Fermenting Place

My guest for Episode Nineteen of the Fermenting Place [podcast] is Herbert Peñaloza. Herbert is a coffee farmer, grower and producer from Tolima, Colombia. Here he helps to farm, process, and market single origin coffee beans on the family farm; 575 Café. 

Herbert is a wealth of knowledge when it comes to coffee and holds great insight into its often overlooked and undervalued place in our world. With such frequency and ubiquity in our daily lives, it's easy to understate and take for granted the nuance of provenance and place that coffee comes from. Every day, Herbert seeks to compress the distance between the grower and the customer, to help connect people connect to the coffee he grows back to its unique coordinates here on Earth.

- -

In Episode Nineteen of the Fermenting Place [podcast], Herbert and I discuss...

- -

Connect:

- 575 Café  - @575cafe / www.575cafe.co

- Fermenting Place - @fermentingplace / fermentingplace.com

- -

If you dig what you hear, please consider giving the podcast a follow, subscribe, rate, and comment via your favourite podcast listening platform, like Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and Soundcloud. It takes no time at all, and it really helps the all seeing algorithms discover and connect with new listeners, like you.

This episode is brought to you by the Fermenting Place [podcast] Patreon Supporters.

Thanks for listening... x

My guest for Episode Eighteen of the Fermenting Place [podcast] is Jeff Booth. Jeff is an entrepreneur and author of the book, 'The Price of Tomorrow'... and while he enjoys a glass of wine with friends, every now and then, Jeff is not here to discuss wine (and other drinks), specifically...

I asked Jeff to come on the pod because something has been gnawing away at me for some time now, and I desperately needed to discuss it with someone who could help me make sense of it. I have a theory. A hunch. A suspicion based on a supposition that all our notions of environmental sustainability - particularly those desirable ideas around ecologically mindful forms of agricultural practice, such as regenerative farming, organic, and biodynamic ways of farming - are, in fact, unsustainable...

Indeed, achieving genuine environmental sustainability is impossible because of the current economic system that the whole world runs on, and the bad incentives and outcomes that such a system perpetually generates.

This is a conversation that looks beyond the final product; the beer, the wine, the sake, etc, and seeks to discuss the mostly unseen and unrealised structural economic foundations that the vast majority of us are accustomed to operating within, and why, because of this, contemporary notions and methods of environmental sustainability are, in fact, unsustainable.

- -

In Episode Eighteen of the Fermenting Place [podcast], Jeff and I discuss...

- -

Connect:

- Jeff Booth  - @jeffbooth / thepriceoftomorrow.com

- Fermenting Place - @fermentingplace / fermentingplace.com

- -

Recommended Reading & Research

- -

If you dig what you hear, please consider giving the podcast a follow, subscribe, rate, and comment via your favourite podcast listening platform, like Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and Soundcloud. It takes no time at all, and it really helps the all seeing algorithms discover and connect with new listeners, like you.

This episode is brought to you by the Fermenting Place [podcast] Patreon Supporters.

Thank You!

- -

Thanks for listening... x

My guest for Episode Seventeen of the Fermenting Place [podcast] is the inimitable Australian (via the UK) wine and drinks writer and author, Max Allen. 

Max is the man when it comes to understanding the story's around wine and other drinks. He has been writing about such elixir for almost 30 years, which includes four books, such as The Future Makers, as well as his latest work - Intoxicating: Ten Drinks that Shaped Australia - which we discuss in this episode... If it weren't for Max, and his quiet support for me and my work over the last decade or so, content like this podcast and other things I produce simply would not exist. Max is the OG Wine Idealist.

In Episode Seventeen, Max and I discuss...

- -

Connect:

- Max Allen  - @maxallendrinks / maxallen.com.au

- Fermenting Place - @fermentingplace / fermentingplace.com

- -

If you dig what you hear, please consider giving the podcast a follow, subscribe, rate, and comment via your favourite podcast listening platform, like Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and Soundcloud. It takes no time at all, and it really helps the all seeing algorithms discover and connect with new listeners, like you.

This episode is brought to you by the Fermenting Place [podcast] Patreon Supporters.

Thank You!

