Explore every episode of Wine Blast with Susie and Peter
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11 Feb 2022
The New Champagne
00:57:06
At one point, it looked like Covid was going to be the death-knell for Champagne. And then...the bubbles bounced back. Big time.
But things aren't quite the same as they were - in intriguing ways...
In this fascinating episode we catch up on all the latest hot topics from this famous and historic fine wine region in northern France with none other than legendary winemaker Jean-Baptiste Lécaillon of Louis Roederer (and Cristal).
And he tells us: 'The 21st century is changing everything.'
So what exactly is the 'new' Champagne all about? On the one hand, it's about admitting mistakes (sounds like the 60s and 70s have a lot to answer for). It's also about risk and the potential rewards for pioneers.
We make sure to have a couple of glasses of delicious Champagne wines to hand - entirely for educational purposes, of course.
There's talk of drinking glass pyramids, still wines, scallops, happiness, a tornado and the move from non-vintage to multi-vintage (yes, we do explain).
Life is too short for bland champagne! Do you agree?!
Did you know that just changing the light and music can alter how you perceive a wine by up to 20%? Ever wondered why that bottle of holiday rosé was such a crushing disappointment when you got it home?
High-tempo music can make a dish taste more spicy - lower-pitch sounds bring out bitterness in wine. (Though, 'we can't turn water into wine musically...yet.') Rubbing velvet versus sandpaper can change how you perceive a wine's body. Even the microbiome in our gut and mouth can affect our perception of a wine.
Welcome to the curious world of Professor Charles Spence - experimental psychologist and one of the world's foremost experts in multisensory perception. He follows on from what the Italian Futurists pioneered in the 1930s (and they, according to Spence, 'recommended turning up to dinner parties in pyjamas made from satin, silk, velvet and sandpaper, and eating the food without cutlery by burying your face in the plate while rubbing your neighbour's jim-jams...')
This is the first in a series of programmes we'll be doing on wine and food. Before we launch into the delicious nitty-gritty, we wanted to understand the world of taste and flavour in more depth.
So here we dive into the world of smell, sound, touch, sight, taste, atmosphere, glassware, bottles, genetics - and the future.
In the mix are hyper-directional speakers and sound showers, 'spit-in-bag' dinners, parosmia, artificial reality and drinking liquid gold.
What Spence finds 'intriguing' are, 'those potentially transformative or magical experiences that you might get by combining wine with food or music.'
This is our kind of science - and this fascinating episode serves as the perfect launch-pad to leap into the delicious world of food and wine. Bon appetit!
PS: this episode also features the brilliant winners of our Bordeaux wine giveaway, thanks to everyone for entering, and thanks to the Bordeaux Wine Council for DOUBLING our prizes in recognition of the quality and quantity of entries. Thanks also to Kristin for writing on social media that: 'Susie and Peter are just the right amount of geek.' 🤣
11 Mar 2022
Boxing Clever?
00:08:15
Scooter basket. Pet coffin. Vinyl shelves. Zoom stand. Veg storage. Bird box. Fire starters. And, if you're the Prime Minister - for making models in which passengers are, 'enjoying themselves on this wonderful bus...'
Yes, all of these are the creative (sometimes baffling) uses to which wooden wine boxes have been put by creative wine types.
But why do some wines come in wooden cases in the first place? What are their purpose - and, perhaps more importantly, their implications and their future?
This short & sweet Wine Blast Live version of our podcast is a response to this question from listener Andreas in Switzerland.
We feature input from leading wine producers, including breaking news from Château Langoa Barton in Bordeaux that they will be moving their entire 80,000-bottle production from wooden to cardboard boxes. They may even offer their customers the choice - with a surcharge for wooden boxes going to an environmental charity.
It's a tangent - yes, but a fascinating and fun one. Cheers to tangents!
NB: Wine Blast Live is a video-podcast and you can find the video either on our website show notes or on our YouTube channel
You can also connect with us on social media: via Instagram or Twitter.
18 Mar 2022
Georgia 4 Ukraine - For Peace
00:34:32
This episode is dedicated to the people of Ukraine.
We talk to two leading figures in the Georgian wine scene - John Wurdeman (Pheasant's Tears) and Irakli Cholobargia (National Wine Agency) - to get a sense of what the feeling is in the region, and what wine people are doing and can do to help.
Georgia, like Ukraine, is a former Soviet nation on the Black Sea that has had part of its territory occupied by the Russian military. These people are uniquely qualified to comment on the horrific events unfolding in Ukraine.
There's talk of tension, anger, fear, boycotts and suffering. Wurdeman dubs the conflict, 'fratricide,' but notes Georgians are forced to mute their opposition for fear of reprisals by Russia. Before the war broke out, 70% of Georgian wine exports went to Russia and Ukraine. That will have serious implications.
But it's not all doom and gloom. There is talk of kindness, solidarity, peace and generosity. 'You can see the flags of Ukraine all over Georgia,' says Cholobargia. Winemakers in Georgia are sending wines to Ukrainian importers to help them fund humanitarian efforts.
What's more, Wurdeman's UK importer Les Caves de Pyrene is funding transportation for Ukrainian refugees to stay with winemaking families across Europe. 'So hopefully we can have a little bit of love in an otherwise big nightmare,' says Wurdeman.
We also find time to touch on how and why Georgian amber (or orange) wine is so well suited to food matching, and how Georgia's ancient wine history is informing its present evolution.
A final thought from John Wurdeman: 'The Georgian format for feasting is where you have an elected toastmaster and different subjects are touched upon: love, parents, children, nature, God, neighbours and so forth. And everyone’s encouraged to expand upon it and have a dialogue. It’s a wonderful way to get to know people, and a wonderful way to solve problems as well. It certainly seems to be more effective than NATO or the UN today! So maybe these international organisations should adopt the Georgian feasting model and we would find peace more quickly.'
To learn more about Georgia, check out Peter's brand new wine & travel series - The Wild Side of Wine on WineMasters.TV It features everything from neolithic picnics in the middle of a thunderstorm to a winemaking centre for a ghostly cave city. Via Stalin, power cuts, a 400-year-old-vine, a vineyard with 400+ wine grape varieties - and a feast of wine, food and song.
How to define it - or is that even possible? What does it taste like? Why are we seeing so many natural wine bars, shops and events springing up? Natural wine remains niche yet it seems to be influencing mainstream wine - but how exactly? And why does natural wine get everyone so darn hot under the collar..?!
Join us as we tackle all these burning questions and more with natural wine luminary and RAW WINE founder Isabelle Legeron MW, plus Mel Xenaki from natural Greek wine producer Tetramythos. We find time to taste and recommend a couple of natural wines (though Susie does ask if one wine, 'really is safe to drink?!')
Isabelle talks about receiving hate mail, the difference between a 'living wine' and 'a lifeless product', why 'only natural wine can be great', plus why natural wine means, 'we have to re-frame our expectation of wine.' She calls for more transparency in wine, including ingredient labelling, so people can have the choice, 'to decide: this is what I want to put in my body, or this is not what I want to be drinking.'
Mel admits, 'it's hard to introduce yourself as a natural winemaker - because it can be offensive to the mainstream.' She describes her approach as, 'ethical', and calls for legislation to define and regulate natural wine.
We hope you enjoy the programme! Do let us know your thoughts on natural wine or beyond - contact us via our website or over on Instagram or Twitter.
Check out RAW WINE - the global community for natural wine producers and lovers. They have upcoming events in LA and London, among others. You can also find more details about Isabelle's book on natural wine and their new subscription wine club in the US (plus a cheeky discount code).
Tetramythos in Greece has some delicious natural wines we recommend in the show.
What's this about the world's first 'pet nad' wine? Why has a wine-list-free restaurant been told to, 'stop being so bloody stupid'? Who is releasing the latest cynical glassware range?
And, STOP PRESS: hot-cross-bun gin??!!
Yes, this is your latest audio instalment of the riotous, ridiculous world of Fake Booze, the entirely made-up news site focused on the world of alcohol. Consider this your critical update on world affairs from a parallel universe, which involves Alldie supermarket, goats and Yoda. Cheers!
WARNING: features a few sweary bits and rude topics. Definitely not one to listen to if you're easily offended. Or you're a sommelier.
Adventures in Dosage: the cherry on the sparkling cake
00:56:25
Did you know that sugar and brandy can be added to sparkling wine? Were you aware that champagne was originally a sweet fizz? And that it regularly had things like port, cognac, elderberry, kirsch and raspberry brandy added to it?
Now there’s a plucky English wine producer adding all sorts of fun things to his fizz – from Sauternes to Sherry, Madeira and Tokaji – to see what’s possible. His aim? To potentially help create, ‘a new category in wine’.
Welcome to the world of dosage. That small addition that’s commonly popped into to the world’s very finest sparkling wines – but which people don’t talk about very much.
Think of it as a ‘good’ wine additive. Yet producers don’t tend to be particularly adventurous in terms of trying new things to add in their dosage.
Until now.
Our story starts with us trying these bold, experimental new English sparkling wines before launching into fascinating conversations with their maker, English Master of Wine Justin Howard-Sneyd MW, as well as sparkling guru Ed Carr of Accolade and Champagne Louis Roederer chef de cave Jean-Baptiste Lécaillon.
Along the way we explain what dosage actually is, why it’s used and delve excitedly into its history and future. We look into why people describe dosage as, ‘seasoning’ for fine fizz, and what role oaked wine, brandy and various types of sugar play in its make-up.
Some wine pros use the term dosage as shorthand for the level of residual sugar in a sparkling wine. But, as we discuss, that’s an over-simplification that misses the bigger picture and purpose of dosage.
We consider the trend for zero-dosage wines and explain why we’re not fans of this category – despite Susie having written her Master of Wine dissertation on the topic.
‘When it's done well, dosage can help a wine taste sublime,' says Susie. 'The art of dosage needs more respect and awareness...and more winemakers need to do it properly.’
We hope you enjoy the programme! Do let us know your thoughts on Instagram or Twitter.
Louis Roederer et Philippe Starck Brut Nature Champagne 2012, 12%
House of Arras Cuvée 1601 Brut Elite, 13%
Bollinger RD 1976 Champagne Extra Brut, 12%
13 May 2022
Tasting 1982 Bordeaux
00:19:52
Some wines or vintages achieve legendary status. The 1982s in Bordeaux are a case in point. So what's it really like to taste a bunch of 1982 clarets, 40 years on - featuring some of the best wines of the vintage?
1982 was a year that famously split opinion - the Brits copping the flak for labelling it too high-yielding, too ripe and 'Californian' in style, saying it would never age. On the opposing side was American wine critic Robert Parker, who championed the vintage and later went on to become one of the most influential wine writers of modern times.
As for how the wines have held up... In this episode, we spill the beans, while also explaining the historical context as well as the nature of the vintage and the individual wines tasted. These include Chateaux:
Mouton-Rothschild
Pichon Comtesse
Léoville Las Cases
Léoville Poyferré
Gruaud Larose
Ducru Beaucaillou
Along the way we discuss the importance of storage, other vintages that can lay claim to being the, 'vintage of the century,' British Railways, current prices for these bottles - and which modern vintages may prove to be as great as 1982 in time.
NB: Wine Blast Live is a video-podcast and you can find the video on our YouTube channel
Armenia is not the first country to spring to mind in terms of wine.
But this is one of the most ancient winemaking cultures in the world. The broader Caucusus region - including Georgia, Armenia, Azerbaijan and Turkey, is where the winemaking vine is believed to have first been domesticated.
By way of proof, a 6,000-year-old winery was unearthed in the Areni-1 cave complex in the Vayots-Dzor region of Armenia. And the country may have anything up to 1,000 different species of vitis vinifera winemaking vines - testament to its longevity in wine terms (the vine tends to mutate naturally over time).
And yet...what do we know of Armenian wine?
Relatively little, if you're anything like us.
And that has to do with geopolitics as much as anything else - from the Armenian genocide to the Soviet occupation, the 20th century was hard on Armenia and its people. Its historic winemaking culture suffered, and it was shut off from the world.
Now, however, a new generation of Armenians are daring to revitalise this somnolent wine history. We talk to two of them - Aimee Keushguerian of Keush, WineWorks and Zulal. Also Juliana del Aguila Eurnekian of Karas.
They're brave because the region remains imperilled. The ongoing conflict with Azerbaijan has seen vineyards and farmers caught between warring factions. This is life or death stuff.
But, from the little we've dipped our toes in these particular waters, it's clear to us that there is huge potential in Armenian wine. In wine terms, Armenia is most certainly one to watch.
We hope you enjoy the programme! Do let us know your thoughts on Instagram or Twitter.
Keush Ultra Brut Nature 2017 Blanc de Noirs, 12.5%
Zulal Voskehat Reserve 2018, Vayots Dzor, 13%
Zulal Karmir Kot 2018 Reserve, Vayots Dzor, 15%
Karas Family Wine Estates White Blend 2020, Ararat Valley, 13.5%
Karas Orange Wine ‘Kraki Ktor’ 2020, Ararat Valley, 12.5%
Karas Areni 2019, Ararat Valley, 13.5%
Karas Single Vineyard Areni 2020, Ararat Valley, 13.5%
10 Jun 2022
The World's BIGGEST Wine Competition
00:59:21
Fancy tasting 18,000+ bottles of wine in a week? Humping and dumping 73,000+ bottles? Herding 250+ international wine judges? Dodging bottle crushers and giant wormeries?
And, after all that, the real question is: what's it all for?!
We go behind the scenes at the world's biggest wine competition, the Decanter World Wine Awards (DWWA), to tackle these very questions and issues.
What even is a wine competition? What's the point? What does it mean when you see a medal or award on a bottle? What really goes on behind the scenes? And how do you start minimising the environmental impact of a giant operation like this?
We dive in with the help of DWWA co-chair Michael Hill-Smith MW plus members of the Decanter team including Events & Awards Director Victoria Stanage, Head of Logistics Simon Wright and Awards Executive Shivani Tomar.
To spice things up, Susie references Peter's 'legendary stamina' (deep breath) and threatens divorce. There's also mention of anaerobic digestion, violent disagreements, a heart-warming wine story from Ukraine, the dirty topic of making money and the world's biggest ever party. All that, and some brilliant wines.
Aghi Ourad is a Brit of Algerian descent who wants to change the way we think about wine from the 'Arab world' (his phrase).
Places like Algeria and Lebanon, where wine production has a surprisingly long history but currently operates in a challenging environment for religious, social or economic reasons.
Such wines from Muslim-majority countries, in Aghi's view, are under-appreciated and yet offer great interest and value for wine lovers. So he's set up a business, The Other Grape, to sell these wines and tell the stories of the people and places that make them.
Aghi has written movingly about suffering personal humiliation as a result of his 'Muslim appearance' and suffering from imposter syndrome with his own, European society. He's also very honest about the 'schizophrenic' attitude to alcohol in Muslim-majority countries like Algeria.
