Lulie Halstead is on sabbatical. While she's away, she's chosen her favourite episodes from Drinks Insider to feature on A Question of Drinks and she explains why she's so impressed by them.

Her first pick is an interview with Marian Leitner-Waldman, founder of Archer Roose canned wines, which she says is a masterclass of brand building.

Entrepreneur and co-founder Marian Leitner-Waldman has single handedly overcome all the problems facing the wine industry. Archer Roose has a thriving audience of young consumers, who can’t get enough of high-quality wine in cans and bagnums, which appear in more than 6,000 outlets.

The reason that sales are up 35% year-on-year? The brand is built on a combination of high-quality wine, total transparency, and plenty of data.

In this episode, Marian talks about:

Meet Your Hosts:

Lulie Halstead founded and led international consumer research and strategy consultancy Wine Intelligence, and led it to a successful PE exit. Today she is a renowned global beverage alcohol and wine sector specialist, focused on consumer behaviour, strategy, retail and hospitality. An accomplished keynote speaker, she has spoken at more than 70 international events over the past 20 years.

Felicity Carter is an award-winning wine and drinks journalist, editor and content strategist. She led Meininger’s Wine Business International to become the world’s most must-read wine trade magazine, and was founding Executive Editor of The Drop/Pix, which the Wall Street Journal named one of the most trusted sources of wine information. A regular keynote speaker, she was named a 2024 Industry Leader by WineBusiness Monthly. Her Drinks Insider podcast won the 67 Pall Mall Global Wine Communicator Award for Audio.

Are people leaving alcohol behind, or are they simply drinking less and less often?

In this episode of A Question of Drinks, Felicity Carter and Lulie Halstead dig into the data behind moderation. Drawing on IWSR, Gallup, Barclays, WHO and FT reporting, they unpack three forces reshaping consumption:

First, health and identity. Moderation is normalising. Abstinence peaks are flattening. Smartwatches, sleep data and calorie awareness are influencing behaviour — but not driving mass teetotalism.

Second, economics. Younger consumers are not morally superior — they are financially constrained. Alcohol remains a discretionary spend. Fewer nights out and tighter wallets are doing much of the heavy lifting behind declining volumes.

Third, chemistry. GLP-1 drugs such as Ozempic may suppress desire itself, potentially altering drinking behaviour at a biological level. Cannabis, by contrast, appears largely additive rather than a substitute.

The conclusion? People have not stopped drinking. They are recalibrating.

Meet Your Hosts:

Lulie Halstead founded and led international consumer research and strategy consultancy Wine Intelligence, and led it to a successful PE exit. Today she is a renowned global beverage alcohol and wine sector specialist, focused on consumer behaviour, strategy, retail and hospitality. An accomplished keynote speaker, she has spoken at more than 70 international events over the past 20 years.

Felicity Carter is an award-winning wine and drinks journalist, editor and content strategist. She led Meininger’s Wine Business International to become the world’s most must-read wine trade magazine, and was founding Executive Editor of The Drop/Pix, which the Wall Street Journal named one of the most trusted sources of wine information. A regular keynote speaker, she was named a 2024 Industry Leader by WineBusiness Monthly. Her Drinks Insider podcast won the 67 Pall Mall Global Wine Communicator Award for Audio.

In this year-end episode, Felicity Carter and Lulie Halstead dissect the business stories that defined drinks in 205. From panic-driven mega-acquisitions and brutal brand sell-offs to the collapse of premiumisation as a default growth strategy, they trace how falling volumes, exhausted consumers, and shifting cultural norms forced the global alcohol industry into survival mode. If it earned enough per litre, it stayed. If it didn’t, it was dumped — sometimes at speed.

The conversation ranges across spirits, beer, wine, and no-and-low, covering Diageo’s boardroom bloodbath, tequila’s overstretched boom, wine’s consolidation into mega-entities, and why celebrities are now backing zero-alcohol brands instead of party drinks. Along the way, Felicity and Lulie unpack the rise of celebrity “authenticity,” Michelin’s controversial move into winery ratings, Liquid Death’s spectacular UK misfire, and what you need to do to get a drink in some parts of India.

