Weekly Wine Show

This week's episode is all about Sherry. Sherry is a fortified wine made from white grapes and produced in a small region in South West Spain. We talked about another type of fortified wine, Port, back in episode 42. If you are interested in listening to that episode click here.    In this episode we discuss: Where does Sherry come from? History of Sherry How it's made Different styles of Sherry Food pairings - check out a handy food and Sherry pairing guide from Sherry.Wine   Dry Styles of Sherry: Light to Heavy Fino Manzanilla Amontillado Oloroso Sweet Styles: Pedro Ximénez (PX) or Moscatel Cream   Wine Recommendations: Lustau Rare Amontillado Escuadrilla - priced around $30. Beautiful amber color with 18.5% ABV Average age is 12 years old Aromas of burnt sugar or caramel, orange rind, kalamata olives and hazelnuts It’s dry with medium plus acidity with flavors of intense hazelnuts, soy sauce, mushrooms, coffee and oak on the finish This wine is very savory and salty with long complex finish that k

This week starts a series on dessert wines and this episode we are talking about Sauternes. Sauternes is a sweet white wine from a region in Bordeaux by the same name. A while back, we did a two part episode on Bordeaux. Those episodes talked about history of wine in the area, classification system and climate and geography.   Check out our previous episodes on Bordeaux: Ep 038 – Bordeaux and Aquitaine Ep 039 – Bordeaux Reds and the 1855 Classé   In this episode we discuss: What is Sauternes and where does it come from? Noble Rot - it sounds gross but it’s cool Why are botrytized or Noble rot wines so expensive? When did Bordeaux start making this wine? What to expect from Sauternes? Food pairings   Wine Recommendations: Chateau Tuyttens 2011 - Priced around $25.This wine is a deep golden color with aromas of dried apricots or apricot skins and honey. It’s has medium to medium plus acidity, it’s very full bodied with flavors of candied peach, honey, almond and a bit of funk from the botrytis. It’s delic

Welcome to our 100th episode! This is a special episode to celebrate the “big 100” which is a bit of a milestone for a lot of podcasters so this episode we have: Voicemails and emails from you, our listener community Brief updates about new ways to listen We touch on a few things we've learned over course of our first 100 episodes What we're excited for in our wine journey for 2018   People featured in this episode: Clint in Scottsdale, AZ Mark from Connecticut Kevin from Michigan Chuck in San Diego Casey from Minnesota Christine from Australia John (sorry he didn't tell us where he is from)   Other items mentioned in this episode: Treveri Sparkling Gewurztraminer Chuck's blog - Exploring.wine Cram Flashcard App Tunein echo/alexa skill - Say “Alexa play weekly wine show on tunein” We are on Spotify!!! Wine Bloggers Conference   Thank you for 100 episodes and we look forward to the next 100 episodes! Cheers!!!    

    Time for us to catch up on some wine news! Check out the links below to read the articles feature in this episode.   Sonoma’s city council imposes moratorium on new tasting rooms By CHRISTIAN KALLEN in the Sonoma News, December 11, 2017   Esteemed California Sustainable Winegrowing Program Lodi Rules™ Goes International by Wine Industry Network, January 17, 2018   Bogle Requires Certification Winery says grapegrowers must abide by Lodi Rules by Jane Firstenfeld, Wines and Vines, January 4th, 2018   Wine and liquor fraud: NY state fines big alcohol distributor in 'pay to play' scheme by Don Cazentre, Syracuse.com December 20, 2017   Walgreens is Now a National Drop-off Location for Wine by Liza B. Zimmerman, winebusiness.com December 11, 2017   A $1,000 bottle of wine grows in Brooklyn on a first-of-its-kind rooftop vine by Rene Brinkley, CNBC November 16, 2017   Calling time on the Champagne flute by Felicity Carter, Meininger's Wine Business International, November 30, 2017  

This is  our Four Wines episode for January 2018, our chance every couple of months to share recommendations with you for wines we’ve recently enjoyed but weren’t for an upcoming episode.   Wines featured in this episode: Alvarez de Toledo Roble 2009 100% Mencia grape and aged for 10 months in American and French oak barrels Deep purple color Medium intense nose of black plum, blackberries, pepper and a hint of floral and smoke It’s dry, full bodied with medium plus acidity, light tannins and flavors of black plum, fennel, leather, and a little smoke This is a food wine and pair well with cured meats like hard salami With the amount of acid we think this could probably be aged longer Priced around $10   Domaine de l'Espigouette Vieilles Vignes Côtes du Rhône A blend of 70% Grenache, 10% Syrah, 10% Mourvedre, 5% Carignan, 5% Cinsault This wine has a nose of black cherry, blackberry, dried prunes, dusty earth and a hint of floral like lavender It’s dry, with medium plus acidity, medium - tannins and medium b

