The 12 Wines I’d Recommend to Any Curious Wine Drinker

Ep 136

Staring at a wall of wine and wishing someone would just hand you a curated list of bottles actually worth drinking?

In this episode I’m sharing my 12 standout wines from 2025 in honor of the 12 days of Christmas. Wines from Washington Chardonnay to Idaho Mourvedre to canned Albariño, Soave from Italy, and a wild, nutty Vin Jaune from France. You’ll hear why each bottle earned a spot on the list, how it tastes, and the stories and memories tied to each one, including travel moments, family visits, and retreat highlights.

You’ll also learn why mixed oak and stainless aging affects Chardonnay, why Soave is such a reliable go-to at the grocery store, what makes orange wine and Pet Nat so distinctive, and how to think about “funky” wines like Vin Jaune or Condrieu without feeling intimidated. 

So, whether you’re hunting for a weeknight bottle, a Trader Joe’s steal, or something special to share with friends, this episode is a ready-made shopping list for any wine drinker!

Thank you to the following brands for sponsoring this podcast:

• Vacu Vin: Go to us.vacuvin.com and use code CORKANDFIZZ for 20% off your order!
• Bon Chocolats: Go to www.bonchocolats.com and use code CORKANDFIZZ10 for 10% off your order!

Wines Mentioned in this Episode:

1. Kinhaven 2023 Chardonnay
2. 2020 Siegloch Weissburgunder (Pinot Blanc)
3. 2021 Telaya Wine Co. Mourvèdre
4. Maker Wine Albariño (Camins 2 Dreams)
5. Clos du Gravillas 2020 À Fleur de Peau Vin Blanc de Maceration
6. Casaponte Soave Classico
7. Cecilia Beretta Valpolicella Ripasso Superiore
8. Domaine Baud Generation 9 Chateau Chalon
9. 2023 Pieropan Soave Clasico
10. 2024 Grosgrain Sémillon Pet Nat
11. 2021 Yves Cuilleron La Petite Cote Condrieu
12. Raventos i Blanc | Blanc de Blancs 2021

Resources:

Ep 40 - What Sets Camins 2 Dreams Apart From Other Wineries

Ep 68 - A Family Legacy with Spanish Winemaker Pepe Raventos

Ep 69 - Exploring Spanish Sparkling Wine with Pepe Raventos: Breaking Away From Cava

