Eric LeVine found wine "hopelessly intimidating" — until a 1999bike trip through Tuscany changed everything. A few years later, he built CellarTracker during a Microsoft sabbatical. It's now the world's largest wine community: 13+ million tasting notes, 175 million bottles tracked, nearly a million users.

We talk about what two decades of community data reveal about how people actually engage with wine, why he avoided gamification, and what the industry gets wrong about welcoming newcomers.

Guest: Eric LeVine — Founder & CEO, CellarTracker

WineWithJon — new episodes every Tuesday.

Connect: @winewithjon | jon@winewithjon.com

What does a $25,000 bottle of Burgundy have to do with the $14 Pinot Noir at Trader Joe's?

More than you'd think.

Most people assume the fine wine world is a parallel universe for rich people — disconnected from the wine the rest of us actually drink. In this essay, Jon makes the opposite case: the top of the wine world is the reason the rest of it works.

Using the Ferrari-and-Toyota analogy — the kid with the Ferrari poster on his wall who grows up to drive a Civic but still cares about cars — Jon argues that aspiration builds categories. Champagne's mythology fuels its mass market.Bordeaux's classified growths made Napa possible. Burgundy's prestige launched Oregon's 700+ wineries. Remove the top of the pyramid, and the bottom doesn't get stronger — it gets flatter.

"Fine wine and everyday wine aren't two separate worlds. They're the same world at different altitudes. The mountain is the reason the valley has a view at all."

Host: Jon Frutkin (@winewithjon) — lawyer turned collector turned contentcreator, opening Preface Wine in Delray Beach, FL.

Sam Capaldi liquidated her savings at 22 to go to sommelier school. Today she's the "No Snob Somm" — 300,000+ followers, a wine club, a wine label, and a community built by pairing wine with Taco Bell instead of white tablecloths.

In this episode, Sam and Jon get into why the wine industry keeps losing the next generation, what COVID virtual tastings taught her about what people actually want, the role vulnerability plays in her brand, the story behind FaffWine Co., and the advice she gives anyone who's curious about wine but feels like they don't know enough to start.

If you've ever felt like wine wasn't "for you" — this one is.

Guest: Sam Capaldi (@samanthasommelier) — Certified Sommelier, Founder ofSamantha Sommelier, Co-Founder of Faff Wine Co. Website: https://www.samanthasommelier.com Faff Wine Co.: https://www.samanthasommelier.com/faff

Host: Jon Frutkin (@winewithjon) — lawyer turned collector turned wine barowner, Preface Wine in Delray Beach, FL.