Bottle Blondes Wine

This week, new age tech moguls and aspiring natural wine enthusiasts Hunty Miles and Mack Horsey guest host for the Blondes. They cover questions that often pop up around the natural wine movement and explore the differences, and the overlapping similarities, between organic and biodynamic wine production. Join Hunty and Mack as they pitch ideas to start their very first NFT winery, decide how many personal shamans they need, and regale the harrowing time they summited Mt. Everest… for the 4th time.

That's right, we just got back from holiday – not in Portugal unfortunately – but from a brief little excursion to Long Beach, Washington, where we recorded this episode just for you! Take a journey through Portugal as we cover some of the country's main exports to the U.S., including Vinho Verde, red blends from the Dão DOC, plus fortified dessert wines from Port and Madeira. Learn about the famous Douro Valley and listen to some fun facts that you can casually drop into conversation with your friends over a fine glass of Tawny Port while sitting in your immaculate study that smells of rich leather chairs  and old books.

“There is Zinfandel in them thar hills!” Why yes, old-timey prospector man, there is! California is known for its big red wines (like Cabernet Sauvignon from Napa), but they are also known for spicy and fruit-forward Zinfandel! So move over Napa, because this week Hallie and Adrien are taking a steam locomotive to Lodi and Paso Robles to showcase other diverse regions in California's massive wine country.

From our very green corner of Portland, OR, we take you to another lush and rainy place...known as Green Spain! Or Basque country, to be more precise, where citizens drink the lightly fizzy wine known as Txakoli (CHA-koh-lee), and use way too many consonants in everything. Hali and Adrien discuss this upper northwest corner of Spain and why it's a haven of white wine, and even get a visit or two from a famous pop star (please Seal, don't sue us).

For part two in our series covering the Coastal Region/Western Cape of South Africa, we play an exciting game of South African Jeopardy, look at the Bordeaux blends of Stellenbosch, welcome the comeback of the blind tasting... And of course, play 7 things, in which we are pretty sure Adrien has a new product pitch for Shark Tank for cold single people and Hallie has big carnival plans for some sheep.

In the first part of our series covering the Coastal Region/Western Cape of South Africa, we look into the area's history, wine origins and discuss some of the strange names they have for climate and soil. We explore the appellation of Swartland, Chenin Blanc, and discuss Pinotage's strange history from a life at an “experimental farm” to a grape that divides wine critics with fun tasting notes like banana oil and road rage.

This year, Adrien became a French Wine Scholar and Hallie became an Italian Wine Scholar through the Wine Scholar Guild. So this week, we decided we would use some of our new knowledge to help anyone still hopelessly staring at French and Italian wine labels in your local supermarket going, “what the whaaaaa?” Plus we each talk about a region we found particularly interesting during our studies: Campania in Italy, and the Roussillon in France.

No, we are not talking about a mediocre Ben Stiller movie from 2007, but the grape that breaks hearts from France to Oregon: Pinot Noir! Citing irreconcilable differences and cultivation difficulty as reasons to divorce growers, sometimes Pinot pulls through in just the right terrior and puts in the work to make the marriage work. And speaking of Oregon, this particular Pinot Noir episode we are on our home turf of the Willamette Valley AVA. Join us as we explore some of the Valley's main Sub-AVAs.   ----more---- BossaBossa by Kevin MacLeod Link: https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/3455-bossabossa License: https://filmmusic.io/standard-license No Good Layabout by Kevin MacLeod Link: https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/4140-no-good-layabout License: https://filmmusic.io/standard-license

If we made 20 million dollars shooting one movie, or doing one album tour, we would probably buy a bunch of vineyards too. As it turns out, some famous people are pretty good at this wine thing, and others, not so much. This week we tackle the phenomenon of celebrity wines covering famous people who just stick their name on something vs ones who are actually out in the vineyards getting their hands dirty. Plus a very special “7 Things” where we ponder which famous face should try their hand at making wine, or at least slapping their name on a label. ----more---- Secret of Tiki Island by Kevin MacLeod Link: https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/4331-secret-of-tiki-island License: https://filmmusic.io/standard-license BossaBossa by Kevin MacLeod Link: https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/3455-bossabossa License: https://filmmusic.io/standard-license Blippy Trance by Kevin MacLeod Link: https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/5759-blippy-trance License: https://filmmusic.io/standard-license

Walla Walla Washington, ONIONS! WINE! ONION WINE! (j/k that would be DISGUSTING) This week’s episode is all about one of Washington’s most well known AVAs, the Walla Walla Valley. We take a deep dive on the area and wineries to explore when visiting. We also finally unpack the Missoula Floods, which you have probably heard people name drop in a wine tasting and you just smile and nod like you know what they are talking about. Well now you get to know!

