Wine for Normal People

This week I welcome Patron Robin Rigby Fisher, a Certified Master Kitchen and Bath Designer and Certified Aging in Place Specialist. Robin has a kitchen design firm in the Portland, Oregon metro area (called Robin Rigby Fisher Design).  She has been creating award winning kitchen and baths for more than 28 years and she comes to tell us about the various ways we organize our wine storage and her preferred solutions.

 

Once again, this amazing community provides us with fantastic expertise and a woman with a great personality who is willing to help us out with he...

Washington State is the second-largest wine producing state in the US with about 1,050 wineries making over 17 million cases of wine. In this show I cover the largest sub region of the Columbia Valley AVA, Yakima Valley AVA (and its sub-AVAs).

 

Map: Yakima Valley Tourism

 

Yakima is in south-central Washington, at 46˚  N latitude. In 1983 it became Washington State’s first federally-recognized AVA. Responsible for nearly 1/3 of Washington’s total planted land,  the major grapes in Yakima Valley are the American standards: Chardonnay, Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon, plus Riesling and Syrah.

 

<...

Wait, I thought you only covered wine in this podcast? I do! And guess what? Vermouth is wine.

 

Vermouth is an aromatized, fortified wine flavored with botanicals like roots, herbs, barks, flowers, seeds, and spices. Although aromatized beverages have been around for millennia, vermouth's origins lie in the Kingdom of Savoie in the 1700s, first in Torino, Italy and then in Chambéry, France. 

Photo: Botanicals. Credit: Unsplash

 

First offered in apothecaries for the healing properties of wormwood, the main botanical in Italian vermouth, royal courts and then high...

Right now, it’s so hot in much of the country, it’s hard to get creative about anything, let alone a new wine that may provide some refreshment. That’s what I’m here for! Ok, maybe not just me…this is a list that comes from the Patrons in answer to our weekly discussion question about what they drink when the weather gets hot.

 

I added a few in for good measure, but this is the list of what the best and smartest community in wine has in their glasses when the sun beats down...

Cinsault or Cinsaut is a grape you’ve probably rarely heard of, but if you drink Provence or southern French rosé you have it all the time! The grape is planted widely in the south of France, but the grape’s biggest champions are in the New World, where Cinsault is getting new attention for making light, acidic, refreshing reds.

 

This is a warm-climate grape, that actually thrives in dry and hot places. This grape is essential to our changing climate -- it retains acidity with low sugars even in the hottest conditions, providing a lifted...

There are a seemingly endless number of wines made from grapes from all over. But, surprisingly, what remains in the world is just a fraction of what once existed. Before downy mildew, powdery mildew, phylloxera, and the World Wars of the 20th century hit the shores of Europe, destroying vineyards of native vines, there were likely hundreds of thousands of grape varieties with millions of clones. The biodiversity and possibilities for great wine were even greater than they are today.

 

But there is a movement afoot to revive grape varieties that are nearly extinct. It s...

This show chronicles my recent trip with a group of Patrons to Sicily with my travel partner tour with Tourissimo. I take you through our odyssey, which had us traversing the entire island from west in Palermo to the center of the island to the southeast in Vittoria to Mount Etna. 

I discuss the themes I noticed throughout like interesting climatic quirks that the quality regions share, the amazing culture and hospitality, and the uniqueness of the wines on this beautiful island and more. 

 

I hope you enjoy this recap and it gives you...

This week I welcome long-time Patron and listener, Bevis Sydney, who is not only a wine educator in the UK, but also a movie buff. He and I give our views on the top 8 wine movies, according to a poll of the Patron community and general consensus from the press on the top wine movies.

 

We discuss:

·      Sideways (2004)

·      A Good Year (2006)

·      Wine Country (2019)

·      Bottle Shock (2008)

·      Somm (2012)

·      A Year in Burgundy (2013)

·      Sour Grapes (2016)

·      Mondovino (2004)

 

Remember – movies, like wine, are subjective. You don’t have to agree w...

As part of the series on the The Greats (the great wines of the world), I cover the complex world of Hungarian Tokaji. As with all dives into “The Greats,” I spend the first half of the show delving into the history of Tokaj and then discuss winemaking, the grapes, and the complex way in which this wine is made.

 

Some notes that may be hard to understand (since I obviously know no Hungarian!):

 

 

The main grapes in the wine are:

Furmint (Foor-mint) 60-70% of Tokaj plantings Hárslevelű...

As part of the series on the The Greats (the great wines of the world), I cover the complex world of Hungarian Tokaji. As with all dives into “The Greats,” I spend the first half of the show delving into the history of Tokaj and then discuss winemaking, the grapes, and the complex way in which this wine is made.

 

Some notes that may be hard to understand (since I obviously know no Hungarian!):

 

 

The main grapes in the wine are:

Furmint (Foor-mint) 60-70% of Tokaj plantingsHárslevelű (Harsh-lev...