Champagne news, hail hits Loire, Barossa uproar, RIP Angela Muir MW
This week Sam discusses a human-trafficking case in Champagne, a reduction in the allowable harvest yield in Champagne, hail in Sancerre and the Gard, fire in Columbia Gorge AVA in Oregon, developers ...
25 Jul 20258min
WHO's health taxes, more Australian wine aid, nine new Master Sommeliers
This week Sam discusses the World Health Organization’s push to raise prices on alcohol, the lifting of inter-provincial alcohol trade barriers in Canada, Ireland delaying requirements for cancer warn...
18 Jul 20256min
Hail and fires in France, Australian organics upset, a Burgundy-UK venture
This week Sam discusses Vietnam’s tax hike, hail and fires in France, the shuttering of an organic certification body in Australia, Burgundian investment in the UK and Dr Richard Smart’s passing. You...
11 Jul 20257min
French protests and storms, microplastics in beverages, human trafficking in Champagne
This week Sam discusses huge storms in France, a French study on the level of microplastics in various packaged beverages, protests in France over rock-bottom supermarket pricing, human trafficking in...
27 Jun 20257min
Meininger’s International shuts down, Oregon vineyard-management juggernaut, ICE raids
This week Sam discusses Meininger’s International shutting down, Oregon vineyard-management companies merging, ICE raids, a potential win for US alcohol guidance, and the Barca-Velha Golden Vines Scho...
20 Jun 20255min
Treasury Estates bets on NoLos, varietal Muscardin, mapping old vineyards, French glass recycling
This week Sam discusses Trump’s tariff lawsuits, bans on US alcohol in Canada, the Old Vine Registry introducing maps, Tablas Creek bottling 14 Châteauneuf-du-Pape varieties as single-varietal wines, ...
13 Jun 20256min
Mt Etna eruption, RNDC abandons California, Vinarchy investments
This week Sam discusses Mt Etna’s recent eruption, the US’s second-largest wine-and-spirits distributor exiting California, a slight reform in Sweden’s alcohol monopoly, and Vinarchy – the company tha...
6 Jun 20256min
Tariff lawsuits, Chile’s 2025 harvest, lightweighting bottles, harnessing soil microbes
This week Sam discusses lawsuits against the Trump administration’s tariffs, new maps for Marlborough, Chile’s 2025 harvest, the Albeisa Consorzio lightweighting wine bottles, and new research on the ...
30 Mai 20256min
