Que Sera Syrah

DISCUSSIONS DU JOUR:

CAMPANIA -- THE PENULTIMATE ITALY EPISODE -- WOW

We are in the shin of Italy. Yes, the shin!

A varied landscape, from the foothills of volcanic Mt. Vesuvius to the valleys and the coastal plains… its another one of those regions with… variety…!

You ever heard of Pompei?! That's here too!

And the wines we're drinking are deeply interconnected with the history of Pompei.

It's pretty cool actually.

E...

DISCUSSIONS DU JOUR:

Working our way through CENTRAL ITALY this week, we are hitting FOUR REGIONS:

1. Umbria
2. Lazio
3. Marche
4. Abruzzo

Four regions all cuddled together in the middle there right by Tuscany, but all offering their own lovely things!

This is one of those obscure areas that we like the best! The areas that tend to have more natural wines, and where we tend to be pleasantly surprised :)

We are EXCITED about Italian wi...

DISCUSSIONS DU JOUR:

Continuing our tour of CENTRAL ITALY, we now arrive in TUSCANY (Toscana) - right near the very lovely FLORENCE.

It’s the best, because it's good.

Known for Sangiovese with high acid and high tannin and some good wild Italian crunch.

Mostly red wines, but they got some white here too and we're gonna try one of em!

In therapy, we talk about BEING SEEN… seen in our efforts, seen for who we are… its hard...

Discussions du Jour:

WELCOME TO EMILIA-ROMAGNA! HOME OF PROSCUITTO AND PARMIGIANO!

It's another one of those two-regions-in-one kind of place (Emilia and… Romagna)

It's also the home of… WINE!... or some wine at least… most notably LAMBRUSCO!

Known for bulk, mass-produced Lambrusco

Particularly in Emilia

Ranging from dry to sweet

We also talk a little about complexity in wine and what that means to us and please do share wh...

DISCUSSIONS DU JOUR:

Welcome to PIEDMONT or PIEMONTE ("pee-a-mont-ay") if you want to sound like an expert (Dan sure does!!!).

Piedmont literally translates to "foothills," and we talk about some of the effects of mountains on wine growing.

Known for its super light red but super punchy, high-tannin wines made from the Nebbiolo grape… If you know Barbaresco and Barolo then you know Piedmont!

But they also have...

DISCUSSIONS DU JOUR:

Today we are popping back up North a touch to TRENTINO-ALTO ADIGE

It is ONE REGION but also kind of two places… Why? Just to be confusing!

We talk about the differences between Alto Adige, in the Northerly part of the region, and Trentino, in the Southerly part of the region, and try FOUR WINES that span grape varieties and styles.

In THERAPY we are just trying to get some PERSPECTIVE HERE!!!

Talking about the ...

DISCUSSIONS DU JOUR:

Today we are exploring VENETO! Which is the area around VENICE… Yes, very romantique (romantico?) <3

This is one of Italy's largest growing regions(in terms of volume of production), and with that scale comes a large range of style and quality. We explore some of those here today!

From Prosecco, to crisp white, to some deep and intense Valpolicella and Amarone… we got it all folks! Except Pinot Grigio… no Pi...

DISCUSSIONS DU JOUR:

WELCOME TO ITALIA!

We touch on classification system in Italy (table wine… IGT… DOC… DOCG…) and then DIVE RIGHT INTO FRIULI!! Home of Pinot Gris and RAMATO style wines!

We like this region because the wines are more crisp & lean and that is our vibe when it comes to white wines. Winemaking tends to be more hands-off to achieve this, which we also like.

Note: that does NOT mean all wines from Friuli are natu...

DISCUSSIONS DU JOUR:

GREEK OR GRECIAN SOMEONE SETTLE IT

Either way, it is…

• One of the oldesttraditions of winemaking
• Very hot
• Very dry
• Mostly native grapes

Today we are trying… ASSYRTIKO, XINOMAVRO, & RETSINA (not a grape, a style)

We talk about "mousiness" in wine and what that means (but don't take this is as a thing to associate with Greek wine. Its really not!)