Ep 122 - Why German Wine Goes Beyond Sweet Riesling with Lisa Tupetz

Ep 123 - Sekt: Germany’s Sparkling Wine You Need to Know with Lisa Tupetz

Transcript

0:09

Interested in learning about wine but not sure where to start? You're in the right place. Welcome to the Cork and Fizz Guide to Wine Podcast. I'm your host, Hayley Bowman, and I'm so glad you're here. I'm a wine enthusiast turned wine educator and founder of the Seattle based wine tasting business, Corporate Cork and Fizz. It is my goal to build your confidence in wine by making it approachable and lots of fun. You can expect to learn everything from how to describe your favorite wine to what to pair with dinner tonight, and so much more. Whether you're a casual wine sipper or a total court dork like myself, this podcast is for you. So grab yourself a glass and let's dive in. Hello everyone and welcome back to the Cork and Fizz Guide to Wine Podcast. Today we are doing a special episode in honor of the twelve days of Christmas. If you're listening to this when this comes out, it's right around Christmas time. If you are listening to this later on, well, let me just put you in the holiday spirit because why not, right? It's not actually going to be really holiday themed. I was just thinking more of, you know, doing a play on the 12 days of Christmas by sharing 12 of my favorite bottles of wine from the past year. Now, if you know anything about me right now, I am currently pregnant. So this is definitely. There was a shorter list of wines to choose from, a little bit of a limited selection, but I still did plenty of tasting even if I wasn't really drinking. So this is going to be a mix of everyday bottles, splurges, unique discoveries, wines tied to personal moments, you know, like the ones I shared with family or while I was traveling. But they are all wines that I've tried within the last year. I am technically including one from 2024, but that was like less than a year from now. So I'm going to count it. It was over New Year's, but we're going to start backwards. So these wines I've kind of like, the ones that I'm going to start with are the ones I've had the most recently. And then we'll work backwards. And like I said, there are 12 of them. I'm going to leave links in the show notes for any of them that you can find online so you can give them a try if you'd like to. All right, let's get into it. Okay. Wine number one is Kinhaven 2023 Chardonnay. This is a wine from Washington. I actually enjoyed this wine at a Tasting that I did with my husband and my parents when my parents were visiting here in Seattle in September, it was so good. This is one that I only got a taste of, so I can't wait to enjoy a full glass. There's a bottle of this in the wine fridge right now that I just cannot wait to dive into once I, you know, can have a full glass of it. The wine itself, the grapes are grown in the Columbia Gorge Ava, actually in Celilo Vineyard, which is special because it is the oldest Chardonnay vines in Washington. This wine itself, it was aged 11 months, 30% in new French oak. I know. Ah. What does this mean? This was an oaky Chardonnay. Just a little bit. Just a little bit, but just enough that it was delicious. So 30% new French, 55% neutral oak, and 15% stainless steel. So a whole mix of these. And I remember somebody asked me, I think it was during one of the last core crew tastings, like, does this mean that, like, they did, like, some of the wine for, like, 30% of the time in new French and then for 55% of the time in new TRO. But actually, they take all the Chardonnay that they make for this wine, and then they'll divide it into these percentages. Right? So 30% of it goes in new French oak, 55% of it goes in the neutral oak, and 15% in stainless steel. And then before they bottle, they blend all of those wines together, and it creates this really beautiful, balanced wine. Tasting notes on this. We had a spiced pear, white flowers, a little bit of subtle pineapple, Nothing too overwhelming. Some lemon pastry and nectarine. It was just. It was so good. It made you want to keep sipping another sip. So keep an eye out for that one. That was Kinhaven 2023 Chardonnay. Just a quick reminder. If you are not on my mailing list yet, what are you waiting for? I would love for you to join. When you do, you'll get a free shopping guide that has 15 of my favorite wines under $15. Head to corkandfizz.com, scroll down to the bottom, and there'll be a little section where you can join the mailing list. I sent out a weekly newsletter filled with wine tips, recommendations, special offers, and so much more. Now let's get back to the show. Next up, we have 2020 Sieglock Weisbergunde, which is just the German way of saying Pinot Blanc. This was another one that I was so sad I couldn't actually drink the wine. It was so delicious. I tasted this wine during a court crew Q and A with German wine importer Lisa Tupet, who we've had on the podcast before, and one of her winemakers, David Sieglock, who was the winemaker of this wine. I remember opening this wine and I got, you know, we were tasting it during the. During the Q and A, and I was just like, oh, it's so good. And I think I opened the cork because it looked a little questioning. The cork was like a little ruined. And I was like, oh, no, what if there's something wrong? And so I didn't feel good using a Coravin. So I opened it and then I was so sad because it was so clean. And so I made sure to tell Mr. Cork and Fizz how lucky he was that he got to drink this amazing wine. That was exactly what I would want to drink. It was perfectly balanced. It had fresh fruit and then these richer notes of like honey and almond. It was medium bodied, just super complex and delicious. I highly recommend taking a look for that. You can find it, I think it's on Lisa's Lisa2Pets website. And like I said, I'll put links for all of these in the show notes if you want to give them a try. Okay. Wine number three. And we've made it to a red wine. This wine is the 2021 Tulea Wine Company. This wine actually comes from, you'll never