Read Between the Wines Podcast

Château Latour-Martillac has been a Grand Cru Classé de Graves since 1953. The Kressmann family has been here since 1930. And somewhere in their vineyard, there is a parcel of vines planted in 1884 that should not still exist — but does, and has become one of the most compelling white wines in all of Bordeaux. In this episode, Pierre sits down with Edouard Kressmann, Technical Director and fifth generation of the Kressmann family, and Wilfrid Groizard, Deputy General Manager — at one of only six estates in the Graves classification to hold that status for both red and white wine. We talk about two completely different soils separated by just a few metres of earth that produce two completely different wines under one label. About the Grapecap 1884 parcel — a living conservatory of varieties that have no business being in Bordeaux — and the moment Edouard decided it was a cuvée, not a museum piece. About what it actually means to make white wine in a region the world still associates almost entirely with red. And about whether Bordeaux, in 2025, needs more restraint or more courage. Want more? A bonus episode — covering the winemaking room, the full portfolio, the Graves classification, and one last question that stops Edouard cold — is available exclusively at readbetweenthewines.com.

Featuring: Pessac-Léognan. Graves. Bordeaux white wine. Sémillon. Sauvignon Blanc. Grand Cru Classé. Château Latour-Martillac. Edouard Kressmann. Wilfrid Groizard. Terroir-driven wine. Family estate. French wine. Bordeaux wine.

She was a veterinarian. Then one phone call from her mother changed everything.

In this episode of Read Between the Wines, Pierre sits down with Monica Raspi, owner of Fattoria Pomona — a small, family-run organic winery in Chianti Classico, Tuscany, on the border of Castellina in Chianti and Vagliagli. Six hectares. Organic since 2009. Minimal intervention in the cellar. And a point of view that is entirely her own.

We talk about the exact moment Monica sold her veterinary clinic and got on a tractor. About learning winemaking by instinct rather than textbook. About the difference between a small Tuscan producer and a large one — and why that difference matters more than ever right now. We get into indigenous yeasts, large Slavonian oak, cover crops, and why she has never once wanted to make a wine that tastes like everyone else's. And we ask what it actually takes to make a Chianti Classico that tastes like somewhere, not something.

Featuring: Fattoria Pomona, Chianti Classico, Tuscany, Italy.

Full transcript, and more information are available at readbetweenthewines.com

Austria has been making world-class wine for centuries. The world is just now catching up.

In this episode of Read Between the Wines, host Pierre Ferland sits down with Wolfgang Hewarth, Winery Director at Esterházy Wein in Burgenland, Austria — one of Central Europe's most historic estates, with winemaking records going back to 1612 and a cellar master hired from Burgundy in 1758. The name alone carries three centuries of imperial history. What Wolfgang is building on top of it is something else entirely.

We talk about what it means to arrive as an outsider and take the long view. We dig into the Leithaberg DAC — one of Austria's most distinctive appellations — and why limestone, mica schist, and a cool Pannonian microclimate produce wines built on tension and precision rather than weight. We get into acidity as a philosophy, not a technical detail. We explore what it takes to use oak purely for ageing, never for flavour. And we ask the question that sits underneath everything Wolfgang does: how do you carry 300 years of history without letting it slow you down?

A bonus episode with Wolfgang is available exclusively on readbetweenthewines.com — deeper into the portfolio, the label story, climate challenges, and what it actually takes to protect freshness when the weather stops cooperating.

Featuring: Esterházy Wein, Burgenland, Austria, Leithaberg DAC, Blaufränkisch.

For more information about our Podcast, visit us on the web: https://readbetweenthewines.com

What does it take to keep a family name alive for nearly four centuries in the same valley, on the same hills, with the same grapes — and still have something new to say?

Welcome to Tedeschi Wines, one of the oldest family estates in Valpolicella, Veneto, Italy — with roots stretching back to the 17th century and a philosophy that has never confused age with complacency. In this episode of Read Between the Wines, Pierre sits down with Riccardo Tedeschi — the winemaker who inherited not just a name, but a restlessness. His father used to say a bad vintage is when you have no new idea.

Together, we explore one of Italy's most quietly compelling wine stories. We talk terroir, elegance, and why Valpolicella is so much more than Amarone. We unpack the white wine nobody saw coming, the single vineyards competing with the best of Chianti, and the house philosophy that puts finesse and freshness at the centre of a region famous for power. We talk about a family that owns its land, builds its own walls, and refuses to stop asking questions.