We quiz Aghi about the relationship between Islam and alcohol, as well as the wines from Algeria and Lebanon today. We also dive into the fascinating wine history of these countries - did you know, for example, the following factoids?
Algeria was once the fourth-biggest wine producer in the world.
Algeria, Morocco and Tunisia accounted for two thirds of the world's wine exports in the 1950s.
Algeria was partly responsible for the development of France's famous appellation contrôlée system.
Peter also reflects on his recent trip to Lebanon, to film for his new wine and travel show, The Wild Side of Wine, and shares his insights into the wine scene there.
We talk indigenous grapes and unique wines, sampling a Lebanese Obeidy (white), an Algerian red blend from the Monts du Tessala, and a tiny-production Syrah from the Batroun hills of coastal Lebanon.
There's also poetry in this episode, as well as talk of big guns, power cuts, Islamophobia, drones, phylloxera and what exactly constitutes an, 'angry wine'.
Finally, do check out our previous episode on Lebanon (S1 E22) to hear from Chateau Musar's Marc Hochar and Lebanese wine expert Michael Karam.
14 Jul 2022
Why Bother Matching Food and Wine? (Here's Why - and How)
00:48:11
Some people say choosing the right wine for your food (or vice versa) is too complicated. Or that it's all nonsense, so not worth bothering with - just go with whatever you fancy.
We beg to differ - in the most strident of ways.
We've both spent more than 20 years matching wines to food on TV, radio, events, podcasts and print. We know food is one of the best ways to make sense of wine, to learn more and to get beyond the pretentiousness - by focusing on basic flavours and personal pleasure.
Finding out what works best for you and yours takes a bit of time and an open mind, though. So let us help you!
This episode is the first in a mini-series (in association with Wine Club by Majestic) focusing on food and wine pairing. In this one, we sock it to the naysayers and serve up our 7 top tips to match wine and food successfully, illustrating the basic logic by pairing a series of wines to a cheese board. (The results are almost certainly not what you'd expect).
We also grill Majestic buyer Elizabeth Kelly MW on her favourite food and wine matches, guilty pleasures and top tips - and we hear briefly from Louis Roederer cellar master Jean-Baptiste Lécaillon and gastrophysicist Professor Charles Spence.
All that, AND we answer a question from Jonathan in New York about whether his wine fridge is ruining his treasured bottles...
Following on from this appetising entrée will be a series of short-form video pods, in each of which we'll take one dish and find a wine or two that works as a delicious pairing. Again, explaining the logic as we go along, and having a bit of fun along the way.
The curry in question is a very simple and very delicious chicken tikka massala. So we're finding wines to match the aromatic spices, tangy tomatoes and creamy richness.
We come up with a classic match, a slightly left-field match and then a wild card option. All the way explaining our thinking so if you can't get hold of these exact wines, you can no doubt find similar versions to suit you.
The recipe we're using is inspired by our friend and brilliant food writer Jo Pratt, developed as part of our What Food What Wine competition. It's available, together with all links, photos, wines and more details from the show, here: Show notes for Wine Blast S3 E26: Matching Food and Wine: Curry!
Remember: fight heat with sweet! Also: it's not always the wines that taste the best on their own that end up going best with the food.
Do send us in your thoughts, we'd love to hear from you! What do you think of our choices? What are YOUR favourite matches with curry? Any curry-related drinks disasters to relate?!
This show is brought to you in association with Wine Club by Majestic. Check it out!
12 Aug 2022
Matching Food and Wine: Lamb!
00:10:54
So: what wine to pair with your roast lamb?
Our answers might surprise you.
Lamb is a classic in the wine matching pantheon. But it's not as easy as it may first seem. In fact, we'd argue a lot of supposed matches are way off the mark.
Lamb is a very delicate red meat so needs a specific kind of wine to get the best out of the combination. Sometimes (in fact, really quite often) the best style of wine to pair with lamb is.....white.
Failing that, an elegant red - but beware even the so-called classic pairings, because they don't all work, as we explain.
This episode is part of our food-and-wine matching mini-series brought to you in association with Wine Club by Majestic. The wines featured are all available in Majestic:
Wine Blast is back! Season 4 Trailer - with BEST BITS
00:07:32
Susie and Peter are back! Still Masters of Wine, still married (the wine helps) and still serving up thrills and spills for your general delectation.
Season 4 dives right back in where they left off, and promises tons of great wine content, thought-provoking angles, top guests, listener questions answered, opinion, food, recommendations - and of course a lot of fun too…
So welcome back - or welcome. This podcast is for everyone with an open mind and a healthy thirst. No need to catch up, just hop on board, make sure you subscribe to enjoy the ride, then tell all your friends (as well as leaving a nice rating and review!)
Susie & Peter's aim is always to entertain - so they thought, rather than do a boring old standard Trailer, they'd put together a 'best bits' highlights reel featuring some of the fun and games from Season 3. To give you a taster of what's in store for Season 4 (as well as a reminder of some very fun times, and how worthwhile it is dipping into the back catalogue).
Well, it's a summer vegetable tart. But we couldn't quite bring ourselves to have that as our title. So we ran with 'green pizza'. Which it...almost is.
What it definitely is, is utterly delicious comfort food. As well as going superbly well with a whole range of wines. So our kind of dish.
It cries out for a fresh, crisp white. Particularly those made from Sauvignon Blanc...but not exclusively. Here's what we went with:
This episode is part of our food-and-wine matching mini-series brought to you in association with Wine Club by Majestic. The wines featured are all available in Majestic.
Fancy joining us as we break into the Fort Knox of wine?!
It's an old mine and former munitions dump in the middle of the English countryside that now holds over 9 million bottles and £1bn+ of stock. It's one of the biggest such storage facilities in the world and one (whisky) bottle stored there recently sold for £1.2m.
Only downside? Security is tight. And you have to climb up 157 steps to get back out. Good thing Peter was actually invited in - and had a 'sustaining' lunch before the journey back up into the real world (including Cheval Blanc 1949, Krug 1996, Domaine Fourrier Clos St Jacques 2005 and Coche-Dury Meursault Genevrières 2010).
It's quite the adventure: something of a wine pilgrimage, which makes for a fascinating episode diving into professional wine storage, why some wines and people need it, wine investment...and of course an insight into how those very rare and special wines are tasting.
Very much related to the last point, this episode also features the audio treat of Peter trying his best to make sense while the wrong side of multiple delicious glasses and 100 feet under the Wiltshire turf in cavernous tunnels stuffed with millions of bottles of the world's finest wines. It's worth the listen, even if solely for comedy value.
Either way, thanks for popping in. This show really is for everyone. Cheers to you!
28 Oct 2022
Matching Food and Wine: Spaghetti Bolognese!
00:09:06
It's a mid-week classic. But the BIG question is: what wines work best to make your spag bol taste like MAGIC?!
We tackle this weighty issue like the true gannets we are, featuring some delicious Italian reds (Montepulciano + Valpolicella Ripasso) as well as more quirky pairings, from a South African Syrah to a Chilean Pais.
All the while talking through WHY things work as much as the specific wines themselves. (Oh, and there's mention of Pinky and Perky too - listen to find out more...)
Pairing wines with everyday dishes is really fun. Have a go yourself! Let us know what weird and wonderful discoveries you make.
Meantime, here are the wines featured in this episode:
This episode is part of our food-and-wine matching mini-series brought to you in association with Wine Club by Majestic. The wines featured are all available in Majestic.
This is not just any old fish pie. This is LUXURY fish pie. And we've got some properly luxuriant wines to match...
There's nothing worse than a dry, eggy, potato-drenched fish pie. Our version uses smoked fish, chunky prawns, mustard, cream and cheddar - so we need some seriously high octane wines.
No sense fooling around: this is rich white wine territory. One of our favourite styles of all. We choose two classic grape varieties that work really well across a range of styles - Chardonnay and Chenin Blanc - including a skin contact white (is it an orange wine?!) plus a leftfield white Cinsault just for fun.
We've pushed the boat out with the wines because this is a treat of a dish (a good option around Christmas time too, for what it's worth). Enjoy!
Wines featured in this episode:
Thorne & Daughters Menagerie Chardonnay 2020, South Africa (from £19.99)
Rijckaert F Rouve Saint Veran Haute Cuvee 2020, France (from £16.99)
Bruce Jack Ghost in the Machine Skin Contact Chenin Blanc 2022, South Africa (from £12.99)
Stellenrust The Apprentice White Cinsault 2020, South Africa (from £18.99)
This episode is part of our food-and-wine matching mini-series brought to you in association with Wine Club by Majestic. The wines featured are all available in Majestic.
A new report predicts climate change will see English red wine becoming the norm rather than the exception as part of a global shift that will upend the world's wine map as we know it.
It's a tough one to get your head around.
On the one hand, these are exciting times for English winemakers.
On the other, climate change represents an existential threat to humanity. Plus, although rising temperatures making wine more viable and diverse in the UK, climate change is also bringing unpredictability, extreme events, and new pests and diseases, among many other challenges.
It's also proving a major threat to existing wine regions, especially warmer, drier ones.
In this bumper episode, we cross-examine the report's author, viti-climatologist Dr Alistair Nesbitt, in a fascinating interview.
We then follow up with some uncompromising views from the vineyard courtesy of Gusbourne's Charlie Holland, Balfour's Fergus Elias, Tillingham's Ben Walgate and Adrian Pike of Westwell.
We keep things chipper and upbeat as we discuss the everything from climate change to the torrid 2022 vintage, the prospect of 'great English Riesling', rosé, the future of appellations (and the controversial Sussex PDO), wine in Scotland, qvevri...and of course the thorny issue of price.
Along the way we somehow manage to turn the episode into an extended movie pitch for various concepts, from a wino's Dr Who to a Riesling Show-Down and even a 'wild western'. It's....refreshingly different (and all makes sense once you listen).
Either way, thanks for popping in. This show is for everyone. Cheers to you!
02 Dec 2022
Our WINE(S) OF THE YEAR!
00:38:11
WOTY?! Don't mind if we do... Welcome to our TASTIEST show of the year (and that's saying something!)
In 2022 we're focusing on value to give you some ideas of delicious but affordable wines to suit the season's revelry.
No spoilers but we've got wines from France, Spain, Italy, Argentina, South Africa, USA, New Zealand - even Austria and England. (We did start off with just one Wine of the Year but couldn't help ourselves throwing a few more outstanding wines into the mix...)
Dive in to find out what we've chosen! But this show isn't just about wine recommendations. This year we're featuring some of your (often funny, always thought-provoking) feedback and questions.
We touch on whether Wine Blast sends babies to sleep, how a champagne-Sauternes cocktail is better than paracetamol, why a storage fire inspired better drinking habits, how we saved a listener's wine treasures, what ISN'T hipster wine and whether or not it's a good idea to let wines breathe.
Not only that, but we discover - via a listener's brilliant question about what constitutes a 'silly money' wine - an entire Wine Blast episode that was never aired because.....we forgot all about it.
We blame the wine.
In the midst of all this chaos, Susie touches on the importance of ageing disgracefully, Peter talks tasting with giraffes, we weigh up an alternative career as agony aunts and somehow find time to recommend everything from a value cremant to a red that's like 'aged claret on speed'. There's even the odd magnum in the mix. As well as sherry. There's always sherry.
Looking ahead, we'd love to hear your thoughts on subjects to tackle in our inimitable style in 2023 - so do get in touch! Let us know your thoughts on Instagram or Twitter. Or send us a voice message via Speakpipe.
We're not kidding. This is the ULTIMATE burger. Especially if you're a wine lover...
Yes we've got the patty and the brioche bun. So far so straightforward. But the killer ingredients? A tawny port reduction ('wino's ketchup'). Blue cheese. Umami paste.
And to top it all off? Truffle mustard mayo.
So yes, in this fun episode we attempt to answer that HUGE question: what wine to drink with your burger?!
After much research, thought and drinking of wine, Susie was inspired to create this recipe - the Umami Bomb. A burger designed specifically to appeal to wine lovers.
We then set to work - the first challenge is eating the burger while talking (not straightforward). But of course the point of the exercise is to explain what wines work best with the burger and why - featuring some delicious bottles along the way.
This was a fascinating and fun episode to put together, we hope you enjoy it.
Wines featured in this episode:
Definition Lodi Zinfandel 2019, California, USA, 14% (from £6.99)
Morgenster Lourens River Valley 2013, Stellenbosch, South Africa, 14.5% (from £17.99)
Piekenierskloof Heirloom Red 2020, Swartland, South Africa, 14.5% (from £19.99 or as part of the Grand Tour Wine Club case)
This episode is part of our food-and-wine matching mini-series brought to you in association with Wine Club by Majestic. The wines featured are all available in Majestic.
Selling Net Zero Wine - Pipe Dream or In The Pipeline?
01:10:45
Wine is good. We want a good future for wine - and the planet. But wine has been described on this pod as, 'the villain in the climate story.' So what gives - and how to turn this around?
One UK wine retailer has sent out a rallying cry - aiming to be carbon neutral by 2024 and net zero across its entire business by 2040. This retailer wants, ‘to be the most sustainable, ethical and responsible wine retailer in the world.’
These are big aims - and they belong to The Wine Society. So Peter, ever wary of greenwashing and over-hype, heads over to their HQ in Stevenage to poke around behind the scenes and ask the hard questions like: how on earth can this be done, what are the key challenges to overcome, how much will it cost, will the wines change as a result, and what even is a 'sustainability scorecard'?
Along the way we talk insetting (as opposed to offsetting), right-weighting, the demonisation of plastic, solar power, heavy bottles and saying goodbye to capsules.
Even forklifts, sweet shops, Mars, bees, alpacas, Elon Musk, leftover wine and lunch get a mention. That, and growing wine in a greenhouse in space...
The world around us is changing - wine included. This glimpse into a potentially brighter future of course comes with the usual side-order of wine, as we recommend some delicious drops from sustainable producers stocked by The Wine Society, including the following:
Lubanzi Chenin Blanc 2021, Swartland, South Africa (£3.95 per 250 ml can)
Dog Point Chardonnay 2019, Marlborough, New Zealand (£22.50)
Tablas Creek Patelin de Tablas 2018, Paso Robles, USA (£20)
Either way, thanks for joining us - and cheers to you!
13 Jan 2023
The Year Ahead: A Wine Lover's Wish List
00:37:09
So what do we all want from wine in the year ahead? What's top of our wish list for wine in 2023?
For some it's drinking better (or simply more) wine. If possible, for less money.
Others are hoping Pinot Noir proves to be a miracle cure and will be prescribed by doctors...
More realistically, combating climate change, responsible political engagement with wine and an end to the war in Ukraine inevitably feature.
