Barbie, you drank a bottle of Garnacha last night? What kind of bottle of Garnacha did you drink? It was a 799 jobby, Onorovera from Spain. Onorovera. Yeah, that's a good one. It was quite delicious. From Borsal, yeah. That last glass seemed like a good idea about 11 o'clock at night. What's it from? I think it's from Campa de Borsja. Campa de Borsja, yeah. It might be. Campa de Borsja. I imagine the Campa de Borsja is just this big water tower full of Garnacha, and they just siphon it off in little tanks and barrels when they need it. It comes down in an aqueduct. I thought that was installed on top of Barb's house. Yeah. It's just like a little drip thing, like a hamster water thing. It just comes down the chimney. I also imagine there's Lake Chardonnay in Australia somewhere. They just scoop it up. It's so beautiful. Yeah. They pump it out of a serene lake in the outback, put it on a bottle with a kangaroo or whatever animal. Charge $6 dues for it. Somehow, it gets over here and we charge. Did you say dollary dues? It's shipped in a glass bottle all the way from Australia to here for $3. So folks, you're listening to Barrel to Bottle, The Binny's Podcast. I'm Greg, I do communications for Binny's In the Room. With me today is Roger Dubierre, Pat, Director of Spirit Sales. Barb Stedman, I work in wine. And for the first time, Jason Palma, I work with wine emails. Jason, you write all of our wine content, our wine emails, a lot of website stuff. You curate recipes on our blog. He's one of the most educated wine people and one of the quietest voices at Binny's. So we finally got him on the podcast. He also drives us up. Yeah, I'll own that one. But he's not wearing a turtleneck. Yeah. That's all right. That's at my desk. Yeah. Yeah, the requisite wine nerd uniform. So you're on the podcast today to share one of your great wine passions, which is an easy one to like, which is? Garnacha. Garnacha. Barb loves it more. Apparently. Who loves Garnacha more? Me or Jason? When I was first getting into wine, the easiest way to see if I would probably purchase a bottle was that number, alcohol content. So it's initially drawn to this high alcohol wines. Zinfandel was one of them, but Garnacha was also another one. It is not uncommon for Garnacha to reach 14 percent alcohol by volume. That says a lot. It could really get really ripe. When you say ripe, we mean ripe with lots of fruit. So it's an easy wine to like. It really is all about pleasure. Where Garnacha really first found fame is Chateau Neuf de Pape. It's actually a fairly expensive bottle as well and it's well worth it. Of course, when you hear the word Chateau Neuf de Pape, it's talking about the Pope. So there's that ecclesiastical origin to it. You would think it's ascetic, but no way. This wine is all about pleasure. So it makes you wonder what was going on back then. Well, isn't that what the early popes are famous for? When you picture popes from the 1200s, all I think of is hedonism bought from Futurama. French popes, nonetheless. Absolutely. So yeah, it was very much a very easy wine to like. But eventually, as you start tasting more Garnacha-based wines, you really see that it really has a lot to offer. I think for me, my wine epiphany was tasting, again, a Bale de Garnacha. It was from Resto. It was a 96 Resto. When I opened it, I thought I was mistaken, when I was smelling. It was very floral, lavender. At the time I was working at a restaurant, the front desk was this floral arrangement, just something pretty for the customers to see. So I just thought I was smelling that beautiful floral arrangement. But after you had tasted that Bale de Resto, you could really taste those violet, those lavender notes. And still, at the same time, they had fresh fruit note, as well as those spice notes that Garnacha is well known for. Why do I like Garnacha? It's kind of like that, never meet that person that you just love to hate, but you just love them anyway. Yeah, that's Pep Roffey. Yes. You just sort of have it all. They're like the football player, the sensitive guy, the really smart guy. All describe me. Wait a second. I take that. You're the guy that graduates from Stanford, all-American football player. Right on. Everybody likes him. Big beer belly, super ginger. Yeah. Garnacha is basically the most interesting man in the world. Absolutely. So that's where I situate Garnacha. I think my fellow wine professionals probably feel the same way. I got to tell you that one of the first times I was ever blown away by a wine was Chateauneuf-du-Pape. Oh yeah. Same here. From a great year. Yeah. And that means it's approachable for any wine noob who can, it's not intimidating, but at the same time, it can be some of the most complex wine in the world too. Oh, absolutely. Absolutely. Isn't that just some pretty great values in Garnacha too as well, right? Oh yeah. Even though it found fame and Chateauneuf-du-Pape, enduring fame, it likely came from Spain. And Spain is definitely well known for their value Garnaches. The first one I want to taste is from Bodegas Borcejo. That's what, a Spanish Campo de Borja? Exactly. It's