Back-to-School, Back-to-Sanity: Weeknight Wine Luxuries Made Easy featuring Jessica Dupuy

[MUSIC] >> Well, hello and welcome to The Wine Access Unfiltered Podcast. It's that time of year again. Everyone is back into the swing of things. It's fall. I'm sure a lot of you are dealing with some back to school situations or back to work situations. It's kind of our time to like hit reset. I know sometimes we think of the new year as being that time, but for me, it's always been the fall. And it always means that this is the moment when I'm trying to find my life again, especially post this past weekend, which as I mentioned in the last episode, I am worried. I'm officially a wife. Hooray, we did it. It's done. And now I get to feel like a human again and part of that is finding little moments where I can have some luxury. So this episode is all about back to school, back to sanity. Weeknight wine luxuries made easy. I know that sounds like a bit of a dystopian vibe, but I promise you this is going to be a possibility because I actually met my guest. Well, I think we officially met last spring, but we got to spend a little time together in Texas in August, which was lovely at TechSom. And I got to know her a little bit better. And I just, I loved how she talked about wine. I loved how she approached the world of food. And what's really unique about our guest today is that she does both of these in the writing world incredibly well. She's written tons of books. She writes for fantastic magazines. And she does both food and wine, which is a bit of an anomaly to do incredibly well, but she does it beautifully. So please look to the show, our guest Jessica DePuis. Hey, thanks for having me. I'm really glad to be here. So I mentioned at the top that you do like, you do food and wine, which despite the fact that we couple them together all the time, there's not a lot of writers who do both well as well as you do. How did that become your lane? Is that something you've always been passionate about? You know, it started with food. I'll be honest. Like I, I would say one kind of begat the other, if you will. So I started out doing food writing early on just kind of as a recipe tester. Like when I first kind of got my career started, I was working for Texas Monthly Magazine. And you know, they, they're one of the magazines that still have a legit fact checking department, like people who fact check everything. Yeah. But they didn't have it. Yeah, I know that they do exist, but they did not have a test kitchen, like you would at food and wine or Southern living or something like that. So they would, they would ask a couple of people who they knew were into food and cooking and stuff, which I was to do the fact checking for any recipes that got printed into the book. And so that's kind of where I started as like a little recipe tester. I was already working there in a different capacity, but that was kind of like my side gig, which evolved into doing restaurant reviews for them. So I became a restaurant critic. And then I went freelance and started writing not only them, but other, other magazines. And during that time, I was given this assignment to see if there was anything good about Texas wine. Yeah. This, I know. This was like 15 years ago. And like my editor, she's like, she was an amazing food writer, but she's like, that's just not in my encyclopedia. I don't know anything about wine. And I don't know if I could tell people if it's good or not. I just know that it's here. How do we report on this? So I was like, yeah, sure. I'm a trained reporter. I can just go report on anything. And that is where kind of my, my palette shifted to understanding more about wine. Of course, at that time, I needed help because I didn't understand the rest of the world of wine. Yeah. So to be able to tell people, yeah, this Texas stuff's pretty good or not, I started to study with sommeliers because I'd been covering restaurants and food for so long. I had a good network of support. And they taught me to taste. They got me through quartermaster sommeliers. I did certified and switched over to WSET. So now I'm kind of a nerd. But balancing the two, I would say I probably write more for magazines about wine because I also do cookbooks and things like that. So I kind of keep that the food part over there. But when it comes to food and wine, to me now, you can't have one without the other. Like wine on its own, ensure we drink it on the patio as like a pertivo or something like that. But in general, it's shared among friends and family at the table, usually when you're eating something else. So to me, they will always be both like together. It's refreshing to you because I think a lot of people are sort of not in a seamboat, but in a sommelier boat where like, we all start out eating food, right? This is the most of us. Like that's the lane by which we find wine and it was for me. So it's always nice to hear how people arrive at wine via food and all the different pasts the back and take. But are there any tips that you have? I think for people who are like me and like others that are more food adjacent, any tips that you found along the way to like make that journey into wine a little easier? For me, it's about the culture. And so like, for instance, a couple of my books are specifically about the regional culture of food. So as an example, not to try to tell my books, but let's just go to that. So do it. So there are two books with Southern Living that I wrote. One's called the United Tastes of Texas and the other is the United Tastes of the South. And so this is just an example where instead of, you know, when I worked with my editors on this, like instead of doing, you know, appetizer, entree, you know, dessert kind of structure, let's do Texas is bigger than the entire country of France, right? And as you know with France, like it has different regions and it was settled in different ways. And so the way we eat in Texas is different on the coast versus on the west or in the east. And so what we did was set up this book based on the regions and how they were settled. And that's why the foods are different. So to me, that's like a grounder for exactly how we try to understand wine, right? Like, Alessation wine in France is totally different than Bordeaux. And there are reasons for that. And it's not just because of the climate. It's also how the people who settled in those areas approached wine. So all of that matters. And to me, that's what I try to bring together for people when I'm writing or when I'm talking to people is trying to go a little deeper than what's just in the glass or what's on your plate. Why? Ask the why. And ultimately, it kind of comes