Ep 542: Franciacorta -- Italy's Elite Sparkling Wine Region
Wine for Normal People
With the holidays coming, I thought it would be a good time to do a show on a different kind of sparkling wine, so this time I cover Italy’s premier traditional method sparkling wine, Franciacorta. Map: Consorzio per la tutela del Franciacorta Franciacorta is a high quality Italian sparkling wine made in the area of Brescia in Lombardy (the Italian region where Milan is located). Franciacorta, as a sparkling wine, came into being in the 1960s but it didn’t take long for it to gain a favorable reputation, which still holds today. With very distinctive geographical features and...
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Ep 541: Top Tips for Attending a Wine Event with Patron Monica G.
Wine for Normal People
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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ENCORE Presentation: Ep 396 - A Tasting of Halloween Candy Pairings (and why candy and wine don't mix)
Wine for Normal People
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...
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Ep 540: Chile Overview -- The Update
Wine for Normal People
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...
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Ep 539: The Grape Mini-Series -Sauvignon Blanc Refresh
Wine for Normal People
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: Grown in more than 30 countries,...
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Ep 538: The Grape Mini-Series - Cabernet Franc Refresh
Wine for Normal People
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...
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Ep 537: 10 Outstanding White Wines for Fall
Wine for Normal People
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...
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Ep 536: Cinsault Master Alex Milner of Natte Valleij - A winning breakaway for South African Wine
Wine for Normal People
In this show I host Alex Milner from He is my first South African guest and the first Cinsault-focused producer I've had on the show. Photo: Alex Milner. Credit: I first learned about from a local importer who presented the wine as an option for a wine dinner I put together with a restaurant partner. Among all the wines I tasted that day, the Cinsault from this South African producer stood out and it performed beautifully with the food at the dinner, as well. The wine inspired me to do a Grape Miniseries show on Cinsault (episode 525), and the interest among the Patrons in this...
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Ep 535: The Grape Mini-Series -- Cabernet Sauvignon Refresh
Wine for Normal People
Cabernet Sauvignon is the most planted wine grape in the world. Loved by winemakers and wine drinkers alike, this grape has the potential to make wines with excellent fruit, power, complexity, and structure with outstanding aging ability. In this show, I do a refresh of a show I did 11 years ago (!), discussing Cabernet in all its glory – from the history, to the vineyard, to the winemaking and regions, it’s a deep dive into this beloved grape. In this show I review: The (relatively recent) history of Cabernet How the grape acts in the vineyard and what growers need to do to get great...
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Ep 534: Back to Basics...Terms for Describing Wine. Part 2 -Taste & Texture Words
Wine for Normal People
In this show, I continue to take a page out of my own book -- literally! In this back to basics show, I return to review basic wine vocabulary from chapter 1 of the "Wine For Normal People" book and introduce a new series that I'll be doing now that I'm hosting the show alone... This Back to Basics series is my updated take on some basics, without distraction or interruption, and with the perspective of 20 years in the wine industry and 16 years of teaching others about wine. In Part 2, I cover "taste" and "structure" words, which are some of the most misunderstood and...
info_outlineAfter more hairy details on our crazy and delayed move, and a shout out to UNC Business School, our alma mater for helping when things got tough, we discuss the topic: Glass bottles, which are the most common container for finished wine and their evolution is fascinating!
Photo: Pexels
History
- Antiquity – long jars/amphora
- Romans invented blowing glass –maybe used to serve wine
- 1636 – first time glass bottles in post-Roman Britain
- 1690 – 1720 a typical bottle looked like an onion!
- In the 1730s, binning (storage on wine on its side) became popular and that made cork a better closure – kept cork wet and not dried out. The cylindrical shape was popularized!
Glass making and glass size
- Bottle glass is made by heating together sand harvested from dunes, sodium carbonate, and limestone. If recycled bottles are used, they’re crushed, which hastens the melting process. Furnaces get to 2,700˚F temps to heat glass enough so you can shape it!
- Size: Larger bottles = slower aging
- Standard: 750 ml, half/split is 375 ml
- Magnum: 2 bottles (1.5 L)
- Jerobaum: 4 bottles (3 L)
- Rehoboam: 6 bottles (4.5L)
- Methuselah: 8 bottles (6 L)
- Salmanazar: 12 bottles (9 L)
- Balthazar: 16 bottles (12 L)
- Nebuchadnezzar: 20 bottles (15 L)
- (I forgot to mention Melchior! 24 bottles)
The Marketing behind bottles…
- Regions adopt a specific bottle size and shape
- Thicker glass makes a bottle stronger, which is useful for sparkling, and large-format bottles, but for most wines it’s for perception and the extra cost is passed on to you
- Shapes:
- Burgundy bottles – sloping shoulders, long neck
- Bordeaux – big shoulders
- Flutes – no punt
- Champagne bottles – thick because they have to protect 6 atmospheres of pressure
- Punt: is an inverse indentation. This is important for stability in Champagne bottles, but doesn’t matter for other bottles. A deep punt requires more glass to make, again the cost is passed to us! The flute shape has no punt!
- We wrap with a discussion of bottle color – from brown, to dark green, to deadleaf to clear, we break it all down!
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