believe it. Idaho. Yeah, they are making wine in Idaho. Specifically, it comes from the Snake River Valley. This was a leftover bottle, actually that I had from a winemaker Q and A that I did back in July of 2024. But I brought it with me when I was visiting my sister in Wisconsin back in. I think this was May 2025. And I think this might have actually been one of the last wines that I had before realizing I was pregnant. And it was a pretty good one to get to enjoy before then. I am a sucker for a good move. Ed. I think Movedre. It's actually, if you've ever heard of a GSM blend, it's the M in gsm. So it's Grenache Syrah, Moved or Mouvedre. And I just think this wine on its own is really starting to come into its own. It's like a better spicier Cabernet Sauvignon to me. It just always makes me think of like the perfect fall night sitting by the fire, autumn spices in the air. It's just wonderful. And this bottle did that perfectly. Okay. Wine number four. This was the maker wine. So our canned wine, Albarino, which was made by Caymans to Dreams. So this wine came from the Santa Barbara County. Like I said, this was a canned wine edition. So it's like this canned wine actually made it on my list of 12 favorite wines. I do take whenever I drink a canned wine, most of the time I will take it and pour it into a glass. I do think that makes a difference. In case you're ever curious. I think just drinking it out of a glass where you can get more of the aroma versus like a can where you only get like, you know, that little itty bitty opening, I do think it makes a difference. So give that a try next time you have some canned wine. But the people who made this wine. So this is produced by MakerWine, they are the canned wine company, but the winemakers are from Caymans to Dreams. It's Tara and Marea. And I've actually had them on the show. They're in episode 40, way back. This wine, it was just super bright and flavorful. If you like Sauvignon Blanc, give Albarino a try. This, like typically Spanish wine, but it's being grown in a lot of other places, is just so good. The wine itself, 100% natural, made without commercial yeast. So it's not your typical mass produced canned wine. It is absolutely delicious and so worth it. I don't think they have any currently available, if you're listening to this when it just came out, but they are likely to have some more in the future. I think this is one of their kind of normal wines that they make with maker wine. Or you can find them a bottled version at Caymans 2 Dreams. Okay. Wine number five. Wine number five is definitely a unique one. I probably would never have tried it myself or purchased a bottle had I not tried it at a tasting. So this is the Clos du Gravias 2020 A, Florida. I know that is a whole mouthful. I will put the name of this in the show notes. You're not required to remember that. And I probably didn't say that. All right. Because it's a French wine and I don't speak French. This wine, it's 100% Muscat Petit grand, which is actually Moscato, which is normally used to make a sweet wine, but this was not a sweet wine. We actually featured this wine at a tasting I did with Princess and Bear wines. We actually just had the. Oh, no. We will have the manager of Princess and Bear wines on the podcast sometime after this episode. Keep an eye out for that. But I've done a couple tastings there with her, and it's super fun. It's an orange wine, so meaning a white wine, but with skin contact, so made like a red wine that's from the Languedoc Grosion region of France. This wine was super unique, which is probably why it made it on this list. You'll notice I love unique wines. It is incredibly aromatic, fruity, savory, floral, and just the perfect balance of, like, this hint of bitter to add intensity and uniqueness to the palate. Definitely a wine worth trying. Okay, next up, we have a couple wines from my Trader Joe's segment on New Day Northwest. In case you saw that, here's a little. You'll recognize these wines, I think, if you haven't. I regularly do segments on my local morning show, and one of them that I did earlier this year was Trader Joe's Snack and Wine pairings. And so I'm gonna highlight two of those wines from there because they truly are like, I'm not kidding. They made this list for a reason. They are great wines. They're great for the price point, right? You're always gonna find something probably a little better at a higher price point, but for the price that they are so, so worth it and great for having friends over. So wine number six is Casaponte Suave Classico. This is a wine that has a cute little wiener dog. That's what I remember it by. It is literally $5 at Trader Joe's. Like I said, I featured it on the segment I did on New Day Northwest, that Trader Joe's Snack and Wine Guide. I still have it on my website. It might not be the first pop up you see, so if you can't find it anywhere, let me know and I can link you to that. But I paired this wine with the spinach and artichoke dip from Trader Joe's, which in my head is just like, iconic. So this wine, it's Suave. So it is from the region of Suave in Veneto in Northern Italy, and it is made with the Gardenaga grape. In terms of flavors, think similar to a Pinot Grigio. So you're gonna have lemon, citrus, Granny Smith, apple, and honey. It's just really easygoing. And like I said, it pairs beautifully with that spinach and artichoke dip. I love producing this podcast for you every week, but here's the truth. It's not free. That's why I'm so grateful for sponsors, like the following brands supporting me so that I can share everything I love about wine with you. If you're able, show them some support back. Anyone else guilty of opening a bottle of wine for just one glass and then finding it a week later in the fridge? Totally undrinkable. Yeah, that used to happen to me all the time until I started using the Vacuvin Wine Saver. It's so simple to use, easy to throw in my bag if I'm heading to a friend's. And it keeps wine fresh for up to 10 days, proven by independent lab testing. Vacuvin invented the original