In this Barrels and Roots Podcast episode, I sit down with Adam Martinez, winemaker at Uplifted Winery in Rapid City, South Dakota, to talk about what winemaking actually looks like when you strip away the romance and get into the real craft.

We dig into how he got started through restaurant life and a chemistry background, why wine is the ultimate mix of science, art, and pure luck, and how tiny variables like weather, humidity, and even invisible microbes can change everything. Adam explains what it’s like making wine in a cold-climate region, how hybrid grapes like Marquette make Midwest and Northern Plains wine possible, and why a lot of South Dakota wineries still bring in grapes from places like Washington, Oregon, California, and Colorado. We get honest about sulfites, oxygen, fermentation choices, learning new varietals, and the mistakes that actually make you better, especially when teamwork and communication can make or break a vintage. We also talk about tasting notes, nostalgia, and why the best wine is the one you genuinely like, not the one that impresses someone else.

If you care about wine education, winemaking process, cold climate viticulture, and making wine feel approachable again for everyday people and Gen Z, this conversation is a fun, real-world look at what it takes to turn grapes into something that brings people together.