The Wine Pair Podcast: Making Wine Approachable, Fun, and Easier To Choose
ALSO...Arielle Nissenblatt On PodBiz: How to Grow Indie Podcasts?
There are as many types of wine podcasts as there are wine varietals. My favorite wine podcasts are, of course, the independent shows like the Best Five Minute Wine Podcast with Forrest Kelly, which won an Ear Worthy award earlier this year.
Independent podcasts came in all shapes, voices, and styles. When I discover a new podcast, I am like a kid in a candy store. (Note: I’m talking candy stores with only natural ingredients.)
My latest discovery is a terrific independent wine podcast called The Wine Pair.
I’ll let Joe Mele and his spouse, Carmela, tell you about their show.
“We’re an independent, husband-and-wife show that blind tastes two to three wines each week around a theme we choose ourselves. We buy every bottle out of pocket so we can tell our listeners exactly what we think. We have no sponsors, and we don’t take samples or review wines sent to us.”
The Wine Pair Podcast is an independent, husband-and-wife show that makes wine approachable, funny, and honest. Each week, Joe and Carmela taste and rate two to three wines around a theme and share what they learn in plain language. They buy every bottle themselves and accept no sponsorships, keeping their reviews completely unbiased, honest, and entertaining.
I am always a bit concerned about husband and wife co-hosting teams because the power dynamic in their relationship tends to seep into their hosting style. No worries here. Joe and Carmela seem to have a kinship that comes through in their podcasting style. They are funny, tease each other playfully, and work like a team as co-hosts. There’s an insouciance about their style, not taking themselves too seriously and keeping the show light yet still informative and helpful for wine enthusiasts.
Joe and Carmela assure their audience: “Our goal is to make wine feel less intimidating and a lot more fun, and we help our listeners find new wines at affordable prices. For instance, one week we may focus on unique varietals like Trousseau, Grignolino, or Assyrtiko, or we may explore lesser-known wine regions like Bandol, Umbria, or Croatia. Then we taste and review wines on our 10-point scale. Unlike most wine reviewers, we tell our listeners whether we like the wine or not. We also use common terms that anyone can understand, and we don’t take ourselves too seriously.”
They’ve released over 210 episodes since 2021, have over 94,000 lifetime downloads, and are a top 100 podcast on Apple Podcasts in the Food category. They’ve been featured in Decanter Magazine, won a 50 Over 50 Podcast Award, and have also appeared in The Takeout, Chowhound, Foodie, and The Mercury News. Like many indie podcasters, they also write, record, and produce every episode ourselves from our humble home studio.
As indie podcasters, I like the steps they’ve taken to monetize the show. They sell merch, work hard to build an inclusive listener community by consistently soliciting feedback, and maintain an informative blog. The couple even has a wine store on their website (A very good website, I’ll add) where you can find the best wines we’ve reviewed on their podcast.
Their show is well-produced, with a lovely bass guitar intro and excellent sound quality. Episodes run about 45 to 50 minutes, and are comprehensive yet succinct.
Joe offers new listeners “a few episodes that capture what we do best”:
• Orange Wine, One More Time!
• WTF Is Trousseau? Jura Wine Exposed
• High QPR Pinot Noir from South America
Every episode of The Wine Pair Podcast is built around curiosity, transparency, and a genuine love of discovery. Joe and Carmela blind-taste three wines they’ve personally selected and purchased, ensuring their reviews are completely independent and unfiltered. The result is wine education listeners can trust — real opinions, honest reactions, and recommendations based on what’s in the glass, not on a press release or free sample.
Listeners learn how to understand wine styles, grapes, and regions through clear, easy explanations that make sense whether you’re a beginner or a seasoned oenophile. Joe and Carmela explore affordable wines that deliver great quality without big prices, including bottles from lesser-known producers and regions.
Discover off-the-beaten-path varietals such as Trousseau, Ribolla Gialla, Primitivo, Bonarada, Grüner Veltliner,and Cinsault, alongside familiar favorites like Pinot Noir, Sauvignon Blanc, and Vinho Verde. Decode confusing wine terms and labels so buying a bottle or ordering at a restaurant feels less like a gamble and more like an informed choice.
The show helps listeners build confidence in their own palate by hearing how two real people describe and rate wine in plain, honest language. I’ve learned a lot in the ten episodes I’ve heard so far. I will be a dedicated listener from now on.
My favorite episode so far was the September 7th show — Costco Kirkland Signature Challenge: Sonoma County Chardonnay! — where the hosts answer the question: Have you ever wondered why American Chardonnay tastes like oaky butter-bombs?
Joe and Carmela explain: “Well, you can blame the French! The American style of Chardonnay is not our favorite, but it is super popular, and we explore why and how it became what it is. We also pit the 2022 Costco Kirkland Signature Sonoma County Chardonnay against some other easy-to-find and reasonably priced American Chardonnays to see who we think is the best bet for your hard-earned money.”
