Spanish Wine Experience

A fun, yet educational, alcoholic journey through the Spanish world of wine. Join us as we drink our way through what this country, and this city, have to offer!

SWE Ep. 190 - Redefining Rioja 12/20/2024

SWE Ep. 190 - Redefining Rioja It's almost Christmas! So to end off the year prior to this festive we are heading back to the big boy himself: La Rioja. Things have been changing in the last couple of years. So with a bottle of Brunes by Bodegas Vivanco in our glasses, we chat singular vineyards, village wines, intriguing grapes and bubbles! /episode/index/show/spanishwineexperience/id/34427235

SWE Ep. 189 - Cabernet Franc 12/13/2024

SWE Ep. 189 - Cabernet Franc A slightly differente episode today. We decide to celebrate International Cab Franc Day by diving into the life and history of this French grape. Or...is it French? We sample a bottle of Abadal Franc from the tiny Catalan DO of Pla de Bagès! /episode/index/show/spanishwineexperience/id/34427210

SWE Ep. 188 - Almeria 12/05/2024

SWE Ep. 188 - Almeria Yee haw and giddy up! This week Roque and Luke head down to the depths of Almeria, towards the long coast of southeast Spain to a winery making a delicious red in the middle of cowboy country. Sierra Almagrera is a blended tinto from a region not usually famed for viticulture, so is it any good? /episode/index/show/spanishwineexperience/id/34299765

SWE Ep. 187 - Sweet Canary Wine! 11/20/2024

SWE Ep. 187 - Sweet Canary Wine! Today Roque and Luke talk vertical tastings, wine events, and enjoy a very rare bottle of one of the finest sweet wines they've ever tried. Dulce Salmor from the Viña Frontera COOP on the tiny island of El Hierro. Truly amazing stuff! /episode/index/show/spanishwineexperience/id/34035494

SWE Ep. 186 - Spain's Newest DO! Campo de Calatrava 11/13/2024

SWE Ep. 186 - Spain's Newest DO! Campo de Calatrava That's right, Spain has recently welcomed into the Denominación de Origen family another new regulated wine region. Eagle-eyed listeners might recognise the name as this used to be a VT. But not any more. So we crack a bottle of Phoenix by Quinta de Aves and talk all things DO! /episode/index/show/spanishwineexperience/id/33912542

SWE Ep. 185 - Zalema/Listan: Two Grapes from Huelva 03/12/2024

SWE Ep. 185 - Zalema/Listan: Two Grapes from Huelva Time for a weird grape double edition. Huelva, an episode we have been to before years ago, known for its sherry-esque wines and sweet vinos. We have a bottle of Líbero, a fascinating 50/50 blend of two grapes only found in this Andalusian hideaway: Zalema and Listan de Huelva. Enjoy! /episode/index/show/spanishwineexperience/id/30337128

SWE Ep. 184 - Details Matter... 02/06/2024

SWE Ep. 184 - Details Matter... Regions, grapes, statistics, numbers, facts and figures; over the last few years we've covered a lot. So, over a bottle of very alcoholic red wine (Loxarel OPS) this week we have decided to compile all the main stats of the Spanish wine world. ALL of them! Lots of pub quiz answers to be found. /episode/index/show/spanishwineexperience/id/29821118

SWE Ep. 183 - Basque Bubbles! 01/29/2024

SWE Ep. 183 - Basque Bubbles! Roque loves sparkling wines. Luke loves the Basque Country. If only there was a way to bring these two things together. Well there is! The Pais Vasco is famous for its crisp white wines, but a few producers are making reds, roses, sweet wines and bubbles. This week a bottle of Izar Leku accompanies a podcast full of wine, history, and the usual ridiculous jokes! /episode/index/show/spanishwineexperience/id/29690613

SWE Ep. 182 - Weird Grapes: Forastera 01/24/2024

SWE Ep. 182 - Weird Grapes: Forastera Time for another episode of 'what the hell grape is that?!' Roque spent New Year in the Canary Islands, lucky bugger, but he still did his job and brought us back a bottle of something weird from Tenerife using a very rare grape from another island entirely: Forastera! /episode/index/show/spanishwineexperience/id/29625753

SWE Ep. 181 - WE'RE BACK! Feat. Underwater Wine 01/10/2024

SWE Ep. 181 - WE'RE BACK! Feat. Underwater Wine We. Are. Back. We have been away since March 2023! Why? Where were we? What have we been up to? All will be explained. Also, we enjoy an amazing gift from listeners Sheree and Ian; an Albariño aged...underwater?? /episode/index/show/spanishwineexperience/id/29425058

