Sniff Sip Repeat

Ep 13: Last Minute Gift Guide

Episode Summary

Back by popular demand, guest-host Sumner returns to the table with Wine Insiders Sommelier, Ferdy Mucerino to discuss some fantastic last minute wine ideas for the holiday season. Whether you’re attending a festive gathering and need to just the right bottle to bring along or hope for help with the perfect gift suggestions, this episode offers crowd-pleasing recommendations.

Episode Notes

Back by popular demand, guest-host Sumner returns to the table with Wine Insiders Sommelier, Ferdy Mucerino to discuss some fantastic last minute wine ideas for the holiday season. Whether you’re attending a festive gathering and need to just the right bottle to bring along or hope for help with the perfect gift suggestions, this episode offers crowd-pleasing recommendations.

The conversation pops off with an exploration of Toro Loco Cava Brut, a citrus-centric sparkler that embodies Spains answer to Champagne. Next up we uncork 2020 Vinum Chenin Blanc, one of South Africa’s most popular white wines (and one of Ferdy’ personal favorites).And finally, the conversation shifts to 2020 StraBIOrdante Organic Nero di Troia Puglia I.G.T., a fun fruit-driven Organic red wine from Puglia, Spain.

Sniff Sip Repeat is brought to you by Wine Insiders, leaders in online wine. Wine Insiders makes buying great wine easy. Founded in 1982 as a club for California wine enthusiasts, Wine Insiders now offers high-quality wines from around the world for the best value and conveniently shipped to your door in just days. The collection is curated by a host of food and wine industry and lifestyle experts, such as Martha Stewart, Chef Geoffrey Zakarian, and Chef Ludo Lefebvre. Learn more about the wines or shop now to taste alongside our podcast guests.

Visit http://www.wineinsiders.com to learn more. 

Sound effects obtained from https://www.zapsplat.com

Episode Transcription

Sumner:

Hey, welcome to Sniff, Sip, Repeat, uh, this is Sumner, your host. Uh, I hosted an episode a little while ago where I learned a little bit about wine, uh, with Jonathan Alsop at the Boston wine school. And I thought it'd be fun to have an episode where, uh, we go over some wines for the holiday season, because if you're like me, you probably haven't gotten all of your gifts yet. Uh, and we wanna give you a little bit of a heads up on what kind of wines are out there that we recommend, uh, at wine insiders that, uh, you could bring either to an event or as a gift as well. Uh, and so joining me today is our, um, in-house Sommelier, Ferdy. Welcome, Ferdy!

Ferdy:

Hi, sang and hello, everyone. Very happy to be here and talk about wine with you. Awesome.

Sumner:

Yeah, me too. Yeah, this is exciting. This is I we've, we've worked together for a while. This is the first time we've really like talked together.

Ferdy:

isn't that funny? That works. Sometimes.

Sumner:

I know, like it's, it's it interesting working in a, in a remote environment. So Ferdy, I figured before we get into the wines, you know, this is the holiday season everybody's celebrating, um, you know, whether it's Christmas, uh, Kwanza boxing day for some new year's and so on. Um, what are some of your holiday plans that you have?

Ferdy:

Well, my, uh, my, my biggest dream was to go back home and see my family, but that, that can happen right now. So if you, if you have a little sad violin music, you can insert to this, it would be great. But lucky for me, I have a, I have a big extended American family here, so, uh, we all gonna, get together. It's gonna’ be a smaller group, you know, due to the times, but we all love to drink. We all love to eat. We all love to talk about food. We all get really competitive over Backgammon games. So it's going to be a fun, fun, Christmas, uh, and holiday season filled with, uh, food, good wine and lots of play time.

Sumner:

Oh, backgammon. Yeah. Very competitive back game games. That's I haven't play back game in a while. That's a

Ferdy:

Lot fun, fun. We call it. So we, they, uh, they call it Tavaly, which is the, uh, the original Babylonian name for the game. And I learned the game here in the states, like I never played before. Right. Uh, but if, if our listeners, if any of you are again, when you'll understand what I'm saying, when I say, then it, it gets really competitive. It gets really ugly. like, you can really trick players into just stay in, uh, in confinement for a long time while you roll your dices. And if you're lucky with the dice, it's a perfect game.

Sumner:

That was one of those games that my day ad taught me years ago. And at first it was like, oh yeah, this'll be a fun game to play. And then I quickly learned that it was that he knew all the strategy that I didn't know. And then he would basically win and be like, oh, cool. That was fun.

Ferdy:

Oh, I, I had to go and look at like, learn about strategy. Cause I am very competitive, so I don't want to lose, even if I'm playing against my mother, I don't want to lose . So for me it was, I need to learn this cause I have to dominate the Americans at this game. So, but, but I lose, I lose a lot. Well, I was gonna

Sumner:

Say, so the good thing is that when you do get to go home now, just bring back gamin with you. mm-hmm and be like, oh, I just learned this new game, you know, and and completely dominate with back gamin. That's awesome. That's a lot of fun. These

Ferdy:

Is what we do there. Yeah, exactly.

