A podcast for people who like wine but not the snobbery that goes with it. I talk about wine in a fun, straightforward, normal way to get you excited about it and help you drink better, more interesting stuff. About half the shows feature guests and are informal but educational discussions between me and a passionate wine friend –they aren't interviews. All guests are personal friends or friends of friends in wine so like any conversation between friends, we'll talk back and forth, interrupt each other, laugh and have fun, debate tough questions, voice our opinions, and most of all, enjoy sharing our time together and with you! The Wine For Normal People book is available on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and many local booksellers. Back catalog available on Patreon.com/winefornormalpeople
Pollak Vineyards is a small family-owned winery founded in 2003 when Margo and David Pollak bought a farm west of Charlottesville, Virginia. David's experience in wine was pretty extensive – he worked in the 1970s in Sonoma's Russian River Valley and was a founding partner and investor in one of Napa Valley's first Carneros wineries, Bouchaine Vineyards. Years later, when he thought about retirement from the corporate world, he saw huge potential in Virginia and he and Margo took the chance to help shape this emerging region.
Photo: Pollak Vineyards. Credit: https://www.pollakvineyards.com
In this show, I host Ryan Pollak Gardner, Dave and Margo's daughter and their successor, and Benoit Pineau, the long time winemaker. We discuss the story of Pollak, the terroir of their site, and what makes their wine so much better than so many others in Virginia.
For me, Pollak is among the Grand Cru of Virginia – the top of the top. Their wines are stunning, their property is beautiful, and they are doing all the right things to showcase how incredible the wines of VA can be. And I'm not alone: in 2025, Pollak won five gold medals in the VA Governor's Cup Competition, more than any other winery.
A great show on what it takes to run a winery of this caliber in a challenging climate and terroir, and how far Virginia has come, due to places like Pollak.
Full show notes and all back episodes are on Patreon. Join the community today!
www.patreon.com/winefornormalpeople
_______________________________________________________________
This show is brought to you by my exclusive sponsor, Wine Access – THE place to discover your next favorite bottle. Wine Access has highly allocated wines and incredible values, plus free shipping on orders of $150 or more. Go to wineaccess.com/wfnp to sign up!
600 episodes of WFNP! I am grateful to you for listening, for reading the book, for learning with me and gracefully accepting the changes over the years, and I'm especially grateful to my sponsors, guests, and travel partners. (thanks Heather and Beppe!) over the last 15 years who have supported this show.
But most of all, as I say every week, I'm grateful to the Patrons – the people who directly support the work that I do week after week and who have become my friends, and who have allowed me to join them on their journeys into wine.
I'm boring and you all know about me so for this episode, I asked the Patrons if anyone wanted to share their story on how they got their start in wine. I culled it down to nine!
Each story is so unique and fun. Please make sure you listen to them all. The last story is with one of my very first listeners and we discuss some of the more philosophical things about wine and the show to wrap it up.
I owe a debt of gratitude to all these brave people (who I definitely did not compensate for doing this NOR for saying all the nice things they said – I had no idea they were going to say this stuff!):
Just as a heads up: You'll hear a brief pause between each vignette, and each varies in length. I hope you'll laugh, nod your head, and enjoy this wonderful celebration of wine and the WFNP community.
Full show notes and all back episodes are on Patreon. Join the community today!
www.patreon.com/winefornormalpeople
_______________________________________________________________
This show is brought to you by Wine Access – THE place to discover your next favorite bottle. Wine Access has highly allocated wines and incredible values, plus free shipping on orders of $150 or more. You can't go wrong with Wine Access! Go to wineaccess.com/wfnp to sign up!
In honor of Women's History Month, I'm rereleasing a show with one of the most dynamic, intelligent, and all around fantastic women in wine: Laura Catena of Bodegas Catena Zapata in Mendoza, Argentina.
Photo from Laura's website: https://indefenseofwine.com
We discuss her life as a doctor, a mom, and the head of a wine empire. We cover the history of Malbec and how her family aided the meteoric rise of Argentine wine and of the comeback of the Malbec grape around the world.