Meet Your Hosts:

Lulie Halstead founded and led international consumer research and strategy consultancy Wine Intelligence, and led it to a successful PE exit. Today she is a renowned global beverage alcohol and wine sector specialist, focused on consumer behaviour, strategy, retail and hospitality. An accomplished keynote speaker, she has spoken at more than 70 international events over the past 20 years.

Felicity Carter is an award-winning wine and drinks journalist, editor and content strategist. She led Meininger’s Wine Business International to become the world’s most must-read wine trade magazine, and was founding Executive Editor of The Drop/Pix, which the Wall Street Journal named one of the most trusted sources of wine information. A regular keynote speaker, she was named a 2024 Industry Leader by WineBusiness Monthly. Her Drinks Insider podcast won the 67 Pall Mall Global Wine Communicator Award for Audio.

Does it matter where your favourite drink comes from or who makes it?

Using the tangled origin story of the Tequila Sunrise, the secretive monks behind Chartreuse, and the very manufactured “Irishness” of Baileys, Lulie and Felicity ask whether the truth still matters… or whether it’s all about who has the best story. 

Listener Adele from Australia sets the core question: younger drinkers say they want authenticity, but it’s the big, well-distributed brands that keep growing. Felicity and Lulie pull apart what “authentic” actually means for regulators, for brand owners, and for Gen Z with limited budgets and offer a simple framework: heritage, origin, and founder or personality

There are frameworks, fierce debates and a lot of discussion of the merits of Baileys. Plus, your personal tour of Lulie’s Christmas tree. It’s an episode that will challenge what you believe about stories, status, and what’s really in your glass.

Meet Your Hosts:

Lulie Halstead founded and led international consumer research and strategy consultancy Wine Intelligence, and led it to a successful PE exit. Today she is a renowned global beverage alcohol and wine sector specialist, focused on consumer behaviour, strategy, retail and hospitality. An accomplished keynote speaker, she has spoken at more than 70 international events over the past 20 years.

Felicity Carter is an award-winning wine and drinks journalist, editor and content strategist. She led Meininger’s Wine Business International to become the world’s most must-read wine trade magazine, and was founding Executive Editor of The Drop/Pix, which the Wall Street Journal named one of the most trusted sources of wine information. A regular keynote speaker, she was named a 2024 Industry Leader by WineBusiness Monthly. Her Drinks Insider podcast won the 67 Pall Mall Global Wine Communicator Award for Audio.

Wine is the original luxury product, so why are there so few memorable wine brands?

In this episode, Felicity and Lulie dig into wine’s historic allergy to the word “brand” – even as wineries are being told their life’s work isn’t worth what they thought, because nobody remembers their labels. Drawing on IWSR data, they look at how few wine brands normal drinkers can actually recall, why most wineries sit at the bottom of the brand pyramid, and what Ehrenberg-Bass really means when it says brands grow through availability, not vague “loyalty”. Along the way, they pit wine against gin and beer, unpack why Champagne wins the memory game, and explain why fine wine secretly uses every trick in the marketer’s book while pretending it’s all just terroir and tradition.

From there they rewind the clock: Bordeaux négociants, aristocrats who thought money was vulgar, the rise of spirits brands like Gordon’s and Hennessy, the invention of glass bottles, appellations as proto-brands, and how varietal labelling became the default. It explains why wine itself is memorable, but individual wines are not.

Meet Your Hosts:

Lulie Halstead founded and led international consumer research and strategy consultancy Wine Intelligence, and led it to a successful PE exit. Today she is a renowned global beverage alcohol and wine sector specialist, focused on consumer behaviour, strategy, retail and hospitality. An accomplished keynote speaker, she has spoken at more than 70 international events over the past 20 years.

Felicity Carter is an award-winning wine and drinks journalist, editor and content strategist. She led Meininger’s Wine Business International to become the world’s most must-read wine trade magazine, and was founding Executive Editor of The Drop/Pix, which the Wall Street Journal named one of the most trusted sources of wine information. A regular keynote speaker, she was named a 2024 Industry Leader by WineBusiness Monthly. Her Drinks Insider podcast won the 67 Pall Mall Global Wine Communicator Award for Audio.