Sumner:

yeah. They're, they're more sophisticated than you think. Um, that's awesome. Yeah. And, um, I will say like, my, my family is, is somewhat close by I'm from the LA area, so I am gonna go see them, which is nice. Um, and, uh, but like, I, I do enjoy hanging out with friends though. Like I know I've had a couple times where certain holidays where asks for certain friends that aren't here anymore, or don't live like in Southern California, come and visit. And it's like, oh, well, let's go, you know, let's go get a drink real quick at a bar nearby. Or like, let's go hang out. Or sometimes like, this is a little bit later for right now, but like Friendsgiving, for instance, that kind of thing. And so having certain holiday events with friends also is super fun to do. Um, and, uh, yeah, I mean, I think getting together with like loved ones and people that you care about doing fun stuff. Mm-hmm , I mean, that's, that's the most important thing,

Ferdy:

So yeah. That's the best part of the holidays. And hopefully by the end of these episode, you will have, uh, lots of, uh, wine ideas of what to bring or what to gift.

Sumner:

Oh yeah, absolutely. Yeah. And, uh, cuz you know, we wanna make sure that you, the listener, uh, come prepared with the best wine possible. We don't wanna, we're here to help you. That's what we're gonna do today. Um, so yeah, so I figure, why don't we go ahead and get started, uh, with the first wine here. Uh, and this, this wine from Spain, it's called a Touro Loco, kava, brute. Uh mm-hmm and you're gonna hear me butcher a lot of names today. Um, but, uh, but yeah, and, and I, and I saw also that it it's used, uh, there is a certain method that's used in making this called the Metto tradition now

Ferdy:

Mm-hmm so it traditional method or champagne, one method or method we say in Italy. And that w that's what makes kava as, as a great alternative to champagne, let's say, let's say let's call sh let's call kava more like a, a budget friendly champagne, because it's made exactly like champagne. I love drinking kava. It, it, it's such an easy to drink wine. It's fun. Uh, and the taste is awesome. So I picked a kava because during the holidays, one bottle of bubbly is never enough. Despite the number in your group, like one bottle is never enough. So you want to buy something that's, you know, everybody has its own budget and kava offers a lot of value for, for the money. So it's the most bang for the buck. Um, it is made. So this traditional method, what it means is that obviously there are two fermentations in order to make a sparkling wine.

Ferdy:

The first one is the converting grape juice into wine, right? And then the, the second one happens directly in the bottle. So the bottle that you have in front of view, um, the wine was fermented in this bottle. So what they do is that they fill the bottle with the steel wine, um, to a certain, to a certain level. And then they add, uh, what the French call recorded triage, which is a mix of yeast and sugar. Gotcha. And then they, they put, they put a crown cap and they let the second fermentation happen in the bottle. So what happens is that the yeast eats, the sugar, turns the sugar into alcohol, and then a byproduct of that, uh, of, of this, um, of this fermentation is CO2. So because this is AIC. So there is no oxygen in the bottle. The CO2 is or stay incorporated into the wine.

Ferdy:

So you get this natural effervescent of the wine, the wine gets super bubbly. Then right before it's sold to you, they do a pro a process called dis discouragement, which means that they, uh, pop the crown open and let the yeast, which is not a pleasant thing to in your glass. They let that shoot out. They top the wine with a little bit more wine. That's not, um, mixed with yeast. They bottle it. They, uh, and they'll ship it to you. And that's, and that's because of the easiness, because of that contact with yeast, you get those like Bri they're freshly baked CRO. Sanoma this one in particular because it spends nine months. So there's quite a long time spent on the, on the lease. When I smell it, it reminds me a lot of, uh, a key lime pie, cuz it's citrusy, it's creamy. There's that nice baked L of the crust on the nose, citrusy, creamy, toasty. And then the pallet is fresh. The bubbles are very consistent and tiny. Like you could see them if, especially if you have a flute shaped glass, which are so festive, you see all these tiny bubbles come up to the surface and then every time they pop right at the surface, you get this burst of like citrusy flavors, which is lovely. Oh yeah, I should. You should open yours and taste it. All right, here we go. Pop it. Nice. Very nice.

Sumner:

It's always fun to do that.

Ferdy:

When you study as a, so they teach you how to open a bottle of champagne or sparkling wine in general without making any sounds. Oh, and I personally hate that. That's like, there's one thing I love is that popping sound. So I always make the, I always make the pop sound. So for you at home listening, don't the pop that bottle. Like let that, there's nothing more festive than that. Pop to me. It's like the best sign of the celebration can start. Like it's almost like the, the gunshot at the beginning of a race. Like you need that.

Sumner:

Yeah. There's never a movie where they have champagne and they're like secretly trying to open a bottle quietly. Mm-hmm , it's always, it's always a big celebration like that pop is like, now it's time to celebrate. Now you, everybody can relax. Everybody get ready to relax and have a good time.

Ferdy:

Exactly. You know what they say? They say it needs to be a silent as a nuns

Sumner:

Fart. Oh, terrible.