And what of no-alcohol wine? The rise of organic and biodynamic viticulture? The quest for fresher wines, with moderate alcohol? Greater diversity and inclusivity in wine? Wine in cans? The growth of English wine? A return to travel? Wines with 'added value' (and less marketing nonsense)? And supporting independent wine merchants?
In this frank, opinionated episode, we take in a whole host of views from around the world and also hear from Master Sommelier Gearoid Devaney, wine writer Libby Brodie and Master of Wine Peter McCombie, among others.
Somehow, we also touch on poor taste in jumpers, serendipity, Damp January, the wine fountain of Irache, undies and their openings - and algorithms.
This episode paves the way for the subsequent programme entitled: How to Be a Better Wine Lover.
We'd love to hear what you want from the year ahead, or how to be a better wine lover (or indeed to receive any pics of 'cool' wine jumpers) - do get in touch via Instagram or Twitter. Or you can star on the show - send us a voice message via Speakpipe.
Either way, thanks for joining us - and cheers to you!
20 Jan 2023
How To Be a Better Wine Lover
00:33:53
Self-improvement - via a wine glass. With a side helping of 'vinous Kama Sutra'.
But we're getting ahead of ourselves...
In our last episode we explored what we wine lovers want from the year ahead. In this programme we flip the camera round and take a look how we can be better wine lovers.
Suggestions like 'drink better' inevitably crop up. But so do more thought-provoking tips such as, 'Pair food with wine, not the reverse,' 'Give a bottle of wine that we love to someone who isn’t expecting it,' and 'Listen. Encourage. Celebrate.'
Supporting climate action is high on the agenda. 'Drink only wines from sustainable farming,' is one view, another is: 'Take a stand against wine in overly heavy bottles!'
Firm opinions are expressed on everything from shopping local to keeping an open mind (to other people's views as well as to unfamiliar wine styles), trusting your own palate, being humble, supporting small producers and retailers, pouring Pinot Gris down the sink, giving new things a go - and putting wine on the table not a pedestal.
In short, this is a largely heart-warming, occasionally challenging, certainly thought-provoking episode that will hopefully get us thinking about what it is to be a wine lover, and how we can each get the most out of this glorious liquid.
Into this engaging mix are thrown the usual hodge-podge of random elements, from lobster mac'n'cheese to 'Naked on Roller-Skates' and artificial intelligence holding forth on 'wine tasting in the style of the Kama Sutra'. You've been warned.
We pair this zesty wine chat with a couple of special bottles to tie in with the discussion:
Ata Rangi Lismore Pinot Gris 2009, Martinborough, New Zealand
Ridgeview Sparkling Red Pinot Noir NV, Sussex, England
Bride Valley Pinot Noir 2018, Dorset, England
Thanks to wine writer Libby Brodie, Master of Wine Peter McCombie and Master Sommelier Gearoid Devaney - as well as a host of wine lovers all around the world - for sharing their views for this episode.
Thanks for joining us - here's to the joys of wine, and cheers to you!
27 Jan 2023
Burgundy - The Tipping Point?
00:47:18
Has Burgundy gone bonkers?!
Off the back of a nightmare 2021 season, wines are in shorter supply than ever - so prices have gone through the roof.
Again.
The wines are unquestionably good. That's what Burgundy does. But as the region's wines gradually become ever-more scarce and atypical - and ever-less affordable - how long will wine lovers stick with Burgundy? Will we look back in 20 years and say: that was the tipping point when Burgundy finally lost touch with reality?!
These are just some of the no-nonsense questions we're posing in this fresh take on an archetypal wine region where bucolic tradition is increasingly on a collision course with fast-moving reality.
We explore the 2021 vintage as a springboard to discussing the bigger picture in Burgundy - in which climate change looms large, as does the issue of pricing (with a bit of mysterious vine death along the way). Stardust gets a mention.
As for the wines - will we see Chardonnay being replaced by the likes of Savagnin, and Pinot Noir being supplanted by Gamay, Syrah, or even Nebbiolo.?!
We grill Burgundy experts David Roberts MW (Goedhuis) and Jason Haynes (Flint Wines), as well as growers Florent Rouve and Caroline Drouhin of Domaine Drouhin-Laroze in Gevrey-Chambertin.
What's more, we give our verdict on the 2021 wines and give some top tips both from that vintage and more general (but still delicious) drinking Burgundy we've discovered lately. (Also some ideas on alternatives to Burgundy.) You can find a full list of our recommendations in both these categories on our website (link below) - meantime the highlights we recommend in the pod are:
White: Les Héritiers du Comte Lafon Viré-Clessé 2021 (c£28 per bottle, J&B): nutty, gorgeous white
Red: Jean-Pierre et Vincent Charton Bourgogne Rouge Champ de Perdrix 2021 (c £19-20, Goedhuis): more funky natural style but sappy and savoury, grippy, perfumed
Red: Drouhin Laroze Gevrey Chambertin Dix Climats 2021 (£58 per bottle, J&B): splashing out, but beautifully fragrant and classic red Burgundy
General drinking Burgundy
White: Lequin-Colin Bourgogne Chardonnay 2020 (£19.50, Stone Vine & Sun)
We'd love to hear from your views on this or any other wine issues - do send us a voice message via Speakpipe or you can find more details to get in touch on our website.
Thanks for joining us - here's to the joys of wine, and cheers to you!
10 Feb 2023
The New Beaujolais
00:48:50
Stuff is going down in Beaujolais.
Natural wine is a hot trend. Beaujolais Nouveau is re-inventing itself. The top sites have never made better wine. A new generation is revitalising the scene. Geological research has revealed eye-opening results. And growers aren't afraid to throw caution to the wind (Côte Rôtie barrels and Sciacarello anyone?!)
Phew.
It's also newsworthy: the region is submitting its first ever application for the top sites to be designated Premier Cru, the highly-prized status afforded only to some of the finest vineyards in Burgundy.
We get the low-down on all of this courtesy of dogged investigative work (yes...we do include drinking wine under that heading...) as well as interviews with leading growers Grégoire Hoppenot and Xavier Thivolle plus Caroline Santoyo of Inter Beaujolais and David Roberts MW of Goedhuis & Co.
We also throw in some factoids. For example, did you know that until World War II, a bottle of good Moulin-à-Vent Beaujolais cost the same as a bottle of Vosne-Romanée Premier Cru?! Or that Beaujolais is considered to be one of the original heartlands of natural wine, home to a 'viticultural prophet'?
This is a sponsored episode with Inter Beaujolais - it's a topic we've been longing to cover for a while so fantastic to have an opportunity to catch up with the latest from what is a dynamic and multi-faceted region.
Topics under discussion include Gamay, gobelet, Beaujolais as an alternative to ever-pricier Côte d'Or Burgundy, lieux-dits, The Last of Us, pink granite, the ten famous Beaujolais 'crus' and carbonic maceration.
And after all that we're in need of refreshment so taste and recommend a selection of truly outstanding Beaujolais wines (details in full show notes), including:
Les 3 Madones Beaujolais-Villages 2021, Cave du Château des Loges
We'd love to hear from your views on this or any other wine issues - do send us a voice message via Speakpipe or you can find more details to get in touch on our website.
Thanks for tuning in. Here's to the joy of wine - cheers to you!
24 Feb 2023
Wine and Your Microbiome - with Dr Tim Spector
00:49:13
This podcast is GOOD FOR YOU! Don’t let anyone tell you otherwise...
In this mind-blowing episode we have an exclusive interview with the world-famous Professor Tim Spector, expert in the human microbiome - this population of friendly microbes that lives inside all of us and which acts almost like an extra organ, boosting our immune system, fighting disease and even influencing our mental health.
According to Spector, these microbes are so numerous and influential that we're all effectively, 'half human, half bug.'
Spector has studied how what we eat and drink influences our gut microbiome and thus our health - and the good news is that red wine drunk daily in moderation can definitely boost our microbiome in beneficial ways. Hallelujah!
So, it's a case of: Eat, Drink Red and Be Merry. But not too merry...
This is an episode not to miss! Other questions we explore include:
Why red wine is better for our health than white wine or other forms of booze
How much is too much when it comes to wine and health
Why we may need to re-think the concept of 'hazy' wine or decanting (to take wine off the sediment) given it's thought that even dead yeast cells can be good for us
How fermentation is key to health benefits because it increases the complexity of polyphenols
Why wine could be the source of the ultimate health drink
Why drinking as many different red grape varieties as possible is a good idea because each will nourish different microbes, and diversity is key for health
Why we need to take official government health advice (and those peddling supplements) with a pinch of salt
How people playing around with precision fermentation, microbes and other modern techniques will revolutionise wine and beer in the next few years
Along the way we talk natural wine, polyphenols, wild ferments, sweet spots, long lunches, hangovers and Big Ben. As ever, we find time to enjoy and recommend a few bottles of wine (and benefit our microbiome while doing so). In this episode we have:
Clos Basté Madiran 2019, France
Château Montus Madiran 2016, France
Plaimont L'Empreinte de Saint Mont rouge 2018, France
We'd love to hear from your views on this or any other wine issues - do send us a voice message via Speakpipe or you can get in touch via our website.
Thanks for tuning in. Here's to the joy of wine - cheers to you!
10 Mar 2023
Australian Pinot Noir Comes of Age
00:48:35
Every wine lover craves great Pinot Noir. Burgundy is ever pricier and scarcer. So where to look?
Australia might not seem the obvious destination for Pinot Noir. It’s better known for hefty reds (think: Shiraz, Cabernet), historic styles like Hunter Semillon or its heroic ‘stickies’ (sweet and fortified like Rutherglen).
And if there’s a Burgundian variety closely associated with Oz, it’s Chardonnay.
And yet…over the last few years, Ozzie Pinot Noir has come on leaps and bounds to capture the zeitgeist and become the grape everyone’s talking about. From Tasmania to Yarra, Mornington, Adelaide Hills and beyond, this is a grape helping re-define modern Australian wine and offering wine drinkers a glimpse of wine nirvana.
In this sponsored episode with Wine Australia, we talk to writer Matthew Jukes, grower Mac Forbes and sommelier Jane Lopes to tell the story of how and why Australian Pinot Noir has gone from zero to hero, and what the future holds.
We talk terroir, regionality, climate change, sustainability, winemaking – and tackle the elephant in the room, value for money. (There’s also mention of tomato throwing, UV, the Holy Grail, stomping, the God complex, DNA – plus Susie admits she loves a wine more than Peter...)
As ever, we taste and recommend some favourites which capture the impressive diversity and sheer thrill of Ozzie Pinot Noir, including:
Heirloom Vineyards Pinot Noir 2021, Adelaide Hills, 13.5%
Ben Haines 'Colour Block' Pinot Noir 2021, Yarra Valley, 11.5%
JC’s Own Morialta Vineyard Pinot Noir 2020, Adelaide Hills, 14.5%
Giant Steps Applejack Vineyard Pinot Noir 2021, Yarra Valley, 13.5%
Tolpuddle Vineyard Pinot Noir 2021, Coal River Valley, Tasmania, 13.5%
This episode contains the memorable quote: 'Why fart around with Burgundy when you can buy this?!'
We'd love to hear from your views on this or any other wine issues - do send us a voice message via Speakpipe or you can find more details to get in touch on our website.
Thanks for tuning in. Here's to the joy of wine - cheers to you!
24 Mar 2023
The End of the Hangover?
00:44:57
Could it be true?! No more hangovers is a tantalising notion, a Holy Grail for many drinkers. But how could this happen, and what would it mean for the world of booze and wine?
Join us as we dive headlong into the enthralling world of hangover hacks (including at least one credible ‘remedy’) and explore the new breed of so-called functional drinks, which promise to deliver the buzz of booze without the bad effects.
But do these functional drinks and hangover hacks actually work? We put our bodies on the line in the name of research – and deliver our verdict.
Illuminating the subject is Professor David Nutt, an expert of global renown on the effects of alcohol on the brain who’s developing a novel synthetic alternative to alcohol (Alcarelle) as well as a range of functional botanical drinks (Sentia).
That said, he freely admits to enjoying a glass or two of full-bodied red at the weekend…and boldly identifies, ‘the best way to minimise a hangover’. Gold dust!
‘Alcohol is the ultimate social drug,’ comments Nutt. ‘But we can improve on alcohol…’
During the course of this intriguing discussion, we consider the role and effects of adaptogens as well as the vital but largely unknown GABA neurotransmitter and how the GABA system might be crucial to the new wave of functional drinks.
Somehow we also manage to touch on horse-riding, space ships, drunken rats, expensive spas, the Nobel Prize, protozoa, hyper-glutamatergic state, the microbiome and whipping yourself with a birch branch in a sauna.
We’d love to hear your thoughts on this topic – be it hangover remedies or your experiences with functional drinks. Give us a shout!
Here are the functional cocktails we taste in this episode:
We'd love to hear from your views on this or any other wine issues - do send us a voice message via Speakpipe or you can find more details to get in touch on our website.
Thanks for tuning in. Here's to the joy of wine - cheers to you!
07 Apr 2023
Ahead of the Curve with New Zealand Chardonnay
00:47:18
Chardonnay polarises people. But times change and this is a grape that's moved on - arguably nowhere more so than in New Zealand, which in recent years has started to deliver quality, diversity and great value in spades.
It's timely, too, given the supply shortages and booming prices of the wines from Chardonnay's motherland in Burgundy.
We're Chardonnay superfans and we've been licking our lips at how far and fast New Zealand Chardonnay has evolved lately. So it's exciting to hook up with New Zealand Winegrowers for this sponsored episode charting that dramatic evolution and exploring why there's more to the land of the long white cloud than Sauvignon Blanc and Pinot Noir.
New Zealand wine superstars Michael Brajkovich MW (Kumeu River) and Master Sommelier Cameron Douglas give us the inside track, full of eye-opening insights and informed opinion. Including the following quote: 'I'm just gonna come out and say it: New Zealand Chardonnay can outclass Burgundy.'
There's a bit of geeking out about Chardonnay winemaking - from oak barrels to malolactic fermentation - all with the aim of better understanding this most shape-shifting of grape varieties, and why New Zealand is doing such a good job with it (clue: a cool climate is key).
We also dive into the fascinating topic of that much sought-after (and also misunderstood) character in Chardonnay sometimes referred to as, 'reductive', 'struck match', 'toasty' or 'flinty'. We wrestle with the vexed issue of how to refer to it and come up with an absurd but catchy alternative...
Along the way we touch on how the devastating Cyclone Gabrielle has impacted the country as well as vintage 2023. You can support by donating to the Cyclone Gabrielle wine relief funds or buying and drinking wines from the most affected areas like Hawke's Bay and Gisborne - which ties neatly into our theme given Chardonnay is the leading variety in both those regions.
Finally, we taste and recommend some favourite New Zealand Chardonnays including:
We'd love to hear from your views on this or any other wine issues - do send us a voice message via Speakpipe or you can find more details to get in touch on our website.
