’ve already mentioned because I do love it. It’s the Delmas Viognier, and that looks nothing like how it’s how it’s said. It’s like Viognier is what the word looks like. But it is Delmas Viognier Viognier, and Viognier is the grape. And it’s just this, like, floral, somewhat rich, like, it has that really full mouthfeel, but it’s a white wine. Okay. And it’s just oh, I love it.

Scott Cowan [00:52:24]:
You love it. Alright. Now same question. Period. No no no limitations to Washington state. What’s your that you’ve tried, the wines that you’ve tried? You can only have one wine the rest of your life. The clock is ticking. Oh, man.

Scott Cowan [00:52:44]:
I don’t know.

Hailey Bohlman [00:52:45]:
One and it’s one bottle.

Scott Cowan [00:52:47]:
One bottle.

Hailey Bohlman [00:52:50]:
I I’m e I’m between either. There’s a winery down in Santa Barbara in California called Final Girl, and I they have a Chenin Blanc that they make, and I it’s again, I’m a hue like, I drink white and red, but I definitely drink more white. Chenin Blanc is a white wine.

Scott Cowan [00:53:11]:
And

Hailey Bohlman [00:53:12]:
it has that same balance between a lot of great acidity, but then a a little bit of richness, and it pairs well with a lot of different foods.

Scott Cowan [00:53:18]:
K.

Hailey Bohlman [00:53:18]:
I’m between that and, why I just went to France back in, September, and I got to go visit Burgundy and visit some, wineries there. And so, basically, any of those wineries that I visited

Scott Cowan [00:53:31]:
That’s those wineries.

Hailey Bohlman [00:53:32]:
One of their, like, premier cru, Chardonnay, Burgundy. Okay. I’d be pretty happy if that was all that. If if if I was stuck drinking one, it could be that one.

Scott Cowan [00:53:41]:
Alright. Next question to follow-up on that. Is there a wine that you haven’t tried yet that you really aspire to? If if price was no object, if, you know, travel was no object, the holy grail, if you will, is there something out there that’s you want?

Hailey Bohlman [00:54:06]:
There is a special, wine world might think of this in in when you ask that question. It’s, I’m trying to remember the full name, but Yachem is what it’s like y q oh, god. I can’t spell. Yachem. Look it up based on the sound of it. Okay. But it is a, sweet wine from Bordeaux, France. It’s a sauterne, and it’s meant it’s just like anybody who tries it just describes it as, like, the most delectable honeyed, you know, beverage sir like, that you could ever have, and it’s they’re just like it’s just an explosion of flavors, and and it is insanely expensive.

Hailey Bohlman [00:54:46]:
So Okay. That’s why I have not tried it.

Scott Cowan [00:54:49]:
Alright. Those are all

Hailey Bohlman [00:54:51]:
Chateau Yachem. I think that’s what it’s called. Chateau Yachem.

Scott Cowan [00:54:53]:
Okay. Those are all you’d see there’s fine answers. There’s no there’s no right or wrong answer here. No.

Hailey Bohlman [00:55:00]:
You know? And ask me on another day, and I’d probably tell you something else. I mean, the other thing that came to mind was, like, I wanna go to New Zealand and actually try the Sauvignon Blanc in New Zealand because I know it’s a thousand times better than what they, like, export to The US.

Scott Cowan [00:55:12]:
Alright. Well, you know, we won’t go there on exports. Okay. And for those of you who might be hearing my dog having his opinion on wines right now too, Court Crew.

Hailey Bohlman [00:55:27]:
Yeah. What do you wanna know?

Scott Cowan [00:55:31]:
Well, it says, hey, wine lover. So that’s not me, so why don’t you tell me what’s going on?

Hailey Bohlman [00:55:34]:
That’s true. It’s probably not the right fit for you. You should pass this along to your friend down in Texas.

Scott Cowan [00:55:39]:
Yes. There you go.

