If you figured out that the subtext of the Season 3 trailer for The Pairs With Life Podcast was “Wine Podcast Host Goes Solo,” then you win a prize* (*no you don’t). So, let’s go ahead and discuss the elephant in the room (although she probably wouldn’t want to be referred to that way): where’s Christine?
Christine Trice, my co-host on The Pairs With Life Podcast since its inception, has left the show to pursue other opportunities. I totally respect her decision, and I wish her only the best as she moves into this new phase in her life.
I know that sounds like a press release, all sterilized and covered with an N95 mask. I hesitated to go into it any further in the Season 3 Teaser, but I’ve also had an on-going dilemma about this whole situation as well, wondering if a little more honesty isn’t appropriate? After all, we bared our souls on this show, and asked you to bear yours as well.
Yes, Your Podcast Hosts Were a Thing
It’s probably the Worst Kept Secret that Christine and I were a thing during our entire tenure as podcast hosts. We just decided not to talk about it. Not because we’re particularly private people – hell, we spilled secrets faster than Michael Flynn during the first two seasons. We just didn’t think our relationship, which was ten minutes old at the start of Season One, had the same zeitgeist as the three marriages/divorces and five kids we had between us. I mean, how else were we going to be Fake Relationship Experts dispensing Seriously Unsound Advice if we were busy talking about our third date?
The end of our personal/professional relationship can literally be summed up in the phrase, “all good things must come to an end.” Time, distance, and differing family & career trajectories took their toll. No acrimony, no finger-pointing, no he said/she said. We knew going into it that this could happen, and it did.
But it still sucks. And it still hurts. Cue Heartbreak Playlist…
New Season, Same Podcast Host
But the show must go on, as Ron Jeremy once said, and thus it will. Season 3 of the Pairs With Life Podcast has already launched, and I’m excited to see where it will go. In the first episode of the new season, Pairs With Coupage 500 Manos and Losing Your Wine Virginity, I talked about that one wine that finally gave you your Ah Ha Wine Moment. What wine lured you away from the Franzia box and pulled you down the lifelong rabbit hole of wine appreciation? I shared my own story, and invited three Friends of The Pod to share theirs. Ian Devereux of Smith Devereux Wines, Napa wine insider and TransbottleUSA founder Jimmy Kawalek, and Strengthen – Heal – Connect Wine Goddess of Las Vegas herself, Kat Thomas.
Even My Cat Is A Wine Podcast Host
Show #2, Pairs With Smith Devereux SB White Blend and Quarantine & Chill, features a new co-host. Through the miracle of Google Translate, my cat, Jazzy, joined me on the pod. I got to quaff the amazing new 2018 Smith Devereux SB White Blend while Jazzy espoused the virtues of drinking from the toilet. Then, bestselling author and documentary director Nancy Jo Sales joined me to discuss the frightening/weird-ass phenomenon of Quarantine & Chill. You can read her piece in The Guardian about this by clicking here. Lori Budd, MegaVintner and Marketing Mastermind of Dracaena Wines, also shared her wine virginity story.
Finally, the most recent episode, Pairs With B Tasteful Rosé and Pandemic Pancakes featured an interview with Paul Mabray, CEO of Emetry, on the future of wine after the pandemic. After being stuck with a five-pound bag of Krusteaz Pancake Mix, I decided to get up on my Soapbox. This is something I’ll do from time to time, as my rapid descent into Grumpy Old Man status draws closer. Bill Sanders, Chief Marketing Officer at Yao Family Wines, shared his Wine Virginity Story. Finally, I drank Barbie Blank’s “B Tasteful” California Rosé, which packed as much of a wallop as she does.
And so the Great Parade of Life goes on, with wine podcast host John Taylor as the Grand Marshall. I hope you’ll buy a ticket and join me for the ride (actually, the ticket is free, and the ride can be enjoyed from the comfort of your iPhone, but you get the drift).