This week’s episode features our interview with Wayne Bailey, owner and winegrower at Youngberg Hill.   “Youngberg Hill creates authentic wines and experiences in our tasting room and Inn that will have you fall in love with life again." Oregon’s premier wine country estate and one of Wine Spectator’s favorite locations; set on a 50-acre hilltop surrounded by exquisite vineyards and views. We have an amazing 28-year old vineyard that is farmed organically. We are well known for producing award winning wines. As passionate farmers and winemakers we are thrilled to share, educate, and talk wine. We care for our wine and guests with respect. We are proud of our ‘Green’ approach to wine country living and look forward to sharing it with you.”   Wine featured in this episode: these wines were sent to us for free by Youngberg Hill. Youngberg Hill Chardonnay 2015 Light nose of toast, toasted marshmallow and flowers It’s dry with medium bodied, medium acidity with flavors of grapefruit pith, cheese, vanilla and a li

This episode is the third in a series of interviews from producers in Willamette Valley. In this week’s episode we are featuring our interview with Tom Fitzpatrick, the winemaker from Alloro Vineyard. Wine feature in this episode: 2016 Riesling - priced around $30. This is probably one of the best dry Rieslings we've tried. This wine has beautiful aromas of fresh linens, beeswax and white peach. It's dry, with medium plus acidity and flavors of grapefruit, nectarine, white flowers and lime. This wine is everything you want in a Riesling; it's crisp, fruity, and complex. Well done, Alloro!   2015 Chardonnay - priced around $34. This wine has  aromas of fresh toasted coffee beans, sweet golden apple, lemon rind and a hint of herbal quality to this wine. It’s dry, with medium acidity, medium plus body and flavors of salted caramel, lemon pith and a hint of smoke. Such a wonderful balance between the oak and fruit.   2014 Pinot Noir - priced around $35. This Pinot Noir is delicate and feminine with aromas of c

This episode is the second in a series of interviews from producers in Willamette Valley. In this week’s episode we are featuring our interview with Steve Lutz, owner and winegrower from Lenne’ Estate.  Lenne’ Estate grows “death-defying Pinot Noir in the Yamhill Carlton AVA”     Wines featured in this episode: These wines were provided to us for free. 2014 Pinot Noir - priced around $45. This wine has a medium intense nose of black cherry, wet leaves, dried fennel seeds, and dusty rose petals. It’s dry with light smooth tannins and medium acidity, with juicy, ripe flavors of dark cherries and blackberries. We could tell that 2014 was a warm year in WIllamette Valley because this wine is showing the presence of dark fruit instead of the red fruits like cherry and cranberry we are used to seeing from this area.   2016 Chardonnay - priced around $40. This wine has just the right amount of oak flavors but still allows for the fruit to shine, with medium intense aromas of vanilla, toasted marshmallow, lemon, an

This episode is the a first of a handful of interviews from producers in Willamette Valley. We are kicking it off with our interview with Mike Bayliss from Ghost Hill Cellars.   Ghost Hill Cellars is located in the Yamhill-Carlton AVA. It’s “a fifth generation century farm and estate vineyard, sustainably tended by the Bayliss family and the ghost of a murdered gold miner.”   Wine Featured in this episode: These wines were provided to us for free 2014 Pinot Noir Blanc - priced around $25. This wine is a beautiful rose gold color made with no skin contact. It has a medium intense aromas of cherry licorice, sweet baking spices like star anise with cherry cola like aromas. This wine is dry with medium plus acidity and medium body with flavors of white flowers, lime pith, cherry, some minerality and a hint of dry hay. Thanks to the crisp, acidity we thought this would make a great food wine with poultry or pork based dishes.    2014 Bayliss-Bower Pinot Noir - priced around $42. Lots of cherry aromas in this wine

We are fortunate enough to have the opportunity to interview several producers from Willamette Valley in Oregon. So over the next handful of episodes we will be share those interviews and some great wines with our listeners.   This is all thanks to Carl Giavanti from Carl Giavanti Consulting who we met at last year’s Wine Bloggers Conference in Lodi, CA who connected us to these producers and provided us with an opportunity to sample their wines. If you are a long time listener you know we’ve done a few interviews in the past and it’s been a goal of ours to feature more interviews on this show. We are always interested in learning why people decide to get into the wine business and learn more about this journey and what inspires them. But before we start those episodes, we wanted to release this episode to give our listeners a short introduction to Willamette Valley.   We’re coming up to our 100th episode and to celebrate, we want to make you part of the show! Call into our new voicemail and tell us how the

