Wine Blast with Susie and Peter

This is a tale of deception, daring, disaster...and deliverance. It also features skinny sheep and wine robots. It's the story of Marlborough, the iconic New Zealand wine region which is celebrating its 50th wine birthday, after vines were planted by Frank Yukich in August 1973. Yukich had risked personal financial ruin getting to this point. 'Wines from here will become world famous!&ap...

'My wife suggested we make wine. I think in the hope of cutting down our wine bill...' It's classic John Malkovich. The wit as dry as his aged Provençal Pinot Noir rosé (yes, you read that right). In this epic episode, we get to know John Malkovich the famous actor of stage and screen - but also John Malkovich the fashion designer, the theatre director, and most importantly John Mal...

This bonus episode may be the last in the current season (4) but it's also a first - the first time we've ever recorded the pod in front of a live audience! A lovely bunch of people came together in our home town of Winchester to drink a glass or two of fine Hampshire fizz and bombard us with searching questions, from which wines we'd recommend for a large and varied dinner party cr...

This episode opens by linking Oppenheimer, Covid-19 and wine - and proceeds to go big by focusing on the small stuff. Microbes. The invisible world of yeasts, bacteria and beyond. We're just starting to understand how important microbes are in terms of defining wine style and quality. Sure, yeasts ferment grape sugars into alcohol. But they also do a whole lot more, as fascinating new researc...

Did you know that Germany is the third largest producer of Pinot Noir in the world? Or that one in three Riesling vines in the world grow in German vineyards - and much of these are making dry, increasingly terroir-driven wines these days? There's much that's surprising, or perhaps unexpected about German wine right now. For long the sector under-performed - but a series of changes since...

It's a wine word almost everyone uses - but no one really knows what it means, what causes it, or where it's come from. It makes some people angry, it leaves others mystified - but some adore the term and can't get enough of it.  Is this yet another example in wine of (as one listener calls it), 'superstition, witchcraft and myth' that is nothing more than, 'absolute...

We all know port. But there’s a whole universe of fine Portuguese table wine out just waiting to be explored. It’s far less known but certainly no less exciting…so we dive in. Peter’s fired up after a recent trip to host a masterclass in Porto, where he tasted wines back to 1978 and recorded with a selection of Portugal’s top wine talent, from Dirk and Daniel Niepoort to Sandra Tavares, Luis Pato,...

‘From virtually any soil a high-quality wine can be made. The use of geology to promote the quality of a wine is thus merely a marketing tool.’  This is an episode that may ruffle a few feathers. We speak to two wine-loving geologists, Professor Alex Maltman and Dr Geert-Jan Vis (the latter responsible for the quote above). Both of them raise serious questions about the line the wine world often e...

Santorini's future is in jeopardy. This ancient, famous island vineyard risks being lost beneath the tourism industry's bulldozers. So how can its wine community fight back? By making exceptional, characterful, inimitable wines and selling them to the world, that's how. In this episode (our 100th Wine Blast programme, appropriately enough!) we dive into what makes Santorini's w...

Let's go on an adventure to a place variously described as, 'Like being shot to the moon with a glass of fine wine in your hand' and where, 'you basically have the personality of an active volcano in your glass.' Santorini is arguably the ultimate wine destination - a windswept, arid, infertile outcrop of an island in the glittering Aegean Sea. Stunning - but bleak, and wh...

What wine news is worthy of your attention? How should you warm up your (fine) wines in an emergency? What wines are really worth paying silly money for? And which wines should we have loved...but didn't?  These are just some of the questions we dive into in this Listener Q&A episode, where we respond to your brilliant comments, feedback and questions. And we field one other question too:...

Chardonnay polarises people. But times change and this is a grape that's moved on - arguably nowhere more so than in New Zealand, which in recent years has started to deliver quality, diversity and great value in spades. It's timely, too, given the supply shortages and booming prices of the wines from Chardonnay's motherland in Burgundy. We're Chardonnay superfans and we'v...

Could it be true?! No more hangovers is a tantalising notion, a Holy Grail for many drinkers. But how could this happen, and what would it mean for the world of booze and wine? Join us as we dive headlong into the enthralling world of hangover hacks (including at least one credible ‘remedy’) and explore the new breed of so-called functional drinks, which promise to deliver the buzz of booze withou...