together. That's, I mean, that's me. Everybody's different, but that's what I usually go with. We have like a million things to get to you, but I have to ask you about Texas wine. Okay. Oh, yeah. I've not had very much of it. I had it like a handful of things at Texas. But I don't have very much Texas wine and people ask me all the time. Yeah. So it is, yes. The answer is yes. There is really great Texas wine out there. In fact, in October, it's Texas wine month. And one of the projects I work on with Texas monthly still is this vent nurse cup in which we, I meet with two master's sommeliers and we taste, we did this in the summer, but we taste through like 250 Texas wines to try to come up with the top 12, which is hard. That's hard. It's also a lot of wine. It's a lot of wine. But I like to say the things you and I do are kind of our PSAs, if you will, are way of giving back to society by trying these wines out and kind of trying to figure out which are the best and not just the best, but what does this say about what Texas is doing? And so we did come up with quite a few and beyond the 12. And it's really exciting to see because as an example, I mean, I've been covering Texas wine for 15 years, but this particular competition's been going on for about five. And it's been really interesting to see even the little bitty adjustments you can see that the producers are making towards quality and that's happening in the vineyard and it's happening in the cellar. And definitely, producers are paying attention to what the consumers want, you know? Yeah. So I would say the short answer is yes. There are some wines that easily compete against the rest of the world of wine. We also have not great wines, but then so does every region, you know? Everywhere. Yeah. Well, is there, are they finding sort of like their own thumbprint in the world? Because I think what I'm seeing the most in some of these other, you know, you've got your California's Oregon's Washington's and then you kind of have the rest of the country. And every state's making wine. But what I'm seeing is sort of this like interesting bifurcation of those that are making wine that is very specific to the place. Like I think the fingerlinks is crushing it in that department. And then you see other places that are trying to emulate other regions. And I think, you know, when I was in Michigan, we saw a lot of like, there was some really great Michigan wine that was very Michigan, Michigan. And then there was some wine that really was trying to be California and Michigan is not California. So is Texas sort of in that same boat right now where they're, they're finding themselves or is that still a work in progress? That's a really good question. I would say that, you know, certainly in the 70s, 80s kind of while California was shining on the global sphere, all the other, I mean, even Texas, we were like, oh, well, let's do what they're doing. because they're being successful with Cabernet and Chardonnay and blah, blah, blah. So we planted all those and I would say that Cabernet is still one of the most planted red grapes in Texas. However, I would say our top producers are the ones who a good 10 to 15 years ago said, "Wait a minute, we look more like the warm parts of Spain and the Mediterranean, growing region." So Southern France, Italy, Southern Italy for sure, we should be emulating that, you know? And I will say, I should mention like in the Vintners Cup, we had a Chardonnay that made it into the top 12 and it's the second year in a row that this producer has done great with Chardonnay. But I would say in general that's probably not the grape we should be like touting, whereas what we do well with is Fermintino or Rouson, Marseon, right? Like these are grapes that shine in the Mediterranean. And so that is where I would look, right? So Montipolciano, Alionico, we do really well with. So a lot of Italian varieties, Tempernillo, we've tried our handout, but as you know in Spain, that can vary so widely and Portugal, it's not forget Portugal, grizzatio. So that can vary so widely. And it's kind of the same in Texas, but you know, I love what we do with Merved, I love what we do with Cronashan Sera. So yes, we're starting to, I wouldn't say we're ever going to be like Oregon and not to pick on Oregon, but you know, Oregon pretty quickly came out of the gate being able to say, "Pinono-R, check, Pino-Grid, check, Chardonnay, check, right? Texas is going to have more varieties that they can work with. Our growing season is what is our biggest challenge. And so it's just a matter of if we can have varieties that can adapt to that." I'm actually very excited. I'm long on all the states making their wines and figuring out what works for them. Yeah. Obviously not every place in America is going to be able to do it, but I think if anyone can pull it off, it's going to be Texas. -Bingers crossed. -Bingers crossed. I think I've kept us dehydrated long enough, so I'm going to go ahead and pull them wine out at this point. For those of you who are members of the Wine Access Unfilter Podcast Wine Club, the longest name for a podcast wine club in the history of wine clubs. We have this lovely bottle here at the Burgundy Shape bottle with the Scroochop. This is Shaefer-Furlick, Vice-Begunther. I'll give you a little backstreet how this wine came to be. So as mentioned many times on this podcast, since I last went, I was in Germany and the spring with our friends from German wine collection, who you know. The whole trip, they were very excited about going to see this producer at Shaefer-Furlick. They were like, Tim, he's the guy. He's kind of quirky. Doesn't really save very much. Man, a few years. I was like, "What's the deal with this guy?" We get there and we really do spend a lot of time there. He doesn't say a lot, but it works for him. He's this very intense guy who just, this is a family business that he took over when he was 21. Everything that they do is a state. They're part of the VDP. His reaslings are in can be incredibly expensive and they're incredibly hard to find. But he poured us some other things that he was making as well. One of which was a Pinot Gris and a Pinoblong. I just absolutely fell in love with both of those wines. When I got home from the trip, I spoke with Jenna and Zach and I was like, "What do you think the odds of us being able to get something like a Shaefer-Furlick, my Spragunder are?" They were like, "Yeah, I think we can definitely make that happen." That's what we have in the glass. This is very cool. I don't know. Did you know this producer prior to me sending it your way? Yeah, I had heard of them. Germany, to me, is like, it's the one landscape that