Transcripts

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. 

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.

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 professor at Pacific University.

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.

Drizly is shown the exit. Are large wine pours out the door? The state of the U.S. wine industry is, uh, pretty shitty, 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.

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.

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.

“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.

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.

An alternative title for Ep. 132 could be “CSI: Vino,” for all the thrills and intrigue. We’ve got damning lab results, missing collections of rare wine, a $100 million Ponzi scheme, and a friendly bouncer keeping a small business safe from throngs of…TikTokers. If your favorite true crime podcast just isn’t cutting it lately, we’ve got you covered.

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.

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.

Low-calorie wines see growth while the rest of the industry shrinks, glass bottles are getting slimmer and cleaner, dozens of new Criohl-ya 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.

Global wine production has fallen to a 62 year low. Israel’s vineyards report on a war torn harvest. California producers may have dodged carcinogen warnings on their labels, but not for the reason you might think. Napa wineries claim that wine tasting is a…civil right? These are the news stories we’re following this week.

Here it is, folks; our episode about Roundup…but it’s so much more than that. In Ep. 126. we dive into regenerative agriculture, climate action, and the fight over how to grow grapes on a rapidly changing planet.

Rounding out our expertise this week are Dr. Jamie Goode, an award-winning wine journalist, plant biologist, and the author of I Taste Red: The Science of Tasting Wine; and Anna Brittain, the founder and executive director of Napa Green and Napa RISE.

Viticulture is monoculture… but it doesn’t have to be. In Ep. 124, our guests discuss permaculture and natural farming, and so much more. In their quest to capture the past in order to change the future of winegrowing, they will go so far as to introduce genetic diversity from vine to vine.

Behind the mics this week are Nate Ready, a former Master Sommelier, and the owner and farmer behind Hiyu Wine Farm; and Randall Grahm, A.K.A. the Rhône Ranger, the founder and vintner of Bonny Doon Vineyard.

Historic droughts followed by colossal atmospheric rivers? There’s a term for that: weather whiplash. As wine regions experience the highest highs and lowest lows back-to-back, vineyards are looking for ways to adapt. Our guests on Ep. 122 discuss the future of water use in winegrowing, from gray water to dry farming.

Our aqua-experts are Dr. Peter Gleick, a leading water and climate scientist and the co-founder of the Pacific Institute; and Miguel García, PhD., the Sustainable Agriculture Program Manager at the Napa County Resource Conservation District.

Hello Wine World; we’re back! We kick off The Four Top’s sustainability season with Anna Brittain, executive director of Napa Green and Napa RISE. Anna lays out “the six pillars of sustainability,” sharing anecdotes—we call them “Anna-dotes”—to illustrate each one. Prepare to be surprised by Ep. 120.

Learn about selective eating and food phobias, two lesser-known eating disorders afflicting children. Next, discover Little Sous, a new concept for turning kids into confident cooks. And finally, a cookbook author and food blogger fills us in on raisins.