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Welcome to The Wineitupanotch Podcast, a podcast where we talk about wine, life, and everything in between. 

My name is Anshu Grover. I'm a certified wine expert and your host for this podcast, and I'm thrilled to welcome you today. Thank you for taking the time to join me! 

 More than just being thrilled to welcome you, I'm actually really excited that this particular episode is a kickoff to Season Two of The Wineitupanotch Podcast! 

Season One came with a lot of learning and growth for me - it really was my first kickoff into podcasting. And we got into 28 episodes of really interesting information about the world of wine, including some interviews and some deep dives on wine regions, wine grapes, and particular wines that I was very interested in.

Thank you so much for those loyal listeners who gave me your time, your devotion, your positive commentary, and listened to the podcast episodes that I put out. It really did fuel my passion in the first season and continues to motivate me really to keep going and bring you season two. 

Now let's talk a little bit about what Season Two is going to be bringing and what you can expect.

First of all, I'm going to be focusing on bringing some really cool interviews to the podcast for my listeners in this particular season. 

The plan is to talk to wine makers, wine producers, people in the wine industry that work either in a sales capacity or elsewhere, and really bring wine to life in that way by telling those stories.

There will also be a continued focus on wine regions, wine grapes and important wine knowledge that I am able to impart to anybody who's interested. So I definitely want to keep that focus in season two as well. So if you like that from the original batch of episodes, and I know many of you did because you would write me and let me know. Don't worry, we will still be doing that content in season two. I gotcha! 

I'll also be focusing a little bit on sharing some of my own personal experiences with you. 

As many people will know over the last couple years, I've been building a business in the space of wine and I've been doing some different things that I always get asked questions about. 

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So, hey, why not talk about them on the podcast?

For example, this summer in between seasons, I actually spent a month in Paris with my family and while it wasn't a totally Uh, business centric trip, there were definitely things that I picked up that relate to wine that I would like to share on this podcast and even just share what the experience of living for a month in Paris was like in case anybody is interested in that and wants to do the same because it's completely doable.

As many people will know, I am in the throes, really, of completing my Level 4 WSET Diploma course as well. I'm quite close to completion at this point, as I'm recording this episode. And I do get a lot of questions about certifications in wine, of which I have a few. So I would also like to do a couple of episodes that take you behind the scenes - continue to take you behind the scenes, I should say, in terms of how one can approach studying wine and depending on what it is you want out of it, what course of study may make sense for you. 

And then lastly, one of the things that I think a lot of wine lovers don't necessarily know or appreciate is that the wine world is vast and there's lots of things going on all the time.

Everything from recutting of wine regions to the standing up or sale of wineries through to just plain business transactions in the wine industry space. So I'd really like to bring some of that information to the podcast this season as well. 

And of course some fun facts and maybe some tastings on the podcast itself because hey, at the end of the day, what we all love about wine is tasting it, isn't it?

And one last thing that you can expect is more podcast episodes being put on YouTube, especially the interview based ones. So if you like to watch podcasts or YouTube content or you know someone else that does, that's coming this season too. 

So there you go. That's a little bit of what you can expect from season two! I hope you're really excited, as excited as I am, and we'll go on this journey together. 

Now, to give you a sense, the first episode in season two that will be released in a few days is with a winemaker from the Bordeaux region of 

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France. And not only the Bordeaux region, but someone who is quite steeped in the Saint Emilion region of the right bank of Bordeaux.

It's a fascinating interview. I won't say more, but... Be sure to tune in and that will be the way we will kick off season two. 

And before signing off, hey, I figured let me leave you with a fun fact! 

Now I just posted about this on my Instagram as well, so if you follow me there you might have seen this already. But I've got a question for you. 

If you see "Garnacha" on a label, what does that mean? 

I'm pausing for a moment. Many people who know wine well will say in their minds, “Anshu - why are you asking me that? Garnacha is Grenache.” 

And if you're thinking that, you're not wrong because Garnacha is the Spanish pronunciation for the Grenache grape.

However, nothing in the world of wine is that simple, is it? Recently, I came across a bottle that I purchased for my wine studies that said "Garnacha de la Madre" on the front. And I knew that it was a Spanish wine. And Spain is a region where Garnache is quite prominent. It's grown quite a bit and used in really beautiful wines all over the country.

So not paying a lot of attention, I picked up the bottle thinking that I was going to be trying Grenache. 

But it turns out that there was not a single drop of the Grenache grape in the bottle that I was drinking. You might be now thinking, what are you talking about? What I mean to say is that that bottle of wine actually contained Alicante Bouschet, a completely different grape from Grenache.

But in Spain, in many parts of Spain, it is referred to as Garnacha tintorera. Now, I don't know how you're supposed to know that if you don't come across this fun fact in your ventures and adventures in wine, but here you go I'm sharing it with you now. 

So if you see Garnacha in the Spanish context, you may actually be seeing a reference to Garnacha Tintorera, which is actually Alicante Bouschet.

So there's some food for thought and perhaps a reason to take a pause when you're buying and look at labels more closely. 

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Okay, so before I sign off, I just want to, once again, thank you for your time and your patronage of 

this podcast. I am really looking forward to spending season two with you and bringing you some great content.

And just as I sign off, as a little thank you to the listeners of this podcast, I have created a free downloadable on my website, which will give you insight into the top grapes that are grown all around the world. 

 It will, I think, actually be quite insightful for most people. You may already guess some of them, but maybe not all of them.

There are some surprises in that list and also the order in which those grapes appear. It's quite fascinating. 

So if you're interested in that, either you're studying wine or you just want to know, you know, what are the most popular grapes in the world, head on over to my website or click the link in the show notes to be taken to the free downloadable and have a look and I hope that you enjoy that resource.

And with that, I will sign off. 

I wish you, as always, lots of peace, love, light, and of course, good wine. 

Until next time, cheers!