Joe Carpenter, a Buena Vista neighborhood resident, started the venture in August.

For those not familiar with podcasting, Carpenter simplifies the technology of it by describing it as a "weekly Internet radio show."

However, unlike regular radio shows, you don't have to tune in at a specific time. You can download it onto your computer or a MP3 player such as an iPod and listen to it at will.

Additionally, you can go back and download past shows.

"Getting information from Google or cnn.com is awesome, but it requires me to be tethered to my computer," Carpenter says.

"Podcasting allows it to be synchronized to a computer, and I can take it with me. I can drive and listen to my podcast, I can work out and listen to my podcast, I can do a lot of things and listen to my podcast. It liberates the material from my computer to my MP3 player."

After Carpenter discovered podcasting, enjoying the freedom of listening to broadcasts at will, he wanted to try it himself.

After attending a couple of meetings focusing on the technological aspects of it, Carpenter decided to go ahead.

"I picked something I was interested in, which was wine. I had always wanted to know a little bit more about the differences between wine varietals and how to tell the difference," Carpenter says.

"I also wanted to do it with a friend to make it more fun."

After talking to several friends, Carpenter connected with Lori Leahy.

"Lori had the same interest in wine and podcasting," Carpenter says. "We put the two together and started doing it."

Leahy says, "Joe's the instigator. He was the first to hear about podcasting. Our children went to preschool together and he knew I'd worked at Apple and at a startup, so we met for coffee. He asked me if I was interested in joining him and trying it."

The title of A Guy, a Girl and a Bottle "just naturally came out," Carpenter says. "It was almost a joke at first when we asked what should we name ourselves. We thought of Silicon Valley Wine but really, we're just a guy, a girl and a bottle --it's as simple as that."

Carpenter says initially he didn't care if his co-host was male or female.

"In hindsight it works really well, but it was more coincidental than anything else," he says.

Leahy says when they started, she felt her contribution would be not so much in the area of wine reviewing, but more "for reviewing the grounds and surroundings. I might be more aware if it's kid friendly or how tasteful the décor is, or I might notice the plants used in landscaping."

As it has progressed, she's also reviewing the wines and feeling comfortable doing it.

"We do have a difference in which wines we like the best. He's into ports and I like chardonnays better. I don't know if it's different sexes or different palates," she says.

Both of them talk on each podcast, and Leahy says she believes that mix offers both varying opinions and perspectives.

Show lengths range from as brief as 15 minutes to as long as 45 minutes.

"We shoot for around 30 minutes because a half-hour is commute time or workout time," Carpenter says.

Focusing on Silicon Valley wineries isn't at all limiting, he says.

"There's approximately 60 wineries in and around Silicon Valley," Carpenter says. "I've lived here for 15 years, and I had no idea that many wineries were within a half hour of my house."

Among the wineries Carpenter and Leahy have already done podcasts on are Thomas Fogarty, Picchetti, Guglielmo, Hunter Hill, Bonny Doon and Silver Mountain. Upcoming wineries include Cooper-Garrod Estate, Salmandre and River Run.

Carpenter and Leahy work on their podcasts one day a week, usually a Saturday.

"We spend from about 10 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. either recording shows or visiting the wineries," Leahy says.

Carpenter says, "We spend about an hour to an hour-and-a-half at a winery. We record live and then I'll come back and edit, which takes another hour or two."

Tom Krymkowski, a sound engineer who is a friend of Carpenter's, then works with the tape to clean up extraneous sounds.

"The total production time on our podcast is about five hours per show, which is more extensive than most. Many podcasts are recorded on the fly and posted. I have a friend who does one in his car on his way to work," Carpenter says.

Working around their jobs and family commitments isn't always easy, but Leahy says, "Both of our spouses are very supportive."

On a recent Saturday trip to wineries in Santa Cruz, she says they took their families along. That experience turned out to be useful, because it gave them a family perspective on the wineries they visited.

"They weren't family friendly. Neither place we went had picnic tables or hiking," Leahy says.

News of their podcast has primarily been word of mouth, but they are gaining notice. They were featured in a late October article distributed by the French news agency Agence France-Presse.

Within two months, A Guy, a Girl and a Bottle had more than 5,000 downloads, which Carpenter says "is pretty amazing."

The podcasts are free and Carpenter says they have no plans to charge for them.

"It would be nice to make money for sure and we do have some bills associated with it, but mainly we collect donations. There's a wine fund button you can press to throw a few bucks in the kitty," he says.

"The way podcasting is set up, subscribers don't get charged. The mechanism isn't even there."

Carpenter says he knows of no podcasts that charge for subscriptions or listening.

"Some have sponsors and weblinks to make money," he says.

A Girl, a Guy and a Bottle, does have a couple of sponsors, including Pawin' Around, the dog day-care center on Park Avenue.

That podcasting is catching on is obvious from statistics gathered by The Diffusion Group, a Texas-based consumer technology research firm. In 2004, it estimates that 800,000 people listened to podcasts. For 2005, they estimate that number will rise to 4.5 million and by 2010 it will be 60 million.

The firm's research also shows that as consumers have become accustomed to downloading music, they are coming to realize the convenience of downloading audio broadcasts "for portable on-demand consumption."

Both Leahy and Carpenter are excited about the future of podcasting.

"This is great for the average Joe or Jane to share information that other people might want," Leahy says.

Carpenter adds, "One thing I find very exciting is it allows anybody to do it and because it's going over the Internet, anything can be said. There's no censorship. You can rant and rave with no risk of the Federal Communications Commission coming down."

Carpenter says while he likes the freedom of speech it affords, they have no plans to rant and rave.

"I stick to wine," he says.

However, they are expanding their focus a bit by featuring the music of unsigned artists.

"At the end of each episode, we play music. We try and feature up-and-coming artists and we like to focus on Bay Area artists," he says.

A Guy, a Girl and a Bottle is available on the web at www.gngnb.com, which also includes information on the wineries they have visited, and in the podcast area of iTunes.