Grape Expectations Part 2

Join us for the second segment of Grape Expectations!

We are joined once again by Karen Principe to dive into two more featured wines: an 1884 Cabernet Sauvignon and an Oyster Bay Sauvignon Blanc. 

Karen guides us through a masterclass on flavor profiles, explaining the fascinating way grape genetics play a role in flavour profiles and so much more. We also explore the art of pairing, discussing everything from seafood to the best wine to suit a classic grilled cheese. Make sure to tune in at the start of each month for more fabulous wine recommendations, fun facts, and perfect pairings!

Make sure to tune in at the start of each month for more fabulous wine recommendations, fun facts, and perfect pairings!

Let us know your thoughts in the comments and leave us a review!

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Transcript

0:20

Welcome everybody to segment two of Grape Expectations on Coffee In The Park with Jennifer and Cam. Jennifer. We hope you all listened to last month's episode of Grape Expectations, and it was one of my favorites. It was amazing. I learned so much. We did, we did two wines, we learned some incredible things, they tasted great, and we learned things like how to cleanse our palate, we learned about what cheeses go with wine, and that's what is really exciting about this segment. That's right. And if you didn't listen to the last month's segment, you need to go back and take a listen. That's right, because it will be important for this month's segment. So hey, like Jennifer says, go back, take a listen, and then listen to this. So Jennifer, why don't you introduce, as always, not only our special guest, but our wine expert today? She is, she is our resident wine expert. She is the absolutely amazing Karen Principe. Welcome back, Karen. Well hello! Welcome, Karen. Good to have you. I'm so excited to be back. Always a good time. Today is very exciting. Yes, it is. Yeah. Cause I know you got good stuff. It's gonna be great. Oh yeah, you better believe it. We have a couple of new wines to test out. Yeah, yeah. So we're going to sample a red wine and a white wine today. And the first one is a Cabernet Sauvignon. Okay. And it is from Argentina. Jennifer, would you do me a favor and pour wine, a little bit of wine of the Cabernet Sauvignon for each of us? And I need to let the listeners know that last time, we started with the white wine first. This week. We're starting with red. Yes. That's right. But I also, that's a good point. I also want to add that last week, Karen taught us how to cleanse our palates. That's right. By eating a little bit of maybe white bread. Yes, exactly. That was fantastic. And to cleanse our noses with a little bit of coffee beans. So folks, we've done that already in preparation for this segment, but if you maybe just sat down and had something to eat or something like that, if you got a little bit of bread, try that before you try the wine and use a little coffee beans to cleanse the breathing apparatus. Or remember sniff your forearm. Sniff yourself. That's right. Sniff yourself. That's carried with me all month. I'm walking around sniffing myself now. People think I'm a little bit weird, but it really does work. It's incredible. It does. It's pretty amazing. All right. So tell us about this. Tell us about this wine. So this wine is the Cabernet Sauvignon from Argentina. It's called 1884. Now, when you taste this, you might smell some oak. I'm not sure. I smell oak. Yes, I do. It's a little bit of oak. Can you smell the oak, Cam? No, I can. See, this is fascinating because as I've said, I'm not a big wine drinker. So all of these things that when you say, Yeah, I can smell oak. That's pretty cool. So in this one, it's dark fruits. So this is a bolder wine, a full body wine. And you might taste some darker fruits, like a plum, blackberry kind of fruits. Black cherry. Yeah. And a spice, a little bit of spice. And it's very mild. Yeah. Yeah. And interesting, you might even taste a little bit of bell pepper. Oh. So yeah, sometimes there's a vegetable taste to wines. Now, why is that Karen? Like, can you tell us, like you tell us, it has the hints of this and this and this and that. Why? How do those come? Well, there are different reasons why wines taste different. It can be where they're grown. So it's the type of soil, the type of climate, how it's manufactured, but also just the genetics of the grape itself can bring out different flavors. Does harvesting and bottling have anything to do with it? It does, it does. But you know the genetics, just stay tuned to later on in this segment. You might learn a little something about the genetics of the grapes. I love it. Yeah. All right. And you might taste a little bit of vanilla in this one. And tannins. So the tannins are