Wine Blast PLUS with Susie and Peter

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 kitche...

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...

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...

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 con...

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...

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 hig...

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 th...

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 thirs...

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 o...

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...