In this episode, I discuss eight refreshing red wines that are lighter, fresher, and perfect for sipping on a warm day. I give you ideas for wines that go easy on the oak, tannin, and alcohol, and focus instead on the freshness and lightness. These wines have a multitude of flavors and are from around the world but all of them go beyond the bold and heavy.

The wines pair well with light meals, can take a chill, and are perfect for when you want something easy-drinking.

Think all red wines are bold, heavy, and best served with steak? Nope! From Frappato to Listán Negro, these wines are something totally different.

Image: Pixabay

Full show notes and all back episodes are on Patreon. Become a member today!

www.patreon.com/winefornormalpeople

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Check out my exclusive sponsor, Wine Access.  They have an amazing selection -- once you get hooked on their wines, they will be your go-to! Make sure you join the Wine Access-Wine For Normal People wine club for wines I select delivered to you four times a year! 

To register for an AWESOME, LIVE WFNP class with Elizabeth or get a class gift certificate for the wine lover in your life go to: www.winefornormalpeople.com/classes

Last fall, I met Francesco Galgani and tried his wines and I was completely blown away. I always think of Vernaccia as a more historical Pinot Grigio -- light on flavor, boring, and not anything to get excited about. But then I visited Cappella Sant'Andrea.

HOLY CRAP!! This is the BEST Vernaccia on earth. Francesco and Flavia, the owners and winemakers, are truly the Masters of Vernaccia di San Gimignano. You will never taste Vernaccia like this. 

In the show Francesco and I discuss the long history of Vernaccia, wine in San Gimignano, why there is so much crappy Vernaccia, and how they do it right. Their Rialto and Prima Luce, especially are stunning. I can't sing their praises more.

Two things mentioned in the show: 

1. Follow Francesco on IG, he's a brilliant artist: @francescogalgani
2. If you want to order directly from Francesco, and have the wine shipped from Italy, please visit their website: https://www.cappellasantandrea.it/chi-siamo1 and you can contact them for orders and pricing! 

Full show notes and all back episodes are on Patreon. Join the community today!

www.patreon.com/winefornormalpeople

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This show is brought to you by my exclusive sponsor, Wine Access – THE place to discover your next favorite bottle. Wine Access has highly allocated wines and incredible values, plus free shipping on orders of $150 or more. You can’t go wrong with Wine Access! Join the WFNP/Wine Access wine club and get 6 awesome bottles for just $150 four times a year. That includes shipping! When you become a member, you also get 10% all your purchases on the site. Go to wineaccess.com/normal to sign up! 

It's another edition of the "Alternatives to a Fave" series! This time: Sauvignon blanc.

As an extension of the Grape Mini-series, for this series I come up with lists of wines that lovers of a specific grape can try as alternatives.

Sauvignon blanc is not a one note! It has so many different styles -- from the acidic, minerally, citrus and flinty notes of Sancerre and Pouilly-Fumé to the tropical fruit, peach, grass, green pepper, and sauteed herb aromas in New Zealand and the blends with Semillon in Bordeaux, there are many, many iterations of this very popular grape. 

Photo: Sauvignon Blanc in South Africa. Credit: Getty Images from Canva

After a brief refresh on the Sauvignon blanc grape, in this show I come up with a list of eight wines that are alternatives -- things like Chablis for the more minerally, flinty substitutes for Sancerre, and then fruity alternatives like Vermentino to stand in for Chilean or New Zealand Sauvignon. 

I hope, as usual, that this show opens some new doors and gives you new ideas of wines to add to your repertoire! 

Full show notes and all back episodes are on Patreon. Join the community today!

www.patreon.com/winefornormalpeople

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This show is brought to you by my exclusive sponsor, Wine Access – THE place to discover your next favorite bottle. Wine Access has highly allocated wines and incredible values, plus free shipping on orders of $150 or more. You can’t go wrong with Wine Access! Join the WFNP/Wine Access wine club and get 6 awesome bottles for just $150 four times a year. That includes shipping! When you become a member, you also get 10% all your purchases on the site. Go to wineaccess.com/normal to sign up! 

