Episode #22 - Leslie Sbrocco, Wine & Food Writer, PBS TV Show Host, NBC "Today Show" Wine Expert and Author
Hanna (01:46)
Hi, Leslie. Welcome to the show.
Michael (01:49)
So great to see you.
Leslie (01:53)
Hello, Hanna and Michael, such a pleasure to be here. I am so thrilled.
Michael (01:54)
We are likewise thrilled. So why don't we, uh, delve into your past a little. Before you became a wine expert, we understand that you went to school to become an attorney and that you wanted to go into politics to become a senator. So where's the transition to the world of wine?
Leslie (02:12)
Let me just tell you, I made the best decision possible, I'll be honest with you. All my friends who are attorneys say, “Oh, Leslie, you know, you just, you made the best decision. I'll tell you.” And they all drink more than I do I think. I'm pretty sure. You know, Michael, I really, I really did.
I was one of those people in high school that was so driven and I was the president of student body, I was in all the theater productions, I was, you know, I was state, uh, I was on the state board of student government, and I really felt like my calling was to be in politics to potentially go to law school first and then go into politics and change the world. I really thought that that's how I would change the world. It just ended up that I am changing the world one glass at a time.
Hanna (03:00)
Absolutely. So Leslie, what do you like so much about wine?
Leslie (03:05)
You know, wine for me is a never ending journey. So I think of it as, and I think what draws me to it is that I'm always learning. Even though I do it 24/7, you know, I'm constantly tasting thousands of wines each year, spirits, um, you know, beer, food. I host television shows about food as well as, uh, as wine and travel as well as wine and food. And so for me, I'm just, everything is a learning experience. I still consider myself after two decades plus of doing this as a sponge. You know? I'm just soaking in the knowledge, soaking in the knowledge. And then my job is to be a translator to take that knowledge and turn it into something that's meaningful for another person. That's my job. Right. I'm a communicator and a translator.
Hanna (03:57)
I love it. Love it. So with your job as a writer, author, TV show host, and a judging member., you've traveled all over the world pre-pandemic.
Leslie (04:07)
Yes.
Hanna (04:08)
What would you say you missed most about travel?
Leslie (04:12)
I miss, um, really the discovery. I miss waking up in the morning and not knowing what's going to happen that day and that, you know, I'll maybe get to, if I'm filming a television show for example, I, you know, magic happens when you're filming a television show. Um, my new PBS series called 100 Days, Drinks, Dishes, and Destinations, which is now on more than 300 PBS stations nationwide and in Canada.
And you know, when we were filming that in 2019 and just luckily completed it in the first two months of 2020 and got it on air. You know, we would always say, we're doing pre-production for 75% of the show and then the other 25%, we leave open for magic. And so, you know, what I miss the most is that magic piece of it. I don't miss, honestly, getting on a plane. I don't miss the security checks. I don't miss, you know, having to unpack and repack things. I really find, I don't miss that. What I miss is that discovery, that magic piece of travel.
And, you know, just for an example, like we were filming a show in Guadalajara and, um, Tequila. And we had sort of done all the pre-production. We were going to visit this distillery and go here and shoot at this restaurant. And as we were driving from Guadalajara to Tequila with my crew, small bus and the little in my small crew, our driver, we drive past we're about an hour outside of Guadalajara and we drive past this roadside, stand this little family kind of on the side of the road next to us. And they have cows, four cows lined up, and people waiting to get milk from the cows. And, and I said, “Oh, what is that?” You know, to our guide.
And, um, he said, “Oh, that's something called” as we're getting closer to tequila, “It's called pahadate”. And so the workers as they're going into the fields to harvest the agave, um, would stop in for a morning, fresh cup of coffee with fresh milk from the cow directly from the cow with a shot of tequila.
Hanna (06:18)
Oh, I love that.
Michael (06:19)
That’s a great way to start the day.
Hanna (06:20)
Milk and tequila shot. Love it.
Leslie (06:26)
Right. So we just said to the driver, turn around, turn around, turn around. He turned right around. We asked them if we could film them. Um, my Spanish wasn't good enough, but we, luckily we had a Spanish speaker with us, and we filmed the most magical little segment of me getting, you know, the, the earth and mug with the shot of tequila that they, then that they then put a flame in, you know, a match in to sort of burn that off. And they put a little instant coffee in with some hot chocolate in, and then they go walk over to the cow and just milk the cow right into the mug and that's television magic, but it's also travel magic. And so a long winded answer is that's what I missed. That magic.
