Month: December 2020

Mary Montalvo and her husband Sascha Weyer own and operate Luisa’s Cellar in Sanford, Florida. They got into the wine business almost by accident when Mary fell in love with a property in Clermont in 2012 and decided to open a wine bar. She left a stable career in the legal profession and threw herself into the business, but she says it’s been tough to keep her passion for wine alive amid the many challenges she has faced along the way.

In this episode, Mary talks about her journey from Puerto Rico to Florida (via Germany), speaks candidly about the realities of being a woman of color in an industry dominated by white men, and shares how she and her business are getting by as the COVID-19 pandemic drags on.

Subscribe to UnWineding on iTunes, Spotify, Google Play, and Stitcher.

Thanks to Orlando composer Julian Bond for providing original music for UnWineding and WMFE for distribution and promotional assistance.

Season Two of UnWineding kicks off with a conversation with Matt Coltrin, owner of The Parkview wine bar and restaurant in Winter Park, just north of Orlando.

Matt talks about the generous French wine merchant who got him hooked on good wine, his experience running a wine program at a historic bar and restaurant in Manhattan, and how the September 11th terrorist attacks prompted him to move to Central Florida, where he found himself on the ground floor of the region’s wine renaissance. He also talks about surviving and learning from this pandemic year, which he calls the hardest thing he’s had to deal with in his 25 years in the wine and restaurant business.

Subscribe to UnWineding on iTunes, Spotify, Google Play, and Stitcher.

Thanks to Orlando composer Julian Bond for providing original music for UnWineding and WMFE for distribution and promotional assistance.