from Northern Spain, close to France. Again, that's where they speculate that most of the Grenachas originally, or what they call in Spain, Garnacha. That's where they believe it's from. What makes this really good is it's one of those unbelievable kind of wines. We're talking jam-packed with flavor, but really, really affordable. I mean, just stupid affordable. It makes you wonder why. The reasons, Spain's politics was such that it was relatively isolated. Ownership wasn't really that big of a thing, and there was lots of cooperatives. Just those vines hung around. They were abandoned when Spain sort of entered the 20th century, and people didn't really flock to it. People were drinking Rioja. That's where the money was. These vines were abandoned, and eventually people found them again. They weren't as popular initially, but late 90s, early 2000s, some really intrepid business people saw an opportunity. The rest is history. It just really is, again, an easy wine to like. If you guys have a sip of this, all you taste is fruit. What amazes me is it's easy to get fruit. What you're tasting here is bull fruit that's also very fresh. How old do you think these vines are, if they were abandoned and then discovered? These are probably younger vines. What does younger vines mean? They are probably 10, 20 years old. When they say old vines, they really mean it. Just think of Spain as like the old world, and there's lots of old vines there. There's a reason for that, but we'll get to that in a moment. But again, I just want to return to this. This just again, really showcases really a lot of fresh fruit. Berry fruit. Berry fruit. Maybe a tiny bit of citrus like orange peel. Yeah. I think when you say that orange citrus peel, it's just, again, it speaks to the freshness of the wine, and also when you taste both power and freshness, that's really a hard thing to achieve. So you really have to, again, I'm getting all holy here, bear witness to this beauty. This is a bottle that is well under $10. If we were to end the podcast now, I think you would be well, this is well worth your time. Well, thanks for joining us. Thanks for another episode of Barrel to Bottle, The Binny's Podcast. But unbelievably, this gets better and better. Trust me on this one. This aisle is superb to shop in across the board. I mean, it's so reliable. The value is extraordinary. When we talk about bold fruit and high-octane wines, what's usually missing from those is that freshness that you're talking about, Jason. What I like so much about even the most entry-level Spanish garnachas is it has the bold fruit, it has the ripeness, but it also has that lift on the finish and really good balance. Exactly. You know what this wine would be good for? I mean, it's a value and it's good on its own, but as the basis for sangria. Absolutely. Yeah, put some fruit in there, a little bit of brandy, you know? Perfect. Yeah. Yeah, definitely. You do that at night. Seven up to right. Sure, whatever. Ginger ale. A little ginger brandy. You know what? Forget the wine. All I need is some Kessler and some squirt. Ginger beer is a nice addition. I mean, you're joking with ginger ale, but if you put a little ginger beer in sangria, I'll never forget a few years ago, someone published a sangria recipe online and all of a sudden, we had throngs of people coming in looking for ginger brandy. Yeah. Hiram Walker makes a ginger brandy, and this article was published in the New York Times or something. Everybody read it. The whole say that it was out of stock for the ginger brandy for the next year and a half. They have to age it on that ginger for 12 months. Yeah, that's how it's made. He's done ginger. You know what I noticed with this? That I think for people like myself that aren't as into wine, that it would be an interesting thing to talk about here for a sec. This is in a screw cap, and it seems like this stigma still persists, that people see a screw cap wine and they just think inherently it's not as good. You want to speak to that for a sec? Don't get me wrong. I do love cork as well. There's something about our tradition, and frankly, you get to show off your technique when you open a bottle. It's cool. There's that romance. But at the same time, with screw caps, it really does serve a purpose. The Aussies were the first to really jump on this as well as winemakers from New Zealand. They did some extensive testing. They were willing to take risks. They bottled some of their finest bottles on your screw cap and just to test the results. You know what? They turned out really well. If there was a difference between the two bottles, the bottle on the screw cap turned out fresher. That really means something, especially when you're willing to throw down hundreds of dollars upon certain bottles. Yeah, we're talking expensive wines here. You talk to any white burgundy buyer, who bought bottles from like say the 90s to the early 2000s. Man, they're fretting because everything they've tasted tastes kind of oxidized, premocks, those issues. Again, a Coton Charlemagne, that's 100 bucks. That's entry-level Grand Cru. If you want