Épisodes

  • Wine Critics or Judging the Critics

    Wine Critics or Judging the Critics
    Jun 19 2025
    Emily, Jamie, and Doug ask how critics approach the process of judging the quality of an individual wine. The three talk about ratings and marking systems and question their validity. Are they a useful shorthand or a distraction from the real thing (the taste of the wine)? We question what happens when critics taste prestigious cuvées and rare wines and whether feel confident enough to give these low marks when they truly disappoint.They talk about collective tasting and the dynamic of the tasting panel, where a group comes together to calibrate their taste. Finally, they discuss the language we use to describe wine, how we try to capture abstract qualities such beauty and integrity in wines in humble words, and how also wines that gain lower scores on a marking scale might well be the ones we prefer to drink in the end! We conclude that a wine is not necessarily immediately knowable, and that one can only truly evaluate one when one has spent proper time with it. The wines tasted in this episode are a thrilling natural Tsolikouri 2023 from Makaridze in Imereti, Georgia and remark on its qualities of energy and minerality. Later on, we open a bottle of 2007 Bandol Rouge from Château de Pibarnon and are impressed by its grace and comparative youthfulness.
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    1 h et 5 min
  • Blind Wine Tasting: The Pros and Cons of tasting wine blind.

    Blind Wine Tasting: The Pros and Cons of tasting wine blind.
    Jun 5 2025
    Wine experts Emily Harman, Jamie Goode, and Doug Wregg talk about the very nature of perception itself, how we may be influenced (and deceived) by the colour of wine, how ambient sound and even our feelings at a given time can alter our sensitivity and receptivity towards a given wine. They remark on the different approaches to (blind) tasting according to whether you’re a relative novice or a full-fledged wine professional. The trio explore the relative notions of subjective and objective assessment and ask whether it is right for appellation boards and judging panels to set a standard for taste “correctness” and how this might exclude a whole raft of interesting and unique non-conformist wines. Doug blind tastes Emily and Jamie on two wines, the first being Renaud Boyer’s old vines Bourgogne-Aligoté (2022 vintage), a previously unfashionable grape variety that is gaining an excellent reputation amongst the wine-loving community. The second is not a wine at all, being Ripple, a natural cider from Egremont Russet apples by Little Pomona in Herefordshire. Our two intrepid tasters are not deceived, despite the “vinosity” of the product!
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    50 min
  • The Price of Wine: Is good wine becoming too expensive?

    The Price of Wine: Is good wine becoming too expensive?
    May 19 2025
    Join Emily Harman, Jamie Goode, and Doug Wregg as they talk about why wines are becoming more expensive and ask what constitutes value-for-money these days. The trio examine wine margins in restaurants, question why they are (undoubtedly) increasing and explain some of the reasons why this may be the case. We mention some of our favourite places to drink good value wine and why progressive mark-ups encourage customers to drink more interesting wines. Conversely, fixed gross-profit margins are pushing more and more wines out of the pocket of the average consumer. They observe that emerging regions and lesser-heralded grape varieties can provide great value discoveries. To this end, the gang taste a white wine made from Thierry Navarre in Saint-Chinian called Lignières Blanc, a mix of rare and “forgotten varieties” including Ribeyrenc Blanc, Clairette du Languedoc & Grenache Gris, and agree this style of wine overdelivers for the price point. As an alternative to Burgundy, we open a bottle of 2018 Storm “Ignis” Pinot Noir from the relatively cool-climate Upper Hemel-en-Aarde Valley in South Africa.
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    54 min
  • Vessels

    Vessels
    May 7 2025
    Jamie, Doug and Emily look at different types of wine “vessels” ranging from stainless tanks to various types of wooden barrels and finally concrete vats and terracotta pots (amphorae, qvevri and so forth). They talk about the art of the cooper and suggest that (used sympathetically) oak barrels can both shape the wine as well as being the conduit to transmit a sense of terroir, whereas clumsy use of wood will obfuscate the true nature of the wine. The gang taste three examples of wines fermented and aged in different vessels. Firstly, a clay-fermented-and aged 2013 Muscat from the De Martino tinajas project in Itata, southern Chile. Then a biodynamic Arbin Mondeuse from Louis Magnin from the 2003 vintage, all in stainless tanks. To finish, to illustrate the effect of oak-ageing, we sample a Torres Mas La Plana 2018 from Penedes. Wines tasted this episode: Muscat Tinajas, De Martino 2013 Itata, Chile Arbin Mondeuse, Louis Magnin 2003 Savoie, France Mas La Plana, Torres 2018 Penedes, Spain
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    58 min
  • Of Icons and Unicorns

    Of Icons and Unicorns
    Apr 16 2025
    Join Doug Wregg, Emily Harman and Jamie Goode as they discuss wine icons, wine unicorns, and the secondary market.
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    58 min
  • How do you like them appellations?

    How do you like them appellations?
    Apr 1 2025
    Join Doug Wregg, Emily Harman and Jamie Goode as they discuss the pros and cons of the appellation system.
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    1 h et 2 min
  • Terroir Talks

    Terroir Talks
    Mar 20 2025
    Jamie, Doug and Emily attempt to define the slippery concept of terroir and surmise how a specific place (microclimate, aspect, biodiversity and soil) may be transmitted into the final wine and why it might be desirable for wines to convey their origins.
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    58 min
  • Your Faults, My Flaws!

    Your Faults, My Flaws!
    Mar 5 2025
    Join Doug, Emily & Jamie as they dig into the topic of wine flaws and faults.
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    1 h et 1 min