Wine Situation Final Five (Now With Drunk Dialing!)

The Wine Situation hosts everyone from winemakers to writers to find out what a person’s situation is…with wine. It’s the solo season with host Ellen Clifford, but listen in with a glass, and nobody is drinking alone! In lieu of guests, at the end of every action-packed episode Ellen is phoning a friend with her Final Five questions. This week Ellen talks to Cara Patricia, advanced sommelier and co-owner of DECANTsf, a fantastic wine shop in San Francisco. Check out the full episode here QUESTION ONE Ellen: Whatcha drinking? Cara: I honestly drink Chardonnay more than anything, mostly Chablis . I try to find really good producers in Burgundy , like their Bourgogne Blanc or declassified stuff, and then honestly, California Chardonnay has gotten so much more delicious every year. Producers, if they were using ridiculous amounts of new oak or bâtonnage before, producers have been shying away from that and making wines that really show the terroir. Sandar & Hem is one of my favorite Chardonnay producers. QUESTION TWO Ellen: Do you have a favorite pairing? Cara: My favorite non-wine pairing is a ritual I have when I go to the movie theatre. It’s a small popcorn and a box of peanut M&M’s, and you put the M&M’s in the popcorn and mix it up, and it’s the best thing in the world. But one of my absolute favorite pairings is vintage Champagne with dim sum. I love to take my best Champagnes, especially that have a little bit more of an oxidative quality, or long aging that have a lees-y quality, and just go to town on a wide array of dim sum. QUESTION THREE Ellen: Question number three is, if not wine, what is your beverage of choice? Alcoholic or not. Cara: Tequila is my favorite. I use a lot of tequila at home the same way I would use gin…actually coffee. Coffee is the most important thing in my life. I’m a real coffee snob. I bring my own coffee to hotels. I could live without tequila. I could never live without coffee. QUESTION FOUR Ellen: Question number four is, were you to make wine yourself, what would you make and what would you call it? Cara: I always say I’m not a creator, I’m a curator. I think I’d want to make a Champagne method wine. And it would be called…I don’t know, A Hope and a Prayer? QUESTION FIVE Ellen: The last question is just what is bringing you joy these days? Cara: Reading has been bringing me joy. I’ve been rediscovering the work of Octavia Butler, and science fiction in general, and I have read eight of her books in the past, I think, three months. Getting back into science fiction has been making me really happy. I really like that there is somebody looking at a problem we are having and extrapolating it into worst-case scenarios or utopian ideals, and then breaking down the pros and cons of it within a larger story. *** You can visit DECANTsf in San Francisco, or visit www.decantsf.com , and follow Cara @carapatriciasf or @decantsanfrancisco on Instagram Check out the previous Wine Situation podcast with Agnes Hewitt here .