Hailey Bohlman [00:55:41]:
The Cork Crew is a virtual wine tasting club that I started. It started how long has it been? It started a year after cork and fizz. And it was this idea of, like, creating this community of folks who are interested in learning more about wine, but, like, wanted to be surrounded by people who they would feel comfortable around and where they didn’t feel silly for not knowing something. And we get together. We do, it’s changed a little bit over the years, but this year, I’ve been doing, we do one theme every month, but I host two different tastings, so you get to pick the day. And we just dive in. It’s kind of like one of those virtual wine tasting classes, but it’s part of this club, and you get to see these same people all the time. And so we do a tasting every month.

Hailey Bohlman [00:56:25]:
And then a lot of times, I bring in winemakers to do q and a’s or even small EAs. We brought in the author of that book, Corkdork. Remember that from the beginning? She came in and talked to us. So, yeah, it’s just like it’s like that community of folks who are interested in wine, but maybe don’t again, it’s it doesn’t it doesn’t need to be a, you know, a thing that you’re studying and and you’re, you know, planning to learn a ton about. It’s just like, I’m curious. I wanna learn more. It’s kind of a fun space, and I wanna feel comfortable asking questions.

Scott Cowan [00:56:53]:
So I’m gonna tease you, but then I’m gonna set up and tease myself right afterwards. Okay? So this is fair. So it says new event coming soon, April 11 or April 12, and that’s in the past. But I’m gonna tease myself because what are the two wines? I can’t I’m not gonna pronounce either of those two wines that you were choosing between. So get let’s walk through, like, that was the upcoming event. Like, this Yeah. This is in the past now, folks. So what are those two wines, and how are we gonna pronounce those?

Hailey Bohlman [00:57:23]:
Yes. So that is Sancerre versus Touraine.

Scott Cowan [00:57:26]:
K. And Touraine?

Hailey Bohlman [00:57:27]:
Yeah. Yeah. I think in French, they go Touraine, but I’m not French, so I just say Touraine. Tour

Scott Cowan [00:57:32]:
okay. Sancerre and Touraine. Okay. So we’re gonna try those two types of wine.

Hailey Bohlman [00:57:40]:
Yes. So this one was, and I do a few different styles of these. You only do two wines, I should say, as well with each of these virtual tastings. So it’s meant to, like, you’re not buying a ton of bottles every

Scott Cowan [00:57:51]:
Right.

Hailey Bohlman [00:57:51]:
Every month. And so these are two Sauvignon Blanc wines from France, and they’re actually from really close by. And so the idea of this tasting was, like, how different can two wines taste when they’re made from the same grape and, like, within I I wanna say it was, like, it was under a hundred kilometers away from each other.

Scott Cowan [00:58:13]:
And did people notice a distinct difference?

Hailey Bohlman [00:58:17]:
Yeah. Everyone who tasted could tell they were different. And sometimes it was because of the soil and where they were grown, but sometimes it was what the winemaker did, how they how they made it, and the choices that they made.

Scott Cowan [00:58:28]:
Okay. That’s actually very cool. I that’s see that’s that’s things about wine I can get into is, like, the whole how the year for example, when Washington wines, when we had a lot of smoke over here, those years, the grapes had a real smoky influence to them, things like that. I I think it’s fascinating. So you got private tastings. You do those in person. You do them virtually. You got blind tastings.

Scott Cowan [00:58:54]:
You’ve got corporate tastings. You’ve got your cork crew. You’ve got private tours. You’ve got all sorts of stuff coming on here. And people need to go to corkandfizz.com. That’s super easy to say. Corkandfizz.com. But we’re gonna shift because we gotta wrap this up.

Scott Cowan [00:59:12]:
So we gotta ask you the important questions about Washington state. Now these are the the three questions that you agreed you’d play along with. And so number one is you’re in the Seattle area. Great place for coffee.

Hailey Bohlman [00:59:23]:
Yes. And I know we joked about this before because you’re like, you don’t drink wine, and I actually don’t really drink coffee.

Scott Cowan [00:59:30]:
How have we talked for this long? I don’t understand. We have nothing in common. Yeah. Go on.

