Wine for Normal People
A podcast for people who like wine but not the snobbery that goes with it. I talk about wine in a fun, straightforward, normal way to get you excited about it and help you drink better, more interesting stuff. About half the shows feature guests and are informal but educational discussions between me and a passionate wine friend –they aren't interviews. All guests are personal friends or friends of friends in wine so like any conversation between friends, we’ll talk back and forth, interrupt each other, laugh and have fun, debate tough questions, voice our opinions, and most of all, enjoy sharing our time together and with you! The Wine For Normal People book is available on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and many local booksellers. Back catalog available on Patreon.com/winefornormalpeople
Episodes
In this episode I'm joined by author and American wine icon, Karen MacNeil. We discuss her amazing career trajectory in wine from food stamps to international fame, and her new initiative, Come Over October, which is having enormous success in encouraging people to get together over a bottle of wine!
Karen is one of the foremost wine experts in the United States. She's the author of the award-winning book, "The Wine Bible," which...
Sandwiched between the famed Médoc AOCs of Margaux in the south and Pauillac in the north, Saint Julien has one of the highest concentrations of classified growths from the 1855 Classification in Bordeaux. This red wine only AOC is just 910 ha/2,250acres, which is 6% of the Médoc vineyard. It is one-sixth the size of Pauillac. It makes an average of about 6 million bottles a year.
In this episode, I discuss eight refreshing red wines that are lighter, fresher, and perfect for sipping on a warm day. I give you ideas for wines that go easy on the oak, tannin, and alcohol, and focus instead on the freshness and lightness. These wines have a multitude of flavors and are from around the world but all of them go beyond the bold and heavy.
The wines p...
Last fall, I met Francesco Galgani and tried his wines and I was completely blown away. I always think of Vernaccia as a more historical Pinot Grigio -- light on flavor, boring, and not anything to get excited about. But then I visited Cappella Sant'Andrea.
HOLY CRAP!! This is the BEST Vernaccia on earth. Francesco and Flavia, the owners and winemakers, are truly the Masters of Vernaccia di San Gimignano. You will never taste Verna...
It's another edition of the "Alternatives to a Fave" series! This time: Sauvignon blanc.
As an extension of the Grape Mini-series, for this series I come up with lists of wines that lovers of a specific grape can try as alternatives.
Sauvignon blanc is not a one note! It has so many different styles -- from the acidic, minerally, citrus and flinty notes of Sancerre and Pouilly-Fumé to the tropical fruit, peach, grass, green pepper,...
Stephanie Duboudin, CEO of Wine Victoria, joins to educate us on this state at the southern end of Australia that has a ton of diversity and makes all styles of wine. A boutique winery heaven, Victoria is something you need to know about!
Wineries mentioned:
- Tahbilk
- Seppelt
- Mount Langhi
- Wild Duck Creek
- Yeringber...
Located the middle of the Médoc, 50 km/31 miles northwest of Bordeaux, Pauillac is home to 18 of the 61 châteaux classified 1855, just under a third of the list. There are three first growths, two second growths, one fourth growth, and twelve 5th growths. The first growths are Château Latour, Château Lafite-Rothschild, and Château Mouton-Rothschild.
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As part of the Back to Basics series, in which I update previous podcasts on practical topics that can be helpful to everyone, I update podcast Episode 28 from September 2011! Rick was the co-host then and it was a much shorter, less detailed show.
...
On the heels of my trip with a group of Patrons to Campania, I wanted to do a show on Taurasi while it was still fresh in my mind.
Taurasi, a small (472 ha / 1,166 acres) DOCG region, is indisputably one of Italy’s greatest red wines along with Barolo, Barbaresco, Brunello, Chianti, Vino Nobile, and Montefalco Sagrantino. Taurasi, made of the ancient Aglianico grape, ...
This week I go in depth on one of the best value regions of Portugal -- Alentejo. These wines are mainly blends and they are as easy on the palate as they are on the wallet -- a perfect combo!
Photo: Vineyards in Alentejo outside of Évora. Credit: WFNP
This is the second in the Greats series on Bordeaux. This time, the first, most southerly, and most famed commune of the Médoc, Margaux. Surely this is one of the world’s greatest regions, with the only major appellation with a château named after the region, Château Margaux.
Fred Peterson has been making wines in Sonoma County for more than 40 years. While attending UC Santa Cruz, he took a job in a classmate’s family vineyard in Mendocino County and he found his passion. He left Santa Cruz, and used the rest of his GI Education benefits to attend UC Davis.
On the heels of the tariff show last week, and news that wine consumption is at its lowest point in 60 years, I thought it may be interesting to revisit the US industry structure in more depth.
As I say in the freshly recorded intro (the show is edited for relevancy too, so it's not a straight re-release) I wanted to carve out the issues for small wineries that are every bit as relevant today as they were when I launched this sh...
I think people are feeling a bit of a worry about the economy worldwide, so I thought I’d make some suggestions for inexpensive wines that taste like expensive ones! Almost every wine is below $18, although I put under $20 in the title because it seemed punchier!
I did lots of research to make sure these were way below US$20 in markets across the US and around the wor...
In this grape miniseries, I cover one of the greatest yet little known red grapes of Italy: Sagrantino.
Photo: Sagrantino. Source: Arnaldo Caprai
This grape is likely native to Umbria in Central Italy, although there is...
As part of the series on the greatest wines in the world, I cover Saint-Émilion on the Right Bank of Bordeaux. With its legacy of winemaking, its unique terroir, and its small producers who are constantly innovating and improving, this region is indisputably one of the top in the wine world.
As with all the regions in "The Greats" series, I go in depth on the fascinating history of Saint-Émilion, the complex terroir, the (convolu...
This week I take a fresh look at European Classification Systems, going into detail on the history of how and why they evolved, what the current EU scheme is based on, and what the major wine nations’ systems are structured (and how they differ from what the EU would like them to look like!).
I discuss:
- How Euro...
Château Talbot is a 4th Grand Cru Classé of Saint-Julien in the Médoc of Left Bank of Bordeaux. It’s an historic and large property – its vineyards extend over 110 hectares/272 acres in a single block. The story of Talbot is a long and interesting one, but the chapter being written by the current family and management of the Château may be the best yet. With extreme dedication to quality, an eye towards th...
Alto Adige, in the far northeast of Italy, is a small wine region that makes incredibly high quality reds and whites. In this episode I discuss the unique terroir, grapes, and mixed culture of this region, with its heavy Germanic and Austrian influences.
I cover:
- The long history of Alto Adige wine
- The varied soil types and geology
- The range of climates and growing conditions
- The unique grapes (including Kerner, Schiava an...
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