41: A Latino Story: Puerto Rican Nocturne with Angel Mendez-Soto

08/10/22 • 13 min

First of all, a disclaimer: No wine bottles were opened in this week's episode, but you certainly don't need a drink to enjoy this week's guest.

Angel Mendez-Soto grew up in New York City’s East Harlem (El Barrio), and he's a man with a storied career in theatre. He has been a member of Su Teatro, directed by Anthony J. Garcia, for over 40 years. In the 1980’s he was also a member of the the Black theatre company Eulipions, directed by Jo Bunton-Keel. Angel is a former recipient of the Mayor’s Excellence in the Arts Award. Earlier this year he portrayed Grandpop in the Theatreworks production of Elliot, A Soldier's Fugue at the ENT Center for the Arts in Colorado Springs.

Paul has known Angel for years, but the reason he's coming on the show now is because he's currently in Puerto Rican Nocturne, a powerful historical drama which will be at The Bug Theatre in North Denver from August 11th to the 21st. To grab your tickets, click here.

Paul and Angel dive into Angel's background on-stage, his experiences with telling Latino stories, and the importance of the story behind Puerto Rican Nocturne.

First of all, a disclaimer: No wine bottles were opened in this week's episode, but you certainly don't need a drink to enjoy this week's guest.

Paul and Angel dive into Angel's background on-stage, his experiences with telling Latino stories, and the importance of the story behind Puerto Rican Nocturne.

Previous Episode

40: A Surprise Visit with Dan and Michelle of Continental Divide Winery

Fate and a combined passion for the wine industry brought two families together to create Continental Divide Winery.

Part-time Breckenridge residents Jeffrey and Ana Maltzman owned two successful wineries in California. Ten years ago the Maltzmans, their two daughters and their two Australian Shepherds were walking down Main Street in Breckenridge when they spotted Colorado winemakers and Alma residents Kent Hutchison and Angela Bryan, their two daughters and their two Australian Shepherds walking the other direction. The couples and their girls have been fast friends ever since.

The families quickly discovered their mutual passion for the art and science of wine. Today Continental Divide is owned and operated by the Maltzman family with Kent and Angela serving as contributing winemakers producing some of our most acclaimed Colorado reserve wines.

By tasting different wines crafted from both California and Colorado grapes, guests can learn and experience the differences that altitude, soil and weather make on wine.

They produce all of their wines in a state-of-the-art winemaking facility in Fairplay, making Continental Divide the highest altitude winery in the world. Crafting and aging wines at over 10,000' altitude minimizes oxygen exposure and results in a slower and more gentle fermentation that allows the true flavors of the fruit and land to come through. To further capitalize on our unique alpine location, they use a patented winemaking system to craft many of the wines in a nearly zero oxygen closed-cell environment as well as the use of snow and the extreme temperatures of the alpine environment to control fermentation instead of mechanical and artificial cooling.

Continental Divide Winery invites you to come visit our tasting rooms in both Breckenridge and South Park (Fairplay) and experience first-hand our award-winning wines.

Next Episode

42: Alwyn "Fitz" Fitzgerald: Wisconsin Wines

Paul sits down with Alwyn "Fitz" Fitzgerald, the former President of Fisher King Winery which closed in 2020 when there were staffing shortages. In this episode you will find out first hand that it is not too cold to grow amazing grapes in Wisconsin, and that Paul finds similarities between Colorado and Wisconsin when it comes to growing grapes. He also tells the story of his mother and how he used to watch her make wine and why he decided to go into the wine business in 2011.