Wine with Meg + Mel

Send us Fan Mail A $25 McLaren Vale Shiraz wins Best Shiraz in the world, so we put Beresford to the test with side-by-side pours and zero patience for hype. We chase what makes the wines feel so seamless, from sub-region minerality in Blewitt Springs to oak choices, label alcohol quirks, and of course the incredible Wine making by Beresfords own Natalie Cleghorn. Beresford Estate Shiraz, 2024, $2...

Send us Fan Mail We stack up the week’s wine news with a mix of hard numbers and genuine bright spots, from rock-bottom bulk prices to a more diverse global awards landscape. We also get real about mental health in the Australian wine industry and why connection, provenance and ethics still matter when times are tough.  • Australian bulk Shiraz and Cabernet sitting at extreme low values  • what bu...

Send us Fan Mail We test a bold theory about Langhe Nebbiolo by blind tasting four bottles across wildly different price points. The surprise isn’t just which wine wins, but how often this Piedmont red delivers that savoury, cherry-driven “drink well, don’t think” comfort.  Play along at home and check out the wine below! Wine 1: Rivetto Langhe Nebbiolo - https://www.danmurphys.com.au/product/DM_6...

Send us Fan Mail We taste Pinot Gris versus Pinot Grigio blind and find the difference is real when we focus on structure instead of label hype. We also share the tricks we use to call style, origin and quality, including why bitterness and balance matter more than fancy tasting words. Get your notebook out and play along at home! Wine 1: Pizzini King Valley Pinot Grigio 2025 - https://www.pizzini...

Send us Fan Mail Sweet red wine keeps flying off shelves, so we taste what people actually buy and try to work out what’s driving the demand. We get blunt about confected flavours, then land on a more useful answer: sweetness, spritz, and lower alcohol can make real sense with spicy food and for beginners.  Buckle Up and if you want to play along... don't. If you're a sucker for pain, wi...

Send us Fan Mail We jump from rare Grenache by the glass to the bleak reality of industry restructuring, and ask what keeps wine alive when the money and the politics turn cold. Along the way, we dig into Endeavour’s winery sell-off, a federal budget that leaves wine behind, and the real vineyard trade-offs behind water use and dry farming. It's not all doom and gloom as Producer Austin spent...

Send us Fan Mail We sit down with Brendan Carter from Unico Zelo and Bottle Shock to unpack why the Riverland became synonymous with bulk wine and why that mindset blocks real solutions for growers. We chase the economics, the history, and the human cost, then land on a practical way to rebuild demand by putting place, old vines, and story back at the centre.  If you have old vines, give us a call...

Send us Fan Mail We test how much fried chicken changes what we taste in wine.  We taste Fried Chicken (known for its 11 Secret Herbs & Spices)  with four different wines and land on a big big winner! And the Winner is.... CHENIN BLANC! https://www.danmurphys.com.au/product/DM_141243/boschendal-sommelier-selection-chenin-blanc?srsltid=AfmBOop4UKEn_vykFkkL9mg2IAoCboTZeH5nP3XG1TrnCFSP8-kVi8EA I...

Send us Fan Mail We put our reputations on the line with a rapid-fire round of unpopular wine opinions, then dare you to come for us in the comments. From cheese pairing myths to rosé shade, Sauvignon Blanc redemption, “fault” versus flavour, and biodynamic root days, we argue like we mean it and back ourselves to the end.  Good news I found the Wine I mentioned at the start of the ep! - Austin 20...

Send us Fan Mail Beechworth may be Australia’s smallest GI, but we taste why it’s become one of the most talked about premium wine regions in Australia. We dig into the price reality, the Beechworth Chardonnay obsession, and what makes the whites and reds feel so textured yet fresh. Schatz Sylvaner 2023 - https://www.vsandb.com.au/shop2/2023-schatz-sylvaner Willem Kurt Beechworth Chardonnay 2024 -...

Send us Fan Mail “Prosecco” is one word, but it carries a whole fight about history, labelling, and who gets to own a name. We unpack the newly completed EU trade deal that lets Australian producers keep using Prosecco in Australia, while forcing a phase-out for exports over the next 10 years. If you’ve ever wondered why Champagne is protected, why Glera exists, or how a rebrand can ripple through...

Send us Fan Mail We chase “quiet luxury” wines that give you the feel of Burgundy, Sancerre and cult Italian reds without the eye-watering price tags. We taste our way through smart substitutions, explain the label terms that trip people up, and call out where the value still holds. Frankland Estate Isolation Ridge Riesling 2023 -   https://www.danmurphys.com.au/product/DM_118988?store=3252&gc...

