D’Amato & Szabo: Wine Thieves

Send us Fan Mail The Wine Thieves' weakness for riesling compels them to tarry a little longer in the Finger Lakes region of New York (FLX). Riesling has become a signature grape of FLX, home to 85% of all the riesling planted in New York State. Here it delivers electric, laser-sharp wines the way we like them, bone-dry to sweet, from steep, lakeside slopes on gravelly, shaley, and loamy soil...

Send us Fan Mail Last fall we interviewed some of the exceptional speakers of the Femmes du Vin Harvest Series and we are delighted to be able to present them to you now. Femmes du Vin is a grassroots women’s organization dedicated to promoting and amplifying the voices of all women in wine. Visit femmesduvin.org to find out more about their upcoming seminar series. In this episode we welcome two...

Send us Fan Mail The Wine Thieves continue their journey through New York, venturing into the best known wine region of the 4th largest wine producing state in the USA, the Finger Lakes AVA. Encompassing 11 slender,  glacially carved,  finger-like lakes running roughly north-south, this diverse region may be best known for its riesling, but John and Sara discover just how many more grape varieties...

Send us Fan Mail The world clearly loves New Zealand sauvignon blanc, but some industry insiders believe that pinot noir and chardonnay just might be the country's best expressions. In this episode the Wine Thieves speak to two of New Zealand's legendary producers, also counted among the world's best pinot and chard artists: Sherwyn Veldhuizen of Bell Hill in North Canterbury, and B...

Send us Fan Mail The New Zealand wine industry may be focused on just a handful of grapes, but in this episode, the Wine Thieves go hors-piste in search of the unexpected. New Zealand enjoys a surprisingly wide range of climate zones - more than you might think - making the country suitable for far more than just those headlining grapes, sauvignon blanc, pinot noir and chardonnay.  Last week we lo...

Send us Fan Mail The Wine Thieves find themselves in a New York state of wine as they begin a new series investigating the disparate terroirs and wealth of wine styles in the only US state that borders both the Atlantic Ocean and the Great Lakes.  Long Island is their first destination, a stone's throw from New York City. This maritime-influenced region was first planted with grapes in the 16...

Send us Fan Mail Syrah might offer a quick return on investment in New Zealand but it may just be another grape that puts New Zealand on the world wine map in the future. In this episode the Wine Thieves are in conversation with Kate Radburnd of Radburn Cellars and Warren Gibson of Trinity Hill,  two of New Zealand's top syrah producers, as they attempt to unlock the secret of this dynamic gr...

Send us Fan Mail The earliest-known written record of Riesling dates back precisely to March 13, 1435 in Germany, in the cellar log of Count John IV of Katzenelnbogen in Rüsselsheim, a town just south of the Rheingau. The log notes a purchase for 22 shillings of “ seczreben Rießlingen in die wingarten – “Riesling cuttings for the vineyard”.  That’s why March 13th has been officially designated as...

Send us Fan Mail The Wine Thieves begin a new virtual adventure to Aotearoa , the "land of the long white cloud" , more commonly known as New Zealand. In this first episode, John and Sara get a handle on what sustainability means to Kiwi grape growers, 96% of which are certified by Sustainable Winegrowing New Zealand, or SWNZ. Along with their special guest, Dr. Ed Massey, General Manage...

Send us Fan Mail The Wine Thieves get their hands dirty with a star quartet of Vino Nobile di Montepulciano producers to learn why and how soil matters most to sangiovese, more than any other production parameter. Weighing in from their estates in Montepulciano are: Andrea Lonardi of Tenuta Tre Rose, Luca Tiberini of Tiberini, Luca Corrado of Boscarelli and Antonio Zaccheo of Carpineto. Sangiovese...

Send us Fan Mail At some point in every wine lover's deepening obsession , they fall down the cartographic rabbit hole.  If you've fallen prey to this map-centric preoccupation, don't miss this episode of Wine Thieves.  John and Sara speak with mapmaker straordinario Alessandro Masnaghetti,   founder of Enogea, publisher of the  world's most detailed maps of wine regions.  More...

Send us Fan Mail This week the Wine Thieves head to Tuscany and more specifically to the DOCG of Vino Nobile di Montepulciano, Italy's first DOCG and "the king of all wines" according to poet Francesco Redi. They foolishly consider rolling an empty barrel  600m up to the top of the medieval hilltop town of Montepulciano  (in the "annual Bravio delle Botti"), to take advant...