- -

Thanks for listening... and reading this far down! x

My guest for Episode Sixteen of the Fermenting Place [podcast] is Sake Samurai, Michael Tremblay. Michael is like a Master of Wine, but for sake. He is one of only 70 sake samurai in the world. So, when it comes to wanting to learn and know a little more about sake and its place within our world, Michael Tremblay - Sake Samurai, is the guy you want to talk to.

In Episode Sixteen of the Fermenting Place [podcast], Michael and I discuss...

This is a deep dive into sake growing and production, from a brief description of the growing and brewing process, to what the role of place and site and environment plays in the ultimate expression of this most mysterious fermentative beverage.

- -

Connect:

- Michael Tremblay  - @mtrsake / sakescholar.com

- Fermenting Place - @fermentingplace / fermentingplace.com

- -

If you dig what you hear, please consider giving the podcast a follow, subscribe, rate, and comment via your favourite podcast listening platform, like Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and Soundcloud. It takes no time at all, and it really helps the all seeing algorithms discover and connect with new listeners, like you.

This episode is brought to you by the Fermenting Place [podcast] Patreon Supporters.

Thank You!

- -

Thanks for listening... and reading this far down! x

My guest for Episode Fifteen of the Fermenting Place [podcast] is winegrower, Bill Downie. Some say, Bill is the O.G. of site specific pinot noir in Australia, who commands a cult following of fervent wine disciples that consider him the grand daddy of the natural wine movement... I dunno, to be honest. Bill's a nice guy, a great winemaker, and especially good to sit down and have a yarn about all things fermentative coming from a place.

Bill grows wine on a farm called Guendulain, set amongst the green rolling hills of the Baw Baw Shire, in the Gippsland region of Victoria. Here, he grows close planted pinot noir, and makes wine from them with as little premeditated intention as possible.

In Episode Fifteen, Bill and I discuss...

˚ Working in Bottleshops

˚ Drinking Booze and Being a Farmer

˚ Winemaking as a Team Sport

˚ His One Point Wine System

˚ Getting to know Place and Being Shaped by It

˚ Americana

˚ And so much more... obviously...

- -

Connect:

- William Downie  - @williamdownie / williamdownie.com.au

- Fermenting Place - @fermentingplace / fermentingplace.com

- -

If you dig what you hear, please consider giving the podcast a follow, subscribe, rate, and comment via your favourite podcast listening platform, like Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and Soundcloud. It takes no time at all, and it really helps the all seeing algorithms discover and connect with new listeners, like you.

This episode is brought to you by the Fermenting Place [podcast] Patreon Supporters.

Thank You!

Show your support for sustainable, listener led, ground-up content - go to, fermentingplace.com

- -

Thanks for listening... and reading this far down! x

James Millton is a pioneering New Zealand winegrower, an inadvertent philosopher, and staunch advocate for biodynamic ways of farming - especially at the Millton Vineyards, which lie close to the coast in Gisborne, on the eastern side of the North Island of Aotearoa. James possesses a unique knack of providing incredible insight into the infinitely fascinating world of winegrowing, and the universe we live within.

In Episode Fourteen of the Fermenting Place [podcast], James and I discuss...

- -

Connect:

- Millton Vineyards & Winery - @milltonvineyards / millton.co.nz

- Fermenting Place - @fermentingplace / fermentingplace.com

- -

If you dig what you hear, please consider giving the podcast a follow, subscribe, rate, and comment via your favourite podcast listening platform, like Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and Soundcloud. It takes no time at all, and it really helps the all seeing algorithms discover and connect with new listeners, like you.

This episode is brought to you by  the Fermenting Place [podcast] Patreon Supporters. Thank you!

Show your support for sustainable, listener led, ground-up content - go to, fermentingplace.com

- -

Thanks for listening... and reading this far down! x

My guest for Episode Thirteen of the Fermenting Place [podcast] is an unwitting Australian natural wine OG, and all-round good dude, Tom Belford from BOBAR Wines, in the Yarra Valley (Victoria, Australia)... with a brief cameo, towards the end, from his gorgeous wife and fellow winemaker, Sally. Tom and Sally fell into the natural wine rabbit hole while on a working tour of France with the fam. They were exposed to the elemental ways of winegrowing and winemaking; rocking out, and getting wholly creative with the transformative process of transitioning grapes into wine, naturally. Some say, their style is fundamental winemaking at its finest.

