Vininspo! podcast

I didn’t realise how off-the-beaten path the Osicka family vineyard was until I took the beaten path out of Heathcote and went off it for a considerable time before rolling into this vine-strewn refuge in the bush. The whole thing lulled me into profound contemplation: the sacred vault-like feel of the cellar, the lilting cadence of Simon’s voice, the subtle sustained notes of these wines. A bobbing procession of kangaroos conjured from the scrub woke me from my reverie on the dirt track back. Uprooted from far-flung Velké Bílovice, the Osicka name felt baked into the very soil of Graytown. Paul Osicka Wines was established in 1955 by the first Paul Osicka in this story: Simon’s grandfather Pavel, who fled Europe and settled in Australia. My first encounter with the wines came when Simon’s father was at the helm and before Simon joined him full-time in 2010. Paul Jr. died nine years later, and Simon and his partner in viticulture and in life, Alison Phillips, continue to carry the torch for this special place. I visited Simon after the curtain came down on a few days of judging at the Heathcote Wine Show. It was an enjoyable, eye-opening experience, and I was keen to bring Simon’s affinity with the region to the Vininspo! audience. Shiraz accounted for 49% of the Heathcote crush in 2025, and it is the main focus at Osicka. There’s also a long history of Cabernet Sauvignon, an exciting newer chapter with Grenache, some Riesling on the side and other stuff to come. Simon and I talk about all of these varieties and their place in the region’s tapestry. There’s plenty of insight on the lay of the land across Heathcote, a larger and more diverse region than many realise. Vines were first planted here in the 1850s, and Simon speaks of one Baptista Governa, an Italian immigrant who arrived in Nagambie in the 1870s and planted vines in Major’s Creek at Graytown some years later. In 2002, Heathcote became a recognised Geographical Indication, and these days there are around 40 wineries and 70 vineyards. The vineyards extend some 90km from north to south, with the northernmost sites beyond Colbinabbin and the southernmost around Tooborac. The latter sits on the cusp of the very cool Macedon Ranges, which favour Pinot Noir and Chardonnay. The township of Heathcote is located in the southern third of the GI, and Graytown is 30km away on its eastern limit, over halfway to Nagambie. Based in Tooborac, Adam Foster of Syrahmi is name-checked as a ringleader of the Heathcote vignerons’ Shiraz benchmarking sessions. J.L. Chave, where Simon worked a formative harvest, Domaine Jamet, Yves Cuilleron, M. Chapoutier, Pierre Gonon, Pierre Gaillard and Stéphane Ogier are among Northern Rhône royalty referenced here. Tellurian winemaker Tobias Ansted, Will Dredge of Red Edge and Luke Lomax of Heathcote Estate and Devil’s Cave are among those who might attend those Syrah love-ins. All three of them helped out with stewarding at the show. Other Heathcote winemakers mentioned include Emily McNally, daughter of Jasper Hill founders Ron and Elva Laughton; Liam Anderson, son of Wild Duck Creek founder David Anderson; Mark Hunter at Sanguine; Ian Rathjen of Whistling Eagle; and the father-daughter duo Madeleine and Mario Marson of Vinea Marson. When talk turns to Cabernet Sauvignon, I mention the Cabernet Cartel tasting hosted by former Vininspo! podcast interviewees Rob Mann and Julian Langworthy . You can read more about in this piece , which includes the Clare icon Wendouree and the Ansted & Osicka Balgownie 1970 Block Cabernet Sauvignon, which Tobias and Simon make from a storied but imperilled vineyard planted by Stuart Anderson at Maiden Gully in Bendigo. Simon’s good friend Rob Mann of Corymbia also crops up in this story about the Marks family of Gembrook Hill . Andrew Marks is the third man in this cerebral, boundary-pushing circle of friends and he, too, is discussed in my conversation with Simon. Rob was also part of the crop of Hardys superstars and their mentors, all of whom have turned up before on this podcast: Peter Dawson, Tom Newton, Paul Lapsley, Ed Carr, Paul Carpenter, Alex Mackay, Mark O’Callaghan, Glenn Barry, Charlie Seppelt, Fran Austin, Ross Pamment and Larry Cherubino. Stephen Pannell (S.C. Pannell), Steve Flamsteed (Decades), Anna Flowerday (TWR) and Sue Bell (Bellwether) have all been guests on the podcast, and you can also read this profile of Kerri Thompson of Wines by KT. Back in Victoria, Jen Pfeiffer of Pfeiffer Wines in Rutherglen—best known for her spectacular fortified wines—was an exceptional chair of judges at the Heathcote Wine Show. A bottle of Tahbilk’s 1927 vines Marsanne sparked an interesting conversation at the judges’ dinner, and Alister Purbrick of Tahbilk, not far from Paul Osicka Wines, turns up towards the end of this conversation with Simon. Finally, you’re not expected to know what a quincunx is. It’s an arrangement of five things in a square or rectangle with one at each corner and one in the middle—think of the five pattern on dice. The Osickas discovered the planting configuration in the Handbook on Viticulture for Victoria, a practical manual prepared by the pioneering viticulturist François de Castella. The Grenache that inspired Simon was a Châteauneuf-du-Pape from Domaine de Marcoux, should you wish to seek it out. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit edmerrison.substack.com/subscribe

David Bicknell’s unceremonious axing from Oakridge came as something of a bombshell. The Yarra Valley estate’s owner, Endeavour Group, had announced a couple of months previously that it was selling up. But it seemed improbable that the man who’d led it for a quarter of a century and put it on the map as a trophy magnet for site-specific, cool-climate wines would be tipped out. Given his reputation for forthright opinions and headline-grabbing wines, Dave has hitherto remained a somewhat private person. Indeed, I had never met or spoken to him before lining this interview up. His public profile has risen since news broke of his departure, but it seemed odd to me that very little of what I knew had come straight from the horse’s mouth. Among myriad accomplishments, Dave was dux of the Len Evans Tutorial in 2005, was crowned Gourmet Traveller WINE Winemaker of the Year in 2017, co-founded the influential Pinot Massif workshop and has chaired countless wine shows, including the National Wine Show of Australia. He joined Oakridge in 2002 and led it to countless wins on the wine show circuit. In the wake of the regal trailblazers of the Yarra Valley—the likes of Mount Mary, Yeringberg, Yarra Yering and Wantirna Estate —the likes of Oakridge and Giant Steps seemed to go toe-to-toe in elevating appreciation of the Yarra’s potential to express exceptional vineyards. Sites like Henk, Hazeldene, Willowlake, Lusatia Park and Funder & Diamond seemed to become household names thanks in large part to these efforts. In this episode, Dave and I talk about Oakridge’s trajectory with Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and Cabernet Sauvignon. Adrian Rodda (A. Rodda, Beechworth), Tim Perrin (Port Phillip Estate/Kooyong, Mornington Peninsula), Marty Singh (Precipice, Yarra Valley) and Tim Dexter, son of Mornington Peninsula vigneron Tod , are among team members singled out in our chat. In episode 11, Steve Flamsteed spoke about his student days living with Dave and his viticulturist wife, Nicky Harris (the other half of Bicknell F.C.). Steve is another co-founder of Pinot Massif, and there is plenty more background on this workshop in his episode. The rise of Giant Steps in tandem with Oakridge was in part driven by this rivalry between the best of friends. Not for the first time on Vininspo!, Steve Webber of De Bortoli is given due credit here for his mentorship. You’ll find more about the crop of talent at this Yarra estate in my interview with former alumnus Sarah Fagan . From Dave’s Roseworthy days, Pat Iland garners a special mention. He is serially credited among my interviewees, turning up in conversations with Ginny Willcock and Julian Langworthy , among others. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit edmerrison.substack.com/subscribe

