This show kicks off a multi-part, in-depth series on the Rioja DOCa. We will look at the three major zones of Rioja in the podcasts that follow. In each, I host top producers to tell us their perspectives on their zones and on Rioja at large.

To get you up to speed before my conversation with Guillermo de Aranzabal Bittner, the Deputy General Director and Director of Public Relations for La Rioja Alta S.A., I start out the show with a quick primer on Rioja. I cover everything from climate and terroir, the grapes, the aging criteria, and the terroir driven designations that were introduced in 2017-2018.

Then I get to my lively conversation with Guillermo de Aranzabal Bittner. Guillermo is a descendent of one of the founding families of La Rioja Alta and is part of the 6th generation in the business. He educates us on the Rioja Alta zone - its terroir, history, and the grapes in which it specializes.

Guillermo then tells us about La Rioja Alta, which was formed in 1890 as a partnership of 5 quality-conscious growers focused on getting the wines of their remote region to the masses. They achieved this by supporting the construction of a rail link from Haro to Bilbao and thus, opened the world to these marvelous wines. They have a laser focus on quality and on maintaining tradition -- the dedication is admirable!

The brands of La Rioja Alta S.A. that Guillermo discusses are:

• La Rioja Alta: Gran reserva 890, Gran Reserva 904 Seleccion Especial, Viña Arana, Viña Ardanza, Viña Alberdi
• Torre de Oña (Rioja Alavesa): Finca Martelo, Finca San Martin Crianza

Guillermo and I then discuss some of the challenges currently facing Rioja, and we get deep into the analysis of what is working and what isn't. It's a great discussion!

As promised, here is the list of producers in the Asociación de Bodegas por la Calidad (ABC) that we mention.

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

In this show we answer a question I get asked all the time: how do I even begin to approach a wine event with dozens of producers? Patron Monica G. from @wineshenanigans and @wineopardy (and the Celebrity Wines podcast!) joins to help me break it down!

We cover:

• Finding a worthwhile event to attend
• Preparing for the event -- both from a logistics and research standpoint
• What to do at the event
• Post-event items

And we add a bonus section for professionals attending trade events!

We hope this is a fun and useful show for anyone interested in going to a wine event.

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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 just what you need for holiday shopping -- gift cards and gift subscriptions (for one or many shipments) of the WFNP wine club! And for 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

From the archives, I am relaunching the funniest show I've ever done: Ep 396 -Halloween Candy Pairings with Patrons Kelsey and Colby Eliades.

We scoured the internet to find commonly recommended pairings, so we could actually try them and tell you if any of these things actually work. The news isn’t great (candy and wine are HORRIBLE together), but we did find a few diamonds in the rough, including an extremely surprising combo that I thought could be lethal!

Here are the combos we tested…

• Pop rocks with Prosecco

• Candy corn with Prosecco and Moscato d’Asti

• Gummy worms with Rosé

• Sour Patch Kids with off-dry Riesling

• Starburst and Moscato d’Asti

• Twizzlers, and Swedish Fish with Beaujolais

• Kit Kat with Pinot Noir

• Peppermint Patties with Syrah

• Reese’s Peanut Butter cups and Reese’s Pieces with Lambrusco

• Hershey's bars and Whoppers with Zinfandel

• Port-style Zinfandel with M&Ms, Snickers, Twix, Heath bar

And, so concludes my attempt at pairing wine with Halloween candy. We did the encore, I am so thankful for Kelsey and Colby for participating, and now I'm never doing this again 😂😂😂!

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

I haven't done an overview show on Chile in more than a decade so this show is an update on the unbelievable wines of Chile -- I cover new regions, new viticulture and styles, and all the wonderful things this South American gem has to offer. If you haven't had Chilean wine in a while, it's time to take another look. Especially in the last decade, the wines and vines have matured and the diversity, quality, and breadth of what this country has to offer has improved by leaps and bounds.

In the show cover:

• A history of Chilean wine
• Climate and the east-to-west climate zones
• Grapes and new viticultural techniques
• The DO system
• Regions and Subregions
  • Atacama: Huasco
  • Coquimbo: Elqui, Limarí, Choapa
  • Aconcagua with the Costa areas of Casablanca and San Antonio (with sub region Leyda)
  • Valle Central: Maipo, Rapel (with sub regions Cachapoal and Colchagua), Curicó, Maule
  • Sur: Itata, Bio Bio, Malleco
  • Austral region

After the whirlwind wine grand tour of the country, I discuss a few reasons why Chilean wine should absolutely be on our radars and in our cellars (and it's not just for value!).

