Just Another Wine Podcast

Join Emily Harman, Jamie Goode and Douglas Wregg as they explore the topic of yeasts, those micro-organic marvels responsible for transforming grape juice into wine. The three discuss the difference between wild and inoculated ferments and the processes (and nature) of each, examining the assertion that the impact and presence of native yeasts in winemaking may be said to be part of a wine’s overall terroir signature. As the delve deeper, they talk about the impact of agro-chemical sprays on yeast populations. The wine trio move on to flor, the veil or film of yeast that forms on top of wines when they are not topped up. Time for tasting: they taste a bottle of non-vintage Alquimia, a vin de voile from Domaine Le Roc des Anges in the Roussillon and comment on its delicacy and precision and how the presence of flor adds a dimension or subtle accent to the overall wine. Afterwards, Doug blind-tastes Emily and Jamie on another flor wine (which turns out to a cider called Many Rivers (2022 vintage) made by Little Pomona in Herefordshire and aged for two years under a veil). They love it! Finally, as a treat, we pop open a 2018 Savagnin Antide from Jean-François Ganevat, a wine topped up in barrel for 84 months and bottled without sulphites to illustrate how a wine aged under lees for a very long period can preserve its thrilling vitality.

What are the new fine wines? Is there such a thing? Jamie, Doud and Emily talk about how taste has evolved from the traditional certainties and hierarchies into a greater appreciation of wines from less fashionable regions, grapes, and growers. Jamie cites Hugh Johnson’s aphorism that a fine wine is a wine that makes you want to write about it. The gang speculate about the qualities that make for a fine wine and conclude that the former prerequisites of impressive structure and ageworthiness are perhaps less important than the sense of purity and the capacity to lyrically communicate terroir. Made with attentive farming and skilful winemaking, fine wines can be made anywhere, at any time. The trio taste (and drink) a fabulous bottle of Comando G’s El Tamboril Tinto 2021 from the mountain region of Gredos west of Madrid. Although the vines are old, the appellation is very new yet is now recognised as a region capable of producing world-class (fine) wines from Garnacha. The other wine assayed is an intensely expressive Boekenhoutskloof Syrah 2023 from South Africa, liquid proof that skilful growers and vignerons can make spectacular wines in formerly unheralded (for fine wine) regions.

So much of our tasting energy is spent assessing a particular’s wines aromas and flavours using our sense of smell and what we can detect with our indvidual palates. We rarely discuss the role of appearance, how the wine presents itself, the clues that we can derive from examining intently the liquid in a glass. Emily, Jamie and Doug talk about various aspects of visual appreciation, from the quality of light we taste in (daylight versus artificial, for example), to how appearances can sometimes be deceptive, as well as what find appetising when we look at a wine. They touch on the pros and cons of blind tasting and remark how easily we can be influenced by colour, our brains deceived by false perceptions. We broach a bottle of 2023 Soca-Rel Manto Negro from the island of Mallorca and comment on its remarkable pale red colour. Appearances are not deceptive! The wine is pretty, floral, red-fruited, and even ethereal. We then move to a Chinon of indeterminate age from Patrick Corbineau (RIP). Without a vintage on the label or the cork to guide us, we surmise - from the colour of the wine – that it is between15-30 years old. The wine is astonishingly fine and vibrant. In the second part of the podcast, the three examine how sound affects our assessment and enjoyment of wine. Sound can be music or conversation; they agree that it can establish our moods and thus affect our respective responses to wine. Noise, however, is always intrusive and the energy required to screen it out, impacts our enjoyment of wine and the very ability to taste. Restaurants have become increasingly noisy environments, perhaps less than ideal milieux to truly appreciate good wine in.

Wine has been viewed by successive governments as a form of alcohol to be taxed. There is little/no understanding of the importance of wine as an accompaniment to food, but also how taking wine, in the right spirit, can be a civilising influence. Not only has wine inspired poetry, music, and art over the centuries, it is the social drink par excellence, bringing people together, acting as the catalyst for making new friends.   In a wide-ranging podcast, Emily, Jamie and Doug celebrate the joy of wine drinking, acknowledging how the flavours in a glass of wine may transport to different places and times, how wine can break down barriers and create a form of communion, and finally how important it is to understand and appreciate the very culture of wine, from the people who make it and the place it comes from, to the drinkers throughout the world who take pleasure in this unique beverage.   As Christopher Hitchens says: Drinking wine affirms our humanity.

