In our second installment of our Virginia winemaker’s series, we meet Justin Rose of Rosemont wine. Justin was able to leverage his chemical engineering background into becoming the winemaker at the winery his father started on their historical family farm. Today, in the southernmost wine grape growing region in Virginia, they make wines that are tailored to grow well in their area. That includes wines you have heard of like Merlot and Cabernet Franc, the latter of which is a wine that Virginia is excellent at, but also lesser known wines like Traminette and Chardonel, along with sparkling and sweet wines as well as a vermouth! Join us in learning more about Virginia wines and one of the winemakers in the area trying to make their mark on the wine world. 

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This wine, friends, is the epitome of why we started our podcast in the first place - to help you find great wines at reasonable prices that you have just not learned about yet.  Spätburgunder is the Pinot Noir you didn’t know you were looking for - in fact, it’s probably the Pinot Noir you’ve never heard of. Part of it is because the supply and demand are well balanced within Germany itself, and part of it is because, well, frankly we don’t know why else. Because this is a wonderful, high QPR (quality to price ratio) Pinot Noir that has flown under the radar for far too long. And it’s time to change that. Did you know that Germany is the third largest producer of Pinot Noir in the world?!? Yeah, we bet you didn’t know that either. And yet, if you want to find a wow your friends, great quality, reasonably priced Pinot Noir, you really need to get to know Spätburgunder. Listen in and we’ll tell you more, and we also have a fun listener interview and a wine in the news this week segment on a Champagne fraudster! Wines reviewed in this episode: 2018 Bercher Burkheimer Spätburgunder Trocken, 2022 Pfeffingen Alte Reben Spätburgunder

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If you are looking for a crowd-pleasing, bigger red wine, this may be the ticket. Wait, you’ve never heard of Bonarda or Charbono?!? Shameful! It’s time to get you edumacated! It is not uncommon that the same wine will have two different names depending on where it is from, but it is unusual that a wine that has been around for thousands of years, was once one of the most popular wine grapes in California, Savoie France, and Argentina (in fact was more widely grown than Malbec in Argentina for a while), is almost completely off everyone’s radar. But no more! This is an easy drinking and food friendly red wine that we think is compatible with almost every red wine drinkers’ palate. It may not be the most complex wine ever, but it is a wine that is hard not to like. We think it is a wine you should hunt down if for no other reason than it may be a wine that you are shocked is not more popular. It’s way better than the average crappy Cabernet Sauvignon by a long shot! Plus, one of the wines we selected is from a rising star in California named Kenny Likitprakong who some are calling the best winemaker in California making under $25 wines. Wines reviewed in this episode: 2022 Folk Machine Charbono, 2022 El Enemigo Bonarda

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Is Orange wine still a vibe wine? A couple of years after our first episode on Orange wine, we revisit it to see if it’s still all that. The verdict? It is! We dig into what Orange wine is, how it is made, and what makes it different from the other styles and colors of wine, namely red, white, and rosé. And we will spare you the drama - it is not made from oranges. It is a white wine where the juice is left on the skins, hence the color. Although it seems hip, new, and trendy, Orange wine is a very ancient winemaking technique most famously made thousands of years ago in the country of Georgia. What people are attracted to about Orange wine is not just the color, but the fact that it is often associated with natural and low-intervention winemaking techniques. Listen in to learn more, to hear our podcast tribe name of the week from listener Lindsay, and a story about church wine in Kenya hitting the bars in our Wine in the News This Week section. Wines reviewed in this episode: 2024 Côté Mas Orange Vin de France, Borgo Savaian Masarêt (AKA Aransat) Skins are Kings Orange Wine

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All the cool kids are talking about wines from Jura, but should you believe the hype? Well, when it comes to the red wine Trousseau, we say a resounding YES! If you have never heard about the Jura wine region in France, it’s time to let you in on the secret so you can be part of the hip “in” crowd. And if you are a Pinot Noir or Gamay lover, we have a wine that we think is going to be a new go-to for you. Tucked away in a little corner of France between Burgundy and Switzerland is Jura, and one of the signature wines is Trousseau which is a fruity, elegant, juicy gem ready to be discovered. This is the perfect wine for our podcast listeners - delicious, under-the-radar, reasonably priced, and a wow-your-friends wine. Join us as we uncover the mystery! We also talk about an international wine scam in our Wine in the News this Week section, and we have another listener interview on the name for our wine tribe this week. Wines reviewed in this episode: 2020 Frederic Lornet Charles Rouget Cotes du Jura Trousseau, 2023 Domaine Ligier Arbois Trousseau

