June 14, 2024 • 41 mins
Hi Red Fern Listeners! I was recently lucky enough to be a return guest on The TallMikeWine Podcast and I wanted to share the episode with you. We discuss summer reading and red wine. Mike is a self-professed wine geek who creates fun, relatable conversations around wine. And did I mention that he is a former disc jockey?
Books discussed:
Swan Song by Elin Hilderbrand
Long Island by Colm Toibin
The Women by Kristin Hannah
Wine discussed:
2021 Librandi "Segno" Cirò Rosso Classico
2015 Dovecote Syrah, Thompson Vineyard, Alisos Canyon, Santa Barbara
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Unknown (00:00):
Hello Redfern listeners. It's Amy. I'm back
with a bonus episode with myfriend Tom Mike who has a
podcast by the same name. Andhis podcast specializes in wine.
And of course mine specializesin books. And we met when I was
on vacation a couple of yearsago in Sonoma, where he also
(00:22):
works at a local winery. And wedecided to record an episode
together because we thought thatbooks and wine pair well
together.
And we're back again doing thesame thing. He recently had me
on his podcast and I wanted toshare it with you.
It includes three summer readsthat I'm recommending, and a
(00:45):
couple of wines to pair themwith.
And I learned some newterminology, just like I did
last time, I learned that winecan have a gunpowder finish,
which I didn't know. So you'llhave to listen to find out about
that. AndI found out the wine that I
(01:06):
picked wasn't maybe as good asit could be. But it's
interesting. It's from very, thevery south of Italy from the
heel of the boot. And I learneda little bit more about that
region in terms of winemaking.
So I hope you enjoy this. Andjust wanted to also give you a
little bit a few updates aboutme. I don't know if you hear a
(01:29):
little bit of traffic in thebackground. But I've recently
moved. I've downsized, I'm in anurban setting, and I'm walking
everywhere really have changedup my life. But I'm pretty
excited. So just wanted to letyou know about that. And anyway,
enjoy and I will talk to youlater by
(01:57):
coming up on the Tom Mike winepodcast on the very first page a
man comes to the door and saysYour husband was our plumber.
And now my wife is having hisbaby. The official tasting notes
are iron ore beef blood andgunpowder lava rock powder. Come
on. How does anyone even knowwhat that tastes like? Do you
consider listening reading isjust one of those is a hot dog a
(02:20):
sandwich questions kind of shesaid I haven't read any Emily
St. John Mandel, but she'speripherally friends with her ex
husband. Oh, really?
That's random. That is a smallworld.
Now, online podcastthe cell phones have been
(02:40):
silenced. The wine is poured.
And just like that. The podcastbegins the tall Mike wine
podcast, the wine podcast that'snot all about wine. It's really
about life and all that lifeentails. And wine. I'm your host
(03:01):
Mike stone, a tall guy winefocus for the podcast started in
77 countries on six continentsand in 48 of these United
States, from Sacramento,California to Kent Washington,
from Birmingham, Alabama toNorth Bergen New Jersey,
birthplace of pioneering rapperand actor ice tea. Wherever you
(03:22):
are, I thank you for finding thepodcast. Now. I'd love a little
help from you. Share the podcastwith a friend or two on social
media. I'll assume you'vealready subscribed on your
favorite podcast app. But haveyou given me a rating? Well, I'd
love it if you did. Also, thepodcast goes back over three
years now. And if you're newhere, there may be an episode or
(03:43):
two you'd love. So scroll downand check it out. Another thing
you can actually become asponsor of this podcast, helping
with day to day expenses. Lookin the show notes and click
support the show or go to TomMike wine.com. And do it there.
Three bucks. Seems like abargain. Right. Are you ready
(04:04):
for episode 53? Jared comes frommy studio in Novato, California.
My home studio, the studio in myhome, a condo amid a plethora of
condos. And no the neighborsdon't know anything about what
I'm up to. Is that weird? We'rezooming with my guest who's in
(04:25):
Vancouver, BC. Yeah, she'sCanadian. And we're welcoming
her back for her second visit tothe show. She hosts a podcast
about books. And we're gonnatalk about books and wine. In
fact, we met two years ago atNicholson ranch in Sonoma, where
I work and practice my winestorytelling in real life. So
she's a wine lover. Here she ishost of the Red Fern book review
(04:49):
podcast. Amy Mair. Welcome back,Amy. Hi, Mike. It's good to be
here and good to see you again.
It's good to see you. It's goodto be seen on the zoo.
Oh, well, we were justdiscussing, I look a little
fuzzy and you have a brand newlaptop and you look like you're
in high definition. So yes, thisis a brand new laptop, and I
(05:09):
think it is. It's like a Supercamera. Because if I get really
close to it, you can see thepores of the skin.
So I won't do that. Okay. Doyour neighbors know you have a
podcast? Well, some do. But Ithought that was interesting.
You asked that. It got methinking because there are some
pictures of me floating aroundon the internet with a headset
(05:30):
on but I thought they mightthink I worked for a call
center. Air traffic control?
Yeah, oh, maybe I should clarifythat. I don't when I take out
the garbage. I don't, you know,maybe I should let people know.
I try to mentioned my podcaststo every visitor I encounter at
the winery because I'm at thewinery. So it's in context, Oh,
this guy that works at thewinery, has a podcast, hopefully
(05:51):
converting these people tolisteners. And they asked me all
sorts of things about thepodcast, like how long I've been
doing it? What's it about? Do Ihave guests where I record it is
a common question, at least overhalf the time I recorded at the
winery site. And I point out thevendors room, which is an area
in the winery. And thatexplained that if I have a
remote guest, I do zoom callsfrom my dining room table, which
(06:13):
is where I am right now. Andthis week, someone asked if my
neighbors knew about thepodcast. And I'm like,
honestly, they really don't andI'm outside all the time I walk
easy the dog three times a day,I take out the trash, I take out
the compost, I take out therecycling, I go back and forth
from the car to go groceryshopping. And I see my neighbors
(06:35):
regularly. And I know some oftheir names. But they do not
know about the podcast. I guessit might be cool. If I told them
they might listen. Or would itbe kind of weird? It could be
kind of weird. I think it's allin context. But I think you're a
people person. So you probablyyou can pull it off. I guess you
need some type of segue. I thinkI'm not really sure what that
(06:56):
would be. But yeah, I mean, oneof my neighbors John upstairs.
He has a dog Bessie. Bessie andmy dog is he get along really?
Well. He knows I work at awinery in John works at a golf
course. But that's all. That'sall I know about him. That's all
he knows about. Sometimes thatmakes for good neighbors,
though. Totally.
Let's get to the books now.
Okay, a books episode on a winepodcast not as odd of a concept
(07:19):
as one might think you said tome last time you were here. When
you and your book club gettogether. The main thing isn't
necessarily the book. But thewine and the social aspect, the
cheese, that charcuterie andjust getting together and
chatting Do you still meet withthe book club? We do we meet all
the time. And it is it's thesame as it was before. It can be
(07:40):
hard for us to finish the book.
But we still we've kind of madea rule we still show up anyway.
And sometimes we do other thingseven then we might go to a movie
or do something else. And then Ithink it's funny. I think one of
the reasons people join a bookclub is there many reasons, but
(08:00):
one of them is to get hear aboutnew books and get new ideas. But
at the end of the day, we oftenkind of want to read what we
want to read. And sometimes whenpeople pick stuff, I'm like,
actually, I don't really likethat book, I'd rather just read
what I always read. But that'snot really why we're there. But
it's funny because one of thebooks we're going to talk about
today, I'm still gonna recommendit. But my book club did not
(08:20):
like it. We barely spoke aboutit. But we had a great night,
drink wine and hung out. Thegroup is really important to us.
It's important to me, but Imean, it's really not. That's
not why I'm in it. Even though Ilove reading. It's about
community, like wine books arethings people enjoy in their
spare time to relax and escapefrom everyday life. Right.
Summer is coming up. This is theseason, a lot of people are
(08:41):
shopping for a good read. And hehas some suggestions. We're also
going to talk about the wineswe're sipping. She's sipping
wine there, I'm sipping winehere. And as we mentioned last
time, talking about wine talkingabout books has a few parallels,
because they're both very, very,very personal and subjective.
You can get a whole roomful ofpeople reading the same book,
(09:02):
they're all going to have vastlydifferent opinions. Same thing
with one, right? It's true. It'svery true. What is the first
book you have for us? The firstbook I'm going to talk about is
actually where I got the winefrom, because I picked a wine
that sort of is featured in thebook. But it's called Long
Island by calm, Toibin. Now he'sIrish, and I'm not even sure if
(09:26):
I pronounced his name, right,but you won't know. So that's
the reason why I picked it. Andoften, you know, people like
what they know his. He's a wellknown literary novelist, but he
wrote a book called Brooklynthat people loved. And if you
haven't read the book, you mighthave seen the movie. You've seen
(09:46):
the movie. The movie is one ofmy favorite romance movies. It's
two years ago, right? Yeah. Andit was in Brooklyn, like back in
the day old timey. That's right.
