The Wine Pair Podcast

Curious about Cursive wines from Amazon? We’ll give you the skinny! And, we even do an exclusive interview with Alexa to get the inside story. We rate and review three wines by Amazon’s Cursive Brand that we purchased at an Amazon Fresh store - a Sauvignon Blanc, a Pinot Noir, and a Red Blend. We’ll help you determine if this is a label and brand that you should trust. We also really do interview...

Love Greek food? Ever tried Greek wine? You should! Drinking wine associated with a specific cuisine is a great way to really understand how food and wine are meant to work together. In this episode, The Wine Pair serve up three Greek wines - Assyrtiko, Moschofilero, and Agiorgitiko - and taste and review them so that you can make informed choices the next time you are at a Greek restaurant. We al...

Looking for some great wines for your next party? Look no further! The Wine Pair introduces a new series for the podcast where we will rate and review three wines - usually a red, a white, and a sparkling or Rose’ - that make sense to serve at larger gatherings - cookouts, or weddings, or anniversaries, or whatever! These wines will be reasonably priced and easy to find, and we’ll let you know if...

WTF is Chenin Blanc? We honestly didn’t know, but after tasting these three examples, we are converts! One of the wines we try in this episode is from NBA basketball star Dwayne Wade’s  Wade Cellars. We are usually a little suspicious of celebrity wines, but this one did not disappoint! If you want to find a great alternative to Chardonnay, Chenin Blanc is a good choice! One of these wines we rate...

The Wine Pair returns to our Cork Free series, and in this episode we taste and rate some canned Pinot Noirs from California and Oregon. We discuss why a red wine is an interesting - and maybe not ideal - choice for a wine in a can, and the pros and cons of canned wine. In addition to giving our completely honest reviews of these wines (and when we say honest, we mean honest), we also try a pairin...

Do you have a bunch of wines hanging around that have been gifted to you and you just haven’t gotten around to drinking them? Ever wonder whether you should open a bottle of wine that someone brings to your house? You are not alone! The Wine Pair welcome Carmela’s brother Mario to the podcast to try out some of the wines that he has been gifted over the years. The results were honestly better than...

Just in time for Valentine’s Day, we talk about a match made in heaven: wine and chocolate! In this episode we pair 3 wines - a Brachetto, a Port, and a Zinfandel - with three kinds of chocolate: milk, dark, and Carmela’s Baby Bites from her Baby Cakes bakery. We think one of the combos is a must do for Valentine’s Day! So, if you want to treat that someone special to a fun and maybe romantic nigh...

We return to our Costco FTW! series with 3 red Kirkland Signature wines - a Malbec, a Gigondas, and a Brunello di Montalcino. In addition to tasting and reviewing these wines - one of which we gave a GOOD rating of 7 and another we gave a BAD rating of 2 - we Trademark the motto for 2022: “Happy Husband, Happy Wife.” We also discuss the different types of Costco shopping modes: Focus Mode and Adve...

Although this episode is called F that Wine, we were pleasantly surprised to find that we actually really liked some of these Rose’ wines! We taste and review 3 different Rose’ wines made from 3 different grapes - Grenache, Barbera, and Pinot Noir - and discover how different they are in taste, style, and color. We also talk about other things - like if it is ok to put ice in wine (we say YES if t...

We return to our much beloved What the F series to introduce you to an Italian wine called Barbera - a wine you may not know about, but you may just want to try! This fruity wine has flavors of tart cherry (think Twizzlers cherry nibs) and is a great complement to dishes like aglio e olio. We also talk about wine glasses, why Carmela breaks all of Joe’s wine glasses, and fond memories of people ch...

Taco Tuesday is a tradition in many households, and in this episode we find some great wines to pair with your taco night! Do you like fish tacos? Beef tacos? Chicken tacos? Whatever your preference, we’ve found some great wines to pair! One of these wines we rated a 9 out of 10, and we think you’ll love it! You’ll also discover what a Coronarita is, why pairing wine with food really makes a diffe...