Hanna (07:04)
Speaking of the travel magic. So when you are ready to travel overseas again, which country will you visit first? And why?
Leslie (07:12)
You know, I was just on the phone today working with my travel agent because every year I take a group of consumers on a trip and sometimes I took. Yeah, I've taken groups to Tequila and to Mexico, I've taken groups to Spain. I've taken groups all over to Bourbon Country. Um, and so last year we had scheduled a small consumer trip to Portugal and needless to say it got canceled and we were just rescheduling it. So my first trip actually will be to Portugal. Bringing a small group of about 20 wine lovers and spirits lovers to Portugal for an experience of a lifetime. And that will be in October when we've all had vaccines.
Michael (07:57)
But given all the travel restrictions of the past year, have you stayed on top of the wine scene?
Leslie (08:03)
You know, I think my tasting, to be honest with you, has increased. I would almost argue that because people don't have that direct feed to you. If they're bringing you on a press trip, um, you know, which is great because. Again, I'm an educator, I'm a communicator. My job is to translate my experience in that place to consumers and to get them so excited about, you know, drinking a wine from Portugal or, um, I just did one with, with the wines of Germany and German sect, you know, sparkling wine. Um, so I think, you know. But having been to so many of these places around the world, now I can just sort of virtually taste and focus on the wines.
So I'm getting sent so many wines that I really spend time tasting them and focusing on the wines, as opposed to, you know, you do have a lot of wonderful distractions, but distractions when you're on the road. So I think Michael, to answer your question, it's really about, um, tasting a lot more right now and trying new things and people reaching out to me that might not have been reaching out to me before. Um, because I'm doing so much online now and so much virtual that they're seeing me in a different format. Maybe not, not necessarily on television or the Today Show or things like that, but on Instagram and on Facebook. And so I'm getting, I'm getting a much wider breadth of wines to taste and spirits.
Michael (09:31)
Elaborating on that, you know, so much has changed under COVID and you know, wine producers have become a lot more innovative. You know, what are you seeing out there that you think is going to make an impact?
Leslie (09:40)
You know, I have to say I'm so excited that I'm seeing more half bottles. You know, we talk a lot about packaging, right. And boxes and cans and, um, and the proliferation and excitement around camp, you know, canned wines, some great ones out there. And, um, so I think that trend is only increasing and, um, and really expanding. But I think for me seeing how many more people are doing half bottles, I've always been a big lover of it, you know, because you can have a half bottle of Champagne at a restaurant and then maybe a red or, you know, it allows you to, again, explore and experiment with things you might not have tried.
And I think because, um, people, their groups are smaller, right? It might just be you and your spouse at home or you and your friend, or you yourself? So, a half bottles of perfect size during this pandemic time. It also allows me, I do dozens and dozens of virtual tastings for corporate clients and consumers every month, and it allows me to say, great, here's four half bottles. Let's take you on a trip around the world. We can't go. But we can certainly take there, a trip there via glass and a half bottle allows that experimentation. So for me, I'm so thrilled to see it. And I just read a press release, frankly. I can't remember who it was from, but it was from somebody saying that half bottles were increasing in popularity. And I was thrilled to read that and hear it.
Michael (11:11)
Well, let's hope producers hear the call because we're big fans of the format.
Hanna (11:15)
Now let's talk about social media. I know you love all things digital. We do too here. How has social media changed the way you do your job?
Leslie (11:25)
You know, in March, when we last March in 2020, um, I had just filmed my, my local PBS in the Bay Area of San Francisco, series, which has been on for 15 seasons, won three Emmy Awards, uh, been a very, very popular, uh, PBS show, entitled Check Please! Bay Area, which is about restaurants and food and wine. We finished that season luckily in January. I finished producing my national show that launched in February. My husband and I went on a trip to Hawaii and thought, oh, this is going to be wonderful. Relaxed.
We came home and the world was changed, right? The world was changed. And so I thought for sure, my career, as I had developed at taking two decades plus to develop it was gone. I was a television host, right? Who ate at restaurants, who got on a plane and traveled, who filmed it and then who was a live event speaker. You tell me all those things in March, my world sort of collapsed career-wise and I thought, oh, Wow. Okay. Wow. How am I going to climb back from this abyss? What are we going to do?