Yeah. And so this is the sequelto that. Oh,
Oh, it's called Long Island,because that's where the couple
in the book ends up moving toLong Island. So I'm going to
(10:07):
just give a little brief summaryof the last book. So you
understand, basically, it'sabout an Irish immigrants alias.
It's a woman and she moves fromIreland to New York in the
1950s, and goes through allthese dramatic changes on her
own, lives it a woman's boardinghouse works at a at a department
store, and she falls in lovewith this very charismatic
(10:29):
Italian plumber named Tony, shesecretly marries him. And then
she, for a variety of reasons,goes back to Ireland doesn't
tell anybody and falls in lovewith somebody else. So it's very
romantic. Ends up long storyshort back in New York picks the
American. So the sequel isreally it's a interesting
(10:50):
concept. It's 20 years later,she's now in her 40s, living in
Long Island, surrounded by Tonyand his loud, boisterous Italian
family on Long Island, bigItalian family. Yeah. And she's
kind of isolated. And on thevery first page, a man comes to
the door and says, Your husbandwas our plumber. And he's now my
(11:12):
wife is having his baby that wason like the second sentence. And
so what the book is about eachone, what the book is about is
what she decides to do anddoesn't decide to do with that
information. And one of thethings that she does decide to
do is go back and visit Ireland,and you can guess who she's
going to meet up with. That'sall I'll say. So it's okay. It's
(11:34):
quite lovely. It's very wellwritten. It's nuanced, kind of
quiet. I think it would appealto lots of different types of
readers. And I would recommendif you haven't read Brooklyn,
Brooklyn's a bit of a biggerbook, but I would, if you don't
feel like reading it, just watchthe movie, and then read the
book. It's a good read. So nowthat segues nicely into and how,
(11:57):
what is it? You're glad? Oh,yeah. Okay. So what is the
connection here explaining thatconnection is every Sunday alias
is expected to go to a bigfamily lunch at one o'clock.
Grandmother's and it goes allafternoon and they have Italian
food, they have pasta, they havelamb, and they have wine. So I
(12:20):
went to my local wine store andI said, I'm serving pasta and
lamb and I'm having Italianfood, what would you recommend?
And I would like something fromSouthern Italy because the
family is from there. Okay, andso then they came up, she came
up with this wine called Lovebrandy LeBron, do you know, do
(12:41):
you know how to pronounce thatChiro doc. Shiro is the region
TOC means it's a classifiedregion. Okay. And the DRC is
just what they would say this isa DRC.
In a little while we're going totalk about in a VA. In this
country, the wine that I amdrinking is from a new Aava
which is an Americanviticultural area. D OC means it
(13:02):
qualifies for one of the Italianwine classifications, which is a
D OC. So it was a kind of like,I mean, everyone's kind of
familiar with Qian tea, and Iknow they have they have some
designations, there's like that,like, it's like that certain
things have to be done. Exactly.
Okay, got it. Exactly. So Chirois the region, you can just say
that very simply, it's verysimple. Chiro is the region. And
it's down there in the verysouthern end of Italy, which is
(13:26):
in Calabria. And I have apicture of the map of Italy
here, and it's down here, inwhat would be basically the ball
of the foot of Italy the boot.
Okay, can you see that? Yeah, mynew camera. Yeah, I can see it.
So then that's the right. That'swhere they're from. Okay. I just
said, what would you recommend?
And they recommended this nowwhat you sent me a picture of
(13:48):
it, and I said, Oh, I've neverheard of this wine. Let me do a
little research. And I love itbecause a few things. First of
all, most people in the UnitedStates that drink wine, even if
they drink a lot of Italian winethat drinking mostly wine from
northern Italy. That's whereTuscany is, right? That's where
Kiante is. This is way downsouth, y'all. We don't know a
(14:08):
lot about these wines. This isChiro I'd never heard of that
before. The wine is made from agrape I've never heard before
the grape is called Ganga, yo,Bo, gangly. Oh, that again,
ball. Okay, apparently, whenthere's two T's at the end of
the word, you're supposed topause a little bit, you say
giggly ball, okay. It's also ared wine that doesn't get this
(14:32):
particular one anyway, that isnot aged in oak barrels. It goes
into stainless steel forfermentation and gets locked
into a stainless steel tank andages a little while and then
gets bottled without any oakaging, which kind of freaks me
out because I've tasted a lot ofred wine right out of the
fermentation tank. And it's hardto drink. So tell me what you
(14:53):
think of it. Well, the firstthing I wanted to comment on is
the color. I think the color isreally pretty
Ready? It's almost got pickinsound can't really see from
here. See, it's a bit.
It's a bit lighter and almosthas a orangey hue. Oh, and it
seems almost like a garnet. Likewhen I first took a sip of it.
(15:16):
I'll be honest, I didn't loveit. But then I took another
couple of sips sounds like it'snot bad. It does taste
different. I think I'm gonna useI think it tastes kind of earthy
to me. Okay, that's about allthat I can say it's different
tasting. I mean, I prefer Kiantefor sure. I think the one thing
about this one that reallystruck me reading the the
(15:37):
technical information was thatit doesn't go into barrel. So
this is going to be reallyinteresting because you're
getting it because pretty muchall red wine goes into a French
oak or an oak barrel of sometype, mostly French American
Hungarian, and that mellows thewine out the flavors integrate a
lot more it smooths it out. Isit pretty in your face as far as
(15:58):
the flavors go? Yeah, yeah. Ikind of look on your face right
there was we know what it sortof tasted like is communion.
communion wine, like cheap wine?
Like a little bit? Yeah. Let meread the official tasting notes
from the Lebron D website. Theofficial name of this one is
LeBron D, Sanyo, LeBron DRussell classico 2021. The
(16:19):
tasting notes and like I said,it's made from 100% gag Leo
ball, which is a nativeindigenous grape to the very
southern end of Italy tastingnotes. Don't let the pale color
fool you. This is a substantialline. Aromas of red fruits and
spice, complement undertones ofcranberries, wild berries and
(16:40):
plums. On the palate, ripetannins and substantial body
make for an incredibly rich yeteasy going red wine. What do you
think? Wow. It's always fun toread those tastings a spin on
it. I mean, it's good. It's themarketing department, you know,
you know, I don't actually thinkit's bad. I think part of it I
(17:00):
have to get used to. It'sdifferent. But I don't think
it's great either. It says pairthis wine with sausage, spicy
curry sauces, hot soppressataand tandoori chicken. I think
the thinking here is that it'svery fruit based. And fruity.
Your wines tend to go with spicehere. I don't feel it's that.
When you say fruity that alsomeans sweet wine. Is that
(17:23):
because it doesn't taste sweetto me? Oh, you're your brain
kind of does that math. It saysoh, this is fruity. It's sweet.
But there's there's no sugarleft. I mean, looking at the
technical data here. There's nookay. Yeah, residual sugar,
sweet wine. But it's veryfruity. And that's mainly
because again, it didn't aged inoak barrel. And sounds like
you're an oak barrel fan. Like Isaid, being a guy who's been
(17:44):
drinking wine seriously andstudying it for almost 30 years.
And my experience with red wineis that they go into barrel.
There's no question. It goesinto a barrel for a while. There
are very few red wines madedon't go into a barrel. So when
I saw this was like, aging,stainless steel tank, that was
all set. That's like bindingmore. Okay, because I've tasted
(18:06):
like I said, I've tasted redwine out of the fermentation
tank. And it smacks you in theface. And it's almost impossible
to sip. You can taste it just tosee what it tastes like. But you
wouldn't want to click a wholeglass of it. Maybe a nice
adjective or rustic kind of sayrustic wine. Rustic is a great
word. And it is one of thosewords you can use if you don't
(18:29):
want to hurt somebody'sfeelings.
It's very rustic.
What are you drinking? What'shappening?
All right, okay, that that'slater. All right, let's spread
it out. I like to spread it out.
He's jumping the gun there viewboth wines at the beginning then
people like Oh, right. Theytalked about the wine. Let's get
(18:49):
out of here. Okay. Okay. What Ido want to ask you is if you
have any of the official Tom,like one podcast coasters, I
know like, probably give you acoaster when we met two years
ago. But you probably don't haveany more. You know what's funny?
I just found it two days ago,because I'm actually packing up
and I'm moving. And you foundthe coaster? I did. And it's
(19:09):
clever. So he has this like,it's thick. And it's basically
like a business car. But insteadit's a coaster. Yeah. And I
think you have it. It's yourface. Yeah. But isn't it also
looks like there's like a winestain on it. Is that a wine
stain on the back of thecoaster? My friend Amanda. Yeah.
Design The back of the coaster.
(19:30):
She's one of those geniuspeople. And the picture of me is
of me putting my nose in glasswith my eyes. Yeah. It's clever.
It's like it. I like it. Irecently sent a stack out to a
fellow Vancouver, right,Michelle, who lives in Renfrew
heights. Do you know thatneighborhood? I do know where
that is. Yeah. Her address onthe envelope you want to look
at?
See? You know where that is.