Kelby James Russell had the air of the whizzkid about him when I first met him, and that’s clearly what he was. It was Melbourne, 2015. Riesling Downunder, a now-defunct triennial trade event, had rolled into town. With it came winemakers from Clare, Eden Valley, Great Southern and Canberra. A couple of Alsatians were there, and Germanophones aplenty from the Mosel, Rhine and Danube. And among them, a sole, studious-looking American. Red Newt was the label Kelby was pouring—one of relatively few Finger Lakes estates I was familiar with. He wasn’t loud, and nor were the wines. But both were captivating. What struck me most was that, without apparent effort, he seemed calmly confident of holding my attention in that crowded room. He duly succeeded. It was great to get up to speed on Apollo’s Praise, the winery Kelby founded on Seneca Lake in 2023 with his wife, Julia Hoyle. (The wines are not yet imported into Australia; it would be wonderful to see that injustice rectified!) Julia is winemaker at Hosmer Winery on Cayuga Lake. Kelby tells us a bit about what’s so special about Julia, and a lot about what’s special about the Finger Lakes as a place to grow wine. Peter Bell is the name of Kelby’s first wine mentor in the region from his time at Fox Run Vineyards. Red Newt Cellars, where Kelby made his name, was founded by David and Debra Whiting in 1998, and is also on Seneca Lake. During his early vintages in the southern hemisphere, Kelby speaks affectionately about his time at Yalumba in South Australia’s Barossa Valley. Louisa Rose, winemaker and head of sustainability at Hill-Smith Family Estates, was one of those he met there, as was now-retired Kevin Glastonbury. Peter Gambetta, meanwhile, has been a frequent visitor to the Finger Lakes, Kelby tells me. Speaking of outside influence, we name-drop Pfalz producer Koehler-Ruprecht and Franken grower Hans Wirsching when we talk about the Scheurebe grape variety. The variety was long thought to be a cross between Riesling x Silvaner, but subsequent DNA analysis refutes Silvaner’s involvement, suggesting a wild vine sampling is the other part of the equation. Scheurebe is regarded as a highly successful grape for its performance in cool climates and its flavour/structure profile. (Dr Georg Scheu did the work, and “Rebe” is German for vine.) The Germans also come up on the subject of the international ideas exchange — the kind that takes place at FLXcursion, the Finger Lakes Riesling Wine Conference. This effectively took the place of Washington State’s Riesling Rendezvous. The Australian equivalent morphed into Riesling Downunder, which was last held in 2018. International Riesling Symposium in the Rheingau, meanwhile, is ground zero. Kelby describes the Knoll—the single-site wine that made his name—as being Grosses Gewächs- style. This refers to a textural, dry style of Riesling from a grand-cru site in Germany. Knoll is also, coincidentally, the name of an exceptional Austrian producer known for ripe, multi-dimensional, dry, aromatic white wines. If you’d like to know more about the other Prädikat styles Kelby mentions, a good place to start is this chat with Erni Loosen . Finally, the name Apollo’s Praise comes from a glee named Glorious Apollo. If you want to hear notes whistling over your head like ghosts, here’s the version I checked out to witness the complex, harmonious heights Kelby and Julia’s wines aim to scale. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit edmerrison.substack.com/subscribe

For a long time, I’ve been intrigued by Eugene Qiao’s brain—one I’ve picked on several occasions, not least for a reality check and a unique perspective on Italian and Australian wine culture. A Chinese student destined, seemingly inevitably, for medical career, somehow turned up in Barolo and entered the fold of a family where thinking differently is the norm. This conversation with Eugene makes for a nice complement to episode 35, which featured Giuseppe Vaira. She gives an outsider’s take on the customs and people of Piedmont, as well as its wines. There are plenty of new areas to probe and opportunities to delve deeper. I especially enjoyed Eugene’s take on cuisine, climate change, alternative varieties and the versatility of Nebbiolo—including a thoroughly informed impression of how Australia is travelling with this beautiful grape. A little context will help, starting with the Vaira family tree. It was Giuseppe’s father, Aldo, who interviewed Eugene for her role. With his wife, Milena, Aldo founded G.D. Vajra in 1972. It takes its name from Aldo’s father, Giuseppe Domenico Vaira, even though he did not work in the wine industry. (The family name is written with an ‘i’; a printing error in the early days led to the adoption of the ‘j’ styling.) It was, in fact, on the farm of his grandfather, Carlo, that Aldo had his first taste of vineyard work. These days Giuseppe and his siblings, Francesca and Isidoro (Isi), head up the business. They are all mentioned in our conversation. Isi is given credit for the way he assisted Eugene early on, especially thanks to his devotion to Piedmont’s lesser-known indigenous varieties. We talk about his pet project, a vineyard in Farigliano, where this is a focus. The commune lies within the production area of Dogliani DOCG (a Dolcetto appellation), where the Vaira family’s Monterustico wines are grown. Some of the grapes mentioned are the red varieties Freisa, Slarina and Chatus and the white grapes Nascetta, Bian Vert, Manzoni Blanco, Rossese Bianco and Baratuciat. You’ll find these in blends such as the G.D. Vajra Rosso, Luigi Baudana Dragon Bianco and Monterustico Bianco. Nebbiolo features heavily—how could it not?—and among the variations, we speak about the Italian regions of Valtellina and Alto Piemonte, the light, juicy red style the family produces under its Claré J.C. label, and Australian exponents such as Patrick Underwood (Little Reddie), Tess Brown (Vignerons Schmölzer & Brown), Pete Graham (Domenica; read more here ) and Stephen Pannell, whose Protero wines are grown in the Adelaide Hills. Steve speaks very affectionately about his time with the Vaira family in episode 30 . The G.D. Vajra Barolo vineyards we discuss are Coste di Rose, Bricco delle Viole (both in the commune of Barolo) and Ravera (Novello), while the blended Albe wine is from three sites in Barolo (Coste di Vergne, Fossati and La Volta). Food’s an important subject, too—always, and especially in Piedmont. Apart from the hong shao rou (red braised pork belly) and jaozi dumplings of Eugene’s homeland, the local specialities of carne cruda (raw meat, especially from the Fassona breed of cattle), baccalà (dried and salted cod), finanziera (offal stew) and tajarin al tartufo bianco d’Alba (egg pasta with white truffle) are all on the menu. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit edmerrison.substack.com/subscribe

Subscribe to this Substack and follow on Instagram so you never miss a story! Liam McElhinney’s astonishing show-circuit success at Lowestoft once seemed to me like lightning from a blue sky. The land of the long white cloud had seen it all before—twice over—but I was oblivious. The irreverent, self-effacing bloke I met during the Covid years, who spun a tragicomic tale of lording it up in a Tassie mansion during lockdown while his wife and kids were sequestered in New Zealand, wasn’t obviously a wine wunderkind grown old and wise. But that’s Liam, I guess; one of the most easy-going hard-workers you could meet. This was an enjoyable conversation with a charismatic raconteur. As is always the case, there is plenty of depth, though—both in detail and in the up-and-down, cut-and-thrust of an ambitious go-getter with an open, original mind. And succeeding, mind you, in an agricultural pursuit that is rarely, if ever, straightforward. When Liam and I first crossed paths, he was in Melbourne with Julian Langworthy, who gave a cracking interview—similarly lighthearted with several serious lessons—for episode 26 of the Vininspo! podcast . Liam and Jules are kind of distant cousins within an Australian family winemaking tree, which itself could do with some untangling, not least so you can get to grips with some of the brands mentioned. That family business is called Fogarty Hall Fine Wine Estates. One of its founders, Peter Fogarty, appears in the chapter where Liam is lured to Tasmania. In 2019, Fogarty and a partner, Rod Roberts, acquired the assets and business of the collapsed contract facility Winemaking Tasmania, rechristening it Tasmanian Vintners. Liam became chief winemaker of this new entity. Fogarty Hall’s Tasmanian portfolio now includes the brands Ossa (founded by Rod Roberts and his wife Cecile), Thalia, Strelley Farm and, most famously, Lowestoft. Liam was sitting amid the grandeur of the 1840s-built Lowestoft homestead on the banks of the Derwent River when we recorded the podcast. This label, in particular, has brought Liam head-turning show success, including the prestigious Jimmy Watson Memorial Trophy in 2023. The unrivalled variety—and quality—of grapes that Liam works with in his role has fast-tracked him to being an authority on this small island’s remarkably varied terroirs. We talk about these climatic variations, especially in the Derwent Valley, Coal River Valley and East Coast. On the mainland, Fogarty Hall owns Deep Woods in Margaret River, where Julian Langworthy has made his mark as one of the most decorated winemakers of his generation. Lake’s Folly (Hunter Valley), Dalwhinnie (Pyrenees) and Evans & Tate (Margaret River) are among the wineries in the same stable. Turning back the clock to Liam’s Kiwi days, he mentions formative encounters with Cloudy Bay founding winemaker Kevin Judd, now of Greywacke, and Jane Ferrari, long-serving brand ambassador for Yalumba in the Barossa. The Central Otago pioneers mentioned are Rudi Bauer (Quartz Reef), Grant Taylor (formerly Gibbston Valley, later establishing Valli) and Lois Mills of Rippon. In Hawke’s Bay, Warren Gibson and Trinity Hill are discussed at length with Bilancia’s Lorraine Leheny in episode 44 . John Hancock also crops up there, and there’s also an overlap in my conversation with Kym Milne MW for episode 41 . The same, in fact, goes for Craggy Range visionary Steve Smith MW (episode 16) . Looming large in Liam’s Marlborough years are the figures of John and Brent Marris. Brent played a lead role in launching the Delegat brand Oyster Bay before building up Wither Hills, which was eventually sold to the drinks giant Lion Nathan (now Lion). The Ned is the name of the next Sauvignon Blanc brand to go viral at Marris’s hand, with Liam integral to that growth. Waihopai is the subregion linked to its point of difference, coming to prominence after the Wairau and Awatere valleys. From The Ned, Liam progressed to te Pā, teaming up with its founder, Haysley MacDonald. And one more person who should be acknowledged is Liam’s long-suffering wife, Gemma Lyons. Gemma works for Ossa, but I first came across her during her time with Wairau River, another Marlborough family estate I had the pleasure of working with. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit edmerrison.substack.com/subscribe