I really wanted dig into more. But I'm probably not alone. It's an intimidating landscape simply because of the pronunciation. Does this not inspire a lot of confidence when you see it? Shaefer-Furlick? Vicer-Furlick? Shaefer-Furlick? The quality of that sounds come from here. You know what? I will say I did do a story for Food and Wine recently about this little gold eagle and why that's important. So I will say when I see the gold eagle and everybody else, you have a certain guarantee of the quality that's inside of it. That's my first like, "Hey guys, if you're nervous about German wine, go for that first and then we'll talk." But of course, there's plenty of wines that are not. But all that to say, I had not heard of them. I'm very excited to try this wine. Good. Well, cheers. Thank you for getting up early and doing this. So, vice-regender, I did promise a breakdown event. So when you're in Germany anytime you see "Bregunder," that's your indication that it's Pino. It's Pino of some sort. There's many different Pinoes in the world, as I mentioned, Pino Greek, Pino Blanc, Pino Newar, Vicer, for those of you vise who speak a little German, we'll know that that is going to be your light. So this is Pino Blanc. So this is like the white Pino and there's a white grape. It does really interesting things, I think, in this particular region and the way that he's making it. There's a lot of, I wouldn't say there's a lot of different expressions of Pino Blanc out there. It can be a little boring. It's a little like Pino Greek, Pino Grigio. It can be a little boring if allowed to be boring. But a guy like Tim for like is never going to make a boring wine, especially when it comes from a grape like this. And so what I find is that this is a wine that I took it out of the fridge. And so it's ice ice cold, which is not the way that you should enjoy this. You should let it get down a little bit because it's crisp, it's clean. It's going to give you all the things that you won from something like, you know, your ice cold Pino Grigio. But when you let it warm up, it's going to start to give you all of these really interesting aromatics that are just like sunkissed and like in this citrus, but also in like the melons, but also in the florals. And they're just little like pops of color in this like sea of ocean. And probably would have been better suited like on a boat somewhere. But to me, this is like the perfect way to bring, as we mentioned at the top of the show, like a little bit of this warm weather into the fall with us. And because of the way that it's made, it's not just this like super zigzaggy, you know, it's very electric. It has this texture to it. And I think again, when we're talking about moving into the cooler months, this is where I love to bring texture into the equation. So I'll fully you're enjoying it as well. No, I am. I was just going to comment that I feel like the first thing that jumps out is just just rocks. This is like mineral, mineral, mineral. And you know, Pino Blanc to me, you know, vice-pregender, whichever, whichever you want to call it. Yeah, to me, you know, Germany, Alsace, and then like Alto Adige, or my like three top areas for how I try to like figure out what it is. And like you said, it can be ho hum. But it can also be like just such a conduit of multiple things. So from this like this one, so mineral driven, but you can also detect like a little bit of stone fruit under there. And you know, obviously citrus and like like lemon, pith and stuff. But that's what I like. I feel like Pino Blanc, when it is done well, to me, it can rival a lot of Chardonnay. And I love like, you know, pitching it as the alternative to Chardonnay. Like, oh, it's great. You like Shabli. Okay. Well, let's see if we can find something really mineral and you know, like I'm like just to just to discover something different. And that is what this would be great as an alternate to to Shabli for me. God, I think this wine can fit into so many different places, right? Like you you brought up Al-Tawadijé, right? I think this is like if you placed this in front of me and didn't tell me what it was, I would maybe be somewhere in like northern Italy. Like this could be very easily an Italian white wine, you know, with all that clean, fresh, I mean mineral rock, all those things that you said. But I think, you know, what's just so fun is that this wine will continue evolving. And it's just this like this deceptive simplicity is really what I love about this and that like I love a wine that you can sit and just drink, but then also when you have like 30 seconds to yourself, you can dive in and find like all of these other things. And you know, the subject of today's show is really finding these like little weeknight wine luxuries. And I think this is a perfect example of it where like it's not a wine that needs contemplation, but it's not void of it. That makes sense. Right. It's one that yeah, I would certainly drink while I'm cooking, but I would also like if my neighbor comes over and it's like and we're sitting down to hang out a little bit, I'd be like, you got to try this wine, you know. Weeknight dinner, what does that look like in a house like yours? Woo. So I do have to kind of like early teens, okay. And we are one of those families like we have they'd have activities, but I also am like all about balance. I'm like, we're not going to like stick you in like a million things. So pick one. And we'll do that. But I'm also I love to cook. That's like something is we discussed earlier food is part of my life. And so I do try to do like square meals, you know, at least four to five nights a week. And then and then it's like on the weekends, I'm like, no, I'm not cooking. You know, I'm usually doing like a sheath pan kind of thing like where I may roast chicken roast vegetables and kind of like throw that in and then you know, sort of with some rice or like last night, I I did as a beef stir fry with green bell peppers and broccoli. And then of course, it's Texas. So taco Tuesdays always hold. - I love it. - Which we, you know, taco Tuesdays take on a little bit of its taco-ish. So it could be an a vessel like a taco, or I may make taco salad, or I may make something, but it's going to be in the text mix. There's gonna be cumin and chili and things like that. - Here's where I'm struggling right now. And I feel like maybe I need to help on this. Where are you finding meal inspiration? Because I feel like I will save things on Instagram. I've got a million cookbooks in here that, you know, there's only one that I ever go to. And it's the same one that I've had. - Is it the United States of Texas? - I'm kidding. - It's not, but it