Winemaker Kevin Panagapka is VERY busy man. Not only is he the owner and winemaker of his own label, 2027 and Solo Para Mici, he is also the winemaker for Calamus, a few other wineries and at Niagara Custom Crush studios. You can see why it took over a year to pin him down for an interview! During the course of our conversation, we talked about the differences between Burgundy and Bordeaux, compared the sizes of the wine regions of Ontario and France, and delved into why Chardonnay is the most planted grape in the world. We also tasted one of the best Cabernet Franc's I've ever had. It's a wonderful conversation. FYI – I did get to taste Kevin's Solo Pari Mici wine and it was mind blowing!!

Produced by Lukas Sluzar, recorded November 19, 2025

Show notes:

Wines sampled: 202 Brute Rose, 202 Cabernet Franc Foxcroft, 2021 Cabernet Franc King Street, 2021 Chardonnay

We're going back to school in this episode to speak with Barb Tatarnic, manager of professional Certification in Ontario Wine, and Steve Trussler, course designer and teacher of the Certification in Ontario Wines on-line course. This course is designed for the wine enthusiast to take a deep dive into the world of Ontario wines and discover the characteristics of cool climate wines. During our conversation we hit on another t-shirt slogan: Napa is the Niagara of California!! (and yes, we REALLY have to get some made). If you take one thing away from this episode, it should be this – the wonderful thing about wine is nobody knows everything! There's always something to learn and you'll definitely learn some amazing things on this podcast.

Produced by Lukas Sluzar, recorded October 22, 2025

Wines sampled: Wines sampled: Wyndham Estate Bin 555 Shiraz, Creekside Shiraz, Lindemans Bin 65 Chardonnay, Cave Spring Chardonnay

There are a lot of amazing things happening at Cave Spring, so we had to make time to chat with winemaker Gabe DeMarco about the importance of the new yeast strains discovered at the winery. In collaboration with Brock University, they worked to identify, isolate and validate their own yeast strains in an effort to create wine from the Niagara region with zero international inputs. In addition, you'll also hear about their new concrete vessels which were three years in the making and are 100% domestically sourced. Of course we also taste some fabulous wines, including the first CSV reds. This episode is packed with great information and it will certainly make you want to visit both the tasting room and the vineyard.

Produced by: Lukas Sluzar, recorded October 22, 2025

Show notes: www.cavespring.ca

Wines sampled: base wine, Blanc de Blanc Estate, 2024 Riesling CSV, 2020 Riesling CSV, 2023 Gamay CSV, 2022 Cabernet Franc CSV