a little bit stronger. And in another episode, we'll actually learn more about tannins. Yeah. I was going to say what I'm not, I don't know. I've never heard about tannins. Well, we'll learn that. Okay. We'll save it for another episode. And again, this one compared to last month's episode where we did kind of a blend of Merlot and, you know, it was more of a Bordeau. This one definitely has more legs to it as a cabernet. Yes. Very good. Yeah. You're right. It is, it is a bolder wine. Yeah. It's very, I like it. And this one is one that you would want to pair with beef or lamb or game. Yeah. A bolder, a bolder meal. And with the cheeses, we have a lovely cheese here that we can also pair with it. A sharp cheese or an aged cheddar cheese, it would go well with this wine. Good cheese. Isn't that good. Good wine. It enhances the flavor. Doesn't it? Both ways. It goes both ways. For the cheese and for the wine. Right? I like that. I like that. That's good, eh? So good. To me that, when I have that cheese with the wine, it brings out the spice. Oh yeah. Yes, I agree with you. You agree? 100%. It brings out the spice. It does. Yeah. I like that. Isn't that great? And so tell us about the Argentina region. Is it well known for its wine? It is, yeah. Argentina is well known for its wine. Mendoza region is quite popular. And again, it has a lot to do with the soil type and the climate. It's a good... 1884. 1884. Not to be confused with Yellowstone or 1883. You were thinking that, weren't you? I was looking over at you. 2022, Agrello Mendoza. Not sure what that means, but yeah 1884. Yeah, Mendoza is the region in Argentina. Okay. Estate grown. It says the texture is smooth and pleasant. It is. I would agree. Smooth and pleasant. The advertising is right on. That's very complex. I just wish our listeners could be enjoying it with us, but please do enjoy it yourselves. You need to try this. We'll put this up on our website so you can take a look at it. So when you go to your favorite wine store, you'll know exactly what you're looking for. Exactly. And yeah, I still say we need to sell tickets to these segments and pack the room and let everybody taste it because this is really incredible. This is something else. I really like this. Oh, great. I'm glad you enjoy it. I'm so glad. So now we're going to try, oh. Jennifer, would you mind pouring us some white wine here, please? I sure can. So this wine is our Sauvignon Blanc. Ah, Sauvignon Blanc. Yeah, this is a white wine from New Zealand. Yeah, New Zealand is quite well known for their Sauvignon Blanc. This one, when you taste this, you might taste some tropical fruits. That, the, do you smell that? Yeah. Like, okay, I still have a little bit of the, of the 1884. I'm taking a sniff of that. Now I know I'm supposed to cleanse my palate, but significantly different, significantly. And very nice. Right. Yeah. Yeah. Isn't that nice? Hang on. I gotta, I'm doing, yeah, coffee bean. Yeah. There you go. Yeah. Oh yeah. And a little bit of citrus in this one. Very citrusy in this one. Yeah. And this one also fresh herbs. We might be getting a hint of fresh herbs here, which is, it's really nice that we have a dill Havarti cheese to sample with this one because it would compliment it well. Okay, try the cheese. Let's try the cheese. Okay, try the cheese. Okay, yeah. Mm, mm, mm. Oh, I love that cheese. Isn't that good? Oh, I love that. That's good cheese. Yeah. For a meal, you might like to pair it with seafood, even a grilled cheese sandwich. No kidding, eh? Or chicken skewers. Okay. I just love that Karen said wine and grilled cheese. Yes. Yeah. Yeah. We have to be practical. Do you know what we forgot? Cheesies. My Hawkins cheesies. Oh, yes. That's next month's episode. Karen, that's next month's. Jennifer will sit and eat a bag of Hawkins while she has a few sips of wine. I'll find the right wine to pair with it. I'm going to take another bite of my dill cheese. That really does bring out- And a drink of my Sauvignon Blanc. You're right. The herbs in it. Yeah, it does. It does. So this is the interesting fact I wanted to talk to you about. Incredible. So I'm not sure if you notice in the names, Cabernet Sauvignon and Sauvignon Blanc, they both have the same name in it, Sauvignon. Sauvignon. Yeah. Is that the grape? Yes. So the reason that the Sauvignon Blanc is a grape parent of the Cabernet Sauvignon. So genetically, the Cabernet Sauvignon is a mix of the Sauvignon Blanc and Cabernet Franc. Okay. So they created a new grape, right, which is the Cabernet Sauvignon. So although they're obviously very different wines, sometimes you can pick up bell pepper in both of the wines just because of that genetic heritage. Okay, so obviously genetics play a big part in wine. It does, yes. And how they... Did you know that? No, I didn't. I