to talk about the most expensive bottles of wine, they're not red wine, as most of us would like to think. They're likely white wine, from a place called Le Mondrachet. The cheapest Le Mondrachet from Bouchard, which we have on our shelves, is about $350. You could get one from Durene Romany Conti. It's about $3,500. That's a little bit more than Romany Conti. With collectors who are throwing down that kind of cash, they expect the world and they deserve it, but that cork didn't last. So returning back to the screw cap, do not be dissuaded from it. It is worth your while. When it comes to Garnacha, especially, you want it fresh, you want it bold, you want it powerful. It's definitely worth it. Garnacha is known to be somewhat oxidative, meaning that it can lose its vibrancy and freshness. But there are ways to combat that. It's often blended. It's blended with Syrah or Vedra, which is what they do in Chateau-Nouf-de-Pau. There are times, normally, you would not want to age it in oak because oak could let in some small amounts of oxygen. It could also sometimes, maybe just not desirable. But that being said, there are some Garnachas that do really well with oak too. I want to choose the Trey Picos, also from Bodegas Barcao. I chose this one because it's really easy to compare oak to wine versus un-oaked wine in general. The Barcao that we just had previously, that was un-oaked, it was aged in tank, and so it really highlighted just the freshness and the vibrancy of the varietal itself. The Trey Picos, some of it is aged in oak. So imagine those really vibrant fruit notes with just some of those spice notes as well. It really is like a holiday in a glass. There, let me pour this. Let me pass this and pour it along. Trey's Picos, Bodegas, Borso. In case you're wondering, Pat, I know you're not that well-versed in Spanish. So Trey's Picos is Spanish for three Picos. That's what I thought it was Spanish for. That's a bad uncle joke for you. I've always loved these. So easy to recommend. Such a good value. We're losing money when we saw this stuff, basically, because again, if you were to taste this bottle, it really is something that's just two to three times the price. It still smells pretty fresh with the oak aging too. Yeah. A lot of vibrant raspberry-type fruit. Definitely. Definitely on the darker side. But that's again, that's one of the harder things to accomplish. Getting something that's dark, bold fruit, but still fresh. There's like a caramel thing that I can't really put my finger on, that I don't know that I've tasted in cheap wine before. Or any wine for that matter. Affordable wine. Affordable wine. Value wine. Yes. Value wine. Excuse me. That may be- Cheap wine. If you're picking that up, that might be a little oxidative. Yeah. Or like barrel vanilla. You know what kind of wood they use here? It's likely American oak. I think Spain's well known for their use of American oak. I'm not going to read the back label, but it says nuances of leather, vanilla and plums, which is, yeah. That's really nice. Definitely more going on than the first one. Aroma, you can definitely. So if the Borsau is $8.99, the Traspicos is $16.99. Oh, wow. Right? It's twice as good. It is quite literally twice as good. Let's return now to France, where Garnacha really gained fame. Chateau Neuf de Pape is probably at the top, it's a top tier wine, so to speak, from the Southern Rhone. That's where, again, Garnacha really sort of found its sure footing. So again, we were talking about Garnacha before. It's characteristics, how it tastes. Now let's just talk about it as a vine. It is a sturdy vine. So if you were to see Garnacha vines, and we were just talking to one of our fellow coworkers, he just returned from Spain, and actually traveled from Spain and France. If you were to see the vineyards of Garnacha, let's say in Spain, especially in both in Spain and France, you'll see these gnarly old vines. Those vines, again, decades old. Garnacha found success in those areas because of its physical characteristics. It's able to grow like really woody vines, and it's also very vigorous. I mean, it can grow those roots. So those roots really dig into the ground. Again, it gets a sturdy trunk. It actually helps the vine itself. If you were to go visit those areas, both areas are just really hot and dry. Spain itself, if you were to take, let's take it like a topographical map, it is flat and elevated, meaning that it's very sunny, and at higher elevations, it's actually very windy as well. The rain falls mainly in the plains? Mainly in the plains. So you're talking, exactly. It is dry. Same with Chateauneuf as well. Chateauneuf to Pop, the Southern Rhone in general, is actually very dry as well. Are those similar soil types too, like just big and stony? What's interesting with Chateauneuf in particular, they're very famous for the stones in their vineyards, those small round stones. It speaks to that. There's a good reason why the stones are there, they absorb heat, but if you were to dig further literally, what's beneath the stone is the clay, and the clay is what really drives Chateauneuf