Wine Situation Final Five

The Wine Situation hosts everyone from winemakers to writers to find out what a person’s situation is…with wine. At the end of each episode, host Ellen Clifford wants to know the basics of her guests’ final thoughts on wine, drink and food. This month, Ellen talks with Kelsey Phelps of SEPPI wines ! Edited for length! QUESTION ONE Ellen: Question number one: whatcha drinking? What are you into these days? Kelsey: I’m always looking for the next vineyard that I want to make SEPPI from, so I drink a lot of delicious Chardonnay —mostly Chardonnays—from around the Russian River and Sonoma Coast , and trying to branch out to Santa Barbara and Oregon maybe. I drink a lot of Chardonnay and Pinot looking for sites that I think would be really great for sparkling. QUESTION TWO Ellen: Question number two is: what is a favorite or unusual pairing? Kelsey: I think that rosé would be pretty good with Cheetos. The salt and the cheesy crunch… A more mainstream pairing is at one of the few places you can taste SEPPI, at a local sushi restaurant called Asahi in Healdsburg, and pairing the SEPPI with omakase, the nigiri and the sushi is so good. QUESTION THREE Ellen: Question three: what’s your favorite snack? Kelsey: French fries. All day, every day. QUESTION FOUR Ellen: Question number four: where else in the world would you make wine? Kelsey: I’m really focused on what I’m doing right now. I really want to work with some Oregon vineyards for SEPPI. I’m super excited about Oregon. QUESTION FIVE Ellen: Question number five: what’s bringing you joy these days? Kelsey: My little dog. She’s a longhaired medium dachshund, and I love her so much. She’s my pride and joy. Layla Peanut. She’s on the SEPPI Instagram from time to time. *** SEPPI can be found here and on Instagram @drinkseppi Check out the previous Wine Situation podcast with Jiaqi Tang here .

Garden Creek

Chardonnay 2016

Ellen Clifford

9.3

I was lucky enough to lunch with Karin Wärnelius-Miller, who, along with her husband Justin Miller, tends the fields and makes the wines. “I’m doing what I love, and I’m doing it alongside the man I love,” she stated—the two grew up in wine country and returned to Alexander Valley in their twenties—and the rest is history, AND they make EXCEPTIONAL, elegant wines. This Chard was (if forced to pick one) my favorite. Honeyed (but not sweet) with hints of beeswax, something herbal, almost a lemongrass vibe, is in the mix. Light on the palate for a wine with a smidge of age and vitality! Almost effervescent in spirit. — 10 months ago

Tom, Paul and 5 others liked this

Thomas T Thomas Vineyards

Chardonnay 2020

Ellen Clifford

9.1

Wow wow wow this is so good now and I think it’s only gonna get better with age aka it has indelibly easy to love butterscotchy goodness of Cali married with old world acid and freshness and yeah..,I wish I had a bunch of it so I could taste I over the years. It has elegance but is still a youth, gonna keep gaining and I think flavors ask such will knit together more as it goes. Lemon zest and butter pecan float on a damp stone in a spring surrounded by an herb garden. SO good now but I wanna get some bottles to see how it evolves… — 3 years ago

Eric, barak heller and 12 others liked this

Rodney Strong Vineyards

Russian River Valley Pinot Noir 2021

Ellen Clifford

9.0

Ripe but balanced, suave and smooth. A very fresh nose with green underbrush. A combos cooling palate (in flavor) yet warming (in abv). Sweet tobacco and vanilla weigh in. And oh hey it finishes more savory than sweet—dried leaves and allspice? I’m into it. — a year ago

Tom, Juan and 3 others liked this

J. Lohr

Arroyo Vista Vineyard Chardonnay 2021

Ellen Clifford

8.9

So down for an Arroyo Seco Chard. Really good balance of malo/oak luxury and pear/spice/gentle creams ends in lightly buttered caramel corn. — 2 years ago

Bob, Romain and 5 others liked this

Forrest

Brigid Pinot Noir 2022

Ellen Clifford

9.1

Brigid wines are exciting in that the low alcohol level comes from winegrowing manager Beth Forrest’s vineyard practices—working with a leaf-to-fruit ration that limits sugars. Beautifully transparent with steaming hot ripe red cherries and raspberries on the nose. The palate brings all that plus a smoky, slightly herbal undercurrent I dig ending with a bit of floral white pepper crossed with sweetarts vibe. I like it a lot. — a year ago

Bob, Severn and 4 others liked this

SEPPI

California Brut Rosé 2018

Hailey Flemming

Hailey had this 3 years ago

with Patrick

Andy liked this