didn't either. I just thought you got a grape was a grape was a grape, a different, you know, a different flavor grape, but they obviously, they do things. But I have another question about grapes, and this might be quite silly, but I'm sure other people are wondering. Yeah, no silly question. A red wine versus a white wine, is it a red grape versus a green grape? That's a good question. That's a very good question. It depends on the wine and how the wine is made. So typically, it is a black grape for a red wine and a white grape for white wine. However, when we look at champagne, champagne is made typically from Pinot Noir grape, but they remove the peel. So you just have the inner. Oh, and again, I think that was an excellent question because I didn't know that. So in this, they wouldn't take the peel off. The peel would stay on the grape? In the red. In the red. Yes, that's right. But in champagne, the peel comes off. Right. Wow. Okay. And what about an ice wine, Karen? What would happen with the grape in that situation? I hope we do a segment on ice wine. Typically, with ice wine, and this is a science as well. Wine is a science and an art. With the ice wine, typically what they do is they freeze, they let the grapes freeze on the vine, but there's a certain level where it has to be harvested. It's gotta be picked at a certain time. Exactly. Not too cold, not too warm. Exactly, yeah. Wow. And that concentrates the juices within the grape to make it sweeter. Okay, that makes sense. It does. So this Sauvignon Blanc that we're drinking here, this is Oyster Bay from New Zealand. Right. And this is a wine enthusiast Best Buy, 2024. So if you're a white wine drinker, or even if you're not and you wanna try a white wine, head down to your favorite wine store and check this out. So how is this determined? Are there wine awards? Cause I think we should go to the wine awards. Yeah, we should. We should. We should do a podcast at the wine awards. A field trip. Yeah, a field trip. I love that. Somewhere warm hopefully. A wine field trip. Yeah. Yeah, and we'll go in February. Yeah. Yeah. This is fabulous. Isn't that great? So again, how much would this one? This one was roughly... Yeah, I think that one's about $20.$20. Again, very reasonable for a good bottle of wine. So all the wines we've had so far are between the $20 and $25 range. This is... And that's reasonable. That's fantastic. White wine, I think you mentioned it, best with... So this one is best with seafood. This is the one that I would suggest with a grilled cheese sandwich too. Yeah. I'm trying that. Yeah. Yeah. Jennifer was heading home right after this, and the white wine and the grilled cheese sandwich. Yeah. Do it on your panini maker, because then it's like, oh. That sounds so good. Now we know what to get her for Christmas. That's right. Next year, panini maker. Yeah. Yeah. Awesome. Yeah. This is very good. This is good. I'm glad you're enjoying it. It just, yeah, it has a very unique taste. Yeah. And it's kind of crisp. This one is nice and crisp. Wow. And like we talked, the Argentina region, you mentioned that New Zealand is also very well known for its wine. Right. Yes. Yeah. And the Sauvignon Blanc. Yeah. Specifically. Yeah. Well known for it. So I typically steer when we talked about, you know, you don't want to break outside your box sometimes of the wine. I will typically go to the New Zealand, Australian section for wine because generally they have great wine. Yeah. Yeah. And it is great to experiment. Try different wines, right? And you never know what you might be surprised what you're really going to enjoy. Yeah. Yeah. No, you're right. You don't know and then you try it and you like it and away you go. Right. And so this is amazing. Anything else you need to tell us today about these? Because they're incredible. Stay tuned for the next episode. So folks, listen, go to our website, www.coffeeinthepark.com, and we'll put these wines up on our website. And be sure to tell people about this segment. Tell your friends, tell your neighbors, tell your coworkers, tell your enemies, because then you'll tell them and you'll share a glass of wine. You won't be enemies anymore. And if you don't have any friends, this is the perfect way to make them, to tell them about the Grape Expectations wine segment. Cam, let's have our listeners tell us, would you like to come to a wine segment where you would taste wine with Jennifer and Cam? That sounds fun. Okay. All right. So, this is great, fantastic. And yeah, stay tuned and appreciate everything. Karen, you're amazing. You're absolutely amazing. So much fun. So again, stay tuned and stay tuned for next month's segment, because I know it's just going to be as good as this month's. www.coffeeinthepark.com. Thanks everybody. Thanks everyone. Bye.