Wine for Normal People

This week I go in depth on one of the best value regions of Portugal -- Alentejo. These wines are mainly blends and they are as easy on the palate as they are on the wallet -- a perfect combo!  Photo: Vineyards in Alentejo outside of Évora. Credit: WFNP   Located in southern Portugal, a two hour drive east of Lisbon, Alentejo is huge -- representing almost one-third of the Iberian nation. Although in the past the region was known only as the breadbasket of Portugal and as the world's largest supplier of cork (nearly half of the world’s  corks come from Alentejo's cork trees), today the region is experiencing a wine renaissance. After a rocky history, Alentejo has grown and its reputation has expanded with it.    Known for fruity, lush and plush red blends (about 75% of the wine) of grapes like Alicante Bouschet, Aragonez (Tempranillo), Trincadeira, Alfrochero, and Castelão, there are some higher end versions that sometimes contain Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot or Syrah as well. The whites are in the minority and are fruity, soft, yet balanced blends as well. The tropical, tangerine noted and soft Antão Vaz is Alentejo’s most important white with Arinto used for acidity, Fernão Pires for aroma and soft textures and Roupeiro for aroma as well.  Map: Rota dos Vinhos, from the Wines of Alentejo [https://www.vinhosdoalentejo.pt/en/]   This show covers all the bases on this fascinating region -- from its turbulent history to the climate, terroir, and the many DOPs that each have a distinct identiy.    Full show notes and all back episodes are on Patreon. Join the community today! [https://www.patreon.com/winefornormalpeople] https://www.patreon.com/winefornormalpeople www.patreon.com/winefornormalpeople [https://www.patreon.com/winefornormalpeople] _______________________________________________________________   This show is brought to you by my exclusive sponsor, Wine Access – THE place to discover your next favorite bottle. Wine Access has highly allocated wines and incredible values, plus free shipping on orders of $150 or more. You can’t go wrong with Wine Access! Join the WFNP/Wine Access wine club and get 6 awesome bottles for just $150 four times a year. That includes shipping! When you become a member, you also get 10% all your purchases on the site. Go to wineaccess.com/normal [https://www.wineaccess.com/normal] to sign up!  https://www.wineaccess.com/normal

This is the second in the Greats series on Bordeaux. This time, the first, most southerly, and most famed commune of the Médoc, Margaux. Surely this is one of the world’s greatest regions, with the only major appellation with a château named after the region, Château Margaux. Margaux is a 1,500 ha/3,700 acre communal appellation on the Left Bank of Bordeaux, 25 km/15 miles north of the city of Bordeaux in the Médoc. Margaux is the largest Médoc AOC, representing 9% of Medoc vineyards and an average of 6.5 million bottles yearly, depending on vintage. Due to its size, the region has varied soils, and that means that as much as people like to generalize about Margaux being elegant and pretty, it’s not as simple as that.   In this show, I cover everything about Margaux -- history, terroir, climate, sustainability, and then the top Châteaux. I break it down into digestible bites and try to convince you that these wines are certainly something that you must try!    H [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bordeaux_Wine_Official_Classification_of_1855]ere is a link to the 1855 Classification [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bordeaux_Wine_Official_Classification_of_1855] Here are the Châteaux that are open to the public [https://margaux-wines.com/wine-tourism/]   __________________________________________ Full show notes and all back episodes are on Patreon. Join the community today! [https://www.patreon.com/winefornormalpeople] https://www.patreon.com/winefornormalpeople www.patreon.com/winefornormalpeople [https://www.patreon.com/winefornormalpeople] _______________________________________________________________   This show is brought to you by my exclusive sponsor, Wine Access – THE place to discover your next favorite bottle. Wine Access has highly allocated wines and incredible values, plus free shipping on orders of $150 or more. You can’t go wrong with Wine Access! Join the WFNP/Wine Access wine club and get 6 awesome bottles for just $150 four times a year. That includes shipping! When you become a member, you also get 10% all your purchases on the site. Go to wineaccess.com/normal [https://www.wineaccess.com/normal] to sign up!  https://www.wineaccess.com/normal

Fred Peterson [https://www.petersonwinery.com] has been making wines in Sonoma County for more than 40 years.  While attending UC Santa Cruz, he took a job in a classmate’s family vineyard in Mendocino County and he found his passion. He left Santa Cruz, and used the rest of his GI Education benefits to attend UC Davis. https://www.petersonwinery.com Photo: Peterson Winery [https://www.petersonwinery.com]. Credit: Wine for Normal People   Fred got his bachelor’s degree in Viticulture and Enology in 1978. And after managing vineyards for a large winery in the Central Coast, he moved to the Dry Creek Valley of Sonoma in 1983. That same year, he planted a vineyard and built his house on Bradford Mountain.   In 1987, Fred hung a shingle on a red barn off of Lytton Springs Road and Peterson [https://www.petersonwinery.com] was born. The winery is no longer in the red barn, but it remains an important part of their history and is represented on every wine label with a back drop of Bradford Mountain, where the Peterson Estate Vineyar [https://www.petersonwinery.com]d is located. Photo: Fred Peterson. Courtesy of Peterson Winery [https://www.petersonwinery.com]   In this (super dorky) show Fred takes us through some of the fascinating history of how philosophies about terroir and soil have changed since he started as a grower and winemaker in the early 1980s and how he has managed to be a leader in sustainable, but not dogmatic sustainable farming and winemaking.  Fred was one of the first voices in Sonoma to promote low intervention farming and winemaking. It shows in the wines!   Full show notes and all back episodes are on Patreon. Join the community today! [https://www.patreon.com/winefornormalpeople] https://www.patreon.com/winefornormalpeople www.patreon.com/winefornormalpeople [https://www.patreon.com/winefornormalpeople] _______________________________________________________________   This show is brought to you by my exclusive sponsor, Wine Access – THE place to discover your next favorite bottle. Wine Access has highly allocated wines and incredible values, plus free shipping on orders of $150 or more. You can’t go wrong with Wine Access! Join the WFNP/Wine Access wine club and get 6 awesome bottles for just $150 four times a year. That includes shipping! When you become a member, you also get 10% all your purchases on the site. Go to wineaccess.com/normal [https://www.wineaccess.com/normal] to sign up!  https://www.wineaccess.com/normal