to Pop, making them really big alcoholic wines. Don't get me wrong, I love French wine. I believe in all the stuff. That's tops for me. I mean pissing off the terroirists, those who really speak to terroir. Climate really does play a huge factor here. There's something called, here's the next introduction. There's wind named the mistral. Now that mistral isn't staying in one place. It's coming from the north. Again, I'm not going to say that soil doesn't play a huge factor, but if you're talking from something that's from 100 miles away, there are other factors other than terroir that's in play here. That wind coupled with that heat makes it very hard for vines to grow. I always imagine this desolate moonscape, hellscape. You got it. With no plants, these tiny little tree looking vines with thick trunks and the wind blows them and they grow sideways because they're being grown, blown sideways as they grow. This is in Chateauneuf-du-Pape. In fact, I think back in the 40s, I think there was a UFO sighting. So it's like a moonscape. It's just like this desolate place and they're like, wine? Yeah, we can wine here. Let's make some wine. Yeah, no problem. Exactly. I just don't understand who would grow a vine here, but in general, and that's where the vine thrives. It really thrives in those desolate, arid spots, but Garnacha thrives especially in this climate. We're talking about a Mediterranean climate. That's what you want to be. If you're a winegrower, you want to find a Mediterranean climate. Our seasons here are very well defined. If you're in a Mediterranean climate, it's less well defined, meaning more sunshine. That's where you want to be. There's little seasonal change in Mediterranean climates, mostly sunny. The Mediterranean climate, you're only seeing rain in the winter. You're not only vacationing there and drinking rose, you have a vireal that's going to see lots of sun, little rain, and frankly, little disease pressure. That disease pressure plagues Bordeaux, it plagues Burgundy. Growing vines there is almost a drama. If you're to grow vines in Chablis, it's like the efforts that they make in order to get ripe fruit. It's herculean. But if you're going to the Mediterranean climates, let's throw some vines there. Is that like cold and damp gives you disease? That cold and damp gives you disease. That's like molds or insects. It's those cool autumns. It's like you get a cool autumn, it's probably going to rain. That's what happens. What you have to do is you'll probably use some kind of treatment to fight that stuff. The Mediterranean climate gives you not only super ripe wines, a large harvest, meaning plentiful bottles of wine, meaning inexpensive wine is also really good. But for this day and age, we're really watching what we're eating, what we're putting into our bodies. There's a reason why Whole Foods is doing well, organic food. When you're not having to use all these pesticides and all this stuff, you're making a wine that you don't need to use too many treatments. A bottle from the Rhone Valley might not be bragging that it's organic. But if I were to, as a person who's selling wine, if there's one region in the world, somebody were to ask me if I want something that's rather an organic wine, nine times 10 out of 10, I'll take them straight to the Rhone Valley, the Southern Rhone. Again, these are wines that don't need to see that many treatments in the vineyard. You can rest assured that what you're tasting is pretty pure. That's another thing to keep in mind when you're doing Garnacha from the Rhone Valley. Jason, did you bring a Chateauneuf de Pop we can try? Yes. Jean Didier 2015 Chateauneuf de Pop. Is Chateauneuf de Pop the kind of Garnacha you can age at home? You were talking earlier about how they're fresh and un-oaked, and that's generally not a wine we're going to want to keep in a cellar for any period of time really. I mean, this is meant to be consumed fresh, but is Chateauneuf as a blend with other varietals, something that people look to lay down? Great question. Yes, absolutely. If you were to take a look at the blend of this varietal, you'll see healthy drops of Mervejra and Syrah in both of those varietals. They make great wines on their own. But in Chateauneuf, they'll add those just again to prevent that oxidative note. But here's another interesting point. Again, we were talking about that Mediterranean climate where it's hot, dry, little disease pressure. What's great about that also is that not only are you tasting those fresh wines, the vines there will live for lifespans that are almost like, well beyond the human lifespan at times. What we're tasting in here now, the Garnacha in here is from 60-year-old vines. You could see some that are almost a century old in Chateauneuf, and we'll be going to the Barassa Valley in a few. You could even see vines that are older than 100 years on the Barassa Valley. Again, the reason why those vines could live that long is because they see little disease pressure in those Mediterranean climates. Older vines generally, they're not producing as much fruit, but the fruit that they do