Thanks for tuning in. Here's to the joy of wine - cheers to you!
21 Apr 2023
News & Views – Re-Writing Wine’s Ancient History, Silly Money Wine, Drops of God & More
00:38:53
What wine news is worthy of your attention? How should you warm up your (fine) wines in an emergency? What wines are really worth paying silly money for? And which wines should we have loved...but didn't?
These are just some of the questions we dive into in this Listener Q&A episode, where we respond to your brilliant comments, feedback and questions.
And we field one other question too: are we even married to each other?!
No spoilers here... Suffice it to say that along this particularly fun ride we touch on subjects as diverse as Japanese wine anime Drops of God, wildfires in Chile, Michel Roux Jr, marriage counselling, Cahors, Malcolm Gladwell, alternatives to Grange, our infamous 20-20 wine rule, re-writing wine's ancient history, Leonardo di Caprio - and 'pan-gate'.
We also ask that most critical of questions: are you a wine cuddler...or a wine microwaver?
Given this episode is all about your comments and questions, please do keep them coming! We'd love to hear your views on our subscription plans too. Do send us a voice message via Speakpipe or you can find more details to get in touch on our website.
Thanks for tuning in. Here's to the joy of wine - cheers to you!
05 May 2023
Santorini - Wine's Jurassic Park
00:38:29
Let's go on an adventure to a place variously described as, 'Like being shot to the moon with a glass of fine wine in your hand' and where, 'you basically have the personality of an active volcano in your glass.'
Santorini is arguably the ultimate wine destination - a windswept, arid, infertile outcrop of an island in the glittering Aegean Sea. Stunning - but bleak, and where the memory of one of the most violet volcanic eruptions in human history can not only be seen but also tasted in your glass.
Wine is one of the few crops to thrive here, albeit at the cost of back-breaking labour and marginal profitability due to tiny yields and regular setbacks. The island's historic sweet vinsantos have most likely been enjoyed for thousands of years - the dry whites made from the majestic, fierce Assyrtiko grape are astonishing symphonies of bracing acidity, steely structure and salty minerality.
These are true jewels in the wine world's crown. One producer speculates, with good reason, that Santorini, 'is the oldest vineyard on the planet.' Phylloxera-free, you see... Hence the Jurassic Park reference.
For Peter, Santorini Assyrtiko is the ultimate food wine, able to pair with everything from delicate oysters to rich lamb and beyond. No wonder one wine grower describes this place as, 'the Mecca of wine'.
But all is not well in wine paradise. Climate change batters the vineyard in the form of heatwaves and hail. Mass tourism threatens not only to overwhelm the island's infrastructure and drain the workforce but, more critically, erase vineyards permanently as land is sold to developers.
The result is that Santorini's vineyard has declined by a third between 2005 and 2022. 'Sometimes in Santorini it feels like we're forgotten by God' commented one local wine producer.
Now, though, the island's wine community is fighting back. In this first episode of a two-part mini-series in collaboration with Wines of PDO Santorini, we set the scene - taking in the island's intriguing history, exploring the bizarre vineyards, talking to key wine producers, and not shying away from the challenges the island's wine community faces.
As for how the wine producers are fighting to ensure wine's survival, we discover plans to declare the entire island's production organic - which would be the first ever entire PDO appellation to do such.
There's also a UNESCO application in the pipeline - and plans to raise prices in order to ensure the survival of the vineyard.
Don't miss the next and final episode in this mini-series, where we explore Santorini's fierce, remarkable grapes, wine and food - and look to the future, both in terms of challenges but also reasons to be hopeful.
Please do keep your comments and questions coming! Send us a voice message via Speakpipe or you can find more details to get in touch on our website.
Thanks for tuning in. Here's to the joy of wine - cheers to you!
19 May 2023
Santorini - Wines to Save an Island
00:46:58
Santorini's future is in jeopardy. This ancient, famous island vineyard risks being lost beneath the tourism industry's bulldozers. So how can its wine community fight back?
By making exceptional, characterful, inimitable wines and selling them to the world, that's how.
In this episode (our 100th Wine Blast programme, appropriately enough!) we dive into what makes Santorini's wines as distinctive and unique as they undoubtedly are. From the steely, majestic dry Santorini Assyrtiko to the sumptuous vinsantos and all the curios in between, this is a vibrant wine scene that's only getting more diverse and quality-focused.
Taking in views form the younger generation as well as more experienced hands, we discuss eye-opening topics from how the minerality of Santorini wines is exacerbated by the salt blown in off the sea to why Burgundy might be growing Assyrtiko soon.
Along the way we touch on orange wine, flor, tasting an 1847 Santorini Assyrtiko, amphorae, alcohol, the future - and Peter somehow signs up for hard manual labour.
This episode is the second and final installment in a sponsored mini-series in collaboration with Wines of PDO Santorini.
Please do keep your comments and questions coming! Send us a voice message via Speakpipe or you can find more details to get in touch on our website.
Thanks for tuning in. Here's to the joy of wine - cheers to you!
02 Jun 2023
No Schist Sherlock: How Wine Gets Rocks Wrong
00:46:59
‘From virtually any soil a high-quality wine can be made. The use of geology to promote the quality of a wine is thus merely a marketing tool.’
This is an episode that may ruffle a few feathers.
We speak to two wine-loving geologists, Professor Alex Maltman and Dr Geert-Jan Vis (the latter responsible for the quote above). Both of them raise serious questions about the line the wine world often endorses about how geology (think: limestone, schist, granite) influences wine.
Vis calls the notion that geology and soil influence wine style, ‘romantic b*llocks’. Maltman says it’s, ‘over-hyped’ and writes, ‘simply saying a wine comes from a particular rock doesn’t convey anything about what I might expect from a wine.’
And yet we regularly see wine literature talking about limestone or granite, Kimmeridgian or Jurassic (and so on) and linking this explicitly to wine quality and style.
And this isn’t even to get started on the topic of ‘minerality’ in wine…
So what gives? What’s really going on here? To what extent can geology and soil be seen to impact the vine and wine? Or, to flip it round, to what extent do experts think that the role of geology and soil is over-rated and misunderstood when it comes to wine?
It’s important to say we’re not being deliberately controversial or trying to undermine the concept of terroir (the notion that specific places produce wines with specific characteristics).
What we’re doing is asking questions and challenging a set of prevalent assumptions which we feel is…well…questionable.
We’re aware this episode might provoke debate so please feel free to get in touch. Send us a voice message via Speakpipe or you can find more details to get in touch on our website.
This is the first in a loosely-connected series of programmes in which we’ll tackle tricky or controversial issues in wine, from minerality to microbiology and yeasts. All with the aim of provoking informed debate, challenging questionable opinions and seeking clarity above all.
Thanks for tuning in. Here's to the joy of wine - cheers to you!
Ps and if you don’t know what petrichor is – we’ve got the answer…
16 Jun 2023
Portugal's Fine Wines: Here Be Treasures
00:50:37
We all know port. But there’s a whole universe of fine Portuguese table wine out just waiting to be explored. It’s far less known but certainly no less exciting…so we dive in.
Peter’s fired up after a recent trip to host a masterclass in Porto, where he tasted wines back to 1978 and recorded with a selection of Portugal’s top wine talent, from Dirk and Daniel Niepoort to Sandra Tavares, Luis Pato, Susana Esteban and Tomas Roquette.
Once back, he made sure to call in some special wines to taste and share on air, including the legendary Barca Velha, Portugal’s most famous red – a wine that launched a thousand bottles… It’s not a wine you get to see very often, let alone taste, so this is a privileged insight.
Let’s not beat around the bush: this is a tasting featuring a healthy amount of disagreement. These are undoubtedly fine, characterful, often intriguing wines – but they can (clearly) polarise opinion. We explore the reasons why.
Also featured in this episode are (sometimes anguished) listener feedback about our Santorini mini-series, the ‘Porta 6 effect’, Maserati, roof-hoping, Javier Bardem, field blends, ozone, and a €1,000 magnum.
Peter gets a blind-wine challenge live on air – and we also touch on how to lose €10m with one word…
Wines tasted in this episode
Luis Pato Vinhas Velhas Branco 2022, Bairrada, 13%
We love to hear from you so please do get in touch! Send us a voice message via Speakpipe or you can find more details to get in touch on our website (link below).
Thanks for tuning in. Here's to the joy of wine - cheers to you!
30 Jun 2023
The Mystery of Minerality
00:55:14
It's a wine word almost everyone uses - but no one really knows what it means, what causes it, or where it's come from.
It makes some people angry, it leaves others mystified - but some adore the term and can't get enough of it.
Is this yet another example in wine of (as one listener calls it), 'superstition, witchcraft and myth' that is nothing more than, 'absolute b*llocks'?!
Welcome to the big 'minerality' mystery.
In this episode, we dare to dive headlong into the snakepit of confusion, ambiguity and downright mystery that is the notion of 'minerality' in wine.
But we're not alone. We've recruited the likes of sensory scientist Dr Heber Rodrigues and writer Meg Maker to enlighten us with the latest research and thinking on this intriguing topic.
We ask questions like: what makes a wine mineral? What do people mean by the term? Which wines in particular tend to show mineral characteristics? Is it a good or a bad thing? Is it a vineyard or winemaking phenomenon?
Ultimately - should we get rid of it, or cherish it?
We taste two wines in order to put our own language under the microscope. There's an element of mud-slinging and mutual recrimination before we manage (more or less) to define what we mean by minerality.
We also give a final judgement on whether, in our view, minerality should be part of the wine lexicon or not. The result...may surprise you.
Wines tasted in this episode
UVC Chablis Premier Cru 2010, Esprit de Chablis, 12.5%
Anhydrous Afoura Santorini Assyrtiko 2021, 14%
We love to hear from you so please do get in touch! Send us a voice message via Speakpipe or you can find more details to get in touch on our website (link below).
This episode is dedicated to Dr Wendy Parr, a leading light in the world of sensory perception and wine.
Thanks for tuning in. Here's to the joy of wine - cheers to you!
14 Jul 2023
Germany's Pulling Power
00:44:32
Did you know that Germany is the third largest producer of Pinot Noir in the world?
Or that one in three Riesling vines in the world grow in German vineyards - and much of these are making dry, increasingly terroir-driven wines these days?
There's much that's surprising, or perhaps unexpected about German wine right now.
For long the sector under-performed - but a series of changes since the late 1980s (a process that's still ongoing, accelerated by climate change) has re-invigorated German wine, redefining its possibilities and forging a bright new future.
There's even talk of the wines being, 'sexy' and of, 'pulling power'...
All of which, plus the fact we're just back from Germany (and have had an intriguing listener question in), is the perfect excuse to explore German wine.
We hear from Master of Wine and German specialist Alison Flemming plus Stefan Doktor, MD of the world-famous Schloss Johannisberg.
Along the way we talk terroir, global warming, food matching, GG and the rise of dry Riesling, why 'succulent' is such a good tasting term, PIWIs, and why a swimming pool was important for a 1964 Auslese...
Our thanks to Wines of Germany for sponsoring this episode and helping source some fantastic bottles for us to try and recommend. They are:
Frey Pinot Blanc 2021, Rheinhessen
Maximin Grunhaus Maximin Pinot Blanc 2021, Mosel
Klein Riesling S Trocken 2021, Pfalz
Robert Weil Kiedrich Turmberg Riesling Trocken 2021, Rheingau
We love to hear from you so please do get in touch! Send us a voice message via Speakpipe or you can find more details to get in touch on our website (link below).
Thanks for tuning in. Here's to the joy of wine - cheers to you!
07 Aug 2023
The Microbial Face of Terroir
00:42:48
This episode opens by linking Oppenheimer, Covid-19 and wine - and proceeds to go big by focusing on the small stuff.
Microbes. The invisible world of yeasts, bacteria and beyond.
We're just starting to understand how important microbes are in terms of defining wine style and quality.
Sure, yeasts ferment grape sugars into alcohol. But they also do a whole lot more, as fascinating new research is revealing.
Previously, many definitions of 'terroir' (what might be defined as a wine's 'sense of place' or perhaps 'distinctiveness') were limited to the role of soil and climate. If you were lucky, human influence garnered a passing mention.
Now it's becoming clear that biology - and in particular microbiology - has more of a say in how a wine turns out than what was previously thought. Time for the textbooks to be re-written...
In this episode, we talk to world-leading researchers Professor Matthew Goddard and Ignacio Belda, to get to the heart of the latest thinking and science.
Turns out there is such a thing as, 'the microbial face of terroir' - even single vineyards have unique microbial signatures, and there's a proven percentage we can put to how much a wine's chemistry is influenced by that microbiome from the vineyard to the fermentation and beyond.
In short, wine is the product of invisible bugs as much as it is the product of human hand or climatic and geographical phenomena.
The implications are profound.
Not just regarding how we define terroir. But also in terms of how winegrowers should farm to protect their unique vineyard microbiomes, how winemakers should best manage their fermentations, even how we wine drinkers should appreciate our wines (while protecting our own human microbiomes - the two can work together!)
There's even talk of synthetic yeast being developed that can not only craft specific flavours in wine but also inform a winemaker when a fermentation needs to be checked...
This is a fascinating field of research, one currently reaching fever pitch right now, so we report on and discuss the latest findings, which will be sure to make you think about wine in a new light.
We love to hear from you so please do get in touch! Send us a voice message via Speakpipe or you can find more details to get in touch on our website (link below).
Thanks for tuning in. Here's to the joy of wine - cheers to you!
17 Aug 2023
LIVE Q&A - sulfites, party wines, climate change, top wine tourism tips and being pretentious
00:38:22
This bonus episode may be the last in the current season (4) but it's also a first - the first time we've ever recorded the pod in front of a live audience!
A lovely bunch of people came together in our home town of Winchester to drink a glass or two of fine Hampshire fizz and bombard us with searching questions, from which wines we'd recommend for a large and varied dinner party crowd to the implications of climate change for wine.
They even asked us what were the most pretentious wine descriptions we'd ever used. I mean, the cheek of it...
We also touched on issues ranging from 'sulfite-free' wine to no/low alcohol, our favourite Chardonnay and rosé, which are the best wine regions to visit, the rise of English wine, multi-vintage versus vintage sparkling wine - and what wines you should ALWAYS have at home.
In our introduction we also feature some recent listener feedback from a Napa wine grower questioning how he should explain terroir to visitors to a professor on how microbes (yeasts) can influence a wine's mouthfeel.
Thanks for tuning in. Here's to the joy of wine - cheers to you!
08 Sep 2023
The John Malkovich EXCLUSIVE
00:53:48
'My wife suggested we make wine. I think in the hope of cutting down our wine bill...'
It's classic John Malkovich. The wit as dry as his aged Provençal Pinot Noir rosé (yes, you read that right).