Ferdy:

To which I, to which I always say I would never be that kind of a nun. Yeah.

Sumner:

Yeah. Yeah, exactly. Um, that's so interesting. I wonder did they say that because like you're in a restaurant and you're trying to be quiet I guess.

Ferdy:

Okay, exactly. Yeah. Yeah. You don't want to disrupt the, uh, the ambiance, the atmosphere, but I'm not in a restaurant. I'm at home with my friends and family. I want that to be

Sumner:

Loud. Exactly. Oh no. That makes total sense. I, so with that, I'm gonna try it now. And uh, I'm just looking at, it's a, it's a beautiful light kind of, uh, kind of golden color, which is really nice. Mm-hmm and yeah, like the bubbles are very elegant, which is like you were talking about earlier. And so here, here we go.

Sumner:

Oh man, that's so nice. You know what? It made me feel like it made me feel like I just very in slow motion, fell into a very comfortable bed and then like a very comfortable blanket went over me. And it was like in the countryside somewhere that's like not only, not only is it like, you know, a celebratory wine also, eh, that is like, that is like red carpet wine. That is, that is really nice. Like it's not, the bubbles are not coarse at all. They're very velvety. Um, and the flavors are just, it just does such a good job. This is, this is great. And the other thing I was gonna say too, um, it's not a champagne and that's kind of great cuz everybody would bring champagne. Like there's nothing interesting about, I mean, champagne is great. It's great to bring champagne, but it always makes a big difference if you just, if you bring something a little bit different to a party.

Sumner:

Exactly. And, and especially with the name Toro lo like, like it's gonna stand out. Uh oh yeah, yeah. Um, the crazy bull crazy bull, you know, but it's, mm-hmm but wow. What a nice experience that is like a very, very nice experience. Like I could imagine bringing this, um, even to like some like in-laws or certain family members that you're, you know, like, you know that they like wine, but they're not sure what you think about you. This is gonna be something that's like, oh, they, he brought, they brought that. Oh, wow. Okay. All right. Interesting. And we,

Ferdy:

And we'll show that you, you did your research. Absolutely. You, you could take advantage of a good deal. Mm-hmm like, you know, you, you can appreciate value. So like in, instead of dropping a lot of money on an expensive bottle of champagne, I brought something that's more budget friendly. It's more affordable. It's more, it's easier to drink. It's not as serious as champagne. Champagne is very C and I love champagne. Yeah. Um, but I do like a wine that's less serious. It's a little bit more, you know, out there, easy to drink approachable, uh, for everybody. And also you don't have to think about it too much. You don't have to think about, uh, all this needs to be, uh, served at a certain temperature of a certain foods. Like this is a very food friendly kind of wind. Uh there's there's acidities right. And it's, it's high enough to cover most foods. It's not on the sweeter side. It's like, right. Yeah. Perfect. There's that little hint of sweetness at the end. Um, the, the bubbles are, are tiny, uh, enough to be distributed on the distribute, the fat of food throughout your entire pallet. Then the second sip is almost like your pallet cleanser. So it it's, it's a wine that does the job basically. And it does it really well.

Sumner:

This really, it makes you feel like you're being taken care of opposed to you like having to work with it. Ums. Yeah. That's this is doing a lot of work for you, which is really nice. That exactly.

Ferdy:

That's exactly what wine should be feeling like wine should be taking care of you. You not should be taking care of the wine. Uh, the one thing that you're going to hear me say a lot about this wines is balance. Yeah. So this is a, this is a very balanced wine and, uh, balance means versatile to me like a wine that it's very balanced means it's um, perfect to be paired with many, with a wide range of foods. Like when I say balance, I say medium, everything like medium acid, uh, if it's a red, medium tannin, medium a acid, I mean, I mean, medium, uh, medium alcohol levels, medium sweetness, like everything medium means wider range of, uh, pairing possibilities.

Sumner:

Absolutely. Yeah. I wish it was new year's right now. that would be nice if you like this would, this would pair really well for the new years. Um, well, awesome. Um, Freddie, do you feel like going to the checking out the next one?

Ferdy:

Absolutely. Uh, this is one of my favorite actually. Yeah.

Sumner:

If you wanna introduce this, cuz I, I, I, I I'm down to introduce it, but I'm also down to hear how it's, uh, pronounced correctly.

Ferdy:

okay. So, so from Spain, we are taking a trip down south and we are going all the way to South Africa and we are tasting a Shelan, which is the most popular grape in South Africa. The most widely L grape in South Africa. This is made by RA for Dale. It's called Vinno. The grape is Shannon Blanc, uh, for our listeners. Um, if, uh, if you haven't heard the podcast that, uh, our friend Kristen made interviewing Alex Dales, the winemaker for this, uh, beautiful shin block, you should definitely give that episode a listen cause, uh, Alex Dell is a pioneer in sustainability. Uh, these wines are crafted with so much passion for wine making, uh, so much care for the teir. Uh, so much care for the, for the fruit itself. Big, uh, proponent of sustainability is you can see it on the neck of the bottle here.