He's about 15 minutes away fromme. Well, Michelle, you're gonna
(19:54):
get a stack of coasters. Shesent me an email said Hey,
thanks for the pot.
cuz I think it's great. I'm uphere in Vancouver. Appreciate a
stack of coasters. I'm like,I'll get them out to you and
Michelle, and thanks for tuningin to the podcast. And of
course, I'll send you a stack.
If you email me at Tom, Mikewine@gmail.com. What is the next
book on your list? So the nextbook is the women by Kristin
(20:18):
Hannah. My book club read this.
So this is a big crowd pleasertype of book. Kristin Hannah
Hill is one of the biggestnovelists right now. And she
typically writes large bookslike thick books, thick book,
500 pages can be but averagesized book is like 300 is kind
(20:43):
of top end. She's more thanthat, usually. But they're easy
to read. And their historicalfiction, we usually with a
strong female protagonist,someone who's kind of maybe
overlooked in history in hermind, her biggest book you may
have heard of is called thenightingale. And it was set in
World War Two. And it involvedthe French Resistance era books
(21:06):
are super well researched,there's always a romance, they
appeal to a broad group ofpeople. And so she's written a
book called The women. And it'sabout women who served in the
Vietnam War. Not everybody knowsthat we kind of made a joke and
this author can be has a flairfor the dramatic, and she kind
(21:28):
of every few chapters brought upthat women were not recognized
in the Vietnam War. And so wekind of thought she may be said
that too often. But Butbasically, but it's true. I
mean, I think of any image I'veever seen or heard or thoughts
about the Vietnam War, it'salways about the men who went
and thought, and many of themdied, which said, and the books,
(21:52):
I mean, it's funny, my book clubkind of trashed it, but I think
we can sometimes be a bit highmaintenance. And I actually
think, if all describe it, and Ithink it might be, it's
definitely worth looking at whatit is, it's told from the story
of a young woman who's 20 namedFrankie McGrath, and she was
raised in an idyllic littleisland called Coronado island
(22:14):
off San Diego. And if you'vebeen there or heard of it, I've
heard of it, for sure. I'veactually recently been there for
a weird reason. It's very cute.
It's like Nantucket, kind of theNantucket of California. And so
what's kind of interesting, whatI like, is when you think of the
late 60s, we think of you know,the Vietnam War and all the
protests, but many parts of thecountry or of the world were
(22:37):
still quite conservative. And soit's that kind of changing of
the guard. And this place,Coronado was quite conservative.
It was, you know, country clubsand dresses and sweater sets and
her brother ships off toVietnam. And so then she decides
to do it. And the way she can doit, is join the Army Nurse
(22:59):
Corps. And when she goes, she'squite innocent, hasn't seen
much. And she gets there andshe's not super well trained.
And she gets thrown into justchaos, as a trauma nurse, and
sees things and also rises tothe occasion. At first, she's
not very good. But then like,you know, sometimes there's no
(23:19):
doctor available. So she'sbasically sort of doing surgery.
She just does what she can. It'sreally interesting to see her
develop the best part of thebook is while she's in Vietnam,
because it's very dramatic andinteresting. She has several
romances, she makes theseamazing friends. Then she
returns home. And that's whereshe's still got this
(23:41):
conservative family. And she isnot not only do people not
appreciate a lot of the Vietnamthat's but she's almost like a
ghost. It's like she wasn'tthere because she's a woman. So
it's a lot about, it puts a lotof the things that we know about
into kind of high relief, youknow, Agent Orange, or like a
protest you've heard of KristenHanna has a great way of sort of
(24:03):
flushing out these events. Andyou learn a lot while she's
creating a compelling story. Andthe first half of the book has
kind of mashed vibes. I knowmash was set in Korea,
technically, but as that kind offeeling, but it is a bit on the
dramatic side. So that's kind ofwhere we, as a book club were
(24:24):
like, oh, no, no, if you'reinterested in those topics, or
you like a lot of people are bigKristin Hannah fans. I think
this will be a big book forsummer, often in summer, people
might pick a longer book thatyou know, they're going away on
vacation and they've got thetime. Yeah, and this was an hour
plane ride or something you wantto kind of fit. Yeah, kind of
fits in there. Okay. Do you havethe book there? I don't because
(24:48):
I listen to it. Oh, you listento it. And so you can send me a
picture of the fare right. Okay.
Yeah, I'm gonna put all thestuff on the Instagram that
covers the books the whyAnd if you're not following him
on Instagram, you're missingout. You can follow me on
Instagram at tal Mike wine. Andnow I'm going to reveal to you
what's in my glass glass thatI've been swirling and sipping
(25:12):
since we started talking andthis wine is this Why is one
really good to making me think alittle differently about my
palate? I think there may be ashift happening. Okay, if you go
through my Instagram and look atall the wines that I drink and
the wines that I talked lovinglyabout, they tend to be if you
(25:33):
want to just lump them all intoone category, big reds,
Cabernets, Marlowe's Bordeauxwines from France, Australian
shreds from the Barossa Valleyall darker colored wines and you
sit them in your mouth and justgo wow as big and it starts to
turn your teeth, blue and black.
And the wines are just big andbold. Okay, and Sara from
(25:56):
California would tend to fitthat description. But I opened a
bottle of this couple of weeksago, this wine that I'm sipping
right now it's from a winerycalled dovecote. That's a D of
E. CO T, and it's a Seraph fromCalifornia. It's from the 2015
Vintage it's from their estatevineyard and I sold it and
scrolled and scrolled and Isnipped it. And I'm like, oh,
(26:17):
that's kind of interesting. Itjust kind of smells like
strawberries, like beautifullyripe strawberries, but it wasn't
what I expected. Now, if youwent back two, three years ago,
I'd be like, Oh, it's one ofthose. It's one of those
lightweight suras because Surahdefinitely is considered to be
one of the biggies the grapeshave darker, thicker skins, and
(26:37):
they produce wines that reallymake a statement. Right? They're
big ones. So I sipped this winea few weeks ago is like an it's
a lighter bodied syrup. But youknow what? I kind of am grooving
on it. In the last few weeks,I've been thinking wow, I think
you know, I think I might be notover. But I might be ready to
move away a little bit from thebig reds, to the Reds that are a
(27:00):
little more subtle, a littlemore nuanced, and not as big
because this is a beautiful andit's very, very floral smells
like roses and strawberries.
It's a pretty dark color, asSyrah is supposed to be. But it
just doesn't wait you downdoesn't grab your tongue and
pull it out of your mouth andthrow it on the ground and stomp
on it. Like a lot of the bigreds do and people that like to
(27:20):
just drink those wines. They'reall about how big is it? Let it
slap me around.
And this, and this is actuallyit would be more akin to saying,
Oh, this is like if you lovePinot Noir, which is a type of
wine that is all about subtletyand elegance and finesse and
artistry, like the ballet. Thiswine is more along the lines of
(27:42):
that. What would you serve itwith? Oh, you could serve it
with a lot of different things.
I'd say I really want somebarbecue with this because it's
very fruit based, but it alsohas a little bit of spice to it.
Yeah, I think I want somebarbecue with this one, maybe
some pulled pork, maybe maybesome ribs and kind of a sweet
tangy sauce. I think that we'llgo with this one really nicely.
The winery is called dovecote,like I said this is their 2015
(28:05):
est syrup. The wine is made fromgrapes grown in a vineyard that
the winery just purchased. Sothis is a fairly new winery. The
family that owns the winery, therolls family. No a rolls is the
winemaker and the owner and heestablished a winery and
purchased this vineyard calledthe Thompson vineyard. And now
(28:25):
dovecote has that as theirestate vineyard 2015 It sits in
barrel for two years 33% brandnew French oak barrel so all the
wine goes into barrel for twoyears, and it's quite nice. The
official tasting notes on thetech sheet are iron ore beef
blood, gunpowder lava rock, areyou getting all these? Non
(28:48):
powder? Gunpowder Come on. Howdoes anyone even know what that
tastes like? Cheese meat, stewedplums, pipe tobacco. Anis
I don't know if I get all thosethings but gunpowder is a thing
you get from the reaction of thewine when hits that oak barrel
that's been toasted on theinside of the barrel. You get a
(29:09):
little smoky smell. I don't knowabout with wine but I do love
that smell like I love candlesand I love candles that have
smoky wood. woodsy scents arewhen you light the candle with a
real match and the bowl thematch out and you get that
smell. Oh yeah, that's that's anice smell. It's true. I will
put the official name of thiswine in the show notes. You can
(29:31):
look it up 2015 dovecote stateSarah Thompson vineyard
delicious. It's funny, I wentback and listened to last year's
visit. And I had read station 11by Emily St. John Mandel. That's
right. And currently on mynightstand is her big book, Sea
of Tranquility. And that'sanother thing that's happening
(29:51):
to me. I'm backing away from thebig reds. I'm also having a hard
time reading books. So manydistractions in the world. Mm.
So I bought Sea of Tranquilitymonths ago and I started it. And
then I dropped it for a whilejust because I can't get into
that right now. Still sittingthere, and I'm hoping I'm going
to be on a plane in a few weeksto a faraway land. And I'm
(30:13):
hoping at that moment, I pick upsea of tranquility and power
through because I really want toread it. I like the writing of
Emily St. John Mandel. Do youstill mainly read actual books?
