One Bottle Three Questions - A Wine Podcast

Château Palmer requires no introduction in the world of wine. This Grand Cru Classé from Margaux has produced many great vintages but much less well known is its historical "XIXth Century" blend. We discuss this anachronistic wine and the use of Syrah with Thomas Duroux who has been the estate's managing director since 2004. We also discussed the important topic of trunk diseases and vineyard management. The third question in this episode covered bottle authentication and their approach to combatting fraud.

Aldo Vacca is a name of tremendous importance in Piedmont. We are fortunate enough to interview some legendary names on this podcast and this is definitely the case here. Aldo Vacca has been the director of Produttori del Barbaresco since 1998. He retires this year and we are grateful to capture some lessons learnt over almost thirty years leading arguably the best Co-Op in the world. We explored how he installed and maintained quality standards in a Cooperative environment. We discussed his approach to blending and the subtlety of this, given the wines are "solo Nebbiolo". Finally we were able to let him reflect on the major changes he has seen during his tenure and draw out insights that can help us in the future.

Santorini holds a special place in the wine world as a Volcanic island where the wines are both distinctive and dramatic. Our discussion unpacks the ‘Kouloura’ - the remarkable vine training method of the island. Then Giannis provided some fantastic details on the challenges and benefits of night harvest. Finally we discuss his approach between ambient and commercial yeast and how this influences the style of his wines. The Gramina Cuvee des Vignerons is a remarkable wine that is both distinctive and energetic.

Yellow Tail is a brand needing no introduction. We had the chance to speak to Simon Lawson, managing director of Casella Europe about how one of the world's largest wine brands is managed. We discussed managing customer relationships for a brand that is a household name. We wanted to learn about lessons from emerging markets and where opportunities lie for wine outside of the mature markets. Simon also took up the mantle to answer our question about existential threats to wine and his answers are both motivating as well as shrewd.