Send us Fan Mail Our 20th episode is dedicated to Blaufränkisch, the widely acknowledged "grape of the future",  and its epicentre of production in the Federal State of Burgenland on the eastern edge of Austria.  Barbaresco or Côte Rôtie? Chinon or Pommard?  What does Blaufränkisch remind you of? We go straight to two of the world's greatest artists of the ancient grape to get the i...

Send us Fan Mail Think you know Austria's Weinviertel (the "Wine Quarter")? Our continuing journey down the Danube may yet surprise you. We look north of Vienna and the river to this vast DAC , Austria's largest, and first protected designation of origin established in 2002. DAC Weinviertel on the label means fragrant, fresh, oak-free, dry and peppery grüner veltliner, the regi...

Send us Fan Mail The Wine Thieves begin their cruise along the Danube exploring Neiderösterreich (Lower Austria), pausing to marvel at the magnificent, steeply terraced vineyards of the Wachau, the variegated side valleys of the Kremstal, Kamptal and the Traisental, with a pampered pitstop in Langenlois before next week's hike into the Weinviertel. Sara loses John briefly to a reverie on loes...

Send us Fan Mail Content in grüner Austria, the Wine Thieves spend this week delving into biodynamic history and practices in a virtual encounter at Austria's oldest biodynamic winery and second oldest winery to be certified in the world. We speak to Nikolaus Saahs of the Nikolaihof winery in the Wachau whose winemaking legacy dates back 2,000 years in the village of Mautern on the southern s...

Send us Fan Mail The Wine Thieves launch 2021 on a highly positive note: "Green Austria”, the first in a mini-series on Austrian wines. This small country in the heart of Europe has quietly been green, and getting greener for over a century, showing the way towards more responsible, earth-friendly wine production. Austria registered the first organic farm in the world in 1927, and was the fir...

Send us Fan Mail The Wine Thieves speak with four women at the top of their game about how to taste. We invite Elsa Macdonald (Master of Wine), Elyse Lambert (Master Sommelier), Jennifer Huether (Master Sommelier) and Véronique Rivest (Canada's Best Sommelier and International Sommelier Champion) to a round table discussion about what matters most when blind tasting but first we talk about th...

Send us Fan Mail If these are not words that you often associate with Bordeaux and more importantly, Médoc then this next episode should prove perspective changing. It may be a region that is damp, affected by both maritime influences and that of the Gironde Estuary, but this is a welcome challenge to environmentally minded, innovative producers of the region. The greater region of Bordeaux is the...

Send us Fan Mail In this second episode of our podcast series on Médoc, we take a look at the realities of a new cohort of proprietors in the Médoc. Protecting the future of the region requires reverence for what generations of the past have built. We consider what is being done differently now, pressures created by a rapidly changing global market and how the weight of a centuries-old legacy can...

Send us Fan Mail The Wine Thieves are happy to introduce a new series devoted to the wine region of Médoc beginning this week. This perspective changing three-part podcast investigates the region through the lens of a new generation of family-owned estates. Forward-thinking and with commitment to sustainable and organic production, we explore the new dynamism of the Médoc. We investigate the prese...

Send us Fan Mail The Wine Thieves' bid a fond farewell to Provence with an in-depth look at the terroir and techniques that make the rosé of the region so distinctive. We visit the Centre du Rosé in Vidauban and speak to researchers Nathalie Pouzalgues and Matthias Bougreau. Their mission? To carry out high-level scientific research and experiments on rosé wine to better understand terroir, g...

Send us Fan Mail The Wine Thieves continue their journey through lavender fields and mysterious forests up in the heart of the Provence wine region known as the Coteaux Varois en Provence. In this episode they welcome Keith Murray of Murray Family Wines, owners of Chateau Routas located on 290 hectares between Aix-en-Provence and the sandy beaches of the Gulf of Saint Tropez. They also get a chanc...

Send us Fan Mail The Wine Thieves make their way to the Coteaux d'Aix-en-Provence appellation and chat with winemaker Philippe Bru of Château Vignelaure about ageworthy rosé, the importance of altitude and evidence of 2,600 years of wine history in Provence. Take a virtual stroll through quintessential Provencal town of Aix-en-Provence while picturing the landscapes of Cezanne and Hemingway&a...

Send us Fan Mail An iconic figure in the world of rosé globally but firmly rooted in Provence, Sacha Lichine, the creator of Whispering Angel, has a frank discussion with Wine Thieves John Szabo and Sara d'Amato about branding, rosé appeal and most importantly what makes Provence such a tour de force when it comes to this historically significant style.