Wine for Normal People

For this mini review, we break it down on a hybrid grape that has crazy descriptions. The review is solid but this is a "must listen" because M.C. Ice created a musical masterpiece at the end!

Click here to listen.

A weird grape, called either Scheurebe or Sämling 88 ("Seedling 88," the name of the vine), it's a cross between Riesling and a wild German grape. It was created by Dr. Scheu (rebe means vine in German), hence the name. It's supposed to have crazy flavors -- some that you taste in red wines like black currant. We sussed it out to figure out what was going on. Not sure we got the best version though...

The Wine: 2008 K& G Strauss Sämling 88

Where it's from: Steiermark, Austria Price: $15 Alcohol: 11.5%

Color: Green, kind of clear with a little spritz

Smell: Not so fresh (it smelled like sea water). A touch of grapefruit, but very light.

Taste: Very light, with almost no flavor.

Drink or sink?: Sink! Too light. There's nothing going on here. It's watery with no punch. For the price, I'm not buying what they're selling. I think this wine is WAY past its prime -- too old, or just bad to begin with. As it stands, I think this is the Coors Light of wine. You can do better, but I see potential so I'm going to look for better quality Sämling/Scheurebe and we'll report again.

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This week we've got a different kind of show for you! No M.C. Ice, but instead a terrific interview with winemaker David "Merf" Merfeld from Northstar Winery in Walla Walla, Washington. This 43 minutes will give you a great perspective on the region through the eyes of a winemaker.

Merf tells us all about the differences between the appellations, the grapes that thrive in the region, and why Washington is so unique. We hit on everything from soil, to wildlife, to distribution of Washington wines.

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You know, if we can get to it relatively easily (i.e., it's in the U.S.), we've got to visit a place before we do a podcast on it.

You asked, and we went!

This week: Washington State in the northeastern part of the United States. Damn! They are making great wine there, and it's worth seeking out.  We get dorky about rocks, soil, and sunlight in this episode.

Download us on iTunes or click here for the link to the podcast (and click on the arrow under the "listen now" to hear it)

Here are the notes:

• Stats that you may find hard to believe, given Washington's relatively low profile
• Geography and geology, including M.C. Ice's nerdy turn as an (almost) geology minor
• We go MISSOULA on you!
• A bit more modern history
• The American Viticultural Areas -- with a special focus on Yakima, Rattlesnake Hills, Red Mountain, Snipes Mountain, Horse Heaven Hills, and Walla Walla
• Our best explanation of what the wines taste like

There are a few blog posts on Washington that may be of interest too:

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This week we have a hit parade of secret gems: the 9 wines you could sort of substitute for super expensive ones. A great topic provided by a listener!

Expensive Wine	Less Expensive Analogue
Brunello di Montalcino	Rosso di Montalcino
Oregon Pinot Noir, fruitier Burgundy	New Zealand Pinot Noir
CA Cabernet Sauvignon	Chilean Cabernet Sauvignon, Argentinean Malbec
Fine Bordeaux	Rioja, Cahors, less fine Bordeaux
Barolo	Ghemme, Gattinara, Nebbiolo
Hermitage	Crozes-Hermitage, St-Joseph
Dry German Riesling	Australian Riesling from Clare, Eden Valleys, Austrian Riesling
Champagne	Cremant, Cava, Sparkling wine from anywhere else – not Prosecco or Sekt
Priorat	Spanish Garnacha from Calatayud, Montsant or Monastrell from Yecla

Enjoy it and make sure to post the expensive wines you love so we can offer some advice on less expensive alternatives!

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Get a FREE audiobook download at www.audibletrial.com/winefornormalpeople. There are more than 100,000 titles to choose from, including some great wine books, for your iPhone, Android, Kindle or mp3 player.

And thanks for listening! We can't wait to hear from you! If you've got a question you want us to answer, post it we'll include it on the show!

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Podcast music: "Café connection" by morgantj / CC BY 3.0, ©2009 - Licensed under Creative Commons Attribution (3.0)Map: Licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported, 2.5 Generic, 2.0 Generic and 1.0 Generic license

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As we're making our way through edits for this week's podcast, we did a Wine Chat/Mini-cast to fill in. This is on a very important issue that I think is going to shake up the wine critic world permanently. Kind of a big deal.

Here's a link to the Decanter.com story that covered this: Parker v. Galloni

If you don't want to read it, here's the short of the story:

• Famed American critic Robert Parker of the Wine Advocate, who single-handedly sets prices and makes reputations for wines and who has arguably changed the way winemakers make wine so they can garner high scores,  sold a large portion of his brand to a group of Singapore investors and shook up the structure of the subscription-only newsletter.

• His named successor for evaluating California wine, Antonio Galloni, stepped down after the move and started his own Web site. He decided to withhold all the scores for Sonoma wines he had conducted prior to the sale, stating that he would publish them on his new site free of cost. Galloni, like all the Wine Advocate writers, was a contractor and felt it was within his rights to keep the scores, as they were for the next publication cycle not the one for which he had been compensated.

• And I'm sure you can guess what's happening now. LAW SUIT! The problem -- Parker wants to retire. Now he has to cover CA wines along with Bordeaux and Rhône, which is no small feat for a guy who is on the doorstep of retirement. He's also faced with a vote of "no confidence" from a major player on his former team in a very public forum. Not great for the Wine Advocate brand.

M.C. Ice and I discuss what we think this suit will do to the wine critic industry and how it may just be the best thing that's happened in a very long time!

Enjoy and let us know what you think!

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