The Cellar Door Podcast

Send us Fan Mail I’ve been searching for the ideal introduction to the South African wine industry for the Cellar Door Podcast. When a friend recently on holiday in South Africa messaged me and asked me if I’d heard of Anthony Hamilton Russell, I knew that opportunity had arrived. For those unfamiliar, Anthony Hamilton Russell and his family’s Hamilton Russell Vineyards are among the most esteemed...

Send us Fan Mail In 1974 David Anderson embarked on a project in Victoria’s Heathcote region to plant vines and craft wine. His son Liam Anderson describes that David was more or less taking a shot in the dark, with no intention of founding what would become a label with a cult following across Australia and even certain locations across the globe. Liam describes customer relationships with Wild D...

Send us Fan Mail Few Australian wine families can match the storied pedigree of the Hardy family, whose legacy began when Thomas Hardy founded Thomas Hardy & Sons in 1853. Thomas later purchased the Upper Tintara Vineyard in Blewitt Springs, McLaren Vale in 1871, marking the birth of a winemaking dynasty. Today, Australian wine legend Andrew 'Ox' Hardy, the great-great grandson of Th...

Send us Fan Mail Neli Naumovski is the recently appointed national sales director at Oliver's Wines. Neli brings lengthy experience in the fine wine sector, and secondary markets and has teamed up with Jeremy Oliver to launch the old rare and collectable wine project which incorporates a unique classification system. It was this classification aspect which caught my attention. I've previ...

Send us Fan Mail Presqu’ile (‘press-keel’) is a family-owned winery in the Santa Maria Valley dedicated to crafting exceptional  Pinot Noir, Chardonnay, and Syrah. Roughly translating in French to “Peninsula”, Presquile was the Murphy family’s gathering place in the Mississippi Gulf Country who after Hurricane Katrina, decided that they would name their winery in homage to the place that engendere...

Send us Fan Mail On this episode, I had the pleasure of catching up with Jeremy Oliver to get his insights on the latest developments in the Australian wine industry. We dive into Treasury Wine Estates’ recent decision to part ways with iconic brands Wolf Blass, Yellowglen, and Lindeman’s, and we explore Jeremy’s perspective on the broader market dynamics. While the challenges persist and the road...

Send us Fan Mail The Balnaves family first arrived in South Australia’s Coonawarra District in 1855. It's worth taking the time to research the story of William Wilson (available on the Balnaves website) to truly appreciate how deeply the Balnaves family is intertwined with the history of South Australian wine. Fast forward to 1971, when a young and ambitious Doug Balnaves was hired by Hunger...

Send us Fan Mail In this episode, we delve into the remarkable journey of Legend Wine Imports, a venture spearheaded by two American sommeliers, Jonathan Ross and Jane Lopes. Their path to success took an unexpected turn when they immersed themselves in the vibrant Australian wine industry. The duo first crossed paths at New York’s esteemed Eleven Madison Park before making the bold decision to re...

Send us Fan Mail This episode was an extremely special way to close out what was a truly magical time in Santa Barbara Wine County – spending over an hour with two legends of the Santa Barbara, and wider Californian wine industry. You will all know Wes Hagen - wine maker, philosopher and poet, who I’ve been blessed to have previously on the show multiple times. Yet today Wes was in a supporting ro...

Send us Fan Mail I heard along the grape vine that there was a very special project unfolding at Alkina Wine Estate in the heart of the Barossa. Some contacts had told me that Pedro Parra, known to some as Dr Terroir, had joined forces with Alkina to take a deep dive into the Barossan earth to see what gold might be found. What follows is an incredible story that may be the first step in revolutio...

Send us Fan Mail Scott Lefler is the wine director at Ledger Restaurant and Bar in Salem, Massachusetts on America’s east coast. I contacted Scott when I learned that a pivotal moment in his wine journey was a trip he took to Australia. Scott worked his way across the Australian wine industry and fell in love with the wines, thereafter, returning to the USA and building a steady presence of Austra...

Send us Fan Mail We appear to be in a golden age of technological innovation. Different industries respond to this in different ways, with some industries completely revolutionising and others taking a more cautious approach to change. Many entrepreneurs see this as a time ripe with opportunity, entrepreneurs like Moshe Weizman, the co-founder of WINEing which is a platform designed to help wine m...