Is wine innovative or stuck in the past? When listener Patrick asks why nothing seems to have changed in wine over 30 years, Lulie and Felicity turn this seemingly simple question into a full-blown courtroom drama. Lulie takes the prosecution, arguing that slapping fruit flavors into wine and calling it "innovation" is just New Product Development dressed up in fancy LinkedIn copy. Felicity fights back, insisting wine is quietly revolutionary, from screw cap technology to temperature-controlled logistics, but hides its innovations behind a veil of tradition. Spoiler: they both have receipts, and neither backs down easily.

From Pierre Bourdieu's theories on symbolic capital to the surprising Australian origin story of the Limoncello spritz, this episode unpacks why wine pretends nothing ever changes even as everything does. Along the way, discover why can liners might be the most underrated innovation in drinks, why invented traditions matter more than you think, and what Lulie's Gen Z goddaughters really think about canned wine. Plus: heated debates about Yellow Tail, New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc, and whether innovation counts if nobody buys it. Bring your own wig and gavel, because this one gets lively.

Meet Your Hosts:

Lulie Halstead founded and led international consumer research and strategy consultancy Wine Intelligence, and led it to a successful PE exit. Today she is a renowned global beverage alcohol and wine sector specialist, focused on consumer behaviour, strategy, retail and hospitality. An accomplished keynote speaker, she has spoken at more than 70 international events over the past 20 years.

Felicity Carter is an award-winning wine and drinks journalist, editor and content strategist. She led Meininger’s Wine Business International to become the world’s most must-read wine trade magazine, and was founding Executive Editor of The Drop/Pix, which the Wall Street Journal named one of the most trusted sources of wine information. A regular keynote speaker, she was named a 2024 Industry Leader by WineBusiness Monthly. Her Drinks Insider podcast won the 67 Pall Mall Global Wine Communicator Award for Audio.

Lulie and Felicity put out a plea on social media — “Tell us what’s in your drinks cabinet” — and discovered a whole world of crimes against taste. 

Sweet, creamy liqueurs dominated the offerings (Baileys, Advocat, and even a banana liqueur with holiday PTSD), alongside objects of pride like single malt and bourbon that get opened but never finished. There was plenty of Sherry, Muscat and half-dead whites lurking in the name of “cooking” while the global curios proved that even the most discerning consumer can get suckered by duty free. 

Researcher Lulie revealed the five drivers of the drinks cabinets, from the endowment effect and sunk-cost fallacy to identity signalling, magical thinking about future selves and sacralisation. Along the way we got into the Baileys origin story, why Advocat is basically alcoholic custard with 140g sugar/litre, and a simple cocktail framework that rescues strays without requiring a degree in bartending. It’s confession, anthropology, and behavioural science in one tidy purge.

You’ll never look at crème de menthe the same way again.

Meet Your Hosts:

Lulie Halstead founded and led international consumer research and strategy consultancy Wine Intelligence, and led it to a successful PE exit. Today she is a renowned global beverage alcohol and wine sector specialist, focused on consumer behaviour, strategy, retail and hospitality. An accomplished keynote speaker, she has spoken at more than 70 international events over the past 20 years.

Felicity Carter is an award-winning wine and drinks journalist, editor and content strategist. She led Meininger’s Wine Business International to become the world’s most must-read wine trade magazine, and was founding Executive Editor of The Drop/Pix, which the Wall Street Journal named one of the most trusted sources of wine information. A regular keynote speaker, she was named a 2024 Industry Leader by WineBusiness Monthly.

Why is it red wine that accrues all the prestige? Is this because red wine is better — or for a historic reason?

Felicity and Lulie dig into this mystery and discover that red wine’s prestige didn’t come from taste alone, but from logistics, trade, and the infrastructure that developed around red wines — merchants, classifications, and long-distance shipping. Red’s ability to age made it tradable and collectible, creating a system of status and expertise that white wines couldn’t match. We trace this history through Bordeaux’s port advantage, Burgundy’s influence, and Italy’s late pivot from bulk production. Riesling’s boom-and-bust cycle shows how fragile reputations can be when they depend on markets and laws rather than inherent quality.

