MARY BABBITT

Mary Babbitt is a three-time Emmy Award winning host who can also make three school lunches in 3 minutes flat. Her background is in news, which is why she can often be heard telling her children to “stand-by” or “wrap it up”. Mary was a news anchor and reporter for 15 years at television stations from Oxnard, to Santa Maria to San Jose, CA.

Her career path took a more fruitful turn when she began hosting “Wine Country Living“, which later became “In Wine Country”. The show was based near California’s wine country and syndicated nationally on NBC. It found a thirsty audience whose support helped the show win multiple Emmy’s and a James Beard Award. Mary and her husband used to live in the mountains with a backyard vineyard until kid schedules necessitated a move to suburbia. Their four children, aged 12 to 19, provide endless joy and also many reasons to crack open a bottle of wine at night.

Mary is also a freelance writer, who does voiceover and on-camera projects as well. She is proud of having narrated two documentaries, “As the Twig is Bent” and “The Brain of a Boxer”. In her freetime Mary gardens, runs, and thinks about napping. Mary’s favorite thing about hosting “Sip, Sip Hooray” is the fascinating people she gets to meet and interview with her pal, Mary Orlin; oh, and the wine. Definitely the wine.

MARY ORLIN

Mary Orlin — aka WineFashionista — is a James Beard and Emmy Award-winning wine journalist whose mantra is “life is to short to drink bad wine.” To that end she put herself through grueling wine certifications, becoming a Certified Sommelier and WSET Level 3 with Merit.

In her quest to help people find a great glass of wine through storytelling, and helping people get out of their Chardonnay and Cabernet rut, she writes for Edible Edile East Bay, and has contributed to Edible Silicon Valley, Tasting Panel, Grape Collective, Palate Press, The Mercury News, Huff Post, Napa Sonoma Magazine, Diablo Magazine, Berkeleyside Nosh and her blog WineFashionista.com.

Mary was the wine writer for The Mercury News for several years, where she also wrote about food and travel for the Eat, Drink Play section.

She is a wine judge for numerous prestigious wine competitions, including the Concourse Mondial du Sauvignon, Central Coast Wine Competition, Amador County Fair, Mendocino Wine Competition, California State Fair and Southern Oregon Wine Experience.

A highlight of Mary’s wine soaked career is when she created the James Beard Award- and Emmy-Award winning TV series “In Wine Country,” on NBC, joining forces with Mary Babbitt. In the start-up days they called it “the little show that could.” Beginning in 2001, the Marys and their small but mighty team roamed the wine roads through Napa, Sonoma, Livermore, the Santa Cruz Mountains, Paso Robles and Santa Barbara wine countries to bring the wine country lifestyle home to viewers every Sunday night. It was a tough job but somebody had to do it. The show found a loyal and thirsty audience across the country, becoming the longest running and most award-winning wine TV show in television history.

Mary is thrilled to co-host the Sip, Sip, Hooray! podcast with Mary Babbitt, because friends don’t let friends drink bad wine, and together wine is always fun. She’s loving reconnecting with wine friends from the TV show days and introducing Mary and their listeners to all the new wine folks she’s been lucky enough to meet along the way.