Sometimes it’s easy to confuse classicism with conservatism. On the face of it, 1798-founded Weingut A. Christmann seems to tick both boxes. Urbane 7th-generation patriarch Steffen Christmann read law at Heidelberg and presides over the VDP group of revered growers. The estate’s super-elegant wines grow exclusively on sites classified as premier and grand cru, and their crisp, sharp labels speak eloquently of their breeding. Classic to the core. But conservative? It ain’t that simple. All that class belies a dynamism that has only picked up pace since Sophie Christmann joined her father at the helm a decade ago. I first met Sophie in Melbourne in 2016, when she had come to Australia to work the harvest with Jeffrey Grosset and Stephanie Toole in the Clare Valley, and her drive and articulacy were notable then. She talks about her time at Grosset and Mount Horrocks in our interview. Later that same year, she went on work harvest in Baden, southern Germany, with Julian Huber of Weingut Bernhard Huber in Malterdingen. This is one of the country’s champions of world-class Pinot Noir, and we also discuss Sophie’s formative experience there. Sophie immediately started to transform Christmann into a leading producer of site-driven Spätburgunder, as Burgundy’s revered red grape is known in those parts. Again, we discuss that evolution in detail. I also had the pleasure of visiting Gimmeldingen in 2019, the year that Sophie and Steffen had another carpe diem moment, this time with traditional-method sparkling wine. Again, she shares excellent details on this project, which has become Sektgut Christmann et Kauffmann. Alsace-born Mathieu Kauffmann, the other half of this partnership, was the celebrated chef de cave at Champagne house Bollinger. He was initially lured to the Pfalz by a position at Reichsrat von Buhl before teaming up with the Christmanns on an ambitious initiative inspired by the great terroir wines of the grower Champagne movement. In our conversation, I refer to a couple of other [Vininspo! Alt. Format] episodes: one with Ernst Loosen of the Mosel and another with Cornelius Dönnhoff (Nahe) and Philipp Wittmann (Rheinhessen) . Both of those, as well as episode 14 with Gunderloch’s Johannes Hasselbach , will provide the listener with other fascinating detail about fine German wine. Speaking of progressive, the Christmann estate has been certified biodynamic by respect-BIODYN for over 20 years . We talk about the reframing of the range, whose Aus Den Lagen Riesling and Pinot Noir represent the already high-quality jumping-in point. We talk about the Grossen Lagen (grand-cru sites) of Meerspinne in Gimmeldingen, Vogelsang in Neustadt and, in the village of Königsbach, Ölberg-Hart and jewel-in-the-crown Idig. The Ersten Lagen (premier-cru sites) are spread across these same villages plus Ruppertsberg and Mussbach. Sophie also mentions the famous villages of Forst and Deidesheim, also within the Mittelhaardt section of Pfalz. That subregional name is derived from the Haardt mountains (or, as Sophie says, hills), which are the extension of the Vosges mountains ( Vogesen in German) of Alsace to the south, the other side of the French border. Other Pfalz friends (geddit?) that crop up are Weingut Rings, Weingut Dr Bürklin-Wolf and Ökonomierat Rebholz, led by Hans-Jörg Rebholz. A touching reference is made to Philipp Wittmann’s father, Günter. Weingut Rudolf Fürst in Franken, meanwhile, is cited as another benchmark Spätburgunder producer. On that note, German Pinot Noir plantings have jumped by 50% in the past 30 years, and Sophie is one of those leading the quality charge. She talks about how the breakdown of her estate’s plantings has shifted over time. For context, in 2024/5, Riesling accounted for 25.2% of vines in the Pfalz (Palatinate in English), while Pinot Noir was just 7.3%. At Christmann, it is shifting towards two-thirds and one-third, respectively. The wines of Sophie, Steffen, Mathieu and the team are imported into Australia by CellarHand, by whom I am employed on a part-time basis. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit edmerrison.substack.com/subscribe

Andreas Wickhoff spread his wings and travelled far and wide before coming home to roost in the Danube Valley, not too distant from where he grew up in rural Steiermark. As general manager at the Bründlmayer estate in the Kamptal, he keeps the flame burning at what Jancis Robinson has called “a beacon for Austrian wine”. Not an ounce of his worldly, cosmopolitan background, hospitality training and Master of Wine education is wasted as he goes about pursuing and portraying provenance and excellence in wine. I first met Andreas in Melbourne a year or so after Willi Bründlmayer came for Riesling Downunder in 2015. I had long since fallen in love with the grace and purity of the estate’s Riesling and Grüner Veltliner, and Willi himself is the very image of the worldly, wise, humble gentleman. Andreas seemed the perfect fit for the estate. Lucid, resolute and articulate, he is compelling company and puts you in the picture with consummate ease. In this interview, I deliberately milked Andreas for his Austrian wine knowledge, and needn’t expand much thanks to his thoroughness and clarity. There are a few names and terms that could do with spelling out, however. Andreas grew up in Steiermark (Styria), prime wine-growing territory known for its Sauvignon Blanc and Morillon, which, as he explains, is the local name for Chardonnay. Weingut Sattlerhof is the estate in South Styria that changed his life, first through a single-site wine from the Kranachberg vineyard, and later when he joined forces with Willi Sattler. Premium Estates of Austria is the name of the group Andreas represented. Other members included Fritz Wieninger (Wien), Gernot Heinrich (Neusiedlersee, Burgenland), Fred Loimer (Kamptal) and Alois Gölles, a fellow Styrian famed for his artisanal spirits. You can learn a lot about the Wachau from this video , including prevalent soils such as gneiss and loess, and the implications of the three-tiered classification system spanning Steinfeder, Federspiel and Smaragd. Andreas gives further insight, using as reference points the likes of Alzinger, F.X. Pichler, and Emmerich Knoll towards the east of the valley, and Franz Hirtzberger at its western edge. In the Kremstal region, Lenz Moser, Stadt Krems and Winzer Krems are the larger producers mentioned, all of which provide an accessible reference point. In the Kamptal, meanwhile, the sparkling wine programmes of Loimer, Jurtschitsch, Schloss Gobelsburg and Steininger are held up as exemplars. Staying in the Kamptal, the Bründlmayer winery is in Langenlois and other villages mentioned are Kammern (home to the Lamm Erste Lage, or premier-cru site) and Zöbing (home to the Heiligensten Erste Lage). Note that this area’s classification does not yet extend to grands crus; when it does, you can be sure these will be near the top of the list. Other vineyards we discuss in the Bründlmayer portfolio are Spiegel, Berg Vogelsang, and Loiserberg (for Grüner Veltliner), Steinmassl (Riesling), and Steinberg vineyard (Chardonnay). Willi’s wife Edwige deservedly gets a few mentions, not least for her love of Champagne. Coteaux Kampenois is Andreas’s tongue-in-cheek nickname for his multi-vintage base wine, a Kamptal twist on the French Coteaux Champenois appellation for still wines from that region. In another French reference, Hubert Lamy is the Burgundy domaine where a young Willi Bründlmayer did a stage. Finally, there is a reference to the Austrian wine scandal, the mid-1980s crisis from whose depths the likes of Bründlmayer hauled this nation’s reputation before propelling it into the stratosphere. This involved wine producers illegally adding the toxic chemical diethylene glycol—an antifreeze agent—to cheap bulk wine to increase its richness and body. Needless to say, none of the producers we spoke about had anything to do with it. The powers that be in Austrian wine have since done a superb job in raising standards and awareness of the country’s varied and abundant vinous gifts. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit edmerrison.substack.com/subscribe

