Episodes
Our taste buds are no match for robot probes. Revino brings reuse to wine bottles. Restaurant reservation rage is at an all time high. The hottest spritz spirit has doubled production. These are the wine news stories we're covering this week.  
Published 05/01/24
Katherine is speaking at a wine celebration in Croatia this week, so we've dug a classic episode out of the vault for you. This engrossing, and at times shocking, episode deals with everyone's least-favorite, most-used herbicide: Roundup. It is the perfect pairing for Earth Week, so please enjoy!  Here it is, folks; our episode about Roundup…but it’s so much more than that. We dive into regenerative agriculture, climate action, and the fight over how to grow grapes on a rapidly changing...
Published 04/24/24
Martín Reyes, MW continues his residency in part two of our exploration of alcohol metabolization. We get into enzymes, dopamine, and orgasms in this occasionally off-kilter discussion of how our bodies deal with alcohol. All aboard our very adult Magic School Bus! 
Published 04/17/24
Martín Reyes, MW is back for a two-episode arc! We've got science, dad jokes, and questionable man-made sound effects on this one. Join us as Katherine and Martín dig in to how alcohol is metabolized in our bodies in part one of this two-parter. 
Published 04/10/24
Neo prohibitionists have the ears of health officials. It turns out old vines can travel. We've got a climate change game show for you. Yet another wine brand has been bought by its founder. These are the wine news stories we're following this week. 
Published 04/03/24
A winemaker takes back his brand from a big ol' private equity firm. A surprising amount of American wine is not actually American. Organic wine importers are completely freaking out, and we don't blame them. Washington State is throwing British Columbia a lifeline. These are the four wine news stories we're following this week. 
Published 03/27/24
A winery uses AI to sexy up its team, do backflips, and oh yeah, sell wine. Californians are scrambling for last resort fire insurance. We've definitely identified the economic sweet spots for the wine industry. The curse of the blue nun has been lifted. These are the wine news stories we're following this week. 
Published 03/20/24
Sheep counting has gotten out of hand. Cheese is on the chopping block. Wine retailers love registries. Ukrainian wine abides. These are the four wine news stories we're following this week. 
Published 03/13/24
Snow in the Sierra Nevadas. Saboteurs in Spain. The French court says, "mais non," to predatory negociants, and we have all been speaking Latin all wrong. These are the four wine news stories at our table right now.
Published 03/06/24
Martín Reyes, MW is back, and he’s brought some friends. With their help, we get into misleading claims from the W.H.O, the health effects of wine, and how moderation may just be good for you. Joining us this week are Dr. Laura Catena, a Harvard and Stanford trained biologist and physician, fourth generation vintner, and the managing director of Bodega Catena Zapata in Argentina; and Dr. Miles Hassell, a specialist in Internal Medicine, the author of Good Food, Great Medicine, and a...
Published 02/28/24
Mystery subpoenas hit some of the Napa Valley's biggest names. Someone claims to have tapped into the zillennial zeitgeist. British Columbia has been frozen out, and Rioja is sounding a bit more charming. These are the wine stories we're following this week.
Published 02/21/24
Well, move over wine; magic mushrooms are taking over. Israel's pruning season is in distress. Hay un escándalo en La Rioja. Smoke taint, rose taint, there's taint, and we're going to talk about it. These are the four wine stories we're following this week.
Published 02/14/24
The Pope promotes the heavenly origins of wine. Wine growers worldwide take to their tractors in protest. Oregon keeps booze tax facts under wraps. Southern Glazer's may have met its match. These are the stories were following this week.
Published 02/07/24
Brutal news from Abruzzo. Winemakers call for cuts thanks to a glut of grapes. AI robots are bringing sexy back. A vintage wine estate seems to be falling apart at the seams. This is the Four Top, and these are the stories we're following this week.
Published 01/31/24
Drizly is shown the exit. Are large wine pours out the door? The state of the U.S. wine industry is, uh, pretty s****y, actually. Wine is all about explosions and cocaine. These are the wine stories we're following this week. This week's episode is brought to you by Josh, Josh, and Josh.
Published 01/24/24
A cultural wrong just got righted in California bars and restaurants. Argentine wine faces the choppy waters of hyperinflation and devaluation. You can get paid for that strip of vineyard land you're not using. One very rich French family sells an old faithful standby of a wine to another very rich French family. These are the stories we’re following this week.
Published 01/17/24
Restaurants see high demand for low-ABV cocktails. Washington and Colorado wage wine war against California. Scientists declare that beer goggles are not a thing. Just what is the world's most expensive wine? These are the stories we're following this week.
Published 01/10/24
"No level of alcohol consumption is safe for our health." Those words were published by the World Health Organization almost exactly a year ago, and the wine world was not happy. But was that declaration accurate? In Ep. 134, we look at conflicting research, scientific bias, and the centenarians who swear by their daily glass of wine.
Published 01/03/24
We should note that we were going to call this a year-end news roundup, but we've decided to phase that out... Get it? It's a glyphosate joke. Millennials and Gen Z are lost generations. Wine's most important banks just...stopped. Napa Green showed glyphosate the door. There's a movie called A Vineyard Christmas and it's really good *wink*. These are the stories from 2023 that stuck out the most to us.
Published 12/27/23
TikTokers take over a Parisian wine bar. British scam artists face charges in the U.S. Rare wine collections are found under a Times Square TGI Fridays. And should you be perturbed by pesticides in your wine? These are the stories we're following this week.
Published 12/20/23
Admittedly, that title is misleading, but we do talk AI, T. Swift, AND natural wine in Ep. 131. The Queen Bee of Burgundy has stinging words for natural wine. AI tech authenticates terroir. Are California wineries ready for the CRV fee? And the W.H.O. thinks it can fight death with taxes. These are the four wine news stories we're following this week.
Published 12/13/23
This week, Martín Reyes, MW is back! In this deep dive episode we get into ingredient labeling, sugar content, sulfites, allergens, health risks, and what winemakers call, "the Death Star." There's also a dad joke, and it's...good?
Published 12/06/23
Crozes-Hermitage gets touchy about temperature, Linfield University's Wine Studies Program gets a director with hometown roots, there's real science behind that red wine headache, and impending rules around labeling in the EU are turning those headaches into migraines. These are the stories we're following this week.
Published 11/29/23
Low-calorie wines see growth while the rest of the industry shrinks, glass bottles are getting slimmer and cleaner, dozens of new Criolla grape varieties are discovered centuries after their ancestors arrived in South America, and Chardonnay, the low-rise jeans of the wine world, is hot once again, to the tune of $400 million. These are the stories we're following this week.
Published 11/22/23