The Wine Pair Podcast

Some critics have called Verdicchio the best Italian white wine, but we are betting many of you have never tasted it or even heard of it! Let’s just say, if you love Chardonnay, then Verdicchio is a wine you must try. Hailing from the Marche region of Italy, which we are also betting is a region you have never been to and maybe never even heard of, Verdicchio is not to be confused with the white wines you may associate with Italy l...

Why are we Bonkers for Beaujolais this Thanksgiving? Because Turkey Day was made for Beaujolais. Hey, that even rhymes! Beaujolais is considered the ultimate Thanksgiving wine, but why? Well, we’ll tell you if you listen to this episode, but as a little amuse bouche, here’s something to chew on. First, the fruity flavors of the wine pair perfectly with the many different flavors - both savory and sweet - that often land on the Than...

Thai food is one of the world’s best cuisines, but pairing wine with it is difficult for many reasons - primarily its spiciness. In this episode, we break down how you can make finding a wine to drink with Thai food easy, and we review several different types of wines that make great pairings. We also talk about why some people bristle at the concept that there are even such things as “appropriate” wine and food pairings. And while...

Want to buy a vineyard and become a winemaker in Burgundy as an American with no experience in winemaking? Impossible! Or is it? Despite the longest of odds, Alex Gambal did it, and did it successfully. And now he has written a book about it called Climbing the Vines in Burgundy. It’s a story of hard work, perseverance, and positivity - pushing through when the odds are stacked against you - that is truly engaging and somewhat unbe...

Looking for something to spice up your wine life a little bit? We’ve got just the thing! Gewürztraminer is a different kind of white wine. This ain’t your typical light bodied, low alcohol summer sipper. This is a big bodied, high alcohol Fall juggernaut that is not made for the faint of heart. Gewürztraminer is a difficult grape to grow, but it makes big, sweet, spicy wines with flavors of apple pie filling and canned peach cockta...

Not sure if it was the wine or the candy or the fact that we recorded it on Friday the 13th, but we lost our minds in this episode! Halloween is the perfect time for wine (and, heck, what time isn’t perfect for wine?!?!), but not just any wine - spooky wine! Now, we don’t mean that it tastes haunted, what we mean is that it has the perfect combination of a creepy name, a spooky label, and a crowd-pleasing taste. And we think we hav...

Maybe we’re just crazy, but we have to believe that you can find a high quality Pinot Noir for a reasonable price. Believe us when we say - it’s not easy! In our third foray into trying to find high QPR Pinot Noirs, we try once again to help you find a wine you’ll like that won’t bust your wallet. We also talk about how Pinot Noirs from Burgundy are different from those found in the United States and other New World, warmer climate...

If you have been wondering if you should try Pét-Nat, we are here to tell you unequivocally - YES! Pét-Nat wines are natural sparkling wines that are like your friendly weird cousin - different, entertaining, sometimes exciting, and just fun to be around. Considered to be the oldest form of sparkling wine, Pét-Nats are low-intervention sparklers that are fizzy and funky - but also delicious and festive. Whether you are into sparkli...

We know what you’re thinking - but it’s true! They make wine in New York - and some really good wines, too! In fact, New York state is the third largest producer of wine in the US - bet you didn’t know that, either! In this episode, we focus on the Finger Lakes region and specifically dry Rieslings, which are fantastic wines for Autumn. We found the style of the wines we tried to be really intriguing, even exotic in some cases, and...

Don’t get us wrong - wine doesn’t have to be serious, but we do think that Rosé can sometimes be treated as an unserious wine, and that’s just not fair. Over the course of our podcast, we have come to truly appreciate Rosé wines, and one of our very favorite types of Rosés is Rosé made from Pinot Noir. Rosé has gotten a bad rap in part because sometimes it is not made in an intentional way - what we mean by that is that there are m...

We had the pleasure of spending time with Karl Weichold, the estate winemaker at Stoller Family Estate, located in the famous Dundee Hills in Oregon. Karl shares his story of how he became a renowned winemaker, starting with a degree in Biochemistry and Genetics from Texas A&M, to working at an Italian restaurant where he first fell in love with wine, to Texas wine country, and then to Oregon where he worked at 12th and Maple a...

It’s the most wonderful time of the year - football season! And football season means tailgating, and tailgating means wine! Wait, what?!? Did we say wine? You bet your sweet pigskin we did! While beer may still be the beverage of choice for most, we think wine is a perfect fit for all of the food and fun that you find at a tailgate - whether at the stadium or at home. And canned wines - which are growing in popularity and availabi...

Ever noticed that sometimes a wine bottle will call out that it comes from a specific vineyard? And when you’ve noticed that on the bottle, have you ever wondered, hey, what’s the big deal? Well, we are here to tell you if it's a big deal or not.

If you have been around wine nerds, you know that they start geeking out about single vineyard wines, and if you have been around wine snobs you know that they will sometimes...

Been wondering just what the heck Orange Wine is? Well, drop on in and we’ll tell you what’s what! You can kind of think of Orange Wine as a cousin to Rosé wine, but there are some key differences - differences in the grapes, the production, and the tastes of the wines. If you have been hesitant to try Orange Wine, we’re here to tell you you shouldn’t be. And, yes, it may seem hip, cool, and in vogue, but the reality is that this i...

Our goal in life is to find high QPR wines to share with you all, and in Monastrell, we think we have found a QPR Superstar! Two of the wines we tasted were $10.99, and they way, way, way outpunch their price. Stop wasting your money on overpriced California Cabs, and discover this wine which gives you much more bang for your buck! Also known as Mourvèdre, Mataro, and a million other names, Monastrell is the Spanish name for this w...

We are off on another Italian Wine Adventure, and this time we bring you a wonderful white wine from Umbria called Orvieto. Wait, what’s that you say? You’ve never heard of Orvieto? Well, we need to change that! Orvieto is a white wine made from a blend of grapes - most predominantly Grechettto and Trebbiano Toscano (aka Procanico and Ugni Bianco) - and that blend of grapes can vary quite a bit! As a result, we found the taste of t...

In this special episode we have the honor to meet and speak with Rita Pinto, the CEO of Quinta do Pinto winery. Rita’s story is an incredible tale of family, love, passion, and hard work. Truly a family-run winery, as well as a mostly woman-run winery, Quinta do Pinto makes both new and traditional Portuguese wines in a low intervention, sustainable, and organic way, using natural fermentation and vintage cement tanks - the way win...

Seriously - $4.99?!? How good can a wine actually be at $4.99?!? Well, we are here to tell you, and you may just be surprised by what we have to say! In this episode we do a side-by-side comparison of the Costco Kirkland Signature Grave Pinot Grigio with two other easy to find Pinot Grigios to see how it stacks up. Pinot Grigio is a wine that some wine snobs are down on, but we’ll tell you confidently - don’t listen to them. A good...

California Cabernet Sauvignon gets all the attention, but a good California Zinfandel is a thing of beauty! Often overlooked and definitely underrated, when done well, Zinfandel is a velvety, rich, complex, juicy, food friendly wine. All that being said, there are some California Zinfandels that give their brothers and sisters a bad name, and we want to help you find the good ones and avoid the bad ones. Zinfandel is one of the old...