Elena Brooks (Dandelion Vineyards) Part 2: Changing Palates and Perceptions of Australian Wines
Stories From the Cellar
This episode is the second half of our interview with Elena Brooks, the winemaker for , , and . Part 1 tells the story of Elena’s upbringing in communist Bulgaria and how she moved to Australia and started her own wine label in her early twenties. This episode, Part 2, covers Elena’s ambition with Dandelion, the challenges and opportunities that exist today within the Australian wine scene, and the region Elena believes should have ‘Grand Cru’ status. At the time she started Dandelion, the trend in Australia was big, bold red wines. Elena launched Dandelion to tell a new story, one...
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Elena Brooks (Dandelion Vineyards) Part 1: The Story of the Bulgarian-Born Woman Putting Her Mark on South Australia’s Wine Scene
Stories From the Cellar
In today’s episode, which is part one of two, Elena Brooks from shares how she went from making pantyhose-filtered wines as a teenager in Bulgaria to a true winemaking visionary in South Australia. Elena has multiple wine brands, including three that we import: Dandelion, , and . All of these brands are based in McLaren Vale but feature varietal wines from all over South Australia. Elena makes some of our highest volume wines, but don’t confuse that for low quality. These wines often come from single, old-vine sites, and they are drinkable and acid-driven while staying true to the...
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Raising the Floor: Premiumizing South African Wines
Stories From the Cellar
This is the fifth and final episode in our mini-series on South African wines. The goal with this series is to highlight the key regions, grapes, winemakers, and stories of the South African wine industry to distill this huge category into bite sized, educational pieces. Joining me for this episode about the Stellenbosch is our in-house South African wine expert, Aaron Meeker. While the last four episodes covered wine regions specifically, this episode is about the industry at large. We talk about stereotypes and push back in the market and how the story of South African wine is being...
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South Africa's Hidden Gems: Wine Regions Beyond Stellenbosch & Swartland
Stories From the Cellar
This is the fourth episode in our mini-series on South African wines. The goal with this series is to highlight the key regions, grapes, winemakers, and stories of the South African wine industry to distill this huge category into bite sized, educational pieces. Joining me for this episode about the Stellenbosch is our in-house South African wine expert, Aaron Meeker. Despite being the seventh-largest wine-producing country, South Africa has a highly concentrated viticultural area predominantly within a short drive from Cape Town. This episode dives into South Africa's unique winemaking...
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Walker Bay: The Rising Star of South African Wines
Stories From the Cellar
This is the third episode in our mini-series on South African wines. The goal with this series is to highlight the key regions, grapes, winemakers, and stories of the South African wine industry to distill this huge category into bite sized, educational pieces. Joining me for this episode about the Stellenbosch is our in-house South African wine expert, Aaron Meeker. In this episode, Aaron shares the highlights of Walker Bay in under five minutes. There is obviously much more to this area, but in the interest of keeping these episodes bite sized, we’ve distilled this down to the key...
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Stellenbosch: Where South African Wine Tradition Meets Innovation
Stories From the Cellar
This is the second episode in our mini-series on South African wines. The goal with this series is to highlight the key regions, grapes, winemakers, and stories of the South African wine industry to distill this huge category into bite sized, educational pieces. Joining me for this episode about the Stellenbosch is our in-house South African wine expert, Aaron Meeker. Located conveniently near Cape Town, Stellenbosch has the longest winemaking history in the country dating back to the 1600s. In this episode, our resident South African wine expert Aaron Meeker covers the region's diverse...
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Swartland: The Dynamic Evolution of South Africa's New Wave Wine Region
Stories From the Cellar
This is the first episode in our mini-series on South African wines. The goal with this series is to highlight the key regions, grapes, winemakers, and stories of the South African wine industry to distill this huge category into bite sized, educational pieces. Joining me for this episode about the Stellenbosch is our in-house South African wine expert, Aaron Meeker. In the next 15 minutes or so, you’ll hear about the Swartland’s rise to prominence with the Great Swartland Revolution initiated by five key winemakers in the early 2000s. You’ll learn about the unique geographical and...
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Catching up with Trizanne Barnard: Aha moments & wine consumption trends
Stories From the Cellar
In this episode of 'Stories from the Cellar,' we catch up with Trizanne Barnard of Trizanne Signature Wines from South Africa's Cape South Coast. We discuss current wine consumption trends and Trizanne shares her profound 'aha moment' with wine on a secluded beach, diving for oysters, solidifying her passion for the wine industry. In ten minutes, this episode perfectly captures the essence of who Trizanne is: a down-to-earth winemaker with a fierce love of the ocean and a total disinterest in status or scores. If you're looking for humble wines of place, Trizanne Signature Wines is a...
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Australia's Evolving Wine Styles: From the Parker Era to the Natural Wine Movement and Beyond
Stories From the Cellar
This episode with Vine Street Imports founder and CEO Ronnie Sanders delves into the evolution of Australian wine over the last 25 years. It explores the shift from the '90s highly manipulated, high alcohol content wines appreciated by critics like Robert Parker, to a modern appreciation for natural, lower alcohol content wines. Ronnie contrasts the older, bigger, and bolder styles with the fresher, more minimalist approach influenced by the natural wine movement. Highlighting both a historical perspective and current trends, Ronnie acknowledges the shifting spectrum of winemaking philosophies...
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Australian Wine Prices: How Did We Get Here?
Stories From the Cellar
This episode with Vine Street Imports' founder and CEO, Ronnie Sanders, discusses the dynamics affecting Australian wine prices. Beginning with an overview of how market demand, rather than production cost, determines pricing, the discussion tracks the shift from the era of 'cheap and cheerful' Australian wines to today's landscape of premiumization. Key factors include the global financial downturn in 2008, supply chain challenges, rising costs of labor, expensive land and grapes, alongside environmental issues like bushfires and drought exacerbated by climate change. Ronnie reflects on the...
info_outlineThis episode is an interview with Franco Lourens of Lourens Family Wines based in Paarl, South Africa. The word ‘family’ is found in the name of many wine projects, but few actually put their family at the center of their branding. Franco’s wines are not only named after members of his family, but their faces also adorn the labels. His red blend, 'Howard John,' is named after his dad, the white blend 'Lindi Carien' after his wife, and the coveted varietal Grenache after his daughter, Lua Ilse.
Working mostly with old-vines, Franco has become masterful at the intricacies of blending to craft quietly confident wines, an acumen that has earned him a deserved place among South Africa's best new-wave producers. Franco originally started his own label while working as the assistant winemaker at Alheit Vineyards in Hemel-en-Aarde, but since 2020, Franco has been back in Paarl sharing cellar space with Lukas from Van Loggerenberg Wines.
In this episode, which is part 1 of 2, Franco shares his background and reveals what – or rather - who kept him from quitting the wine business when he felt he was hitting a plateau. In part 2, you’ll hear how needing some extra cash for an engagement ring prompted Franco to start his own label, as well as the stories behind many of his wines.
For Franco, becoming a winemaker was never a given, as wine wasn’t a big part of his parents’ lives. But when you grow up in a viticultural paradise, it’s easy for wine culture to seep in through osmosis...
Hosted by Charlotte Alsaadi.
Special thanks to SNACKTIME for the music!