Send us Fan Mail Queensland wine sounds like it shouldn’t work, so we taste our way through the Granite Belt and talk through the climate science that makes it possible. Four bottles later, we’re genuinely shocked by how balanced, fresh, and buy-worthy these wines are.  Golden Grove Vermentino 2025 - https://www.goldengroveestate.com.au/product/2025-vermentino/ Witches Falls Verdelho 2024 - https:...

Send us Fan Mail We move through the week’s biggest wine headlines, from career-building opportunities in Adelaide to the very real stress of smoke over vineyards during harvest. We also unpack rising fuel costs, what redundancies signal about the market, and why Michel Rolland’s legacy still shapes how wine tastes today. • Scholarships for under-35s to attend the International Masters of Wine Sym...

Send us Fan Mail We taste and test how different glasses change the way wine shows up, from aroma to texture, with SPIEGELAU CEO Richard Voit. We land on a simple, practical setup for real life: buy fewer glasses, buy better, and match the glass to what you actually drink.  Throughout this episode we try Riesling, Chardonnay, Pinot Noir (Of Course!) and even Champagne and the results left us shock...

Send us Fan Mail You know that moment on a weekend away when you’re standing in a local supermarket with bananas in one hand and a basket in the other, staring at a random wall of wine and thinking, “How am I meant to pick something good from this?” That’s the problem we set out to solve with a simple challenge: we’re heading to an Airbnb with mates, we each get $50, and we have to buy wine that d...

Send us Fan Mail We put goon on trial by tasting Bagnum versus a classic tap cask, blind, and learned just how easily packaging can mess with perception. Along the way we unpack why a Goon Bag can inflate (unintentionally, unlike Austin's high school pillows), what freshness really means in larger formats, and why the cheaper option can still be the best drink in the glass.  • What counts as...

Send us Fan Mail We break down why hedge funds are shorting Treasury Wine Estates in plain language, explore how Victoria Wine posted a record year, and unpack Penfolds’ culture pivot with Troye Sivan and the switch from the Australian Open to F1. We close by mapping the new logic of event sponsorships and what authenticity now means for wine brands. • How short selling works and why TWE is target...

Send us Fan Mail We test Thai favourites (roti with satay, pad Thai and green curry) against a tight wine list to find pairings that truly work. A skinsy white surprises with satay, Riesling shines with pad Thai, Moscato calms green curry, and a light red secretly turns up the heat. We would love your feedback on this episode!  Did you enjoy it, or do you want us to just shut up and keep giving yo...

Send us Fan Mail What passes the Pub test? Beyond catchy slogans and sleek aesthetics, where does alcohol marketing cross the line? We examine Australia’s ABAC standards through the lens of recent, real-world complaints. By breaking down which campaigns were cleared and which were banned, Mel takes us inside the alcohol marketing world and boy did we get an education! Follow us on instagram @winew...

Send us Fan Mail Forget everything you thought you knew about the Limestone Coast being "just for Cabernet." We’re following Meg’s week-long trek along South Australia’s wind-whipped shoreline to discover a region that’s cooling down and sharpening up. From the electric Blue Lake of Mount Gambier to the chalky soils of Robe and Cape Jaffa, we’re trading heavy reds for whites that speak w...

Send us Fan Mail A fresh studio, a new season, and the most pressing question in Australian wine: how do we move a region built on volume toward a future built on value? We open with Riverland’s reality—cheap grapes, heavy irrigation, and a glut of ageing red—and ask whether protecting old vines and dialing back yields can spark a quality reset. Brendan Carter’s deep dive provides a hopeful bluepr...

Send us Fan Mail Bushfire season has arrived with brutal force, impacting Victorian wineries - this extra episode is to answer your questions around what this means. From Strathbogie Ranges and Yea through to watch zones near the Yarra Valley, we map the fire lines, the shifting winds, and the hard choices facing growers who are only weeks from harvest. It’s not just scorched rows and lost stock;...

Send us Fan Mail A glass of champagne in hand and a year’s worth of tasting notes on the table, we set out to crown ten wines that genuinely moved us. Not the priciest. Not the rarest. The bottles that delivered texture, balance and joy—whether poured at a barbecue, opened for a milestone, or discovered on a whim at the local. We start with the unexpected: an Australian Arinto that lives in the mi...

Send us Fan Mail We taste through Australian icons and ask what truly makes a wine “great”: site, story, structure, or time. From Great Western’s mineral Shiraz to Margaret River’s silky Cabernet, Grange’s legend and Noble One’s golden botrytis, we weigh value, ageability and joy. • Best’s Bin 0 Shiraz 2021 as elegant, dark-fruited Great Western benchmark • Continental climate, phenolic ripeness a...