We also look at the technologies that are reshaping the hierarchy. Cool fermentation, stainless steel, sulfur management, screw caps, and cold-chain logistics have given whites new aging potential, just as consumer tastes shift toward freshness and chillable styles. Bourdieu’s sociology explains how prestige is socially constructed and maintained, while colour psychology reveals how strongly hues influence perception — even leading to the oddity of blue wine. Finally, we explore China’s move from gifting reds, where colour symbolised luck, to a growing preference for whites, alongside rosé’s celebrity-driven rise. The conversation ends by asking whether prestige still lies in the glass or mostly in the stories we tell around it.

Meet Your Hosts:

Lulie Halstead founded and led international consumer research and strategy consultancy Wine Intelligence, and led it to a successful PE exit. Today she is a renowned global beverage alcohol and wine sector specialist, focused on consumer behaviour, strategy, retail and hospitality. An accomplished keynote speaker, she has spoken at more than 70 international events over the past 20 years.

Felicity Carter is an award-winning wine and drinks journalist, editor and content strategist. She led Meininger’s Wine Business International to become the world’s most must-read wine trade magazine, and was founding Executive Editor of The Drop/Pix, which the Wall Street Journal named one of the most trusted sources of wine information. A regular keynote speaker, she was named a 2024 Industry Leader by WineBusiness Monthly.

Natural wine has attracted vitriol, mean-spirited editorials and plenty of controversy. One of our listeners wrote in to ask why all the angst, and the hosts use it as a springboard to map the movement’s rise, backlash, and commercial co-option. Felicity sketches the history from Beaujolais and the “Gang of Four,” through the Parker era reaction, NOMA’s catalytic influence, and the media flashpoints that framed natural wine as an oppositional identity. 

Lulie and Felicity also define what natural wine is, how it’s produced and the role of additives like sulphur dioxide. And they also discuss consumer perceptions and how consumer psychology can harden snap judgements into prejudice.

They then stress-test today’s narratives, from the beginning of the movement to today. Verdict: the movement reshaped wine culture and writing, but its successes and excesses now coexist. Better farming and more experimental styles on one side, muddled claims and unpredictable quality on the other.

Meet Your Hosts:

Lulie Halstead founded and led international consumer research and strategy consultancy Wine Intelligence, and led it to a successful PE exit. Today she is a renowned global beverage alcohol and wine sector specialist, focused on consumer behaviour, strategy, retail and hospitality. An accomplished keynote speaker, she has spoken at more than 70 international events over the past 20 years.

Felicity Carter is an award-winning wine and drinks journalist, editor and content strategist. She led Meininger’s Wine Business International to become the world’s most must-read wine trade magazine, and was founding Executive Editor of The Drop/Pix, which the Wall Street Journal named one of the most trusted sources of wine information. A regular keynote speaker, she was named a 2024 Industry Leader by WineBusiness Monthly.

While Lulie and Felicity are busy writing the scripts for the new episodes, here's a repeat of one of our most downloaded episodes to date, asking that all-important question of why you can only get wine in big formats.

If everybody is moderating their wine intake, then how come there aren’t more small wine bottles on the shelf? And what would it take to put them there?

In this episode of A Question of Drinks, join hosts Lulie Halstead and Felicity Carter as they explore why wine continues to be sold in those standard 750ml bottles. And who decided it should be 750 ml in the first place?

Come on a journey into wine history, into a world of glass blowers, Biblical figures, show-offs and vending machines. Along the way the hosts explore bag-in-box, aluminium cans, and whether there’s really a bottle called the Goliath or whether it’s just an urban myth.

Meet Your Hosts:

Lulie Halstead founded and led international consumer research and strategy consultancy Wine Intelligence, and led it to a successful PE exit. Today she is a renowned global beverage alcohol and wine sector specialist, focused on consumer behaviour, strategy, retail and hospitality. An accomplished keynote speaker, she has spoken at more than 70 international events over the past 20 years.

Felicity Carter is an award-winning wine and drinks journalist, editor and content strategist. She led Meininger’s Wine Business International to become the world’s most must-read wine trade magazine, and was founding Executive Editor of The Drop/Pix, which the Wall Street Journal named one of the most trusted sources of wine information. A regular keynote speaker, she was named a 2024 Industry Leader by WineBusiness Monthly.