I learned so much about Chardonnay in that episode and had fun doing so.
Every episode is designed to help listeners feel smarter about wine, laugh along the way, and walk away knowing exactly which bottles are worth buying.
Listeners regularly email, message, and share tasting experiences with Joe and Carmela, who respond personally and often feature audience stories and ideas on the show. Some listeners, like “Listener Timmy,” have even been featured in episodes and blog posts. The show’s approachable tone and responsiveness have built a loyal community that feels more like friends around a table than followers behind a screen.
The Wine Pair podcast is a superb independent wine podcast. Joe and Carmela are lovely and clearly love doing the show. The show blends wine assessment with a hint of marital bliss and notes of whimsy and fun.
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Arielle Nissenblatt On PodBiz: How to Grow Indie Podcasts?
PodBiz is a podcast hosted by Norma Jean Belenky and John Kiernan that explores the business of podcasting, focusing on monetization and industry growth. It features interviews with creators, executives, and innovators to discuss strategies for making money through podcasts, covering topics like ad revenue, branded content, audience development, and production workflows. The show aims to answer the question, “Where’s the money in podcasting?”
If you think that’s an obvious question, think again. Podcasting has always been a medium in which the technology is ahead of money-making opportunities.
That clear path to monetization often takes time to develop. Look what happened in the 2000 tech bubble. It burst due to a combination of factors, chief of them was a lack of fundamental business models for many dot-com companies.
PodBiz just released a don’t-miss episode. It’s called “Where’s The Money In Podcasting?” and the guest is Arielle Nissenblatt, Director of Community and Content at Pinwheel and founder of EarBuds Podcast Collective. On the show, Arielle shared how creators can grow without chasing trends and why podcasting’s true value lies in connection, not scale. She explained how independent podcasters turn listener trust into real business opportunities through clarity, outreach, and knowing exactly who they serve.
Arielle shares how creators can grow without chasing trends and why podcasting’s true value lies in connection, not scale. She explains how independent podcasters turn listener trust into real business opportunities through clarity, outreach, and knowing exactly who they serve.
On the show, Arielle observed: “The money in podcasting, just if I had to give a quick answer, it’s in very specific niche podcasts and within that, it’s in podcasters who know how to hustle for that money … It’s like really if you are a creator who has figured out a niche and this doesn’t necessarily mean that your topic has to be super, super specific. It could be that you have a podcast about mental health, but you have figured out a niche within that, or you speak specifically to a group within that, and you figured out who those people are.”
Here are some of Arielle’s most insightful quotes from the interview.
On Audience, Outreach, and Sustainable Business
Arielle: “The best way to actually have a sustainable business in podcasting is for you to be doing the outbound, at least a lot at the beginning. And then over time, people might come to you… You have figured out who those people are, and you know how to understand their wants and their needs, and you actually have a direct line to them, whether it’s through a Facebook group or through some other sort of, you know, maybe it’s a monthly Zoom or another type of Patreon-type thing.”
On Mindset Shift and the “No Rules” Philosophy
Arielle says: “Giving myself permission to be an expert in the room was a big mindset shift for me. And then I mentioned I had two. So I think another one is that there are no rules. And what I mean by that is, first of all, people love RSS because it’s open…People ask me all the time, ‘How many episodes should be in my season?’ People ask me all the time all of these questions that they expect a very specific answer to. My answer to them is always, “There is no answer. You make this up.”
On Long-Term Monetization and Portfolio Strategy
Arielle notes: “I just highly encourage people to look at the overall project that they’re creating as part of a larger portfolio. And maybe the money doesn’t come in through your hosting provider’s programmatic ads, but more so it comes in through, I’m talking about this on a podcast now, so maybe then in five months somebody listens to this episode and pays me to consult on their show … So the money in podcasting very much comes from plant the seed now and harvest way later. And I’m sorry for the people who don’t wanna hear that. Well, it’s not a fast money medium.”
Check out the episode with Arielle Nissenblatt and listen to PodBiz. The show can be a roadmap for indie podcasters in search of El Dorado for hidden gold. For passionate podcast fans, the show details the financial underpinnings of the industry.
In fact, their just-released episode — Where’s The Money In Podcasting? — Jeff Umbro, CEO and founder of The Podglomerate, shares how creators can grow by focusing on community, outlines The Podglomerate’s three pillars of business, and offers practical advice on which metrics truly matter for sustainable growth.
“The underlying principle some people can often forget about is that you really need to build a community around your show. … You have to start by considering what your destination is and how you get there. And how can you engage your community to help you do that? After all, not every show needs to have millions of listeners.”