Latest dispatches

The Week in Wine Episode 23 | Wine-Searcher

Don waxes lyrical about the beauties of Chenin Blanc while Olly has a whiskey, distilled in Scotland and aged in Burgundy in Sherry barrels. Despite the 2024 Burgundy harvest report, this is a generally bad news week where we ask if we're maybe halfway there yet? Bad news for California and the US wine trade in particular. People are still asking if wine is for them while a story on storytelling is also catching some of our readers' attention. We also ask if you can get excited about Spanish sparkling wine? We mark the passing of Daniel Cathiard of Château Smith Haut Lafitte and James Healey of Cloudy Bay and Dog Point. Château de Beaucastel hosts the Drops of God television series once again. More Argentinian wineries are in trouble; Mâcon wines are banned from using "Vin de Bourgogne" on their labels; Italian wineries look to the Indian market for growth; French glass bottle producer mothballs another furnace. More wineries for sale in California (with a lack of interested buyers)

The Week in Wine Episode 24 | Wine-Searcher

Montepulciano and the wonder of southern Italian red wines. Calvados and the flavor (or otherwise) of fruits in spirits. This week, Don and Olly discuss the California wineries for sale (and why it appears no-one is buying them). RTDs surge in the US drinks market. Is wine's answer to RTDs Vermouth? Olly talks a bit about his story on West Bank wineries. Footballing great Sergio Ramos opens a number of top wines for dinner with friends (and lands in hot water for his choice of dish); Norton bankruptcy under way; and a Bordeaux vine nursery and vineyard branches out into asparagus and Kosher wine. We touch on the Four Roses sale and the sea of Bourbon about to wash over consumers (with some hopefully lower prices on the bottles!); Merlot – and Zinfandel – as unsung heroes of California wine; and small mention of English sparkling wine.

The Week in Wine: Episode 02, Wine-Searcher

Don "rediscovers" Merlot, Olly has a 2007 wine from Spain. Can you recognize elements of a young wine in an old one? Magic Margaux comes out in the Bordeaux En Primeur tastings; vineyard workers in Napa celebrated on the same day as ICE agents round people up in Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo; more woes for the California wine industry (including the winding down of the Paraduxx wine brand). Haul of World War II-era Nazi documents found inside Champagne crates in Argentina's Supreme Court. Asterix's magic potion was wine, says archeologist; Israeli wine tasting called off over Gaza conflict; LA Confidential actor in Ribeira Sacra; More layoffs in Cognac; Winegrower commits suicide in Bordeaux; French cooperative, Vignerons de Buzet, could be out of financial strife thanks to wine giant Grands Chais de France. French barrel renting company forecasts doubling turnover; Spain exports show slight uptick; Fronton celebrates 50th anniversary; Bugey producers complain that name is the

The Week in Wine: Episode 03, Wine-Searcher

Don drinks a glass or two of Olly's natural wine – and likes it; Olly has a delicious Saumur blanc. Italian consorzio pushes lightweight wine bottles; Best Value Rums top readership scales along with cuts at the US TTB; hail batters French vineyards, from Cognac to southern Bordeaux, Languedoc, Champagne and flooding in the vineyards; recent export figures for Italian wines "worryingly" down; bottle recall at Cellier des Dauphins; wine labels feature in Argentinian torture case; France's regional Workplace Ministry takes on industry behemoth Grands Chais de France; Cité du Vin embezzlement charge thrown out.

The Week in Wine: Episode 04, Wine-Searcher

Don rediscovers the youthful joys of Barossa Shiraz; Olly drinks a well-made but forgettable wine (and a fantastic Brunello di Montalcino). Will big red wines have a resurgence? Embracing the wide world of wines. Can you ever match a wine to someone's personality? US winemaker Paul Hobbs' adventures in South America; our best value Tequila and Malbecs top the reader charts; winemaking and starting up a vineyard in the wider Paris region; the stasis of tariffs and its effects on the wine world; the continued woes of En Primeur. Proper tasters swallow, say French wine tasting gurus; Montepulciano to add parish names to their labels; Boisset buys the other Dauvissat (ie not the one you're thinking of); mildew pressure in southern France and Spain; arrests around winery theft in Ribera del Duero nab Spanish crime gang; and wine sales continue to fall in France.

The Week in Wine: Episode 05, Wine-Searcher

Don drinks cocktails (and a nice Central Otago Pinot Noir); Olly drinks a beer at his local. US vineyards look to avoid ICE raids; sexual violence, harassment and sexism in the wine industry (Olly talks to Isabelle Perraud of feminist organisation Paye ton Pinard); Bordeaux En Primeur "worst in 40 years"; Champagne fraudster faces more jail time; Lanzarote vineyards to feature in new TV series; Courvoisier hit by downsizing; and France's Pays d'Oc region looks to reuse wine bottles in environmental push.

