Loose Tannins Wine Club: SPILL

SPILL with Adam Arlen, CS

JL — Tue, 21 Jul 2026 08:53:16 GMT

A new set of green pins were awarded this week, with some very talented, very hardworking wine professionals learning they did not pass the notoriously challenging Court of Sommelier Advanced Exam. It’s devastating to work so hard at something and miss the mark, but their stories do not end here! It’s a massive achievement to even be considered for such an accolade — require extensive knowledge, and three grueling sections (Written Theory, Deductive Tasting, and Practical Service) all won in the same calendar year.

It felt like a good time to bring back a recent interview with someone who has lived and learned from his testing: seasoned Wine Pro Adam Arlen. Once a stellar Sommelier Wine Spectator Award Winner, three years consecutively, he is now a rockstar distributor for Orsini Wines. I owe much of my knowledge to his patience and consideration early in my career.

Adam shared his journey with me on one of the most challenging tests in the world, the Advanced Court of Master Sommeliers exam, and his philosophies on building a life & career beyond certifications.

SPILL is the unofficial official podcast of the Loose Tannins Wine Club, based in Charlotte, NC.

SPILL with Zach Lane #7

JL — Thu, 02 Apr 2026 10:36:00 GMT

Our Senators aren't drinking nearly enough wine in session, and it's bad for democracy

JL — Wed, 01 Apr 2026 19:58:00 GMT

Imagine, for a moment, that you are a humble citizen of Athens in 500BCE, invited to a democratic assembly. Pericles is President and citizen-leader (yes, President!, elected and re-elected by the free men of Athens who had completed military service). The night’s proceedings, however, are being led by the Master of Ceremonies and Somm, the Symposiarch.

Despite the fact that women, slaves, and foreigners have no vote (that is to say, 80% of the city’s population of 300,000), Athens has established a type of ‘radical democracy’, lubricated by the world’s most democratizing substance: wine.

Like a fraternity brother making jungle juice, the Symposiarch had the important role of establishing the night’s ratio of water to wine, in a large krater in the center of the room, for all to see.

The wine & water concoction would then served to lecture hall style room in pitchers -- the same amount for each citizen served at the same time and a steady rate. This steady flow of wine encouraged, in turn, a steady flow of conversation. Drinking the wine was an act of vulnerability - your neighbor wouldn’t dare poison the source knowing he would also be compelled to drink! - and so it was considered a great equalizer. Citizens present were granted both Parrhesia, protected free speech, and Isogoria, the right to speak and have their voice heard in public assembly.

Greek, Roman and Etruscan symposiums followed slightly different customs, they agreed that the optimal reason for introducing alcohol to these animated discussions was to reach a state of thorein—a state of being “alert but relaxed.” The poet Eubulus outlines the 3-krater rule in the comedy Semele or Dionysus:

“For sensible men I prepare only three kraters: one for health (which they drink first), the second for love and pleasure, and the third for sleep. After the third one is drained, wise men go home. The fourth krater is not mine any more – it belongs to bad behaviour; the fifth is for shouting; the sixth is for rudeness and insults; the seventh is for fights; the eighth is for breaking the furniture; the ninth is for depression; the tenth is for madness and unconsciousness.”

We find the same rule works very well for glasses of wine.