Welcome back! We are strapping on our favourite bathing suits and heading to the beach with a bottle of rose or a cooler of rosé, who am I kidding?  Yep it's summer and we are going to talk about the Bandol today - so it's all things rosé.... and also don't forget about the very heavy tannic reds that they make here too, and whites. This episode is a deep dive on one of the best AOP's in Provence and what makes this wine special and delicious.  Of course I used some fabulous resources to help me out:  The Oxford Companion to Wine, 4th Edition by Jancis Robinson.  1001 W ..read more

This episode is called Cyprus but it really should be called Cyprus AKA Commandaria, the story of the worlds oldest wine still made today. We cover a lot in 23 minutes with this one - The Crusades, Monks, PDO laws, native grapes but I think that the real take away here is that if you come across wine from Cyprus drink it, because every time someone has a wine from Cyprus you are having a wine from one of the first places in the world to ever make wine, and that is f***ing cool.  I used some great resources here:  The Oxford Companion to Wine, 4th Edition by Jancis Robinson https ..read more

House Wine is back and we are going to finish off Season 2 with some fun wines!  I took a bit of an unannounced hiatus to catch up on  life and get reorganize but now I have some more episodes ready to go and I am looking forward to a new posting schedule and getting back to podcasting!  So have you ever wondered about the different kinds of Chablis? What makes Petit Chablis different from just plain old Chablis? Why people go crazy over this wine ... We are going to talk about it all, and in this episode we even get monks! What a way to kick things back off.  I used som ..read more

Welcome back nerds! This episode not only do we get to learn all about the emerging and exciting wine regions of British Columbia but we also get to back in time and glimpse into the angst ridden teenage years I spent on the West Coast... but mostly we just talk about the wines!  I used some great resources:  The Oxford Companion to Wine, 4th Edition by Jancis Robinson.  The World Atlas of Wine, 8th Edition by Jancis Robinson and Hugh Johnson  https://winebc.com/bc-wine-30yrs/ http://www.bcvqa.ca/wine-regions-of-bc/ And of course, I talk about some great wines:  ..read more

Here it is, another wine law episode!  I do spend quite a bit of time pontificating about how complicated the wine law is in South Africa before I get into the real topic itself... but suffice to say every time that I sit down and study this topic I get a headache. Hopefully if you are doing some studying this will help you on your way to understanding this region :)  I used some great resources:  The Oxford Companion to Wine, 4th Edition by Jancis Robinson.  https://www.wosa.co.za/home/ If you spot something that needs correcting or you would like to request an episod ..read more

***CORRECTION:  The soils in the Mosel valley are slate. Phylloxera does not like slate soils. For some reason I say schist in this episode.  Welcome back! This is a subject that comes up again and again every episode and that is Phylloxera, but what is it? This episode we are going to deep dive into the history of the French Wine Blight. Where this little bug came from, what it is up to today and how we adapted. My Sources for this show are: The Oxford Companion to Wine, 4th Edition by Jancis Robinson.  https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-019-54122-0 If you spot somethi ..read more

Yes, Cahors. The region that launched a thousand Malbecs. This week we are talking about what is in my opinion one of the most underrated, undervalued wines that France has to offer. This region has been copied, counterfeited, and undermined since Roman times. If you have ever said that you don't like Malbec, I am personally challenging you to take it back in this episode.  I used some great resources:  The Oxford Companion to Wine, 4th Edition by Jancis Robinson  http://www.grape-experiences.com/2019/10/old-world-style-malbec-cahors/ https://www.decanter.com/features/cahors ..read more

Just like when we talked about Cognac, I will preface this episode with saying that I know this is not a wine. BUT, Armagnac like it's more famous younger brother Cognac does in fact come form grapes and therefor it has a spot here on house wine. Not only that but there is a lot to unpack here. Including  history and Cardinals (which are basically fancy monks!)  I used some great resources here:  http://www.armagnac.fr/en https://www.cyranoarmagnac.com/blog/2016/the-history https://ilovewine.com/the-virtues-of-armagnac/ https://www.alcademics.com/2015/03/whats-the-differenc ..read more

Ok, most of this episode is dedicated to Cava - all the things that make Cava what it is that we didn't cover last episode: Appellations, ageing requirements and sweetness levels of Cava all make an appearance in this episode.  But we can't finish talking about Cava without wading through the quagmire of conflicting information that answers the question, "What is Classic Penedès and why is it not Cava?"  I would say that it is a question for the ages... but these appellations and rules are so fresh they have rules for wines that haven't even had the time to be made yet.  So ..read more

Better late than never! I wanted to have this episode out before New Years so we could all talk about sparkling wine together but alas... I had a lazy holiday and I decided not to continue this season until the New Year.  So Happy New Year I hope you had all the wine, all the mulled wine and all the sparkling wine!  This is Cava Part 1. What can you expect? History, Grape Profiles and Producers in this episode. Cheers and you see next week for part 2 where we talk about geography, soil and RULES! Fun!  I used some great resources here:  The Oxford Companion to Wine, 4th ..read more