Last fall, we received an unexpected call by a British television producer and cameraman, Richard Gillespie. If the name sounds familiar, it should, as Richard is the same genius who did all of camera work and film editing for the II International Climate Change and Wine Conference back in January. Having discovered us through Catavino, Richard asked us if we were interested in making a guest appearance in a Pilot episode for a new program focused on Catalan food and wine with Danny, the Catalan Chef. It was set to air on a now defunct satellite station that sadly backed out of the deal a few weeks after Richard finished editing the show.

At the time, we still thought that we may have a shot and fame and fortune, and so we agreed, despite the fact that we had zero experience in front of large cameras and big lights and knew nothing about acting / being authentic (well, we are bloggers!). I say this because, although we were supposed to be “ourselves”, there were other moments that were a little canned, forcing us to do several takes of “Hey Danny, so what are you going to cook for us?” As you can imagine, by the sixth take, while doing your best to look natural, we were forcing every word out of our mouths. At that point, you could care less what the guy feeds you as long as he gets on with it so you don’t ever have to say that one line again in your life.

Richard has finally posted the entire episode on the web so that we might embed it here for your enjoyment. However, it was originally meant to air on TV and not the internet, hence, we have a few suggestions! Due …

In January, for those of you who weren’t following our play by play of the II International Conference on Climate and Wine, Catavino spent three days cornering wine celebrities, in order to get a better sense as to how wine is being affected both now and in the future by the fluctuating climate conditions. Stubborn and wonderfully determined people such as Richard Smart, Bruno Prats, Miguel Torres, Pancho Campo, Carlos de Jesus of Amorim, Dr. Gregory Jones, and of course, Al Gore, all vented their fears and frustrations with the current lackadaisical attitude held throughout the wine world regarding the impact of climate on wine. Each passionate in their own right, but there was one in particular that I had been pining to interview for months.

Having been previously introduced to Oz Clarke through his books and articles, it wasn’t until I saw his charismatic nature in Oz and James’s Big Wine Adventure that I was hooked. This BBC television program, first aired in 2006, and was undoubtedly one of my favorite wine programs, if only to see Oz flirt with yet another woman. His coy and passionate nature was fun and made learning about Bordeaux and Languedoc-Roussillon entertaining, rather than intimidating. Therefore, to have the opportunity to not only see him in person, but to interview him, albeit a little daunting, was great fun. Add a camera and question that impassions him, and Oz will keep going for hours, interweaving personal stories and jokes with highly specific wine facts that will eventually leave your head spinning.

That said, we would like to thank Richard Gillespie for filming and producing our …