We also talk about the different ways of vin...

DISCUSSIONS DU JOUR:

Welcome to HUNGARY!!! 

The most notable region is Tokaji (toke-eye)*… though there are several other wine-producing regions… which seem to be widely unnoticed… I regret that we also do not take notice of them in this episode. A mistake to not be repeated by our listeners… I hope. 

A KEY aspect of Tokaji are its cool misty mornings which leads to NOBLE ROT (yes, really, rot) growing on the grapes. And that’s wha...

DISCUSSIONS DU JOUR:

Keeping on the varietals train, we are drinking GRUNER VELTLINER*.

*Our friend Ross very astutely pointed out that we never actually stated that Gruner is a WHITE GRAPE VARIETY so just let the record show that please and thanks.

We also talk about varietal typicity (or typicalness ness ness) (no but really its typicity).

And on a personal note… its all about romantic relationships as self-validation AND how/if/whe...

DISCUSSIONS DU JOUR:

This week is AUSTRIA! 

Austria is cool for a lot of reasons. We talk about those reasons in this episode. 

Most importantly (to us) is that they grow a ton of indigenous grape varieties (which is cool for reasons that are elaborated in our discussion). 

We explore some of these varieties as are grown in two key regions: Niederosterreich and Burgenland. 

We try a Gruner and a St. Laurent from these areas. 

Then ...

DISCUSSIONS DU JOUR:

More on GERMANY today! It is NOT RIESLING week!

We talk about three key grapes: Spätburgunder, Dornfelder and Silvaner. But sadly only try the former two because we couldn't find a Silvaner and that is kind of  tragic because that stuff is GOOD. You should try it, really.

We touch on three key regions: Baden, Pfalz, and Franken, where these grapes are commonly grown.

In therapy, we discuss: IS THERAPY...

DISCUSSIONS DU JOUR:

Welcome to GERMANY!

This country will be divided into two sessions: Riesling and… not Riesling :)

This week… RIESLING! Did you know, 40% of the worldsRiesling is grown in Germany?!

We talk about the various classifications systems that make German wine so confusing, and break down the sweetness levels we see on German Riesling bottles.

We explore three regions known for their Riesling production: the slop...

DISCUSSIONS DU JOUR:

Its the LAST WEEK IN FRANCE PEOPLE! Weeeee!

We are all the way DOWN SOUTH (we've actually been down south these last couple of weeks with the Rhone Valley as well… FYI) now in PROVENCE and the LANGUEDOC-ROUSSILLON!

Both areas have similar climate and grow similar grapes, but the wines that come out of them are pretty dramatically different in style… Cool!

On a personal note, we are feeling reflective today...

DISCUSSIONS DU JOUR:

Today we are in the NORTHERN part of the RHONE VALLEY.

We talk about the COTE ROTIE and the Syrah-based wines found there.

We also talk about WHITE BLENDS, namely those made from MARSANNE/ROUSSANNE that are found in the region.

Do we love them? Do we hate them? We hate them.

In the emotional realm today, we talk about Dan's MIDLIFE CRISIS (Dan? In crisis? What a concept!)

And then about Elodie's THREE B...

DISCUSSIONS DU JOUR:

Today we are in the SOUTHERN part of the RHONE VALLEY. The Rhone Valley is BIG and there is almost an hour drive between the North and the Southern Parts. Is it strange to start with the South? Maybe. But it's what we did.

We talk about three key regions…

TAVEL

CHÂTEAUNEUF-DU-PAPE

CÔTES-DU-RHÔNE

In therapy, we talk about STORIES. Specifically, the stories we tell ourselves about who we are, how important t...

DISCUSSIONS DU JOUR:

Welcome to the LOIRE VALLEY (part 2) - The West Side!

This week we are focusing on the OTHER half of the Loire…. That we didn't focus on last week… which includes… NANTAIS and ANJOU-SAUMUR

In Nantais, we try a Muscadet (no that is not the grape) from Sèvre et Maine.

In Anjou, we try a surprising and delicious Grolleau

*We are apparently obsessed with Grolleau bc we won’t shut up about this second wi...