Blind tastings without the wine snobbery.
Wine Appraiser pairs casual wine education with side-by-side tastings, usually led by Dennis and Denise’s easy back-and-forth. The show moves from grapes, regions, tannins, and tasting rooms into honest table-level judgments about what actually tastes good.
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Wine Appraiser is a warm, low-pressure wine show built around tasting first and sounding expert second. Dennis and Denise talk through bottles in a way that feels close to a kitchen table, with questions, corrections, jokes, and ordinary consumer judgment left intact. The format often begins with a bit of playful framing, like a mock awards night for wines or a report about grapes losing their alcohol. Then the glass takes over. Episodes compare wines by color, nose, body, acidity, sweetness, mouthfeel, finish, and the simple question of whether the bottle is worth buying again. Blind tasting gives the show its rhythm. Dennis brings background on grapes and regions, while Denise reacts in direct sensory terms and asks the questions many casual drinkers would ask. That combination keeps the explanations useful. Tannins become something linked to fat, protein, steak, cheese, dark chocolate, grape skins, and structure rather than a word left floating in the air. Rosé becomes a summer drink with acidity, fruit, chill, and seafood in mind. Non-alcohol wines get tested against regular Riesling, with attention to sweetness, missing flavor, and mouthfeel. Australian episodes move from red blends and Shiraz to Semillon with bread, butter, citrus, creaminess, and a long finish. White Bordeaux sits beside Viognier. Tasting rooms get judged by atmosphere, comfort, scenery, snacks, water, and access to stories about the winery. The show is not afraid of liking a bottle for simple reasons. It is also comfortable saying a wine is fine but too sweet, too thin, or just not exciting. The recurring one-to-five rating game gives each tasting a friendly frame without pretending precision is the point. Best of all, disagreement is treated as part of tasting, not a problem to solve. Wine Appraiser suits people who want to buy, serve, visit, and enjoy wine with more confidence and less performance.
Made for: For casual wine drinkers who want practical buying confidence, clearer tasting language, and relaxed guidance on grapes, regions, pairings, and winery visits. It especially suits listeners who like learning through comparison rather than lecture.
What sets it apart: The show’s strength is the Dennis-and-Denise contrast: guided wine explanation meets immediate, plainspoken tasting reaction. Blind comparisons, playful rating labels, and small domestic tangents make the education feel lived-in rather than polished.
Dennis and Denise talk about, learn about, and blindly taste affordable wines from around the world, and give their unbiased opinion about wines.
A $7 bottle faces a $30 Penfolds, and your wallet gets a fair hearing.
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Short reviews from the PlayNext desk, based on the episodes we processed.
A relaxed winery checklist with a practical, easygoing tone.
This episode follows a recent Midwest winery visit and turns it into a plainspoken guide to what makes a tasting room worth staying in. Dennis and Denise talk through the pieces that shape the experience: scenery, comfort, outdoor space, a bit of wow factor, and something to eat…
A relaxed tasting turns tannins into practical table guidance.
Houston, We Have Tannins! keeps a simple wine question usefully close to the glass. Dennis, the Wine Appraiser, and Denise, his wife and tasting partner, move from the name tannat to tannins, color, aging potential, and food pairing, with stops in southwestern France, Uruguay,…
A friendly Australian wine comparison that tests whether the pricier bottle really earns its keep.
The episode sets up a clean price-vs-pleasure tasting around three Penfolds wines from Australia, priced at $7, $17, and $30. Dennis and Denise work through color, aroma, finish, and the basic question of whether the extra spend buys more wine, with a few useful nods to…
A New Year's Champagne tasting keeps the 2025 recap practical, from smelling port gently to softening wine with regular Coke.
Wine Appraiser's quick 2025 recap works best when it stays with the small moves that make wine less fussy. Dennis the Wine Appraiser and his wife and tasting partner Denise begin with New Year's champagne, then circle back to port, higher-alcohol wines, and wine cocktails,…
Bourbon talk, barrel stories, messy good pours.
Bourbon reviews with memory, candor, and community.
Everyday life, thought through together.
A humorous news-style report about a fictional string of burglaries at wineries where grapes have their alcohol stolen after fermentation.
The hosts discuss a basketball coach's post-game comment about Disneyland while introducing their wine podcast.
Dennis and Denise talk through a recent Midwest winery visit and use it to think about what makes a tasting room work well.
This episode of the Wine Appraiser podcast features hosts Dennis and Denise discussing their experience at the Woscars wine awards event and introducing a tasting of white Bordeaux.
This episode is part two of a discussion on tannins in wine, where the hosts answer questions about tannins, review their blind tasting of high-tannin wines like Tannat and Petit Verdot, and clarify that high tannins do not mean high alcohol content.
Dennis and Denise of Wine Appraiser explain tannins through two dark red wines: a 2022 Garzon Reserva Tannat from Uruguay and a 2022 Cash Flow Red Mountain Petit Verdot from Washington.
Dennis and Denise line up three Penfolds wines from Australia and ask whether the jump from $7 to $30 is worth it.
Merlot fell from 15% of U.S. wine sales in 2004 to 9% in 2014 after Sideways popularized the phrase "Merlot sucks."
Dennis and Denise of the Wine Appraiser review their 2025 show highlights, including the October 1 appearance of neighbors Ned and Myrtle and a confusing tasting involving wines numbered one, two, and three.
The hosts discuss their recent tasting of Italian wines, focusing on favorites like Montepulciano and Barolo from the Piedmont region, while exploring the complexities of Italian wine varieties.
Dennis and Denise discuss Tempranillo wines, exploring their variations, regional differences in Spain, and personal tasting experiences to help listeners understand and appreciate this affordable wine.
This episode introduces blind wine tasting as a deductive process to identify wines through logical steps, emphasizing its fun and educational value for enthusiasts and professionals like sommeliers.
A couple discusses wine, Mother's Day, and shares nostalgic stories about the 1970s in a casual and humorous podcast episode.