should be. - Yeah, I'll send it to you. - Yes, please. - No, actually, I actually forget what it's called, but it's a Martha Stewart one that, I think it's like the real simple food, real food, food simple, or something like that. And I've had it since I was in my 20s. And they're just like really great easy recipes, but where do you find recipes these days? Because I feel like I'm struggling. - Yeah, I mean, so I subscribe to the New York Times cooking. And I'm a recipe reader. So for me, like, I'll drop some, I'll drop into my inbox, right? Because I'm part of this newsletter. And I'll look at them and I'll, you know, I have to read the recipe first before I'm like, "Okay, how long is it gonna take me? How much prep do I have to do?" And then what are the flavors involved? And I'll be honest, I feel like New York Times drops in, 'cause they have so many different contributors that they're pulling their recipes from. They usually are about 80% great. And then I just have to punch up flavor, but I like flavor. Let's see, I, you know, for classics, if I'm like, "How do I rest a chicken again?" I go to Ina Garden, like that's, I've got all of her books and that's kind of a standard for me. But for new things, I travel a lot, right? So for wine. And so I'm usually coming back with, okay, I was just in Piedmont for a week. I am gonna figure out how to make, you know, Vitello toonata, which, okay, probably I'm not gonna do that. But I know, like I've taught myself how to make plan, like the little bitty pastas that are there mini-ravioly. And so, and then it's also pretty basic. I'm not that exciting. I'm like, need to have, you know, we'll probably have a rice dish one week, but one day a week, I probably have a pasta dish of some sort. Obviously the taco to say kind of thing. So, so I'm pulling from some basic that I know that's gonna help honestly feed my kids, 'cause I have a son and he eats like a horse. So I need, I need to be able to fill them up. But then it has to have heavy protein and vegetables. And then I'll work out the flavors from there. - And then where is wine fitting into the equation? Like, do you think about the wine first? Do you have wine with dinner? Is it an afterthought? - No, wine usually factors pretty heavily. And so, you know, as I mentioned, I travel for wine. So I'm often bringing something back. So usually then it's like, gosh, I really wanna open this, you know, I was just insistently, I wanna open this Norellum Escalaisae. What's gonna be good with that? Honestly, Texas is perfect, 'cause it's like, we grill a lot. And I think Norellum Escalaisae with like a grilled burger or steak or something like that. I mean, it's perfect. And so that's where I get some of that inspiration, but I drink a lot. I love white wine. Bubbles factor in heavy for me too, where I'm like, I just wanna drink this wine. And I don't actually really care what I'm cooking tonight. We're just gonna, even if it doesn't quite fit. But I feel like bubbles is like, that always works. The answer's all of that. Yeah, yeah. There's nothing bad with bubbles. So. - Yeah. No, I'm kind of like you. I mean, I obviously always have a decent amount of wine open or at least like in a fridge ready to go, but I will, I'm not dogmatic about it, right? Like, if something, and this is where I think people get really tripped out, they're like, oh, but like this wine isn't, like your mouth doesn't carry that much. Like it's gonna forgive you if it's not a perfect pairing. And if you wanna glass the wine and it's not like the best thing together you've ever had, like it's gonna be fine. Like eventually it will make it into your senses. But I do think that like maybe having some sort of, this is, and I think this is where having wines on hand is really helpful. This is what clicked for me in my 20s was don't just buy a bottle when you need a bottle. Like this is where having a collection and I'm using collection in quotes. This is where having a collection is really important. Even if that collection is only five or six bottles. Like having just like a little stash to choose from sort of like your spice cabinet. Like this is where you can start to build your own palette. This is where you can start to understand choices because if you don't have choices to make, then you never exercise that part of your brain. - That's really smart. And I say this to people a lot of times. I'll be like, hey, if you're on a budget and you need to go and you need to buy a budget wine, that's great. But you're gonna, you're gonna pause more if you only have one $20 wine in your pantry and you're like, or fridge and you're gonna be like, I don't know if I should drink it tonight, that's $20. Like blah, blah, blah. If you can budget yourself and do for the month, I'm gonna buy a case of $20 wines, right? Or in that way, then it's like, do it all at once, get them all into your house and let yourself feel, to me, it depressurizes that Tuesday night. And you're like, do I wanna open it? Because it's the only one I have in the house and I did spend, you know, like, yeah. It's like, nope, we've already budgeted that, we're checking it off and now I can go like, oh, actually, I do kinda want this white, whatever, or this rosé or red. And like you said, they don't have to be expensive. Like if you go to Costco tomorrow and just get every Kirkland brand wine that they make, you'll be able to find. Yeah, honestly, I've always been impressed with their ability to put out some decent wines, yeah. Speaking of which, I thought maybe we would start with if you fast-dinner and wine-paring ideas, one of which is the Costco roast chicken. Or, you know, if you have some different roasted chicken, that's also great, but you know, a Costco roast chicken in a bag with some like veggies, water, I think our little Viceroy Brick under would be delicious with that, but also like the Kirkland coat drone also, great choice. Oh yeah, if you're gonna go red, I would definitely say the Kirkland coat drone is good. I am also a fan of like just a lighter style Grenache, or Grenache, where it's more single variety. And I just love how the juiciness and peppering-ness of that grape can go really well with a roast chicken. And then yeah, I mean, if there's like, I think of Central Coast Shardonnay actually for that, because I think if it's had any sort of leaves contact or the lightest bit of neutral oak, it's gonna be really great with how that, oh my gosh, the like the natural juices of the chicken kind of come into the pan roasting and everything like that. - The like skin fat-edness of it too. And yeah, yeah, yeah. I am, listen, I'm, when I unbox that chicken, there is always some side little pieces for