The holidays is a great excuse to drink Champagne (as well as a Tuesday) but buying Champagne can feel overwhelming; it’s expensive and you might often feel like you're going to mess something up. Not to worry, we have three recommendations that you can’t go wrong with and something for everyone.  We want to give you some options to take with you to holiday time with friends and family (or for just yourself is ok too).   In this week's episode we discuss: Why is Champagne is expense? How it Champagne made? About the blend (mostly) Classifications   Wine Recommendations: Bonnet-Ponson Brut Premier Cru NV - priced around $40. This wine has a deep golden color with aromas of sweet earth, a sweet apple, pear skins and a hint of chalkiness. It has high acidity with flavors of lemon, grapefruit, apple, white lily, and yeast with a long finish.   Laurent-Perrier La Cuvée - priced around $50. This wine is a medium golden color with medium intense aromas of brioche, floral and golden apple. It has medium plus acidi

This week we are talking about our recent trip to the tasting room at Breathless wines in Healdsburg which is in Sonoma County   Breathless wines was started by three sisters and focuses on making high quality sparkling wines using Méthode Champenoise. We visited their tasting room and got an opportunity to chat with Sharon Cohn one of the founders.   We really enjoyed our time at Breathless and we think it’s worth a visit if you are in the area. We had the opportunity to taste four of their wines at the winery and below is one of our favorites.   Breathless Wines Brut NV - priced around $25.  With an almost rose color this wine smelled like baked apples and toast. It has flavors of citrus, pink grapefruit (got some bitterness) and apple with a pleasant finish that lingers. We thought this wine was light, refreshing, crisp, with a hint of tartness, it's not over the top and great with food or on it’s own.   We’re coming up to our 100th episode and to celebrate, we want to make you part of the show! Call into

In this episode, we talk about our visit to Sterling Vineyards in Napa Valley.  Sterling Vineyards was founded in 1964 by Peter Newton, an Oxford Scholar, paper tycoon and London Financial Times writer from England.   Sterling Vineyards sits atop of a mountain overlooking a valley in Calistoga. They have aerial tram which is the only one of its kind in Napa Valley, offering amazing views as visitors on your way up to the winery. When designing the winery, the planners needed a way to transport visitors and staff to the hilltop winery with minimal impact on the hill, and decided on the tram.   Once we got up the mountain and into the winery we enjoyed the Platinum Experience. This included a one hour food and wine education tasting. We had a flight of four of their small production reserve wines, one Chardonnay and three Cabernet Sauvignon wines, each paired with an amuse-bouches. The thought behind this experience is that food pairings help keep the wine flavors on your plate longer and change how you perceiv

Recently we attended the annual wine bloggers conference which allowed us to spend some time in Sonoma and Napa Valley. These next few episodes will cover some of the information we learned as well as some of the wines we sampled.   This week we discuss: Where is Napa Valley? Wine production and impact Climate and geography Grapes grown and why the focus on Cab? What to expect from Chardonnay, Merlot and Cabinet Sauvignon   Wines and Wineries featured in this episode Chardonnay: J. Moss 2015 Los Carneros - $42 Handwritten Wines 2016 Los Carneros - $55 Castello di Amorosa 2016 Reserve, Napa Valley - $50 Merlot J. Moss 2013 Napa Valley - $64 Castello di Amorosa 2014 Napa Valley - $42 Cabinet Sauvignon J. Moss 2013 Coombsville - $84 Handwritten Wines 2014 Los Carneros - $100 Handwritten Wines 2014 Stags Leap District - $115 Castello di Amorosa 2006 Il Barone Napa Valley - $185   Unusually Napa Valley wine varieties 2014 Nichelini Family Winery Chiles Valley Petite Sirah - $43 Antica 2014 Napa

Four Wines is our chance every couple of months to share recommendations with you for wines we’ve recently enjoyed but weren’t for an upcoming episode. This week is all about California wines and we have four tasty and affordable options.     Belle Glos Pinot Noir Blanc Oeil De Perdrix 2016 Sonoma - priced around $22. In France, this wine is traditionally known as oeil-de-perdrix, which translates to ‘eye of the partridge’ and refers to its pink and copper color. This is a Rosé wine with berry aromas almost like strawberry rhubarb as well as fresh mineral  with hints of floral notes. This wine is fruity, light, and crisp with a strong strawberry flavor, with a touches of vanilla-cream and floral notes. The vanilla cream comes from the winemaker using French oak to ferment part of the juice before bottling. Serves as a refreshing break from heavier wines of the cold season.   Church and State Wines Lost Inhibitions 2014 California White - priced around $20. This wine has a fairly aromatic nose of stone fruit,

