Sunday Sitdown Live at Nashville’s City Winery Featuring Luke Combs and Willie Geist

Special Sunday Edition of Wine Wanderings

Many of you subscribers know I am a big fan of both NBC’s Sunday Sitdown with Willie Geist TV show and the City Winery company. This past summer I profiled an interview of City Winery CEO and Founder, Michael Dorf. We discussed the Sunday Sitdown presentation of Willie Geist and chef Ina Garten along with other venue events at all their city locations. Willie recently hosted a hilarious interview with comedian, Nate Bargatze. Every Sunday Willie sits down with the biggest names in entertainment and culture. This Monday, January 19, Willie is LIVE with an audience, hosting country superstar, Luke Combs, at the Nashville City Winery location. I recommend you check out the performances available at all the locations. You may be surprised by the unique variety and wonderful wine selection. The program will air on NBC on a coming Sunday morning To Be Announced.

In my interview last summer with City Winery Founder, CEO Michael Dorf, our conversation surrounded the City Winery founding, their custom winemaking process, the selection of growers and grapes, and the celebrity and non-profit performances held there. Our YouTube interview is below. See also below my City Winery Wine Shop Recommendations which can be shipped. City Winery is located in New York City, Nashville, Atlanta, Boston, Pittsburgh, Philadelphia, St. Louis and near their production hub in Hudson Valley, New York. You can watch our interview here: YouTube, “City Winery: A venue for Wine Tasting, Interviews, and Performances: An Interview with Founder/CEO, Michael Dorf,” June 24, 2025, Wine Wanderings.

Today in Nashville: Luke Combs

Today, in Nashville a live Sunday Sitdown takes place with Willie Geist interviewing country music superstar, multi-platinum, award-winning artist, Luke Combs. Willie will revisit Luke’s early days, unpack stories behind his biggest hits, and reflect on the moments that shaped one of country music’s most influential voices. Tickets for this live event range from $149 to $599 per person. A Grand Ole Opry member and 11x CMA, 4x ACM, 6x Billboard Music Award-winner, Luke Combs is widely respected by his peers and recently collaborated with artists such as Post Malone (“Guy For That” + “Missin’ You Like This”) and Bailey Zimmerman (“Backup Plan,” the 2025 SEC Network anthem). Currently working on new music, Combs released The Prequel earlier last fall, a 3-song collection featuring “My Kinda Saturday Night,” “15 Minutes” and “Days Like These,” as well as his current single, “Back in the Saddle.”

About City Winery and Founder, Michael Dorf

City winery is the brainchild of Michal Dorf, founder of the iconic Knitting Factory, one of New York’s longest running music venues. After making his first barrel of wine in California with his brother Josh and winemaker David Tate, formerly of Ridge Winery and now at Barnett Vineyards, Michael caught [the winemaking] bug. He started to work on the City Winery business plan in 2006 with its official launch in 2008 in SoHo Manhattan. The New Yorker has said Michael “perfected the art of the tribute concert.” Over 13 years, the fundraiser series has honored legends like Aretha Franklin, Leonard Cohen, and Prince while raising over $1.5 million for such music education programs as the American Symphony Orchestra’s Music Notes, Church Street School for Music and Art, Young Audiences New York, Fixing Instruments for Kids in Schools, Little Kids Rock and the Center for Arts Education.

“We started 18 years ago. I came out of the music industry [for 40 years]. ‘The profits are in the popcorn.’ Whether you go to a stadium or a concert, the real profit and the way to pay the bills is the sale of food and beverages…..Simultaneously I had a real hankering about 20 years ago to get into winemaking and really matched up the idea of urban wine making and live event production. That was the birth of City Winery in New York City in 2008. My timing was impeccably terrible. Our first grapes arrived the harvest of Fall 2008 the exact week that Lehman Brothers declared bankruptcy and the beginning of financial crisis…..Luckily people love wine. We make really, really high-end wine at a very good value and the concept took off. Then after a couple of years, I opened up a facility in Chicago, and then came Nashville, Atlanta, Boston, Pittsburgh, Philadelphia, St. Louis… In 2020 we opened our first non-city location in Hudson Valley, New York, a location which became our main production hub on a 22-acre, beautiful site of an old knitting factory.” – Michael Dorf, Founder/CEO, City Winery.