me, and there is usually a glass of wine next to me as I'm like breaking it all down, but yeah, anytime you're talking about roast chicken, you should be thinking, you know, burgundy or Oregon, and whatever kind of grows there is gonna work. So whether that's sparkling wine, whether that's pino, whether that's shardonnay, whether it's pino-blanc, you know, gree, all of those things are gonna be great with roast chicken. That should just be like one of those things that kind of clicks in your brain. Don't skew too heavy, don't skew too light. Right in the middle is kind of where you wanna be. You know, I wanted to sort of mention, when we were talking about the, the, the, the vice-prec underpino-blanc, one of the great little wine hacks is you're trying to find wines that are in budget, that you know, maybe aren't gonna break the bank. I know a lot of people travel for wine and maybe you're going to see nicer producers, but you know, if you do happen to go to a nice producer, if you are looking for great wines of the world, one of my favorite hacks, which is kind of what this is, is just buy the cheapest wine from the best producer. So if you, yeah, you've done this before. Like 100%. Yeah, yeah, because I'm always thinking, so like I was just in, so I was just in Piedmont a couple of weeks ago and I love Burlato wine. So like, burlato, known for their burlos, but also known for Palavarga and Dolceto. And we've had Palavarga on this podcast. Yeah, oh, that's great. I mean, an unsung hero of Italy in my opinion, right? And so, and then even the way, so Dolceto can kind of run the gamut in terms of style, but the way that Burlato does it, I was like, I need a case of this because this is a, this is my weeknight wine. And but also, I don't also totally serve it with a nice steak on a Saturday night. So, but that's an example where I'm like, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, Burlato, but at the same time, you know, what are the people drink when it's, when they're living, you're the locals in Piedmont, what are they drinking? And honestly, it's Palavarga and Dolceto. So, yeah, that's a perfect example of, yeah, looking through cheaper producers. - And they're a great producer, yeah, exactly. - And picking, yeah, yeah. 'Cause they're not making it as a throwaway. They want to make money off of it too. They're making it 'cause they want it to be there. - No, and most of them, I mean, with, with few exceptions, like obviously, the extreme goal, Harlan, it was like, they're not making a cheap wine, but a lot of your producers in Italy, even in France, they are making wines that are at an accessible price point. And a lot of it has to do with the economics, but some of it has to do with the fact that like, those wines take a very long time to make. And so you kind of need something, as you're waiting for that. And that was sort of the philosophy behind these wines. If anyone's curious about Palavargo, which we just sort of casually threw into the conversation, the episode with Jonah and Sara Beer from True North, True North imports, that's their episode that we featured the Palavargo on. If you wanna circle back to that, it was about, I want to, I want to. Yeah. They're so fascinating because they've got this wonderful importation business based in California that specializes in both Italian and French wines. And it was Sara that came to me and said, I have this really cool wine, it's called Palavargo, I think you're gonna love it, it's perfect pizza, which actually we'll talk about in a second as a great pizza wine. We obviously love a good comfort bowl, pasta, especially as the weather starts to gear up. So pasta bowling is what's your go-to for that? I feel like we're gonna be the same on this one, but go for it. Well, it probably would be pretty similar. So I mean, 100% Italian for me. And I've been spending a lot of time over there for a project and so I apologize if I tend to spew a little Italian right now in my life. So, Kancy Classico, I mean, San Giovanni, and for me, if we're gonna go, I really like a reserve because it's showing a little bit of age, it's showing a little bit of the structure that I want. And it's a little less, you know, sometimes with the early ventages that are not reserve, that they can be great entry level perfect. But I'm a huge fan of like, Cracicebella, I just feel like San Giovanni say is such a great, it just gets you where you need to go in all the right ways for, especially a weeknight dinner. It can also sparkle for a really nice experience, but it makes me happy. It's a workhorse of a wine. It's a workhorse. It is. It really, like, it just checks so many boxes. And similarly to the gold eagle, which is the VDP demarcation on the German label, you can look for the black rooster on the Kianti Classico as a symbol that this is again, going back to like, symbols of quality. Kianti Classico, not the Kianti in the basket that your grandma might be more familiar with from the Checkered Tablecloth days. This is a different style. It's from the classic, the heart of the region of Kianti. Usually, always gonna be predominantly Sandra Bayse, occasionally it's gonna have a handful of other things or an in there. But anytime you were talking about a red saucy pasta, like that's kind of where your mind should be going is like these red saucy regions, like, like, Jaskini, which is where Sandra Bayse is, is just king. And I do think that if you were struggling with food and wine pairings and you're like, I don't know, you know, this feels like a lift for me. Like Tuesday night is already crazy. I promise you, if you can like, listen, if you can go to Costco, I think people are gonna start to think that I'm sponsored by Costco. I wish that I responded by Costco. (laughing) But if you can like, if you can get some pasta and like a thing of sauce and like a little Kianti Classico and just put that all together in a Tuesday night, like, it's the easiest thing in the world. Also, by the way, I don't know if you've ever had them, but the Amy Lose meatballs, have you ever had these? - No. - Oh, I'm just talking. - I'll just pop those in the, okay, yeah. - Yeah, so, okay, so here's my thing. I get like the thing of the carbone, which as you might recall from Texas, love me some carbone. - I love your fan. - Yeah. - So, I'm a fan. So I get this, the carbone spicy rigatoni sauce. I get the Amy Lue basil Parmesan meatballs. I throw those in the air of fire, I heat the sauce up and make a little pasta. I whisk it all together, I have a glass of Kianti Classico. I'm done, in 20 minutes, here we are. And I'm just, you did a delicious dinner. - Absolute bliss. - Yeah, you can't go wrong. - Take out