A fun, sharp-as-a-tack woman, you'll learn a ton about Malbec, Mendoza, and a few life lessons (it's all about the B+!) from this fascinating podcast!
I've edited it to take out some outdated information and for conciseness, but it is well worth the listen -- still a great, educational, and fun show after all these years! Please look at Laura's web site on wine and health for the most accurate, up to date, and factual information on wine and health: In Defense of Wine
Full show notes and all back episodes are on Patreon. Become a member today!
www.patreon.com/winefornormalpeople
_______________________________________________________________
To register for an AWESOME, LIVE WFNP class with Elizabeth or get a class gift certificate for the wine lover in your life go to: www.winefornormalpeople.com/classes
This week I cover Malbec, or Côt as it's known in its native home of Southwest France. This old red grape variety has long history in France and was once one of its most planted grapes. But due to pickiness in the vineyard and harshness in the bottle, Malbec fell out of favor in its native country. Despite being a big component in the Bordeaux blend, the grape remained in relative obscurity until it hit South America, particularly Argentina. Although it wasn't an overnight success, Malbec hung around Argentina for about 150 years and then got its moment in the sun (literally). Today 75% of the world's Malbec grows in Argentina.
Photo: Malbec grape. Source: Getty Images via Canva
From a combination of factors and circumstances that worked perfectly for Malbec, the grape took on premium status in the 1990s in Argentina and rocketed into fame through the 2000s. It was then that Cahors, the native home of the grape changed some of its techniques to make its native grape shine in a different style. Others followed, but these two titans of the grape remain the best.
In the show I discuss the history of the grape, it's not so cooperative nature in the vineyard, the key to making good Malbec in the winery, and then I talk about the regions where it is grown, in detail. As always, I end with food pairings and producers.
Full show notes and all back episodes are on Patreon. Become a member today!
www.patreon.com/winefornormalpeople
_______________________________________________________________
Check out my exclusive sponsor, Wine Access. They have an amazing selection -- once you get hooked on their wines, they will be your go-to!
To register for an AWESOME, LIVE WFNP class with Elizabeth or get a class gift certificate for the wine lover in your life go to: www.winefornormalpeople.com/classes
This week I cover the regional AOCs of Medoc and Haut-Medoc, which wraps up our exploration of the Left Bank of Bordeaux. These two areas can cover a lot of ground, but they are usually used for discreet geographies in the north and south of the Médoc Peninsula.
Because each AOC is so large and varied, I do a deep dive into the whole of the region and then into the particularities of the smaller Médoc AOC in the northwest of the Médoc and the Haut-Médoc in the south, around the city of Bordeaux and to the west of the communal appellations (Margaux, St. Julien, Pauillac, and Saint Éstephe).
I review the history, geology, terroir, grapes (including the new grapes for exploration and the new WHITE Médoc AOC as of 2025), wines, and recommended châteaux.
Photo: The 1855 Classification, 5th Growth. The Cantemerle write in!
Full show notes and all back episodes are on Patreon. Become a member today!
www.patreon.com/winefornormalpeople
_______________________________________________________________
Check out my exclusive sponsor, Wine Access. They have an amazing selection -- once you get hooked on their wines, they will be your go-to! Make sure you join the Wine Access-Wine For Normal People wine club for wines I select delivered to you quarterly
To register for an AWESOME, LIVE WFNP class with Elizabeth or get a class gift certificate for the wine lover in your life go to: www.winefornormalpeople.com/classes
This week I cover Lodi, California, an historic wine region in the Central Valley of California that has been growing grapes since the 1850s.
Located 40 miles /64 km south of Sacramento and 90 miles/ 145 km east of San Francisco, Lodi is an often overlooked wine region, despite the fact that it has been recognized as an American Viticultural Area (AVA) since 1986.
Lodi AVAs. Source: Lodi Winegrape Commission
Lodi doesn't lack for vineyard land --today the region has 100,000 acres/ 40,500 ha planted to wine grapes, with 750 growers, 80 wineries, and about 65 tasting rooms. 20% of California's total wine is made from Lodi grapes. The AVA also has the highest concentration of old vines in California.
