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, as host Ellen Clifford is in quarantine, 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 Lydia Richards, creator of Vino Concierge, offering wine services in English and Spanish! Find Lydia online @vinoconcierge or at her site www.vinoconcierge.wine Check out the full episode here THE FINAL FIVE (Ever so slightly edited for length!): QUESTION ONE Ellen: Question number one, the really hard question I ask everyone…whatcha drinking these days? Lydia: I feel like with the pandemic it’s definitely been more, in terms of volume, but I will say that sparkling wine has just been something I just can’t seem to stop drinking. I love fizziness, and I’ve been going through the crémants of the world, and Cavas and Prosecco and Champagne . Anything I can get my hands on. You can pair it with different foods, you can enjoy it on its own, you can do cocktails…so it’s super versatile. Even in a regular year, I always keep a bottle of bubbly nearby for any potential usage. QUESTION TWO Ellen: I love it. I’m in the midst of my sparkling exam for the Diploma; studying for that so I’ve been into the bubbles myself. Okay, question number two is what is your favorite, or the most interesting pairing you’ve experience? Lydia: Lately, ice cream and PX— Pedro Ximénez , while Netflixing my life away. It’s just so good. And it really pairs well with the vanilla ice cream, or really honestly whatever kind of ice cream you have. I think those two are sort of my favorite. Sometimes I even add a little bit of olive oil, like good olive oil on top of it. QUESTION THREE Ellen: Omigod that sounds amazing. Okay question number three: when this pandemic is done enough that we can travel, where would you like to go? Lydia: Whenever we’re able to, I’ll leave for like six months; I’ve been so claustrophobic in my own place, but the place I would love to visit would be the Canary Islands, where there are amazing vineyards that look like you are on Mars—that’s sort of been my go-to place. I’ve been putting it off for years, but I think if the pandemic shows us something, it’s that we gotta do this as soon as we’re able. QUESTION FOUR Ellen: I don’t see Canary Islands wines around enough, and they’re so good. Okay, question number four, if you were to make a wine, what would you make, and what would you call it? Lydia: Oof that’s a toughie. Ellen: Sorry, I always feel like I should tell people that one in advance… Lydia: I would love to do—in theory I’d love do sparkling but I think it’s too hard so I might just do beautiful rosé , like a little bit of the best of both worlds. I think I might call it something—cause my mom loves rosé—her name is also Lydia, but maybe something in Spanish like Lydia Rosado, just for her. Something in honor of her. QUESTION FIVE Ellen: Awesome, oh I love that. And the last question, that we’ve been asking people since the beginning of the show, what’s bringing you joy these days? Lydia: This year has been difficult, but I think it’s shown a lot of issues that we needed to address. It has been stressful, it has been painful, but at the same time, for the first time in a while I think I see hope. I think if we look back, we will be able to see a lot of the good that it did. For sure with a glass in hand. I’m looking forward to more progress, and more diversity and inclusion, and so many other things that are so important. Check out the previous Wine Situation podcast with Kiersten Dolbec here .