In this epic episode, we get to know John Malkovich the famous actor of stage and screen - but also John Malkovich the fashion designer, the theatre director, and most importantly John Malkovich the wine producer.
This truly is a man for all seasons. But Malkovich seldom abides by convention - and his wine venture in the south of France, Les Quelles de La Coste, typifies this approach. He's planted atypical wine grape varieties like Cabernet Sauvignon, Carmenere - and (whisper it) Pinot Noir. He's even blending them together...
For the wine classicists, this is nothing short of vinous heresy.
So the big questions are: Is this just another cookie-cutter celeb wine project, or is it different? What are the wines actually like? Come to that, what's John Malkovich actually like?
Join us as we pose the tricky questions, hear from the man himself and give our verdict on the wines.
Along the way, John advises wine producers how best to launder money, defines what talent is, explains why he doesn't 'do' pride, identifies the greatest honour of his working life and tells a horror story of how he lost his 'spectacular' 2017 Cabernet.
We also touch on topics as diverse as the Marquis de Sade, fabric collecting, beer chugging, 'boom boom' wines, the importance of details, and how making wine can break your heart.
As the man says: 'I don't consider anything I do particularly provocative. It's just what I do. Which just seems to provoke people...'
We love to hear from you so please do get in touch! Send us a voice message via Speakpipe or you can find more details to get in touch on our website (link below).
Thanks for tuning in. Here's to the joy of wine - cheers to you!
Foot note: This episode, and the entire Season Five of Wine Blast, is dedicated to the memory of Phil Tuck MW.
15 Sep 2023
Marlborough at 50: A wine story worthy of Hollywood
00:49:52
This is a tale of deception, daring, disaster...and deliverance.
It also features skinny sheep and wine robots.
It's the story of Marlborough, the iconic New Zealand wine region which is celebrating its 50th wine birthday, after vines were planted by Frank Yukich in August 1973.
Yukich had risked personal financial ruin getting to this point. 'Wines from here will become world famous!' he declared.
Shortly after which most of the vines died from drought.
But no adventure story is without its supreme setbacks. And this story features everything from the Queen to gut-rot via shiny tractors.
On the wine front, it's sobering to think just how far Marlborough has come in 50 harvests, from a shaky start to sensational Sauvignon Blanc and much more besides. It's a region helping set the global agenda for the wine of the future - and a tribute to the imaginative, resilient Kiwi spirit.
This is a sponsored episode in collaboration with New Zealand Winegrowers. We taste and recommend the following wines from Marlborough:
Brancott Estate Sauvignon Blanc 2022
Brancott Estate Chosen Rows Sauvignon Blanc 2015
Hans Herzog Zweigelt 2017
Hans Herzog Spirit of Marlborough 2016
Greywacke Sauvignon Blanc 2022
Greywacke Wild Sauvignon 2021
Lawson's Dry Hills Reserve Chardonnay 2021
Blank Canvas Reed Chardonnay 2022
Villa Maria Seddon Pinot Gris 2020
Wairau River Pinot Noir 2021
We love to hear from you so please do get in touch! Send us a voice message via Speakpipe or you can find more details to get in touch on our website (link below).
Thanks for tuning in. Here's to the joy of wine - cheers to you!
28 Sep 2023
The Six BEST Wine Books
00:49:57
What are the wine books every wine lover should own?
We thought about it. We argued. We drank some wine. Argued some more...
And then we decided: let's go for it. No messing around: choose just the six BEST books every wine lover needs, whether enthusiastic newbie or jaded expert.
It wasn't easy. But this is the DEFINITIVE listing. A lot of thought and research went into this. Even some reading.
Along the way we came across some bits that stopped us in our tracks. Like Hitler's secret wine cellar, 'freak' wines, the link between a dentist's drill and the most expensive bottle of wine ever sold, fish finger sandwiches, some cheeky poetry, the 'one-night-stand' of wines...
And of course the quote about the salad and the sex toy 😳
And that's from one of the most reputable voices in wine...
In this episode, we heroically save you from the drivel and point you firmly towards the stuff of dreams.
We choose the all-time six best wine books - plus six runners up (to make a full case of 12). With a few honourable mentions along the way.
We also reveal our pet hates about wine books - and question whether books have a future at all.
Perhaps, in your cheerful opinion, you believe we've got this list wrong. Maybe missed off the most life-changing publication EVER. Or you just fancy wading into the debate...
Thanks for tuning in. Here's to the joy of wine - cheers to you!
Wines tasted in this episode
Champagne G.H. Mumm Brut Millésimé 2015
Côte-Rôtie 2011, Domaine Burgaud
P&J Teulier Le Cros Marcillac Lo Sang del Païs 2021
13 Oct 2023
Ventoux: Next Century Wines
00:45:31
It's a wine region variously described as, 'dynamic', whose wines are undergoing a quality 'revolution', and memorably compared to South Africa's uber-cool Swartland.
It's also got a big old mountain on its picture postcard. Not to mention truffles galore.
This is Ventoux.
And we want to take you on a journey of discovery, to meet the people, explore the places, get a feel for the wines...and generally understand why Ventoux is worth your time and attention.
The mountain, it turns out, is important. It makes this one of the coolest appellations in the southern Rhône, giving the wines freshness and vitality. Peter slogs (metaphorically) up to the peak to prove the point.
It also helps in the ongoing efforts to adapt to climate change.
As for the wines...we dive in, exploring the region's unique whites, rosés and reds, the latter constituting the majority of production. And we explore ways in which the wines are changing and evolving with the future in mind.
We ask why so many outsiders have gravitated to Ventoux, experimenting and collaborating along the way. And we explore the region's value-for-money credentials.
The discussion also touches on lycra, beetroot, Cinsault, wine as theatre, joy and butterflies.
Oh, and did we mention truffles?
This episode is sponsored by AOC Ventoux. The following producers are featured:
Domaine du Tix
Domaine Aymard
Marrenon
Chateau Unang
Domaine de Fondrèche
Chêne Bleu
Chateau Pesquié
Clos du Trias
We love to hear from you so please do get in touch! Send us a voice message via Speakpipe or you can find more details to get in touch on our website (link below).
Thanks for tuning in. Here's to the joy of wine - cheers to you!
26 Oct 2023
Ageing English Fizz - How, Why and What
00:45:46
English sparkling wine. We all know it's good.
But how well does it age?
And could this be the secret to unlocking even greater quality from what are already exciting wines?
We do our best to answer these questions and more with the help of several large glasses of very fine mature English fizz - and top winemakers Cherie Spriggs and Brad Greatrix (Nyetimber) and Corinne Seely (Exton Park).
We also hear the views of Clément Pierlot, cellar master at Champagne Pommery and its English offshoot, Louis Pommery England.
We explore what makes an ageworthy sparkling wine (busting a few common myths along the way). And talk about how best to get ahead of the game...
We recommend some of the finest examples of mature English fizz we can get our hands on - from the likes of Nyetimber, Sugrue South Downs, Hattingley Valley, Breaky Bottom, Wiston, Exton Park, Chapel Down and The Grange.
Along the way we discuss magnums, lees ageing, dosage, vintage, variety, yields, storage, balance - and the value of patience.
What's more, Peter gets called 'Mr Humper Dumper' by Susie and shares one of his more insightful tasting notes, which simply reads: 'GIVE ME THE MAGS!'
We love to hear from you so please do get in touch! Send us a voice message via Speakpipe or you can find more details to get in touch on our website (link below).
Thanks for tuning in. Here's to the joy of wine - and cheers to you!
03 Nov 2023
The Ten Wines Never to be Without
00:41:47
We're going full-on Moses mode in this episode, nailing down the ten wines you should always have at home.
Of course, personal taste plays a part. You want to have wines to hand you're going to reach for - which means your favourite styles.
But beyond that, it helps to have some expert insight into the bigger picture in order to always have delicious, affordable and useful wines when you need them.
Our primary objective is joyous everyday drinking.
But also: what works best with food, versatile wines to serve guests, give as gifts, wines that get better over time if you buy a few, ideal wines for those impromptu celebrations, wines for both summer and winter...we even introduce the notion of, 'emergency wine'.
So we define our top 10 'go-to' wine staples. We're aware this is potentially controversial territory. But we also hope it's helpful too.
Helping us out in this challenging task are the fine people at Waitrose, who are sponsoring this episode.
Waitrose do a fine line in wine and, as we focus on these indispensable wine categories, we've chosen individual wines from their range to illustrate our decisions.
When we originally ran this episode, Waitrose had a special offer on: 25% off when you buy 6 or more bottles from £6-100. For the sake of clarity, that offer has now expired (though they do tend to repeat these offers periodically).
But even at the non-discount prices, these wines still represent great quality and value.
So what are the ten wines never to be without? Tune in to find out...
The wines featured in this episode are:
Hattingley Classic Reserve Brut NV, England
Saint Clair Wairau Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc 2022, New Zealand
Bouchard Finlayson Crocodile’s Lair Chardonnay 2021, South Africa
Baron de Ley Club Privado Rioja Reserva 2018, Spain
Terre di Faiano Puglia Primitivo 2021, Italy
Chateau Oumsiyat Mijana 2019, Lebanon
Crociani Vin Santo di Montepulciano 2017, Italy
Florent Rouve Arbois Chardonnay 2020, France
Val di Suga Brunello di Montalcino 2016, Italy
We love to hear from you so please do get in touch! Send us a voice message via Speakpipe or you can find more details to get in touch on our website (link below).
Thanks for tuning in. Here's to the joy of wine - and cheers to you!
17 Nov 2023
The New Face of Languedoc
00:46:21
Languedoc is a wine region on the move.
Sure, it's a huge region with plenty of history, some of it troubled.
But there are things happening in Languedoc wine now that are innovative, surprising, intriguing and...well, delicious.
In short, it's well worthy of our attention.
In this episode, sponsored by AOP Languedoc, we chat to writers Rupert Millar and Rosemary George MW, and we also hear from wine growers Benoît Bertrand (Domaine de Malavieille) and Jenia Vermillard (Domaine Ampelhus).
We hear of ambitious attempts to revive long lost grape varieties from the verge of extinction, and ingenious solutions to the challenges posed by climate change.
We explore the region's renown for good value in its wines, consider its historic ups and downs, and look to what the future might hold.
Along the way we somehow feature feather boas, Lithuania, a stray dog, the Romans, shrinking pains, finishing school, architecture, Assyrtiko, violins, agroforestry and ratatouille.
Oh, and a love story.
And of course it wouldn't be a normal episode of Wine Blast if we didn't taste and recommend some brilliant wines. These beauties are all AOP Languedoc wines:
Chateau de Lascaux Garrigue Blanc 2021
Paul Mas Jardin de Roses Traviata 2022
Bergerie du Capucin Les 100 Pas du Berger Rouge 2020
Domaine de Roquemale Les Grés 2020
Domaine Ampelhus Languedoc Grés de Montpellier 2022
Clos des Nines L’Orée 2020
Domaine Les Aurelles Solen 2000
We love to hear from you so please do get in touch! Send us a voice message via Speakpipe or you can find more details to get in touch on our website (link below).
Thanks for tuning in. Here's to the joy of wine - and cheers to you!
01 Dec 2023
Ukraine: Wine not War
00:49:02
Odessa Black.
It's the name of a (Ukranian) grape variety. But it could almost be code for the desperate times the people of Ukraine are living through.
In this episode, we explore the history and current context of Ukraine, hearing first-hand insights from Tania Olevska of the Ukrainian Wine Company and Svitlana Tsybak of the Beykush winery.
Despite the chaos and devastation in Ukraine, wine represents a point of hope, an expression of Ukrainian culture, terroir, identity and resilience.
Although what is Europe's second largest country has a long relationship with the vine, quality wine isn't one of Ukraine's most emblematic products.
That started to change after independence from the Soviet Union in 1991, and since 2010 there has been a quality revolution as a new wave of craft winemakers captured the public attention.
Then came full-scale war with Russia in early 2022.
But Ukraine's winemakers are refusing to be cowed. They soldier on, ministering to their vines as the relentless rhythms of winemaking insist they must.
Despite the shells and rockets overhead. Despite the mortal peril that has already cost so many lives, including many from the wine community.
'We didn't pay money for our PR; we paid [with] the lives of Ukrainians for our PR,' says Tania, grimly.
And yet celebrating and savouring Ukraine's new wave wines is an act of joy, resistance and solidarity in its own right.
In this episode, we raise a glass for exactly this reason, and hear many an eye-opening, heart-warming story along the way. Wines we recommend include:
Shabo Telti Kuruk Reserve 2022, Odessa
Biologist Sukholimanskiy 2022, Kyiv
Beykush Lerici Timorasso 2021, Mikolaiv
Kolonist Odessa Blanc 2021, Bessarabia
We love to hear from you so please do get in touch! Send us a voice message via Speakpipe or you can find more details to get in touch on our website (link below).
Thanks for tuning in. Here's to the joy of wine - and cheers to you!
15 Dec 2023
Our WINES OF THE YEAR (2023)
00:53:09
Our Wines of the Year format has grown into this riotous, rollicking rollercoaster of a show which we humbly offer up for your amusement and delectation.
This is no shopping list.
Nor is it a chest-beating exercise in showing off how #wineblessed we are.
This episode is the story of a year in wine: a celebration of special bottles and special times, set against the backdrop of news, views and a lot of laughter.
Featuring in this wine-soaked adventure are Dutch nuns, kiwis, Homer Simpson, talking corks, Susie in a balloon suit, gravy, Nigel the dog, a broom-brandishing Greek grandmother, Jesus and Peter's pants.
We discuss wine news including the latest wine fraud hoo-ha (and a new AI tool to fight wine fakery), why Bordeaux may be uprooting 10% of its vineyard, how major foreign investment is boosting English wine and the latest research offering the tantalising prospect of solving the mystery of red wine headaches.
Your listener feedback and questions get an airing, touching on English fizz, Portuguese wine, the dream of owning a vineyard in Italy, breathless Colorado winemaking - and what we do with our leftovers.
Wines featured range from an Essex Sauvignon Blanc to a Japanese Pinot Noir via an 'aromatised wine-based drink' that's considerably tastier than its official designation.
To cap it all we announce our BIG GONGS, which this year we've expanded to include Producer of the Year, Value Wine of the Year and, in the constant quest for ever more fun, Leftfield Wine of the Year.
Atop this particular tree, though, is just one wine: our Wine of the Year. What in the world could it be?!
This episode is dedicated to the memory of Phil Tuck MW, who loved nothing more than sharing great wines with friends. An inspiration to us all.
We love to hear from you so please do get in touch! Send us a voice message via Speakpipe or you can find more details to get in touch on our website (link below).
Thanks for tuning in. Here's to the joy of wine - and cheers to you!
29 Dec 2023
A Southern French Feast
00:46:54
Wine. Food. Merriment. And a touch of southern French sun.
