Wine For Normal People Radio : Episode 022 Wine Translations -- A Wine By Any Other Name Is EXACTLY the Same (Grape, That Is!)

Not only do "Old World" (Europe) and the "New World" (everywhere else) have different approaches to making wine, it carries through right to the way they name stuff.

In this 'cast we explain the reason for this and cover some major European wine names and what's actually in them... All are grapes you know and love, just masquerading as some other name.

Here are the show notes:

Shout-Outs -Amazing reviews on iTunes, posts on the Facebook page, comments from here and replies on Twitter

Main topic:

• A quick explanation of why Europeans name wines by place... it's all about the Romans
• The whites: Chablis, Condrieu, Vouvray, Sancerre and more
• The reds: Bordeaux, Burgundy, Cote Rotie, Barolo, Rioja, and more
• And grape of the week: Torrontes - the floral, peachy, yet acidic white of Argentina

Need a translation we didn't discuss? Let us know what we missed.

Please drop a comment below or on Twitter @Normalwine or on the Wine For Normal People Facebook Page.

Click here or download the podcast below...

Wine Translations -- What Are You Drinking?

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Wine For Normal People Radio : Episode 019 How a Grape Becomes A Wine

By popular request...on this podcast we tackle the very nerdy topic of how wine is made. We tried to follow the flavor and not get too dorky about the technical details.

MC Ice guest hosts again but Rick is making a comeback very soon...he's been taking a hiatus to focus on some important business but I'm excited for his comeback!

Here are the show notes for this week:

Shoutouts to friends on Twitter, Facebook, iTunes, and commenters on email and on the blog




Main Topic: How a Grape Becomes a Wine

The Goal: talk about the important factors in winemaking without getting too technical! We tried to talk more about where flavor comes from in the process.

• It all starts in the vineyard: the importance of terroir
• Grape flavors
• Destemming and crushing and what they do to flavor
• Fermentation and how yeast can change the taste of wine
• Malolactic fermentation: What it is and why it matters
• Aging, another word on oak, and the tale of dead yeas
• Blending and why the winemaker is an artist

Click here or download the 'cast below...

Wine For Normal People Radio : Episode 019 How a Grape Becomes A Wine

Please leave us your feedback here (including show suggestions!), on the Wine For Normal People Facebook Page, and on Twitter @normalwine

Thanks for listening!

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Wine For Normal People Radio: Episode 16: The Wine Industry — The True Hollywood Story

Ok, we had another great week with guest host M.C. Ice.

On this one, I took a risk of alienating all my friends in the wine industry and offered my take on it, which seemed to me, before I got into it, to be very difficult to figure out from the outside. I give a few pointers and offer some hard truths about it (it's not as pretty as you may think when you're sitting behind your computer at your day job thinking about making a move into it). MC Ice was great to have around for this one, since he lived it with me while I was working for the big hulking winery!

Here are the show notes:

Shoutouts to friends on Twitter, Facebook, and commenters the blog

Main topic: Inside the Wine Industry

• · How does the wine industry work? -- Regulation, the three tier system, and how it functions

• A few ways you can get into the industry if you want to pursue it as a career

• The real scoop -- My opinions on how it's far from glitz and glamour. M.C. Ice and I share some personal experiences and tell it how it really is

• Personalities in the wine industry -- from the veteran to the lifestyle junkie, to the snobs, you'll find it all in this biz

• To sum it all up: think long and hard before diving into the wine industry...it's not too much different from any other business, despite what it looks like from the outside!

And...The Grape of the Week is Cabernet Franc

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Episode 16: The Wine Industry — The True Hollywood Story

To listen, download the podcast from the iTunes store (and if you like it please add a comment or rate it so we can make sure to stay on the radar, which helps other folks find us easily that would be great!), click the link above, or use the player below! Thanks for listening!

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An Interview With a Wine Snob: The Lasting Effects of Being Picked on at the Playground

Last week I was listening to NPR (I AM A HUGE NERD) and I caught an interview on this show called "The Splendid Table" with Lynne Rossetto Kasper. She was interviewing a famous wine writer, Matt Kramer, from the Wine Spectator (guide to all snootiness, self-congratulatory writing, and wine-snobbery...oops, did I say that?). I was about to run into the gym, but M.C. Ice and I had a driveway moment and stayed in my car for 6 minutes to listen to the interview.

I'm so glad I did. It's always nice to have some validation for my blog/business name...

Matt Kramer is a smart dude. He knows a butt-load about wine and he's got great ideas. But he MUST have been the kid that was picked on in the playground. I don't know how else you become such a pretentious, snobby, need-to-let-everyone-know-how-great-you-are guy. In this interview, Matt touched on a couple of things and, to my surprise, I agreed with everything he said. He's smart, he's an expert, I respect him for it. But the way he expressed his ideas just made my blood boil and my teeth gnash.

For example...

Matt talks about the polarization in the wine industry -- how it's divided into two camps these days. Of course, because everyone will understand these terms without explanation (NOT!), he calls these camps: "The Wines of Fear" and "The Wines of Conviction." I mean, that's great writing, no? You get it right away, right? Um, not so much. I feel like I'm listening to a political ad. He must of consulted with Obama's speech writer.

In plain English, the dude was saying
Wines of Fear = Big Corporate Wines that Try to Appeal to Lots of People to Move Wine/Make Cash and


Wines of Conviction = Little Producers that Love Making Wine and Hope Someone Buys It

I know we all like pithy catch-phrases, but c'mon. Isn't wine a vast, complex, and confusing enough topic? Must we layer on these meaningless, bullshit phrases rather than saying what we mean? In this instance, it's a simple enough concept. There are huge conglomerates that make kind of soul-less wine (but they also sometimes make great stuff too, BTW) and then there are little wineries that make kick-ass wine that we want to support when we can. Most of us do both, and we know the difference.

My problem is not with the idea -- it's patently true. I see it all the more clearly, especially because I worked for a monstrous winery and felt many of the wines were homogenized and tasted similar to each other because "the suits" were pandering to the common denominator in the market. My problem is the pretense and this need to label everything with 'winespeak' in over-annunciated diction that turns so many people OFF to wine. There is absolutely no normalcy in those labels or way of speaking. It's an exercise in superiority and condescension.

Further, this guy really has been living under a rock for a long time and living the good life. He chortles (yes, chortles) at the fact that he served an $8 Spanish Cava (sparking wine, awesome!) at his "not exactly low-rent" dinner party (he had to slip that in so we know he was hob-knobbing) and that his guests adored it. Don't the rest of us know that we can get great wines for $8? That's what this blog is mainly about! Why is he laughing that he "got-away" with serving an $8 bottle? He should probably be embarrassed that it was better than the $90 bottle he served later on!

I feel bad panning on the guy -- after all, he's someone's son, someone's friend, maybe someone's husband. So I'd like to say I'm using him as kind of a symbol. Like so many in the wine industry, he's really intelligent and makes great points, but my issue with him and people like him is that wine HAS democratized. It's not his and his "high-rent" buddies' game anymore, yet his affect, his manner, his condescension remind me of all the things that bug me about the wine industry. Everyone's a snot from time to time, but in the world of wine, there's no need to create this off-putting, snide, exclusionary way of speak and being -- Normal People don't need it and we shouldn't take it...not that I have an opinion on the matter.

Please listen to the interview and let me know what you think. Readmore »»