Ferdy:

It says, uh, you know, integrity and sustainability certified. So that for your health conscious brands for your environmentally conscious brands, this is the perfect wine of brain. Uh, when I, uh, so first off actually, let's talk about South Africa because how often do you get to drink of wine that comes from so far away, as far as South Africa, first off South Africa belongs to the new world, but South Africa is not the new kid on the block. So we know a exactly when their first wine was made, which is uh, 1659. Okay. And that's because of the Dutch. So the Dutch were the first to plant grapes in South Africa. Cause for them, South Africa was considered a refreshment station for their ships on the way to the Indies. Oh right.

Sumner:

That, that makes sense.

Ferdy:

Yeah. So they had this refreshment station and wine was planted that because at the time it was believed that wine could cure scurvy really so that the sailors like stop in South Africa and get cured and then proceed to the Indies. I imagine that's

Sumner:

A good excuse use for drunken sailors to be like, exactly, look, I'm trying to get rid of this survey.

Ferdy:

I'm really sick. Let's get some wine um, so the, the, the, this command, this comment there, his name was, was, uh, Y van Rebeck planted the first grapes there and he brought them from, you know, he brought clip HIMS from France, Spain from Italy, but the, the, the majority was from France and this, she Blanc is a native grape of the Lu ballet. Uh, but there's more, she Blanc planted in South Africa than in France. They really love this grape. This is a, a special grape for wine. It's one of my favorite, uh, it's one of my favorite because it's a, it's a eye acid and eye sugar grape, which means that you can make anything with it. You can make sparkling wines, you can make steel wines, you can make dessert wines because it can either be very acidic or you can make ones that are very sweet depending on when you pick the grapes.

Ferdy:

Gotcha. Okay. You can, you can, it's a, it's a fairly neutral grape. It doesn't have a lot of, uh, uh, intense aromas. So you can, you can either Oak it. So, uh, put it in barrels or you can have a, a stainless steel, which would be more of a fresh citrusy, bright kind of wine. Or you can have it a little bit more rich and buttery. So it's a very playful grape. You could do a lot with it. So this one when I smelled it for the first time, and that's why I love it so much.

Sumner:

And this time I got rid of, I've got, I have my glass at the same. You do I'm

Ferdy:

Ready this time. Let's smell. Let's smell it together. Okay. So to me, this smells like a serious wine. Mm-hmm I like to smell all my wines blind. So not knowing what's in the Bo what's in the bottle at first. Yeah. Um, so I usually have some, somebody pour me the wines ahead of time. So when I smelled this for the first time, it smelled very sophisticated. It smelled like a lot of attention went into making this wine. Absolutely. Uh, and it, it reminded me of a very expensive white burgundy alongside the fruit, which for me is more of a yellow apple, um, some stone fruits, some preserved lemons, as far as fruit goes. Okay. I smell a lot of sec. I, I smell a lot of, uh, what we call secondary aromas. So let's see if you can smell some of this. I smelled right. Uh, truffles mushrooms. Uh, BEWA some butterscotch. Um, this is a mix of aromas that could come from the barrel aging. And this one is Oaked for 10 months. Um Hmm. So you do get a little bit of vanilla butterscotch and cream.

Sumner:

Yeah. I could definitely smell like the vanilla, um, in there. I, and then like, I like how you said that it's like a professional smelling wine. Cause honestly the, I feel like this is a compliment actually to the wine. Um, but the first thing I smell was like, oh, important board meeting. Like that was my first spot with smelling this wine's. Yeah. Cause it's

Ferdy:

Good because at this prize a have a wine that smells and tastes this way. Oh yeah. And really, it it's really, uh, this is one of those bottles that you bring to your friends to impress them with your, uh, with your choices. Like, I, I bring a, a serious wine for a casual dinner, which is the best, which is the best of the best.

Sumner:

Yeah. And well, and I, and I like also too that like, there's, there's, there's also a bit of a story to this one as well with it, um, being a more eco-friendly wine, uh, and even looking, I was looking at the description of this wine, um, looks like that, uh, Radford Dale, uh, focuses on environment, ethics, social justice and south Africa's broadbased black economic empowerment, uh, which is really cool. It, it, so it's not it's, it is also like a, obviously it's a very like, well, it's a well define like, well built wine. I don't know, have a better way of saying it mm-hmm but the, like there's a lot of care that's been put into this as well. So mm-hmm, not only is it a wine that like, some of your friends that are into wine would appreciate, but then the further story of this wine, it'll also take it to a different level, uh, of appreciation as well.

Ferdy:

Oh yeah, absolutely. Um, did you, did you get a, a chance to taste it? No,

Sumner:

I'm gonna, I'm gonna do that right now. Here we go. Here we go. And, and also, uh, I don't know if this is a thing just as a general question, cuz I didn't, I didn't, uh, I don't know what the term is, where you tried to sip and get air at the same time. I didn't do that with the bubbly, just because I didn't wanna make it more bubbly, but I'm assuming this, I don't have the terms fury, I'm sorry.

