The Best 5 Minute Wine Podcast

Some people are trained into wine. Maryse Chevriere talked her way in on pure enthusiasm — and it turned out to be the perfect qualification. In this episode she tells Forrest Kelly how a manager went to bat for her despite her being "green," echoing the philosophy her chef husband lives by: give him someone hungry to learn over someone he'd have to un-train.

From there, Maryse walks through the pivot that shaped her path — leaving New York not because she'd outgrown the wine bar, but because she was ready for a new experience and drawn to the easy access to wine country that San Francisco offered. She admits she wasn't overthinking the cross-country move in her late 20s, which she figures is exactly the right way to make big decisions: try it, and change course if it doesn't work.

The conversation lingers on a standout wine-country memory — a Napa producer pouring an unexpectedly aromatic Grignolino, a grape you rarely see, that felt gloriously out of type for the region — though her heart belongs to cooler-climate Sonoma Pinot.

Then Forrest turns to the main event: How to Sound Wine Smart. Maryse explains how her Instagram account revealed that wine's real barrier isn't the wine — it's the language. People freeze at the shop or restaurant, unsure what they're being sold, and just nod along. Most wine books bury terminology in a tiny glossary at the back; she wanted to flip that, building a fun, visual, genuinely useful resource that reads like a friend talking over a glass rather than a textbook. Forrest praises the book's approachable breakdowns — like how to actually taste a glass of wine — and Maryse sums up her whole mission in a sentence: make it easy to digest, and make it sound human.

For the Wine-Curious listener, this one's a permission slip: you don't need to be trained, and you don't need to fake it. You just need the right words.

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Grab your scorecard, wine lovers — Rusty Cellars is popping the quiz on one of the most fascinating guests in show history. Chef Chuck Hayworth spent 35 years in professional kitchens before a rare stomach cancer diagnosis changed everything, launching a private chef career that began when fellow patients in his therapy group asked him to cook for them. In this two-round, ten-question challenge, Rusty tests your memory on Chuck's go-to Niçoise salad dressed with cold-pressed Georgia olive oil, his resort chef tasting menu based in Boone, North Carolina at the foot of the Blue Ridge Mountains, and the brilliant pairing of a Yadkin Valley orange wine from Hanover Park with slow-braised short ribs. You'll also revisit his four-cheat-days-a-month philosophy of sustainable healthy eating, his 2014 book The Chef's Recovery, his observations on entire generations opting out of alcohol after Covid, and his last-meal-on-earth answer: a margherita pizza and his finest bottle of French wine, shared with the people he loves. Plus a bonus question about uncrustables that had to be heard to be believed. Score yourself, share your results, and remember — life's too short for bad wine and wrong answers.

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Maryse Chevriere's wine story doesn't follow a straight line — and that's exactly what makes it worth hearing. In this first installment, the author of How to Sound Wine Smart (out now from Simon Element) tells Forrest how a food-website waiter with an affinity for drinks talked her way into the wine world.

Maryse opens up about her three months working the harvest at a Domaine in Alsace — no real paycheck, but all the wine she could drink and a hands-on crash course she calls the best "fall camp" of her life. From literally stomping grapes to learning alongside fans, pros, and travelers from around the world, it cemented her identity as a hands-on, visual learner.

Then there's Terroir Wine Bar in New York City, where owner Paul Greco took a chance on her. With around 50 wines by the glass — every white a Riesling — Terroir taught Maryse the art of the confident pivot: you want a Chardonnay? Here's a Riesling that fits the bill. More importantly, it taught her how to talk about wine in a way that's fun, not snobby — the philosophy that now defines her work and her new book.

Also in this episode: surviving life with a 10-month-old until that first evening glass, why there's zero shame in a Trader Joe's bottle, and why getting paid in wine is a very real industry tradition.

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Chef Chuck's 26-year journey from kitchen cook to medical meal chef after a rare stomach cancer diagnosis

How cancer treatment forced him to relearn the four basic tastes and rebuild his palate from scratch

The difference between medically-ordered diet clients and "longevity" wellness clients

Why he stocks healthier snacks like date-almond bites instead of processed convenience food

His approach to making healthier "uncrustables" for kids using sourdough, chia, and seasonal fruit

The post-COVID shift away from alcohol and how he adapts with mocktails and fermented non-alcoholic beverages

Inside his Yadkin Valley spring tasting menu at The Resort Chef in Boone, NC

How he found the perfect orange wine from Hanover Park to pair with a 6-hour stewed short rib

His pushback strategy when clients are resistant to wine pairings or stuck on sweet wines only

Upcoming books: the C5 Longevity Cuisine Cookbook and a Hidden Vegetable cookbook

His PhD in progress and what's next for Real Medical Meals, The Resort Chef, and Thankfully Local Private Chefs

The "last meal on Earth" question — margarita pizza, a great French bottle, and a comet

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Before "Don't Stop Believin'" filled stadiums, it lived in a notebook. Jonathan Cain was out of money and out of hope when he called his father from a Los Angeles payphone and asked if he should give up. The advice he got back sat in that notebook for a year — until Cain joined Journey and the band needed one more track for their album Escape. In this episode, we break down how Steve Perry turned a father's encouragement into a masterpiece: why he chose "South Detroit," a place that doesn't exist, purely because it sang better; how the song shattered songwriting convention by holding its chorus until the final 50 seconds; and how the band captured the instrumental live in a single take at Fantasy Studios. From the Sopranos finale to the National Recording Registry at the Library of Congress, this is the story behind the anthem that refused to fade — told in five minutes, no filler.

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