produce is usually more concentrated and more vibrant. There's another reason for that as well. Acidity is based on how much hydrogen is in a certain area. There's a lot of potassium usually in the earth, and it's used by the vine to grow. The more potassium, more hydrogen is displaced, meaning lower acidity, meaning something that's not as fresh. When you get an older vine, it depleted those potassium, and so you see more hydrogen, meaning more acidity, meaning fresher wines, meaning something that can age. So with older vines, you're getting fresher flavors and something that could probably age just a touch more. Okay. Domaine Jean Daidier, Chateauneuf de Pape, 2015. Can we talk about how good this smells? Yeah. It's much more complex than the last couple. There's these dried fruit notes and baking spice and floral character. There's all kinds of stuff going on here. And the other ones were great, but they were kind of one note, you know, big fruit in your face. That's it. This just has so much more depth to it. This is so awesome. Are you guys tasting more like a red fruit note rather than like the darker fruit notes that we had in the previous ones? It's like raspberry note. Yeah, definitely. Raspberry, blackberry, but lots of licorice here too. And cracked black pepper. Black pepper. I mean, you were saying the floral notes as well. I mean, those floral notes, those red fruit notes, that really speaks to the freshness. You know, again, to make that long story short again, that really only old vines can do. We're lucky to have old vines like this, you know, growing in their own valley. When it comes to like a money making proposition, old vines just don't make a lot of money for producers. You know, they want to uproot them. And throwing younger vines... Yields are smaller, right? Exactly. Okay. So to see vines like this, you know, old vines, you know, yielding less fruit, but really this kind of flavors, you know, it's like, thank God they're still around. You know, what's great too is you could really see the difference between, you know, what we tasted previously and what you're tasting now. Yeah, this wine is a real treat, thank you. Yeah, just love to hate it, but it's just so good. I love to love it. What's the alcohol on this? Was it 14, 14.5? 14.5. Seems big. Chateau Neuf de Pape, again, is like the top tier when it comes to the Southern Rhone, but there are also other places where you can get good Garnacha, you know, Gigandas, Vacheras, you know, even like a quote unquote lowly Coates de Rhone offers these flavors just like this. It's usually about, let's say the mid teens, we're talking, you know, 12, $15 a bottle. Sometimes you could find less. But again, this is where you just really see the full breadth of what Garnacha can offer. Yeah, this is really interesting. And sometimes for the consumer challenging part of the world to sort of navigate and select a bottle in, right? Because in France, and especially here in the Rhone Valley, we call the wine by where it comes from, not by what it's made with. So if you're shopping in our Rhone Isle for red wines, you can rest assured almost all of those are going to have some part of Garnacha in them. They may have a dollop of Syrah as well, and a handful will be led by Syrah. Is it true the farther north you get, the more Syrah there is? Is that a good rule of thumb? In the Rhone Valley? Absolutely. So down by the coast, it's Garnacha. They tend to be fresher and fruitier. And the farther north you get through the Rhone, then the more like Syrah and Moved they have, and then the more severe they get. Hefty. Hefty? And structured. Structured. Yep. You know, along that bottom row, like Jason said, the very humble beginning Cote d'Hurons, most of those are going to be Garnacha driven. It may not say so on the label. It might not say so on the review we have posted, but very rarely are those going to be mostly Syrah. So that's where you can be doing your shopping. And they're almost always some of the best values in the wine department. Absolutely. Absolutely. I want to also go back now to Spain, which is odd, you think that when you think Spain, you think Rioja, and rightfully so. That's where Tempranillo is grown. But Garnacha is also grown there as well. Garnacha was suffering for a while in Spain because other wines were emerging, but there were some really risk takers, so to speak, who decided to find those old vines. We were talking about previously about those old abandoned vines in Spain. They found some, they saw some opportunities. And Priorat eventually was one of those places where some really risk takers, again, they had no idea if their wine would sell or not, but now it's selling. And Priorat turned out to be a place where Garnacha thrived. So I see Priorat as, again, we were talking about these moonscapes. Let's say this is a moonscape on steroids. This is where it was like, imagine something that's just like dry and hot and multiply that. That's what Priorat is. There are old vines there. You're going to taste that more extreme heat and more extreme dryness. Here's another area where we could