Like content like this? Get it straight to your inbox by subscribing to my Substack . Follow on Instagram: @vininspo.wine The simplicity of La Collina’s label is almost as enchanting as the complexity of the liquid inside the bottle. A slender figure, arms stretched out straight on either side, effortlessly bearing evenly weighted scales. An elegantly compact statement, perfect in form, strong and enduring. The silhouette and the Syrah. I’ve long admired the Bilancia wines from afar without having visited Hawke’s Bay or met Lorraine Leheny or her husband, Warren Gibson. I rectified that, to some degree at least, when Lorraine visited Melbourne in May with a handful of fellow growers from the region. I signed up for a double header: a masterclass featuring wines from Two Terraces Vineyard (Bilancia’s sublime 2024 Chardonnay from here is the current release) and a broader regional tasting where Warren would have fronted a masterclass on Hawke’s Bay reds had he not done himself a mischief on the farm that kept him home. In any event, I got to taste the wines, and Lorraine and I made a date for this conversation. I’m glad we did. There’s plenty to enjoy here from this modest and highly accomplished vigneron. The chat is easy to follow, albeit with a few local references demanding further context. On the craft beer front, there is a reference to influential drinks entrepreneur Phil Sexton, who launched the Mathilda Bay and Little Creatures brands. He also established the Giant Steps winery in the Yarra Valley, and duly crops up in episode 11 , which features its founding winemaker. The Traditional Brewing Company pubs in suburban Melbourne that we talk about are the Loaded Dog in Fitzroy North (now closed; named for a Henry Lawson short story), the Geebung Polo Club (after a Banjo Paterson poem; now the Auburn Hotel) and the Sydney Liars’ Club (from a contemporary poem; now called the Doutta Galla). Carlton United Breweries (CUB) is the brewing giant behind Carlton Draught, while Coopers is a now ubiquitous South Australian bottle-, can- or keg-conditioned ale that was hard to track down in Melbourne back in the day. Among Lorraine’s cohort at Roseworthy Agricultural College were Nick Delaforce (now making Port at Niepoort), Brian Bicknell of Mahi (Marlborough), Rebecca Salmond of Odyssey (Auckland), Herb Friedli (Poderi Crisci, Waiheke Island), Matt Harrop (Fowles, Strathbogie Ranges), Mike Gadd and Virginia Willcock ( Vasse Felix winemaker Ginny was my guest on episode 32 ). Lorraine and Warren’s friendship with Tom and Nadège Carson of Serrat (Yarra Valley) dates back to those times, too, likewise Stephen Pannell ( episode 30 ), whose family hung out with Lorraine’s at Tom and Nadège’s wedding. Sticking with the Aussie connections, the late Dr John Middleton and his wife, Marli, founders of Mount Mary, took Lorraine under their wing early on. Mario Marson (Vinea Marson, Heathcote) was their winemaker there at the time. When the conversation turns to Chardonnay, David Bicknell (Oakridge, Yarra Valley) shows up alongside Steve Flamsteed (Decades), my guest on episode 11 . Taking us full circle, Steve Flamsteed also makes wine under the Salo label with Hawke’s Bay native Dave Mackintosh. Back in Hawke’s Bay, then, Trinity Hill is the estate that lured Warren and Lorraine to the region in the late ’90s. John Hancock, one of its founders and a former winemaker at Morton Estate, crops up here and also shares some history with Warren in the flying winemaker scene, as discussed with Kym Milne ( my guest on episode 41 ). Other Hawke’s Bay names that appear are Dr Alan Limmer, founder of Stonecroft, Craggy Range (and the person who built that vision, Steve Smith MW of Pyramid Valley, Smith & Sheth and episode 16 fame) and cornerstone estate Te Mata. The lie of the land is, of course, very important, and the map above helps illustrate it. Hawke’s Bay’s three key rivers are the Tutaekuri, Ngaruroro and Tukituki. The La Collina vineyard is situated on Roys Hill, just beyond the western cusp of the Gimblett Gravels. The Bridge Pa Triangle extends behind it, and to the west of that are the Mangatahi Terraces, home to Two Terraces Vineyard. The Heretaunga Plains stretch out to the south. Besides Two Terraces, the vineyards behind Bilancia’s single-site Chardonnays are Trelinnoe, Kaikora and Lorraine’s own Tiratore site. Uvaggio is the name of Bilancia’s Viognier, Marsanne and Roussanne field blend. The excellent Kumeu River, just outside Auckland, is cited as a model for these origin-specific wines. At the other end of the spectrum is the Oyster Bay brand. This Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc phenomenon was just starting to bubble away while Lorraine was working at Delegat in Auckland. Founded by siblings Jim and Rose Delegat, the company’s chief winemaker at the time was Brent Marris, owner of Marisco Vineyards in Marlborough. Finally, Cyclone Gabrielle was the tropical storm that caused devastation in Hawke’s Bay and other parts of New Zealand’s North Island in 2023. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit edmerrison.substack.com/subscribe

The Vininspo! podcast will resume regular broadcasting next week, back with a Bilancia bang when Lorraine Leheny joins me from Hawke’s Bay. I’m taking a little breather and leaving you in the capable hands of Reinhard Löwenstein, and an article penned as a Substack post in November 2025. Read it here . If it sometimes feels like we’re peering into the abyss, it’s worth lifting our gaze to these towering cliffs of slate, where all is substance and possibility… This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit edmerrison.substack.com/subscribe

Support the show and don't miss an episode by subscribing to my Substack: edmerrison.substack.com and follow on Instagram: @vininspo.wine Kate McIntyre got a taste for the wonder of travel young. Her earliest memories were formed beneath the dreaming spires of Oxford, and the exoticism of Europe cast an unbreakable spell. It’s hardly surprising, then, that she imagined a leading role that wove this rich tapestry together. And while the key was quite literally on her doorstep, she has unlocked a world of curiosity as a Master of Wine, educator and self-styled in-house style judge for the family business. I first met Kate about a decade and a half ago, among a trio of inspiring women, with Meg Brodtmann MW (episode 9) and Bree Stock MW (episode 42), teaching Wine & Spirit Education Trust qualifications in Melbourne. Another podcast guest referenced in our conversation is Matt Paul of wine importer Trembath & Taylor (episode 29). The company’s founders, Michael Trembath and Virginia Taylor, are central characters in Kate’s forays into Italian wine. In the world of Melbourne wine retail, Philip Murphy is the son of Dan Murphy, who lends his name to Australia’s most famous chain. Philip built a strong reputation before selling his stores to Coles, the arch-rival of Woolworths, the owner of Dan Murphy’s. Philip Rich and Michael McNamara, two other names that crop up in Kate’s retail days, have gone on to shape Australia’s modern fine wine merchant scene, not least through the dynamic Prince Wine Store business. Kate, Meg, Bree and I have all presented WSET courses through PWS, which also administers courses at Moorooduc Estate. I have the pleasure of teaching these with Kate. Which brings us to the Mornington Peninsula, where Kate’s parents, Jill and Richard, established their vineyard in 1982. Pioneers of the region are discussed in this podcast, including Elgee Park, Main Ridge Estate, Merricks Estate, Stonier and Crittenden (well, Dromana Estate, founded by Garry Crittenden). Kate’s official title at Moorooduc is director of wine business, which entails a crossover of vineyard, winery, cellar door, education, export markets and more. Richard is still very much involved in the winemaking, with general manager Jeremy Magyar playing a key role. We also talk about the Mornington Peninsula International Pinot Noir Celebration of 2013. Kate was the event’s ringleader, and Burgundy authority Jasper Morris MW was the star panellist. Another guest that year was the late Josh Jensen of Calera, a cool guy who grappled with “the heartbreak grape” to produce profound wines in California. Staying with Pinot, MV6 is the clone, with roots traced back to a Burgundy vineyard, that has become synonymous with the Peninsula. Kate also mentions the wines of her Peninsula pal Barney Flanders of Garagiste and Coonawarra’s Sue Bell of Bellwether ( my guest on episode 31 ). When talk shifts to Champagne—Kate is a big fan—we also talk of the joys to be found in Tasmanian sparkling wine. Names to look out for there are Natalie Fryar at Bellebonne, Ed Carr at House of Arras and Shane Holloway and Fran Austin at Delamere. Completing the curtain call is Eugène Ionesco, the Romanian-French dramatist Kate mentions, and his play La Cantatrice Chauve (The Bald Soprano). Other works to check out for those with an absurdist curiosity include La Leçon (The Lesson), Les Chaises (The Chairs) and Rhinocéros. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit edmerrison.substack.com/subscribe

Follow and subscribe to this show and written content on Substack ; see what's happening on Instagram: @vininspo.wine . I met Bree Stock in Melbourne a decade and a half ago, and boy, has she gone a long way since then. Some 8,000 miles away now, she’s appended a pair of powerful initials to her new surname, become an authority on the wines of her adoptive home and fomented a mini-revolution in grape-growing in one of the most revered regions in the US. Brisbane-born Bree was back from a first stint in the Pacific Northwest when our paths crossed in the classroom. She was an excellent teacher: engaging, encyclopaedic, perceptive and plain-speaking. She continues to teach, and some of these acronyms and colleagues crop up in our conversation. Like my former guests Andrea Pritzker , Steve Smith , Stephen Wong and Kym Milne , Bree is an MW, or Master of Wine. She talks about the Wine & Spirit Education Trust (WSET), whose qualifications she and I still teach; the two fellow MWs she taught with in Melbourne, Meg Brodtmann (episode 9) and Kate McIntyre, do as well. She also mentions the Court of Master Sommeliers (CMS), which she abbreviates as “the court,” and which offers four levels of professional certification for sommeliers and beverage professionals. Other Australian contacts who crop up include Steve Webber and Leanne De Bortoli, whose influence is palpable in my article on Sarah Fagan. Bree also worked harvest with Yarra Valley winemaker Mac Forbes, who encouraged her to go to the UK to make contact with the likes of Justin Knock MW and Lenka Sedlackova MW. Peter Marchant is a Queensland-based sommelier and podcaster with whom she tasted after her first long stint overseas, and Scott Wasley is the founder of Melbourne-based importer The Spanish Acquisition—and my guest on episode 40 . And the Canberra estate Clonakilla is named in reference to a formative wine event Bree attended. In Canada, Bree talks about the Okanagan Valley, a highly regarded wine region in British Columbia, and the Niagara Peninsula in Ontario. Barbara Philip is the MW she learned so much from while working in restaurants. Wine-growing in the cooler climes of northern North America gets us onto the topic of hybrid varieties, with Marquette and Phoenix mentioned in passing. For more on hybrids, check out my chat with Christina Pickard in episode 12 . Bree and I also talk a lot about non-mainstream grape varieties in the Willamette Valley, where Pinot Noir and Pinot Gris—both planted here by founding estate Eyrie Vineyards—are mainstays along with Chardonnay, but Bree mentions a whole host of other grapes she’s playing with. Many of them, such as Mencía and Godello, are prevalent in Northwest Spain, and you can learn more about them from my chat with Noah Chichester in episode 5 . (Noah turns up in our chat, too.) Bree’s boundary-pushing ideas on suitable grapes for Oregon are shared by her husband, Chad Stock. Chad had previously worked at the likes of Antica Terra in Amity and Johan in Willamette’s Van Duzer Corridor, while Bree worked an early harvest at Bethel Heights. Chad used to make his own wines under the Minimus label, but these days he and Bree run the Limited Addition label, so named for the ideal of not interfering with the wines they’re making from a range of grape varieties and vineyards scattered across the Willamette Valley. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit edmerrison.substack.com/subscribe

