#17 - 2016 Ribolla, Gravner with Mateja Gravner

David Cartwright has been and continues to be a hugely influential figure on the UK wine scene. Over a 40-year career, he has held senior sales roles within wine agencies and distribution businesses. His experience spans brands, own-label, premium, entry-level, and off-trade and on-trade clients. David can explain the seemingly murky world of sales clearly and understandably. We covered the "top five rules of selling" and we discussed his Kite strategy approach to building brand sales plans. Finally we asked his advice on practical steps for the challenges of selling in today's market.This episode's wine was the 2023 Rustenberg Stellenbosch Chardonnay, a wine David chose and a wine which owes a lot of its UK commercial success to his efforts.

Sophie Parker-Thompson is a New Zealand winemaker and Master of Wine, living in Marlborough. Sophie and her husband Matt own and run Blank Canvas, a premium wine brand producing high quality varietal wines.Sophie's MW research paper investigated Biogenic Amines and we asked her to unpack this topic and draw out the key elements to understand. We then discussed the styles and winemaking in Marlborough Chardonnay; this variety is in the shadow of Sauvignon in terms of size of production, but Marlborough is a commercially relevant source of great quality Chardonnay and deserves more recognition. Our third topic was an explanation of Appellation Marlborough and why it is important for producers and wine lovers.This episode's wine was the 2023 'Tano' Chardonnay, a single vineyard in the coastal subregion of Blind River.

Stephy Terrizzi is a Californian viticulturist and a remarkable figure with her experience and knowledge in the vineyard as well as being highly regarded within her hometown of Paso Robles. She manages the vineyard operations for Giornata, a boutique winery run out of "Tin City". There, they make wine only from native Italian grape varieties. We discussed the history and issues of Italian grape varieties in California, in particular looking at their 2023 Fiano. We talked about organic viticulture and get in depth examples. Finally we discuss irrigation and water use with regards to plant physiology and sustainability. In 2025 Paso Robles Wine Country Alliance named Stephy and her husband Brian as Wine Industry Persons of the Year winners, as recognition for the success of their wines and contribution to their community.

Dr Dylan Grigg is one of today’s most high profile viticulturists.He offers accessible and digestible information on viticulture and has become a rare person in the wine world, able to offer engaging stories that help open the often opaque world of vineyard management.We discussed key concepts in understanding old vines and attempted to answer if old vines do indeed make better wine. We asked him to explain layering in the vineyard and what is important to do to get it right. Finally we asked him how he makes his social media presence bring what he does to life – particularly key when so few details make it out of the vineyard.We tasted the Vinya Vella 2022 Barossa Grenache. A pure and delicate style made, of course, from old vines.

Josko Gravner was once known as one of Italy’s greatest producers of white wine. Then, at the end of the 1990s, he embarked on a radical new journey, experimenting with skin-contact techniques inspired by Georgia and becoming a leading figure in the orange wine movement.In this episode we speak with Mateja Gravner about the specifics of Qvevri fermentation, the challenges of bringing Josko’s first orange wines to market, and how top grafting is implemented in the vineyard.

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.