start talking about the soil. There's schist there, known locally as Lucorilla. Jim, do you have to bleep that? Schist. Yeah, schist. Get that schist out of here. Also pass that bottle. You got it. Again, make sure you guys are spitting. This is like high alcohol, high octane stuff. Jason, you really got to get your schist together. Get your schist together. Sorry, that didn't deserve that big of a laugh. So this is a Priorat? Priorat. Alvaro Palacios. Oh, yeah. Look at, it gives an alcohol content range, 14.1 to 16%. When you guys said that the French one was 14.5, I was going to tell you that that guarantees that the wine has an alcohol content of somewhere between 12.5 to 16.5, because that's how accurate they get. Wow. I'm surprised there's not laws. He's exaggerating. Oh, the law is literally like within a range of 2%, right? Most other things, it's a range of like 0.2%. Well, yeah, but you're working in, you're working in- Spain, baby. You're working in spirits, where though? Loose and fast. This is a leisurely climate, leisurely attitude. They're European, they take it easy on everything. They're like, we're close enough. Yeah. And basically the federal government doesn't care if you're outside of a tax range. So centering it at 14 is within the tax range. So they just put that on the labels on everything. Unless it says 14.32, it's the same label that they put on there for the last 10 years. This is really good. This is jammy fruity. This is awesome. Just the color of this wine is very different from the previous, yeah. Now, is this going to be 100% Garnacha-ation? No, it's actually 40% Garnacha. I don't know if you see some Cabernet in there as well as some Syrah. Again, Priorat, it is one of the premier growing regions in Spain, but it's also relatively young. So it's definitely a place to watch. But again, this is one of those areas where it's just, they really offer some really great world-class wines made with Garnacha. Again, comparing it to what we just had previously, chateau de neuf, at least to me, it's darker fruit. There's a little bit more of those tannins in the finish. Again, what I love about Garnacha is because it is a hot weather varietal, so to speak, or a Mediterranean varietal, it still maintains that freshness. Yeah. Would you say the acidity is higher on this? Just a touch. There's a good reason for that. I mean, it's a Priorat, I wouldn't call it Mount as well, let's say hilly. Those are just a little bit cooler, so Barrel was speaking to him about. There's trace Picos there? No, no, no, no, no. I only have two Picos. Those Picos. Yeah, but yeah, definitely fresher. There's probably just a touch more. The flavor just seems so concentrated. I was wondering if maybe the acidity less oxidized. It's like so fresh and tight that it's seen almost no oxygen. The color is more pink and purple instead of that orange. Yeah, good eye, good eye. That is likely the reason. How much does this cost? $23.99 and it's spectacular. Yeah, it's a tremendous one. Here's your target audience for this is the guy. You're like your Cabernet, Shiraz and Petit Sirah Bro. You're at a dinner with the Petit Sirah Bro. He's going to be blown away by this. Petit Sirah Bro. You know what I'm talking about. Totally do. Petit Sirah Bro, who has found the foolishness of his ways, and is finally coming to European wine. This is like a good gateway wine to Europe. Great appeals to the customer that is used to the California red blend section to the really showy, flamboyant, won't name names. No, I'll be honest. I mean, to be honest, I was there. It's like I was drinking red Zins. I thought that was the s*** when you were back in the 90s. That's what you're supposed to drink. Now, we see all these great fruit-driven blends. You Zinbr? Yeah, Jason used to be a Zinbr. Zinbr? Again, while I was talking about Garnacha at the beginning, it's that person you want to hate but love it. It's so very interesting. Garnacha has definitely traveled the world and has found places where it thrives. There's some great Garnacha wines obviously in the US. Got it started in Spain. Got it started in Spain. Traveled to France. Traveled to France, made it to the US with the Rhone Rangers. Also made to Australia. The Rhone Rangers. Central California producers. But if you were to taste some of those wines from California, there's a producer named Sina Quan On. Oh, I've heard of them. Yes, stupid and impossible to get those bottles. The Rhone bros really freak out over them? Oh, absolutely. If you could find the bottle, that's like unicorn wines. John Adam is all about it. He's on the list, yes. Hashtag Rhone Ranger. I'm calling him that next time I see him. What's up, Rhone Ranger? There's another great one that's on our shelves, Tribute to Grace by Angela Osborne. Oh, God, that Garnacha is awesome. Awesome. A Tribute to Grace is about $45 on your shelves. You'll find it in the miscellaneous red section in the domestic wine set in our stores. I literally just bought a bottle two or three days ago. It's banging. It's one of the best bottles of wine under $50 in the store. Frankly, I'm surprised. I