On the heels of the tariff show last week, and news that wine consumption is at its lowest point in 60 years, I thought it may be interesting to revisit the US industry structure in more depth.    As I say in the freshly recorded intro (the show is edited for relevancy too, so it's not a straight re-release) I wanted to carve out the issues for small wineries that are every bit as relevant today as they were when I launched this show in 2018 with Oded Shakked of Longboard [https://www.longboardvineyards.com/] and Jim Morris, the Sonoma Wine Guy and frequent pod guest.   Oded Shakked [https://www.longboardvineyards.com/] (left) and Jim Morris (right)   As I point out in the intro, the biggest change since 2018? The environment around wine has gotten gloomier: Wineries are closing and being bought up, and small family wineries that aren’t financially viable are done – there are tons of wineries for sale or that are just going out of business. It’s hard to compete in this environment.    After the tariff show, this show offers another perspective on the wine business – fake brands, ego brands, how the three tier system and score system fails the small producers, and how big wine is trying to take wine to the lowest common denominator – take wine to the lowest level they can get away with to save money. Ultimately, consolidation in American wine is squeezing the producers who built it and who are the backbone of it. Not everyone will make it, and not everyone should make it, but hopefully this show will remind you why we need small producers who are financially viable, and who make unique, great wine.    _______________________________ Full show notes and all back episodes are on Patreon. Become a member today! [https://www.patreon.com/winefornormalpeople] https://www.patreon.com/winefornormalpeople www.patreon.com/winefornormalpeople [https://www.patreon.com/winefornormalpeople] _______________________________________________________________   https://www.wineaccess.com/normal Check out my exclusive sponsor, Wine Access. [http://www.wineaccess.com/wfnp]  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 [https://www.wineaccess.com/wine-for-normal-people/] 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 [https://www.winefornormalpeople.com/classes]

Tariffs have been a hot topic in recent weeks, but this issue has been ongoing. During President Trump’s first term, the wine industry was caught flat-footed when, in 2019, the administration put a 25% tariff on still wines from France, Germany, Spain, and the UK (notably, Italy and Portugal were not included) as part of a trade dispute with the EU over subsidies given to Airbus. It was then that my guests – Ben Aneff and Daniel Posner started to organize and get industry leaders together to lobby Congress and try to explain why these tariffs were so harmful to wine. Those tariffs remained in place through 2021, and although there was relief for the last few years, the US Wine Trade Alliance, [https://winetradealliance.org] which was the body that formed out of the initial tariff crisis, continued to exist with Ben at the helm.  https://winetradealliance.org In this show, I am honored to have the very busy and very awesome Ben Aneff, a native Texan who now lives in NYC and is the Managing Partner of Tribeca Wine Merchants in New York City [https://www.tribecawine.com], named one of “America’s Best Wine Shops” by Food & Wine Magazine, and an “Editor’s Favorite” by Wine Spectator. Ben has been actively involved in the fight against wine tariffs – working with all parts of the industry and Congress, and testifying about tariffs’ effects at the International Trade Commission.  He is the president of the US Wine Trade Alliance [https://winetradealliance.org] Ben Aneff, President of the U.S. Wine Trade Alliance (USWTA) [https://winetradealliance.org] & Managing Partner of Tribeca Wine Merchants [https://www.tribecawine.com]     I also have previous guest and Patron Daniel Posner, owner of Grapes the Wine Company [https://www.grapesthewineco.com] in White Plains, NY. Daniel serves on the Board of Directors of the National Association of Wine Retailers, a national trade organization founded in 2006, for which he served as President from 2011 to 2019. He helped form the USWTA. Daniel Posner of Grapes, the Wine Company [https://www.grapesthewineco.com] & Industry Insider     Full show notes and all back episodes are on Patreon. Join the community today! [https://www.patreon.com/winefornormalpeople] https://www.patreon.com/winefornormalpeople www.patreon.com/winefornormalpeople [https://www.patreon.com/winefornormalpeople] _______________________________________________________________   This show is brought to you by my exclusive sponsor, Wine Access – THE place to discover your next favorite bottle. Wine Access has highly allocated wines and incredible values, plus free shipping on orders of $150 or more. You can’t go wrong with Wine Access! Join the WFNP/Wine Access wine club and get 6 awesome bottles for just $150 four times a year. That includes shipping! When you become a member, you also get 10% all your purchases on the site. Go to wineaccess.com/normal [https://www.wineaccess.com/normal] to sign up!  https://www.wineaccess.com/normal