Ladies and gentlemen, welcome back to another episode of Barrel to Bottle with Binny's Beverage Depot. I absolutely love working there. Jeff, you're not employed by Binny's. I'm jealous of you though, because while I love being employed by WGN Radio, it's a lot of fun, we get to work in a cool industry. You get to work in a cooler industry. You think so? I think so. Well, I think we're the smartest. Jeff, it's because you brought our industries together. Right, we saw the opportunity. We grasped it. Right by the stem. Right by the, I have no radio word. Antenna. How about that? By the antenna. There you go. Darn it. So obvious too. We've got some people hanging out with us today. We do. You may have heard their voices before on the podcast here. They've been on the last few and we're going to keep them around because we love them. This is Joe Maloney. Thanks for having me back, Kristen. Thanks for coming back. For those of you who may miss maybe your first podcast, but Joe is the voice behind Binny's world famous whiskey hotline. If you have any questions, you got to call that number, which is 1-888-877-5898. I love just the way it rolls off the tongue. Binny's Whiskey Hotline, thanks for calling. This is Joe. How can I help you? I've heard that so many times. It narrates my dream. It's welcome to my world. You said we're in a cooler industry too. I was thinking we do have beer coolers. You know, they sit next to me. There's a pretty cool beer guy. Oh, my gosh. Isn't he the best? Roger, that is the best introduction to you I've ever heard. Seamless. Roger Adamson. Yeah, thanks for coming in, buddy. What do you do for us at Binny's? All things beer. So if you've read our Beer Buzz before, enjoy writing that. Check it out. Binny's Beer Buzz. Roger is the man who has his finger on the pulse of beer. His ear is to the street. It's amazing. Yeah, it doesn't know what street, but his ear is definitely to the street. It's Beer Street. Clearly. I'm going to live on Beer Street someday. All right, guys. Well, thanks for joining me today. It's cold weather and so Roger did a podcast with us on warming beer. So I thought warming winter reds are going to be perfect. And so I prepared a little bit of a treatise, if you will, on these particular wines. And I thought that they would be great for you guys to come pick up and try with your winter food, because for sure we're eating heartier because it's so darn cold and it's okay. When I'm thinking of warming reds, I'm thinking of big wines. When we say big wine, we mean high acid, high tannin, high alcohol, very concentrated, deep brooding wines. And so yes, alcohol is definitely driving that train for the big style, because alcohol adds body. So the higher the ABV of the wine, the fuller and more round that wine is going to feel in the mouth. You can find them from many places around the globe, but primarily warmer climates. So you're going to look for red wines that come from these warmer areas. They're going to lend grapes that have higher sugar content because they're riper and thus give you those bigger wines. So, gentlemen, when I say warmer climates, what are some wine regions you can think of where these big old fat reds might come from? Australia. Australia! That's on the list. You got it. What else? I said New Zealand. I know it's Australia adjacent, but... Remember when I said you're always right? Yes. I think you're wrong this time. You think you're kind of wrong. Damn it. No, I mean, they do make some larger, bigger, larger. It's kind of in the summer. Spain's probably one. It is. We're talking about how wrong he is right now. Yeah, I was trying to help you out, Jay. I appreciate that immensely. It's more of a, it's considered a cooler kind of maritime climate, but there are areas inland that produce good Bordeaux or Surat, Bordeaux varieties or Surat. So you're not, you're definitely not wrong. I was just pulling your, pulling your leg. Roger, what do you think? How about South America? South America for sure. So Argentina, parts of Chile. Argentina, Chile. Chile. He went, he went really, really safe with that. But yes, Argentina for sure. And definitely parts of Chile are making those larger, bigger wines. I started with one that is really esoteric, the people probably haven't heard of, and it's a grape called Sagrantino. Have you guys heard of Sagrantino? Has not. It sounds French to me. Yeah. You're wrong again. It's Italian. So it comes from a place called Umbria. Umbria is one of two of the 20 Italian regions that is completely landlocked. It is called kind of the green heart of Italy. So it's kind of like the breadbasket of the country. Quite vertiginous and steep hills and mountains, and it's a gorgeous, you know, very rough terrain, but a lovely, lovely area. There's a place called Monte Falco. That's where Sagrantino comes from. It's a pretty high altitude. So lots of large diurnal swing. You'll see diurnal swing means these hot temperatures during the day, these cool temperatures at night that reserve freshness in the grapes would give us low and even ripening, which breeds complexity. Do we get that anywhere from wines that are US grown? Yeah. I mean, the diurnal shifts are things that you hear often when you go to Napa in the valley because they are such a high quality region and a big region they are, or a big reason they are rather, is because of these diurnal swings that they are so popular for. So it's 100 degrees at noon, you know, and then it's 55 degrees at night. That Pacific cool air comes through, right? Comes right on through and right up through the Cardeneros region and right into the valley. So yeah, exactly. So we're talking about Sagrantino, we're talking about tannins, right? Tannins exist in the grape skins and they help to give the red wine structure. And when you're judging tannins for red wine, you're gonna judge them between your