A fun look behind the scenes of the popular show “Northwest Wine Night TV,” as well as wine musings from the show’s Senior Producer.
Guest Writer: Brittney Perreault
Northwest Wine Night TV Senior Producer
We taste two bottles of wine per episode, plus what our live audience tastes along with our panelists. There’s forty episodes per season, times that by the five seasons we’ve filmed so far. That’s a lot of wine, hiccup!
Where does all that wine come from? For this month’s behind the scenes of Northwest Wine Night TV I sat down with the host Brian Calvert to get the scoop!
Q: What can we expect on Season 6 launching September 7th?
Brian Calvert: “The same fun we’ve always had. Why re-invent the wheel when all we’re really trying to do is have fun with local wine, and give you a couple of new bottles to try each episode. There are so many delicious wines in the Northwest, and we’ve barely scratched the surface!”
Q: Any regions we haven’t covered but would like to?
BC: “I’m really curious about wine from British Columbia. I’d love to get some of that wine on the show. Can you help me figure out how to get it across the border? LOL.”
Q: Where does the wine come from that is featured?
BC: “From day one, we’ve made this show open and available to ANY winemaker who calls the Northwest home. The wine you see on the show has been given to us directly by these winemakers. They submit three identical bottles of wine at no charge, and then we wait for another Northwest winemaker to submit the exact same varietal. Once we have a pair, we book both wines on the show.”
Q: So there’s no catch?
BC: The winemakers themselves never pay to have their wines on the show. We have sponsors who pay the bills and make this opportunity available to the industry. It’s really important to me to support local industry. So, to answer your question as clearly as I can, there is no catch. Submit your wine, let us find an appropriate pairing for it, and then it will be on the show.”
Q: What do you consider Northwest?
BC: Our “Northwest” is any wine made in Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Montana, or British Columbia.
Q: If a wine maker has their wine on the show how many people are likely to see it?
BC: “Average viewership for Season 5 is a new record: 765,000 views per episode. We had a couple episodes of Northwest Wine Night TV top a MILLION views. So, I’d say a lot of people are going to see your wine on this show.
John Bigelow of JM Cellars has not only had his wine featured on the show, he’s been a panelist as well. He says participating on Northwest Wine Night TV is such a fun thing to do, calling the exposure secondary. He added that as a wine maker he loves the blind comparison aspect of the tasting experience. When I asked him how he felt after watching his episode he said, “happy, uplifting, and not so serious.” He reiterated that the wine tasting experience shouldn’t be snooty or serious, it should be fun. It’s safe to say John is a big supporter of our motto, “wine should be fun!”
Join me every month for refills as I bring you more behind the scenes moments from our Northwest Wine Night TV filming days and be sure to watch the season opener on September 7th. Cheers!
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