That just about sums up this episode.
We're exploring Occitanie - the sun-kissed southern French region that stretches from the western Rhone through Languedoc and Roussillon into South West France.
Taken as a whole, it's the world's largest vineyard and makes around 5% of global wine output.
In the past, these regions have been criticised for focusing on quantity over quality and being out of touch with the modern wine world.
But things have changed significantly in recent decades, as the vineyard has been drastically shrunk and successful producers have focused on quality, innovation, value, indigenous varieties and the future.
And that's not all this part of the world is known for. It also boasts a mighty fine gastronomic scene.
So yes, you guessed it: we couldn't resist.
In this episode we're serving up six dishes inspired by southern French ingredients: mushroom arancini, Mediterranean shellfish stew, cod with beurre blanc and winter ratatouille, Toulouse sausage casserole, duck shepherd's pie and Roquefort.
Then we find Occitanie wines to pair with those different dishes, neatly illustrating the diversity of the region in the process, from elegant sparkling wine to lusciously sweet Vin Doux Naturel via a brand new style of Picpoul de Pinet that we didn't know about.
Along the way we hear from expert Matthew Stubbs MW plus growers Jean-Claude Mas (Les Domaines Paul Mas) and Pauline Nadal (Domaine Nadal Hainaut).
Somehow we touch on manure, fried brians (yes, you read that right), Asterix, bootcamps, touchy-feely labels, wines with soul and a nitrogen generator.
Thanks to the Occitanie Region for sponsoring this podcast.
Just a few of the wines we feature in this episode are:
Sieur d'Arques Crémant de Limoux Blason Rouge Brut NV
Roc des Angles Llum 2022, Côtes Calanes
Les Vignerons de Florensac Picpoul de Pinet Selection 2020
Château Estanilles Vallongue rosé 2022, Faugères
Calmel & Joseph Les Terroirs La Fabrique 2021, Côtes du Brian
Clos d'Elpis Elpis Route 2021, Côtes Catalanes
Domaine de Rancy Rivesaltes Ambré Vin Doux Naturel 1998
We love to hear from you so please do get in touch! Send us a voice message via Speakpipe or you can find more details to get in touch on our website (link below).
Thanks for tuning in. Here's to the joy of wine - and cheers to you!
12 Jan 2024
ORANGE WINE Part 1: The Resurrection
00:51:37
'Please can you do an episode on orange wine?' pleaded listener David.
'It's not just hipster wine! These are some of the finest wines in the world...'
How could we resist?
Orange wine is topical, misunderstood, controversial...
It's also an intriguing story featuring a wine style lost in the mists of time being painstakingly resurrected by a handful of brave pioneers in the face of stiff opposition.
So we leap headlong into this arena, asking the all-important questions like: what even IS orange wine? Where did it come from? Why is it misunderstood and controversial? How does it relate to natural wine?
And ultimately: is orange wine actually any good?!
In this first instalment in a two-parter on orange wine, we talk to orange wine expert Simon Woolf, author of the brilliant book Amber Revolution: How the World Learned to Love Orange Wine.
We also hear from Mateja Gravner of the iconic Friuli-based orange wine producer Gravner. And we recommend a couple of good value orange wines:
Santa Tresa Insieme Orange 2022, Sicily
Burja Estate Zelen 2022, Slovenia
Do also check out the second and concluding part of our orange wine 'fest' where we talk to natural and orange wine guru Doug Wregg of Les Caves de Pyrene, and renowned orange wine producer Saša Radikon. Plus we get into a fight over a particularly divisive orange wine...
We love to hear from you so please do get in touch! Send us a voice message via Speakpipe or you can find more details to get in touch on our website (link below).
Thanks for tuning in. Here's to the joy of wine - and cheers to you!
26 Jan 2024
ORANGE WINE Part 2: Gimme Some Skin
00:53:44
So - orange wine. Is it any good? What qualifies a wine to be 'orange'? Does it sell? And who's going to win our argument about one particularly divisive orange wine?!
Dive into the controversial, topical and intriguing subject of orange wine with us as we chat with Saša Radikon of iconic orange wine producer Radikon (who gives us an exclusive revelation about a new project) and nautral wine guru Doug Wregg of Les Caves de Pyrene. We taste (and largely disagree about) orange wines from Mlečnik, Vagabond and Dario Prinčič. Peter also gets very excited about his, 'lamb litmus test'.
This is the second and final episode in our epic two-parter on orange wine. You don't need to listen to the first episode to enjoy this one, they stand alone. But Episode 1 features Mateja Gravner and Simon Woolf, author of the brilliant book Amber Revolution.
We love to hear from you so please do get in touch! Send us a voice message via Speakpipe or you can find more details to get in touch on our website (link below). All details from this episode, including full listings of all the wines featured in the show, are on our website: Show notes for Wine Blast S5 E12 - ORANGE WINE Part 2: Gimme Some Skin. Thanks for tuning in. Here's to the joy of wine - and cheers to you!
Deep in the wilds of south-west France there's a vineyard that was planted over 200 years ago with unknown vines that may hold the secret to fighting climate change.
Join us as we head (virtually) out to Gascony to peer into the mists of wine history and see what lessons it holds for the future. Olivier Bourdet-Pees of the dynamic Plaimont cooperative is our genial, beret-wearing guide, introducing us to grape varieties we've never heard of and explaining how this region has been reinvigorated after making some of, 'the worst wine in France 40 years ago'.
This episode is sponsored by AOC St Mont and features a number of wines including Plaimont's iconic Vignes Préphylloxeriques bottling.
Light strike is probably the biggest wine fault you've never heard of. Bigger than cork, bigger than oxidation or anything else.
That pretty-looking bottle of rosé perched on the bright supermarket shelf in a clear glass bottle? Probably knackered. If it's been exposed to light for a while, it may end up smelling of boiled cabbage, drains, or wet dog. At the very least, its character will almost certainly have been degraded from what its winemaker intended. And that's not what you're paying your hard-earned money for.
It's nothing less than daylight robbery. In this episode, we explain what light strike is, how fast it happens, and which wines are most at risk. We hear from experts, including the co-author of an illuminating recent research paper, and rage against the fact that the problem seems shockingly prevalent, but so little is being done.
We even carry out our very own applied research experiment (featuring bottles, funnels, argon gas and a blindfold) which gives unequivocal results. We call for wholesale change - from producers, distributors, retailers - and give clear advice on what we normal wine drinkers should do about all this (barricades, tyre burning and civil unrest are proposed...but not necessarily endorsed).
In this episode we hear from Panagiotis Arapitsas, Deepika Koushik, Liz Gabay MW, Brad Greatrix and Tom Stevenson. Our thanks to them - and to you for tuning in.
From big brand to fine wine - it's no exaggeration to say that grower champagne has changed the notion of what champagne can and should be.
Pioneers like Francis Egly of iconic grower champagne Egly-Ouriet have invested huge amounts of time and money prioritising their vineyards, relentlessly focusing on quality and terroir expression in their wines - and ultimately going up against the big Champagne houses. It's a brave move, but one that is reinvigorating the region and attracting many converts to the cause.
In this episode we chat with Francis Egly and his daughter Clemence to hear their thoughts on why it's important to harvest their grapes ripe, age their bottles extensively and see the process through from growing grapes to selling their wine. We also hear from Charles Lea, owner and director of respected London wine merchant Lea & Sandeman, on how a lockdown trip to Champagne saw him move away from the 'boring' big production houses and embrace the growers' cause.
Along the way, we provide the context and analysis, and taste through a number of quite stunning grower champagnes - including an exclusive taster of a new Egly-Ouriet wine that's not yet been released on the UK market...
This exhilarating revival of the grape variety known as Garnacha in Spain and Grenache in France, once the world's fourth most widely planted wine grape, which has gone from workhorse to show pony in the blink of an eye. How come? What's changed? Who's leading the charge and fuelling the new wave? And what's this we hear about inherent suitability vis a vis climate change?!
We ask all these questions and more, focusing on the epicentre of Grenache renaissance: Spain. We hear from leading Spanish wine lights Sara Perez, Fernando Mora, Alvaro Palacios and Norrel Robertson, among others. A fair few delicious recommendations litter the chat, during which we also dwell on love, diamonds, mastication, stems, Samurai - and the will of the cosmos.
Not many wines ascend to the status of 'icon'. But Sassicaia is one of them.
The beauty is that it's not a flashy wine - quite the opposite ('old school' might be a more appropriate description). What's more, its ascent to the wine stratosphere is largely accidental - this scented, elegant Bordeaux blend from Bolgheri in coastal Tuscany was only ever intended as a quaffing wine for friends and family on the Tenuta San Guido estate, a farm initially dedicated to breeding horses, growing crops and a wildlife reserve.
How times change. In this episode, we peek behind the scenes of Sassicaia, asking what really makes this fine wine tick, talking to the key people, tasting the top vintages, busting myths and asking the difficult questions. Price is one - it's gone up significantly of late. Fraud is another - Italian police recently broke up a gang running a fake Sassicaia operation to the tune of €2m. Priscilla Inchisa della Rochetta, Brett Flemming and Nicolas Clerc MS shed light on all these issues and more.
Along the way, we recommend our all-time favourite Sassicaia vintages, and touch on things like the 'secret' Sassicaia, The Divine Comedy, sommeliers kissing each other, Desperate Dan, World Cup penalties, Italian stallions and lobster pie.
There's a new wave of English and Welsh wine producers disrupting the neat and tidy order of the classic UK wine scene. Guerrilla producers - cool kids who aren't afraid to go off-piste and craft dangerous, divisive wines packed full of quirks and kinks. Their attitude? It's better to be naughty than nice. As one winemaker says - he wants to make, 'wines with a cheeky smile.'
In this wide-ranging episode we dive headlong into this world of creativity, experimentation and free thinking. Our journey takes us from wines made under a London railway arch to sheep savaging vines in a Welsh hillside - and we taste everything from orange wines to pet nat, col fondo, 'grower' English fizz and, 'purple Welsh bubbles.'
Interviewed in this episode are Tommy Grimshaw (Langham), Susan and James Kinsey-Jones (Whinyard Rocks), Jose Quintana (Vagabond) and Sergio Verrillo (Blackbook). Also featured are producers Domaine Hugo, Westwell, The Wharie Experience and Ancre Hill.
News & Views - global wine wobbles, free wine for phones, Merlot in the bath & does cling film remove cork taint?
00:43:48
How and why is the global wine scene in a bit of a state? Why is wine threatened by weight-loss drugs and smartphones? Does drinking high quality wine make you happier - and does light drinking increase longevity?
This is our periodic programme where we catch up on the more intriguing wine news, pondering everything from weighty matters (as above) but also touching on lighter-hearted fare. Such as an Italian restaurant offering diners free wine in exchange for locking away their phones, an airport planning to build a vineyard on its roof, and whether cling film removes cork taint...
We also play our very fun 'Guess the Word in the Wine Headline' game (sommeliers, divorce and Merlot in the bath feature this time round). Plus, we recap on all the reaction and headlines following our Light Strike pod. And we hear your views and questions, which lead us to talk about Ukraine, a potential Wine Blast cookbook, orange wine and the SWEATS (not what you think - but still scandalous).
Thanks for tuning in. We love to hear from you so please do get in touch! Particularly since in this episode we ask you what quirky wine slang you use in your house (and what it means) and what wine you'd pair with which household activity (the quirkier the better). Send us a voice message via Speakpipe. Or you can find contact info, together with all details from this episode, on our website: Show notes for Wine Blast S5 E19 - News & Views
What do bagpipes, rain, witches, pilgrimage, lampreys and Albariño all have in common? Not much really - but they are all featured in this episode on Rías Baixas, the intriguing wine region in north-west Spain famous for its seafood, verdant landscapes and refreshing, brine-tinged white wines.
Historically, this was always a remote region of hardy fishermen and misty hillsides. But since the 1980s a wine revolution has been taking place, majoring on a distinctive style of Albariño we wine drinkers have lapped up, and propelling the official appellation vineyard from a tiny 237 hectares in 1987 to 4,480 hectares today.
In this first instalment of a sponsored two-parter with DO Rías Baixas, we get a feel for the place, its people, history, food and wines. We explore the region's famous whites, recommending some as we go, but also explore the lesser known reds and sparkling wines.
Peter has a run-in with a sea urchin and a particularly pungent lamprey stew, and we hear from Stephanie Schilling (Santiago Ruiz), Susana Pérez (Pazo San Mauro), Fernando Oubiña (Mariscos Laureano), Natalia Rodríguez (Señorío de Rubiós), and Lúcia Barbosa (Adegas Galegas).
If Rías Baixas is famous for one thing, it's characterful, invigorating white wine based on the superstar Albariño grape - described in this episode by one winemaker as a variety that can take you, 'from the swimming pool to the Michelin-starred restaurant.'
Its blossoming popularity over recent decades has given rise to imitators all around the wine world - so what is it that makes Rías Baixas Albariño special, and why? Is there more to the story than just Albariño here? Who's doing exciting things? And what does the future hold?
In this second and concluding part of our two-parter, sponsored by DO Rías Baixas, we ask the big questions of key growers including Vicky Mareque (Pazo Señorans), Isabel Salgado (Fillaboa), Lúcia Barbosa (Adegas Galegas), Lucia Freire (Santiago Ruiz) and Natalia Rodríguez (Señorío de Rubiós). We also feature a number of outstanding wines, from Fillaboa's 1898 to Selección de Añada (2014 and 2003) by Señorans.
We cover everything from terroir, subzones, blends, experimentation, oak, climate change, competition and more. Peter goes on a breathless wander and at one point comes up with the line: 'You've been Albariñoed!' You need to listen to get the full context...
Wine brings pleasure. But for some it can also prove painful. Red wine is particularly problematic for a proportion of the population, with just a few mouthfuls bringing on swift and excruciating headaches.
Now scientists think they may finally be on to why. In lab experiments, they've identified a compound in red wine that impedes the breakdown of alcohol by the liver and causes a build-up of toxic acetaldehyde in the bloodstream. Human trials are still needed for confirmation - but these are exciting findings.
In this episode, we discuss these results with the scientists behind them: Professor Andrew Waterhouse and Dr Apramita Devi from the University of California, Davis.
As for the BIG question - which red wines might be safer for sufferers - there's good news. The experts actually recommend cheap rather than pricey red wines. Yes, you read that right: the boffins are endorsing the bargains! We explain why as well as providing some top tips for bargain basement reds - we also touch on the tantalising prospect of how this research may help us understand hangovers too.
A final note: research like this costs money and yet neither governments nor big companies want to fund it (a crying shame). As a result, the team at UC Davis has launched a Crowdfunder. If you'd like to contribute, or find out more, click here: Red Wine Headaches Project
Wine can seem tremendously unimportant at a time of war. At what is a torrid time in the Middle East, we wanted to check in with three winemakers - from Palestine, Israel and Lebanon - and ask: can wine really be a source of positivity during troubled times?
