EPISODE 37 | THE QUICK POUR

Wine Price vs. Quality: Are You Paying for the Wine or the Story?

Is a $250 bottle of wine really ten times better than a $25 bottle? Or are you paying for a famous château, a prestigious address, and a particularly compelling backstory?

In this episode of The Quick Pour, we’re following the money—from vineyard land and winemaking decisions to scarcity, critic scores, legendary labels, and the occasional masterpiece of marketing.

We’ll uncork what actually drives wine prices, when spending more genuinely delivers more, and why some of the world’s most memorable bottles come without a luxury price tag.

Because great wine isn’t always expensive, expensive wine isn’t always great, and the difference between what a wine is worth and what we’re willing to pay for it might be the most fascinating thing in the glass.

After all, a price tag can tell you what a bottle costs. It can’t tell you what it’s worth.

Wine Pros on the Go is produced in Atlanta, GA.

What do the Bronx, Burgundy, and hip-hop have in common? More than you might think.

This week on Wine Pros on the Go, Lauren Crim sits down with Jermaine Stone — better known as the Wolf of Wine — the charismatic creator of The Original Wine & Hip Hop, host of Street Somm, and one of the most influential cultural voices reshaping the wine industry.

From aspiring rapper in the Bronx to groundbreaking wine auctioneer and media personality, Jermaine has built a career challenging conventions, connecting cultures, and proving that great wine doesn’t belong to any one crowd.

In a conversation full of personality, perspective, and a little unpredictability, Lauren and Jermaine explore the fascinating intersection of wine, music, identity, and culture. Who gets to define good taste? Why do we assign value to certain bottles? And what happens when we stop treating wine like an exclusive club and start treating it like something meant to be shared?

It’s a conversation about far more than what’s in the glass. It’s about breaking barriers, rewriting the rules, and finding common ground in unexpected places.

Because great taste isn’t about knowing the rules. It’s about having the confidence to discover your own.

Pull up a chair, pour something good, and turn up the volume. This one’s got soul.

Wine Pros on the Go is produced in Atlanta, GA.

Why does a glass of wine somehow taste better on a terrace in Tuscany, beside the ocean, or halfway through a trip you never want to end?

In this episode, we get into the psychology, neuroscience, and suspicious magic behind why wine can feel more delicious when we’re somewhere beautiful. From memory and mood to expectation, environment, music, company, and the way our brains process pleasure, there’s a lot more happening in that glass than just grape variety and vintage.

We’ll talk about how context changes perception, why certain wines become permanently tied to places and people, and whether that unforgettable bottle was actually extraordinary… or whether the sunset deserves partial credit.

Because sometimes wine tastes better on vacation.

And sometimes vacation tastes better because of the wine.

Wine. Stories. Well Lived.

Wine Pros on the Go is produced in Atlanta, GA.

What happens after the story you wrote changes the way an entire generation thinks about wine?

In Episode 33 of Wine Pros On the Go, Lauren sits down with Rex Pickett, author of Sideways, for a fascinating conversation about the novel that became a cultural phenomenon—and the ripple effects that are still being felt throughout the wine world today.

Rex takes us behind Sideways: the characters, humor, heartbreak and wine-soaked adventures that inspired the story; its unexpected journey from page to screen; and what happened when one now-famous opinion about Merlot helped reshape American wine culture almost overnight.

We talk Pinot Noir, Merlot, the myths surrounding the movie’s influence, and what it feels like to create something that becomes bigger than the person who wrote it. Rex also reflects on storytelling, success, reinvention and his enduring relationship with the wine world more than two decades later.

After Sideways is about what comes next when a story escapes the page and becomes part of culture itself.

Wine, words, and one unforgettable road trip that changed far more than anyone expected.

Wine Pros on the Go is produced in Atlanta, GA.

There are people who build careers, and then there are people who build entire worlds around the things they love. Eric Flanagan is firmly in the second category.

In this episode of Wine Pros on the Go, we sit down with Eric Flanagan, founder of Flanagan Wines in Sonoma County, California. Over decades, Eric has built Flanagan Wines around a deep respect for place—farming vineyards across Sonoma County with an eye toward terroir, season, and stewardship. The result is a family-owned, multigenerational winery rooted in thoughtful, sustainable farming and a simple conviction: great wine begins with understanding where you are, paying close attention, and knowing when to let the land speak for itself.

Wine, however, is only one part of the résumé. Eric is also a surfer, musician, husband, father of three daughters, world traveler, songwriter, and the creator of Larry's Dead Uncle—a band name so good it practically deserves its own appellation—which went on to become a film streaming on Prime Video.

Wine, waves, surfboards, family, creativity, legacy—and the rare art of building a life where the things you love don't compete for space. They become the story.

Wine Pros on the Go is produced in Atlanta, GA.

Bobby Stuckey has spent his career proving that great hospitality isn't about perfection—it's about making people feel something.

In this episode of Wine Pros on the Go, Lauren sits down with the legendary Master Sommelier, restaurateur, and co-founder of Frasca Hospitality Group for a conversation about wine, restaurants, leadership, and the art of taking care of people.

Bobby shares the journey that took him from washing dishes to some of America's most celebrated dining rooms, including The Little Nell and The French Laundry, before building Frasca Food and Wine in Boulder, Colorado. They explore what it really takes to create a world-class restaurant, why hospitality remains a craft worth protecting, and the lessons wine has taught him far beyond the table.

They also dive into Friuli, the philosophy behind Scarpetta Wine, mentorship, endurance, and what decades in hospitality have taught Bobby about staying curious, relevant, and deeply human.

Warm, candid, and full of perspective, this is a conversation about much more than wine—it's about building a life around excellence without losing sight of the people it's meant to serve.

Wine. Stories. Well Lived.

Wine Pros on the Go is produced in Atlanta, GA.

Eric Asimov has spent decades asking one of wine's most important questions: What makes a bottle worth paying attention to?

As Chief Wine Critic of The New York Times, Eric has helped shape the way generations of readers think about wine—not through scores or status, but through culture, place, people, and the simple pleasure of drinking something meaningful.

In this episode of Wine Pros on the Go, Lauren sits down with one of the most influential voices in modern wine writing for a wide-ranging conversation about how his career began, how wine culture has evolved, and why curiosity may be more valuable than expertise. They explore authenticity, taste, storytelling, the changing wine industry, and what gets lost when we make wine more complicated than it needs to be.

Thoughtful, candid, and refreshingly human, this is a conversation about much more than what's in the glass. It's about learning to trust your own taste—and remembering why we fell in love with wine in the first place.

Wine Pros on the Go is produced in Atlanta, Georgia.

Thank you for listening to Wine Pros on the Go.

Hosted by sommelier and wine educator Lauren Crim, the podcast explores wine through the people, places, ideas, and stories that make it worth caring about—from the world's great regions and bottles to the voices shaping wine today.

Because wine is more than what's in the glass. It's culture, history, geography, memory—and one of the best reasons to gather around a table.

Subscribe to Wine Pros on the Go wherever you listen to podcasts, and if you enjoy the show, leave a rating and share it with someone who loves wine—or simply wants to understand it better.

Better Wine. Better Stories.

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