shouldn't be surprised. The very unglamorously titled miscellaneous red section. Yeah, it's too bad. It is not a miscellaneous wine. Where's your miscellaneous red section? That is right this way. Stunning bottle. Get out. Turning to Australia, there's another place where Garnacha really thrives. In the Barossa Valley in particular, let's say Southern Australia in general, the Barossa Valley sees some incredible balls of Garnacha. Barossa Valley is actually kind of a cool place. If you were to go there, that's a place where you'll see vines even older than Spain or France. Isn't that amazing? Australia has some of the oldest vines and some of the longest aging wines like in Tank when it comes to some of their fortified stuff, their sherrys and ports. They have soleras and specific barrels that are over 100 years. It's this place that everybody thinks is this new country. They just showed up and started making wine instantly. That was a fun fact from Greg. Yeah. I guess we're just harping on this issue because there's so much great wine in Australia, and yet I don't know why it's almost a struggle to sell. Again, this is one of the reasons why I wanted to pull this one out because I just wanted to show you what Australia can offer, especially with the Barossa Valley in particular. The Barossa Valley is one of those Mediterranean climates. Two percent of the land surface enjoys the Mediterranean climate. We're talking hot and dry. They were planting vines back in the 19th century. We see some of those vines now still, not only because of the Mediterranean climate, but because of the culture there. It's a very German culture. If you were to look at some of the names there, you see a lot of Germanic names. Immigrants came from Silesia. They planted vines, stayed there. Back in the 80s, the Australian government want to pull out some of those vines that were already now 100 years old. Those Silesians decided against it. It's probably more profitable. Nice work, Silesians. It's more profitable to grow Cabernet and sell Cabernet. But no, they stuck with it. They weren't chasing the dollar, so to speak. Fortunately, a bunch of wine professionals called Masters of Wine stopped by there and judged their wines to be some of the finest in the world. They're absolutely right. You'll see again the reason when we taste this bottle here. Which one did you bring? Yolumba? Yolumba, old-bush wine Garnache on the 2016 vintage. Old-bush wine. What are the wine regions like in Australia? I would imagine with that, there's quite a bit of difference by region, right? There is. When you take a look at the map of Australia. Look at the color on this. That whole continent is, we're talking about the size of Europe, and yet when we think of Australia, we mostly think of like, well, probably spring to play into somebody that's hot and dry, in the McLaren Vale or again, Barossa Valley. But if we go to Western Australia, you'll see some incredible world-class Bordeaux blends from there, some of which we have on our shelves. I'm always shocked by how people, even collectors, view Australia. They think of it as very simple wines. They make a lot of world-class wines, and the people who know that most are the Aussies themselves. They hoard their best bottles. What parts of Australia would quantify to your Mediterranean climate? Definitely the Barossa Valley and actually the Margaret River. I don't know if I would say it's pure Mediterranean, but they enjoy a climate that's definitely better than Bordeaux, and their Bordeaux blends definitely world-class, can definitely compete with anything from the Grand Cruises from Bordeaux. And they're only for a fraction of the price of a Grand Cru bottle. I think that Australian Garnacha specifically has one of the most distinctive notes of any wine. You'll see it. You already smell it on the nose. It's like this umami. Yeah, but with also like a ripe pomegranate or some other kind of ripe red fruit that isn't as simple as cherries and strawberries and raspberries. And then sometimes even tomatoes, like a tinny stewed canned tomato. I get it on the nose or the taste? On the nose. On the nose. That's what I don't care so much for the nose, but the flavors are nice. It's so bright and fresh. It's a pretty awesome wine. How many dollars does this cost? It's on sale right now, but this is probably in the teens. One of our wine managers spent about 10 days in Australia in May, and I've had a chance to talk to him a couple of times about his experience there. From what I can gather in all his conversations with viticulturists and winemakers is Garnacha is the thing. They want to make it, they want to talk about it, they want us talking about it. Shout out Mike Bach. When Roger mentioned the pomegranate, there's almost like that pomegranate, mandarin orange, but it's not like bracing like a glass of orange juice in the morning. It's fresh, it's vibrant, but you're also, at least to me, you're tasting like almost like those black pepper notes, that spice. Here we're talking something that's fresh, vibrant and all that, and then something that's spicy. We're talking