Everybody was figuring it out and you know what I did, I'm so used to just being on camera. It's what I do. Right? Um, I host a live television show. I do. So I simply didn't have all the tech right I admit it at the beginning, we all were learning and I just turned the camera on myself and said, I'm going to start something called Leslie Live on Instagram. Boom. Do just talk to the camera. That's, you know, I'm comfortable with that. And so I just started doing that pretty much in April and, um, it has become a wonderful outlet for me. And for me, because I'm so used to being on screen, it's just a smaller screen. And I love, I, that's why I do it live. I don't do zoom recording and then put it up. I do live tastings because I like, I like talking to people.
Hanna (13:28)
So how do you choose the wine and people that you feature on Leslie Live?
Leslie (13:33)
Well I do a couple of different ways. What it has evolved into is that I have, um, I have partnerships, um, several times a month that I work with a company, uh, whether it's a wine producer or a region I've worked with, um, uh, you know, Prosecco Superiore, DSAG,I've worked with the wines from Germany. I've worked with, uh, wines from Spain, Rioja.
Um, to do education and to really bring a light to either winemakers or to wine regions. Because again, I'm an educator so I consider it a little mini class, a little mini session. And then the other times, um, the twice a month is purely editorial and what I want to talk about. You know, I don't know. I'm not sure what I'm going to talk about next week at this point, I look in my cellar. I see what's interesting. I see what trends are happening. I think about what story I want to tell. And so it's pretty fluid.
Michael (14:32)
Now let's talk about your TV work. You mentioned 100 Days, Drinks, Dishes, and Destinations, which sounds like a dream job by any estimation, you know, traveling the world, visiting wineries, breweries, distilleries. So what's your secret to creating a great episode? Walk us through the creative process.
Leslie (14:51)
You know, the creative process is such an interesting thing because the genesis of the show is really people would over over many years, you know, respond to my posts or my mentions on television of visiting someplace, uh, exotic or not, you know, but discovering and enjoying wine.
And they'd say, I want to come with you. And you know, or food or against spirits, I want to come with you as you're visiting, you know, Jack Daniels in Tennessee or something, are you doing so, um, you know, a trip to Portugal and tasting a, you know, amazing portonodoro. Uh, and that's where the show idea came from was I just wanted to take people with me.
So, so really, and it's, uh, it's a low budget show. It's not a big, huge, you know, production with a huge crew. We do, I have a small crew. We do, um, pre-production in terms of saying, I want to do a show here and here's five or six people that I know of. I would also solicit sort of, if I'm going to Nashville, where do you guys think I should go?
So a little bit of crowd sourcing information and I wanted it to be a very real show. So we literally would allow ourselves four days for a whole show. So 26 hours of footage goes into, you know, 30 minutes of television. And, um, and we just have two camera guys that basically turn on the camera in the morning and go, go, Leslie go. The whole goal is to capture, Michael, creatively is to just capture the spirit of travel, to be there with me. And not to have it be highly produced and you know, but to be Leslie Live, if you will.
Michael (16:32)
Absolutely. Well, you’re really making us miss travel.
Leslie (16:34)
I know, I know I do miss it. It's going to come back. It's going to come back.
Hanna (16:39)
It's going to come back.
Michael (16:40)
It will. It will.
Hanna (16:43)
So as you know, uh, there are so many great winemakers, sommeliers and hospitality professionals, uh, with their stories and who have a unique take on wine. So for our listeners who want to pitch their stories to you, what are some important do's and don'ts?
Leslie (17:02)
Keep your story and your pitch succinct. I get so many press releases and pitches that are 10 paragraphs long, you know, in the email, introducing things. I'm not going to read it all. Um, you've got to grab me in the first paragraph to, and, you know, make it relevant to, to something, um, you know, really interesting. So I read so many that, that it takes them paragraph three or four to really get into it. I don't need to read all that. I really need to have the essence of it.
Um, because as you know, we all get hundreds and hundreds of emails a day. You know, if I get the pitch and I'm intrigued and it doesn't have anything to do with what I'm doing right now, I file it away. I do it in a future post future, um, stories, future segments, future TV segments, um, you know, file and I go back to that, so, you know, keep it short, keep it succinct, but also don't give up, be persistent.
I like that. I'd have no problem with people getting back to me two, three, four, or five times, because it's not that I didn't mean to get back to you. It's just that I put it in the interesting file or, you know, you're trying to get back so, so, you know, just. Like us all, everybody's busy and you know, sometimes things slip through the cracks when you're getting that many pitches in a day. Um, so just hey checking in, you know, did you get that pitch? Any questions I can answer for you? And, um, so I think, you know, those are the key things.
Michael (18:33)
Absolutely. So, you know, speaking of the future, you know, if you could, uh, peer ahead, what do you think the future of the wine world will look like? And what kinds of wines do you think are really going to be in big demands in 2021?
