First Ben talks about some strategies to regulate emotions, specifically one called Cognitive Reappraisal that helps you change your narrative about the emotions and feelings impacting your life.  Then we cover 4 awesome wines that are unheralded, reasonable priced and definitely drinkable.

Something with Bubbles

Bubbles are good. Bubbles mean it’s a party. And the sound of a cork popping is one of the best sounds out there. The problem is that Champagne can get really expensive or the cheap stuff can leave quite a headache. So what I like to do is go to a different region of Europe that still takes sparking wine with bubbles seriously but without the prestige and price mark up of Champagne France. Some people would say Italy and Prosecco but I like Cava from Spain. The first time I had it was on a family trip we took to Barcelona when I was still in college. The trip was amazing as was the food and wine. I got hooked on Cava and haven’t stopped drinking it since.

The sparkler that I like to drink is Isaac Fernandez ‘Biutiful’ Brut Rose Cava. They do everything like the French do by letting the wine have secondary fermentation in the bottle just like champagne but at only $14 a bottle. The fruit is 100% Garnacha which makes it fruity but crisp. I highly recommend it.

Rose All Day

We love Rose. We loved Rose before it was cool. I give full credit to my wife on that one. There is this awesome seafood restaurant in Austin called Perla’s on South Congress. They have a great patio for people watching and this epic raw bar menu of oysters, crab, shrimp and just generally delicious seafood. We asked for a recommendation for a bottle of wine years ago and the waiter said the Miraval Rose. She totally nailed it and we’ve put it in the rotation since then.

It is French but at $17 a bottle still really reasonable. It is a light pink color in a cool looking bottle but this is all about the taste. It is a little floral with an acidic citrusy finish. It is refreshing on a hot day but drinkable year round.

The White Wine You’ve Never Heard Of

Let’s stay in France because they have been making wine for hundreds of years. They have some epic white wines that are super complex and super expensive made by master wine makers. An unheralded white wine from the Loire Valley is Muscadet (M-U-S-C-A-D-E-T). People don’t know how to say it which will deter people from ordering it or buying it. It is made from this grape called Melon de Borgogne which sounds sweet and gross and probably too similar to muscadine wine which is disgusting.

Columbia Valley Cab

Napa Valley is probably the wine epicenter of the United States. There are movies and documentaries about it and people go out of their way to visit to taste great wine about an hour north of San Francisco. My wife had her bachelorette party there. It was great and I was jealous. The problem with Napa is how popular it is and that can lead to you paying more for the location on the label than the quality of the wine in the bottle. So just like we went to Spain instead of France for sparkling wine, I recommend going to the Columbia Valley instead of Napa for an awesome Cabernet. One that I love is called Substance Cabernet Sauvignon. It is made from 100% Cabernet grapes and you can get a bottle for $13. They even have it at Costco when you are bulk purchasing 300 rolls of toilet paper.

One more tip that I may regret telling you all. There is this great website called Last Bottle. They feature 1 wine per day until it sells out. These guys are based in California and are super connected in the wine scene. It is pretty common to save 30 – 40% off the retail price of the daily wines they feature. I have yet to have a bad wine from Last Bottle