Czech Please! A Multi-generational Tasting of International Sips

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Jul 14

Written By Nicole Lamberti

Event Alert:

Michael and I will be pouring our Sollevato Wines with over 20 other fantastic small production Napa wineries on August 16th, 2026 at the Tamber Bey Winery in Calistoga, CA. Tickets for the Crush Collective Wine Event can be purchased here (if your 20% listener discount doesn't automatically apply from the link, enter the code CC20SIP26 for 20% off!)

Episode Notes:

Prost 2.0: A Czech Sauvignon Blanc, a German Dornfelder & One Wild Herbal Liqueur — Tasted with the Whole Family

A multi-generational tasting from the Jersey Shore, inspired by my nephew's second trip training with the German military

There's a moment in every episode where a wine (or in this case, a liqueur) completely surprises a room full of people I love. This episode had three of those moments back to back.

We gathered at my sister’s beach house on Long Beach Island, New Jersey, to celebrate my nephew Aidan's engagement to his now-fiancée, Lauren. Aidan is starting his final year as a West Point cadet, and if you caught last year's episode, Prost!, you know he spent a few weeks last summer training with the German military.

This year he went back — different corner of Germany, two free weekends across the border, and a suitcase full of tasting material for us.

The Backstory: Luxembourg, Prague, and a Very Underprepared Hike

This rotation put Aidan with a paratrooper artillery unit near Nuernberg, the opposite side of the country from last year's post near Cologne. His first free weekend took him to Luxembourg for a scenic road march that turned into a beer-tent crawl through the mountains in 85-degree heat — sneakers, no water, no plan. The second weekend was Prague, which he couldn't stop raving about, and where one quick stop in a shop produced the two Czech bottles we'd end up tasting.

That's the thread running through this podcast: wine as a taste of a specific place, brought home by someone who cared enough to grab it for us.

Tasting One: A Semi-Dry Sauvignon Blanc from Moravia, Czech Republic

Aidan's honest admission: he picked this one because it had a Czech flag on the label. Somehow, it became the first Czech wine I've ever tasted after years in this industry.

Scanning it with the SOMMO app, we learned it's from a family-owned winery in the Mikulov sub-region of Moravia. The nose brought white flowers and peach; the palate opened sweet with a surprising bitterness on the finish — off-dry, or polosuché, with a rounder mouthfeel than a typical California Sauvignon Blanc (whole milk versus skim, as my sister Dana put it). It was a hit across the board, and later paired beautifully with fresh oysters.

Tasting Two: Anselmann 1541 Dornfelder, Barrique Trocken

Next, a German red Aidan actually researched before buying — a step up from last year's Spätburgunder, with Dornfelder as the more affordable, still respectable option.

This one surprised everyone. It poured almost cab-dark, far deeper than expected, with a nose of dark cherry, blackberry, wood, and pungent rose. But the palate told a different story — bitter, a little funky, more Syrah than expected, with real tannin and a smooth, dry finish. As Aidan put it, the nose smelled pretty, then "picked me up and spun me around." It ended up the wine of choice with a spicy seafood pasta at dinner.

Learn more about the family behind this wine here.

Tasting Three: Becherovka — "Christmas in a Bottle"

Aidan picked up this liqueur because he'd heard it called the Czech answer to Jägermeister — and it looks the part in the glass. But the nose and palate told a different story: warm clove and cinnamon, a syrupy body, and a finish everyone agreed tasted like a licorice-and-fireball shot. My sister Dana called it potpourri, in the best way. At 38% ABV, it also numbed a few gums at the table. Michael declared it his pick to close out the night — Christmas in July, beach house edition. More info about it here.

The Verdict

Lined up side by side, the room split along food lines: Aidan and Lauren leaned toward the Sauvignon Blanc for the oyster dinner ahead, while others held onto the Dornfelder for the spicy pasta. The Becherovka, unsurprisingly, didn't get much more love after that first round.

What stuck with me most wasn't any single tasting note — it's that my 22-year-old nephew still managed to hand me a genuinely new wine country to explore, sourced from a shop he wandered into because a flag looked familiar. That's the whole magic of this whole thing.

Where to Find the SOMMO App you heard me using:

Download the SOMMO app from the App Store or Google Play. Start with the free version and poke around — you'll be impressed quickly. The premium subscription is $30/year and unlocks the full experience. Use code “NIKKI” for your first month free to check it out!

One More Thing: The Tasting Room Is Open

As of this week, The Tasting Room — my wine tasting membership community — has officially launched. This has been in my heart for a long time: a place where you can literally sip with me, with wines from around the world shipped to your door through a partnership with Vinebox.

I've been talking about this for a long time, and I'm finally doing it. I'm launching a virtual tasting room membership— and I want your input before it goes live this summer.

Here's the concept: members will join me on Zoom for regular live tastings of wines from around the world. I'm partnering with a company called Vinebox, which makes curated wine tasting kits featuring 100ml vials — almost like a large test tube of wine. That's a real, generous tasting pour, and it means we don't have to open five full bottles at once. I'll customize boxes that I'll send to members ahead of each tasting, so we're all sipping the same wine at the same time, together, live.

What excites me most about this isn't just the wine — it's the community. After 100+ episodes of podcasting, I love what I do, but it's a one-way conversation. The tasting room means I get to see you, hear your questions, answer them in real time, and watch you discover a wine you've never tried before. That's the whole point.

Membership will include the curated tasting kits, access to our live virtual sessions, and other perks and resources I'm building in to help you develop your palate, get out of your comfort zone, and explore wine regions you might never have tried on your own.

An Exciting Offer for The Tasting Room Founding Members

Here's the news I'm thrilled to share: Gökhan is gifting one free year of SOMMO Premium (a $30 value) to every founding member of Sip with Nikki: The Tasting Room.

That means when you join the membership, you get the tasting kits, the live virtual tastings with me, the private community — and a full year of SOMMO Premium already unlocked so you can track every wine we taste together, build your palate profile, and explore on your own in between our sessions.

The timing of Gökhan finding me — right as I was about to launch — felt like the universe sending me exactly what I needed. I'm so grateful, and I can't wait for you to experience it.