Hailey Bohlman [00:59:36]:
But I do love a good coffee shop. I’m just more of a matcha or tea person. So the two that came to mind, I’m actually like I said, I’m in a rental for a little bit. I’m in the Maple Leaf neighborhood. Maple Leaf. Okay. And Cloud City, up on oh, I couldn’t even tell you the road because, again, I’m I’m just here temporarily.

Scott Cowan [00:59:53]:
Okay.

Hailey Bohlman [00:59:54]:
Cloud City. And then just down the street from that is, Blue Saucer. And they’re both very good. Blue Saucer had a great, like, a a play on a London Fog, but I think it had, like, cardamom, and it was, like, an orange spice tea. It was really good. And then Cloud City, I they have a good chai and a good breakfast sandwich.

Scott Cowan [01:00:14]:
Interesting. I’ve not tried either of those places. Alright.

Hailey Bohlman [01:00:16]:
Yeah. They’re very small. Just like and like I said, Maple Leaf, I feel like is not, like, a very super popular area in Seattle, and I’m kinda happy about that because it’s, like, it’s really nice.

Scott Cowan [01:00:24]:
Yeah. It’s it’s a nice quiet residential area, and that’s my interpretation of it. Okay. The follow-up question is, it’s gonna be lunchtime, and I’m gonna be hungry. Where’s a great place for lunch?

Hailey Bohlman [01:00:36]:
Oh, you’re gonna be on the same street as those two coffee shops? There’s a well, no. I should give you another I’m gonna tell you this one, but they’re only open for lunch on Fridays and the weekends, I believe. Interesting.

Scott Cowan [01:00:49]:
But I’m

Hailey Bohlman [01:00:49]:
gonna tell you anyway, they’re mostly open for dinner. It’s called the Maple.

Scott Cowan [01:00:53]:
The Maple.

Hailey Bohlman [01:00:53]:
Then, right, it’s in Maple Leaf. And they also have, it’s so funny because I do so many things. There is like just as like cute little house that’s been turned into a restaurant. They have an amazing menu just of like really homey good stuff. They’ve, you know, they’ve got a burger, but they also bring in lots of different things. But then they also on the side of the restaurant, they have what’s called the banana stand, and they do, like, takeout drinks and, food there. And then they have, like, a patio in the back, that they do. So I love that spot, but I’m also thinking for, like, if it’s not Friday or the weekend, my next go to let’s see here if you’re in I’m trying to think either my in Maple Leaf now or my house, where I’m normally at is in Ravenna, and the go tos in that area.

Hailey Bohlman [01:01:42]:
Bryant Corner Cafe is a good spot. They did change hands recently, so it’s like I can’t attest to the new owners, but it’s it’s been a great spot in the community for a very long time.

Scott Cowan [01:01:52]:
Alright. Now this is the question I wouldn’t share with you before. Remind you that you did agree to play along

Hailey Bohlman [01:02:01]:
That’s right.

Scott Cowan [01:02:01]:
And that my camera is frozen, so you really don’t know what face I’m making right now.

Hailey Bohlman [01:02:04]:
I have no idea.

Scott Cowan [01:02:05]:
Which is building this up even more. So here’s here’s the thing. It’s it’s a very simple question, but you have to answer and tell me why. Clear on the rules?

Hailey Bohlman [01:02:16]:
Yep. Yep. I realized I was nodding, but I should say, okay. This is a podcast. Well, I

Scott Cowan [01:02:20]:
can see I yeah. Yeah. Okay. Yeah. I can see you. So she was Yeah. Yeah.

Hailey Bohlman [01:02:23]:
It doesn’t matter about everyone. Folks.

Scott Cowan [01:02:24]:
I mean, everyone that gets as far is gonna say yes anyway. Right?

Hailey Bohlman [01:02:27]:
Yeah. Right.

Scott Cowan [01:02:28]:
Alright. You ready?

Hailey Bohlman [01:02:29]:
Ready.

Scott Cowan [01:02:30]:
Cake or pie?

Hailey Bohlman [01:02:33]:
Oh, pie. I don’t know what it is. Like, cake is, like, too dry in my opinion, and pie is just better.

Scott Cowan [01:02:43]:
K. There’s no wrong answer here. So you think cake is dry?