What we hear in this episode may surprise you. It's a departure from our regular format - a bonus extended edition - because we wanted to give proper airtime to these powerful, nuanced, important interviews. Wine has more history in the Levant than in almost every other place on earth, bar the Caucasus. Its revival in recent years has been intriguing and exciting. So what is its place now that conflict is raging?
Wine is a conversation starter. There is value in talking. We wanted to take the time to listen - and so we thank Sari Khoury (Philokalia), Eran Pick MW (Tzora Vineyards) and Faouzi Issa (Domaine des Tourelles) for taking the time to talk and share their forthright views with us.
Here are a few sample quotes: 'We have so many things to do in this beautiful world rather than killing people,' 'I'm extremely confused - we're in shock, a post-traumatic period that we don't have any solution,' 'The biggest challenge is to make wine during war,' 'Survival comes first,' 'We're quite minimalistic with our expectations,' 'I'm sure wine could bring people together - it's a fact,' 'I'm making the wine - but the wine is making me in the process,' 'Try to taste our wines - and understand the story from all sides,' 'Let the wines speak.'
It's popular, it's pleasurable - and it's much misunderstood. Rosé is having a moment and yet the myths remain pervasive.
That's our cue to ride to the rescue, busting a host of rosé myths as we go, shooting down cardinal sins from the hip, and urging a radical re-think of rosé all round.
We hear from rosé experts Elizabeth Gabay MW and Ben Berhneim as well as fifth-generation producer Caroline Deforges of the world-famous Clos Cibonne estate in the south of France.
Rosé is often patronisingly dismissed as simple and forgettable. Party plonk best drunk pool-side, ideally while wearing a bikini. And yet, alongside the rise of pink Prosecco and posh Provençal super-cuvées, there's a rosé revolution going on that you really don't want to miss.
As one of our interviewees puts it: 'open your mind' and 'you will be surprised!' So here's to freeing our minds and drinking the sunset! We also recommend a bunch of brilliant rosé wines so you can join in the fun.
Climate change is a worry. We get it. But how to do something positive about it, especially as a wine lover? After all, it's not easy knowing which wines to buy to support producers doing the right thing...
Which is where the IWCA comes in handy - International Wineries for Climate Action. This is a bunch of conscientious wine producers who have signed up to stringent, science-based carbon emission audits and committed to reaching net zero by 2050. As well as sharing info and generally being responsible about the environment.
It's ground-breaking stuff and in this episode we get the low-down on the IWCA and hear about ingenious schemes to combat climate change from Familia Torres president and IWCA co-founder Miguel A Torres (the legend!), Sogrape fourth generation member Mafalda Guedes and Ramuntxo Andonegui of Domaine Lafage in Roussillon. We also recommend our favourites from a recent IWCA 'low emission wine' tasting in London.
The word 'extinction' crops up. But so do the words 'resilience', 'happy', 'friendly' and, 'delicious'. So that's nice.
It's a biggie. Our Chile Wines of the Year 2024 - a celebration and exploration of this slender South American nation's wines. And what's coming up may surprise you. So if you think you know Chilean wine - be prepared to think again.
We discuss vineyards planted before the French revolution, sensational value Pinot Noir (the holy grail!), flor-aged Semillon, a Pinot Gris inspired by the great orange wines of Friuli, wines you 'eat' rather than drink and old-vine País made, 'as if it were the finest Pinot Noir from Burgundy'.
We hear from Chilean wine luminaries including Felipe Marin, Ricardo Baettig, Ana María Cumsille, François Massoc, Eduardo Chadwick, Matías Ríos and Edgard Carter. (Told you it was big.) There's plenty of opinion, insight, top tips. Even the odd 'light-house wine' and inflection point.
In case you're wondering, in this programme we also explain what this Chile Wines of the Year thing is. Essentially, we've chosen just over 100 wines to showcase just how diverse, delicious, fun, funky and fine modern Chilean wine is. We've also selected a few brilliant producers and wines for top awards.
This episode is produced in association with Wines of Chile. Please do also check out the accompanying Chile Wines of the Year 2024 report, packed full of information, opinion, ratings and top tips, which is free to download from our website via this link: Show notes for Wine Blast S6 E1 - Chile Wines of the Year 2024
27 Sep 2024
Hunter Valley: History to High Jinks
00:43:57
A hop, skip and jump away from Sydney, the Hunter Valley is renowned as the birthplace of Australian wine. And yet this is far from ideal wine territory: hot, sticky, often stormy. So how did this tiny wine region come to play such an outsize role in Ozzie wine’s history and evolution?
Join us to find out why as we chew the cud with Hunter legend Bruce Tyrrell (sample quote: ‘I’m the luckiest man in the wine industry’) and winemaker Xanthe Hatcher (‘The Hunter’s a region of extremes…’) We touch on everything from French pick-pockets to oysters and, 'oblivion for a dollar fifty'.
We explore how Hunter Semillon became an idiosyncratic global classic whose naturally low alcohol, refreshing, distinctive and food-friendly style paradoxically mean it’s well suited to the wine drinkers of today. (But it wasn’t always going to be this way – at one stage the wines had enough acidity, ‘to take the enamel off your teeth!’)
And we also look beyond Semillon to other Hunter staples like Chardonnay and Shiraz as well as future bets like Fiano.
Thanks to the Hunter Valley Wine and Tourism Association and Wine Australia for sponsoring this episode. As ever, all opinions and recommendations are entirely our own. And thanks to you for tuning in.
Consider this our call to arms for wine. Where we grapple heroically with the thorny issue of wine and health, calling out misinformation and over-reach, and learn that the truth is always complex, potentially positive - but often mis-represented. This makes us angry and frustrated. And you should feel the same too.
You may also feel confused or jaded by this topic. Understandably so. But join us and we will hopefully clear things up AND imbue you with renewed vigour to fight the good fight. Because this is about things we all hold dear - freedom, fairness and our health and personal pleasure. For wine lovers, this is not a time to stay silent.
Helping us shed light on this contentious topic are Christopher Snowdon from the Institute of Economic Affairs and Dr Laura Catena, former emergency physician in San Francisco, now head of respected Argentine winery Catena Zapata. Also cited are Tim Stockwell, Sir David Spiegelhalter, Kenneth Mukamal, Eric B Rimm and Edward Slingerland.
Along the way we talk dogs, megaphones, the J-shaped curve, bacon sandwiches, zombie arguments and quantifying joy. We even find time to recommend some delicious wines.
China has the world's third biggest vineyard and a long history with fermentation and booze. So what's Chinese wine like? Why do we not see more of it outside China? And why are some people predicting big things for Chinese wine in the future?
Answers to all this and more flow thick and fast in this intriguing episode, the result of Susie's recent wine trip to China during which she sat down to record with expert insiders Li Demei and Natalie Wang. We also taste several Chinese wines and deliver our verdict on where the country's wines are right now. Ultimately, we ask: is this an inflection point for Chinese wine?
Along the way we discuss things as varied as burying vines, baijiu, karaoke, geopolitical hot potatoes, Marselan, heavy bottles, 'half-juice', poetry, pandas, pigswill, pricing and horses on travellators...
Ladybug poo. Cheesy feet. Mould. Boiled eggs. Cabbage. Drains. Vomit. Nail varnish remover. Dead mouse...
Yes, you can find all these noxious aromas in a glass of wine. They are very real - and in this episode we put our bodies on the line as we blind taste through all these horrors and more, to answer the big questions and ensure you know your stuff. (Because life is too short for faulty wine.)
So what are the main wine faults? How can you spot them? Is it true some are becoming more common? Why do they happen? What can you do about it? And dead mouse...really??!!
The answers may surprise and shock you. We have Dutch sensory scientist Sietze Wijma in the hot-seat, serving us wines spiked with taints to bring these faults to life. We give our six Top Wine Taint Tips - and explain how to check your wine properly. Which, as we reveal, can actually be a matter of life and death.
This show's got everything. It's got deliciously unexpected wine discoveries. It's got live music. It's even got a donkey. You can't ask for more than that.
As for how that all comes together...well, you'll just have to listen, won't you?!
This episode's all about Portugal's white wines, the best of which are astonishingly good and different and worthwhile (and, relatively speaking, inexpensive). Join us as we explore why this is, from Vinho Verde to the Douro, Dão, Alentejo and beyond, with the help of top-notch producers Tiago Mendes and Daniel Niepoort, plus plenty of open bottles.
There's a revolution going on in the vineyards. It's coming to a glass near you soon. And it could change the world of wine forever.
We're talking super vines. Bionic vines. PIWIs. Resistant vines. Hybrids. TEA vines - the new generation, 'assisted evolution' kit. Whatever you want to call them - there's a new breed of grape vines spreading fast all over the wine world, from Champagne to Piedmont, fuelled by the urgent need to reduce vineyard treatments and face up to climate change.
In this show we talk to wine growers and researchers at the cutting edge of this fast-evolving field - Nicola Biasi, Dr Riccardo Velasco, Professor Mario Pezzotti and Hugo Drappier. If that isn't enough, we also have some BREAKING NEWS for you.
The criticism often levelled at PIWI or resistant vines is that they don't make very nice wines. We challenge that notion with a tasting of our own - which includes some great value recommendations you can try out too (including a £6 bargain at Tesco...)
Or is our WINE OF THE YEAR none (or all) of the above...because it is, quite simply, pure gold?
Welcome to our Wines of the Year show, an annual favourite where we look back over the past year, not always entirely seriously, and raise many a glass in the process.
We recap on key news, play Guess the Missing Word in the Wine Headline, share listener input...and then recommend the wines which have made the biggest impression on us this year, from a great value red and white pair, a left-field fizz, a hot-shot producer of the year...culminating in a truly epic Wine of the Year.
Along the way we talk robots, beefing up Burgundy, tipsy shrews, BBQ sauce, dinosaurs, sherry trifle, Beethoven, childish protests and a long-dead Roman.
Why does wine taste the way it does? Why does Cabernet smell like blackcurrant? Or Syrah like pepper? Or Beaujolais like...bananas?!
In this intriguing show our genial, white-coated guide is wine chemist and sensory scientist Gus Zhu, the first Chinese Master of Wine. As he says, 'Behind every glass of wine, there is science.'
In terms of chemistry, wine is one of the most complex solutions on the planet. Not only that, but human senses are notoriously complicated and variable. It all makes answering the question of why wine tastes the way it does...quite tricky.
But do not fear - there's plenty to learn and enjoy in this episode, and we touch on things as varied as flowers, cigarettes, farting, petrol, AI, soap, saliva, whisky, urine and strawberry-flavoured yoghurt.
NB: you can get 15% off Gus' brilliant new book (Behind the Glass: The Chemical and Sensorial Terroir of Wine Tasting) by using the code WINEBLAST15 at www.academieduvinlibrary.com
Don't Know Western Australia's Great Southern? You Should
00:52:33
What the hell...where the hell...is the Great Southern?! That's what most people say. Which is why Peter got on a plane and braved fires, snakes and Vegemite to bring you this story of what is arguably Western Australia's best kept secret.
Remote? Undoubtedly. Rural? Positively. Hugely exciting for the elegant, refined, often under-valued Riesling, Chardonnay, Cabernet, Shiraz...even Grenache and Mourvedre?! You betcha.
So join us on this thrilling journey of discovery, where we paint a soundscape as well as a taste map, and meet wonderful wine personalities who talk us through weird and wonderful things from cuddles to Wonderbras, emperor penguins, the X-factor, shade cloth, resplendence and knitting.
Interviewees include Tom Wisdom, Mike Garland (Plantagenet), Erin Larkin, Guy Lyons (Forest Hill), Patrick Corbett (Singlefile), Matt Swinney and Rob Mann (Swinney), Marelize Russouw (Alkoomi), Larry Cherubino and Sid the dog. Our thanks to the Western Australian government and industry for sponsoring this mini-series, whose final and concluding episode is on Margaret River.
Western Australia's Margaret River is renowned as one of the world's foremost fine wine hotspots. But it only got started in 1967, so how has it built that reputation so fast? What makes this place unique? Why is it called, 'wine utopia' as well as, 'the best hangover cure known to man'?!
Join us as we go behind the scenes with a star-studded list of Margaret River wine royalty, from Cape Mentelle to Cloudburst via Vasse Felix, Cullen, Moss Wood, Xanadu, Voyager, McHenry Hohnen and Larry Cherubino.
We talk elegant Cabernet and savoury Chardonnay (plus the odd bit of Savagnin), also touching on things as diverse as Alfred Hitchcock, space invaders, Formula One, Tall Poppy syndrome, kangaroos, transparency, margaritas, radiometrics, raucous birds and short shorts. We even take a moment to appreciate a bit of opera...
This is a sponsored episode in conjunction with Western Australian government and industry - the second in a two-parter mini series (check out our episode on the Great Southern to get the first instalment).
Wine and other booze are under attack like seldom before, from many sides: moralists, the media, health authorities citing dubious studies... So it's high time we reminded ourselves why wine is important, the many values and benefits it has, and what we can all do to challenge these pernicious narratives.
Don't worry. This isn't some dry treatise or frothy-mouthed rant. We are privileged to have acclaimed authority Karen MacNeil (author of The Wine Bible, no less) making the case for wine eloquently and persuasively.
But Karen doesn't stop there. She's letting her actions speak louder than words by launching two global wine advocacy campaigns - Come Over October and Share & Pair Sundays - aimed at encouraging people to come together over a glass of wine and promoting conviviality, sociability and fun.
For wine lovers, it's time to stand up and be counted. In this show we explore why, and also touch on things as diverse as jugs of vodka, joyful companions, The Simpsons, and just how useless Masters of Wine can be. French nun Sister André crops up - and we have some great pairing suggestions involving cheese on toast and fried chicken.
Appellations are wine regions with rules, normally associated with Europe. So how come an enviably free-wheeling, super successful region like New Zealand's Marlborough has felt the need to develop Appellation Marlborough Wine?
We put this question and more to Ben Glover, renowned winemaker and proud Appellation Marlborough Wine (AMW) member. He talks about, 'ripping the beige quilt off Marlborough' and his distaste for 'mediocrity'.
We also have fun playing around with AMW's jazzy new interactive wine map, tasting along to bring the geography to life through a set of delicious Marlborough Sauvignon Blancs. (You can do the same too!)
Thanks to Appellation Marlborough Wine for sponsoring this episode and once again allowing us to taste and talk about one of our all-time favourite wine regions. We also touch on things as diverse as pastoral shows, the Model T Ford in black, springtime fireworks, scripture, swamps, growing pains, snow peas, 'corrupt acidity' and dancing a merry jig...