Wine Saver back in 1986, and now over 40 million wine lovers around the world use it. With Vacuvin, you get to enjoy wine on your terms. Open Italian Red for Tuesday pasta night and it'll taste just as good a week later with pizza. Go to us.vacuvin.com and use code corkandfizz for 20% off your first order. I'll be honest, I never really believed chocolate could pair well with wine until I partnered with Bon Chocolates for a local event. Rasha, the owner, created four incredible truffles that matched perfectly with the wines we were tasting. Bon Chocolatz is a European inspired chocolatier right here in the Seattle area. Making beautiful bonbons and confections with fine chocolate in all natural ingredients. They make the perfect gift. Visit their local shop in Bothel or order online at bonchocolatz.com and use code corkandfizz10 for 10% off. Okay, wine number seven. We're going to stay on the topic of Trader Joe's. This is one of the other ones that I wanted to highlight from that food and wine pairing segment. This is the Cecilia Beretta Valpolicella Rapazo Seperiore. Another mouthful, but a delicious wine and definitely don't, don't stray away from it just because you're like, holy crap. I don't know what any of those words means. You don't need to know. I'm gonna tell you. It's just a good wine. This one actually also comes from Veneto, Italy. Surprisingly enough, I paired this one with the vegetable Bird's nest from Trader Joe's. If you have not tried these, they're in the freezer section. I kind of relate them to, like, little mini blooming onions. They're super, super good. I love Valpolicella Repasso. I think I did an episode. You'll have to do a search on all my episodes at this point. I'm like, I don't even know how many there are. I think I did an episode on Valpolicella because this is like a wine from Italy that deserves more attention. And normally it's fairly expensive. And so the fact that you can get one at Trader Joe's, I think this one was like, I'm gonna guess around 16. I don't have the price point written down, so don't. Don't, like, hold me to it. Okay, we are on to wine number eight. And we're. We're going from Trader Joe's to something pretty fancy, I suppose. This is the domain Borde, Generation 9 Chateau Chalon. This is a really unique wine that comes from Jura, France. It's actually one that my husband and I picked up while we were visiting in France. And it's a type of wine that is known as Vin Jaune. It's made from the sauvignon grape. Sauvignon needs to be aged for a minimum of six years and three months in an oak barrel. But specifically with this wine, they actually leave room on top of the barrel. So normally when you're aging your wine in a barrel, you're going to fill the barrel all the way up because you don't want much contact with oxygen. This one's a little different. You actually leave room on top of the barrel so it can oxidize the wine just a little bit. And then Chateau Chalon, which is what this wine is called, is an appellation that is basically considered like the Grand Cru of Vinjon. Like, the best versions of this wine. We originally tasted this, my husband and I, during our visit in October of 2024. But I brought out the bottle again during our raid, my cellar wine night that I had with friends, and surprise, surprise, it was my pick. They all went for other ones, and I was like, oh, this is a funky wine. That'll be interesting for them to try. Some people loved it, some people hated it. Just kind of how it goes because of that. Like, I'm sure you're wondering, like, what does it taste like? Here are some of the tasting notes and why. You might see why. Some people loved it and some people hated it. It was kind of a lot of nutty aromatics, so things like walnut, hazelnut, almond, but also some super unique ones like truffle and curry. So like I said, a unique wine. Definitely not one you're gonna, like, drink multiple glasses of. This is kind of a sipper, and I think, if I'm remembering correctly, it has higher alcohol, so it does last a little Longer, but definitely one to share with friends because, like I said, it's gonna be hard to drink, like, a whole glass of this because it is very, very different. Also pairs beautifully well with some funky cheeses. All right, wine number nine. This is the 2023 Pirapon Suave Classico. Suave made it on the list twice. Somehow, I guess I was drinking a lot of it this year. This is one that I picked up in a wine shop in De Pere, Wisconsin, when visiting my sister earlier in the year. I know I did a lot of visits to see my sister, but I thought this was a great one because you can find it at a lot of grocery stores. As I said earlier, Suave, this is a white wine from Veneto Think, similar to Pinot Grigio. And in my mind, this is just a great go to. If I see this in a grocery store, if I have a limited selection of wines to choose from, this is definitely the one that's towards the top of the list. It just goes well with pretty much any food, and you can find it in a lot of stores. So highly recommend giving that one a try. We are on to our last three wines. Okay. Wine number 10. This is the 2024 Grosgrain Semillon Pet Nat. Here is another Washington wine. I tried to mix it up and not do too many Washington wines, because that is a lot of what I drink living in Seattle. This wine I tried pretty early this year, and I paired it with a homemade spinach and mushroom gnocchi recipe. I had picked up this wine during my retreat to Walla Walla last year. This grosgrain was a new one, so I didn't visit Grosgrain. If you were on the first Walla Walla retreat, you would not have been there. But we went on the second one, and I just. I love this winery. Like, I wish I would have found them earlier because they just have such fun wines and they make really unique stuff like a Semillon Pet Nat. Semillon is a grape primarily grown in Bordeaux, primarily used in Sauternes or a Bordeaux Blanc. It's not very often on its own, and here they took it, made it into its own wine, and then made it into a sparkling fun Pet nap. Like, how cool. And