Wine Situation Final Five! With Punam Patel

The Wine Situation hosts everyone from winemakers to writers to find out what a person’s situation is…with wine. This week actress Punam Patel, an Emmy nominee for her work in “Special”, joins Ellen to talk about her food and wine travels, where she drank after shows at Second City in Chicago and more—all over a terrific bottle of Lambrusco. Every episode ends with a Final Five questions. Click here for the full episode. THE FINAL FIVE (edited for length): QUESTION ONE Ellen: What’s the best pairing you’ve ever had? Punam: I would say I this really incredible Gamay , and it was with this like, I’m trashy so I’m going to call it eggplant parmesan, but it was something fancier than that, but it was so perfect. The earthiness of the eggplant and the cheese melting—it was so beautiful and the Gamay was super funky. I don’t know what was happening in my mouth but I loved it. QUESTION TWO Ellen: If you are not choosing wine, what would you drink? Punam: I would probably choose a hard kombucha. There was one called Buchcraft that I used to like but I haven’t had it in a while. I do really really love cocktails, but they have to be super herb-y. QUESTION THREE Ellen: What is your next goal restaurant to eat at? Punam: I went to Mexico City and I didn’t get to go to Pujol. I went to his lunch spot but I didn’t get—he’s an amazing chef and I would love to go to that restaurant. And there was one in Barcelona that I didn’t get to go to called Tickets that’s supposed to be amazing tapas. QUESTION FOUR Ellen: If you were going to make a wine, what would you make and what would you name it? Punam: I would want to make something pretty similar to what we’re drinking. Effervescent, jammy, funky, but I would love, and this may be a huge faux pas, but for some reason in my mind I would like to make a wine that has herbs in it. Like herbs infused in it. Ellen: Vermouths or a lot of things called aromatized wines use all sorts of botanicals, or it might be like an amaro. That’s a legit thing. Punam: I would love that. And I would probably just use my name because I really like my name. It means Full Moon. So I feel like that would be a good name for a wine just like a Full Moon. Ellen: Full on. QUESTION FIVE Ellen: What’s bringing you joy? Punam: Right now, besides food and wine, I’m finding a lot of joy in hot yoga. I feel like I’m finding a lot of comfort in the discomfort of being hot and stretched in a weird position. And I’m finding a lot of joy in travel. And I’m really excited about—we start shooting season two. I’ve been reading the scripts and I’m really excited about doing that character and I’m going to be challenged in new ways and you learn a lot about her and it gets a little dark, but I’m really excited to play that and show someone who is so real. And we can’t wait to watch! In the meantime, open a funky Lambrusco and check out Patel’s work on Netflix’s “Special”. Check out the previous Wine Situation podcast with Ronnie Pessin here .