Photo: Bechthold Vineyard planted 1886. Credit: Randy Caparoso, CC BY-SA 4.0 , via Wikimedia Commons
Although Lodi is known for big, juicy, high alcohol Zinfandel Petite Sirah, Cabernet Sauvignon, and red blends, the real secret is that with a library of 125+ different grapes, Lodi is doing a lot of experimentation with alternative varietals and some of it is pretty cool: it has a few tricks up its sleeve.
In this show, I cover all of the details of Lodi - from the history, to the climate and land, to the AVAs, and the wine styles. I mention some key producers, and then I wrap with some of the challenges that Lodi faces and the opportunities it has in front of it.
Source for this show was primarily the excellent site of the Lodi Winegrape Commission:
Full show notes and all back episodes are on Patreon. Become a member today!
www.patreon.com/winefornormalpeople
_______________________________________________________________
Check out my exclusive sponsor, Wine Access. They have an amazing selection -- once you get hooked on their wines, they will be your go-to! Make sure you join the Wine Access-Wine For Normal People wine club for wines I select delivered to you four times a year!
To register for an AWESOME, LIVE WFNP class with Elizabeth or get a class gift certificate for the wine lover in your life go to: www.winefornormalpeople.com/classes
In this show I go back to basics (the last time I covered this topic was in 2011 -- episode 7!!) and discuss the differences between the terms New World and Old World.
Although it seems totally basic, there has been controversy over using these terms, with some writers saying they are antiquated, non specific, and need to be replaced. I disagree. I discuss the usefulness of the terms and why they should still exist as terms in wine from three main perspectives:
Here are links to the articles that I mention:
Full show notes and all back episodes are on Patreon. Become a member today!
www.patreon.com/winefornormalpeople
_______________________________________________________________
Check out my exclusive sponsor, Wine Access. They have an amazing selection -- once you get hooked on their wines, they will be your go-to! Make sure you join the Wine Access-Wine For Normal People wine club for wines I select delivered to you four times a year!
To register for an AWESOME, LIVE WFNP class with Elizabeth or get a class gift certificate for the wine lover in your life go to: www.winefornormalpeople.com/classes
This show is a refresh of Episode 371 with a new take!
In October of 2025, I visited Croatia on a scouting trip with my friend Brett from Walk & Wine Croatia (check them out and take a trip with them! Marija and Barişa are the best guides!) to see if there was a possibility of me hosting a patron trip there! It was a fantastic trip and I learned so much about the country and the wines.
Photo: View from Rizman Winery. Credit: WFNP
Just two weeks before I went, Patron, listener, wine educator, previous pod guest cohost (Ep 522 -- the Wine Movie Podcast), Bevis Sydney, visited to Croatia on a family holiday. He and I compared notes and they were nearly identical. I enlisted his help to do this show as a look into our shared perceptions -- great and less great.
I cover all the basics in a brief review on the country and then Bevis and I do a deep dive into the main grapes of Dalmatia and beyond. We come to the conclusion that the whites Grk and Poşip are the best wines we tasted, and the red Babiç has some potential.
Photo: Kastel Sikuli is a great winery in Dalmatia. Credit: WFNP
Here are the links to things we reference:
Walk & Wine Croatia (check them out and take a trip with them!)
Stockists:
Full show notes and all back episodes are on Patreon. Become a member today!
www.patreon.com/winefornormalpeople
_______________________________________________________________
Check out my exclusive sponsor, Wine Access. They have an amazing selection -- once you get hooked on their wines, they will be your go-to! Make sure you join the Wine Access-Wine For Normal People wine club for wines I select delivered to you four times a year!
To register for an AWESOME, LIVE WFNP class with Elizabeth or get a class gift certificate for the wine lover in your life go to: www.winefornormalpeople.com/classes
If you haven't seen the Apple TV Series "Drops of God", you must change that quickly. This is, in my opinion, the single best wine show/movie ever done. It's not hokey, it shows wine in a realistic and good light, and it's a cool story.