Stephanie Duboudin, CEO of Wine Victoria, joins to educate us on this state at the southern end of Australia that has a ton of diversity and makes all styles of wine. A boutique winery heaven, Victoria is something you need to know about! 

Wineries mentioned:

• Tahbilk
• Seppelt
• Mount Langhi
• Wild Duck Creek
• Yeringberg
• Yarra Yering
• Brown Brothers
• Pizzini
• Campbells
• Chalmers
• Chambers Rosewood
• Stanton & Killeen
• Giant Steps
• Bindi Wines

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Full show notes and all back episodes are on Patreon. Become a member today!

www.patreon.com/winefornormalpeople

_______________________________________________________________

Check out my exclusive sponsor, Wine Access.  They have an amazing selection -- once you get hooked on their wines, they will be your go-to! Make sure you join the Wine Access-Wine For Normal People wine club for wines I select delivered to you four times a year! 

To register for an AWESOME, LIVE WFNP class with Elizabeth or get a class gift certificate for the wine lover in your life go to: www.winefornormalpeople.com/classes

Located the middle of the Médoc, 50 km/31 miles northwest of Bordeaux, Pauillac is home to 18 of the 61 châteaux classified 1855, just under a third of the list. There are three first growths, two second growths, one fourth growth, and twelve 5th growths. The first growths are Château Latour, Château Lafite-Rothschild, and Château Mouton-Rothschild.

Pauillac is north of St-Julien and south of St-Estèphe with the manmade Landes Forest to the west, sheltering the vines from Atlantic winds.

The commune has 1,213 ha/3,000 acres of vines (7.5% of the Medoc) and makes about 7 million bottles a year. The AOC Pauillac is only for still red wines, famous for their balance of power and elegance that is rare in Cabernet Sauvignon-Merlot blends. These wines have strong aromas and flavors but with great acidity and tannin – the best are not overripe or overly tannic  -- and are balanced.

In this show, I cover everything about Pauillac -- history, terroir, climate, sustainability, and then the top Châteaux. I break it down by terroir, location, and some details on top chateaux and then tell you to save your pennies to get these wines!  

Here is a link to the 1855 Classification

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Full show notes and all back episodes are on Patreon. Become a member today!

www.patreon.com/winefornormalpeople

_______________________________________________________________

Check out my exclusive sponsor, Wine Access.  They have an amazing selection -- once you get hooked on their wines, they will be your go-to! Make sure you join the Wine Access-Wine For Normal People wine club for wines I select delivered to you four times a year! 

To register for an AWESOME, LIVE WFNP class with Elizabeth or get a class gift certificate for the wine lover in your life go to: www.winefornormalpeople.com/classes

As part of the Back to Basics series, in which I update previous podcasts on practical topics that can be helpful to everyone, I update podcast Episode 28 from September 2011! Rick was the co-host then and it was a much shorter, less detailed show.

Image: Assembled on Canva by WFNP

Some of the suggestions from those many years ago were great, and some have changed or I’ve augmented them.

The goal of this show: to give you some ideas to motivate you to try new wines and new ways to explore. Ideas include: exploring different grapes from the same regions you like, joining a wine club (hint hint: the Wine Access/WFNP Wine Club, going to tasting events, and more! It's a short and sweet re-do of a show from long ago. I hope you get some ideas from it! 

Full show notes and all back episodes are on Patreon. Join the community today!

www.patreon.com/winefornormalpeople

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This show is brought to you by my exclusive sponsor, Wine Access – THE place to discover your next favorite bottle. Wine Access has highly allocated wines and incredible values, plus free shipping on orders of $150 or more. You can’t go wrong with Wine Access! Join the WFNP/Wine Access wine club and get 6 awesome bottles for just $150 four times a year. That includes shipping! When you become a member, you also get 10% all your purchases on the site. Go to wineaccess.com/normal to sign up! 

