Episode - 64 - Wines of Crete with Iro Koliakoudakis
In The Vineyard With Podcast
I waited a long time for the opportunity to record this conversation. Iro is a good friend, but she’s a very busy lady! Working in the Summer season as a Sommelier in a seafood restaurant in Chania, and the rest of the year as an Ambassador for the Wines Of Crete Association can be two very demanding roles! In this conversation we talked about the history of Cretan wines, what grapes are the key grapes and what wines they can make, the key figures (well, apologies for many that were left out. We love you all!), the geography of this big island and more. So let’s go! Join us to the coast,...
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Episode - 63 - Michael Caines MBE
In The Vineyard With Podcast
In this episode, I was joined by Chef Michael Caines MBE, Chef Owner of Lympstone Manor, Country Hotel, Restaurant and Vineyard alongside his longstanding Operations Manager, Steve Edwards. It's a hard enough job, starting a Country Hotel, in a rundown building, having to renovate it to a Relais & Châteaux standards, establishing a kitchen and a restaurant worthy of a Michelin star, before any other task is considered. Planting a vineyard, and especially one destined to make Traditional Method English sparkling wines, with no experience in viticulture or winemaking could be seen as over...
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Episode - 62 South America, The rest of the continent with Amanda Barnes
In The Vineyard With Podcast
In this series of conversations, my guest, Amanda Barnes, is taking us on a grand tour of the South America vineyards. We will first soar over the Andes, to Chile, to discover the famous valleys, such as Colchagua, Maipu and Casablanca. From there we will move north all the way to The Atacama Desert before returning to explore the deep south towards Patagonia. Our journey will continue to examine the latest trends in Argentina. Yes, it’s not all about Malbec! Finally, in the final segment of our tour, we will delve into what’s happening in the rest of the continent. Brazil, Uruguay,...
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Episode - 61 The wines of Argentina with Amanda Barnes
In The Vineyard With Podcast
In this series of conversations, my guest, Amanda Barnes, is taking us on a grand tour of the South America vineyards. We will first soar over the Andes, to Chile, to discover the famous valleys, such as Colchagua, Maipu and Casablanca. From there we will move north all the way to The Atacama Desert before returning to explore the deep south towards Patagonia. Our journey will continue to examine the latest trends in Argentina. Yes, it’s not all about Malbec! Finally, in the final segment of our tour, we will delve into what’s happening in the rest of the continent. Brazil, Uruguay,...
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Episode - 60 - South America with Amanda Barnes Part I - Chile
In The Vineyard With Podcast
In this series of conversations, my guest, Amanda Barnes, is taking us on a grand tour of the South America vineyards. We will first soar over the Andes, to Chile, to discover the famous valleys, such as Colchagua, Maipu and Casablanca. From there we will move north all the way to The Atacama Desert before returning to explore the deep south towards Patagonia. Our journey will continue to examine the latest trends in Argentina. Yes, it’s not all about Malbec! Finally, in the final segment of our tour, we will delve into what’s happening in the rest of the continent. Brazil, Uruguay,...
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Episode - 59 - Christmas Drinks With Demetri Walters MW
In The Vineyard With Podcast
A few days before Christmas, I got together with my friend, Demetri Walters MW to hear what floats his Christmas drinks boat in 2023. We talked about the obvious Christmas drinks most of us love, like Port, Sherry (not your Grandma’s) but we also talked about Madeira, Commanderia St. John (Cyprus) and Vinsanto (Greece). Demetri is a renowned world expert on fortified wines, so we could talk about those for hours! I’m not sure if I can find any 1803 Sercial though. However, when it comes to mulled wine, we were not singing from the same hymn sheet 😊 Maybe I have been drinking the...
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Episode - 58 - In The Vineyard With Hermione Ireland - Academie Du Vin Library
In The Vineyard With Podcast
Wine books. The wine world would be poorer without them. A good wine book is not just a vinous guide or a reference. It is often a companion, a walking pace way of telling a wine’s story. And what could be nicer than sitting comfortably, I’m thinking by the fire, it is December after all, holding and reading a book about the region or the very winemaker responsible for the liquid in your glass? With our world shifting with alarming rapidity to the ether of cloud knowledge, the books produced by a relatively new UK wine publication house, Académie Du Vin Library, are worth celebrating....
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Episode 57 - In The Vineyards of Northern Portugal, with Tiago Alves De Sousa
In The Vineyard With Podcast
This episode wasn’t planned. Sometimes, the best things happen without much planning. A spontaneous and inspired action can often lead to a much more memorable encounter or experience. I was visiting Tiago Alves De Sousa, one of the Douro’s most influential winemakers and a good friend, in his winery and vineyards high up on the slopes above the river Corgo, northern Portugal, a couple of weeks before harvest 2023. With me were my partner, Jeanette, and our friends Sam and Miles. I felt inspired to record Tiago’s words and did so on my mobile phone. It was almost a group discussion and...
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Episode 56 - In The Vineyards of Nemea with Yiannis Paraskevopoulos, Gaia Wines
In The Vineyard With Podcast
In this episode I was driving in the car with Yiannis Paraskevopoulos, co Owner of Gaia Winery in Nemea, in the Peloponnese peninsula, Greece. Later, we walked through the Agiorgitiko and Verzami vineyards, chatting about this beautiful region and its wines.
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Episode 55 - Keermont Vineyards - Alex Starey
In The Vineyard With Podcast
In the episode I was in the vineyard with Alex Starey, winemaker at Keermont Vineyards, in Stellenbosch, South Africa. Keermont is located in a long narrow valley that is tucked between the Helderberg and the Stellenbosch Mountains. Right at the tope of his vineyards, near an open pool feeding from the local spring, we sat on a sunny mid-winter day to chat about this relatively new estate. Keermont was bought by current owners Mark and Monica Wraith in 2003. they originally planned to plant vineyards and sell the grapes but a chance introduction to Alex changed that. A single barrel was made...
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Can a bottle of wine change your life? If you are in a receptive mode, the stars are aligned for you and the right questions asked, Yes says Rebekah Wineburg, winemaker at Quintessa. In our latest episode she recalls such an encounter with a bottle of Ornellaia 1998 while having lunch in San Francisco, with her father.
This bottle started her very own ‘Butterfly Effect’ that led her eventually to be at the helm of one of California’s premium estate, Quintessa.