hacks. Obviously, we talked about Thai food and reasoning, sort of ad nauseam on this show, but I assume you're a fan to some degree. - A Thai food and reasoning? Oh my gosh, yeah, all day long. Like, I mean, it's one of the, it's one of the perfect pairings, absolutely. And I, you know, I mean, I'm trying to think if there's, you could with some maybe veer into like, some peanut grease from Elsa's, but I feel like, re-sling, especially German re-sling, just has so much to offer, or maybe an off-drive uvray. - Mm-hmm. - Yeah, it's a spicy, you know, nice and spicy, but yeah, I think that's what, that's an easy slam dunk pairing, you know. A lot of times I get asked the question, like, how do you go with text mix? Like, what do you pair other than a margarita, right? So like, margaritas are off the table. (laughs) And I think then you're looking at again, the types of spices that are involved. So, re-sling actually can be an option, like I think a dry re-sling honestly is better, but Savignon Blanc can actually be pretty good as well. If it's not too steely, so I think just because again, like, I think of the pierazines, like jalapeno, fresh jalapeno, things like that. - Oh, that's so smart. - Yeah, and so that's always good. And then I feel like for, if you're wanting red, that's where I go like lighter, easier style. So, Norello Muscalezae from Etna is really shining for me right now with text mix. And then also I would say like, I mentioned it before, but Grinache, I think it's just juicy and peppery and all the things. - If it's one wine that's not in your cellar cabinet, whatever, like, right now it's probably Grinache, and it's probably the one you should run to go get. Like, go to a wine store, go in wine access, whatever. Go get yourself a Grinache, because I think it's one of those wines that can serve so many purposes, and it's so versatile. And similarly to like a Kianti classic art in Javese, like, it is a workhorse, and it behaves very similarly to Pino, but it feels a little lighter in some way. Like in some ways like Grinache is like, you know, instead of putting on like a heavy foundation, it's like the tinted moisturizer, you know, it just feels like, yeah, just like an easier lift somehow. - I don't know. - That's a, you know, my next article is gonna be called that. I will attribute it to you, but I think it's brilliant, you know, like, that's a perfect way to describe it. And I think, you know, Pino Noir, listen, it deserves so much, but I think people, consumers, can often feel intimidated by Pino Noir, because they're told of the greatness of Burgundy, and then we're also told of the greatness of what we can achieve, and Sonoma Coast, et cetera. But like, or Oregon, like, but it can feel like you're expected to think too much about it. Whereas Grinache, we don't have to think about anything. - It's just, it's just gonna make you happy. - Yeah. - And at the same time, you can have Crem de la Crem top of the line, beautiful Grinache from Spain, or from the Rome, but at the same time, like it's never gonna make you feel, like the value is there, right? In terms of the bottom dollar, but then also like, the enjoyment is there. And so I usually go, when people are like, oh, you know, which Pino Noir should I get, I'll be like, on a menu, I'll be like, do they have Grinache? You know, like, 'cause then we don't have to like, overthink anything. - Right. Well, Pino's so specific to you, like it really cares about where it's going, and not that Grinache isn't care, but like, it just feels, it feels like, you know, it's a lift, it's a commitment. It's, you know, it's, it's a bit, and Grinache is just like, yeah, just slap it on, you look great. - Yeah. - Exactly. Yeah, exactly. - You and I had a lovely sushi dinner at my favorite restaurant, maybe in the country, which is Uchi. - For those of you, I don't know if I've ever talked about it in this podcast, but I was very excited when I found out that you were the writer on the Uchi book. I, it does not matter what city I'm in. If there isn't Uchi, I'm making my way there. I've been, I think to all of them at this point, and there's one coming to Philly. So I'm very excited. But to me, they're like, all the wines in the world cannot hold a flame to sake when it comes to sushi. - Yeah. - Are you in the same camp? - I'm there too, because I just love sake, and I don't, I'll be honest, like, I wish I drank it on Tuesday nights. Like I wish I would push myself more, so that's where my seller is lacking is, I don't hold on to enough sake is at home, because think about it. That's one where it's like, over consumption is in your, is not over consumption is in your favor, but the ability to have a glass or two of sake, and then that bottle's gonna be okay for a couple of days in your refrigerator. You know what I mean? - Exactly. - Exactly. - Yeah. So I feel like I'm not overconsuming, and I think it goes with so much. So yes, 100% sushi, but I mean, honestly, any of the Asian dishes I make, or the expression that a lot of sake can have in terms of plurality and nuanced fruit character, there's such a beautiful world to explore there. So yeah, 100%. But yeah, don't be wrong. There were a couple of really beautiful white wines. I don't know, that's so much red for me with sushi, but I would drink this vice-burgender with sushi. - Totally. Yeah, and it's not to say that wine can't work with sushi, it certainly does, but there is something about the umami of sushi, and you could probably speak to more than I can, but there is something about that combination of sake and sushi that just, it does something that wine cannot, and I think to your point, it's a great hack, and it's one that I'm actually shocked that you don't keep more on hand, because it's so easy, like it doesn't go bad. Like it's one of the, like I mean, it does, but it does, like I've had good sake, not all sake's are built the same, but good sake, I can keep open in the fridge for, you know, four to six weeks, minutes. It might have dimmed the lights a little bit, but it's still great and it's not really going anywhere. And I always, I don't know, there's something about it. I always feel great after I drink sake. I don't quite get the, you know, I'm 38, so things hit a little different than they do when I was 28. But I don't quite get like, I hang over, like, I don't feel hung over. But like, you know, you get a little tinge of like something from wine, we're like sake. I've had a lot of sake at night and I felt totally fine the next day. But there's some great ones. Eduardo from Wine Access, he's very sake obsessed. We've talked about it a lot on the show. And he sources some really great ones. So wine access is a really