like vibrant summery flavors, along with these wintery spicy notes. How many wines can you taste where it just covers that broad range of flavors? I absolutely agree. Yeah, man. This next to the Priorat, this is light and fresh and graceful, and the Priorat is all of those flavors, but just saturated. You just crank the saturation up to like the 11. I mean, here's how good Garnacha was in France. In general, it's known as the Southern Piano War. There was a time when tankers of Garnacha were freighted to of all places burgundy to enrich, challenging, read weak vintage. That didn't occur not too long ago. We're talking maybe 50, 60 years ago, 70 years ago, they used to do that. That really should speak to the quality that Garnacha can offer. Again, when we're tasting the Barossa Valley, there is something that's incredibly inexpensive compared to say a Bala Piano War, but yet offers again so much in the glass. I see a lot of empty glasses here, which is a great thing. Jason, your love for Garnacha is infectious. Although I already had it, Barb. I mean, it's so easy. Same. It's so easy to like Garnacha. Yeah. I'm really happy that you guys really enjoyed these bottles. It really does cover a wide range of what Garnacha can offer. I just don't get it. People should be drinking this stuff up by the case. I hope that you guys can see that it's obviously an incredible glass of wine. Yeah. Spread the word, everybody. Drink up on Garnacha. It comes from the entire world. Does well in Mediterranean climates, which exist on like four continents. And 2 percent. And 2 percent of your surface. Yep. So that's one stat that you could just keep in mind. Don't miss out. Garnacha is great. Folks, that brings us to the Q&A portion of Barrel to Bottle, The Binny's Podcast, where we answer your question. For a $20 Binny's gift card, email us your questions at comments at binnys.com, or hit us up on social media. That's Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter, at Binny's Bev. Our question this week comes from Becky via email. Becky writes, If I had already purchased wine to go with the dinner I am serving, and then my guests come with a bottle of wine, which do I serve? Is it bad etiquette to serve what I had purchased to compliment the menu? This is so simple. You drink both bottles of wine. Absolutely drink both bottles. Concur. We used to sell a product called the Sham Bong, so if you have extra wine, you could Sham Bong it after the end of the meal. If you're worried about seeming impolite, I would serve the wine they brought. First. Yes. Yeah. Definitely that. Open it and have it be the co-operative. I've been to parties before where people clearly think it's weird that the wine they brought wasn't opened. Yeah? Yeah. Yeah, because you want to try it if you're bringing a bottle of wine. But on the other hand, if you're a chef, or whatever, you're cooking something, and you've really put a lot of thought into the pairing, then somebody shows up with some other thing. Then I would politely explain that this was chosen specifically to pair with, but I'd be happy to have both bottles of wine. And see how they compare with the meal. Etiquette that I've read says, don't expect to open the bottle of wine that you bring because it's a gift for the host. But as a host, you tear it open. You only live once. If you invite that person over, I'm sure you know them very well. And you'll make the decision on that, you know. That's something not to sweat over. Take a signal from the person bringing the bottle to. If they bring it to you like in a gift bag and they say, thanks for inviting us, this is a gift for you. That's not necessarily a bottle of wine they intend to drink that evening. But if they bring a bottle of champagne or white wine or rosé and it's cold, they intend for you to open that and drink it right now. There's absolutely nothing wrong with opening your bottle as well. And if it's me and I'm hosting a dinner party, yeah, I'm just going to put two or three glasses out in front of people and we're going to play and see which one goes the best. I might be wrong. Absolutely right. Yeah. There you go, Becky. $20 Binny's gift card worth of answer for you. Everybody else can e-mail their questions, comments, binnys.com or hit us up on social media, at Binny's Bev on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram. Hey, Jason, thanks for coming on the podcast today. Thanks for having me. Your enthusiasm for Garnacha and your smarts on wine really shows. Yeah. Thanks for bringing all these great bottles. These are some great bottles. Yeah. So what food are we going to have to go with all of this later? Pizza. Burgers. Fries. Shawarma. What's that? Oh, shawarma. Croque majeure. Is that a thing? I think you mean monseur. Monseur, croque monseur. Don't forget the X. Let's go croque madame. How about Monte Crisco's? Thanks for listening to another episode of Barrel to Bottle. We'll be back in your feed pretty soon with another great episode. Until next time, I'm Greg. I'm Roger. I'm Pat. I'm Barb. And Jason. Jason say, keep tasting, keep tasting Garnacha. Good enough.