XChateau Wine Podcast

It appears on some wine labels, winemakers speak lovingly about them, and there are organizations focused on them.  “Old Vines” is a loosely defined term that is often associated with quality in the wine industry.  Seghesio , a historic Californian winery, has a strong focus on old vines with its focus on Zinfandel and Italian varietals.  Andy Robinson, Seghesio’s winemaker, lays ou...

When Shekar Sathyanarayana, founder of Nalla , began visiting wineries in Santa Barbara and talked about Indian food, winemakers loved the food, but had never paired it with wine.  Now, Nalla has brought Indian food and wine pairing to over 100 events hosted at wineries and other venues and Shekar shares what he has learned about match Indian food and wine.  Detailed Show Notes:  Sh...

After retiring twice, Chris Baker, President of Brassfield Estate, was lured back in by a unique opportunity to build one of the world’s largest monopoles in the High Valley AVA of Lake County, California. Its unique volcanic terroir is now being scaled nationally with a 10 year contract and national alignment with Southern Glazers. Chris describes the best practices in working with dist...

As one of the winners of the infamous 1976 Judgement of Paris, Chateau Montelena has a rich history to be proud of.  To optimize that legacy, Montelena’s President and Winemaker Matt Crafton has been embarking on more of a luxury strategy for the brand, reducing grocery and chain presence and working towards pricing growth over volume.  With the 50th anniversary of the Judgement in Paris...

Nearly two decades after filming Somm, Jason Wise, Chief Creative Officer of Somm TV and Director of the Somm movies, has a deep view of wine in the media.  Jason shares his perspective on what types of media moves the needle, how to get involved as a brand, the ever changing landscape of media itself.  Detailed Show Notes:  Update from the last 4 years: filming tons of food & w...

As the wine world stumbles through difficult times (in early 2026), Karen MacNeil, author of The Wine Bible and co-founder of Come Over October, believes part of the disconnect stems from time.  The fastness of the modern, social media fueled world and the slowness of wine.  Her solution is to focus the narrative of wine with well-being and wine’s long-standing role as a beverage that br...

The on-premise side of wine analytics has traditionally been a black hole, not covered by other data services.  Somm.ai changed that when they launched in 2021, now covering ~100k on-premise accounts in the US alone.  The richness of data allows Somm.ai to help their clients benchmark, prospect for new accounts, and so much more.  Jeremy Hart, Co-Founder and Chief Strategy Officer o...

It was long assumed that a love of wine runs in the family.  Not so, according to new research conducted by ARENI Global on how young consumers get into fine wine.  Pauline Vicard, Executive Director of ARENI, gets into the findings of their new study titled “The New Fine Wine Consumer - How People Under 40 Embrace Fine Wine.”  From the shrinking middle class to the motivations of w...

Even though it has been making wine for nearly 5 millenia, Israel is a wine region still finding its way in modern times.  Josh Greenstein, Director of the Israeli Wine Producers Association (“IWPA”), is on a mission to promote “Brand Israel,” which is all about new discoveries.  From winemaker stories to creating new grape varieties to mimic the descriptions in The Bible, Israel is maki...

Driven by passion, Erni Loosen, Managing Director of Loosen Bros , has spun up countless joint ventures in his career.  All with no business plan or goal of making money, but a greater purpose of driving a Renaissance for Riesling and out of passion for Riesling and Pinot Noir.  Erni goes into the qualities that make for good partnerships and some pitfalls to avoid.  Detailed Show N...

If as many Asians drank wine as the average American, we’d have ~100,000 more wine drinkers. And if Asian restaurants had wine lists at the average rate, we’d have ~5,000 more restaurants with wine lists. This is one of the foundations of the Asian Wine Association of America (“AWAA”), whose mission includes bringing wine to Asian cultures, of which food is central. Part of bridging...

With ~1M registered users, CellarTracker (“CT”) is one of the core consumer apps for wine lovers.  When Eric LeVine, Founder & CEO of CT, was last on XChateau in late 2021, they had just taken on investment to expand the business.  Eric gives us a rundown of what has happened since, like launching a new mobile app and adding AI features, as well as what is coming down the pipe. ...

