Sparkling Wine's Secret Grape Nobody Talks About | Riley Sanchez | Barrels & Roots

Riley Sanchez almost became an Amazon researcher studying leaf-cutter ants before a mentor nudged her toward winemaking, and ten years later she's running secondary fermentations most people don't even know exist. We got into the wild technical side of sparkling wine, the riddling, the disgorging, the yeast cultures kept alive year after year, and why harvest days that start at 1am somehow feel more like camp than chaos. Riley explained why positive attitude matters more than talent when you're 12 hours into a shift, and how patience shapes a career that takes a full decade to actually see its own results reach the market. What's the most surprising thing you learned about how your favorite drink is actually made?