good resource if you're looking for good sake. Because I know that can be a little bit of a challenge when you're out there in the world trying, you know, to look for it like, you know, you think German wine is hard to navigate. Socky is like a whole list. Like a list, unless you speak Japanese, good luck. Like I'm pretty lost myself. So it's a good way to find, to find really good sockies without having to do a lot of the work is Eduardo does such a great job sourcing them. So yes, bring more Socky into your life. Let's see if we can rectify that for you. Yeah, it's not new years and this isn't a resolution, but maybe that will be my challenge. Next time I talk to you, you can ask me how many bottles of Socket I have in my soul. We'll see if I made it. Yes. I'm willing this for you. And last but certainly not least on the food front, I'd be remiss not to bring in some of my favorite meals via like Chipotle, Kava, you know, all of our fast food locations. You have a favorite fast food. I'm going to get like a burger to go like a, you know, take out burger. For me, I'm a rosé person with burgers, juicy burgers. So that, that would be it. And there's a local company and it's based in Austin called Peteries. And I think by default, it's become my favorite just because it's my kids favorite for sure. So if I'm like, all right, we're getting, we're picking up burgers tonight, which is not often. So they get very excited and then they're like, it has to be Peteries. If we're going to go, it has to be there. Yeah. So it's Peteries and rosé for me. I like rosé, I really like rosé with burgers. I'm a five guys girl. I like her local spots too, but I love a five guys burger, especially with like the Cajun fries. And I do like it with rosé because it can be a little bit spicy, but I do tend to go like Gronash with burgers like that. Oh, fantastic. Fantastic. Yeah. I go to it. Yeah. Yeah. You can't go wrong with that either. I would do that. Yeah. But I mean, please like do not discount fast food for those of you who are, you know, trying to figure out your lives on a Tuesday Wednesday, Thursday, whatever day of the week it is. Like fast food can be delicious with wine. It is delicious with wine. I will, I will fully admit here on this show. I don't know what's happened in the last six months for me, call it hormonal, who knows. I have like a weird deep obsession with McDonald's chicken nuggets and french fries. I'm no longer ashamed to admit it. It is what it is. I say it proudly. I say it proudly, but McDonald's chicken nuggets, french fries and sweet and sour sauce and like a good glass of white wine. Like it can cure most things for me. And I just, I feel like I need to put that out there because if you're in the same boat and you're feeling the same things, like just lean into it. It's really fun. No one's going to, yeah, no one's going to judge you. I love it. For us Chick-fil-A is kind of the fried chicken place where most people go. So for me, that would be, and I love the waffle fries. I don't have something about it. So, but for me, that's less 100% bubbles. Like it's going to be champagne. It's going to be, yeah. I mean, a nice kava, something like that. Yeah. KFC and some bubbles, Chick-fil-A and bubbles. And really anything in the bubbles is going to be again, like Grinosh, like make sure you have it in your fridge. And like get yourself a push on. A Coravine is never about investment. We've talked about different wine preservation devices. And you know, if you're worried that you're not going to go through the whole bottle in a few days, like get yourself something like a Coravine, like a report that will help to preserve it. Something that you can do is treat it like leftovers and put it back in the fridge, keep oxygen away from it and keep it at a low temperature. So you're going to slow that rate of oxidation. That's effectively what's breaking everything down and making it not taste as good. But you know, there really is no such thing as like the wine's going to go bad. It's not going to spoil, so to speak. Like, exactly. It's not like, it's not like gulk that's going to go bad in your, in your fridge. I, well, I didn't bring up pizza night, but I did bring up Pella Verga. And I would be remiss to not talk about pizza and Limp Briscoe. Ah, okay. Good. I'm glad you were going to do it because I was going to go straight there if you. Yeah, I know. It's a straight shot. I mean, there really is no better wine for pizza than Limp Briscoe. Pella Verga is right up there, but there is something about Limp Briscoe that just does it for me. Well, it's the texture. It's having a little bit of bubbles too is great. And I'm not going to lie. Like, I like it to be a tiny bit off dry, you know? Like, definitely. The sauce is off dry. Yes. Like, there's just, it's just indulgence to me in the most beautiful way. So I'm totally with you on that. Yeah. No, I mean, anytime you're talking about pizza sauce, you're generally talking about some amount of sugar, right? There is going to be a little sugar. And then you've got the salty, savoryness of the cheese. And so that, you know, that juxtaposition of like an off dry Limp Briscoe, in addition to the fact that you have this sauce that has a little RS. Like, you kind of want a little RS in your Limp Briscoe. I just did a video on a Limp Briscoe Spritz with Empress gin. And so I did, instead of the Amaro, which is, so it's normally Limp Briscoe Amaro and then grapefruit juice, grapefruit juice and like a little splash of soda. Sometimes I just use the fever tree grapefruit sparkling. Yeah. But I subbed out the Amaro, which can be a little bit on the bitter side. I subbed that out for the Empress elderflower rose gin. And it like brained it up and it like gave it this really beautiful floral lift, which would be super nice with a slice of pizza. So that was the pizza Spritz that I made on my Instagram if you want to pop on over and see that. Can you, so these are rapid fire listener questions. Can you pair wine with mac and cheese? Well, yeah. I made, obviously. For sure. I mean, the answer is always yes. What would I pair with it? Ooh, I think for me right now, if I were going to have some mac and cheese, it's going to have to have be a crisp, white wine to kind of like cut through all the weight of that. So but something with a little, I actually might go with like a peanut gris from Alsace or peanut grisio from Altuarezje or fruely, fruilano. I think, okay, I'm going to go with that. Okay. Stopped. I like it. Yeah. I will say, I just, so I have another deep obsession with like, well, I love crab mac and cheese, but I just can't do it to myself. So I get the goodles version, goodles. You see