XChateau Wine Podcast

In an increasingly digital world, there is still little substitute for wine in people’s mouths. Doing in-store tastings is one way to get directly in front of consumers and get immediate feedback on products. Jessica Kogan, CEO of HSP Brands , is focused on providing both an engaging consumer experience and capturing the data from in-store tastings to drive real insight and ROI for bev alc supplie...

With the goal of living a purposeful life, Vida Valiente was founded in Napa as a combination luxury winery and charity.  The foundation is focused on providing last dollar scholarships and mentorship to 1st generation college students.  The winery is establishing a newly planted vineyard as the next “grand cru” site in Napa.  Hayes and Susana Drumwright combine these two elements i...

A 7th generation shipper and 2nd generation winegrower, Basile Aloy of Avignonesi in Tuscany, has a unique perspective on the geopolitical and macroeconomic events happening today and how they impact the cost of wine. Oil prices, war, tariffs, and climate change all come into play in this wide ranging conversation that showcases how much some of these macro events impact the world of wine.&nb...

Though the seeds were already sown for quality wines in California, the famous Judgement of Paris Tasting in 1976 set the wine world ablaze and created new energy not just in America, but across the world for fine wine production and appreciation.  Andrea Robinson MS has developed The Swirled Cup , a TV series that explores how the world changed with the Judgement of Paris as its “tipping poi...

As the birthplace of wine and the vinifera grape species, Georgia (the country), has wine deeply embedded in its culture.  Yet, having survived conquest by three empires, fine wines are not the current norm in Georgia, where the Russian Communists focused on quantity over quality.  Irakli Gilauri is launching Gilauri Wines to change that and to give wine collectors all over the world a c...

With 143 years of history, Wente Family Vineyards is the US’s longest continuously family owned and operated winery, even producing wine through Prohibition.  Aly Wente, Chief Revenue Officer, discusses how Wente leverages its rich history to re-launch historic brands, connect with younger consumers, and embed the messaging in social media and hospitality to differentiate itself.  ...

Sometimes data can be overwhelming.  Being able to transform that data into actionable information can deliver high ROI.  Jesse Lange, Managing Director of Lange Estate Winery, and Mark Evans, President of Triumph Advisors, discuss how Enolytics helps them make strategic decisions through actionable information in every part of their businesses, from DTC and wholesale into operational pl...

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...