Ferdy:

You know, you aggregating, aggregating your wine. You do that by twirling the glass. Okay. So as you twirl the glass, you're incorporating oxygen to the wine. Mm-hmm what, what I actually like to do is I like to chew on it. Like if I was eating it.

Sumner:

Oh, okay. That's

Ferdy:

Cool. I like to chew on it. I little bit. And by doing that, I'm, I'm really, um, moving it from, from side to side of my mouth without having the action of swirling it. Like if I was using mouthwash, which is sometimes you hear that, they tell you like, oh, swirl around your mouth. Like if you were using mouthwash, but that's very unnatural to me. Yeah. Showing it it's, it's more of a gentle way of beating the wine all over your palette or your gums. Cause we have different taste receptors scattered throughout our palette and our gums. That's how we perceive, um, the, the levels of acid, the sweetness, the bitterness of the wine. So the distributing it that way, it's almost like a more gentle way to tell you your palette. Like what do you get from this? What do you get from this?

Sumner:

I, I like that. I'm gonna, I'm gonna try this chewing method and see how this goes.

Ferdy:

Uh, and as you do that, I'll tell you what I was feeling from this wine. I was tasting. Uh, those fruits are really predominant on the palette. Like it almost feels like graded, graded, yellow apples, uh, honey. So a nice, a nice mixture of that with, with the acidity that's that's high. So it makes you salivate. Like I'm, I'm actually salivating as I speak ready for another sip or for a nice bite of food. Uh, again, as I was saying before, the key of, uh, a wine that's very versatile is balance here. There's a very nicely balanced wine. Like the, uh, the aromas from the barrel is very integrated with the fruit. So that creates a nice, uh, balance of fruity and butter vanilla in a way the acid is medium. Um, the alcohol levels are on the medium side as well. You know that this one is crafted for you to enjoy with food, especially, um, yeah, the, uh, the winemaker actually recommends this wine be at a lower temperature, so not too cold. Oh, okay. And I, I tend to agree like once, especially if they're aged in Oak, they tend to be very aromatic. So the, the colder temperature freezes those, uh, those phenols called Esthers, uh, in you don't get to smell all of them, but when the wine is a little warmer, you get to experience all the flavors and he recommends that with cheeses.

Sumner:

Oh yeah. I could see this with cheese,

Ferdy:

Especially like nay cheeses, like Ruger or, uh, uh, AIA, if you like Italian cheeses or Tajo

Sumner:

Absolutely. Yeah, no, the, the first thing I tasted with this wine was fruit. Like it's, it's just very for, and it's not, it's not too sweet. It's like J it is another, like, it, it, it is sweeter for sure than like, um, than like fruit would be for instance, in this case. But like, it's a nice sweetness. Like, it feels, it, it tasted like, I just bit into a really juicy flavorful apple at first. And then it just, it's this nice, like fruit experience. And then once you, once you swallow and kind of, you know, kind of the finish at the, in it, at the end is like this nice vanilla that comes out. It's like, , it's, it's giving you a lot of flavor without overpowering. You like, it definitely, it definitely is more, I feel like it's more flavorful than some other wines I've had, but it's not taking away from the experience of the wine.

Sumner:

Like exactly. It's interesting how, like, it smells like that kind of like professional kind of like more serious wine, but then you taste it and it's, it's like, no, actually when you get to know the wine, it's actually a lot more interesting and fun than you would think. Um, it's a nice surprise. Like, it's definitely not a surprise I was expecting. Cause I was expecting it to be a little bit more of a serious taste, maybe a little bit more subdued, maybe tasting more like earthy tones, that kind of thing. But no, this is like very much fruit, uh, driven wine that is really enjoyable. And yeah. Um, and I feel like, you know, especially like with friends that like, like vegetarian dishes or fish dishes, that kind of thing, pescatarians, like this is a fantastic wine for that. Um, and I, I would say like, yeah, and for the price point, this is like, this is a nice surprise. This is, this is one that you would wanna bring to someone that enjoys wine so that they could then tell their friends like, well, look at this new wine I found, but really

Ferdy:

It's you, you know, another reason for me to bring a wine like this is because I called this kind of wines bridges. Uh, and I'll tell you why. Let's say you're going to a party. You know, that most of your friends are into old world wines, which are, which tend to be more green, more, uh, more as acidic, more serious. Yeah. And then you have some friends that like new world wines, which come from warmer, climates are usually fruit, beer. They usually iron alcohol. They're a little bit more easy, easy to drink a little bit more, uh, um, easy in general. Yeah. Um, this is the perfect wine that offers the, the best of board world. But there's also one more thing that I like about this wine. It's another bridge is that let's say you have your friends that are into Oak Chardon, for example, and then you have your friends that are into Salan. Yeah. So more of a eye acid greener kind of grape like a grape that is more of a, uh, just citrus, no Oak, no vanilla kind of flavors. This one is a little bit of Oak, but then when you sip it, when you taste it, there's acid, there's citrus flavors. There is that green apple. There's that yellow apple. You do get the best of both words that way too. So really like if you're trying to please different palettes at the same time, this is the kind of one you wanna bring.