Subscribe to edmerrison.substack.com Follow on Instagram: @vininspo.wine With his teetotal forebears and country-town upbringing, Kym Milne wasn’t an obvious candidate for clocking up airmiles and accolades as one of the world’s most influential flying winemakers. But a thirst for travel, a nose for opportunity and a mild-mannered approach to collaboration have taken him from Bordertown to the furthest frontiers and back again. Kym and I crossed paths only recently, when we judged together at the 2026 Australian Alternative Varieties Wine Show. I’d been told to look out for him by one of his deeply satisfied clients, our mutual friend Anita Goode of the Mount Benson winery Wangolina. I could immediately see the cause of her affection. Kym has the kind of deep well of experience that is unfathomable to most of us, but wears his knowledge lightly. He’s seen it all but listens intently, and while you sense the conscientiousness that has taken him so far, he is clearly light of heart. I couldn’t wait to get him on the podcast. Much of the context for this conversation is filled in as we go, but as always, some references could do with clarification. Mundulla-raised Kym talks about the start of his career at Berri Estates in the Riverland, South Australia. The winery and its wares have undergone changes through the years; it now comes under the Vinarchy banner, formed by a merger of parts of the Accolade and Pernod-Ricard operations. One of his mentors there was Ian Mackenzie, a renowned figure in Australian wine judging and sparkling production, perhaps best known for his time at Seppelt. At Roseworthy, he studied under Bryce Rankine, author of the seminal text Making Good Wine, and the influential NZ viticulturist, Richard Smart. Richard, who died last year, was discussed in my interview with Steve Smith MW for episode 16. Coincidentally, Steve was part of the turnaround at Villa Maria alongside Kym under owner George Fistonich. The Hawke’s Bay brands Esk Valley and Vidal also came under his purview as Villa Maria. Other notable Kiwis who enter the fray during discussions about flying winemaking projects are John Hancock of Morton Estate and Trinity Hill fame, and Warren Gibson, founder of Bilancia and Trinity Hill (Hawke’s Bay), as well as consulting winemaker Alastair Maling MW. Elsewhere in the flying winemaking years, we come across the Bordelais Jacques Lurton, who is associated with various projects from Kangaroo Island to Mendoza, and Hugh Ryman, who has likewise made wine everywhere and is one of the partners, along with British wine writer Robert Joseph, behind wine brand Le Grand Noir. Grants of St. James’s was the UK importer of Villa Maria, through which Kym made important contacts. When it was taken over, Kym was part of the small group that engineered the management buyout of its own-label division, International Wine Services (IWS). Lynne Sheriff MW helped Kym scout opportunities in South Africa, and Reid Bosward (instrumental in the modern iteration of Kaesler) is the Barossa winemaker Kym installed in Stellenbosch. Speaking of Stellenbosch, we also mention a few of Global Wine Services’ present and past clients, namely Rustenberg in South Africa, Hunter’s in Marlborough, New Zealand, and, in Chile, Valdivieso and Errázuriz. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit edmerrison.substack.com/subscribe

Ernst Loosen is one of the most recognisable global figures in wine. This indefatigable ambassador for Mosel Riesling pops up all over the place to spread the gospel according to this most versatile of grapes. Dr Loosen has managed to pull off something special as a brand and a domaine: quality at scale and a range of grand-cru bottlings that faithfully express some of the planet’s most breathtaking sites without costing the earth. There’s plenty there to admire, but as a fan of German precision, I wanted to put a more practical question to Erni this time. Erni has been at the helm of the Dr Loosen estate in Bernkastel since the late 1980s. In his time in charge, he has revived lesser-known, ancient German customs by “innovating” with patiently raised, balanced dry wines while respecting the valley’s traditions with precisely delineated off-dry to lusciously sweet styles. When you take into account that Dr Loosen makes single-site wines from 11 grands crus spread across several villages and encompassing all Prädikats, the logistics get quickly complicated. I just wanted to know: Come vintage time, how the heck does he marshal his pickers to get it all done? What follows is the preamble to the podcast, so if you listen to that, you needn’t read this (although it may help familiarise you with place and category names). Similarly, the video below is the interview segment of the podcast, so if you’re reading this, watch that and ignore the podcast. Got it?! The Mosel Valley is in Germany’s west. It’s named after the Mosel River, which rises as the Moselle in the Vosges mountains in France. In Germany, it twists its way up to join the Rhine River at Koblenz. The Upper Mosel, or Obermosel, crosses the border into Germany and winds its way up to the city of Trier. Around here, you have the famous tributaries of the Saar and Ruwer, both of which are home to famous producers and distinctive wines; this area is referenced in my podcast with Cornelius Dönnhoff and Philipp Wittmann . At the opposite end, at the river’s northern tip, you have the Untermosel, or Terrassenmosel, known for its towering stone terraces. This is where you’ll find Heymann-Löwenstein, in honour of whose renegade founder, Reinhard Löwenstein, I penned this tribute . And in between, you have the Mittelmosel, or Middle Mosel. Here, you will find Weingut Dr Loosen and its famous sites. Erni has grand-cru vineyards—the German is Grosse Lagen —in several villages. Travelling downriver, these are Bernkastel, Graach, Wehlen, Ürzig, Erden, Lösnich, Kinheim and Bremm. Using the German convention of adjectivising the place name and prefixing it to the vineyard name, the Grosse Lagen are Bernkasteler Lay, Bernkasteler Johannisbrünchen, Graacher Himmelreich, Graacher Domprobst, Wehlener Sonnenuhr, Ürziger Würzgarten, Erdener Prälat, Erdener Treppchen, Lösnicher Försterlay, Kinheimer Rosenberg and Bremmer Calmont . The Mosel is Germany’s oldest winegrowing region, with the Romans bringing vines here 2000 years ago. In 1787, the Archbishop of Trier decreed that Riesling replace all inferior vines in the valley. A century later, Germany’s Riesling wines were the most revered and sought-after on the planet. All kinds of things went pear-shaped for Germany in the 20th century, and it also shot itself in the foot with wine laws that undermined the primacy of good farming and the supremacy of Riesling and other quality grapes. These days, Riesling is back where it belongs: No. 1 in Germany. It accounts for just over 62% of the Mosel vineyard. Mosel Riesling is the world’s most distinctive rendition of this grape, and that distinctiveness is borne of hugely specific circumstances, to which the river valley is key. This is a cool, continental climate at high European latitudes. That makes it marginal for ripening Riesling grapes (please refer to my interview with Jason Lett of The Eyrie Vineyards in Oregon for a fantastic explanation of marginality). Though relatively cool, summer days are long, with, hopefully, plenty of sunlight bringing intense, bright flavours to the grapes, which—though they achieve relatively low sugar and therefore potential alcohol levels—hang on the vine for a long time, developing surprising depth. Because water cools more slowly than land, the river helps extend the growing season by delaying the onset of properly cold weather. It also reflects light onto the photosynthesising vines. On the river’s banks, the vines climb steep slopes, ideal for intercepting more light. As you drive up the valley, it’s obvious that most of the planted slopes share the same orientation, facing predominantly south for maximum sunshine in the northern hemisphere. The soils are mostly slate, although Ürziger Würzgarten is extremely rare with its red volcanic rock. These extremely stony soils retain and reradiate heat. This exceptional set of circumstances combines to ensure slow but complete ripeness in a cool place where acidity will naturally be high and grape sugars comparatively low. The steep, stony slopes are not conducive to machinery, and hand-harvesting is a key Mosel custom that Erni and I discuss: grape selection for different wine styles. Another factor giving rise to strict selection is botrytis cinerea , or noble rot. Humidity from the river gives rise to misty autumn mornings, when the fungus begins to attack the grapes, puncturing the skins and causing water loss, thus concentrating flavours, sugars and acids. So long as the grapes stay otherwise healthy, with warm, stable afternoons to dry them out, this can reap benefits and is the key to nobly sweet wines such as Tokaji and Sauternes. This brings us to the point of this interview. The Mosel Valley is the wine region that most fully exploits the full Prädikat spectrum. So called because the style of wine is predicated on a minimum must weight—that is to say, the amount of sugar in the must at the time of harvest, measured in degrees Oechsle—the Prädikat system spans six categories. Starting with the lightest style, Kabinett, the other five Prädikats, in ascending order of minimum must weight, are Spätlese, Auslese, Eiswein, Beerenauslese (BA for short), and Trockenbeerenauslese (TBA). Kabinett, Spätlese and Auslese can all be dry; therefore, the amount of alcohol and residual sweetness in these wines varies according to the winemaker’s aims. When Erni talks about declassifying fruit, he means that grapes that qualify for Spätlese and above automatically meet the minimum must weight for Kabinett. In the Mosel, you have the option to “declassify” these grapes to the “lower” category of Kabinett, but Erni explains that this would do a disservice to the category and the customer. (Incidentally, his anecdote about the Vinea Wachau, where declassification is outlawed, involves Emmerich Knoll, who crops up in this Austrian Riesling piece ). Beerenauslese and Eiswein have the same minimum must weight and are always sweet; the former relies on botrytis to concentrate its sugars, the latter is harvested when fully frozen. This removes water from the equation during pressing, yielding extremely high must weights. Highly rare, expensive Trockenbeerenauslese is made from the highest-quality, totally shivelled, botrytised berries. The other style we talk about is the GGs, or Grosses Gewächs wines. A GG is the top dry wine from a grand-cru vineyard (Grosse Lage) by a member of the VDP. Dr Loosen, Wittmann, Dönnhoff and Gunderloch are all members of this private band of quality-focused growers. Again, there is more context on this in my interviews with Cornelius, Philipp and Johannes Hasselbach of Gunderloch . In the six-minute video embedded above, Erni talks about the terroir of three of his GGs: Wehlener Sonnenuhr, Ürziger Würzgarten and Erdener Treppchen. It’s highly illuminating and not as dry as it sounds, I promise. Finally, Erni mentions some of the estate’s wine-growing preferences here, such as excluding botrytis-affected grapes from the Kabinett and GG wines. The estate’s Kabinett and Spätlese wines always have residual sweetness (as a rough guide, usually just above 40g/L of residual grape sugar for the Kabinett and 60-ish for the Spätlese). The Auslese wines comprise roughly 50% healthy and 50% botrytised berries and come in with roughly 90g/L residual sugar. Remember, though, that such wines have extremely high acidity to balance this. If it isn’t already obvious, Erni is something of a maverick, and he produces a couple of sub-genres of GG that sort of shouldn’t exist. These are dry grand-cru wines with extra ageing in barrel and bottle before release, and they’re labelled GG Réserve and GG Homage. I’d like to extend my thanks to Erni Loosen for the generosity with which he has always shared his time and wisdom, and to the Dr Loosen team, who were responsible for most of the superb images on the video version of this podcast. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit edmerrison.substack.com/subscribe