Or are you into mixing up withaudio books or ebooks? Well,
before I answer that, I want toask you a question. Do you
consider listening reading?
Well, no, I don't I don'tconsider reading. I consider
(30:34):
listening. It's still ingestingthe book. And I guess you could
say I read this book, it took mea while I have a really good
friend that she only listens. Ido consider reading. But I have
some further opinions on that.
But it's just one of those is ahot dog a sandwich questions.
Kind of? I do consider itreading. So further to your
(30:55):
point. Yes, right now. So I'm,I'm going through a divorce, I'm
moving. I'm kind of gone back toschool, I'm doing a bunch of
things, and I'm quitedistracted. And so I have been
listening to audiobooks way morethan I have been reading a
physical book, and I sort offelt bad about it, actually. But
(31:17):
then I just sort of said, Youknow what, whatever. And I think
however you do it, I mean, Ihave opinions on it. Like I
think the audiobooks are greatfor kind of crowd pleaser, books
or thrillers. If something'squite literary, like the sea of
tranquillity, I probably wouldprefer reading it. The other big
thing about the audiobooks is itcan be you have to train
(31:38):
yourself because if you firststart lifting, listening to
audiobooks, you usually don'tretain things at the same level.
And there's many reasons forthat. It's partly because it's
auditory. But also, when you'relistening to an audiobook,
you're almost always doingsomething else. So you're
driving, you're folding laundryor cooking. Or I was gonna say,
(31:59):
when I listen to podcasts, andit's a lot like listening to an
audio book, I'm driving, andI'll get distracted. I'll be
like, Oh, look at those carsover there. I wonder what this
council what is that over there?
I never thought about what'sover there. What's down that
road? I wonder what's down thatroad? And then two, three
minutes go by and I I get backto the podcasts. I'm like, Oh,
what did I miss? They weretalking about something here. I
gotta, I gotta click Back, back,back back back to come back. So
(32:20):
yeah, yeah, distracted readingan audiobook, you can get
distracted. I do think they'rereally excellent with memoirs. I
think that I prefer them thatway. But yes, I am. I'm actually
listening currently more thanI'm reading. Let's say that
listening is reading. Okay.
(32:42):
I'm going to proclaim it. Butyou know, because it sounds like
if you say, Do you Would youconsider listening to the book,
reading it? And it sounds likeyou're saying, is it not as good
to listen to it? Is itconsidered lesser, it's still
no, you still get the story. Youstill get the story. I listened
to the women. And I read LongIsland's. The key about the
(33:05):
other thing about listening, yougotta like the narrator, because
you're spending a lot of timewith them. Right? And if you
don't, you probably shouldn't doit. And the narrator of the
women because she's such a bigauthor. In the niche. It's super
niche. But in the audiobookworld, there's a couple of rock
stars and one of them is namedher name is Julia Whelan. She
(33:27):
narrates this book. She's avoice. She's like one of the
people. It's a skill. You know,it's an acting skill voice
acting. You can be somebody whovoices, you know, animation
shorts or video games, butaudiobooks. Same thing? Yeah.
It's intense. My pal Laura, wholives in Warren, Michigan. She
(33:47):
lives here in the Bay Area. Wewere pals a million years ago,
we still keep in touch. Sherecently sold me she's been
listening to a lot ofaudiobooks. And there's a book
app from the library calledLibby. Yeah, which gives you
access to ebooks, audio booksand magazines for it says on the
website for the reasonable priceof a free, yes. And we were
texting a while back. And thisis going to come around now.
(34:10):
We're going to loop it backaround and she asked for a
recommendation and I recommendedEmily St. John Mandel. Okay, now
this is my friend Laura, who'sin Warren, Michigan, which is a
suburb of Detroit, Michigan,which is right up next to
Toronto. And yes, she said, Ihaven't read any Emily St. John
Mandel, but she's peripherallyfriends with her ex husband. Oh,
(34:33):
really? Yeah. That's random.
That is a small world.
I want to know more about that.
Well, maybe we need to get Lauraon the podcast to talk about it.
She's Canadian. She's based inToronto, which is right next to
Detroit. Well, she's a fabulous,fabulous talent. Her books are
great. And she doesn't want to.
(34:56):
She does a little sci fi whichis not my jam and she doesn't
Well, noShe makes it accessible because
it's not my jam either, althoughshe mixed it in with dystopia,
which is my jam. Okay.
All right, we have time for onemore book. Are you ready? Yes.
So I'm going to do a littlepreview about a book that is
(35:16):
going to be in a lot of people'sbeach beds the summer. It is
called swan song. And it's byEllen Hildebrand, who is
probably the number one authorof beach reads around.
Interestingly, she's been doingthis for a long time, a couple
decades. And this book, it'scalled swan song, and it's a
(35:38):
double entendre. And it's herlast book in this mini book
series, and she's going to takea little break, cuz I think
she's gonna read a couple bookswith her daughter and then just
kind of do some other things.
But basically what she does, allof her books are essentially the
same. They are set on Nantucket,they're all love letter to
Nantucket, this author spent allher summers there. So it's got,
(35:58):
you know, the see beautifulpeople. It's going to be geared
men like it, but it's really awoman's book, and it's women's
friendship, it's romance. It'sgreat musical references, people
watching clothing, but whatmakes her sets her apart from
everybody else, is that sheactually went to the Iowa
(36:21):
writers workshop, which is likegoing to Harvard. So she while
she's in this beach read genre,she does it very well. So
there's a great plot and thecharacters are well developed,
and it's just a lot of fun. I'veonly read one of her books, and
it was her last one called FiveStar Weekend. And I can't wait
for this one and it comes outJune 11. It's just fun and the
(36:43):
little preview that I have itsays swan song swansong is a
propulsive medley of glitteringgathering sense of drama, wisdom
and heart. And it's a mystery.
That sounds like when you wouldsay something like iron ore beef
blood, gunpowder, lava rock,cured meat stewed plums, pipe
(37:04):
tobacco anus. Yeah. It's atasting note from the book comes
out June 11. But you've alreadyread it. No, I haven't read it.
Oh, but I'm previewing it. And Ijust think people are gonna want
to know about it if they don't.
And if you want a beachy book,the way I pick my books, I tend
to alternate and I tend to dolike an intense, difficult read.
(37:25):
And then I want to have fun.
Like, I think it's just a greatfun book with character
development, which some some ofthese books, it stays with you
about. Sometimes they're paperthin. Yeah, so real people. And
that's what I like about books.
I like books that have characterdevelopment, and plot and
dialogue. Yeah, I don't needsmash them up. And crazy, you
(37:47):
know, I action. Well, thank youfor the recommendations. Again,
this is Amy. And she hosts theRed Fern book review podcast.
And you can find it wherever youfind podcasts. Do you listen to
other book podcasts? Can yourecommend one? I do. I mean, the
number of I mean, the best onereally is is a New York Times
Book Review. I really likedthat. Who hosts that? Well, it's
(38:09):
that book editor. And that'schanged. His last name is Cruz I
think. But there's ones that areare lighter, but I do I do like
that one because it's in fact,they just did one. They have all
the best authors on so they justdid an interview with the author
of Long Island. And while I'mworking on getting well known,
(38:30):
I'm probably not going to getthat author on. So it's kind of
fun for me to like, tune in andhear what he has to say. Because
he's very excited to talk to NewYork Times. And I like to
compare, you know, I actuallyhave my own opinion on this
book. And then I was fun to hearkind of his motivation. And one
of the things he said when Ilistened to this recent
(38:53):
podcasts, he said the wholepremise of Brooklyn came from he
overheard a story like in hisvillage where it was from that
this actually happens, someversion of that it's kind of fun
to hear the little, where thingscome from and what inspires
somebody to read a whole book.
(39:13):
You just heard a story. Like oh,yeah, I just heard a little,
little story and thought thatwas kind of stayed with them a
little snippet of conversation.
And you just extrapolate Iguess, then you turn it into a
book. Okay, there you go. That'show to write a best selling
novel.
I hope you have a lovely summer.
I hope that you sell your houseso things calm down in your
world. Thank you. Thank you forhanging out with me. What are
(39:36):
you up to this summer? What areyou going to do? I'm going to
Holland. You are What do youare? I'm going to ride bikes in
Holland. I'm going to Amsterdam.
A couple days in Amsterdam gonnamake a trip to Brussels to eat
some brussels sprouts. Brusselssprouts. I would I want to know
where brussels sprouts are fromI'm surely not from Brussels,
(39:57):
Belgium.
The saw Mike wind podcast wasconceived and is produced,
engineered, edited andmaintained by yours truly, to
see behind the scenes, all thewines I drink and food I cook,
and all of the kitty cat who'slaying on the floor right down
there in your kitty bed.