The self-professed BAROLO BOYZ are back for a part two! Join Travis and Benny Calhoun in the second part of their journey as they explore the areas of Piedmonte that grow the prestigious Nebbiolo grape, and recount the tale of the original Barolo Boys. Then, stick around for a very heartfelt Seven Things, during which the boys invent not one, but two new dishes to add to their Californian-Italian-fusion street food cart, Holy Ravioli.

Adrien and Hallie take a week off and invite Venice Beach food cart owners, Travis and Benny Calhoun, Guy Fieri’s biggest fans and self proclaimed BAROLO BOYZ. Join Travis and Benny in part one of their journey as they explore the areas of Piedmonte growing and celebrating the prestigious Nebbiolo grape and recount the tale of the original Barolo Boys.

Valleys within valleys within valleys! Oh my! In this week’s episode we explore Chile’s most productive and well known region, the Central Valley. We also talk about Chile’s strong wine ties to the Bordeaux region in France and the movie based on it “Le Bordeaux Connection” (starring Paul Newman) and the not so successful follow-up, “Phone Crimes.”

Paradigm: is it a shape? A philosophical concept? Or just an excuse to drink more wine? Hallie and Adrien explore the answer to this mystifying question by taking a side-by-side look at one of the world’s most beloved grapes: Grenache! This week’s episode explores the different terroirs that shape this noble varietal around the globe and how it’s sometimes blended or left as-is on its own -- as perfection.

This week, Hallie and Adrien take a deeper look at some of the darling grapes of Austria! With some of the highest production standards in the EU, Austria produces some real bargain bangers, cultivated through a rich (yet tumultuous) history. 

For our first time covering Spain, we look at some regions in Northern Spain and the red wines they produce. Then we head down south to sherry country (SHERRRRRRRYYY SHERRY BABY) to dabble in some fortified wines. And lastly, we try to answer the question: why do so many Spanish wines have birds on them?

This week Hallie and Adrien challenge each other to give certain wines another chance. We reached out on our social media channels for your suggestions for your favorite Malbecs and Pinot Gris/Pinot Grigios.  Let’s see if Adrien can convince Hallie that Malbec is more than just “flabby cooking wine” and that Hallie can convince Adrien that Pinot Gris/Pinot Grigio is more than just “acidic hogwash”!

Marcy Miller and Barb Berg are back for part two to talk more about their favorite varietal, Merlot. The two ladies from the crafting Podcast “Crafty Minnies” head over to the new world to taste some bottles from California and Washington, and try their own version of a Bottle Blondes favorite: a Merlot-centric 'Seven Things'.

This week Adrien and Hallie invited Marcy Miller and Barb Berg from their favorite crafting Podcast “Crafty Minnies”, straight out of Duluth Minnesota, to talk about the noble grape Merlot. Marcy and Barb explain why it’s their favorite varietal and how it goes great with a Hot Dish to keep you cozy on a cold Minnesota day.

Keep the party going, because we're not done with the southern hemisphere quite yet! In part 2 of our Australian series, we dive into the wines of Western Australia. Plus, Tasmanian bubbles and a very special edition of Who Wants to be an (Australian) Millionaire. 

Turn up your Men at Work and get the Vegemite out because we are going down under! This week we dive into a two-part episode and talk about how the yellow kangaroo is sabotaging Australia's wine cred and how the wine coming out of the country is more than just cheap mass-produced Shiraz. Part one is all about Southern Australia!

Why do we drink super young wine at Thanksgiving and pop corks when the clock strikes midnight? We head back to France for some Marvel-esque origin stories about Beaujolais Nouveau and Champagne. Then they will all meet up in an Infinity War or something.

This episode is brought to you by the letter W. This episode we take a look at some countries that often get overlooked on the wine shelf and some grapes you have probably never heard of. From Canada to Croatia we try to pronounce a lot of words with a bunch of consonants in a row, just like Hallie’s last name!

Just like your grandmother’s marinara recipe, trying to master this noble grape was complicated. This week we take a trip around the boot and explore Italy’s top grape and why you are probably drinking it more than you realize.

Hallie and Adrien take the week off and let some of their old college professors step in.  Join John-Michael Higgins and Geoffrey Carmichael as they talk about the appellations of Bordeaux, a little bit about the movie Red Obsession and rehash stories of their youth.

We decided to go all in on Germany this episode. Listen as we explore the wine growing regions of Germany, their fascinating wine history, and 2 of the most commonly known German wines, Riesling and Gewurztraminer.

We refuse to call this wine “polarizing” so we called it Adam Levine instead.  You hate it, but sometimes you secretly like it. Listen as we explore the rise and fall and triumphant return of one of the most grown white wine grapes in the world.  Listen as we tell you about local BOC factions and listen as Hallie totally butchers the pronunciation of “terroir.” Le Français est très difficile parfois.    

Welcome to Bottle Blondes! Get to know us a little better and more about our collective favorite wine, Sauvignon Blanc. We love this wine so much we probablymaybeokaywedid drink too much of it.