Wine. In a can. A hellish reality of tinny plonk? Or a convenient, eco-friendly, fun new format that's the future for wine?
This is fun one, because our adventure starts with comedy legend (and proud French snob) Marcel Lucont. We're not only treated to an epic live rendition of his scabrous poem 'Wine in a Can' (compulsory listening for any wine lover) but also his delicious musings on wine and life more generally - including Beaujolais for breakfast.
After picking ourselves up off the floor, we try to regain some dignity as we ask three questions: Is canned wine any good? Why should we buy it, if at all? And which ones are best?
We exclusively reveal the results of a blind taste test by two Masters of Wine (ie us) to see if we can spot the difference between the same wine from a bottle and a can. And we report the highlights from a mega-tasting of 77 canned wines, giving a definitive verdict on this fast-moving scene.
Along the way we hear from fellow Master of Wine Richard Kelley (The Liberator), Brixton Wine Club founder Louisa Payne and Morris Carr of 'craft winery' Attimo. And don't worry, we do ask the BIG questions. Like: is it OK to swig wine straight from the can? And is there a place for straws in this equation?!
Ridge is an iconic wine producer - not just in its homeland California, but in global terms too.
But how and why did it attain this status in just 70 years? Is it really true their policy has been never to hire a trained winemaker? What is this 'pre-industrial winemaking' they champion? How have they managed to successfully buck the trend for opulence in California Cabernet? Which of their wines (whisper it) don't we like? And can you really be great at both Cabernet Sauvignon and Zinfandel, two grapes seemingly at opposite ends of the red wine spectrum?
Answers to all these questions and more feature in this treat of a show to mark Wine Blast's fifth birthday (yay!) We hear fascinating insights and stories from Ridge Chairman Paul Draper as well as head winemaker John Olney before diving into Ridge's wines, including a vertical tasting of Lytton Springs Zinfandel back to 1976. (A Monte Bello Cab from 1977 pops up too...)
These are wines that make you smile - then make you think. We hope Wine Blast performs a similar kind of magic!
Do You Need More than One Wine Glass in Your Life?
00:49:22
Some people say you need loads of different wine glasses. Others say you need just one kind (known as 'universals'). There's money, reputation, even relationships on the line here. So what's the answer?!
In this episode we share significant new research by Jackie Ang MW, hot off the press, that answers two key questions. Firstly, do different wine glasses make you taste and rate a wine differently? Secondly, which work better: 'universal' wine glasses, or grape-variety-specific glasses?
We also hear strong views from two big hitters in the wine glass world: 11th-generation Austrian glassmaker Maximilian Riedel and renowned wine writer Jancis Robinson MW, co-creator of the 'Jancis' glass.
Of course we also share our views on the matter, to help guide you through a subject that can be as complex and headache-inducing as a night on the fine wine. Along the way we touch on golf clubs, blindfolds, jet engines, shoe collections, Marie Kondo - and how a measuring tape could help save you money...
Welcome to Wine Blast with Susie and Peter - Trailer 2020
00:02:27
Hello! We’re going to drive you to drink. (In the very best way possible, of course.) This show is for everyone with an open mind and healthy thirst. Here’s a taster of what to expect, as we chat with fascinating interviewees from all around the wine world, cook up delicious dishes then disagree over which wines to serve, whizz through Wine A-Z education blasts and answer the wine questions you’ve always wanted to ask. All in the time it takes to polish off a bottle of Brunello. We’ll also be serving up some Wine Survival Guide special editions by way of antidote to the coronavirus chaos. So please hit SUBSCRIBE, give us a nice rating – and join in the fun! More info at www.susieandpeter.com/podcast
28 Mar 2020
Australia on Fire
00:43:38
The catastrophic bushfires of early 2020 were a traumatic reminder of the ongoing challenge of climate change in the world’s driest continent. And yet Australia has never made finer wines across a dizzying range of styles than today. So what’s the future for Australian wine – boom or bust? After all that, we cook up some delicious curried meatballs, inspired by Ozzie chef Bill Granger, and argue over whether a Clonakilla Shiraz or Jim Barry Clare Riesling go best. ‘Alcohol’ is the starting point for our Wine A-Z education blast, then Mark from down under asks which wines he should keep (making it clear he doesn’t want any of the ‘science'). Show notes inc recipe and wines at www.susieandpeter.com
29 Mar 2020
Wait, wine can be a career?!
00:43:07
Wine is many things to many people. But credible career path (or second career) isn’t often one of them. We set the record straight by talking to young people who’ve made a brilliant job of making wine their career. And someone who made it their second career after defecting from finance. We discuss how wine can make a fantastic career, including how we both made the leap. Having worked up a thirst, we rustle up some student classics – spicy sausage pasta plus the easiest home-made pizza EVER – and line up a selection of value Aldi wines (spoiler: not all go down well but there is a great bargain to be had). Our Wine A-Z takes in biodynamics before Warren asks how to tell if a wine is corked. Show notes inc recipes and wines at www.susieandpeter.com
01 Apr 2020
Domaine of the Bee + wines for creamy dhal - Wine Survival Guide
00:27:01
The first of our Wine Survival Guides – small antidotes to the current coronavirus chaos, where wine people tell their stories, detailing challenges but also sounding notes of joy. Via the magic of Zoom, Justin Howard-Sneyd MW of Domaine of the Bee explains how the lockdown in France has motivated him to appeal for help, and the ‘extraordinary, humbling’ response that followed. He also talks us through online tastings, magnum Jenga, Wine Gogglebox and re-purposing a Bryan Adams’ classic for the times. We then find delicious wines to go with a creamy dhal with turmeric-roasted cauliflower. More at www.susieandpeter.com
03 Apr 2020
Emotions run high in Chile + lockdown wines - Wine Survival Guide
00:29:00
In our second Wine Survival Guide, we chat with Chilean winemaker Viviana Navarrete of Viña Leyda before recommending Majestic wines that are not only delicious and different but also ideal for the coronavirus lockdown. Viviana is understandably emotional and tired – she describes 2020 as the toughest vintage of her 20-year career. The reason? It’s all about the people, and her family. But she highlights the quality of Pinot Noir as a major positive and says the fact this was a hot, early vintage was a blessing in disguise given they can get the harvest done and dustsed before any further restrictions are announced. She also reveals her ideal quarantine wine…More on www.susieandpeter.com
08 Apr 2020
Singapore locks down + wines for porcini pasta - Wine Survival Guide
00:26:23
As Singapore goes into lockdown, renowned writer and publisher Poh Tiong Ch'ng reflects (from a beach) on the local and global implications of coronavirus. Including some eye-opening thoughts about the prospects for the global restaurant and hotel trade.He also has a somewhat surprising choice as his ‘quarantine wine’. We then cheat when it comes to finding a wine for delicious porcini pasta, committing heresy by looking beyond Italian wines to things that are both leftfield and pretty indulgent. This episode even comes with a free book download… More info on www.susieandpeter.com
10 Apr 2020
Help4Hospitality with Alex Hunt MW - Wine Survival Guide
00:28:58
How wine supplier Berkmann is tearing up the rule book to help stricken restaurants – and buying director Alex Hunt reveals his other passion by sharing tracks from his latest (brilliant) album Closing Ceremony. We unwrap some snazzy new glasses from Jancis Robinson to taste Prosecco, Gruner Veltliner, Gredos Grenache, Ozzie Syrah and Barolo from the Help4Hospitality line-up. Plus, Susie has a confession…
15 Apr 2020
Paul Hobbs in California + wine glasses - Wine Survival Guide
00:27:59
Flying winemaker Paul Hobbs can’t fly. As one of the foremost globe-trotting wine consultants, he reflects from his base in California on the challenges of making wine remotely and offers a tip on Zoom etiquette (‘wear a shirt and work pants’). He confesses to being nervous and reveals his ideal quarantine wine. Meanwhile listener David asks us whether he could be happy with just one glass for all wine styles rather than the many he currently owns. Our response is fulsome and even involves an experiment we lined up…which of course involves drinking some nice wine too.
17 Apr 2020
China's hangover + Amarone - Wine Survival Guide
00:23:02
It’s a sobering post-coronavirus outlook for wine in China, according to Shanghai-based Sophie Liu. She tells of a stable situation as people re-emerge from lockdown but a bleak panorama for the wine business. Sticking with the heavy-hitting theme, Susie and Peter explore the delicious topic of Amarone, exploring the reasons behind its highly distinctive style and heady price tag. They also ponder the pressing issue of which wines are best to bathe in, and revel in their status as unlikely instigators of marital bliss (of sorts).
22 Apr 2020
Michelin meals on wheels + wines for wild garlic risotto - Wine Blast Wine Survival Guide
00:25:48
What to do with a Michelin-starred restaurant that was due to close down shortly after coronavirus struck? If you’re Roger Jones, you re-purpose it to deliver monkfish and lobster dhal or wild mushroom and truffle risotto free of charge to local residents in need. That, and deliver some proper wines to an elderly mum who lives in rural Wales. To honour our guest, we throw ourselves into the kitchen, rustling up a very seasonal wild garlic and asparagus risotto. Which is really an excuse to find some delicious spring-like wines from the cellar – cue Sauvignon Blanc in abundance, plus a cheeky English Bacchus. And Peter has a confession for Susie...
24 Apr 2020
Torn in the USA - Wine Blast: Wine Survival Guide
00:29:39
Bartholomew Broadbent is a wine importer on the eastern US seaboard and he has seen ‘atrocious declines in business’ since coronavirus restrictions began. He lightens the tone by singing Monty Python songs (always look on the bright side of life…) and has a few choice words to say about Trump. Meanwhile, in California, Eric Baugher of Ridge Vineyards muses on challenges and opportunities before choosing an ideal quarantine wine that, ‘just kind of lifts your spirits’. Sounds like something we could all use. Finally, listener Liz calls in with a question about Lodi wines and we respond by cracking open some delicious bottles.
29 Apr 2020
Cape Fears - On South Africa's Prohibition (Wine Survival Guide)
00:32:41
South African wine is in turmoil. The government has banned the sale and export of wine as part of its strict coronavirus lockdown and, while restrictions will eventually be eased, Cape producers are in shock: reeling from the long-term effects and implications of this dramatic intervention. We hear the views of three producers – Kathy Jordan (Jordan), Charles Back (Fairview) and Andrea Mullineux (Mullineux and Leeu Family) at this critical and challenging time. There’s also time for a quick BBQ (braai, Cape style) complete with a mouth-watering line-up of South African wines to recommend.
06 May 2020
The BEST white wine grape is...
00:49:00
We asked a simple question on social media: what are your top 3 grape varieties for white wine? The reaction...blew us away, with a torrent of fascinating responses from all around the world featuring more than 100 different grape varieties - not to mention fighting talk, bonding, football analogies and cheating. We got a bit carried away with this podcast - it's our favourite one so far - but there is something for EVERYONE here: laughter, tears, David Beckham, sherry, scholarship (in the form of the fascinating expert Dr José Vouillamoz and his definitive tome Wine Grapes) and controversy. Talking of which, we give the DEFINITIVE verdict on the best white wine grape variety...
13 May 2020
Breaking Burgundy (Wine Survival Guide)
00:30:21
Silicon Valley tech entrepreneur Michael Baum is rebooting Burgundy, even under lockdown (which he rails against while being stuck in France, separated from his wife and boys in San Francisco). He explains why he prefers French wine to Californian, and talks about how coronavirus and his tech-based approach may help prompt radical change in wine – which is about getting closer to customers, at a time when close contact is challenging at best. Following on from Michael’s choice of ‘isolation wine’, Susie and Peter whizz through a mini masterclass on how to find good value white Burgundy – that holy grail for wine lovers. There’s even time to mention David Beckham (again…)
19 May 2020
Cheering up with champagne and Syrah (Wine Survival Guide)
00:19:28
In our SHORTEST EPISODE EVER, funny messages sent with champagne deliveries during lockdown come courtesy of The Finest Bubble’s Nick Baker. (Our favourite? A close call between ‘Cheer up!’ and ‘STOP MOANING’.) As the weddings, birthdays and anniversaries continue to see sparkling glasses raised via the internet, we turn to the pressing subject of where to find the best Syrah wines – made in the aromatic, elegant style of the Northern Rhône – from the New World. We touch on Chile, California, New Zealand, Australia and South Africa before alighting back in our small back room with two large glasses of red. Cheers!
02 Jun 2020
Riesling and the Doctor (Wine Survival Guide)
00:31:12
How to make sense of Riesling? Food is one of the best ways we know to make sense of even the most tricky of wine subjects. So we try out a delicious monkfish and prawn curry as well as some pork terrine to try to get a handle on the grape variety that came top in our survey of the Best White Wine Grapes. (We also talk sourdough – but that’s something else entirely.)
Another way to make sense of wine is to talk to the people who make it. One man who embodies the spirit of Riesling more than perhaps anyone is German producer Ernst Loosen. His prodigious mind is a thing of beauty in full flow, and we’re treated to a masterclass of Riesling evangelism (and the odd profanity). We even give our top 3 Riesling tips at the end.
08 Jun 2020
The Pig, the pink and the popstar (Wine Survival Guide)
00:35:52
Robin Hutson is one of Britain’s foremost hoteliers as chairman and CEO of The Pig hotels and Limewood group. He’s been a prominent campaigner for rural hospitality during lockdown, citing the millions of jobs supported by the wider sector and the difficulty of re-opening with two-metre social distancing rules. He’s also had to fend off criticisms levelled at his biggest private investor, Jim Ratcliffe, for accepting furlough despite being one of Britain’s richest men.
In a wide-ranging interview, Robin responds to his critics and outlines how the hospitality business can re-open after lockdown. (He subsequently announced the re-opening of his hotels for early July.) A noted wine lover, he also opens up about the new vineyard being planted at The Pig in the South Downs. By way of digestif, we chat rosé and sound off about the debut release from popstar Kylie Minogue (a French pink) as well as two English roses. The likes of Sam Neill, Graham Norton, Brangelina and Sarah Jessica Parker also get a mention. We also ask the question: what’s the rosé that lights your fire?
17 Jun 2020
Viva Italia! (Wine Survival Guide)
00:36:38
Superstar Italian winemaker Alberto Antonini tells us about wine as meditation, how to be a ‘virtual’ wine consultant, his vinyl collection and his nonna’s wise advice on how to stop a mole-hill becoming a mountain. In his honour, we crack open two wines from Sicily, delving into this most exciting of Italian wine regions – and discuss the hot topic of vegan wine.
23 Jun 2020
The change in Spain (Wine Survival Guide)
00:33:50
In our LAST Wine Survival Guide we talk climate change, ancient grapes and guitar-offs with Miguel Torres – and reveal our Top 5 Rioja Tips. Coming next time: we return to our normal Wine Blast schedule that was so rudely interrupted by Covid-19 - with a big splash on the pink stuff: rosé!
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