Leslie (18:46)
Well, I think, um, both in wine and in travel and in dining, you know, that 2021 will be a year of recovery for all of us, you know? And then 2022 will be that real year of discovery. Um, but I think in terms of wine, the trend towards virtual tastings is not going to go away. I think people thank goodness are finally legitimized and people can, you know, value them like they should have before. But I think there's a real. People love it. There's a real need for, for a virtual presence and virtual tasting. Um, I think smaller packs, um, we talked about half bottles, I think, you know, packaging and smaller sizes, uh, doing tasting kits, doing tasting packs, cocktail packs. You know, that's keeping a lot of bars going is to go cocktails and cocktail packs.
So those sorts of trends, whereas hands-on, and it's a virtual connection. Um, so I think those trends will not go away. And I think people are going to continue to drink at the level they're drinking. We all need to look forward to something. And that five o'clock drink is something to look forward to.
Michael (20:05)
All right. And now for the listener question segment of our show. We have a question from Jeany Cronk, of Mirabeau Wine. Jeany and her husband, Stephen launched the company 10 years ago in Provence and made a name for themselves in the rosé wine segments. Jeany would like to know what you're finding interesting about the category today, how it's evolved over the last 10 years and what its future looks like.
Leslie (20:28)
You, you have asked me about one of my favorite subjects in the world, you know, that is Rosé. And you know, the only, the only tattoo I have on my body. I have one tattoo and that is of a glass of Rosé. So I have been a committed Rosé lover, um, for my entire career pretty much. And at the beginning, of course of my career, when I say decades ago, you know, people thought you were crazy.
Rosé meant cheap pink, sweet wine. Right? And, and you would continue, you would profess now, but try these beautiful dry rosé from the South of France, try, you know, try this wonderful Spanish dry, you know, rosato try, uh, Italian, but it took so many years and convincing one glass at a time, sort of like riesling, right. One glass at a time that you're convincing people to try this and how delicious that is and how delicious.
And, um, in my first book, Wine for Women, which again is now 15, 14, 15 years old, I had a whole chapter on Rosé calling it the beachwear of the wine world, you know, this is the wine. And I talk about, um, you know, wines of Provence and, and beautiful dry style Rosés. So I have been a longtime lover and promoter and, and just, uh, you know, a preacher really, if you will, for the, for the love of Rosé. And so I think people are finally caught up. Right? I think obviously we've seen now the pendulum has swung the other way. Everyone's like, I drink rosé you know, I go to tastings and I've got a whole group of guys going, Oh yeah, we love the rosé.
Michael (22:08)
Real men drink pink.
Leslie (22:10)
Real men drink pink. Um, and so I think that it has gotten legitimacy. It has people have discovered how delicious these wines are and, um, uh, particularly from historic places like Provence. So, so, you know, it's, it's a discovery a long time in the making, uh, hardly an overnight success, but now we can call it a success and I don't see it going anywhere away. It's only going to grow Rosé all day hashtags means something, you know, it's because I call it Rosé all year. I drink it all year. So, it is a growth category and certainly one of, if not, my favorite.
Hanna (22:55)
I'm getting thirsty. Are you so getting thirsty Michael?
Michael (22:59)
I certainly am.
Leslie (23:00)
Me too.
Hanna (23:37)
Thank you so much. Thanks for helping our industry and thanks for being such an important voice for our community. So we thank you, Leslie.
Michael (23:44)
And thank you so much for your time today.
Leslie (23:46)
Thank you for having me on and big hugs virtual ones right now.
Hanna (23:50)
Big hug absolutely.
Michael (23:51)
We owe you one.
Hanna (23:54)
Bye Leslie.
Michael (23:54)
Bye.
Leslie (23:55)
Bye bye. Thanks so much. Cheers.
Hanna (24:00)
Leslie is always miss sunshine.
Michael (23:04)
Now that you know what Leslie covers, please feel free to pitch her your story ideas that would be of interest to a national audience. As you just heard during our chat, please include Hospitality Forward in the subject line of your email when you reach out and she assures us, she'll give it a read. This is a perk of being part of our podcast family.
Michael (24:25)
We have a lot of exciting media guests in the pipeline, as well. So please subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, iHeartRadio, Google Podcast, or your favorite podcast app.
Michael (24:40)
Please leave a review and tell your friends and colleagues. See you next week.
Hanna (24:44)
Until then, join us as we move hospitality forward together.