On the heels of my trip with a group of Patrons to Campania, I wanted to do a show on Taurasi while it was still fresh in my mind.

Taurasi, a small (472 ha / 1,166 acres) DOCG region, is indisputably one of Italy’s greatest red wines along with Barolo, Barbaresco, Brunello, Chianti, Vino Nobile, and Montefalco Sagrantino. Taurasi, made of the ancient Aglianico grape, is in Campania, more specifically in hills northeast of Irpinia/Avellino and is centered around the town of Taurasi, a small town with a 10th-century castle that was rebuilt by the Normans.

Over the 17 towns within the denomination soils and altitudes range dramatically. Higher altitudes create complex, more acidic styles due to a longer growing season with great diurnal swings. Towns with more clay create extremely tannic wines, while those with sand have certain warmth and fruitiness that makes them easy to drink in their youth. There are a multitude of styles and, with soils in the region layered like a lasagna, the flavors you get from the Aglianico grape depend largely on the site on which it grows.

Aglianico is a misunderstood grape, as is Taurasi as a wine. Aglianico is a red with complex, terroir driven flavors of dark fruit, red fruit, spice, black pepper notes, and excellent acidity and tannin. Taurasi, made from a biotype of Aglianico that is particularly dark-skinned, small berried and flavorful makes exquisite wines that have the aging capability of a Barolo or Bordeaux.

The grape translates the terroir into the bottle and both where the grapes grow and who makes the wine determines the style – it’s an area you could explore for ages and keep discovering new expressions of Aglianico. In fact, Taurasi is called the “Barolo of the South” for nuance and depth of flavor, and variation of its terroir.

In this show I cover the extensive history of the region, with all its ups and downs, the climate, altitudes, and land and then discuss the expression of the Aglianico grape and why it makes such fascinating wines.

If you haven’t had a Taurasi, get on it. Vis a vis other top wines, it is insanely affordable (top wines are less than US$100) and it is a wine that will hold your interest with every sip!

Certainly for its history and for its quality, Taurasi is one of the great wines of the world.

Full show notes and all back episodes are on Patreon. Join the community today!

www.patreon.com/winefornormalpeople

_______________________________________________________________

This show is brought to you by my exclusive sponsor, Wine Access – THE place to discover your next favorite bottle. Wine Access has highly allocated wines and incredible values, plus free shipping on orders of $150 or more. You can’t go wrong with Wine Access! Join the WFNP/Wine Access wine club and get 6 awesome bottles for just $150 four times a year. That includes shipping! When you become a member, you also get 10% all your purchases on the site. Go to wineaccess.com/normal to sign up! 

This week I go in depth on one of the best value regions of Portugal -- Alentejo. These wines are mainly blends and they are as easy on the palate as they are on the wallet -- a perfect combo! 

Photo: Vineyards in Alentejo outside of Évora. Credit: WFNP

Located in southern Portugal, a two hour drive east of Lisbon, Alentejo is huge -- representing almost one-third of the Iberian nation. Although in the past the region was known only as the breadbasket of Portugal and as the world's largest supplier of cork (nearly half of the world’s  corks come from Alentejo's cork trees), today the region is experiencing a wine renaissance. After a rocky history, Alentejo has grown and its reputation has expanded with it. 

Known for fruity, lush and plush red blends (about 75% of the wine) of grapes like Alicante Bouschet, Aragonez (Tempranillo), Trincadeira, Alfrochero, and Castelão, there are some higher end versions that sometimes contain Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot or Syrah as well. The whites are in the minority and are fruity, soft, yet balanced blends as well. The tropical, tangerine noted and soft Antão Vaz is Alentejo’s most important white with Arinto used for acidity, Fernão Pires for aroma and soft textures and Roupeiro for aroma as well. 