Every wine lover craves great Pinot Noir. Burgundy is ever pricier and scarcer. So where to look? Australia might not seem the obvious destination for Pinot Noir. It’s better known for hefty reds (think: Shiraz, Cabernet), historic styles like Hunter Semillon or its heroic ‘stickies’ (sweet and fortified like Rutherglen).  And if there’s a Burgundian variety closely associated with Oz, it’s Chardo...

This podcast is GOOD FOR YOU! Don’t let anyone tell you otherwise... In this mind-blowing episode we have an exclusive interview with the world-famous Professor Tim Spector, expert in the human microbiome - this population of friendly microbes that lives inside all of us and which acts almost like an extra organ, boosting our immune system, fighting disease and even influencing our mental health....

Stuff is going down in Beaujolais. Natural wine is a hot trend. Beaujolais Nouveau is re-inventing itself. The top sites have never made better wine. A new generation is revitalising the scene. Geological research has revealed eye-opening results. And growers aren't afraid to throw caution to the wind (Côte Rôtie barrels and Sciacarello anyone?!) Phew. It's also newsworthy: the region is...

Has Burgundy gone bonkers?! Off the back of a nightmare 2021 season, wines are in shorter supply than ever - so prices have gone through the roof. Again. The wines are unquestionably good. That's what Burgundy does. But as the region's wines gradually become ever-more scarce and atypical - and ever-less affordable - how long will wine lovers stick with Burgundy? Will we look back in 20 y...

Self-improvement - via a wine glass. With a side helping of 'vinous Kama Sutra'.  But we're getting ahead of ourselves... In our last episode we explored what we wine lovers want from the year ahead. In this programme we flip the camera round and take a look how we can be better wine lovers. Suggestions like 'drink better' inevitably crop up. But so do more thought-provoki...

So what do we all want from wine in the year ahead? What's top of our wish list for wine in 2023? For some it's drinking better (or simply more) wine. If possible, for less money. Others are hoping Pinot Noir proves to be a miracle cure and will be prescribed by doctors... More realistically, combating climate change, responsible political engagement with wine and an end to the war in Uk...

Wine is good. We want a good future for wine - and the planet. But wine has been described on this pod as, 'the villain in the climate story.' So what gives - and how to turn this around? One UK wine retailer has sent out a rallying cry - aiming to be carbon neutral by 2024 and net zero across its entire business by 2040.  This retailer wants, ‘to be the most sustainable, ethical and res...

We're not kidding. This is the ULTIMATE burger. Especially if you're a wine lover... Yes we've got the patty and the brioche bun. So far so straightforward. But the killer ingredients? A tawny port reduction ('wino's ketchup'). Blue cheese. Umami paste. And to top it all off? Truffle mustard mayo. So yes, in this fun episode we attempt to answer that HUGE question: wh...

WOTY?! Don't mind if we do... Welcome to our TASTIEST show of the year (and that's saying something!) In 2022 we're focusing on value to give you some ideas of delicious but affordable wines to suit the season's revelry. No spoilers but we've got wines from France, Spain, Italy, Argentina, South Africa, USA, New Zealand - even Austria and England. (We did start off with ju...

This is not just any old fish pie. This is LUXURY fish pie. And we've got some properly luxuriant wines to match... There's nothing worse than a dry, eggy, potato-drenched fish pie. Our version uses smoked fish, chunky prawns, mustard, cream and cheddar - so we need some seriously high octane wines. No sense fooling around: this is rich white wine territory. One of our favourite styles o...

A new report predicts climate change will see English red wine becoming the norm rather than the exception as part of a global shift that will upend the world's wine map as we know it. It's a tough one to get your head around. On the one hand, these are exciting times for English winemakers. On the other, climate change represents an existential threat to humanity. Plus, although rising...

It's a mid-week classic. But the BIG question is: what wines work best to make your spag bol taste like MAGIC?! We tackle this weighty issue like the true gannets we are, featuring some delicious Italian reds (Montepulciano + Valpolicella Ripasso) as well as more quirky pairings, from a South African Syrah to a Chilean Pais.  All the while talking through WHY things work as much as the specif...