The Wine Pair Podcast

Ok, let’s be honest. Pinotage is a TRIP. It is like no other wine we have ever had before, and is flat out an experience that you have to try. You may not love it, or even like it, but you have to try it. Especially the Coffee Pinotage which in and of itself is an adventure (and is really a thing)! Pinotage is a wine that was invented in South Africa about 100 years ago, and is considered its signature wine...

Costco sells a TON of wine, but finding expert reviews of their Kirkland Signature wines can be very tricky. We are happy to help fill that void! Find out why few wine reviewers bother to review Costco Kirkland Signature wines, and where you can find some pretty reliable reviews for those wines...

Josh Cellars wine has been all over social media recently, but the real question is - is it worthy of the hype?!? We gave Josh Cellars an honest-to-goodness opportunity to impress us. We tasted and reviewed three different Josh Cellar wines just to make sure that we were getting a proper sense of the breadth of their products, and the results were . . . meh. Not good, not bad, just sort of meh...

If you think you are not a fan of dessert wines, we believe we can change your mind - because we changed our own minds in this episode! Dessert wines are perfect for romantic evenings, but also a great excuse to slow down and extend a meal with family, friends, and loved ones. If you are looking for something special to do this Valentine’s Day, serving a sweet wine to your sweetheart to complement the sweets you bought them is a perfect end to a wonderful evening...

Did you know they make wine in Michigan. Yes, yes it’s true! And not only that, they make REALLY GOOD wine in Michigan. Don’t believe us? Then you need to listen to our interview with Drew Perry from Simpson Family Estates, home of Good Harbor Vineyards and Aurora Cellars and we’ll set you straight! We had the great honor of interviewing Drew who, like a lot of the winemakers we have talked to, did not start out thinking he was going to make wine for a living...

Look, we were skeptical too, but it’s true. Not only do they make wine in Michigan, they are making great wine! If you are like us, you didn’t realize that there is a burgeoning wine industry in Michigan, and that some highly rated wines are coming out of their 5 AVAs...

The Campania region of Italy, famous for the city of Naples, the Amalfi Coast, and Mount Vesuvius, is also home to many of the most beloved Italian foods - like pizza! - but did you know it is also home to many of the best Italian wines?!? In this Italian wine adventure, we introduce you to a white wine called Fiano that you probably have not heard of but definitely deserves your attention! This is not one of those fly-away Italian Pinot Grigios...

In the last minisode we settled the question of whether or not size matters, and so in this minisode we are tackling the other big question - does shape matter when it comes to the wine bottle? The answer may surprise you! Wine bottles come in many different shapes, although there is one shape that sort of dominates them all, and the most common shapes are associated with certain regions or certain varietals of wine...

What do you do if dry January - or some other dry month - is on your list, but you don’t want to give up wine? First, you need to listen to this podcast! We had the great pleasure of interviewing Duncan Shouler from Giesen Wines, and spoke to him in-depth about their zero-alcohol wines. Like many of the winemakers we talk to, Duncan did not start out to be a winemaker. In fact, he started out in marine biology and was surfing before finally listening to his calling...

Welcome to our end of the year retrospective, review, and wrap for The Wine Pair Podcast! In this episode we review our highest and lowest rated wines of the year. Believe it or not, in 2023 we tasted and reviewed about 120 wines, and out of all of those wines, just a handful got ratings of 9 or 10, or got ratings of 4 or under...