Dubious logic first led Scott Wasley to Spain. First, he figured planes jetting into Sydney for the 2000 Olympics would, once emptied of their sporting spectators, be offering cheap flights back to Europe. And second, he was drinking a slightly stale dry Sherry when that fateful miscalculation fuelled his travel plans with sommelier pal Peter Healy. An Iberian adventure was the seemingly inevitable upshot. What wasn’t remotely inevitable at that stage was that Scott would go on to found Australia’s foremost importer of wines from Spain and Portugal. Based in Melbourne, The Spanish Acquisition hasn’t exactly ridden the Spanish wine renaissance wave over the last 25 years. Instead, the relationship has been somewhat symbiotic, and the pulse of that wave has quickened in tandem with TSA’s rise. Vino de España was barely a puddle in Australia at the turn of the century. In overseas markets generally, modern Spanish wine was far more “modern”—big, ripe, extracted, oaky and red—than it was Spanish. It was only beginning to find its identity and mojo following the slump brought on by the regime of dictator Francisco Franco, who ruled from 1939 until his death in 1975. The new millennium has seen a revolution, and it seems the buzz around Spanish wine is at its loudest right now. My interview with Scott is partly the story of his Iberian Peninsula initiation and partly how the wave has swelled. Along the way, there are many local and personal references, which will be useful to clarify here. The most famous of those are Paul Keating, former Labor Party leader who served as Australia’s 24th Prime Minister from 1991 to 1996, and the late Roland S. Howard, celebrated both as a solo artist and as a member of the Nick Cave-fronted post-punk outfit The Birthday Party. (Scott wore a band t-shirt for the interview.) In the Aussie hospitality scene, Scott mentions working at Universal, the erstwhile Adelaide wine bar of Shaw + Smith winery co-founder Michael Hill-Smith, alongside Scott’s mentor, Duncan Miller. La Corvina is the now-defunct bar in the Melbourne seaside suburb of St Kilda, where Scott was handed the keys by Michael Kennedy. In the same suburb was The George Hotel, whose burgeoning ’90s wine scene was mentioned in my conversation with Matt Paul of the Italian wine importer, Trembath & Taylor, in episode 29 . The trajectory of Matt and his former boss, Michael Trembath, is discussed, as is that of my former boss, Patrick Walsh, founder of the importer CellarHand and my guest on episode 4 . Further Victorian importers starting around that time were Pinot NOW founder Steve Naughton and Euan McKay, who runs an eponymous wholesaler. Melbourne restaurateurs Andrew McConnell of Trader House and Guy Grossi, who called time on 26 years at CBD institution Grossi Florentino in 2025, also crop up. Other wine friends of Scott’s include former sommelier Peter Healy, who travelled with him to Spain, and Peter Bessey, who was instrumental in the decision to start TSA. A third Peter turns up when we get to Spain: Peter Sisseck, founder of Dominio de Pingus in Ribera del Duero. He forms a monumentally influential trio with Álvaro Palacios and Telmo Rodríguez. The latter two’s projects are so numerous and scattered that it’s hard to keep up, but Álvaro’s name is connected to Palacios Remondo in Rioja, Álvaro Palacios in Rioja and Priorat, and Descendientes de J. Palacios in Bierzo, the last with his nephew Ricardo. Telmo’s famed family estate in Rioja is Remelluri, while other projects include Bodega Lanzaga in Rioja, Ladeiras do Xil in Valdeorras (Galicia), Molino Real in Málaga (Andalucía), Pegaso (Sierra de Gredos) and Al-Muvedre (Valencia). In Jerez that first time, Scott was hosted by Jane Ward of the Sherry bodega Lustau. In Priorat, he visited and counted as an early principal Capçanes, and also met Sara Perez, then of Mas Martinet and later Sara Perez i René Barbier in neighbouring DO Montsant. For more context on the grape varieties Mencía and Albariño, I recommend listening to my excellent conversation with Noah Chichester of the Wines of Galicia Substack for episode 5 (plus a bonus). The Spanish Acquisition website is also a treasure trove of information on Spanish and Portuguese wines. I spoke to Scott on the eve of a Sherry tasting at Prince Wine Store, which also houses a restaurant called Bellota (Spanish for acorn—a food gorged on by pigs that become delicious ham). Speaking of Sherry, Scott has conceived his own, a superb en rama bottling called Albero that sports a label designed by his wife, the artist Leah Teschendorff. And finally, here’s what was on the drinks list for Scott and Leah that night: a sparkling wine from Raventós i Blanc in Sant Sadurní d’Anoia, Cataluña; a dry, unfortified white from the Palomino grape bottled under the Manuel Antonio de la Riva label, a Sherry bodega revived by Willy Peréz and Ramiro Ibañez; and a red wine based on the Mandó grape from Celler del Roure in Valencia. ¡Salud! This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit edmerrison.substack.com/subscribe

The best way to enjoy this episode is to watch the video, which comes complete with subtitles, maps and other visuals. I urge you to watch it; you'll find it at edmerrison.substack.com . Don't forget to follow along with happenings on Instagram, too: @vininspo.wine So, when Bryan Adams was getting his first real six-string, Guillaume Michel’s grandfather Louis was kissing goodbye to his last oak barrel. Two pivotal moments during the summer of ‘69 right there; one led to a cheesy soft-rock catalogue, the other to a library of flinty, pure Chardonnay. I know which repertoire I prefer. This domaine in the heart of the village of Chablis is a reference point. “Those who favour stainless steel want the purest flavour of Chablis, with the firm streak of acidity and the mineral quality that the French describe as goût de pierre à fusil , or gunflint,” goes the entry in the Oxford Companion to Wine, before declaring: “Louis Michel’s is generally considered to be the epitome of this style.” I’ve known its current custodian, Guillaume, for over a decade and work for his Australian importer, CellarHand. His good humour, exceptional English and incredible vineyard holdings in the historic heart of the appellation convinced me that he is the ideal guest for an in-depth discussion of the lie of the land and the wines it produces. The purpose of this 45-minute video is to start with the historical and geographical basics—climate, topography, geology, etc.—and delve deeper into the subtleties of terroir and how to mitigate challenges to maximise its expression in the glass. Much of this is objective, some is subjective, but I hope it is all, somehow, instructive, adding to a listener’s understanding and, crucially, enjoyment. Guillaume sprinkles the domaine’s specifics through our conversation, but in a nutshell, premier and grand cru wines account for 70% of production at this 25-hectare estate, turning the norm for the region on its head. He owns vines in the Left Bank premiers crus Montmains , Forêts , Vaillons , Séchets and Butteaux (plus a separate parcel bottled as Butteaux Vieilles Vignes ), and the Right Bank premiers crus Vaulorent and Montée de Tonnerre . The domaine also produces Grand Cru Chablis from parcels in Grenouilles , Les Clos and Vaudésir . There’s a particularly enlightening segment about flag-bearing premiers crus. This refers to the practice of grouping a family of premier cru sites under a headline or banner climat. Wines carrying the flag-bearer’s name could contain grapes from various sub-climats within the family, or just from the flag-bearing climat or, indeed, a sub-climat within the group that enjoys less fame than the flag-bearer. We discuss Guillaume’s Forêts, Butteaux and Montmain wines, all of which are grown on the Montmain hill. Séchets and Vaillons grow on the Vaillons hill. On the Right Bank, Vaulorent is part of the Fourchaume premier cru grouping, and Montée de Tonnerre is a flag-bearing premier cru. The maps help illustrate this, and my thanks go out to the Bourgogne Wine Board (BIVB) for its assistance with visual material. It is an excellent resource for anyone interested in Burgundy’s wines. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit edmerrison.substack.com/subscribe