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We know what you’re thinking: how different could two of the same wines from different vintages taste really?!? We’re here to tell you, they were vastly different. Not even close. This week, we put Costco Kirkland Signature head to head with itself. Same wine: Kirkland Signature Chianti Classico Riserva, but different vintages - 2020 vs. 2022 - and two different producers. And hands down one was a winner. We expected it to be closer, but it just wasn’t. We also dig into what the different designations of Chianti mean - Chianti vs. Classico vs. Riserva vs. Gran Selezione. And we talk about why Chianti can be a bit of a polarizing wine. We also dared to try the Trader Joe’s Pumpkin Spice Chardonnay. There is only one way to describe it, and it rhymes with ducking spitty. You’ll definitely want to hear our reaction on that one. Wines reviewed in this episode: 2020 Kirkland Signature Chianti Classico Riserva, 2022  Kirkland Signature Chianti Classico Riserva

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Jake Busching is a bit of a legend around Virginia winemaking, so who better to be the first winemaker we talk to as part of our Virginia Winemakers series! Jake has a really cool background, one that is surprisingly not as common as you think, because he came to winemaking as a farmer, rather than as a scientist or being from a long family of winemakers. From that came some great quotes like “my heart is in the dirt” and his admonition to young winemakers to “Put the boots on first and get in the dirt.” In our interview, he talks about how as a winemaker you have to embrace the chaos of nature, because nature doesn’t care what you are trying to do. He also talks about his take on the science and art of winemaking and where he leans (he’s a former musician, if that gives you any hint), and his simple approach that the grape is the most important of the wine, which is why he is 100% vintage driven - whatever nature gives him that year. We also loved his take on Virginia winemaking being “cowboy country” meaning there are a lot of people learning how to do things along the way. Please join us in our wonderful conversation with Jake Busching. 

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When you think of red wine from Piedmont, you likely think of Nebbiolo or Barbera, but did you know that for a long time, Grignolino was the preferred red wine from the region? Wait, you’ve never heard of Grignolino before?!? Well, that is the perfect reason to go on this Italian Wine Adventure! A light red wine from maybe the most revered wine region in Italy, Grignolino is a wine some are saying is the hidden gem of Piedmont. The name of the wine comes from the fact that it has more seeds than most wine grapes, which doesn’t sound important but actually is when you consider that tannins and some flavors come from the seeds themselves. It is a great red wine to chill, and the combination of crunchy red fruit and grippy tannins is an experience to help you stretch your wine horizons. We also talk to listener Justin about his name for our wine tribe and we talk about wine in French prisons in our Wine in the News This Week section. Wines reviewed in this episode: 2021 Marchesi Incisa della Rocchetta Grignolino d'Asti, 2022 Braida Limonte Grignolino d'Asti

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Summer is almost over, but we found a great end of the summer wine that is chillable, quaffable, and easy drinking. In fact, this may be the wine that convinces your non-wine drinking friends that wine can be awesome. Most often used as a blending grape to add fruity aromas and softness to more tannic wines, on its own, Cinsault is a light, fruity, thoroughly enjoyable wine that belongs on your wine list. Perfect for cookouts and parties! Cinsault is also a wine known by many different names and is grown all over the world, and you probably have had it more than you know because of how often it is blended into red wine. And, evidently, if you are a big escargot fan, this is the wine for you! We also have a great conversation with one of our listeners, and we talk about the end of the controversy over the foil on Champagne wine bottles - and we bet you didn’t know there was a controversy about it. We also, unfortunately, ran into another corked wine in our tasting portion of the episode, but that’s ok because it helps you know that it does happen and what you might experience when you run into a corked wine. Wines reviewed in this episode: 2024 Lubanzi Cinsault,  2021 Domaine des Homs L'Amandier Cinsault

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Have you ever wondered why American Chardonnay tastes like oaky butter-bombs? Well, you can blame the French! The American style of Chardonnay is not our favorite, but it is super popular, and we explore why, and how it got to be the way it is. We also pit the 2022 Costco Kirkland Signature Sonoma County Chardonnay against some other easy to find and reasonably priced American Chardonnays to see who we think is the best bet for your hard-earned money. In our tasting, we also talk about what foods will pair with this style of Chardonnay, but we’ll be honest, American oaky Chardonnay is not really a great food wine; you sort of have to pick and choose what foods you can have with it. Rather, they are as they say “cocktail wines” meant to be drunk on their own due to their lack of acidity and overpowering structure. We also have a great conversation with listeners the East Idaho Foodies who gave us a name for our wine tribe this week. Wines reviewed in this episode: 2022 Kirkland Signature Sonoma County Chardonnay,  2022 Chateau Ste Michelle Indian Wells Chardonnay, JaM Cellars Butter Chardonnay

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