The Week in Wine: Episode 06, Wine-Searcher

The Week in Wine: Episode 07, Wine-Searcher

The Week in Wine: Episode 08, Wine-Searcher

The Week in Wine: Episode 09, Wine-Searcher

The Week in Wine: Episode 10, Wine-Searcher

The Week in Wine: Episode 11, Wine-Searcher

Don sings the praises of a "go-to" whiskey (Bushmills); is Chenin Blanc cruelly underrated? Readers still looking into the best Bourbons of 2025; between fraud in Puglia and Pantelleria, a cooperative going bankrupt and labor exploitation, Italian wine is having a turbulent summer; Oliver talks about his interview with Chateau Garbage's Emre Rende; should wine lists be more adventurous? The continued woes of the wine industry; have we hit rock bottom? Will things get better or worse? A CBD influencer who extorted, threatened and intimidated a winegrowing family in Bordeaux is sentenced to three years in prison, French winegrower releases Palestinian solidarity cuvée; direct action wine group CAV hits a major wine merchant in southern France, emptying tanks of wine; French Jean Dujardin actor launches Bordeaux whiskey; EU approves new Pago de Tharsys Vino de Pago; and Spanish Olympian says wine "not incompatible with sport".

The Week in Wine Episode 12

Remembering Nicolas Potel and the people behind the wine we drink; the best Bourbons of 2025; the US government shutdown and its effect on wines, wine labels and stopping new wine from hitting the shelves; irate feedback from readers and the issues around publishing reader comments, defamation and libel; cannabis smuggled in barrels discovered in Bordeaux; intern dies at Chapoutier; Burgundy winegrower spat with mayor; Cognac to start major vine-pull program; and the Adelaide Symphony Orchestra pairs Schubert with Shiraz.

The Week in Wine: Episode 13, Wine-Searcher

Martinborough Pinot Noir; the impact of Australian winemakers on New Zealand wine; Pinot Blanc vs. Pinot Gris; Calmére sale in Napa, Napa vineyard prices and the worrying drop in interest at recent California charity wine auction; Hungary's vineyards under threat from Flavescence Doré and the lack of coverage in wine news; non-alcoholic Sauternes; thieves don't steal wine from Bordeaux Second Growth Ducru-Beaucaillou; more direct action vandalism as intruders empty wine tanks in Bordeaux; former Yquem owner's wine collection up for auction; and we look at the coming stories of tasting a 100 year-old Tuscan wine and a 2025 Burgundy vintage roundup.

The Week in Wine: Episode 14, Wine-Searcher

Spring and frosts in the vineyard; Burgundy's 2025 vintage hints quality without quantity; Is everyone a secret Zinfandel lover?; the wider beauty and appeal of southern Italian red varieties; the utilitarian Sangiovese and whether or not Chianti Riserva stacks up against Chianti Classico; tasting 100 year-old Tuscan wine and vino-pomorphism – how often are wines described as people?; the appeal of Lake Garda wines; is everyone really a closet fan of Rum; how much did Covid-19 do for the spirits industry (at home, at least); Old vines; and, finally, Natural Wines and U2.

The Week in Wine: Episode 15, Wine-Searcher

Natural wine summed up by Konstantin Baum MW; is Natural Wine now just a facet of wine?; people really love Rum; the beauty of a Dark and Stormy cocktail; the Supreme Court's ongoing look at Trump's wine tariffs; is the concept of Old Vines overrated for the consumer?; what does sustainable mean?; Copper sprays banned in France, the impact on Organic Viticulture in the country; the Greeks as the true origin of wine in France; smoke taint in northwestern Spain; viticulturist electrocuted in the vineyard; more doom and gloom for the wine trade's economic outlook; but....is Ireland our only hope?

The Week in Wine: Episode 16, Wine-Searcher

Don rediscovers an old friend; unmemorable wines; has wine reached rock-bottom; Elon Musk, trillionaires, and would the wine world be better with a more affluent middle class (is the wine market a reflection of a shrinking middle class?). Are South African wines overlooked? Is the wine industry itself the main consumer of its own news (and not the wine consumer)? Cognac producer billed for duty on Cognac stolen from its premises. Chapoutier planting agave in the Rhône (with a view to Tequila production). Argentina's slashing of red tape in wine production (off the back of Milei's neoliberal reforms). Alsace celebrates a great 2025 vintage. Ungrafted vines. The beauty and charms of Oporto.