Follow me on Instagram at tallMike wine for feedback,
(40:21):
questions, suggestions just tosay hi and get your very own set
of digital coasters. Email me atTom Mike wine@gmail.com. Do you
have a spare three, five or 10bucks a month to contribute to
the care and feeding of thepodcast? Click on the link to
support in the show notes. Or goto Tom like wine.com I'd
(40:42):
appreciate it. Thanks to Amy andVancouver for hanging out her
podcast again the Red Fern bookreview podcast and worth your
time. Until next time, I'm Mikestone, aka tall Mike one wine
keep swirling. Keep sniffing.
keep sipping cheers
Hello Redfern listeners. It's Amy. I'm back
with a bonus episode with myfriend Tom Mike who has a
podcast by the same name. Andhis podcast specializes in wine.
And of course mine specializesin books. And we met when I was
on vacation a couple of yearsago in Sonoma, where he also
(00:22):
works at a local winery. And wedecided to record an episode
together because we thought thatbooks and wine pair well
together.
And we're back again doing thesame thing. He recently had me
on his podcast and I wanted toshare it with you.
It includes three summer readsthat I'm recommending, and a
(00:45):
couple of wines to pair themwith.
And I learned some newterminology, just like I did
last time, I learned that winecan have a gunpowder finish,
which I didn't know. So you'llhave to listen to find out about
that. AndI found out the wine that I
(01:06):
picked wasn't maybe as good asit could be. But it's
interesting. It's from very, thevery south of Italy from the
heel of the boot. And I learneda little bit more about that
region in terms of winemaking.
So I hope you enjoy this. Andjust wanted to also give you a
little bit a few updates aboutme. I don't know if you hear a
(01:29):
little bit of traffic in thebackground. But I've recently
moved. I've downsized, I'm in anurban setting, and I'm walking
everywhere really have changedup my life. But I'm pretty
excited. So just wanted to letyou know about that. And anyway,
enjoy and I will talk to youlater by
(01:57):
coming up on the Tom Mike winepodcast on the very first page a
man comes to the door and saysYour husband was our plumber.
And now my wife is having hisbaby. The official tasting notes
are iron ore beef blood andgunpowder lava rock powder. Come
on. How does anyone even knowwhat that tastes like? Do you
consider listening reading isjust one of those is a hot dog a
(02:20):
sandwich questions kind of shesaid I haven't read any Emily
St. John Mandel, but she'speripherally friends with her ex
husband. Oh, really?
That's random. That is a smallworld.
Now, online podcastthe cell phones have been
(02:40):
silenced. The wine is poured.
And just like that. The podcastbegins the tall Mike wine
podcast, the wine podcast that'snot all about wine. It's really
about life and all that lifeentails. And wine. I'm your host
(03:01):
Mike stone, a tall guy winefocus for the podcast started in
77 countries on six continentsand in 48 of these United
States, from Sacramento,California to Kent Washington,
from Birmingham, Alabama toNorth Bergen New Jersey,
birthplace of pioneering rapperand actor ice tea. Wherever you
(03:22):
are, I thank you for finding thepodcast. Now. I'd love a little
help from you. Share the podcastwith a friend or two on social
media. I'll assume you'vealready subscribed on your
favorite podcast app. But haveyou given me a rating? Well, I'd
love it if you did. Also, thepodcast goes back over three
years now. And if you're newhere, there may be an episode or
(03:43):
two you'd love. So scroll downand check it out. Another thing
you can actually become asponsor of this podcast, helping
with day to day expenses. Lookin the show notes and click
support the show or go to TomMike wine.com. And do it there.
Three bucks. Seems like abargain. Right. Are you ready
(04:04):
for episode 53? Jared comes frommy studio in Novato, California.
My home studio, the studio in myhome, a condo amid a plethora of
condos. And no the neighborsdon't know anything about what
I'm up to. Is that weird? We'rezooming with my guest who's in
(04:25):
Vancouver, BC. Yeah, she'sCanadian. And we're welcoming
her back for her second visit tothe show. She hosts a podcast
about books. And we're gonnatalk about books and wine. In
fact, we met two years ago atNicholson ranch in Sonoma, where
I work and practice my winestorytelling in real life. So
she's a wine lover. Here she ishost of the Red Fern book review
(04:49):
podcast. Amy Mair. Welcome back,Amy. Hi, Mike. It's good to be
here and good to see you again.
It's good to see you. It's goodto be seen on the zoo.
Oh, well, we were justdiscussing, I look a little
fuzzy and you have a brand newlaptop and you look like you're
in high definition. So yes, thisis a brand new laptop, and I
(05:09):
think it is. It's like a Supercamera. Because if I get really
close to it, you can see thepores of the skin.
So I won't do that. Okay. Doyour neighbors know you have a
podcast? Well, some do. But Ithought that was interesting.
You asked that. It got methinking because there are some
pictures of me floating aroundon the internet with a headset
(05:30):
on but I thought they mightthink I worked for a call
center. Air traffic control?
Yeah, oh, maybe I should clarifythat. I don't when I take out
the garbage. I don't, you know,maybe I should let people know.
I try to mentioned my podcaststo every visitor I encounter at
the winery because I'm at thewinery. So it's in context, Oh,
this guy that works at thewinery, has a podcast, hopefully
(05:51):
converting these people tolisteners. And they asked me all
sorts of things about thepodcast, like how long I've been
doing it? What's it about? Do Ihave guests where I record it is
a common question, at least overhalf the time I recorded at the
winery site. And I point out thevendors room, which is an area
in the winery. And thatexplained that if I have a
remote guest, I do zoom callsfrom my dining room table, which
(06:13):
is where I am right now. Andthis week, someone asked if my
neighbors knew about thepodcast. And I'm like,
honestly, they really don't andI'm outside all the time I walk
easy the dog three times a day,I take out the trash, I take out
the compost, I take out therecycling, I go back and forth
from the car to go groceryshopping. And I see my neighbors
(06:35):
regularly. And I know some oftheir names. But they do not
know about the podcast. I guessit might be cool. If I told them
they might listen. Or would itbe kind of weird? It could be
kind of weird. I think it's allin context. But I think you're a
people person. So you probablyyou can pull it off. I guess you
need some type of segue. I thinkI'm not really sure what that
(06:56):
would be. But yeah, I mean, oneof my neighbors John upstairs.
He has a dog Bessie. Bessie andmy dog is he get along really?
Well. He knows I work at awinery in John works at a golf
course. But that's all. That'sall I know about him. That's all
he knows about. Sometimes thatmakes for good neighbors,
though. Totally.
Let's get to the books now.
Okay, a books episode on a winepodcast not as odd of a concept
(07:19):
as one might think you said tome last time you were here. When
you and your book club gettogether. The main thing isn't
necessarily the book. But thewine and the social aspect, the
cheese, that charcuterie andjust getting together and
chatting Do you still meet withthe book club? We do we meet all
the time. And it is it's thesame as it was before. It can be
(07:40):
hard for us to finish the book.
But we still we've kind of madea rule we still show up anyway.
And sometimes we do other thingseven then we might go to a movie
or do something else. And then Ithink it's funny. I think one of
the reasons people join a bookclub is there many reasons, but
(08:00):
one of them is to get hear aboutnew books and get new ideas. But
at the end of the day, we oftenkind of want to read what we
want to read. And sometimes whenpeople pick stuff, I'm like,
actually, I don't really likethat book, I'd rather just read
what I always read. But that'snot really why we're there. But
it's funny because one of thebooks we're going to talk about
today, I'm still gonna recommendit. But my book club did not
(08:20):
like it. We barely spoke aboutit. But we had a great night,
drink wine and hung out. Thegroup is really important to us.
It's important to me, but Imean, it's really not. That's
not why I'm in it. Even though Ilove reading. It's about
community, like wine books arethings people enjoy in their
spare time to relax and escapefrom everyday life. Right.
Summer is coming up. This is theseason, a lot of people are
(08:41):
shopping for a good read. And hehas some suggestions. We're also
going to talk about the wineswe're sipping. She's sipping
wine there, I'm sipping winehere. And as we mentioned last
time, talking about wine talkingabout books has a few parallels,
because they're both very, very,very personal and subjective.
You can get a whole roomful ofpeople reading the same book,
(09:02):
they're all going to have vastlydifferent opinions. Same thing
with one, right? It's true. It'svery true. What is the first
book you have for us? The firstbook I'm going to talk about is
actually where I got the winefrom, because I picked a wine
that sort of is featured in thebook. But it's called Long
Island by calm, Toibin. Now he'sIrish, and I'm not even sure if
(09:26):
I pronounced his name, right,but you won't know. So that's
the reason why I picked it. Andoften, you know, people like
what they know his. He's a wellknown literary novelist, but he
wrote a book called Brooklynthat people loved. And if you
haven't read the book, you mighthave seen the movie. You've seen
(09:46):
the movie. The movie is one ofmy favorite romance movies. It's
two years ago, right? Yeah. Andit was in Brooklyn, like back in
the day old timey. That's right.
Yeah. And so this is the sequelto that. Oh,
Oh, it's called Long Island,because that's where the couple
in the book ends up moving toLong Island. So I'm going to
(10:07):
just give a little brief summaryof the last book. So you
understand, basically, it'sabout an Irish immigrants alias.