In this episode, we tackle boxed wine! Wait, did you say wine in a box?!? Yes! And we found a couple that we liked! As part of our Cork Free! series, we continue to express our love for wines without a cork. We rate 3 Pinot Grigios, two we found very drinkable, and one we gave a rating of 2, and we think you should avoid! We also talk about Carmela’s favorite food - ice cream - and how Ben & J...

In this episode, we have special guests: our son Joey, his girlfriend Kiera, and our daughter Marianna, who chose wines based on an “aquatic” theme. We taste and review two reasonably priced Sauvignon Blancs and a Pinot Gris. And, we created a new series based on these choices: Wine Not? We ask Joey and Kiera some questions about New York City - what they love and hate about it, and suggestions fo...

Just in time for the Holidays, we bring you the next in our WTF series - and this time we ask WTF is Cava?!? Sparkling wine is great for any time of year, but we all love bubbly a little more around the Holidays - and Cava is a perfect choice for a delicious and reasonably priced sparkler! In this episode, we talk about the difference between sparkling wine and Champagne, why a dry sparkling wine...

The Wine Pair returns to the F that Wine series, facing down their fear of Merlot. Let’s just say that one of the three wines they taste gets a 2/10 rating, proving to be a terrible wine, definitely not worth your time, and clearly deserving its entry into this series. Truly and honestly, F that Wine! Joe and Carmela briefly discuss the movie Sideways and Paul Giamatti’s famous Merlot quote, try t...

In this episode, The Wine Pair tastes and reviews wines from Costco’s own Kirkland brand. Listen to Joe and Carmela talk about why they love Costco, what they love to buy there, and why Joe has serious issues with Starbucks. In a nutshell, Starbucks sizes are too large, their bagged coffee smells like fish, they have created an alternate universe around the macchiato, mispronounce biscotti, and, m...

The Wine Pair tastes and reviews three wines from Trader Joe’s paired with a charcuterie board  - all selected by their very special guest: daughter Marianna!  Joe and Carmela talk about how Italian families start early building a taste for wine in their children. Marianna introduces the audience to her Instagram account @munch.with.mar, and goes over how she puts together a charcuterie board, and...

In this episode, The Wine Pair tastes and reviews three sparkling rose’ wines in a can. What did you say?!? A can?!? YES! This is fun wine, and perfect for a weeknight celebration! While on an anniversary trip in Honolulu, Joe and Carmela visited an ABC Store, found some canned sparkling wine, and decided to try it. Mind blown! The Wine Pair also talk about the magic of the 8th floor pool at the H...

The Wine Pair discusses what people get wrong about white wine and riesling, a wine some people either don’t know about or are afraid to try. Joe and Carmela taste and review three dry white rieslings, two of which get a 9 out of 10 rating, and along the way talk about how white wines are often stereotyped as uninteresting and sometimes gendered. Carmela talks about her love of seafood, which is a...

The Wine Pair brings out the Big Mac and some reasonably priced Pinot Noirs to see how well they pair together, and if any of the Pinots are worth your hard earned cash. Carmela tastes her first Big Mac, and has to come clean about not knowing that the Big Mac has a bun in the middle. They sing the famous Big Mac song (which does not talk about a middle bun!), and discuss their opinion on McDonald...

The Wine Pair takes on some easy to find and affordable cabernet sauvignons to determine how good - or bad - they really are. Joe explains why he hates cabernet, and Carmela chastises him for being a snob and judgy. Wine reviewed in this episode: H3 Cabernet Sauvignon 2015, Chateau Ste. Michele Cabernet Sauvignon 2017, and Rodney Strong Cabernet Sauvignon 2018. Ratings range from a high of a 7 out...

The Wine Pair Joe and Carmela acquaint you with The Wine Pair Podcast. Get a sense of their witty banter, review the purpose and format of the podcast, and get introduced to what Joe really thinks about cabernet sauvignon, chardonnay, and merlot. The Wine Pair explains that they will focus on selecting and reviewing wines that normal people drink - everyday wines at reasonable prices that can be f...