Hailey Bohlman [01:02:49]:
Yes.

Scott Cowan [01:02:49]:
Pie. What type of pie?

Hailey Bohlman [01:02:53]:
What I wanna go to is a key lime pie. My grandma would make them when I was younger. Mhmm. Now it would probably have to be dairy free because I’m decently lactose intolerant. Okay. You can make a really good one with, like, cashews or coconut. Either that or, like, a lemon meringue.

Scott Cowan [01:03:07]:
Alright. Yeah. What are you gonna pair what wine are you pairing with a lemon meringue?

Hailey Bohlman [01:03:11]:
Oh, man. Wine and sweet food, that is hard. But I feel like you could do, like, one, like a Moscato deiasti is what it’s called. So it’s, it’s from a region in Italy called Osti, and the bottle will say Moscato deiasti. And it’s just, like, light but sweet and a little bit of sparkling to it.

Scott Cowan [01:03:32]:
Alright.

Hailey Bohlman [01:03:32]:
So I think that could, like, work with the sweetness of the lemon meringue.

Scott Cowan [01:03:36]:
Okay. I debated whether I was gonna ask you this question.

Hailey Bohlman [01:03:41]:
Okay.

Scott Cowan [01:03:42]:
But I am gonna ask you this question. You have a a lead magnet on your website, and I’m gonna ask you to people go sign up for her newsletter, and you’ll get this. But because you’re listening, I’m gonna make her at least give us some examples. Okay. We we we play along and say, alright.

Hailey Bohlman [01:04:02]:
Yeah. Sure. Absolutely.

Scott Cowan [01:04:03]:
One of the things on your mailing list, it says, sign up now and get my free 15 wines under $15 guide.

Hailey Bohlman [01:04:11]:
Yes.

Scott Cowan [01:04:13]:
Share with me a red and a white off that guide, please.

Hailey Bohlman [01:04:17]:
Okay. A white that I believe should be on. It’s also I’m like, I haven’t seen this guide in a while. But a white that’s under $15 that I’d recommend, we’ll do that. And then if it’s not on the list, you got a bonus one.

Scott Cowan [01:04:28]:
Alright.

Hailey Bohlman [01:04:30]:
I do enjoy, and this is one of the first wines that I fell in love with before the trip to Willamette Valley. It’s Nobilo Sauvignon Blanc from New Zealand. And I know I just, like, crapped on all of the

Hailey Bohlman [01:04:43]:
New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc that comes over

Hailey Bohlman [01:04:45]:
here, but that is still good. Okay. And it’s just very friendly. A lot of people like it. It’s bright. It’s fruity. And then it also pairs well, especially in the summer with, like, salads, and lighter food. So I do enjoy that.

Hailey Bohlman [01:04:59]:
Please ignore everything I said about being too hoity toity about New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc.

Scott Cowan [01:05:03]:
That’s okay.

Hailey Bohlman [01:05:06]:
And then for

Scott Cowan [01:05:07]:
a

Hailey Bohlman [01:05:07]:
red under 15, this is where I need to, I don’t buy enough red. My guess is there is a Rioja. Rioja is a region in Spain, that probably Campo Viejo is a producer. So you’d see that on the label. They’re the ones that make the wine, and it’s called Rioja, and I believe those are under $15, and you can find them at, like, most grocery stores if your grocery store sell wine or total wine or most wine shops. And again, this wine is gonna be fruity. They use American oak, so it has a little bit of vanilla and a little bit, of spice going on. But again, pairs well with a lot of different foods.

Hailey Bohlman [01:05:50]:
So that’s a good one.

Scott Cowan [01:05:51]:
Alright. You’ve got a video on there when you’re on New Day Northwest. And this the premise of this was you’ve got a you have a Trader Joe’s snack and wine pairing guide. So there’s another reason. We’re not gonna ask you to disclose any of those, but folks can sign up and get the guide. You’ve got eight pairings. And I like how you describe this. I’m just gonna read this because I I this is why I like it.

