Episode 112: Connecting Over New Age Wines

Posted onAuthorWine Two Five Podcast

Episode 112: Connecting Over New Age Wines

Andrea Rogers has over a decade and a half in the wine industry and joins the ladies of W25 today. Not only is she the reason this podcast exists, but she’s guiding the tasting and discussion about the successful wine brand called New Age that is taking the country by storm. We’re chatting over six glasses of wines and cocktails, so click “play” to hear what the buzz – and “frothy creamy head” is all about.

Steph: “I am excited about today’s show and happy to say that our guest is moving to my neck of the woods! Today we are drinking and chatting with Andrea Rogers.”

Andrea Vinci Rogers, Certified Specialist of Wine, Level 1 from the Court of Master Sommeliers, and WSET Level III Advanced.  She is a proud native of Colorado with over 15 years experience in the wine industry, and wine is her passion.  She has worked at all capacities of the wine industry including five years at the distributor level and seven years with a major fine wine importer.  When she is not sharing her love and knowledge of wine with consumers, she enjoys spending time with her husband of 15 years, Brad and her two young children.

Val: “Back in Episode 100 we talked about Andrea and wanted to have her on our show but the timing wasn’t right and our calendars didn’t line up. Welcome to life, right? So, we put together a creative show today where Andrea is going to lead us through a taste-along with wine cocktails. Welcome to the show, Andrea!”

 

Main Discussion/ Interview/Taste Along 

Wine tasting and summer wine cocktails.

In this episode we did a taste-along of three wines from Argentina. Andrea lead the charge as we sipped on a white, rose’ and red. Once we tasted each wine we tasted a recommended cocktail made with each one. What really surprised both Steph and Val, who’d never had these wines before, was that the sweetness of the wines were significantly balanced by the acidity and abundance of fruit on the palate. Additionally, the wines are relatively low in alcohol, particularly the red at 6%. Val, “I’ve had beers with more alcohol in them!”

Andrea explained how these wines are taking America by storm, how they are made, and a little bit about the Bianchi Family who makes them. Family owned and operated wineries certainly have a place in Andrea’s heart, and it’s easy to tell how passionate she is about the portfolios she represents for Colorado Creative Beverage Marketing.

If you’d like to sip along before you hit “play” on the audio, here’s what you’ll need:

Pour a glass of each of the wines so you can taste separately.

Then in a separate glass mix up your summer wine cocktails.

White “Tincho Cocktail”: 

  • Lime wedge
  • Ice
  • And/or Thai Basil to rim your glass with the leaf and toss in the Tincho.

Rose “Italian Spritz” inspired cocktail:

  • Campari (just a dash)
  •  Orange wedge,
  •  Ice

Red “Sangria”:

  • Fruit of choice. (Val used raspberries, Steph and Andrea had nectarines, oranges, limes)

For information about these wines, check out their website. Here you’ll also find an abundance of cocktail recipes

http://www.quintessentialwines.com/New-Age-Wines

 

Factoid:

Steph: Since we are on the topic of wine cocktails, what is a Kalimotxo? (cal-ee-mocho)

Origin: 1970’s Spain – Basque culture classic

What: A wine cocktail of sorts – made with equal parts red wine and cola and served over ice.

Other names for it is Rioja Libre or Cuba Libre del pobre (poor man’s Cuba libre). It is also made in other countries… so many that she was impressed that she wasn’t familiar with it or had ever tried it. Evidently, you can find versions of it in Chile, Germany, Romania, Croatia, Hungary, South Africa… and the list goes on. Sometimes you’ll see it made with a dash of Ouzo or Blackberry liqueur. Make it fancy and dress it up with citrus fruit for more of a sangria-like drink!

Here’s an article from the New York Times about Kalimotxo.

Val: Raw eggs in cocktails? How many times have we enjoyed a smooth, creamy cocktail in a bar – like those Ramos Gin Fizzes? Yet, at home I’m hesitant to raw egg it up in a cocktail. This 2015 article from Liquor.com explains what we shouldn’t be fearing with respect to Salmonella.