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

This is the third in the series of Grape Miniseries Refreshes to complete the trifecta of Cabernet Sauvignon and parents – Cabernet Franc and Sauvignon Blanc.

The short of it: Sauvignon blanc has character!! Love it or hate it, you know what you’re getting when you have a wine made from this grape. Whether it be citrusy, acidic, and minerally from Loire, fruitier and sometimes oak aged from Bordeaux, or pungent, spicy, and grapefruit-noted from New Zealand, this grape makes and impact wherever it goes.

Photo: Sauvignon Blanc. Credit: Austrian Wine

Grown in more than 30 countries, Sauvignon blanc is the 11th most planted wine grape in the world. (OIV, 2017). One third of Sauvignon blanc is in France, with New Zealand a close second.

As with every grape, Sauvignon blanc has its quirks, but the grape is all about purity, rather than winemaking magic. With specific soils and sites this grape’s beauty shines through in its crystal-clear flavors. Sauvignon is appreciated for its simplicity, its ease of drinking and its versatility – the grape makes dry whites, oaky whites, simple whites, more complex ones, Sauternes and other botrytis affected wines. Whatever it’s used it, it makes a mark with great acidity and strong flavor.

In this show I cover:

• The origins and DNA of the grape
• Sauvignon Blanc in the vineyard
• Aromas and flavors
• Main Regions:
  • France: Loire (Sancerre, Pouilly-Fumé), Bordeaux
  • Spain, especially Rueda
  • Italy: Piedmont, Friuli, Alto Adige
  • Austria, especially Styria
  • New Zealand!!! Synonymous with Sauvignon Blanc
  • Chile
  • South Africa
  • United States: Especially California's North Coast -- Napa, Sonoma, and Washington

I cover food pairings and serving temperatures too.

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

The Cabernet Sauvignon refresh was episode 535, so I thought that on the heels of that it was time to do a refresh Cab Sauv's parents. This week is the Cabernet Franc refresh and next week will be Sauvignon Blanc, so you can have the full picture of the parents and the offspring.

Cabernet Franc is an underrated grape and things seem to be changing rapidly with it these days. In the past, it has often been used purely as a blending grape, except in the Loire Valley, but today it’s taking center stage. Producers and wine drinkers have realized that if the best wines of Château Cheval Blanc on the Right Bank of Bordeaux, have a higher proportion of Cabernet Franc, maybe there is something to this grape that should be explored.

Although Cab Franc still doesn’t have widespread popular acclaim, it is extremely important in the wine world. Today –it grows everywhere from France, Italy, the United States, Chile, Argentina, Canada, Hungary, Washington State, Croatia, Israel, South Africa, Turkey, Slovenia, Uruguay, and more. Plantings are growing and I see a bigger future for this grape.

In this show I cover:

• The origins and DNA of the grape
• Cab Franc in the vineyard
• Aromas and flavors
• Regions:
  • France: Loire, Bordeaux, Southwest France
  • Italy: Veneto, Friuli Venezia Giulia, Bolgheri
  • Hungary: Villány
  • Canada
  • United States: Finger Lakes, Long Island, Virginia, and a little bit on Napa, Sonoma, and Washington
  • South America: Argentina, Chile

I cover food pairings and serving temperatures too.

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

According to all the data – both anecdotal and industry –white wines have staged a huge comeback and are on the way to becoming more popular than red wines. The good news is that there are so many underrated, undiscovered white wines that you can enjoy year-round. Many of us drink seasonally, and when the weather cools down, we shift right to reds. It’s hard to get into the idea that there are also whites for cooler weather.

In this show I give you a list of 10 white wines that are great for autumn. They are slightly more robust, are medium to full bodied, and are flavorful and totally satisfying.

At the excellent suggestion of the Patrons, I categorized the show by wines that are easy to find, wines for which you may have to go to specialty shop, and those you probably are going to need to order online.

Special thanks to Trish Riggs at Allegria Wine Room in Logan, Ohio – friend and Patron, for okaying the list!

Pairings and some producers are mentioned in the show.

I got through three categories for your shopping convenience!

• Easy to find: Among the list is Chardonnay (new and improved!), Portuguese white, and Gewürztraminer
• Harder to find: I include white Rioja, Austrian Riesling, and more
• Really hard to find (you probably need to order online): Condrieu and aged Hunter Valley Semillon from Australia make the list.

There are so many more but I mention…Soave, Amontillado Sherry, Sauternes and more

Happy Autumn! Enjoy these whites and I hope you find new favorites!