So, you wanna know about The Wine Pair, eh?!?

You may be here because you are asking yourself what the hell is this podcast about anyway? If so, you are in the right place! However, if you are here seeking the meaning of life or the airspeed velocity of an unladen swallow, you are not. Sorry.

You are also probably here because you like wine. Great! So do we! In fact, we love wine. And some of our favorite kinds of wine fall into a few categories - they taste great, they are easy to find, and don’t cost a lot. Hopefully, you agree! Because that's what we talk about on our show!

But, let’s be honest. It can be hard to find a good wine that fits those criteria. There are so many choices. The reviews on wine sites or from so-called wine experts can be confusing. And price, while important, doesn’t really tell you if a wine is good or not. So, what are you supposed to drink?

Don’t worry anymore, because we are here to help!

The goal of The Wine Pair Podcast is to help you select wines that are easy to find (like in your local grocery store), reasonably priced (we aim to point you to wines with price points below $20), and not crap. Wines you would like to drink. Wines you might choose again.

Now, your taste in wine might be different from ours, and that’s ok! In each episode we’ll taste three wines (and sometimes more) and rate them, and then you’ll be able to tell what you like based on what we like. You might find that wines that we don’t like are wines you do like. Which is totally fine! 

We also want you to have fun. I mean, wine is supposed to be fun, right? We want to make you laugh, maybe help you to learn some things about wine, and give you our brutally honest reviews.

To make it really easy and fun for you, we break up our episodes into a few different categories. You might find that one or more of these categories are right up your alley!

• We have the “F that Wine” series, where we go off on wine varietals we generally hate, and let you know if any are worth buying.
• We have the “Practical Pairing” series, where we pair wines with foods that people actually eat - like burgers, or tacos, or fried chicken, and teriyaki. 
• We have the “Cork Free!” series, where we will review wines that don’t have a cork - they may come in a box, or a can, or have a screw cap.
• We have the “WTF” series, where we help you learn about and find wines that you may not know a lot about but are good, like chenin blanc or rioja.
• We have the “Costco FTW” series, where we review Kirkland wines - or maybe other private label producers - and let you know what is crap, and what is good. 
• We have the “Amazeballs” series, which is where we cover wines that are frankly just too good for their price, wines with an amazing QPR or Quality to Price ratio (which is a total wine nerd thing).

And we won’t pull any punches - we’ll give you our real thoughts and feelings about the wines we drink! You can trust us! 

In each episode, we’ll also talk about things which are not totally related to wine which we love, or hate, or just want to ponder. After 25+ years of marriage, we have a lot of things to say about a lot of things!

Ok, so you are probably thinking to yourself right now, just who are these yahoos that call themselves The Wine Pair. We’re glad you asked!

We are a husband and wife team - Joe and Carmela - who have come to love wine. We learned early on from a great teacher, Carmela’s father, who has collected wine for years. He started out collecting great French wines, but then did a big turnabout and started focusing on Italian wines - like Barolo, Barberesco, Brunello, Chianti, Amarone, Soave, etc. It is from him that we learned how to taste wine, how to pair wine with food, and how damn long it takes to cellar a Barolo!

So, we are bringing our love of wine to you. 

And, you’ll learn this about us from listening to our podcast: we really are not big fans of cabernet, chardonnay, and merlot. But you might be - and that’s ok, too! We don’t judge! (Ok, we do judge, but that’s part of the fun!)

So, what are you waiting for? Start playing an episode and see what all of the hoopla is about! We also hope you’ll reach out to us to let us know what you think. We’re here to listen. We care about you. We really do!

How our ratings work

Most wine rating systems are kind of stupid. Although most of them are set to a 100 point scale, it feels like every wine gets somewhere between an 88 and a 92. No matter what the wine. Yeah, sure, every once in a while you'll see an 85 or a 95+, but most of the time a wine gets a 90. Stupid. 

So, what does a 90 mean? The wine is really good, right?!? So, then, what the hell does an 88 mean? Or an 85? It's good? It's pretty good? It's crap? I should buy it? I shouldn't buy it? Seriously, who knows?!?

We try to make things simple with our ratings. We use a 10 point scale. Our ratings are not relative - in other words, we are not judging whether this wine is good for a Pinot Noir, but rather how enjoyable is this wine overall, irrespective of the varietal (ooh, irrespective - that was a big word!). There are no half points. And we promise there will be wines that get a rating at any point on the scale. So, let's help you understand what our ratings mean.

10: Holy crap. This wine is really, really, really, really, really, really, really good. I think they may have put the wrong wine in this bottle by mistake.

9: This is a seriously good wine. I am going to buy a lot of it. I mean, by the case, bro.

8: A solid wine. A weekday wine. I like this wine. I'm going to drink A LOT of this wine. 

7: Good enought to drink, probably more of a big crowd party wine. But I can knock this son of a biscuit back!

6: Not so great, but I'll drink it. I am not going to buy it, but if I am at someone's house and this is all they got, I'm going to keep drinking.

5: Meh. I can force it down if I have to, but I'm not really happy about it. It better get me nice and drunk. I hope something better comes along.

4: This wine is just not good. I really don't want to keep drinking it. I must be very desperate to keep drinking it. 

3: Oof. This wine is instantly giving me a headache. This will be poured out into the bushes, and I am mad at you for serving it.

2: I can feel this wine burning a hole in my stomach. I can't get the taste out of my mouth. This wine is pretty much shit. 

1: F this wine. F you for making this wine. This wine makes the wine at church taste good in comparison.