It's a woman and she moves fromIreland to New York in the
1950s, and goes through allthese dramatic changes on her
own, lives it a woman's boardinghouse works at a at a department
store, and she falls in lovewith this very charismatic
(10:29):
Italian plumber named Tony, shesecretly marries him. And then
she, for a variety of reasons,goes back to Ireland doesn't
tell anybody and falls in lovewith somebody else. So it's very
romantic. Ends up long storyshort back in New York picks the
American. So the sequel isreally it's a interesting
(10:50):
concept. It's 20 years later,she's now in her 40s, living in
Long Island, surrounded by Tonyand his loud, boisterous Italian
family on Long Island, bigItalian family. Yeah. And she's
kind of isolated. And on thevery first page, a man comes to
the door and says, Your husbandwas our plumber. And he's now my
(11:12):
wife is having his baby that wason like the second sentence. And
so what the book is about eachone, what the book is about is
what she decides to do anddoesn't decide to do with that
information. And one of thethings that she does decide to
do is go back and visit Ireland,and you can guess who she's
going to meet up with. That'sall I'll say. So it's okay. It's
(11:34):
quite lovely. It's very wellwritten. It's nuanced, kind of
quiet. I think it would appealto lots of different types of
readers. And I would recommendif you haven't read Brooklyn,
Brooklyn's a bit of a biggerbook, but I would, if you don't
feel like reading it, just watchthe movie, and then read the
book. It's a good read. So nowthat segues nicely into and how,
(11:57):
what is it? You're glad? Oh,yeah. Okay. So what is the
connection here explaining thatconnection is every Sunday alias
is expected to go to a bigfamily lunch at one o'clock.
Grandmother's and it goes allafternoon and they have Italian
food, they have pasta, they havelamb, and they have wine. So I
(12:20):
went to my local wine store andI said, I'm serving pasta and
lamb and I'm having Italianfood, what would you recommend?
And I would like something fromSouthern Italy because the
family is from there. Okay, andso then they came up, she came
up with this wine called Lovebrandy LeBron, do you know, do
(12:41):
you know how to pronounce thatChiro doc. Shiro is the region
TOC means it's a classifiedregion. Okay. And the DRC is
just what they would say this isa DRC.
In a little while we're going totalk about in a VA. In this
country, the wine that I amdrinking is from a new Aava
which is an Americanviticultural area. D OC means it
(13:02):
qualifies for one of the Italianwine classifications, which is a
D OC. So it was a kind of like,I mean, everyone's kind of
familiar with Qian tea, and Iknow they have they have some
designations, there's like that,like, it's like that certain
things have to be done. Exactly.
Okay, got it. Exactly. So Chirois the region, you can just say
that very simply, it's verysimple. Chiro is the region. And
it's down there in the verysouthern end of Italy, which is
(13:26):
in Calabria. And I have apicture of the map of Italy
here, and it's down here, inwhat would be basically the ball
of the foot of Italy the boot.
Okay, can you see that? Yeah, mynew camera. Yeah, I can see it.
So then that's the right. That'swhere they're from. Okay. I just
said, what would you recommend?
And they recommended this nowwhat you sent me a picture of
(13:48):
it, and I said, Oh, I've neverheard of this wine. Let me do a
little research. And I love itbecause a few things. First of
all, most people in the UnitedStates that drink wine, even if
they drink a lot of Italian winethat drinking mostly wine from
northern Italy. That's whereTuscany is, right? That's where
Kiante is. This is way downsouth, y'all. We don't know a
(14:08):
lot about these wines. This isChiro I'd never heard of that
before. The wine is made from agrape I've never heard before
the grape is called Ganga, yo,Bo, gangly. Oh, that again,
ball. Okay, apparently, whenthere's two T's at the end of
the word, you're supposed topause a little bit, you say
giggly ball, okay. It's also ared wine that doesn't get this
(14:32):
particular one anyway, that isnot aged in oak barrels. It goes
into stainless steel forfermentation and gets locked
into a stainless steel tank andages a little while and then
gets bottled without any oakaging, which kind of freaks me
out because I've tasted a lot ofred wine right out of the
fermentation tank. And it's hardto drink. So tell me what you
(14:53):
think of it. Well, the firstthing I wanted to comment on is
the color. I think the color isreally pretty
Ready? It's almost got pickinsound can't really see from
here. See, it's a bit.
It's a bit lighter and almosthas a orangey hue. Oh, and it
seems almost like a garnet. Likewhen I first took a sip of it.
(15:16):
I'll be honest, I didn't loveit. But then I took another
couple of sips sounds like it'snot bad. It does taste
different. I think I'm gonna useI think it tastes kind of earthy
to me. Okay, that's about allthat I can say it's different
tasting. I mean, I prefer Kiantefor sure. I think the one thing
about this one that reallystruck me reading the the
(15:37):
technical information was thatit doesn't go into barrel. So
this is going to be reallyinteresting because you're
getting it because pretty muchall red wine goes into a French
oak or an oak barrel of sometype, mostly French American
Hungarian, and that mellows thewine out the flavors integrate a
lot more it smooths it out. Isit pretty in your face as far as
(15:58):
the flavors go? Yeah, yeah. Ikind of look on your face right
there was we know what it sortof tasted like is communion.
communion wine, like cheap wine?
Like a little bit? Yeah. Let meread the official tasting notes
from the Lebron D website. Theofficial name of this one is
LeBron D, Sanyo, LeBron DRussell classico 2021. The
(16:19):
tasting notes and like I said,it's made from 100% gag Leo
ball, which is a nativeindigenous grape to the very
southern end of Italy tastingnotes. Don't let the pale color
fool you. This is a substantialline. Aromas of red fruits and
spice, complement undertones ofcranberries, wild berries and
(16:40):
plums. On the palate, ripetannins and substantial body
make for an incredibly rich yeteasy going red wine. What do you
think? Wow. It's always fun toread those tastings a spin on
it. I mean, it's good. It's themarketing department, you know,
you know, I don't actually thinkit's bad. I think part of it I
(17:00):
have to get used to. It'sdifferent. But I don't think
it's great either. It says pairthis wine with sausage, spicy
curry sauces, hot soppressataand tandoori chicken. I think
the thinking here is that it'svery fruit based. And fruity.
Your wines tend to go with spicehere. I don't feel it's that.
When you say fruity that alsomeans sweet wine. Is that
(17:23):
because it doesn't taste sweetto me? Oh, you're your brain
kind of does that math. It saysoh, this is fruity. It's sweet.
But there's there's no sugarleft. I mean, looking at the
technical data here. There's nookay. Yeah, residual sugar,
sweet wine. But it's veryfruity. And that's mainly
because again, it didn't aged inoak barrel. And sounds like
you're an oak barrel fan. Like Isaid, being a guy who's been
(17:44):
drinking wine seriously andstudying it for almost 30 years.
And my experience with red wineis that they go into barrel.
There's no question. It goesinto a barrel for a while. There
are very few red wines madedon't go into a barrel. So when
I saw this was like, aging,stainless steel tank, that was
all set. That's like bindingmore. Okay, because I've tasted
(18:06):
like I said, I've tasted redwine out of the fermentation
tank. And it smacks you in theface. And it's almost impossible
to sip. You can taste it just tosee what it tastes like. But you
wouldn't want to click a wholeglass of it. Maybe a nice
adjective or rustic kind of sayrustic wine. Rustic is a great
word. And it is one of thosewords you can use if you don't
(18:29):
want to hurt somebody'sfeelings.
It's very rustic.
What are you drinking? What'shappening?
All right, okay, that that'slater. All right, let's spread
it out. I like to spread it out.
He's jumping the gun there viewboth wines at the beginning then
people like Oh, right. Theytalked about the wine. Let's get
(18:49):
out of here. Okay. Okay. What Ido want to ask you is if you
have any of the official Tom,like one podcast coasters, I
know like, probably give you acoaster when we met two years
ago. But you probably don't haveany more. You know what's funny?
I just found it two days ago,because I'm actually packing up
and I'm moving. And you foundthe coaster? I did. And it's
(19:09):
clever. So he has this like,it's thick. And it's basically
like a business car. But insteadit's a coaster. Yeah. And I
think you have it. It's yourface. Yeah. But isn't it also
looks like there's like a winestain on it. Is that a wine
stain on the back of thecoaster? My friend Amanda. Yeah.
Design The back of the coaster.
(19:30):
She's one of those geniuspeople. And the picture of me is
of me putting my nose in glasswith my eyes. Yeah. It's clever.
It's like it. I like it. Irecently sent a stack out to a
fellow Vancouver, right,Michelle, who lives in Renfrew
heights. Do you know thatneighborhood? I do know where
that is. Yeah. Her address onthe envelope you want to look
at?
See? You know where that is.
He's about 15 minutes away fromme. Well, Michelle, you're gonna
(19:54):
get a stack of coasters. Shesent me an email said Hey,
thanks for the pot.
cuz I think it's great. I'm uphere in Vancouver. Appreciate a
stack of coasters. I'm like,I'll get them out to you and
Michelle, and thanks for tuningin to the podcast. And of
course, I'll send you a stack.
If you email me at Tom, Mikewine@gmail.com. What is the next
book on your list? So the nextbook is the women by Kristin
(20:18):
Hannah. My book club read this.
