Top Wine: An Interview with Contestant Jillian Speller.
We speak to owner of Grape Canaveral in Cocoa Beach, FL and finalist of the hit reality show Top Wine.
Unless you’ve been living under a rock this spring, it’s been nigh impossible to avoid Bravo’s new reality show, “Top Wine.” Just in case nature of your abode is geological here’s the gist of the show. Fifteen contestants gathered at the Mecca of Wine (Springfield, NJ) to test their overall skills in the wine trade. The show worked its way across the US and shed contenders in its wake.
We saw a mix-case mishap in Brooklyn where Marvin met his fate when he put five desert wines in a case for young professionals heading upstate for the weekend. Stacy was cut in Chicago for bringing a Petit Verdot on a sales call to a freshwater, tasting menu restaurant, Ammi Stanco. Who can forget Sugargate?! When we saw Danni call a wine Austrian Riesling with it was an Alsatian Pinot Gris. She went on to argue it was illegal for Pinot Gris in Alsace to have residual sugar and that what they showed her was not an acceptable example of Pinot Gris. We’ll get into a few other juicy moments in the Awkward Haiku Newsletter exclusive interview with finalist Jillian Speller.
Matt Kuhr: Hello Jillian! How are you? Thanks for taking the time to zoom this interview.
Jillian Speller: Hey no problem Matt! I haven’t heard of your newsletter before, but after a little research I found that you seem harmless enough.
MK: Thanks?
JS: Don’t mention it. That was off the record.
MK: What? Sure, okay. So, take us through it how did you get on Top Wine? What was the audition process like?
JS: Well I was working on getting my shop, Grape Canaveral, set up and I got a call from Alton Green asking if I’d like to be on a reality show called, “Top Wine.” And well I needed the extra cash so…Robert’s your Mother’s brother.
MK:….oh. [I look down at my notebook and begin to scratch off multiple questions]…haha…Bob’s your uncle. That’s good…Okay here we go..Kansas City week ten. You’re in Starkey’s Steakhouse, and you weren’t allowed to sell any Bordeaux varieties (Cab Sauv/Franc, Merlot, Malbec, Petit Verdot and Carménère) to the diners. You had a sizeable lead three quarters of the way through. Suddenly Frederick Celery bursts into the main room, beet red, hooting and hollering! Letting out a lot of dirty laundry.
JS: Well, He’d just been let out of jail and he was friends with some of the producers. I think they staged it…but I’m under contract so I didn’t say that.
MK: Right.
JS: I mean one minute I’m trying to convince a dull couple to pair tenderloin with Pineau d'Aunis. The next I’m hit in the jaw by an old gym sock. That threw me off for the rest of the night.
MK: He was literally throwing dirty laundry.
JS: Who does that? It’s not a very good joke. I have nothing against Fred personally, well now I do, he cost me a win, but you can’t just waylay fellow professionals with rank undergarments. By that I mean undershirts and socks…not briefs or boxers.
MK: Is that why you protested so vocally at judges table?
JS: Yes, it was. I think one of the producers called up Fred and asked him to pull this bullshit in Starkey’s. Bill was in the weeds all night and all he knows are big bold cabs, sure he can sell a Zin here and there but you only got one point per each different pairing. Then Fred disrupts the whole scene, Bill gets a phone call and then somehow is able to win. Yeah that’s some major BS.
MK: I’m just going to move on here.
JS: Please do.
MK: Okay, so we saw you paired with “European Old Money Banker” in Newberg, Oregon. Were you excited?
JS: Heck yeah! They had a ready source of riesling on the estate and I didn’t have to go that far to find Gamay Noir or Pinot Gris. As you know for the finally we had to make three wines; a white, a red and then anything we wanted. Bill got “Linguist French Cellars” the most precious and easy to mess up in, all he did was make Pinot Noir, Chardonnay and a Rose. No imagination.
MK: Do you think Sally should have been disqualified?
JS: Yes. You don’t ask someone to stay for you overnight and run the press when that’s the whole competition. YOU have to make the wine. Sleep during the cycles or drink some “coffee.”
MK: Why did you air quote, ‘coffee?’ Anyway how do you think your wine turned out?
JS: You want my honest opinion?
MK: Of course.
JS: I think my carbonic riesling is it’s the best wine to ever come out of Oregon. It’s got 50 days of skin contact and a natural lift from the carbonic maceration process. It’s going to blow the doors off the Natural Wine Community in this country. The gamay noir is good and the sparkling skin contact Pinot Gris is like drinking a dream. I’m so happy with all the wine.
MK: We’ll just have to see what the judges think on Friday. Are you nervous?
JS: To quote you, “Of course!” but I’ll be happy whatever the outcome is. The journey is always the main focus and not always the destination.
MK: Though the 400k wouldn’t hurt ammiright?
JS: HOW MUCH? HOLY CRAP! I thought I was just on this thing for exposure. If Bill wins I’m going to be very angry. I mean…
At this point Jill said some things that I’d rather not print.
Don’t forget to watch “Top Wine” this Friday the 17th of June only on WineTV.
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