Get every Vininspo! episode as soon as it drops on Substack: edmerrison.substack.com ; follow on Instagram: @vininspo.wine Jane Thomson still gets grossly underestimated. Her substance, strength and sensitivity—not to mention a grasp of behavioural psychology that is so rare in the industry—make a mockery of those who dismiss her Fabulous Ladies’ Wine Society as mere froth and bubbly. When I interviewed her last month, Jane had just returned from New York, where she was a delegate at the 70th session of the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW70) at the United Nations headquarters. That invitation to the UN’s largest annual gathering on gender equality came just a couple of years after she was awarded the Medal of the Order of Australia for her services to women in the oenology sector. Nonetheless, there is a sense that—in the fragmented world of wine—the founder and chief executive of the Fabulous Ladies’ Wine Society might still go unnoticed in certain circles of the wine community. She is perhaps the victim of a general tendency to pigeonhole people and a more specific, maybe sexist, propensity for wine not to take fun seriously, particularly where women are involved. The enjoyment factor among the 10,000 members of Jane’s organisation belies the fact that it does a great deal of important work. Aside from the value of companionship and moral support, this group has brought attention to various inequalities in the Australian wine scene, from gender pay disparities to grave issues with retaining women in the workforce as viticulturists, cellar hands and winemakers. It also spearheaded the Australian Women in Wine Awards (AWIWA), first held in 2015, which has since evolved into the Australian Women in Wine movement, whose flagship event is the Australian Women in Wine National Symposium. It also supports the wine sector by offering high-engagement tours, tastings, and dinners that drive sales. Jane and I cover all these facets in our conversation, and there is little need for additional context. However, there are some names that mightn’t be familiar to a non-Australian listener. When discussing the launch of AWIWA, Jane mentions wine writer Jeni Port and her 2001 book, Crushed by Women. Among clients of the Fabulous Ladies’ Wine Society, Jane mentions Louise Hemsley-Smith, co-owner of Battle of Bosworth in McLaren Vale, and Emma Raidis of Raidis Estate in Coonawarra. We also discuss the path to implementing the Diversity, Equality and Inclusion in Wine (DEIW) Charter and accompanying Gender Equity Toolkit, developed by industry bodies Wine Australia and Australian Grape & Wine. One positive influence who emerges much earlier in Jane’s life is Australian psychologist, social researcher and writer Hugh Mackay. On the negative side, as our chat turns towards those who promote inequality, Australia’s tiny-minded, right-wing populist political party, One Nation, crops up. Cory Bernardi, Australian politician and leader of One Nation South Australia, is invoked as a “big name”, but maybe you have never heard of him, and hopefully you never will. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit edmerrison.substack.com/subscribe

Get all these stories as soon as they drop bt subscribing to ed.merrison.substack.com Follow on Instagram: @vininspo.wine There’s a moment in our interview where Stephen Wong talks about playing twin tracks of his life in tandem, a micro-focused intellectual yin and an expansive, warmly hospitable yang, perhaps. Had the yin lacked the yang, perhaps he would have remained a respectable barrister and had his life mapped out for him, just as it was for his Singaporean boarding school classmates. As it happened, chance encounters with Central Otago winemakers and a student job in a Thai restaurant turned this brilliant mind onto wine, in all its aesthetic, scientific, historical, sociological and cultural glory. Wine fought the law, and the wine won. Stephen is a Wellington-based Master of Wine, and Wine Sentience is effectively the business banner under which he carries out his roles as consultant, educator, wine judge, reviewer, presenter, and more. I’ve known of Stephen for a long time, but we finally met in November 2025 as panel chairs at the Australian Alternative Varieties Wine Show in Mildura. Each of our conversations felt tantalisingly short because so many interesting threads emerged, demanding to be tugged on. I suspect everyone who speaks to Stephen experiences the same thing. No surprise, then, that this conversation ran a little long. There are quite a few names that come up; I will try to cover most of them in these show notes. Among early influences in New Zealand, Stephen mentions his fellow MW and Real Review contributor Jane Skilton, as well as winemaker Carol Bunn (once dubbed the queen of Central Otago Pinot), wholesale wine rep Christine Comerford, hospitality doyenne Wendy Morgan (née Hillyer), late wine critic Raymond Chan, late industry giant John Follas, Gibbston Valley founder Alan Brady and Quartz Reef winemaker Rudi Bauer (both in Central Otago). Speaking of the Master of Wine, Stephen mentions the first seminar he attended in Australia, hosted by Andrew Caillard MW, at which he encountered Ned Goodwin MW, Andrea Pritzker MW (my guest on episode 2 ) and Sydney sommelier Sophie Otton. Dr Liz Thach MW is the wine writer he namechecks from his eye-opening first trip to Napa. In the segment about “natural wine”—taken here to loosely connote wines free from additions or compulsions to be strait-laced adherents to the edicts of the conventional or mainstream scene—Stephen mentions the influential MW and RAW Wine founder Isabelle Legeron MW. Henry Hariyono, then of Artisan Cellars, was the influential natural wine and grower Champagne aficionado who introduced Stephen to the wines of Jacques Selosse and Marie Courtin. The wines of Joško Gravner and the late Stanko Radikon are mentioned when we talk about the inaptitude of the existing wine lexicon to describe orange and natural wines; the same goes for the Pinot Noir of Burgundy’s Philippe Pacalet. On a more traditional level, great Côte d’Or producers include Domaine Comte Georges de Vogüé, Domaine des Comtes Lafon, Domaine Armand Rousseau, Domaine Georges Roumier, and Domaine Jacques-Frédéric Mugnier. The expression Parker wines refers to the oft-cited, outsized influence of the critic Robert Parker (founder of The Wine Advocate ) and his penchant for big, rich, ripe wines. Finishing with the contemporary New Zealand scene, Stephen mentions the recent deaths of Dog Point co-founder James Healy and Tim Finn of Neudorf, whose wife Judy joined me for episode 34 . Elephant Hill (Hawke’s Bay), Seresin, Fromm and Churton (all Marlborough) are cited as famous wineries for sale. When Stephen talks of the rise of the cru or lieu-dit in New Zealand—sites that make a name for themselves with wines of consistently high quality and discernible character—he mentions Churton, as well as Wrekin (Marlborough), Calvert ( Central Otago) and Two Terraces (Hawke’s Bay), as well as the terroir-led endeavours of Smith + Sheth and Pyramid Valley, both of which count Steve Smith MW ( episode 16 ) as their modern mastermind. In other matters, Stephen mentions reviewing the VDP’s Grosses Gewächs (grand-cru dry bottlings) wines; you can hear more about Germany’s VDP from my chat with Cornelius Dönnhoff and Philipp Wittmann . Finally, we have a fascinating discussion about alternative ways to convey and communicate wine, where Stephen talks about the tech solution he worked on, Stompy/TasteMPR, with his old university friend, Andy Williams. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit edmerrison.substack.com/subscribe

Don't miss an episode! Subscribe on Substack Instagram: @vininspo.wine Felicity Carter is in demand. It would probably be better for us wine-lovers if she weren’t—but if anyone is fit to report on a wine industry in crisis, it’s this globe-trotting journalist who’s made it her business to cover the business of wine from all angles.. Australia-born Felicity resides in Germany, where she served for many years as the editor-in-chief of Meininger’s Wine Business International. She joined the publication when it had 800 subscribers and, harnessing a team of correspondents, turned it into an indispensable trade magazine read in 38 countries. The publication closed in June 2025, four years after Felicity called time on her 12-year stint there. These days, Felicity reports on all things drinks on her Substack, Drinks Insider, which has a podcast element. Last year, she won the 67 Pall Mall Global Wine Communicator Award for Best Audio for an episode that aired on its sub-podcast, Wine + Health. The subject of that episode was the alcohol J-curve—the idea that moderate consumption has a positive health impact, while harms rise precipitously as intake increases. Felicity’s robust interview with Professor Tim Stockwell, who has become the central figure in attempts to debunk the J-curve, is highly recommended and can be found here. Felicity and I discuss this subject at length, as well as the serious harms associated with excessive alcohol consumption and her mission to provide balance to an argument that is increasingly skewed towards “denormalising” drinking and treating alcohol like tobacco. Another fascinating area of Felicity’s reporting has been on the reinvention of historic temperance groups as public health bodies, such as Movendi International. We speak about how an alliance of activists, scientists and NGOs attempts to influence policy. One strong voice on the other side of the argument is Argentina’s Dr Laura Catena, the physician and fourth-generation vigneron who serves as managing director of Bodega Catena Zapata in Mendoza. Felicity mentions Dr Catena when she reels off her recent speaking duties. We also discuss another source of balance to this argument: Unati (University of Navarra Alumni Trialist Initiative), which seeks to establish whether there is such a thing as healthy drinking via a randomised clinical trial. Our conversation also delves into marketing, a key subject on the Question of Drinks podcast that Felicity co-hosts with the UK-based founder of Wine Intelligence, Lulie Halstead. Marketing and research also fall within the remit of London-headquartered fine-wine think tank Areni Global. Felicity is the group’s editorial director and alludes to Areni Global co-founder Nicole Rolet. We discuss a recent research project undertaken by Areni executive director Pauline Vicard in collaboration with Berry Bros & Rudd, 67 Pall Mall and LVMH Vins d’Exception. A couple of other references that need explaining are Edward Slingerland’s book, whose excellent subtitle I couldn’t recall, Drunk — How We Sipped, Danced, and Stumbled Our Way to Civilisation , and Felicity’s interview with Kirk French, the Penn State professor who developed the hugely popular Anthropology of Alcohol (aka Booze and Culture) course. We also mention T-shirtgate , a mischievous reference to the controversy surrounding a group of future leaders of the Aussie wine industry—the Coonawarra Vignerons’ Next Crop cohort—who landed in hot water for appearing in a photograph wearing t-shirts emblazoned with the slogan Drink More, Die Younger . This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit edmerrison.substack.com/subscribe

