Tag Archives: podcast

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Winecast 80: Nick Vorpagel and what’s on store shelves for the holidays

Nick Vorpagel headshot
Nick Vorpagel

Nick Vorpagel: “I’ve seen some leveling, but especially domestically, more price increases”

Good news and bad news for wine drinkers this holiday season: There should be plenty of wine on store shelves, but it’s going to cost more. And why is it going to cost more? Because.

That’s the take from Nick Vorpagel of Wisconsin’s Lake Geneva Country Meats, the blog’s official independent wine retailer.

Specifically, expect to see retailers pushing sparkling wine this season; however, don’t expect to find many values. Though, if you’re looking for value, Nick suggests the Spanish Borsao rose; the Australian Yalumba viognier or unoaked chardonnay, and the Haraszthy Bearitage red blend from California — all less than $15.

The podcast is 20 minutes long and takes up 13 megabytes. Listen or download here. Sound quality is mostly excellent — have I finally figured out this podcast recording thing?

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Winecast 79: CARD’s Mark Hicken and drinking in moderation

Mark Hicken
Mark Hicken: “We need unbiased and sensible information so people can judge for themselves.”

Mark Hicken: Too much information about alcohol consumption isn’t founded in science

Mark Hicken does not mince words. The neo-Prohibitionists have a puritanical, ideological agenda to force everyone to stop drinking — and it’s based on bad science.

Hicken is the founder and executive director of the Canadian Alliance for Responsible Drinking, or CARD, which wants to provide “sensible information on alcohol and health issues” and to encourage moderate and responsible consumption.

In other words, he’s doing what no one in the U.S. has dared to do.

The podcast is 26 1/2 minutes long and takes up 18 megabytes. Yes, longer than usual, but well worth your time. Listen or download here. Sound quality is good to excellent.

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Winecast 78: Greg Doody of Vineyard Brands and a return to supply chain normal

Greg Doody
Greg Doody, Vineyard Brands

Greg Doody: One of the smartest things we did during the the tariff and the pandemic was not raise prices

I talked to Greg Doody, the president and chief executive officer of importer Vineyard Brands, for some 15 minutes, and he didn’t once lapse into winebiz jargon or pretend that all was well in the wine world.

How refreshing is that?

Instead, we talked about prices, wine’s popularity problem, and all the inexpensive, value-oriented wine that Vineyard brings into the United States. Which — full disclosure — includes my much loved La Vieille Ferme rose, as well as a host of top-notch Spanish and South African wines. And yes, we did talk about La Vieille.

And we also touch on the infamous South African pinotage grape, which Doody insists can be made into fine wine these days.

The podcast is 15 minutes long and takes up 6 megabytes. Listen or download here. Sound quality is excellent, despite the Wine Curmudgeon having to work with a Microsoft product during the recording..

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Winecast 77: Jeff Carroll and buying wine over the Internet

Jeff Carroll
Jeff Carroll: “For the average consumer, it’s all very confusing.”

It should be easier to get wine delivered locally, but buying wine over the Internet? It’s still a ways off

Jeff Carroll is one of the most knowledgeable people in the United States when it comes to buying wine over the Internet — whether directly from the winery, from a local retailer or service like Drizly, or from an out-of-state retailer or Amazon.

And he says the past several years, including many changes during the pandemic, have made it much easier for us to buy wine from wineries and local retailers. The third choice, which is what many of us are waiting for?

Not so much.

“There are laws that are very specific to alcohol, and it’s still a very highly regulated industry,” he says. “Specifically to Amazon, you’ll remember they used to have their out of state wine program. .. but they shut that down when they bought Whole Foods. There can be complexities, and it can get messy.”

And, he adds, don’t forget the opposition from various parts of the three-tier system that don’t want us to be able to do that.

The podcast is 17 minutes long and takes up 11 megabytes. Listen or download here. Sound quality is excellent.

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Winecast 76: Struggle Meals’ Frankie Celenza, young people, and wine

Frankie Celenza
Frankie Celenza: Why do I drink $10 European wine? Because it’s better than more expensive U.S. wine.

Why young people don’t drink wine, and what can be done about it

The wine business has been running around in a dither trying to figure out how to reach younger consumers, so the Wine Curmudgeon asked one: Frankie Celenza, the 30-something host of Tastemade’s “Struggle Meals” cooking show.

Celenza, who rarely uses wine on his show unless he’s rolling dough with an empty bottle, was frank, funny, and forthright about why his generation doesn’t much care for wine: It’s too complicated, too snooty, too expensive, and its marketing is lousy. And – pay attention to this, wine business – he has only bought a case of a wine once, a $4 Italian red. It’s the only wine, he says, he thought was good and offered enough value to buy 12 bottles at one time.

How screwed up is wine when someone who cooks and eats and loves food says that about wine?

The podcast is about 19 1/2 minutes long and takes up 14 megabytes. Listen or download here. We had a tremendous time, and Celenza – despite claiming he didn’t know much about wine – knew a lot. We talked about pairing wine with various picnic sandwiches; his love of Lambrusco and where it fits into all of that; rose, of course; making chicken “bacon” out of chicken skin; and the difficulties of buying quality fish at the supermarket.

And, beware, craft beer: Celenza says it’s making the same mistakes as wine – becoming too complicated and too expensive. Which, if anyone has looked at craft beer’s sales figures, explains a lot.

 

Winecast 21: Dave Falchek, Empty Bottles blog

Dave FalchekIf wine had more writers like Dave Falchek, more people would drink wine. He wants to make wine easier for consumers and he doesn ?t suffer foolish wines or their producers ? and he does this writing in Pennsylvania, which has some of most restrictive liquor laws in the country and where availability is often a joke.

Dave ?s advice for wine drinkers: First, if you don ?t like a wine, it doesn ?t mean your taste buds are broken. Second, you ?re not supposed to like a wine just because someone else does.

We talked about those things, as well as Dave ?s work with the American Wine Society, which aims to make wine drinking easier; the state of regional wine, which Dave has supported since he started writing about wine; and whether Pennsylvania will eventually reform its antiquated liquor laws. Click here to download or stream the podcast, which is about 11 minutes long and takes up 10.8 megabytes