teeth and your front lips, generally for most people, it's that very dry and grippy feel. Tannin in Sagrantino is very, very high, so it does really well with food. Without food, your lips are literally going to get sucked up to the top of your gums, and it's not going to be the best for you. So these are food wines, and there's nothing wrong with that. It's not to say the wine is of low quality, you should be afraid of it, don't taste it. It's just know that, especially Italian wines, these kind of rustic styles, they're just meant to go with food. So, Sagrentino, go ahead and pair it with all of your winter fare. When I say winter fare, Roger, give me three cold weather dishes for you that would go with a deep, dense, dark, black fruit tannic wine like Sagrentino. Pot roast, some sort of stew or like a beef carbonade, and maybe... Anything crock pot, right? Yeah, or like a nice big roast, like a nice... A big old fat roast or even a nice spicy chili. I like chili that's made with steak meat. Oh, yeah, friends, things are getting real up in here in the WGN studio. So another wine riding on that Italian train comes from further south. So we go from Umbria down to Lazio. That's the region where Rome is. We're going to go south of that to Naples, to Napoli, and that region is called Campania. So it's also very gorgeous. Now, Italy is known to be... It undulates. It's got the spine of the Apennine mountains that runs right down the center of the boot. And so we get this breadth of terroirs, these different climates throughout the entire region. And Alianico grows very well further inland, a little bit off of the Tyrrhenian Sea, where it can ripen properly. And of course, we love Alianico for the same reasons that we love Sagrantino, the dark fruit flavors, the brooding characteristic, the deeply colored, densely flavored, all sorts of things. And these wines can age. So if I want to impress at my NFL championship party, I should... The thing is, when it comes to football food, that's a little bit difficult to pair. Sure, yeah. But these wines would definitely go well because they do have a nice fruit character to it. They can seem a bit sweet because of the high alcohol as well. So I think you'd score a touchdown. I almost had a home run that I was like, back it up, back it up. No, good save, good save. And then like Joe said, very lovingly, Shiraz, right, from Australia, otherwise known as Syrah from France. I mean, this wine is the go-to winter wine. I love the stuff. If you're getting Syrah from Northern Rome in France, you're going to find that that wine has a bit more finesse, it's a bit more subtle, kind of reserved, but definitely tannic, and it has a bit of a savory meaty quality to it that I absolutely love. Some versions can get a bit sanguine, which means they can smell a little bit irony, a little bit bloody. I know it sounds gross, but it's actually delicious. And so when we're going for those hearty winter meals, I absolutely love Syrah and then Shiraz, which would be a fruitier expression. So if you like more California wines from hotter climates, that generally tend to be more fruity or modern in style, then you want to go for that Australian Shiraz. I've had some that have just been knocking my socks off lately. I kind of put the category away for a while. I was drinking a lot of Shiraz years ago, and I recently in the last months just started drinking more, and man, am I feeling good about it. I am like, welcome back, baby. I worked in restaurants for a good decade, and it was like early 2000s, and Shiraz was like the whole thing. Oh, yeah. It was like, oh my God, Shiraz, Shiraz, yeah. The Australians had their glut, and they're just too much overproduced, and then the styles began to wax the same way. They got muddy, yeah, because everything was the same. Yeah, exactly. Everything was the same, and no tipicity anymore, but now they're pulling back on, thank you, they're pulling back on things like oak and over-treated, and the wines are just showing true expression of the place where they come, and they're really high quality. All right, so another French wine, so you had two Italians, remember, Sagrantino Alianico, and they're hard to pronounce, so just email me, I'll help you out. Chiraz, if it's coming from France or countries that make it in that French style or Chiraz generally coming from Australia, and then we've got Chateauneuf du Pop, so it means the new house of the Pope, so when we had this, it's before the Western Schism and the Popes broke apart, I think it was Clement, he was like, I'm done with this Rome thing, this pasta is just, they're not cooking it right, I'm taking my papacy and I'm going to Avignon in Southern France, and he loved the wines there, and these are wines that were definitely blends, they're based on Grenache and other grapes like Mouvet and Carignan, and you know, the usual suspects of Southern French blends, and man, he was nutty for them, and that's kind of where the wines became popular, because back in the day, the Pope was the bee's knees, and if the Pope liked your wines, they became very famous, and so that was sort of the Genesis of Chateauneuf du Pop kind of coming into limelight. In modern times, in the 20th century, it was the first AOC in France. So what that meant was it was the first region to have this designation that said, Chateauneuf du Pop is this style, made of these grapes, and nobody else can call their wines Chateauneuf du Pop, we want no posers, we're the real deal, and that's that. And then that trend spread all the way through Europe, and now these geographical indications are worldwide for the organization of wine and protecting tipicity and where wines come from. AOC means Good cold weather. Good cold weather, winter reds. One more, and then we're out of here. We're going back to Italy, we're going to Northeast Italy in a place