SWE Ep. 180 - Malaga 03/28/2023

SWE Ep. 180 - Malaga A SHOCKING DISCOVERY! We never got round to recording a podcast about Malaga and its delicous sweet, fortified, aged, oxidised wines. We did Sierras de Malaga years ago, but not Malaga DO. After facepalming Roque and Luke get down to business with a bottle of Vino Maestro from Bodega Doña Felisa and chat all things boozy from the Costa del Sol! /episode/index/show/spanishwineexperience/id/26367162

SWE Ep. 179 - All About Garnacha! 03/20/2023

SWE Ep. 179 - All About Garnacha! Welcome to a new version of an old podcast that was lost. Sounds kind of mysterious right? Years ago Roque and Luke did a podcast all about the grape Garnacha. It was lost in the cloud and never uploaded properly. So, now with a shop full of that grape, they return to the wonderful world of the Garnacha grape! /episode/index/show/spanishwineexperience/id/26279373

SWE Ep. 178 - Vermut, again.... 03/03/2023

SWE Ep. 178 - Vermut, again.... We're back on the vermouth again! Not since back in 2018 have we focused on this amazing Spanish delicacy. And back then, prior to our shop, we didn't know what we know now and we didn't have our own vermut! This week we want to go over Spanish vermouth again, but with more knowledge and market experience. And, of course, we be drinkin' /episode/index/show/spanishwineexperience/id/26118765

SWE Ep. 177 - Spanish Alternatives 02/17/2023

SWE Ep. 177 - Spanish Alternatives So, you're visiting Spain, or perhaps you just fancy something español for dinner to mix it up a bit, but don't know what to choose. You like Cab Sav, or maybe a Chianti. So what would be a Spanish version of that? This week Roque and Luke dive into Spanish alternatives to most the main grapes and regions around the world. /episode/index/show/spanishwineexperience/id/25964751

SWE Ep. 176 - Tostado do Ribeiro 02/03/2023

SWE Ep. 176 - Tostado do Ribeiro FINALLY! After years of trying to locate this wine, painstaking effort of behalf of us pestering distributors, we managed to get one: a bottle of Tostado do Ribeiro from bodega Viña Costeira up in DO Ribeiro. It also, happily, timed well with a recent visit to the Galician wine region itself. So time to revisit a little this odlest of DOs and sample, for the first time, this mythical sweet wine! /episode/index/show/spanishwineexperience/id/25823823

SWE Ep. 175 - Christmas-NY Round Up 2022 12/21/2022

SWE Ep. 175 - Christmas-NY Round Up 2022 Another year in the shop, another year in wine, and other year in the world of wine. What’s changed? What have we enjoyed drinking and what have been the highs and lows of this most bizarre year! Roque and Luke have already been drinking as they dive headfirst into the 2022 round up. See you in 2023! /episode/index/show/spanishwineexperience/id/25326786

SWE Ep. 174 - Sierra Sur de Jaen 12/14/2022

SWE Ep. 174 - Sierra Sur de Jaen A wonderfully niche Vino de la Tierra this week. About as niche as you can get. Vino de la Tierra Sierra Sur de Jaen. Quite the mouthful! Deep down in the depths of eastern Andalucia is a tiny mountain viticultural area with only a couple of winemakers. The wine? Malaostia - great name - from Bodegas Cefrian. Also, there's a lot of olive chat. /episode/index/show/spanishwineexperience/id/25326573

SWE Ep. 173 - Valles de Benavente 12/08/2022

SWE Ep. 173 - Valles de Benavente Roque and Luke managed to find another of the rare Vino de Calidad regional wines. On a recent trip to the Leon area in the northwest, Luke picked up a bottle of Prieto Picudo red from the miniscule Valles de Benavente region. Bodega Otero's 2014 reserva in fact! The question is, where the hell is the region and who's there making wine anyway? Well, let's find out! /episode/index/show/spanishwineexperience/id/25265406

SWE Ep. 172 - Pago de Tharsys 11/10/2022

SWE Ep. 172 - Pago de Tharsys Another Vino de Pago here; one we've been enjoying for quite some time now as they do things a little different in this winery. Tucked away in DO Utiel-Requena is Pago Tharsys. They have a range of 'standard DO' wines as well as their own sparkling Cavas. But they also have a handful of DO Pago wines. In this case their rather accentric nocturnally harvested Albariño! /episode/index/show/spanishwineexperience/id/24971067

SWE Ep. 171 - Very Old Wines 10/11/2022

SWE Ep. 171 - Very Old Wines How old can wine be? Should we be buying wine and waiting? What makes a wine worthy of ageing? All these burning questions will be answered as Roque and Luke sampling wines from the 1960s! Yes, that's right, booze that has been sleeping for almost sixty years! Thanks to Toro Albala and their creations from D.O. Montilla-Moriles! /episode/index/show/spanishwineexperience/id/24650421