Sumner:

Yeah. I couldn't agree more. Like, I feel like a lot of different types of people would enjoy this wine, like more than I would expect cuz um, you know, not to, not to be, uh, not to repeat myself again, but it really did surprise me that the smell made it seem like this is a wine that you're gonna have to enjoy. And then when you tasted, it's like, I am enjoying this way more than I ever thought. And it does it, it like, I feel like for someone like me who doesn't, who's still getting to know wine and the wine world, this is one of those wines. That's like, oh, I gotta find this kind of wine again. Like I had, like, this is the kind of experience I wanna find again like this, uh, where the previous, like the BR is just like a fantastic wine general.

Sumner:

Like you're gonna, everybody's gonna enjoy this wine. It gives a little bit more of an experience when you're drinking it than you would in, in my, at least for me in my experience with wines, like in other, uh, compared to other wines. And so yeah, a fantastic wine and like really for, not that for, not that much. I mean, I, I think, I think it's listed on our site for, uh, I think it's listed for about $21 or, or so. And that's well worth it. Well, well, well worth it for this kinda wine mm-hmm awesome. Well, we have, we have one more wine to go over. Um, and it's a red we're going into the reds now. Um, and uh, because you know, I I'm gonna say this. I birdie, it seems like you're a professional. So I'm gonna let you take over as far as what the name of the wine

Ferdy:

Is. Wait, I would like to hear you say

Sumner:

It. You wanna hear me say it all right. I will give it a go. You know what? That's fair. That's fair. I can't, I can't make you do all the work I'm here. So, cause

Ferdy:

I, I do have an accent. So I like to hear now somebody without an accent, try to say something in Italian. So it's only fair

Sumner:

Hey, you know what? That's that's very fair. All right, everybody, everybody get ready for some, so cowboy to say, the name of an Italian wine? So this is uh, STR or Dante organic NEDI Royal I G T uh, from Italy in 2020,

Ferdy:

You did it so much justice to this wine. So thank you. You said it perfectly.

Sumner:

Oh, awesome. That's good. I'm

Ferdy:

Glad, perfectly. So it's I, I say it, we more of an Italian flare.

Sumner:

You, I gotta get that. I gotta get that flare down. If I'm gonna, if I'm keep doing this, I gotta get, I gotta get that. I gotta practice that flare love, but I appreciate that. I appreciate the encouragement. if

Ferdy:

You at home, have the bottle next to you, you could see that it says, which is the name of the wine and the world B bio is in green because that's in, in, in Italy, uh, foods that are labeled as Bo is biologically, um, uh, safe. Like basically it tells you that the food is organic, right? Okay. That's that's Bo foods are, is organic. Bio foods are organic foods in, in Italian. They did display on words on the STR Dante by using be, and ne Nero is the name of the grape. Um, gotcha. I picked this, I picked this wine because first and foremost, I love a red wine in a clear

Sumner:

Bottle. Yeah. Yeah. That is fun. I

Ferdy:

Do ready for me. It's a sign of transparency. I, I I'm obsessed with wine colors as a, so I could tell you a lot about a wine just by looking at its color. So having a wine in a clear bottle. I know, I know that people at home are probably thinking, wow, a wine in a clear bottle is not a wine that's meant to be aging because the, the, the, the light could affect the wine. Basically like you want to put wines in a colored gray, uh, glass. So then it protects it from the, uh, UVA rights of the, of the sunlight. Uh, but this is not a wine that's meant it to be aged. This is a wine that's meant to be consumed young, fresh, and vibrant. Um, and it's great to see its color. So I love, I love the clear bottle for that reason.

Ferdy:

Um, I'm from SA Italy. So for me, picking a SA Italian grape, uh, is a no brainer, but I love this because when I saw that we had a wine insiders, I was like, oh my goodness, this is a hard wine to find in Italy too. Okay. Uh, you don't find a lot of Nero, uh, ESP, so let's, let's put a, this way. If you live in Southern Italy, mm-hmm , you could find Naro. If you live in pya where this one is from, you'll find Naro, uh, if you live up north cities like Milan or tour or Florence, it will be hard for you to find Naro there's not that much. It only grows in this, in Northern pya. So where we are with this wine, we are at the heel of the boot. Gotcha. We as a beautiful region. So by the way, if you're looking, not only if you're looking for, uh, gifts for the holiday season, if you're looking for a destination, uh, for you to discover a part of Italy that is beautiful, like they have a beautiful coastline, they have amazing cuisine, awesome people, great history.

Ferdy:

Uh, pya is definitely the place to go. This grape, this grape Natoya grows in Northern, in Northern pya. What I love about it is that, uh, so native Detroit means the black grape from Troy. Ooh. Now we don't know exactly how this grape, uh, came to be planted in pya because, uh, it is considered a native grape because it, it, it only grows there, but legend, our, you know, legends come from the name and, uh, the legend here is awesome. So basically what Italians believe is that diabetes who's a mythological Greek figure. He was one of the heroes in the legendary battle of Troy after the full all of Troy. And he was a, he was a, a Greek warriors. He was forced to exile and he moved to Italy where he colonized and, uh, uh, made different cities who take names from Greek cities, um, in Italy.