called the Veneto, the region of Valpolicella, and we're talking about Amarone. Gosh darn it, I love Amarone. So it's made in a very special way. Let's take a time machine. We're going back to ancient Rome, and up in this region, what they would do is they would make wines of dried grapes. So when you dry grapes out, what you do is eliminate the water content. So you concentrate everything that's left, and that's really sugar and flavor and minerals. So really, we're talking about sugar and flavor. And one big thing you need to make alcohol, friends, is sugar. So you get high alcohol wines this way. When you add in or you make wine with dried grapes, you're going to get not just your standard 13.5% Cabernet, like from Bordeaux or maybe in parts of Napa. We're talking about 15, 16%. The legal minimum ABV for Amarone is 14%. So producers oftentimes exceed that 15, 16. This is the biggest wine that we're talking about today is Amarone. I've never even heard that. Amarone is the name of the wine. So it's Amarone is the style made from those dried grapes from a place called Valpolicella. Where would I find something like this? I mean, what label am I looking for? You're looking literally for it to say Amarone. No, I got that. But like there are vineyards who produce this specifically. Oh, what producers are you looking for? Sure, sure. Tommasi is a really great one. Also Masi, I also like a lot. And Allegrini is another good producer. And those are three very common or popular producers. Larger production, you'll find them distributed around the United States for sure. Masi is probably the producer that really was at the helm of the Renaissance of the Amadone process in modern times, kind of reviving the ancient technique of making the wine out of the dry grapes. Like dry grapes. Oh, that's cool. They're like the OG of the modern Amadone and they do really good stuff. That's interesting, though, because that's one of those things where you show up at an NFL championship game party and you say, hey, I got this wine. Fun fact, dry grapes. I mean, people are like, oh, what are you talking about? No, no, no, really, trust me, you like this. No, no, don't turn around. No, no, come back. Come back, come back. Now that dips out like good. Trust me. That's a good fact to know because, I mean, honestly, I've never thought of dried grapes as a thing and you just mentioned it. That doesn't seem like something I ever thought of in my process of like, oh, wine is made from grapes, just grapes. You take grapes and you make wine, but now dried grapes. It's actually pretty common in a lot of countries to do this, to make wine with dried grapes in various forms, whether you're adding them in to already fermenting must or making the sweet wines like sherry, PX sherry is made with dried grapes. Do you get some of those raisin equalities? Maybe it smells like raisin, smells like prune, that dried fruit, fruit aroma. It's just really, really, they're fantastic wines. And they can age forever. And a day, 10, 20, 30, 40 years, these babies have legs to run. So if I want to do one of those, hey, you were born this year and I'm going to age. That's one of the great choices you can have if you have a kid in whatever year. What do you mean, Amarone? Perfect baby wine. Perfect baby wine. One of my all-time favorite food and wine pairing, it's you take aged Parmesan cheese and you drizzle a little bit of honey over it and then just eat that with Amarone. It is like, it'll blow your mind. It's so simple. Doesn't take any cooking. All you have to do is pop a cork, take the wrapper off the cheese and pour some honey on it, and you are in business. That is your NFL championship. Yeah, you don't know my friends because that would go over like a lot of things. No, it wouldn't. It's delicious. I think Jeff Carlin's friends, he is selling you short, and I think you are going to bring that in set and be like, oh yeah, Jeff? Where are the buffalo wings? I'm like, oh, I got this. And Amaroni might be good with that, but might be a little bit too high in alcohol, so I definitely watch that with those wangs. Ladies and gentlemen, so we're now at our Q&A portion of Barrel to Bottle with Binny's Beverage Depot, and we've got a question from The Staub, S-T-A-U-B. I guess it's a gentleman, but it could be a lady. Whoever, Staub. The Staub wants his or her wife, he says, I want to make this Valentine's Day extra special for my fiance, who'll be having her first glass of wine and sushi after a nine month pregnancy break. What is a good wine to pair with sushi? None of the wines we talked about tonight. That's for sure. When we're going for sushi, what are we looking for, guys? What kind of flavors are in sushi? What do we get? Like what's the big group? The spicy, citrusy. Citrusy, but the spicy, the wasabi. So two things that really don't play very well together are high alcohol and spicy chili heat, right? Or just heat, or even if it comes from horseradish. So you want to watch the alcohol. So low alcohol wines and something with a bit of sweetness to it as well. So maybe Demi Sec Vouvray, Riesling from Germany would be great, or domestic Riesling. I prefer champagne, I mean. You always prefer champagne. I think honestly I've managed to bring up champagne for every single podcast. There was that one whiskey episode I got in the champagne. Yeah, I was like, this is like the champagne of whiskeys. Cappy is literally the Krug. Yeah, but the Fizz man. And so yeah, just get your wife a bottle of Krug, end of story. That's it. That's all I have to say. So you guys, Joe, Roger, thanks for joining us today. I appreciate your time and effort with all these podcasts. Yeah, no, it's a lot of fun having you guys. Jeff Carlin, always good to hang out with you. Absolutely. And ladies and gentlemen, thanks for tuning in. We'll see you next time on Barrel to Bottle. Keep tasting.