-

In Episode Thirteen, Tom and I discuss:

and much more...

This is a jovial chat of the highest calibre, which I know you will enjoy.

- -

Connect:

- BOBAR Wines - @bobarwines / bobarwines.com.au

- Fermenting Place - @fermentingplace / fermentingplace.com

- -

If you dig what you hear, please consider giving the podcast a follow, subscribe, rate, and comment via your favourite podcast listening platform, like Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and Soundcloud. It takes no time at all, and it really helps the all seeing algorithms discover and connect with new listeners, like you.

This episode is brought to you by  the Fermenting Place [podcast] Patreon Supporters. Thank you!

Support sustainable, listener led, ground-up content - go to, fermentingplace.com

- -

Thanks for listening... and reading this far down! x

Angus Vinden is a young winemaker in an old wine region. Thoughtful, mindful, and hard working, Angus has been busy building his wine brand off the back of his family's legacy for the last five years, or so. He puts a firm focus on farming first, viticulture then winemaking - hence the term, winegrower... rather than winemaker. He's a Hunter boy, too - same as me - so, what's not to love?! And, he makes deliciously good wines with an eye on the past, and a mind for the future...

In Episode Twelve, Angus and I discuss:

- -

Connect:

- Vinden / Headcase Wines - @vindenwines / vindenwines.com.au

- Fermenting Place - @fermentingplace / fermentingplace.com

- -

If you dig what you hear, please consider giving the podcast a follow, a rating, and a comment on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and Soundcloud. It takes no time at all, and it really helps the all seeing algorithms discover and connect with new listeners, like you.

This episode is brought to you by  the Fermenting Place [podcast] Patreon Supporters. Thank you!

Find out how you can support sustainable, listener led, ground-up content, head to fermentingplace.com

My guests for Episode Eleven of the Fermenting Place [podcast] are Hans and Therese Herzog from Hans Herzog wine from Marlborough, New Zealand.

Hans and Therese are the dynamic duo behind one of New Zealand's most revered wine labels.

- -

In Episode Eleven, Hans, Therese, and I discuss...

- Making Wine in Austria

- Finding a New Home in the New World

- Vineyard Dedication

- The Craft of Winemaking

- Marlborough Wine Beyond Sauvignon

- Pizza and Windsurfing

- -

Connect:

- Hans Herzog - @hans_herzogwine / herzog.co.nz

- Fermenting Place - @fermentingplace / fermentingplace.com

- -

If you dig what you hear, please consider giving the podcast a follow, a rating, and a comment on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and Soundcloud. It takes no time at all, and it really helps the all seeing algorithms discover and connect with new listeners, like you.

This episode is brought to you by  the Fermenting Place [podcast] Patreon Supporters. Thank you!

Find out how you can support sustainable, listener led, ground-up content, head to fermentingplace.com

Jay Drysdale is the owner and winegrower at Bella Wines, in the Okanagan Valley wine region of British Columbia, Canada. 

Jay is a lover of chardonnay and gamay, and the bubbles they can make. He makes gorgeous sparkling wines using the ancestral method - aka Pet-Nat. Delicate, pure, refined, pet-nats that are a far cry from your typical, smashable park wine. These are pet-nat wines for the Saturday evening dining table. 

In addition to wine, Jay is also a fan of good food, organic farming, and positively contributing to his community.

-

In Episode Ten, Jay and I discuss...

- Okanagan Winegrowing... obviously

- Hallmarks of Marginal Climates

- Bubbles

- Shifting Priorities around Food and Farming

- Chardonnay and Gamay

- Flavour Spectrums

- The Ancestral Method

- and Heaps More...

- -

Connect:

- Bella Wines - @bellahomestead / bellawines.ca

- Fermenting Place - @fermentingplace / fermentingplace.com

- -

If you dig what you hear, please consider giving the podcast a follow, a rating, and a comment on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and Soundcloud. It takes no time at all, and it really helps the all seeing algorithms discover and connect with new listeners, like you.

This episode is brought to you by the Fermenting Place [podcast] Patreon Supporters. Thank you!

Thanks for lending me your ears...