This week we explore the Livermore Valley AVA. Livermore Valley AVA is located just 35 miles east of the San Francisco Bay and is part of the larger Central Coast AVA.   In this episode we discuss: History of wine in Livermore Valley Climate and geography Grapes grown and wine style (or lack there of)   Wine Recommendation Wente Morning Fog Chardonnay 2016 - priced around $15. This wine is fermented in 50% neutral American oak barrels and 50% in stainless steel tanks. It has a light nose of tropical fruit like pineapple and flavors of tropical fruit, green apple and toasty oak on the finish. This wine is medium bodied with medium acidity and we thought this wine was the best of worlds (fruit and oak). It’s everything you want in a California chardonnay - crisp, fruity but still that creamy texture.   Murrieta’s Well The Whip 2013 - priced around $24. Aromatic nose of melon, pear, floral and a touch of minerality, this wine is a unique white wine blend of mostly Semillion and chardonnay. It's medium bodied w

Time for us to catch up on some wine news! Check out the links below to read the articles feature in this episode.   Deadly fires hit wine regions in Spain and Portugal by Amanda Barns from Decanter, October 19, 2017   Sorting Fact from Fiction: An Important Message from Wine Road Executive Director, Beth Costa, About the Wildfire Situation in Sonoma County Wine Country from the Wine Industry Network, October 18, 2017   Amazon Dealt a Distribution Blow by W. Blake Gray from Wine-Searcher, September 29th, 2017   Should City put stopper on tasting rooms? by Jason Walsh from the Sonoma INDEX-TRIBUNE, September 21, 2017   Tasting room embargo sours over recusals by Jason Walsh from the Sonoma INDEX-TRIBUNE, October 3, 2017   European vine rules stunt Italian winemakers' ambitions by Isla Binnie from Reuters, October 4, 2017   Study Reveals That Wines Sealed with Cork Are Perceived as 15% Better in Quality Than Screwcap a Press Release from the Wine Industry Network Advisor, September 27, 2017

This week we explore Mendocino County, California. Mendocino County is an appellation that makes wine from grapes grown mostly in Mendocino County, California and is a part of the larger North Coast AVA to the west of Lake County . Mendocino County is huge covering 2.4 million acres and almost 19,000 acres have is grapevines, which accounts for about 1% of the land use in the county.   In this week's episode we discuss: History of wine in the region AVAs of Mendocino County What makes this place so special (aka climate) Grapes grown   Wine Recommendations Roederer Estate Brut NV - priced around $24. This wine was aged a minimum of two years on the yeast and that aging is apparent in the nose with aromas of toast, pear, minerality and golden delicious apples. It has medium plus acidity so it's a great pairing with food like sushi, cheese, appetizers or potato chips (one of our favorite pairings). It’s light, clean and crisp with flavors of green apple skins, lime and white lily. It was amazing and sadly, we

This week we continue our journey into California wine country with Lake County. Lake County is an appellation of origin designating wine made from grapes grown in Lake County, California, which is east of Mendocino County and north of Napa County. This area is best known for Cabernet Sauvignon and Sauvignon Blanc, but around 40 varieties are grown in the appellation.   This week we discuss: History of Lake County wine region Lake County grapes in other area wines Climate, geography and what makes this place so special   Wine Recommendations Shannon Ridge 2015 High Elevation Petite Sirah - priced around $20.  This wine is made from 100% Petite Sirah and spent 9 months in French and American oak. It has aromas of star anise, black currant and minerality. It’s full bodied with medium acidity and medium plus tannins with flavors of blueberry, cranberry, coco, wood, and a touch of green. We love the texture of this wine and it's pleasantly complex. To us, it's kind of like drinking a dark chocolate covered blu

Paso Robles Wine Country AVA was established in 1983 and located in San Luis Obispo County, California. It's a part of the larger Central Coast area north of Santa Barbara County. With approximately 40,000 acres of wine grapes. it's known for its history with varieties like Zinfandel, Cabernet Sauvignon, and Rhône-style wines.   This week on the podcast, we discuss: History of Paso Robles wine Paso Robles's large size and diversity in terroir Newly formed sub-AVAs Grape varieties and wine style   Wine Recommendations Opolo Summit Creek Zinfandel 2015 - priced around $19. This wine is 100% Zin sourced from 9 different vineyards all in Paso Robles. Lovely nose of dark fruit, blueberry, baking spice like clove, as well as leather. It's dry with medium acidity and medium level of smooth tannins with flavors of freeze dried strawberries, blueberry jam, and a little dark chocolate. We thought this wine was very easy drinking, it’s ripe, juicy and lush. It has a decadent feel, almost desert like and this wine is 1