Ferdy:

So, and he has set, brought this vine with, so that's one is the black grape from Troy. Okay. Oh, wow. We know, we know for certain though, that this grape was there at, uh, you know, at the time that the Greeks colonized, um, pya, which is, uh, the 12th century BC. Oh, wow. So a very long time ago. So we have traces of wine making in this area. There are at least 4,000 years old, man. That's wild, just, uh, to put it into perspective. Um, you know, that's, you know, that's the true definition of old world wine is what you have in your glass right now, like wines that have been made in the same place for that long. I love this grape first and foremost, it reminds me of home. It smells like those rustic red wines that only Italian wines expressed like the, that same sense of, uh, uh, drink meat next to food. I have everything you need to be to be, uh, consumed next to food. When I smell it, it reminds me, it smells like black cherries and plums and violet, and a little bit of liquorish. Um, there's sand, Cedar wood, sandal, wood, nicely aromatic tomato leaf. It smells like a good, a nicely made tomato sauce. Yeah.

Sumner:

Oh yeah. I could see that. Yeah. It's definitely bold. It's like a Boulder. It's a Boulder, uh, smell. It's definitely it's there. It's there to tell you so something it's it's uh, it's, it's, it's there to have a conversation with you. Um, this is definitely a wine that's more involved

Ferdy:

Then in the taste beautifully made wine. You could TA you could taste the complexity already. Mm-hmm oh yeah. You know, the, the fruit really picks apart on your pallet. Like you really smell the cherries, the plum, the licorice, the secondary aromas, like the it's a little Herba, there's definitely cooking, cooking herbs. Like there's a little bit of Sage there's some basil you get the tans. Absolutely. Yeah. Um, there's great. Acidity. It is scream to me. It is screaming for a bite of food. I wish, right. I had a sandwich next to this. I'll be very happy. Um, but think about, think about the holiday, your holiday meal. This is one of those, uh, uh, this is one of those times in of the year that you have a plate that's filled with so many different flavors. Like this is what we do. Like, uh, usually like, uh, especially, especially in, in the states, like you have everything is on the table, you pile up your plate.

Ferdy:

Now find a wine that could really bring harmony to all these flavors. And this is that kind of wine. Like the fruit is start, it's not too sweet. The tannins they're there, but they're not too aggressive. So for, for dishes that are not too chewy, like, for example, like this, this could go well with, with, with your Turkey, with your hands, if you're vegetarian, this goes well with eggplant, uh, with your, uh, uh, with your veggie lasagna, uh, with your impossible burgers, um, mm-hmm, , it, it goes, it goes well with, uh, it goes, even to me, this even goes well with dessert or appetizers, it's that glass of wine that you could just have throughout your entire dinner.

Sumner:

Yeah. This, the, the amount, I will say, like, I, it is a wonderfully complex wine. There are a lot of different flavors. Cause I it's, I was getting like basil at some point in, in tomato as well, which is unusual. Cause I wouldn't necessarily say like, oh, this is what you're gonna like taste in a wine, you know, mm-hmm but it works really well because you also have like the Blackberry coming out and, and like, you know, like the tans and coming in, you know, as, as you're drinking the wine, it, it, it does. Yeah. Like this is, this is a cool wine. This is a, this is a different, unique wine. Um, and I could imagine having this, like even, even like with some red meats, that kind of a thing. Um, but I mean like, yeah, I definitely, I mean, I know it's an Italian wine, but I definitely was thinking like pasta dishes and that kind of thing.

Sumner:

Mm-hmm like, it would go so well with that. Like it would pair so well. Um, , there's a nice complexity to it that allows you to kind of really enjoy the wine itself and kind of figure out what you're tasting. And like, I feel like everybody would taste something a little bit different from this wine mm-hmm um, and then of course having it with food would be great. Like, I, this is the kind of wine that I would wanna have you, if I was doing a quiet new year's Eve where it's like, you made like a really nice dinner for people, like, or even a quiet Christmas Eve or whatever, whatever Eve you may have. uh, uh, and you've made like a really nice meal, like handmade, like from scratch and you wanna give it a wine that's gonna give, if something extra to the food that you're having while at the same time standing out on its own, this is the wine that I would pick for that, for sure. Um, this is, this is cool. This is a very different, and especially with the story, like there's so much history to this grape as well. We're

Ferdy:

Crossing into Greek mythology here, like there's, uh, speak speaking of, uh, material and tidbits for, uh, for you to just bring up conversation. What I love about what we are doing right now is that I always, I always like to pick wines that have, you know, the, the first thing I do when I pick a wine, I taste the wine. Obviously I, I make sure that the wine is sound wine is interesting, is made true to its varietal or the blend, or does it remind me of the place, uh, where it comes from? Like, even if I haven't been, for example, I, I never been to, uh, to South Africa mm-hmm , but this, this one, the one that we tasted before that the, with the, with the flints, the, the minerality that kind of evokes those scenarios, like it really speaks its there are, um, but in, when it comes to Italian wine, which I'm very familiar with, uh, does it remind me of a place?