“1663 is just a number,” Philipp Wittmann tells me, and in some ways it is. But also, 350-plus years of growing fruit in your village is likely to give you some kind of edge. The Dönnhoff family’s farming roots in the Nahe are shallower—a mere 270 years—and it’s true that it was Cornelius’s father, the preternaturally gifted Helmut Dönnhoff, who shot this estate to fame. Cornelius and his friend Philipp are among the world’s best growers of white wine, and their ideas have all the cut, clarity and refreshment factor of their Rieslings. This fantastic conversation took place when the men heading Weingut Wittmann in Westhofen in the Rheinhessen and Weingut Dönnhoff in the Nahe were visiting their Australian importer, CellarHand—my part-time employer, whose support made this episode possible. We sat down for an hour-long chat in which I grilled them on their respective regions, villages and sites, their approaches to Riesling and ‘the Burgundy varieties’ ( Weissburgunder or Pinot Blanc, Grauburgunder or Pinot Gris, plus Pinot Noir and Chardonnay) and their overarching thoughts on German and global fine wine that professes to express its origin. Though, of course, there is specific and esoteric material here, I have deliberately recorded this with a broad audience in mind. Yes, those with an interest in German wine have the most to gain, but as is always the case with Vininspo!, I fervently believe that these topics provide context for a broader appreciation of wine and the world—a lens through which to view it with more colour, definition and delight. This episode should serve as a conversation starter, or furtherer , in itself. Speaking of context, though, it’s best to go into this knowing a few things about the estates and their wines. Weingut Wittmann is situated south of Nackehnheim, the Rhine-front Rheinhessen region from which Johannes Hasselbach hails, and east of Oberhausen an der Nahe, home of the Dönnhoff estate. Eleventh-generation winegrower Philipp has vines in a couple of Grosse Lagen (grand-cru designated sites) in Nierstein, the neighbouring village to Nackenheim, but his main vineyard sources are in Westhofen, where you’ll find his Grosse Lagen Aulerde, Kirchspiel, Brunnenhäuschen and Morstein . He has one other grand cru, Höllenbrand , on the similarly limestone-rich soils of Gundersheim. Philipp is married to the hugely talented Eva Clüsserath, whom he met at the famous Geisenheim University in the Rheingau region on the right bank of the Rhine, north of Nahe/Rheinhessen. Eva is in charge of her family’s Ansgar Clüsserath estate in the village of Trittenheim in the Mosel Valley. We briefly discuss these wines. Cornelius Dönnhoff’s sites in the Nahe Valley are only about a 45-minute drive west of Philipp, but the soils, climate and landscape are very different. The Nahe River snakes its way up to join the Rhine at Bingen, opposite Rüdesheim in the Rheingau. Cornelius lists his villages/sites as you head up the river, i.e. heading south/southwest from its confluence with the Rhine. We talk about the following vineyards: Höllenpfad in Roxheim; Kahlenberg and Krötenpfuhl in Bad Kreuznach; Dellchen and Kirschheck in Norheim; Klamm and Hermannshöhle in Niederhasuen; Leistenberg and Brücke in Oberhausen; and Kupfergrube and Felsenberg in Schlossböckelheim. With his Nahe vineyards severely hit by frost in 2024, Cornelius sourced grapes from Philipp and from their friend Nicola Libelli, winemaker at the Dr Bürklin-Wolf estate in the Pfalz region, to the south of Rheinhessen. We inevitably discuss German wine labels and law, but please don’t be put off! It is articulated well. There is some discussion of the notorious German Wine Law of 1971. This enshrined the practice of predicating (hence the word Prädikat ) German quality levels upon the ripeness of the grapes at harvest. Kabinett is the lightest, followed by Spätlese and Auslese . Crucially, all these wines can be dry or sweet, depending on the winemaker’s choice. (Usually, it boils down to whether he or she decides to stop the fermentation before the yeasts consume all the sugars.) Since Auslese is made with the ripest grapes, the sweetest ones can be fully sweet or luscious, while Kabinett tends to be dry, off-dry or semi-dry, and Spätlese is never sweet enough to be a dessert wine. The Germans also refer to these wines with residual sweetness as “fruity”, as opposed to dry. Dönnhoff is a master of all these styles, and Cornelius explains the challenge well. Eiswein , Beerenauslese and Trockenbeerenauslese are the ripest Prädikat styles, all lusciously sweet, and the latter two are made with nobly rotten (botrytised) grapes. Wittmann and Dönnhoff are both members of the VDP ( Verband Deutscher Prädikatsweingüter ). This is an association of 200-odd winegrowers, whose mission in recent decades has been to address some of the “unfortunate consequences” of that ’71 law. We discuss these in the podcast, along with the VDP’s aim to emphasise origin and quality grape-growing practices as key determinants of quality. The VDP quality pyramid contains four ascending tiers as fruit origin decreases in size and increases in pedigree: Gutswein (estate), Ortswein (village), Erste Lage (Premier Cru) and Grosse Lage (grand cru). A VDP member’s top dry wine from a Grosse Lage is labelled as a Grosses Gewächs or GG. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit edmerrison.substack.com/subscribe

I don’t remember when I first became aware of Eyrie’s existence. It just isn’t possible to interact with Pinot Noir obsessives without this domaine coming to your attention. It owes its existence to a pioneering pinotphile who bet the farm on the entirely untested potential of the Dundee Hills to grow wines whose long-lived beauty would resonate across the globe. The Willamette Valley is now one of the stars around which the Pinot world revolves, and The Eyre Vineyards lies at its core. Vininspo! is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. My first conversation with Jason came a couple of years ago. It was an information-gathering exercise back then; the kind of chat where you’re digging for facts, not words of wisdom. But I was struck by how clearly his thoughts—from an incisive, open mind that didn’t profess to be right about everything—deserved to be weighed by a far wider audience. The estate was founded in 1965 by David Lett and his wife, Diana. It’s impossible to talk about Eyrie without delving into the character nicknamed Papa Pinot, and Jason shares plenty of insight on the estate’s foundations. The handover of the reins was a protracted, sometimes difficult, process, and Jason took the lead at Eyrie in 2005. That was three years before David’s death, after which Jason and Diana continued as co-owners. He pays tribute to his mother’s enormous contribution here. If Oregon hasn’t been on your radar, this conversation offers excellent insight and context. However, a few names warrant explanation. Jason talks about what David Lett learned at the University of California, Davis, including his close friendships with men who went on to establish estates in the Willamette Valley: Charles Coury (Charles Coury Vineyard) and Bill Fuller (Tualatin Vineyards). He also mentions David Adelsheim, who worked at Eyrie and went on to found Adelsheim Vineyard in 1971, the same year that Bill Blosser, also mentioned, planted the first vines at Sokol Blosser in the Dundee Hills. Jason refers to Victor Pulliat’s book, Mille Variétés de Vignes, Description et Synonymies , which was instrumental in David Lett’s choice to plant Melon de Bourgogne, Muscat Ottonel, Meunier, Riesling and Gewürztraminer alongside his Pinot Noir and Chardonnay. These were classified as Period One grapes, meaning they could ripen in the coolest climates where winegrowing was considered viable. Jason has since opted against Riesling and Gewürz and added Trousseau, Pinot Gris, Pinot Blanc and Chasselas to the roster. This last one was noticed by prominent Swiss viticulture researcher and family friend, Werner Koblet. Other important influences referenced are André Tchelistcheff, the long-serving winemaker at Beaulieu Vineyards, a star who led the post-Prohibition flowering of the Californian wine scene. Becky Wasserman-Hone, meanwhile, was the barrel broker-turned-influential importer who inadvertently got Eyrie noticed on the global stage. She was instrumental in facilitating the Letts’ friendships in Burgundy. In that Pinot motherland, Michel Lafarge (Domaine Michel Lafarge in Volnay), Gérard Potel (known for his mythical wines at Domaine de la Pousse D’Or) and Lalou Bize-Leroy (Domaine Leroy) are mentioned. Looming even larger, thanks to their faith in Oregon’s terroir, is the Drouhin family of Maison Joseph Drouhin in Beaune and Domain Drouhin in the Willamette Valley. The Eyrie wines are not currently being imported into Australia, which is a dreadful shame. I hope someone will be game to take up the mantle. In any case, The Eyrie Vineyards has a tasting room in McMinnville, Oregon. I’ve never visited, but I hope to one day. I know the Lett family and their team would love to see you, so get there if you can. “In a region of increasingly opulent tasting rooms, the historic Eyrie Vineyards keeps the focus on the beauty inside the glass,” was Wine Enthusiast’s verdict. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit edmerrison.substack.com/subscribe