UnWineding

The owner of Golden Hour Wine, a natural wine boutique in Orlando's Baldwin Park neighborhood, talks about her decision to leave her thriving wine and hospitality group in Upstate New York and start a new life as part of Central Florida's wine community.

Cherié Rivett, owner and CEO of Orlando-based Harvest Moon Distributors, talks about her unexpected journey into the wine business after a successful corporate career and shares some of the hard lessons she's learned along the way.

Mary Montalvo returns to UnWineding to talk about her decision to close her Sanford, FL wine bar, Luisa's Cellar.

One year after UnWineding launched amid a flurry of COVID-19 lockdowns and restrictions, we check back in with the three Florida wine industry professionals we followed through the first six months of the pandemic and hear how their lives have changed.

Nga Ly-Henschen, General Manager of Capa Steakhouse at the Four Seasons Resort at Walt Disney World, talks about falling in love with wine at Orlando's Eola Wine Company, dealing with the pandemic shutdown and reopening, and her dreams for the future.

Mary Elizabeth Howe was just 30 years old when she became North Florida area manager for Augustan Wine Imports. During the COVID-19 lockdowns, she found herself furloughed from the job she loved. But as with other challenges she's faced in her career, she saw the trial as an opportunity for growth.

Tim Varan of Tim’s Wine Market shares stories about the early days of Orlando’s wine scene, his surprisingly rosy prediction for the COVID-19 pandemic’s potential impact on the area's wine industry, and much more.

Mary Montalvo, co-owner of Luisa's Cellar in Sanford, Florida, talks about her journey from Puerto Rico to Florida (via Germany), speaks candidly about the realities of being a woman of color in an industry dominated by white men, and shares how she and her business are getting by as the COVID-19 pandemic drags on.

Season Two of UnWineding kicks off with a conversation with Matt Coltrin, owner of The Parkview wine bar and restaurant in Winter Park, just north of Orlando.

UnWineding is back starting next week! Listen for a quick preview of Season Two, and learn how the Orange County Regional History Center is preserving Season One for future generations.

Our guests reflect on the past six months of the pandemic and the podcast in UnWineding's Season 1 finale.

Florida's bars and restaurants are now allowed to open at full capacity, after the governor announced the state was moving to Phase Three of its reopening plan. Also, Disney has announced plans to lay off 28,000 employees, including at least 6,700 in Central Florida.

Florida's bars reopened for service this week, almost six months after the state first banned onsite alcohol consumption in a bid to slow the spread of COVID-19. And after six months of unemployment, one of our regular guests is finally back to work.

Melissa McAvoy of Orlando's Swirlery Wine Bar talks about her journey in the world of wine.

Florida's hospitality businesses are steadily reopening, and industry workers are relieved they're starting to find employment again, just in time for Labor Day.

Orlando sommelier, server, and bartender Christina Peebles talks about her journey in the wine industry.

Some Florida bar owners are turning to food licenses to get around a ban on alcohol service that has been in place almost continuously since mid-March, but business is slow to return. With bars still effectively shut down and more restaurants closing for good, prospects for the state's food and wine professionals is still shaky at best.

Rob Chase of Orlando's Digress Wine talks about his journey in the wine industry.

As Florida's slow summer season drags on, bar owners are still playing a waiting game, while state and local governments consider when it might be safe for them to serve drinks again. The state’s out of work bartenders, servers, and sommeliers face a financial cliff, now that the federal unemployment benefit has expired and the status of a presidential executive order reinstating it is unclear. 

Florida regulators have started touring bars around the state, trying to find a safe way to lift the ban on onsite drink service without sparking a new spike in COVID-19 cases. Some struggling bar owners say they can't afford to wait much longer for the state to act.