So this is a big crowd pleasertype of book. Kristin Hannah
Hill is one of the biggestnovelists right now. And she
typically writes large bookslike thick books, thick book,
500 pages can be but averagesized book is like 300 is kind
(20:43):
of top end. She's more thanthat, usually. But they're easy
to read. And their historicalfiction, we usually with a
strong female protagonist,someone who's kind of maybe
overlooked in history in hermind, her biggest book you may
have heard of is called thenightingale. And it was set in
World War Two. And it involvedthe French Resistance era books
(21:06):
are super well researched,there's always a romance, they
appeal to a broad group ofpeople. And so she's written a
book called The women. And it'sabout women who served in the
Vietnam War. Not everybody knowsthat we kind of made a joke and
this author can be has a flairfor the dramatic, and she kind
(21:28):
of every few chapters brought upthat women were not recognized
in the Vietnam War. And so wekind of thought she may be said
that too often. But Butbasically, but it's true. I
mean, I think of any image I'veever seen or heard or thoughts
about the Vietnam War, it'salways about the men who went
and thought, and many of themdied, which said, and the books,
(21:52):
I mean, it's funny, my book clubkind of trashed it, but I think
we can sometimes be a bit highmaintenance. And I actually
think, if all describe it, and Ithink it might be, it's
definitely worth looking at whatit is, it's told from the story
of a young woman who's 20 namedFrankie McGrath, and she was
raised in an idyllic littleisland called Coronado island
(22:14):
off San Diego. And if you'vebeen there or heard of it, I've
heard of it, for sure. I'veactually recently been there for
a weird reason. It's very cute.
It's like Nantucket, kind of theNantucket of California. And so
what's kind of interesting, whatI like, is when you think of the
late 60s, we think of you know,the Vietnam War and all the
protests, but many parts of thecountry or of the world were
(22:37):
still quite conservative. And soit's that kind of changing of
the guard. And this place,Coronado was quite conservative.
It was, you know, country clubsand dresses and sweater sets and
her brother ships off toVietnam. And so then she decides
to do it. And the way she can doit, is join the Army Nurse
(22:59):
Corps. And when she goes, she'squite innocent, hasn't seen
much. And she gets there andshe's not super well trained.
And she gets thrown into justchaos, as a trauma nurse, and
sees things and also rises tothe occasion. At first, she's
not very good. But then like,you know, sometimes there's no
(23:19):
doctor available. So she'sbasically sort of doing surgery.
She just does what she can. It'sreally interesting to see her
develop the best part of thebook is while she's in Vietnam,
because it's very dramatic andinteresting. She has several
romances, she makes theseamazing friends. Then she
returns home. And that's whereshe's still got this
(23:41):
conservative family. And she isnot not only do people not
appreciate a lot of the Vietnamthat's but she's almost like a
ghost. It's like she wasn'tthere because she's a woman. So
it's a lot about, it puts a lotof the things that we know about
into kind of high relief, youknow, Agent Orange, or like a
protest you've heard of KristenHanna has a great way of sort of
(24:03):
flushing out these events. Andyou learn a lot while she's
creating a compelling story. Andthe first half of the book has
kind of mashed vibes. I knowmash was set in Korea,
technically, but as that kind offeeling, but it is a bit on the
dramatic side. So that's kind ofwhere we, as a book club were
(24:24):
like, oh, no, no, if you'reinterested in those topics, or
you like a lot of people are bigKristin Hannah fans. I think
this will be a big book forsummer, often in summer, people
might pick a longer book thatyou know, they're going away on
vacation and they've got thetime. Yeah, and this was an hour
plane ride or something you wantto kind of fit. Yeah, kind of
fits in there. Okay. Do you havethe book there? I don't because
(24:48):
I listen to it. Oh, you listento it. And so you can send me a
picture of the fare right. Okay.
Yeah, I'm gonna put all thestuff on the Instagram that
covers the books the whyAnd if you're not following him
on Instagram, you're missingout. You can follow me on
Instagram at tal Mike wine. Andnow I'm going to reveal to you
what's in my glass glass thatI've been swirling and sipping
(25:12):
since we started talking andthis wine is this Why is one
really good to making me think alittle differently about my
palate? I think there may be ashift happening. Okay, if you go
through my Instagram and look atall the wines that I drink and
the wines that I talked lovinglyabout, they tend to be if you
(25:33):
want to just lump them all intoone category, big reds,
Cabernets, Marlowe's Bordeauxwines from France, Australian
shreds from the Barossa Valleyall darker colored wines and you
sit them in your mouth and justgo wow as big and it starts to
turn your teeth, blue and black.
And the wines are just big andbold. Okay, and Sara from
(25:56):
California would tend to fitthat description. But I opened a
bottle of this couple of weeksago, this wine that I'm sipping
right now it's from a winerycalled dovecote. That's a D of
E. CO T, and it's a Seraph fromCalifornia. It's from the 2015
Vintage it's from their estatevineyard and I sold it and
scrolled and scrolled and Isnipped it. And I'm like, oh,
(26:17):
that's kind of interesting. Itjust kind of smells like
strawberries, like beautifullyripe strawberries, but it wasn't
what I expected. Now, if youwent back two, three years ago,
I'd be like, Oh, it's one ofthose. It's one of those
lightweight suras because Surahdefinitely is considered to be
one of the biggies the grapeshave darker, thicker skins, and
(26:37):
they produce wines that reallymake a statement. Right? They're
big ones. So I sipped this winea few weeks ago is like an it's
a lighter bodied syrup. But youknow what? I kind of am grooving
on it. In the last few weeks,I've been thinking wow, I think
you know, I think I might be notover. But I might be ready to
move away a little bit from thebig reds, to the Reds that are a
(27:00):
little more subtle, a littlemore nuanced, and not as big
because this is a beautiful andit's very, very floral smells
like roses and strawberries.
It's a pretty dark color, asSyrah is supposed to be. But it
just doesn't wait you downdoesn't grab your tongue and
pull it out of your mouth andthrow it on the ground and stomp
on it. Like a lot of the bigreds do and people that like to
(27:20):
just drink those wines. They'reall about how big is it? Let it
slap me around.
And this, and this is actuallyit would be more akin to saying,
Oh, this is like if you lovePinot Noir, which is a type of
wine that is all about subtletyand elegance and finesse and
artistry, like the ballet. Thiswine is more along the lines of
(27:42):
that. What would you serve itwith? Oh, you could serve it
with a lot of different things.
I'd say I really want somebarbecue with this because it's
very fruit based, but it alsohas a little bit of spice to it.
Yeah, I think I want somebarbecue with this one, maybe
some pulled pork, maybe maybesome ribs and kind of a sweet
tangy sauce. I think that we'llgo with this one really nicely.
The winery is called dovecote,like I said this is their 2015
(28:05):
est syrup. The wine is made fromgrapes grown in a vineyard that
the winery just purchased. Sothis is a fairly new winery. The
family that owns the winery, therolls family. No a rolls is the
winemaker and the owner and heestablished a winery and
purchased this vineyard calledthe Thompson vineyard. And now
(28:25):
dovecote has that as theirestate vineyard 2015 It sits in
barrel for two years 33% brandnew French oak barrel so all the
wine goes into barrel for twoyears, and it's quite nice. The
official tasting notes on thetech sheet are iron ore beef
blood, gunpowder lava rock, areyou getting all these? Non
(28:48):
powder? Gunpowder Come on. Howdoes anyone even know what that
tastes like? Cheese meat, stewedplums, pipe tobacco. Anis
I don't know if I get all thosethings but gunpowder is a thing
you get from the reaction of thewine when hits that oak barrel
that's been toasted on theinside of the barrel. You get a
(29:09):
little smoky smell. I don't knowabout with wine but I do love
that smell like I love candlesand I love candles that have
smoky wood. woodsy scents arewhen you light the candle with a
real match and the bowl thematch out and you get that
smell. Oh yeah, that's that's anice smell. It's true. I will
put the official name of thiswine in the show notes. You can
(29:31):
look it up 2015 dovecote stateSarah Thompson vineyard
delicious. It's funny, I wentback and listened to last year's
visit. And I had read station 11by Emily St. John Mandel. That's
right. And currently on mynightstand is her big book, Sea
of Tranquility. And that'sanother thing that's happening
(29:51):
to me. I'm backing away from thebig reds. I'm also having a hard
time reading books. So manydistractions in the world. Mm.
So I bought Sea of Tranquilitymonths ago and I started it. And
then I dropped it for a whilejust because I can't get into
that right now. Still sittingthere, and I'm hoping I'm going
to be on a plane in a few weeksto a faraway land. And I'm
(30:13):
hoping at that moment, I pick upsea of tranquility and power
through because I really want toread it. I like the writing of
Emily St. John Mandel. Do youstill mainly read actual books?
Or are you into mixing up withaudio books or ebooks? Well,
before I answer that, I want toask you a question. Do you
consider listening reading?