The show, whose first season dropped in 2023, won the International Emmy Awards for Best Drama Series and has been praised for its beautiful cinematography, skilled acting, and accurate portrayal of certain elements of the wine world. It's actually based on a Japanese manga series of the same name that was wildly popular.
Season one was so successful that Drops of God was renewed for a second season, which is currently unfolding week after week on Apple TV. Season one is still available for you to watch if you missed it.
In this show, I sit down with Sebastien "Seb" Pradal, who was the man behind all the wine knowledge in this show. He worked with the writers and actors to get all the facts and details of the wines right.
Although he won the very prestigious Best Young Sommelier of France in 1997, Seb took the entrepreneurial route instead of working as a somm. He leads a wine distribution and consulting agency, owns the fine dining restaurant La Petite Régalade in Paris, where he showcases French gastronomy and highlights independent producers and cool wines, and he imports French wines into Mexico and Colombia.
He was selected by the writers working on "Drops of God" to help them make the series true to the wine world in a non-snobby way. He was charged with making all wine-related activities authentic, and we worked closely with the actors to teach them about wine, wine tasting, and the wine world (he told me offline that the actors now order and drink wine regularly and know their way around a list!).
This podcast will give you a rare glimpse into why this show is so successful in portraying the wine world when many others have fallen short. And that glimpse really is all about Seb Pradal and his contributions to the show. He is a delightful person and shares some fun insider information about the inner workings of how a production of this caliber gets made.
As promised, here are the links we mention in the show:
Full show notes and all back episodes are on Patreon. Join the community today!
www.patreon.com/winefornormalpeople
_______________________________________________________________
This show is brought to you by my exclusive sponsor, Wine Access – THE place to discover your next favorite bottle. Wine Access has highly allocated wines and incredible values, plus free shipping on orders of $150 or more. You can't go wrong with Wine Access! Join the WFNP/Wine Access wine club and get 6 awesome bottles for just $150 four times a year. That includes shipping! When you become a member, you also get 10% all your purchases on the site. Go to wineaccess.com/normal to sign up!
In the show I discuss these two outstanding appellations that once were Greats in Bordeaux and should be once again -- these are wines we should all be drinking more often, especially at the price we pay (you can get a great bottle for US$30).
Located at 44.5°N, northwest of the city of Libourne, Fronsac and Canon Fronsac sit on Bordeaux's Right Bank, overlooking the Dordogne River. These two red-wine-only appellations share some of the best limestone terroir in Bordeaux. And despite the beauty and high quality of the vineyards that cover rolling hills and plateaus, AOC Fronsac and the much smaller AOC Canon Fronsac to the south, are praised by critics but virtually unknown by wine lovers these days.
This is even more surprising when we consider that historically, Fronsac was every bit, if not more respected than its way more famous neighbors, Saint-Émilion and Pomerol. But after losing most of the top vineyards to the phylloxera epidemic/French wine blight in the late 1800s neither appellation regained the status they once had. That means today they have enormous untapped potential: savory and high-quality wines that aren't sold at prices they merit, and a lack of investment to help the region shine, despite it having all the ingredients to do so.
Despite the prime location and the ideal terroir and historic legacy, the wines remain one of Bordeaux's best secrets: fruity, complex, and full of bright acidity that, thanks to the cooler limestone soils and long growing season. With climate change, these wines are poised to be successful – they hold up beautifully even in hot years – but will we give them the chance?
Here links to the Expression de Fronsac list of producers and Château George 7, my friend Sally Evan's winery that you should visit!
Full show notes and all back episodes are on Patreon. Join the community today!
www.patreon.com/winefornormalpeople
_______________________________________________________________
This show is brought to you by my exclusive sponsor, Wine Access – THE place to discover your next favorite bottle. Wine Access has highly allocated wines and incredible values, plus free shipping on orders of $150 or more. You can't go wrong with Wine Access! Join the WFNP/Wine Access wine club and get 6 awesome bottles for just $150 four times a year. That includes shipping! When you become a member, you also get 10% all your purchases on the site. Go to wineaccess.com/normal to sign up!