The Wine Pair Podcast

You know when they say “you get what you pay for”?!? That seems to fit pretty well with Trader Joe’s Reserve label wines. Look, you’re spending $10, so you probably shouldn’t expect to be wowed. And the wines we tasted met that expectation. However, when a wine is a private label from a store like Trader Joe’s - similar to Costco’s Kirkland brand - we think you should expect to get 2X the value for the price. In the case of Trader ...

Sometimes an interview just feels magical. Like, you just happen to find two people who have amazing stories, who genuinely like each other, and who complement the other in terms of their philosophies and approaches, and that is what we found in this interview with Roman and Jens. Roman makes beautiful wine for Wölffer Estate, so beautiful, in fact, that Jens and his partner Rasmus wanted to include him in their amazing book Rosé R...

Don’t say we didn’t warn you - because once you try this wine, you may never go back to Prosecco! Don’t get us wrong. We like a nice Aperol spritz made with Prosecco, and Prosecco was the sparkling wine that opened our eyes to sparkling wine, but if you want a more elegant, interesting, and food friendly wine, Franciacorta cleans Prosecco’s clock! There is a reason that Franciacorta and not Prosecco is considered to be a competitor...

This is what we call a “wow your friends” wine! First, it’s a wine they have probably never heard of. Second, it is a great wine for all sorts of different red wine lovers because it has hints of different wines like Pinot Noir, Cabernet Franc, and Syrah. And third, it is a delicious wine that goes well with a wide variety of foods. That is, if you find the right Blaufränkisch. And that is what we are here for! We want to expose ou...

If you love Sauvignon Blanc, Riesling, Pinot Grigio, or Albariño, you’re going to also love Müller-Thurgau because they all have something in common: they are all aromatic dry white wines! Now, if you don’t know what aromatic white wines are, don’t worry, we’ll tell you all about them in this episode. We’ll even teach you what terpenes are and why they matter when it comes to aromatic dry white wines. Even better, we’ll tell you ho...

If you love Oregon wines and biodynamic wines, we have a treat for you! And, if you think you know Oregon wines, this episode is a must listen. Did you know that there are two major wine growing regions in Oregon? It’s true! Most people think about the Willamette Valley, which is where our guest Morgan Beck is making beautiful Burgundy style wines for Johan Vineyards. But we bet you don’t know that in Southern Oregon, where the cli...

Holy smokes, did we find a great wine! If you or someone you know is a Sangiovese skeptic, just doesn’t get what all the fuss is about Chianti wine, then you owe it to yourself and them to try this wine made from the Sangiovese Grosse grape, a mutation of the standard Sangiovese grape used in Chianti. You will become a convert. We promise! Hailing from the Montalcino region of Italy, just south of Siena, the same region that Brunel...

How do you start a wine making partnership with Sarah Jessica Parker? It turns out, all you have to do is ask - as long as you have an award-winning wine brand and savvy business partners with years of experience. In this special episode, we have the pleasure of speaking with New Zealanders and business partners Tim Lightbourne and Rob Cameron of Invivo - where Rob is the winemaker and Tim is the director. After getting their degre...

Once again, we present our version of Spotify Wrapped where we review the top 10 and bottom 10 wines we tasted and reviewed in 2024. Some of what we think makes our podcast different from other wine podcasts or wine publications and reviewers is that we share with you both the good and the bad. Most wine reviewers only share with you the wines they rate highly, but we share the wines we think you should avoid as well. We also let y...

Port is a fun and festive after-dinner drink during the Holidays. But, which one should you choose - Ruby Port or Tawny Port? Have no idea what we are talking about? Then this episode is just for you! Port is a sweet, fortified dessert wine from Portugal, and it comes in a few different styles that are actually pretty different from each other. We talk about what some of the differences are between the two, and we also talk about h...

Looking for a show stopping sparkling wine to serve this Holiday? Then look no further than Sparkling Shiraz! This is a sparkling red wine - yes, you heard us right - an honest to goodness red wine made (usually) in the same way that Champagne is made. In case you are wondering, Shiraz is what they call Syrah in Australia, so they are the same wine. Like all sparkling wines, Sparkling Shiraz can vary from sweet to brut, but this is...

Chenin Blanc is the “it” wine in South Africa, but is it worth the hype? Spoiler alert - if you like an oaky Chardonnay or white wines with some body, you may really like this wine! No one is really sure how Chenin Blanc got to South Africa, or why it has been called Steen there for centuries, but one thing is for sure - if you want to taste some of the best Chenin Blanc in the world outside of France, the first place you need to t...

This week we had the honor and privilege to sit and talk with Leslie Frelow and Aamira Garba, two amazing women making waves in the wine world. Leslie calls herself the Owner & Chief Discovery Officer of The Wine Concierge, and that title is perfect because she seeks to sell wines from boutique wineries owned by women and underrepresented groups. Aamira is the CEO and Winemaker for LoveLee Wine who built her wine brand from scr...

Picpoul translates to “lip stinger” in the original dialect, and this is not your typical high acid white wine. In fact, we were pretty surprised by this wine overall. It had more body (read: alcohol) than a typical zippy white wine, and more body as well. Although it is often called a summer sipper, this wine felt more like a fall wind-breaker. Picpoul is not a commonly grown wine grape, and does best in Mediterranean climates lik...

You may think that Rosé is a summer wine, made for sipping by the pool - but did you know it is the perfect pairing for Thanksgiving?!? We ain’t sh*&^ing you! The kind of Rosé you serve matters, because after all Rosé is a way of making wine, and so the grapes in the Rosé and the style in which it is made make all the difference. And so in this episode, we talk about what to look for in a Thanksgiving wine, and in a Rosé wine f...

We generally have pretty good luck with Kirkland wines, and we put our good fortune to the test in this episode by tasting the 2022 Napa Valley Red Blend vs. two other Bordeaux-style blends. How did the Kirkland wine do?!? Well . . . we don’t want to give too many spoilers, but let's just say that we gave it a fair shot. We also dig into what exactly Bordeaux-style blends are because, let’s face it, when a wine says it is a “r...

Bread & Butter Wines is one of the fastest growing wine brands in the United States, but does that mean they are any good? Even more importantly, are these wines worth the price? And because these wines rarely show up in the ratings and reviews of the major wine publications, we figured we’d do you a solid and share what we think. In this episode, not only do we taste and give our totally honest review of three different Bread ...

Armenia may be the oldest wine making region in the world, and yet, have you ever had wine from Armenia? There are some good reasons why that may be, and probably most likely because when they were part of the Soviet Union, the government forced them to make fortified wines like brandy, and the winemaking industry was forced to go underground. Over the past few decades, however, winemaking is having a bit of a renaissance, led by p...

It may have an odd sounding name, but Furmint is a wine we are delighted to add to our wine list! Hailing from Hungary, where it is often made into the famous sweet wine called Tokaj Asuz, dry Furmint is a crisp, refreshing, and yet medium bodied white wine that can give any classic white a run for its money. In this episode, we learn a bit about the wine industry in Hungary (they are the 14th largest wine producing country in the ...