Willie Geist and Nate Bargatze at City Winery, New York City

City Winery Wine Shop Recommendations

2021 City Winery Pinot Noir Reserve Cuvée Bacigalupi $45

This classic Russian River Valley Pinot Noir comes from Helen & Charles Bacigalupi, one of the most famous vineyards in Sonoma, having also grown the grapes for the winner (Chateau Montelena) of the 1976 Judgment of Paris, made famous in the movie Bottle Shock. This wine is incredibly soft, with a complex mix of cinnamon red hots, fresh cherries, toasted vanilla bean, cedar and sandalwood.

2022 City Winery Bourbon Barrel Red Blend, $32

This improbable wine is a blend of three wines from two different continents. From the US, Mendocino (Petite Sirah) and Sonoma (Merlot) counties, with the Cabernet Sauvignon from France. 40% Cabernet Sauvignon, 28% Petite Syrah, 32% Merlot. It features minty-chocolate aromas with hints of dark roast coffee. The medium body has a creamy texture and notes of raspberry jam.

2023 City Winery Chardonnay Harmony Drops, Scopus Vineyard, Sonoma Mountain $26

This pale gold Chardonnay from the North Coast AVA, Sonoma Mountain’s Scopus Vineyard offers aromas of apple, pineapple, and key lime, with a lively acidity that softens into creamy minerality.

Wine Wanderings Editorial Calendar 2026

Celebrating Five Years on Substack

An Interview with Spirits Giant: Diageo on Whiskey Tourism

LIVE from the Paso Robles Wine Region: Rhône Rangers Riding Strong at BlendFest

Canada’s Okanagan Wine Region

Celebrating America’s 250^th Birthday with Wine and the Presidents

Would a Michelin Star System Work for Wine?

Cité du Vin: Celebrating 10 Years as the World’s Foremost Wine Museum

Mahjongg and Wine Pairing: Rack and Roll

50^th Anniversary of the Judgment of Paris: Putting Napa Valley on the International Wine Map

Touring Portugal: An Oporto Tasting

LIVE from the Danube River with Wölffer Estate Winery: Old World vs. New World Wines

Meeting the “King of Wines,” Tokaji Aszú, Touring Budapest

The Venice of Portugal

*****

In Case You Missed It in the Wine/Spirits News:

The Guardian, December 22, 2025, “Bourbon Maker Jim Beam Stops Production at Kentucky Distillery.” Production is halting a one of its distilleries in Kentucky for at least a year as the whiskey industry navigate tariffs from the Trump administration. Bourbon makers have to gamble well into the future for aging and uncertainty is rampant. Sales of Bourbon to Canada (where a boycott started) and Europe are slumping.

Market Watch: December 18, 2025: “Sparkling Wines Shining Bright.”

Sparkling wines are bucking trends and defying economic gravity at the beverage alcohol retail tier. Editor’s Note: Its my drink of choice this December.

Travel Opportunities

Editor’s Note: I will be cruising on AmaWaterways this April 20, 2026, on the Romantic Danube Cruise. Wine Wanderings subscribers: Come and join me and Wölffer Estate Winery’s Roman Roth, Winemaker/Partner on the Danube River. We will be visiting Germany, Austria, Slovenia, and Hungary.

Cruise the Danube on AmaWaterways with Wine Wanderings and Wölffer Estate Winery April 20, 2026, Romantic Danube.

“Enticing Douro River Cruise” with Dr. Bob Young. M.D. of Bending Branch Winery April 6-13, 2026