Wine For Normal People Radio Episode 015 Wine Shopping 101: How to break down a wine store

Big surprise this week...M.C. Ice's dreams of being a real M.C. materialize (he's not an M.C. or a D.J., just a normal dude who is cool but slightly dorky yet patient and kind enough to be married to me!)!

Rick had to take a hiatus this week so M.C. Ice filled in and I decided to take the opportunity to tell him a few things I've been meaning to tell him for a while...about wine shopping, of course (fortunately we have no dirty laundry, so that's as scandalous as it gets around here!).

Here are the show notes:

• Shout-outs - Some great Twitter replies and Facebook posts

Main Topic

• M.C. Ice confronts his fear of the Wall of Wine (WoW) and admits that he shops by label (gasp! The dude clearly hasn't learned much through osmosis!)
  
• This time it's personal: I take the bull by the horns and try to teach M.C. Ice how to break down the store so he starts bringing home some better wines
• We talk about the key questions to ask yourself before you even get in the store. "Why am I here?" is a good place to start. Shopping with a purpose is essential.
  
• We then get into the importance of deciding on the type of wine you want -- from color, to sweetness level, to weight, to style by wine producing country.

Quick addendum to the 'cast...
I realized that we talked about wine weights but then never gave examples. Here are some examples of light/medium/heavy whites and reds for reference...

Whites:
Light: Pinot Grigio, Albariño, Vinho Verde, Muscadet (from the Loire Valley)
Medium: Sauvignon Blanc, unoaked Chardonnay, dry Riesling, Verdejo, Grüner Veltliner
Heavy: Oaky Chardonnay, Viognier, most Chenin Blanc, the wines of Alsace (Pinot Gris, Riesling, Gewurztraminer)

Reds:
Light: some Grenache, Cotes-du-Rhone, some Pinot Noir, some Barbera
Medium: most Bordeaux, most Merlot, some Pinot Noir/red Burgundy, Dolcetto from Italy, Cabernet Franc, Chianti, Rioja
Heavy: California Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot, Zinfandel, Petit Sirah, Monastrell from Spain, Barolo from Italy

Hope that helps!

• Grape of the Week: Verdejo from Rueda in North Central Spain -- a great alternative white, kind of like Sauvignon Blanc, but with a bite.

• Share your wine shopping experiences on Facebook or comment here

Here's the link: PODCAST

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