Map: Rota dos Vinhos, from the Wines of Alentejo

This show covers all the bases on this fascinating region -- from its turbulent history to the climate, terroir, and the many DOPs that each have a distinct identiy. 

Full show notes and all back episodes are on Patreon. Join the community today!

www.patreon.com/winefornormalpeople

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This show is brought to you by my exclusive sponsor, Wine Access – THE place to discover your next favorite bottle. Wine Access has highly allocated wines and incredible values, plus free shipping on orders of $150 or more. You can’t go wrong with Wine Access! Join the WFNP/Wine Access wine club and get 6 awesome bottles for just $150 four times a year. That includes shipping! When you become a member, you also get 10% all your purchases on the site. Go to wineaccess.com/normal to sign up! 

This is the second in the Greats series on Bordeaux. This time, the first, most southerly, and most famed commune of the Médoc, Margaux. Surely this is one of the world’s greatest regions, with the only major appellation with a château named after the region, Château Margaux.

Margaux is a 1,500 ha/3,700 acre communal appellation on the Left Bank of Bordeaux, 25 km/15 miles north of the city of Bordeaux in the Médoc. Margaux is the largest Médoc AOC, representing 9% of Medoc vineyards and an average of 6.5 million bottles yearly, depending on vintage. Due to its size, the region has varied soils, and that means that as much as people like to generalize about Margaux being elegant and pretty, it’s not as simple as that.

In this show, I cover everything about Margaux -- history, terroir, climate, sustainability, and then the top Châteaux. I break it down into digestible bites and try to convince you that these wines are certainly something that you must try! 

Here is a link to the 1855 Classification

Here are the Châteaux that are open to the public

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Full show notes and all back episodes are on Patreon. Join the community today!

www.patreon.com/winefornormalpeople

_______________________________________________________________

This show is brought to you by my exclusive sponsor, Wine Access – THE place to discover your next favorite bottle. Wine Access has highly allocated wines and incredible values, plus free shipping on orders of $150 or more. You can’t go wrong with Wine Access! Join the WFNP/Wine Access wine club and get 6 awesome bottles for just $150 four times a year. That includes shipping! When you become a member, you also get 10% all your purchases on the site. Go to wineaccess.com/normal to sign up! 

Fred Peterson has been making wines in Sonoma County for more than 40 years.  While attending UC Santa Cruz, he took a job in a classmate’s family vineyard in Mendocino County and he found his passion. He left Santa Cruz, and used the rest of his GI Education benefits to attend UC Davis.

Photo: Peterson Winery. Credit: Wine for Normal People

Fred got his bachelor’s degree in Viticulture and Enology in 1978. And after managing vineyards for a large winery in the Central Coast, he moved to the Dry Creek Valley of Sonoma in 1983. That same year, he planted a vineyard and built his house on Bradford Mountain.

In 1987, Fred hung a shingle on a red barn off of Lytton Springs Road and Peterson was born. The winery is no longer in the red barn, but it remains an important part of their history and is represented on every wine label with a back drop of Bradford Mountain, where the Peterson Estate Vineyard is located.

Photo: Fred Peterson. Courtesy of Peterson Winery

In this (super dorky) show Fred takes us through some of the fascinating history of how philosophies about terroir and soil have changed since he started as a grower and winemaker in the early 1980s and how he has managed to be a leader in sustainable, but not dogmatic sustainable farming and winemaking.  Fred was one of the first voices in Sonoma to promote low intervention farming and winemaking. It shows in the wines!

Full show notes and all back episodes are on Patreon. Join the community today!

www.patreon.com/winefornormalpeople

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This show is brought to you by my exclusive sponsor, Wine Access – THE place to discover your next favorite bottle. Wine Access has highly allocated wines and incredible values, plus free shipping on orders of $150 or more. You can’t go wrong with Wine Access! Join the WFNP/Wine Access wine club and get 6 awesome bottles for just $150 four times a year. That includes shipping! When you become a member, you also get 10% all your purchases on the site. Go to wineaccess.com/normal to sign up!