Vilarnau Brut Reserva Cava

HAPPY NEW YEAR, EVERYBODY! How about some Vilarnau Brut Reserva Cava for a toast? On the nose it's got a pleasant yeasty breadiness with green apples, lemon, vanilla and flowers. It's zippy on the palate with a sharp acidity and flavors of apples, lemon, and yellow pears. It finishes with an increase in floralness and a slight touch of sugar. This isn't a bubbly to sit there and analyze to death. It's fun and delicious, and its affordability makes it perfect for any kind of celebration.

Listen to both Joey and Mike talk about this wine on episode 10 of Grapes & Capes: Cava Countdown

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Vilarnau Rosé Reserva Cava

This rosé Cava from Barcelona, Spain is 85% Garnacha and 15% Pinot Noir. It's salmon in color and on the nose there's aromas of strawberries, lemon, whipped cream, and little bit of peach and toast. It's light and foamy on the palate with a bright acidity and soft tannin. All of the aromas on the nose return on the palate to create quite a delicious sparkling rosé for the price.

Listen to both Joey and Mike recommend this wine on episode 10 of Grapes & Capes: Cava Countdown

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Grapes & Capes Episode #11: It's the TPG Christmas Party!

 

Members of the Team Patrol Gang, a group of four podcasts, get together for a Christmas party full of malarkey and ridiculousness. Join Chris from the Horror Comics Podcast, Eric from the Legendary Geekouts Podcast, Crumbs from the Crumbs of Gotham Podcast, and me (Joey) from Grapes & Capes as we discuss everything else and wonder if we'll ever get to any actual Christmas talk! MERRY CHRISTMAS, EVERYBODY!

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Grapes & Capes Episode #10: Cava Countdown

Mike and Joey drink Spanish Cava for the Holidays while counting down their top 5 favorite comic book heroes and villains.  BUT THERE'S A CATCH!!! Mike can't pick anything Marvel, and Joey can't pick anything DC!

Vilarnau Brut and Rosé Cava provided by Donna White Communications.

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Prologue: Podcasting during the first winter storm of the season, what do we listen to while we're reading?

Wine #1: Vilarnau Brut Cava, what is Cava?, what is Champagne?, how they make traditional method sparkling wine, glasswear, the dryness scale, the kickass history of Korbel

Comics #1: Top 5 Favorite Heroes, the Titans TV show, WB movies on HBO Max, DC Universe turning into comics service only, the Defender shows on Netflix,  Sinestro Corp Wars is a must read, Doomsday Clock is too, annoying thought bubbles

Wine #2: Vilarnau Rosé Cava, "Merry Christmas and wear a #$%^ing mask!", THANK YOU DONNA!

Comics #2: Top 5 Favorite Villains, cross country 1990, the Birds of Prey movie, Batman Forever, the new Spider-Man 3, The Amazing Spider-Man 2, John Leguizamo, The Happening, the "menacing" factor for villains, the New Gods movie, life lessons from EC Comics

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Grapes & Capes Episode #9: Crumbs of Gotham

Joey and Crumbs (from the Crumbs of Gotham podcast) just hang out and talk about whatever. There's really no format or any expectation of anything. It's totally unprofessional and pointless, which is exactly why you should listen. (Apologies to Dolly Parton. Also, apologies to Alex Ross and Mike Milbury for saying their names wrong.)

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Seltzer, Whitesnake's "Here I Go Again", Miley Cyrus on Howard Stern, Dolly Parton, The Mandalorian, Beavis and Butthead, why MTV stopped playing music, Peter Dinklage, Eric from Legendary Geekouts, Batman's Grave, Dark Nights Dark City, Divinity, The Ten Cent Plague, EC Comics, video games blamed for juvenile delinquency, the hate for younger generations, (THIS IS AROUND THE PART WHERE AUDIO ALIGNMENT GETS MESSED UP), Marvels by Kurt Busiek and Alex Ross (not "Art Ross". That's an old hockey player.), physical books vs digital, new gamer feature on Facebook, DC Universe Online, Spellbreak, EA Sports NHL, Marty Brodeur, Trent Dilfer vs Dan Marino, NFL = No Fun League, excessive celebration in the Super Bowl, fighting in hockey, calling Mike Milbury "Mike Middleton", Bruins' Stanley Cup loss to the Blues, Brad Marchand, facerakes are gross, Sydney Crosby, Claude Lemieux, Sean Avery, John Scott

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Grapes & Capes Episode #8: Slicin' Dicin' & Sake

Mike and Joey taste three bottles of Sake from TippsySake.com while keeping comic talk Japan themed as they read Batman / Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #1 (2015) and Wolverine #1 (1982).

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Sake #1: Kudoki Jozu Junmai Ginjo, what is Sake?, Futsu-Shu vs Premium, Honjozo vs Junmai, Single Malt Scotch vs Blends, moving the damn Elf on the Shelf, is Sake a beer?, drinkin' cheap Sake, Sake's REAL name

Comic #1: Batman / Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #1 (2015), Something Is Killing The Children, Batman's package, who is our favorite turtle, TMNT movies (old and new)

Sake #2: Nanbu Bijin Tokubestu Junmai, the white powder on gum

Comic #2: Wolverine #1 (1982), "The Wolverine" movie, Comics Code, The Ten Cent Plague, EC Comics, Future State, Fortnite, Trainspotting

Sake #3: Tozai "Snow Maiden" Junmai Nigori, what is Nigori?, Thank you TippsySake.com!

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Book Review: "Firing Blancs" by Peter Stafford-Bow

Felix Hart is at it again in the third installment of Peter Stafford-Bow's wine fiction adventure novels. You may already know that I love these books and I love Peter as a writer, but I have to say... this one is my favorite so far!

I also have to apologize to Peter, directly after kissing his arse, because I should have done this book review A LONG time ago. But there has been a lot going on with family and work and etc, so it took me quite a bit to not only read the book but to also get my act together to write about it!

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Joey Casco is #30 on the Top 101 Wine Writers of 2020

After digging through old emails, I discovered one from September that I didn't even see before. I was named #30 on Corking Wine's Top 101 Wine Writers of 2020! That's pretty awesome!

I don't write nearly as much as I used to and I'm more focused on podcasting now for the time being, so if you want to see the golden age of the blog check out my old Articles and my old wine reviews going all the way back to 2014.

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Mossback Russian River Pinot Noir 2019

Mossback's 2019 Pinot Noir by Matchbook is everything that you want out of a Russian River Pinot Noir. Dark berries, cranberries, chocolate, rose petals, and green peppers. All on a medium body with a smooth mouthfeel, a little bit of a grippy tannin, and a bitter chocolate and coppery finish. It's quite elegant with a drop of rusticness. For $25 I'm all about it!

Listen to Mike and Joey talk about two other wines by Matchbook on Grapes & Capes Episode #7 "Pyromania"!

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