Did you know, only 1 in 20,000 eggs, according to the FDA, contains the salmonella bacteria? The article goes on to say that “Death from choking on food” is more common, at 1 in 5000 odds.

So that’s cheerful. We might as well raise our glasses and say “cheers” to the joy that comes from adding a little extra protein to our cocktails. That said, we’d submit to the warnings on the CDC website and make sure you’re using pasteurized eggs for your cocktails.

 

Shoutouts:

Steph: “Thank you to Arizona wineries for growing your momentum and devoting yourself to quality wine like Chateau Tumbleweed’s Cimmarron Vineyard Graciano from Cochise County, AZ. I drank more AZ wine this trip than ever before and look forward to tasting more. Keep up the good work!”

Val: Val had several shoutouts to fellow podcasters today. As we’ve mentioned before, the biggest surprises that emerge from our craft have been the connections we’ve made, not only in the wine world but in the podcasting world.

  • The first is to a video by Juliette Miranda of The Unwritable Rant. She did a tasting of the Blade and Bow bourbon that I had on the show last week for y’all. I’d also invite you to sit back and listen to this lady’s podcast. Not only does she interview legends in music, comedians and actors, she’s a master story teller. Usually it’s all happening over a glass of bourbon.

 

 

  • The second podcaster shoutout goes to Jason Gray of Gray Area Farm’s Steadcast. He’s taken up the country life out on the prairie and has been our local authority on self-sustaining farming and the like.

“Lollipop in standing heat despite all kinds of food to the side. ” (Photo: Jason Gray)

He also takes up all Val’s booze bottles for his earthship home project. What’s an earthship home? You’ll have to listen to the Steadcast to find out!

Meanwhile, the Steadcast paid homage to the W25 ladies with a “What’s in our glasses” segment last week. Even this week, Jason, we’re honored to be included in the “pigs in heat” episode as well … not sure what you’re trying to tell us, dude, but cheers!

 

The Cupcake Doctor is worthy of our radar because of their daily offerings of booze-infused cupcakes. Flavors include adult-themed treats: Raspberry Chocolate Vodka,
Amaretto, Pina Colada, Irish Delight
Drunken’ Punkin, and Strawberry Margarita. Just sayin’.

 

 

Patreon Love: 

Thank you so much to our Patreon supporters! Sending out some Patreon Love to:

“TENacious Tasters”: 

Jeff E from the hilarious drinking show, We Like Drinking!

Lynn G from Savor the Harvest!

 

 

Sebastian S of Sassi Italy tours!

“It’s not five o’clock and we don’t care” listeners: Thank you:

  • Meg from South Dakota!
  • Clay from Arizona!
  • Jon in California!
  • Andrew in Illinois!
  • Aswani in California!

We thank you for being a vital part of the W25 listening and sipping community.

Monthly Patreon Drawing:

Reminder – we have a new monthly Patreon drawing! Each month we are drawing a winner of a wine gift for all Patreon supporters at the $2/month Tastemaker Listener level and higher. Go to our Patreon page for details. www.patreon.com/winetwofivepodcast

Share the Love:

Here’s how:

Subscribe to our show and link it, tweet it or Facebook it. Grab someone’s phone and help them subscribe & push play!

OR

Leave us a burning wine question or comment on speakpipe.

OR

How about a glowing review on  Apple Podcasts or iHeartRadio?!

ALSO,

But wait, there’s more! Check out our store where you can score wine books & accessories (for sure). It’s all on our website, along with links to FB, Twitter, Pinterest, YouTube, & Google+


Connect with Val on Twitter @WineGalUnboxed and as Vino With Val on Facebook, Instagram & Pinterest.

Steph is on Twitter, Instagram and Pinterest as the Wine Heroine. You can also connect with her personally on FaceBook.

Connect with Andrea on her FaceBook page, Wine Time.