Ferdy:

That's the first thing I think of and then who makes the wine it's important and a story behind the wine? Uh, because I, I'm the kind of person that if we having dinner together, I love to talk about food and I love to talk about wine. And funny enough, uh, as I was researching about this kind of things I, I discovered then, uh, back in ancient Greek and Roman times, this was a very specific practice called a symposium in Greek and a conve in Roman , which is basically a gathering of people in which all they do is eat and drink and talk about where they're eating and where they're drinking. Oh,

Sumner:

Nice. That's

Ferdy:

Fun. So for me, every time I'm tasting wines with friends, uh, I feel like we are carrying on this thousands of year old tradition of disgust, seeing something as pleasurable, uh, as drink and food could be together. So you have to pick a wine with a good story. Yeah. So this wines for me, have a good story that you can tell your friends and family, you can, uh, you can, you can be the Somali of the night. You could talk about the wine, you could tell the story like you could be like, oh, diabetes in the 12th century, BC was exiled from Troy and brought the vines to pya. And that's where he planted them. And the wine is prosperous only in this little area of Saudi Italy. And you won't find it anywhere else. Like that's what you have to do is, uh, is the person that brought the wine. You need to tell the story. Absolutely.

Sumner:

And what's fun too. Like you were saying earlier, it is a clear bottle, so it makes it stand out. And the, the labeling is also kind of fun too. It looks like hand drawn almost, uh, just the, the name of it on the front. And so it gives it kind of a fun, unique look to a it as well. So as you're presenting the wine, not only do you have the story and everything, but you've got this, um, the wine, that's almost your co-host, , it's almost backing you up with the way it looks like in the bottle and everything. So this is definitely a unique wine. Like this is something that, uh, if you wanna have a unique experience with friends and family or yourself, no judgment, if you want to have your own unique experience, um, great wine for that. This is a fantastically complex wine from somewhere that is very unique and has a very unique, uh, grape to it, which is, which is great. That's really, that's really awesome.

Ferdy:

This is also the, is also the kind of red that you could give a slight chill to.

Sumner:

Oh yeah. I could see that. Yeah, absolutely.

Ferdy:

It's uh, it's, it's lighter and eye acid. So you, if you give it a nice chill, uh, you will feel maybe you feel the tans a little bit more. Cause once the fruit aromas are a little bit more subdued by the, the, the cooling effect, then the, the tans are gonna be a little bit more predominant. So it will give this one, a crunchy texture, which I suggest I actually suggest you chill the wine and then as progress through your dinner, you taste it as it comes down to a room tab and see the differences. So it's a very fun wine. It could take you along a whole journey of, uh, tasting experience.

Sumner:

I like that a lot. That's, that's a very, that's a, that's a great, that's some great advice. That's a fun thing to do. Um, awesome. Well, unfortunately we're out of wine, which is always sad, but it happens Uhhuh it happens, you know, it happens to all of us. Um, but, uh, first of all, I just wanna thank Ferdy for picking these wines and also talking about them because they're all great and they all show something different about what wine can do. Thank you

Ferdy:

So much much for having me. This was, this was a fun time. I, uh, I'm always happy to share my, uh, the, the little bit I know about wine with, with, uh, with, with you at sip repeat and with our, with our listeners, uh, feel free to always reach out to me for any questions. Uh, you can find me on at one time with 30, uh, or you can reach out to, uh, our Instagram page, uh, a sip sniff repeat, uh, I will always be happy to answer your questions.

Sumner:

I was gonna say that's even, that's even something I have a hard time saying over and over again, but

Ferdy:

Yes, I always said them. I always get them wrong. I always invert them as sip, repeat and sniff. Like it's always like that.

Sumner:

No, I feel that for sure. Yeah. Sniff, sip. Repeat is something that before recording, I have to say a couple times, but, but that, but it is true. That's the, that is the, that is the way to do it. That is the way to enjoy wine. Um, also the name of the podcast, but, you know, it's also the way to enjoy wine, but yeah, please do reach out to fur you with any questions and then reach out to us as well. Um, also, if you're listening to this, uh, we have a special promotion going right now. Uh, the code we have is gift 40, and that's a capital G like golf gift 40, and you get 40% off storewide and two gift bags, which is pretty great. So a all these wines, which you know, are really great for the price. Now you can even save 40% off them. Um, so if you're looking for a great deal, a great wine, please check out some of these wines, uh, whether you're buy 'em for yourself or others. So once again, that code is gift 40, uh, capital G I F T 40 to say, 40% up storewide and also two gift bags as well. And, uh, we just hope that you have, uh, happy holidays, whatever you're celebrating, whatever you're doing. We hope that you're doing well, hope that you're taking care of yourself. And of course we hope you're drinking wine. I think that's number one. Important

Ferdy:

Thing. Happy holidays. Buenafe have a great time. Yes,

Sumner:

Please. All right. Thanks everyone.