SWE Ep. 170 - Weird Grapes: Cayetana 09/26/2022

SWE Ep. 170 - Weird Grapes: Cayetana This week Roque and Luke try perhaps the most influential grape no-one's ever heard of and that you'll rarely find: Cayetana. Though, as you'll find out - hell, as they'll find out - it goes by many names and has been a historic figure hiding in the shadows for centuries. /episode/index/show/spanishwineexperience/id/24492663

SWE Ep. 169 - Terroir 09/20/2022

SWE Ep. 169 - Terroir Ah yes, terroir, that most mysterious of words. So vague, so pretentious, so winey, so French. But, credit where credit is due, it is a great concept, an important concept and a useful way to think about wine. This week we talk about the idea of terroir by trying a new project from a winemaker who likes to play. Three tempranillos, made in the same way, but from three different provinces in the same region. Will we taste terroir in action? /episode/index/show/spanishwineexperience/id/24433488

SWE Ep. 168 - Fiestas de la Vendimia! 09/03/2022

SWE Ep. 168 - Fiestas de la Vendimia! It's party time in many parts of Spain! And why? Well, it's the vendimia, the grape harvest. And Roque is about to head down to one; we all hope he makes it back alive. This week we want to take you through some of the best and most alocholic wine-fiestas in Spain! /episode/index/show/spanishwineexperience/id/24262497

SWE Ep. 167 - Summer Special! 08/15/2022

SWE Ep. 167 - Summer Special! Happy Summer everybody!! Lordy lordy it has been hot here in Spain the last few weeks, and we are still way off the cool days. Roque and Luke are on their holidays, so, to celebrate the season, they have thought up their perfect Spanish summer boxes for you to enjoy! /episode/index/show/spanishwineexperience/id/24058557

SWE Ep. 166 - Beyond Cava 07/26/2022

SWE Ep. 166 - Beyond Cava This week bubbles! So you know Roque is happy. And not just any bubbles. It's not Cava, it's not CORPINNAT, it's not even from the peninsula! A sparkling wine from...Lanzarote! That's right; there's more to Spanish sparkling wine than you'd think at first glance. To dive into the theme the boys have a sparkler from Los Bermejos winery. /episode/index/show/spanishwineexperience/id/23865354

SWE Ep. 165 - VT Betanzos 07/12/2022

SWE Ep. 165 - VT Betanzos Betanzos? What's a Betanzos when it's at home? Well, it's a small town in the far north of Galicia near the crashing Atlantic coast, and not an area usually associated with wine. Yet historically there was wine there and a few winemakers created VT Betanzos in an effort to promote their vinos! Conexión Mandeo is the bottle they'll being trying; a white wine with a weird grape! /episode/index/show/spanishwineexperience/id/23720060

SWE Ep. 164 - Back to Priorat 07/05/2022

SWE Ep. 164 - Back to Priorat As with many Spanish regions, back in 2019, just before the pandemic, Priorat underwent some big classification and structural changes. So we thought, given it's been a while, it was time to head back to Priorat and see what's going on. To accompany us a Vi de Vila from Cims de Porerra! /episode/index/show/spanishwineexperience/id/23635562

SWE Ep. 163 - All about Albariño 06/04/2022

SWE Ep. 163 - All about Albariño It's time for another grape-centric podcast. We have alreasdy covered Garnacha and Tempranillo and now it's time for the King of the white grapes Albariño. To dive into the history, flavours, styles and regions of this fantastic grape they sample a Valencian version from Bodegas Hispano-Suizas. /episode/index/show/spanishwineexperience/id/23325170

SWE Ep. 162 - VC Cebreros 05/28/2022

SWE Ep. 162 - VC Cebreros VC Cebreros - how did this region escape us for so long?! Just out west, over the Madrid border, is a high altitude mountainous Vino de Calidad wine region called Cebreros up in the Sierra de Gredos. Today, with special guest Rick Fisher SWS, we sample a bottle of Viña de Ayer Albillo from winemaker SotoManrique! /episode/index/show/spanishwineexperience/id/23254544

SWE Ep. 161 - Weird Grapes: Maturana Blanca 05/07/2022

SWE Ep. 161 - Weird Grapes: Maturana Blanca Maturana what now? Yes, that's right; we're back with another weird grape. This week it's a vitually non-planted and unknown white variety from Rioja. The crazy thing is that it's one of the oldest in the region! Roque and Luke are enjoying a bottle of Clipeo; an organic small production fancy pants bottle. /episode/index/show/spanishwineexperience/id/23035985

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