Another week, another pod, another weird grape. Weird by certain standard anyway. There is a grape in La Rioja that 'some' people know, but maybe don't really know. A native of Rioja that was often hiding away in blends but more and more is being used to make fascinating and uniquely perfumed mono variety reds. Graciano! To talk about this grape the boys are lucky enough to sample a fancy bottle of Termón!

Time for something completely different. This week Roque and Luke want to focus less on a particular region and/or grape and instead talk both generally, scientifically, culturally, nationally and gastronomically about the idea of food and wine pairing. But with a Spanish bent. To aid them they tuck into various Galician conservas from Delgado Selecciones and pair them with a top Dominio O Secreto Albariño by Ruiz Clavijo.

Another week and another exciting discovery. This time Roque and Luke enjoy a bottle of barrel-fermented Albariño, but not from the usual area. It's Galicia, but not as we know it. A tiny little Vino de la Tierra hiding in the northern fjords. The wine is Komokabras from Adega Entre Os Rios.

Well, well, well, what's all this then? That's right, Roque and Luke discovered another one of Spain's 'top of the pyramid' hard-to-find Vino de Pago wines. This week it's the turn of Pago de los Balagueses, located in the interior of the Valencia region. They have a range of smashing wines and this week they're trying the delicious Garnacha Tintorera.

This week Roque and Luke take a light-hearted deep dive into the life of a vine. It's very common now to find wines with expressions like 'Old Vine' and 'Pie Franco' on the label. But what does this mean for the wine? We also talk more generally about the life of our favourite plant: the Vine. To enjoy this theme the boys enjoy a bottle of Octogenarius from more than 80-yr Rioja vines.

This week the chaps want to step away from focussing on one particular grape or DO wine region for a moment and instead hone in on a theme that has been interesting them a lot recently: the idea of blended (multi-grape) wines 'vs' the single variety wine. To talk more about this Roque and Luke were lucky enough to receive a rather fancy bottle of El Grillo from Bodegas El Grillo y La Luna in DO Somontano!

This week Roque and Luke want to focus on the concept of the Atlantic Red, a style of wine that is becoming really popular in Spain. What is an Atlantic wine? What makes it so? Are there Atlantic wines that have nothing to do with the ocean itself? To talk more about this topic they drink a bottle of Golpe a Golpe Tinto from the Galician coast.

HAPPY NEW YEAR! And to celebrate? How about the fanciest wine yet tried on the podcast? Fondillón, a mythical and historically legendary, but sadly forgotten and very rare style of alcoholic sweet red from Alicante and beloved by kings. This wine has more in common with Port than normal table wine. So, to toast 2021 in style Roque and Luke grab a bottle of Laudum Gran Reserva from 1988! Enjoy!

So we come to the end of this most terrible year. 2020 has been a truly rubbish one. With a bottle of Avelino Vargas Aureo in their hands Luke and Roque toast the end of the year; chatting about how 2020 has affected the wine industry and their shop, how things have evolved and their favourite wine discoveries! See you in 2021!

It's nearing the end of the year so before Christmas arrives, Roque and Luke decided they fancied something sweet to get in the mood! The world of sweet wines is vast, so instead of talking in general terms they thought they would start with Late Harvest wines - and the evolved styles that can be attained from playing around with the simple fact of 'when you pick your grapes'. To aid in this endeavour they drink, far too quickly, an astonishing Basque sweet wine called Astobiza!