Well, no, I don't I don'tconsider reading. I consider
(30:34):
listening. It's still ingestingthe book. And I guess you could
say I read this book, it took mea while I have a really good
friend that she only listens. Ido consider reading. But I have
some further opinions on that.
But it's just one of those is ahot dog a sandwich questions.
Kind of? I do consider itreading. So further to your
(30:55):
point. Yes, right now. So I'm,I'm going through a divorce, I'm
moving. I'm kind of gone back toschool, I'm doing a bunch of
things, and I'm quitedistracted. And so I have been
listening to audiobooks way morethan I have been reading a
physical book, and I sort offelt bad about it, actually. But
(31:17):
then I just sort of said, Youknow what, whatever. And I think
however you do it, I mean, Ihave opinions on it. Like I
think the audiobooks are greatfor kind of crowd pleaser, books
or thrillers. If something'squite literary, like the sea of
tranquillity, I probably wouldprefer reading it. The other big
thing about the audiobooks is itcan be you have to train
(31:38):
yourself because if you firststart lifting, listening to
audiobooks, you usually don'tretain things at the same level.
And there's many reasons forthat. It's partly because it's
auditory. But also, when you'relistening to an audiobook,
you're almost always doingsomething else. So you're
driving, you're folding laundryor cooking. Or I was gonna say,
(31:59):
when I listen to podcasts, andit's a lot like listening to an
audio book, I'm driving, andI'll get distracted. I'll be
like, Oh, look at those carsover there. I wonder what this
council what is that over there?
I never thought about what'sover there. What's down that
road? I wonder what's down thatroad? And then two, three
minutes go by and I I get backto the podcasts. I'm like, Oh,
what did I miss? They weretalking about something here. I
gotta, I gotta click Back, back,back back back to come back. So
(32:20):
yeah, yeah, distracted readingan audiobook, you can get
distracted. I do think they'rereally excellent with memoirs. I
think that I prefer them thatway. But yes, I am. I'm actually
listening currently more thanI'm reading. Let's say that
listening is reading. Okay.
(32:42):
I'm going to proclaim it. Butyou know, because it sounds like
if you say, Do you Would youconsider listening to the book,
reading it? And it sounds likeyou're saying, is it not as good
to listen to it? Is itconsidered lesser, it's still
no, you still get the story. Youstill get the story. I listened
to the women. And I read LongIsland's. The key about the
(33:05):
other thing about listening, yougotta like the narrator, because
you're spending a lot of timewith them. Right? And if you
don't, you probably shouldn't doit. And the narrator of the
women because she's such a bigauthor. In the niche. It's super
niche. But in the audiobookworld, there's a couple of rock
stars and one of them is namedher name is Julia Whelan. She
(33:27):
narrates this book. She's avoice. She's like one of the
people. It's a skill. You know,it's an acting skill voice
acting. You can be somebody whovoices, you know, animation
shorts or video games, butaudiobooks. Same thing? Yeah.
It's intense. My pal Laura, wholives in Warren, Michigan. She
(33:47):
lives here in the Bay Area. Wewere pals a million years ago,
we still keep in touch. Sherecently sold me she's been
listening to a lot ofaudiobooks. And there's a book
app from the library calledLibby. Yeah, which gives you
access to ebooks, audio booksand magazines for it says on the
website for the reasonable priceof a free, yes. And we were
texting a while back. And thisis going to come around now.
(34:10):
We're going to loop it backaround and she asked for a
recommendation and I recommendedEmily St. John Mandel. Okay, now
this is my friend Laura, who'sin Warren, Michigan, which is a
suburb of Detroit, Michigan,which is right up next to
Toronto. And yes, she said, Ihaven't read any Emily St. John
Mandel, but she's peripherallyfriends with her ex husband. Oh,
(34:33):
really? Yeah. That's random.
That is a small world.
I want to know more about that.
Well, maybe we need to get Lauraon the podcast to talk about it.
She's Canadian. She's based inToronto, which is right next to
Detroit. Well, she's a fabulous,fabulous talent. Her books are
great. And she doesn't want to.
(34:56):
She does a little sci fi whichis not my jam and she doesn't
Well, noShe makes it accessible because
it's not my jam either, althoughshe mixed it in with dystopia,
which is my jam. Okay.
All right, we have time for onemore book. Are you ready? Yes.
So I'm going to do a littlepreview about a book that is
(35:16):
going to be in a lot of people'sbeach beds the summer. It is
called swan song. And it's byEllen Hildebrand, who is
probably the number one authorof beach reads around.
Interestingly, she's been doingthis for a long time, a couple
decades. And this book, it'scalled swan song, and it's a
(35:38):
double entendre. And it's herlast book in this mini book
series, and she's going to takea little break, cuz I think
she's gonna read a couple bookswith her daughter and then just
kind of do some other things.
But basically what she does, allof her books are essentially the
same. They are set on Nantucket,they're all love letter to
Nantucket, this author spent allher summers there. So it's got,
(35:58):
you know, the see beautifulpeople. It's going to be geared
men like it, but it's really awoman's book, and it's women's
friendship, it's romance. It'sgreat musical references, people
watching clothing, but whatmakes her sets her apart from
everybody else, is that sheactually went to the Iowa
(36:21):
writers workshop, which is likegoing to Harvard. So she while
she's in this beach read genre,she does it very well. So
there's a great plot and thecharacters are well developed,
and it's just a lot of fun. I'veonly read one of her books, and
it was her last one called FiveStar Weekend. And I can't wait
for this one and it comes outJune 11. It's just fun and the
(36:43):
little preview that I have itsays swan song swansong is a
propulsive medley of glitteringgathering sense of drama, wisdom
and heart. And it's a mystery.
That sounds like when you wouldsay something like iron ore beef
blood, gunpowder, lava rock,cured meat stewed plums, pipe
(37:04):
tobacco anus. Yeah. It's atasting note from the book comes
out June 11. But you've alreadyread it. No, I haven't read it.
Oh, but I'm previewing it. And Ijust think people are gonna want
to know about it if they don't.
And if you want a beachy book,the way I pick my books, I tend
to alternate and I tend to dolike an intense, difficult read.
(37:25):
And then I want to have fun.
Like, I think it's just a greatfun book with character
development, which some some ofthese books, it stays with you
about. Sometimes they're paperthin. Yeah, so real people. And
that's what I like about books.
I like books that have characterdevelopment, and plot and
dialogue. Yeah, I don't needsmash them up. And crazy, you
(37:47):
know, I action. Well, thank youfor the recommendations. Again,
this is Amy. And she hosts theRed Fern book review podcast.
And you can find it wherever youfind podcasts. Do you listen to
other book podcasts? Can yourecommend one? I do. I mean, the
number of I mean, the best onereally is is a New York Times
Book Review. I really likedthat. Who hosts that? Well, it's
(38:09):
that book editor. And that'schanged. His last name is Cruz I
think. But there's ones that areare lighter, but I do I do like
that one because it's in fact,they just did one. They have all
the best authors on so they justdid an interview with the author
of Long Island. And while I'mworking on getting well known,
(38:30):
I'm probably not going to getthat author on. So it's kind of
fun for me to like, tune in andhear what he has to say. Because
he's very excited to talk to NewYork Times. And I like to
compare, you know, I actuallyhave my own opinion on this
book. And then I was fun to hearkind of his motivation. And one
of the things he said when Ilistened to this recent
(38:53):
podcasts, he said the wholepremise of Brooklyn came from he
overheard a story like in hisvillage where it was from that
this actually happens, someversion of that it's kind of fun
to hear the little, where thingscome from and what inspires
somebody to read a whole book.
(39:13):
You just heard a story. Like oh,yeah, I just heard a little,
little story and thought thatwas kind of stayed with them a
little snippet of conversation.
And you just extrapolate Iguess, then you turn it into a
book. Okay, there you go. That'show to write a best selling
novel.
I hope you have a lovely summer.
I hope that you sell your houseso things calm down in your
world. Thank you. Thank you forhanging out with me. What are
(39:36):
you up to this summer? What areyou going to do? I'm going to
Holland. You are What do youare? I'm going to ride bikes in
Holland. I'm going to Amsterdam.
A couple days in Amsterdam gonnamake a trip to Brussels to eat
some brussels sprouts. Brusselssprouts. I would I want to know
where brussels sprouts are fromI'm surely not from Brussels,
(39:57):
Belgium.
The saw Mike wind podcast wasconceived and is produced,
engineered, edited andmaintained by yours truly, to
see behind the scenes, all thewines I drink and food I cook,
and all of the kitty cat who'slaying on the floor right down
there in your kitty bed.
Follow me on Instagram at tallMike wine for feedback,
(40:21):
questions, suggestions just tosay hi and get your very own set
of digital coasters. Email me atTom Mike wine@gmail.com. Do you
have a spare three, five or 10bucks a month to contribute to
the care and feeding of thepodcast? Click on the link to
support in the show notes. Or goto Tom like wine.com I'd
(40:42):
appreciate it. Thanks to Amy andVancouver for hanging out her
podcast again the Red Fern bookreview podcast and worth your
time. Until next time, I'm Mikestone, aka tall Mike one wine
keep swirling. Keep sniffing.
keep sipping cheers
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