Scott Cowan [01:06:14]:
Wine and food pairings don’t have to be some fancy smancy meal paired with a hundred plus dollar bottle of wine. A great example of this is taking your favorite snack from Trader Joe’s and matching it with a wine just a couple of aisles away.

Hailey Bohlman [01:06:28]:
We like to make things easy around here.

Scott Cowan [01:06:29]:
And and this is where you really deliver value. I did some experimenting lately and came up with eight delicious combos that you’re gonna love. You did the work for us. You went to Trader Joe’s. Hard work. You bought snacks. You bought wine. You tested.

Scott Cowan [01:06:46]:
You failed, but you’ve narrowed it down to eight. So if that doesn’t convince you that you should sign up for your newsletter, folks, I don’t know. I’m gonna sign up for the newsletter based on that because I wanna know what the eight pairings are.

Hailey Bohlman [01:06:59]:
Who knows? Maybe you’ll find I don’t know if there’s a port in amongst those, so I don’t I don’t don’t know about you, but maybe. Who knows? Maybe it’ll be paired with

Scott Cowan [01:07:06]:
the right food for you. Who knows? Yeah. What’s the future holding for you? What do you want to do in the future? As we wrap this up, what’s the future? If I call Hailey in two years and say, Hailey, how’s it been? You go, you know, I did I did this and I’m happy. What would that be?

Hailey Bohlman [01:07:25]:
I think I’d like to see I mean, I’m hoping to put a lot of energy. I hope that the podcast is still going strong, the Cork and Fizz Guide to Wine. And I hope I’ve grown the cork crew. That virtual community has been something that I look forward to every month and getting to learn about wine myself and then share with folks, and then just like making connections with those people. So those would be, like, the two things that I hope in in two years I can tell you.

Scott Cowan [01:07:48]:
Awesome. Well, thank you for sitting down with me amongst our technical challenges today. Appreciate that. I’ve, I’ve enjoyed the conversation. In in all sincerity, I’ve enjoyed it. I I do appreciate kind of the the way you approach wine. It feels like something I just wish I found more wines I actually like the taste of. I’d be I could I could get into wines if I go, oh, I like this a little more often.

Scott Cowan [01:08:14]:
You know? It’s just, I have That’s fair.

Hailey Bohlman [01:08:18]:
And and you’d probably hate me for saying it, but I feel the same way about coffee. No.

Scott Cowan [01:08:21]:
No. No. And I and and yes. This conversation’s over. No. It’s just but that’s but that’s just it. It is very similar. It’s like if your palate doesn’t appreciate something, sometimes I think we we discount the whole category that there are other things that are very cool about so where wine actually would win out over coffee for me is, especially because of the explore Washington state, I can go to where the grapes are grown.

Scott Cowan [01:08:52]:
Yeah. I can meet the people that are making the wine. Coffee is not grown in Washington state. It is imported from our, you know, mostly South Southern Hemisphere. And, yes, I could go to Mexico or Brazil or Ethiopia to to meet the the not nearly as easy as I can go to Walla Walla or Yakima.

Hailey Bohlman [01:09:10]:
Right. And and and around here in Washington, they’re so good about making it. I think you said that too. They make it an experience. It’s not just here’s the wine, drink it, you know, love it, buy some.

Scott Cowan [01:09:19]:
Right. So there’s just there’s there’s a lot to love with wine. If I could just find more wines to love. How’s that? I mean, I think that’s just it. But I’m I’m cautiously optimistic because I was telling about the port. Cautiously optimistic. Maybe port is my my gateway into into into wine because yeah. There we go.

Scott Cowan [01:09:42]:
So

Hailey Bohlman [01:09:42]:
It can it can definitely happen. It happened to my dad. He that’s that’s kinda where he started, and he’s having some sweet wines, and then he started having some other wines. He still doesn’t love all the wines. Right. But he has some wines that he likes. So

Scott Cowan [01:09:53]:
So make sure you go visit corkandfizz.com. We’ll put that in the show notes. Haley, thanks so much for sitting down with me today. I really appreciate your time.

Hailey Bohlman [01:10:00]:
Yeah. Thanks for having me. This was fun.