those? It's like higher protein, I think a little. I mean, it's still, I'm sure lots of synthetic garbage in there. But anyway, I made that and that's sort of their answer to crab mac and cheese. I had that and I had a little baby box boil of savannah. Oh, that's perfect. It was so good. I was like, why, why do you know, I think the, you know, the little box, so box boil all maybe flash the photo in here. It's, it looks like a circular bottle and, you know, it's very specific. This one place in Germany, where savannah sort of is the grape is savannah sort of rains queen there. And when we were there visiting Hans-Versheng, they gave us these little 250 milliliters, which is a third of a normal science bottle, a 250 box boil. And I had it in my fridge and I was making the mac and cheese and I was like, well, this seems like a great idea. And it was so good. That's perfect. I love that. Yeah. Is it okay to pour weeknight wine and stemless glasses? Oh, yeah. I mean, listen, we, we're, this is Austin, Texas, so we're the home of Yeti, the, you know, Yeti, like coolers and coffee cups and all the other stuff. Like, when we're outside at the pool, like, I'm pouring it in. Yeti has a wine cup, so to speak. Yeah, I have. They're great. Keeps things cool. All that stuff. Yeah. So I drink out of Yeti on a Tuesday night, for sure. Yeah. I am, I'm really mad that I can't remember the name of it. I think, oh, it's high camp flasks. Are you familiar with this? Oh, those are great. Yes. Absolutely. Absolutely. Oh my god. Yeah. This was, I have not posted about it on Instagram yet. I, they sent me, they've got this new thing where like, if it's a whole bottle of wine and then on either end, it's their cups and their stemless steel. And it was like, I think that the ad said it was like, some of you agreed, Stainless steel. I was like, what, what does that even mean? What is that made? And so I brought it on the boat and I am, I was blown away because I'm a Yeti queen. I love Yeti and I have those tumblers and then I use the high camp flask situation, game changer. Highly recommend it. Like, to me, this is like the, like the gift to give at the holiday is if you're looking for something great. It kept the wine cold, but there was something about those cups in particular that I was like, I actually, I love how the strings, I love how the flask port was great. Yes. So yes, if you, I think, especially if like, I'm not going to tell you to drink wine at your kid's soccer game, but like, you know, it's happening. I have to, I think we know it's happening. And I just want to say not to plug for Yeti, but like they are starting to make their, some of their cups with a ceramic interior. So you're not, you don't have the, not the metallic taste metal, but I think sometimes I do. And so now that you can get it with like the ceramic interior, it's, it's changed my, my Yeti wine drinking game. Not that I drink it at soccer games, but I mean, you know, whatever, whatever. You're just, you know, it's your job, it's your work, you just research. you're just a multitasking kind of mom. That's right, exactly. (laughs) Fastest way to chill a bottle, 'cause I know time is of the essence. Mm, so I mean, I learned this from my friend at Whole Foods. Just, I mean, I take a bucket, fill it with ice and water, put a little bit of salt in it. Yeah, yeah. And yeah, I think some people are like, "Oh, I have a bucket. Your mixing bowl will work just as well." So like, what would work? Yeah, if you, yeah, if you're mixing cake, stuff to make a cake, that's perfect. That's also suitable. But yeah, I mean, I've even been known to like, throw it in the freezer like in with where the ice is. Also, just don't forget about it. Yeah, especially if it's bubbles. Especially if it's bubbles, yes. Yeah, you definitely want to make sure you get your bubbles cold. That's kind of the most important part of drinking bubbles is that they're cold. Jessica, this has been so much fun. Tell me what's going on in your world. Where can people find you? Woo, let's see. Well, you can find me at jeskadoopui.com. On Instagram, I am Jessica N as in Norman Dupuis. 'Cause someone else has Jessica Dupuis. Oh, I know. It's fine. But I will be honest, like my Instagram's a little bit lagging right now, 'cause I'm finishing up a book. And I feel like this hour has been awesome 'cause it's been a break from working on it. Oh, good. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So that's kind of where I feel like I've been a little bit of a cave, but that's okay. I'm about to crawl out of it. We're sending it to press in a couple weeks. So. Hey. Well, congratulations. Books that people can shop for that are authored by you. Yeah. So we've mentioned the Southern Living One. So United Taste of Texas, United Taste of the South. But I've also, we've talked about Uji with Tyson Cole. The Salt Lake is a barbecue place in Texas. That's kind of got a little bit of nice lore and history to it. And then there's a chef out of Atlanta named Ford Fry. And he has a number of restaurants in the Atlanta area that are fantastic. He and I did a text, text, text, but cookbook together. And then finally, I did write a book about the wines of the Southwest. So Texas, Colorado, New Mexico, Arizona. So if you're curious about kind of these burgeoning, unknown regions in the US, that is something that you could check out. Amazing. So many great resources to cover all of your delicious ventures, which is great. Thank you so much for taking a break from-- which is, I'm sure, a very busy time for you between back to school and writing a book and traveling and doing all those things. So I very much appreciate you being here. Yeah. Thank you so much. And if it's OK, I probably shouldn't mention that one. So it's a book on Italian wine, which is why I'm all of-- Oh, great. But yeah, I fight. It's called "It's Italianity." It'll be out in April, 2026. So check that out when it does get here. Well, congratulations early in advance. I will link everything as always below where you can find Jessica and all of her various books and projects. For those of you who are not members of the Wine Access Unfiltered podcast, Wine Club, you can find everything you need to join in the description below. It's $120 plus tax, including shipping, and you get 10% off all of your wine access purchases. All of the wines are selected by myself and the Wine Access team. We have a lot of fun doing it. And oftentimes, it's little gems that we find when we're traveling the globe, like the one we have today. So I hope you enjoyed it. Until next time, we will see you soon. Jessica, cheers to you. Thank you so much. Have a good one. My pleasure. [MUSIC PLAYING]