After 40 years, Roederer Estate, the Californian arm of Champagne Louis Roederer has really started to hit its stride.  Arnaud Weyrich, SVP and Winemaker of Roederer Estate and Xavier Barlier, CMO of MMD USA, discuss its history, trajectory, and how Roederer Estate continues to create more reasons to believe in the brand and the wines.  This belief is grounded in a vision to make wines t...

Guest hosts and a host as the guest in this episode.  Byron Hoffman and Tyson Caly, co-CEOs of Offset , a leading e-commerce platform for allocated offerings, interview host Peter Yeung about his new course, Allocated Wine Offerings: Best Practices . They get into the content of the course and also a wide range of topics related to allocated offerings.  Detailed Show Notes:  Co-host...

Having helped grow Duckhorn from $5M to $500M in revenue and the sales team from 1 to >100 people, Pete Przbylinksi, former Chief Sales Officer of The Duckhorn Portfolio for nearly 30 years, has a deep understanding of managing US wholesale markets.  In part two, Pete discusses selling into on- and off-premise chains, pricing, marketing, and more. Detailed Show Notes:  Selling on-prem...

Having helped grow Duckhorn from $5M to $500M in revenue and the sales team from 1 to >100 people, Pete Przbylinksi, former Chief Sales Officer of The Duckhorn Portfolio for nearly 30 years, has a deep understanding of managing US wholesale markets.  In this two-part episode, Pete dives into every aspect of managing a wholesale sales team, including incentive structures and collaborating w...

Building a new wine category is not something that is easy to plan.  It often is more like a startup, where belief in the product and market is just as critical as a defined strategy.  That's how Luisa Amorim, CEO of Amorim Family Estates, launched Mirabilis into being an iconic still white wine of the Douro Valley.  She outlines priority markets, views on scores and social media, a...

With 30 generations in the wine business, the Frescobaldis have a long-term view of the wine business.  This mindset has enabled Ornellaia to become a global icon.  Lamberto Frescobaldi, President of Frescobaldi, discusses how Ornellaia established and maintained its status as a global icon.  Detailed Show Notes:  Background: grew up in the Italian countryside, studied at UC Da...

With over 40 years of managing some of the top names in wine (Opus One, Mondavi, Baron Philippe de Rothschild), David Pearson, President of Joseph Phelps , has developed a distinct point of view on how to build a globally iconic brand. Ultimately, it comes down to relationships and the effort required to maintain them. From focus and prioritization to spending upwards of 65% of time on the ro...

Pairing their need for a complex substitute for wine, for both pregnancy and professional network, Maggie Frerejean-Taittinger and friend Constance Jablonski enlisted Maggie’s husband, Champagne and Cognac winemaker Rodolphe to found French Bloom .  With four years of R&D prior to launch and constant refinement since, French Bloom aims to redefine the alcohol free premium sparkling wine s...

Selling the very rare, collectible wines of the world, Adam Bilbey, SVP, Global Head of Wine & Spirits for Christie’s , has a unique view into the state of the wine collector. Adam maps the thought processes and changes in attitude of buyers and sellers of rare wine globally, and he is seeing “green shoots” in the market by mid-2025.   Detailed Show Notes:  Adam’s backgroun...

Making wine is capital-intensive. Making traditional method sparkling wine is even more so. From less juice from the grapes to double fermentation to more expensive bottles and taxes, Weston Eidson of recently launched Westborn Wine describes the differences in sparkling production.   Detailed Show Notes:  Weston’s background: >10 years winemaking in Napa (Silver Ghost), fam...

It’s a cycle that has been happening since the late 1800s. The need for agricultural labor in California is a cycle of bringing in labor and then deporting them when they become too visible. Elaine Chukan Brown, wine writer and author of recently published The Wines of California , describes the history, current situation with new regulations and deportation, and the tension put on vineyard w...

With a large domestic market for wine, US producers often don’t focus a lot on exports. Honore Comfort, VP of International Marketing for Wine Institute , lays out the benefits and challenges of exporting wines globally. She covers the top markets for US wine globally, the role Wine Institute plays in helping US exports, and the potential impacts of the current trade war.   Detailed...

As one of the major players in value wine, owning Charles Shaw (aka “Two Buck Chuck”),  Bronco Wine Co.’s  new CEO, Dom Engels, believes that the wine industry needs more innovation and focus on creating new entry points for younger consumers. From packaging to labels, Dom discusses how he’s navigating Bronco through the turbulence of a shrinking market for value wine from both the cost...