if you're in the Seattle area, good news. Grosgrain is actually building a tasting room in Woodinville right now. So I definitely will be visiting them more often. I also love that their wine club option has the option to get just three bottles twice a year. I always have the problem when I join wine clubs that I like end up with, like, a surplus of their wines because I just. I have too many wines, let's be real. But this way, I get to be a part of their club. I get to support them, try a bunch of their new wines, but I don't have to overdo it. So I'll probably be rejoining that wine club in a little bit. Okay. Wine number 11. This is one that I could not tell you where I got this bottle. No idea. I just found it in the wine fridge or in my cellar. And I was like, ooh, this sounds fun. This is the 2021 Ivaise Quillon, Le Petit Cote Condru. Condreu is the important part of that. That is what actually tells you what kind of wine this is. Condru is a region in. Is it northern Rhone? It's in the Rhone Valley of France. And they make Viognier. Viognier is a white grape that does not get enough attention. It is such a beautiful grape, but it can be done not so well. So it totally depends. But honestly, the best, best, best Viognier. And also when I'm saying this, you won't recognize the word written out the way I'm saying it, it looks like Viognier. So Viognier, Viognier. The best of this grape comes from Condru. There is something so special and so unique about this region, and it also ends up bringing the price point up to like 50 plus dollars. So it's a special little treat, but so worth it. These wines are super aromatic. Get a lot of peach, apricot, apple, citrus, flowers, and spice. I had this wine, honestly, on a casual weeknight. I am a big fan of just pulling out whatever sounds good. Like, who cares what the price point was? Whatever day of the week it is, you can, like, make the night a special night. It doesn't have to be one to start with. So I had it on a casual weeknight, paired it with one of my favorite recipes. It's a broiled salmon with lemon Parmesan couscous, and mm, it was delicious. I also definitely drank the wine while I was making the food, but luckily not too much. The food still turned out really good. Okay, we have made it to wine number 12. This is the Revento si Blanc Blanc de Blanc's 2021. And I've had their winemaker, Pepe Reventos on the show before. So you can learn more about this winery. If you go find his episode somewhere in the backlog, you will Find it. Technically, I did not drink this wine in 2025. I drank it on New Year's Eve, 2024. And I did I stay up until midnight. I think I did. I think I did. So maybe I did have a sip after. After midnight. So technically had some in 2025. What's really fun is I actually taught friends how to savor a bottle of sparkling wine with this wine. So I think I savored this one. And then they brought some kind of cheaper cavas and sparkling wines to try to. The saber is when you like, basically take like what looks like a sword, but it's not actually sharp in any way, and you pop the top of the top of the bottle off. It's really fun. I do it with all my private tasting, in person clients if they want to. And I think it's intimidating at first, but then once you do it once, you're like, oh my God, I want to open all bottles of sparkling wine like this, this wine. So it's a Spanish sparkling wine. It is light cava, so made in the style of champagne, meaning they did the second fermentation in the bottle, but it's a higher end cava. It's basically at Reventos, they're trying to like retake the idea of Spanish sparkling wine because generally when a lot of people think of it, they just think of cheap sparkling wine, which is true. And normally it's not bad, but they want to make it like champagne worthy, you know, like they want to have it up there with champagne. You're thinking, you know, this, they can make just as good of Spanish sparkling wine as they can champagne. So they always do it vintage, meaning they don't blend multiple vintages. They. They take the grapes from a single year and they always use top quality native grapes and with typicity. So basically the idea that these grapes are gonna taste like what they should taste like, like you're going to expect and you're gonna be able to taste them in it. They're not just gonna kind of blend them out so you don't know what's in it. And then the blanc de blanc part of this means that it was made from white grapes only. And those here were macabeo, cerelo and parallada, which are the common cava grapes. All right, there you have it. Those are my 12 wines, I guess, of Christmas, but really of 2025, going backwards. And like I said, I'm going to put links in the show notes to as many of them as I can find. Obviously, the Trader Joe's. There's no link to those, but you can usually find them in store. If you have any problem at all finding the wines, don't hesitate to reach out. You can find me on Instagram at Cork and Fizz or send me an email haleyorkandfizz.com and I'm more than happy to help you try to find these wines. I hope you enjoyed this episode of the Cork and Fizz Guide to Wine podcast. If you loved it as much as I did, please, as a little Christmas gift, or if you're listening to this at any other time as just a gift to say thank you for putting this podcast together, please rate it and leave a review. I read every single review. They seriously make my day. So if you have a second just to say, hey, I've been listening to your podcast. I love it. That's really all you gotta say? And it would make me so happy. And if you know a wine lover in your life that would enjoy it, please share it with them. In next week's episode, I'll be helping you get a start on your New Year's resolution. If your resolution is to learn more about wine, I'm sharing my beginner's roadmap to learning about wine, full of simple ways to learn without spending a ton of money. Thanks again for listening. And if you want to learn more about wine, thanks for watching. Come follow me at corkandfizz on Instagram. Cheers.