Send us Fan Mail Jesper Kjaersgaard is the Director and operator of FLEUR & VIOLA a business with the mission of connecting wineries, distributors, retailers and customers to the best wines that Australia and Europe have to offer. Jesper is originally from Denmark and it was while working in a fine wine store that he tasted Lafite 1985, an experience which made it clear to Jesper what he would...

Send us Fan Mail My investigations tell me that most people in the Australian wine industry know of or have dealt directly with Chuck Hayward. Chuck is a Californian who has made a career from promoting, educating about and selling Australian wines in the USA market, and he’s been doing this for a long time. Chuck first fell in love with Aus wines when working at the Jug wine shop in San Francisco...

Send us Fan Mail Jane Campbell is the General Manager of the family owned and run Campbell’s winery which is crafting world class wines in Victoria’s Rutherglen wine region. The Campbell’s story now spans 5 successive generations, from John Campbell who set sail from St Andrews in Scotland to join in the Gold rush but who ended up planting vines near what was then the Bobbie Burns gold field. The...

Send us Fan Mail Chris Thomas is the winemaker and managing director at Dowie Doole in South Australia’s McLaren Vale. The rumour is that in his younger schoolboy days he excelled in the math and science departments, but when it came to undertaking later studies he was convinced to pursue oenology after talking to a friend who raved about how interesting and fun it was. Chris accrued a wealth of e...

Send us Fan Mail Wine personalities don’t get much bigger than that of US Master Somm Bobby Stuckey. Bobby started working tables as a bus boy, and after discovering a brochure on the Court of Master Somms while working at the Little Nell in Aspen he dedicated himself to achieving excellence in the world of wine. Bobby is now widely recognised as an industry leader in United States hospitality. Af...

Send us Fan Mail Dan Eggleton, is a producer and advocate for small wine makers, and has been a leading voice in generating important conversations and asking hard questions at a grass roots level in Australian wine. He is as true blue as you find, and acutely feels the plight of small producers of premium wines across Australia. Dan felt that he had to become vocal after witnessing the difficulti...

Send us Fan Mail Nestled in the heart of the Santa Ynez Valley is Brave and Maiden Estate, named after a Romeo and Juliet type legend that was passed down by the Americans native to the area. Victor Robaglia is the head wine maker at Brave and Maiden and overseas a program of Bordeaux varietals which he crafts in partnership with the unique Santa Ynez terroir. Despite having French parents, Victor...

Send us Fan Mail Nearly two years ago, I met Priscilla Hennekam, a Brazilian woman with an infectious laugh and an arguably unrivalled passion for wine and the wine industry. Since our first conversation, Priscilla has been working hard to narrow her focus and channel her passion—her new mission being to revolutionize the world of wine communication, to demystify wine, to make it approachable, and...

Send us Fan Mail Cokie Ponikvar loves wine. Her passion is contagious, and she wants to share her passion for wine with the world. She is studying for MW exam while chasing her dream of becoming an MS, and she shares her studies with the world through her online education platform Cokie’s World of Wine. Cokie released early that wine lends itself to a pretentious air that has resulted in the alien...

Send us Fan Mail David LeMire MW is joint CEO and head of sales and marketing at Shaw and Smith. His experience ranges from being the import manager for Negotiants Australia to taking on the revered Master of Wine accreditation. David also writes for Anthony Madigan’s Wine Business Monthly publication, where David shares his perspectives with panache. David joined me on the show from the Adelaide...

Send us Fan Mail Some weeks ago, I caught up with one of my absolute favourites, Alex Head of the Head Wines label. In typical cool, calm, and collected fashion Alex shared his perspectives on the economic roller coaster Australia is riding and its impacts on the industry, the need for an active optimism and the importance of embracing personal responsibility when it comes to facing challenges. Al...

Send us Fan Mail I recently managed to grab Ashley Ratcliff, the owner of Ricca Terra Wines, for a quick update on his recent activities. Ashley is a passionate crusader for the Australian wine cause and also for what is possibly one of the most misunderstood regions in the Australian wine landscape, South Australia’s Riverland. Ashley’s time and travels in and across the industry have given him a...

Send us Fan Mail Darren Rathbone is the CEO and head Wine Maker in charge of the Rathbone Group, a family run enterprise responsible for Victoria’s Mount Langi Ghiran and Yering Station and Xanadu in Margaret River, WA. The Rathbone Group entered the Chinese market in around 2007, saw its rise and saw its collapse with the imposition of the Chinese tariffs. Now that the tariffs have been lifted th...