In the final episode recorded in 2025, Emily, Jamie and Doug reflect back on a year of podcasting, where they tackled a variety of topics concerning many different aspects of wine, controversial and otherwise, and celebrate the work that growers do to bring their wines to fruition. They discuss why they particularly enjoy the format of the podcast and the dynamic achieved by bringing different experiences and opinions to the table. Both Jamie and Emily talk about their highlights of the year, especially wine regions that they have visited, whilst Doug reveals his wines of the year. They acknowledge that 2025 has been a particularly difficult vintage for the wine trade and wonder whether this trend will continue in 2026.

The first is fillet of venison with a simple venison sauce, the second a more intense and challenging (for wine) version supplemented by a beetroot fondant & choux farcie with a cherry, rhubarb and venison sauce. The two wines chosen to do battle (or accompany beautifully) were an elegant Hermit Ram Pinot Noir 2019 from North Canterbury in New Zealand and a youthful aromatic Syrah from 120-year-old vineyard, Hervé Souhaut’s Saint-Joseph Rouge Saint-Epine 2023. Both wines shine on the day, but which is the better match with each dish? The final match/contest features two ribeye beef dishes, one with an aubergine gratin and simple beef sauce, the other elaborated with addition of stuffed Padron peppers and an elderberry and eucalyptus sauce, paired with two very different wines – a deliciously digestible 2021 Los Pasitos from Suertes del Marques in Tenerife and Geoff Merrill’s bold 2015 Cabernet Sauvignon from a blend of Coonawarra and Mclaren Vale fruit. Who won this battle? Just Another Wine Podcast extends its thanks to the team at The Terrace Rooms and Wines at Ventnor on the Isle of Wight.

Tom presents the three with four courses, each featuring the same dish but presented in distinct ways, the first being a simple rendition focusing on a main ingredient, the second featuring additional elements that echo flavours of certain classic wines. He explains the rationale behind this, and we taste two wines per course, noting how the food affects the wine, and how the wine may affect the food. Opening a bottle of rarely-seen Dard & Ribo’s Crozes-Hermitage Blanc “K” 2023, an energetic mineral-edged Marsanne and an Au Bon Climat Santa Barbara Chardonnay 2021 (Tom’s suggestion), we assess how these wines match respectively the two different versions of a crab dish. We then sample two iterations of local line-caught sea bass, firstly with a delicate Deep Down Marlborough Sauvignon 2023 and then with a more structured barrel-fermented Concisco from Niepoort 2018 from the Dao region. Just Another Wine Podcast extends its thanks to the team at The Terrace Rooms and Wines at Ventnor on the Isle of Wight.

Doug and Jamie quiz Emily on her various wine buying roles. Firstly, they ask as an importer, whether all her buying choices governed purely by passion and aesthetic appreciation and how important the commercial imperative is in her wine buyer role. They discuss the significance of positive relationships between grower and buyer, ethical sourcing, the importance of mutual respect, good communication and honest feedback, and about what happens when a wine that has been shipped does not measure up for some reason. The three then talk about her role as a consultant wine buyer for a hotel group and how she balances what she prefers to drink to assembling a list that will appeal to the clientele of the establishment in question. They finally ask into how consumers may recognise when they look at a wine list that an intelligent buyer has been at work. Is it the choice of wines, the pricing structure, the presentation of the list? The trio say that often the best lists are the most discriminating ones; they may be shorter and less comprehensive, but every wine is on them for a good reason. Two wines are tasted. A delicious and unusual Posca Bianca from Orsi San Vito in Emilia-Romagna, a biodynamic farm in the Colli Bolognesi zone, made from a blend of Pignoletto, Alionza, Albana and Malvasia from different vineyards of various ages, an assemblage of every vintage back to 2010. The second wine is an unctuous full-bodied (and rather wonderful) Pouilly-Fuissé from Maison Valette, another non-vintage wine, being a blend of 2019-20-21.

Emily, Jamie and Doug discuss the commonly held perception that ageing a wine necessarily makes it more complex.

Rummaging around in Tom Fahey’s wine room at The Terrace in Ventnor, Doug, Jamie and Emily come across a treasure trove of exceptional rosé wines. These are highly-reputed vinous wines that transcend our notion of what rosé is and has become synonymous with: light, pale, filtered wines that barely detain our attention, the triumph almost of marketing style over substance (although they have place, of course).