Want more? A bonus episode with Riccardo — covering blending philosophy, climate change, and the uncomfortable truth about the distance between a wine people admire and a wine people actually pour — is available exclusively at readbetweenthewines.com.

Featuring: Tedeschi Wines, Valpolicella, Veneto, Italy, Amarone, Corvina.

For more information about our Podcast, visit us on the web: https://readbetweenthewines.com

What if the most elegant wine in Bordeaux doesn't announce itself at all — it simply holds the entire room?

Welcome to Château Haut-Bailly, a Pessac-Léognan estate in Bordeaux, France, with vines over 120 years old, three perfect 100-point scores from three different critics, and a philosophy that has never chased power — only finesse. In this episode of Read Between the Wines, Pierre sits down with Véronique Sanders, the woman who has led this iconic château for over two decades with the quiet confidence the wine itself is known for.

Together, we explore one of Bordeaux's most storied and beloved estates. We talk terroir, elegance, and why Pessac-Léognan is the true soul of Bordeaux. We unpack the legendary 2016 vintage, the language of silky tannins, and what it really means to make a wine with nothing too much and nothing missing. We discuss a region in full renaissance — and why the world is finally paying attention.

Want more? A bonus episode with Véronique — covering climate change, biodiversity, and a robot named Bacchus — is available exclusively at readbetweenthewines.com.

Featuring: Château Haut-Bailly, Pessac-Léognan, Bordeaux, France, Classified Growth.

What if the most exciting white grape in the world has been hiding in plain sight, just south of Barcelona?

Meet Xarel·lo — mineral, textural, age-worthy, and criminally underrated. And meet Joan Cusiné, co-owner of Parés Baltà, a biodynamic estate in the Penedès, Catalonia, Spain, with roots going back to 1790, where wine is never complicated and never a punishment.

In this episode of Read Between the Wines, Pierre sits down with Joan to explore one of Catalonia's most compelling wineries. We talk terroir, altitude, and why the Mediterranean makes all the difference. We dig into biodynamic farming, minimal intervention winemaking, and the radical idea that great wine starts in the soil, not the cellar. We unpack the three pillars of the Parés Baltà range, from everyday drinking to rare single-vineyard Microcuvées. And we make the case, loudly, that premium Cava deserves a seat at the world's best tables.

Want more? A bonus episode with Joan is available exclusively at readbetweenthewines.com. Deeper questions, more specific territory. The cellar door conversation.

Featuring: Parés Baltà, Penedès, Catalonia, Spain, Xarel·lo, Cava.

Some wineries take themselves too seriously. Poderi Cellario forgot to — and somehow makes some of the most honest wine in Piemonte because of it.

Playful labels. Litre bottles. Crown caps, not corks. If you judged this estate by its look, you'd walk right past it. That would be a mistake.

In this episode of Read Between the Wines, we head to the western edge of the Langhe, Italy, to meet Simone Cellario of Poderi Cellario — third generation, biodynamic-leaning, and allergic to pretension. We talk Dolcetto, and why calling it "simple" is the laziest insult in wine. We dig into Grignolino and Nascetta — two grapes most people couldn't pronounce, let alone place — and what it actually takes to bring the forgotten back without turning it into a museum piece.

And then we get into the part nobody wants to talk about: money. Because making honest wine is the easy part. Making it pay the bills, season after season, without selling out the soul of it — that's the real work. This is a conversation about tradition versus change, identity versus survival, and wine that isn't trying to be perfect. Just real.

The conversation doesn't stop there. A bonus episode — deeper into sustainability, farming philosophy, and the decisions nobody sees before the wine reaches your glass — is waiting exclusively at readbetweenthewines.com.

Featuring: Poderi Cellario, Langhe, Piemonte, Italy, Dolcetto, Grignolino, Nascetta, Biodynamic farming.

Wine is being put on trial. And almost nobody is asking who's actually building the case.

For most of human history, wine wasn't a question. It was just there — at the table, in the ritual, in the gathering. Now it's a headline, a health warning, a culture war. Something shifted. Few people can tell you exactly what, or why, or who benefits from the shift.

Felicity Carter can.

In this episode of Read Between the Wines, host Pierre Ferland sits down with Felicity Carter — award-winning journalist, founder of Drinks Insider, and one of the most respected investigative voices covering alcohol policy and the global drinks industry. Felicity has spent decades tracing how the conversation around alcohol actually gets built: not just science, but media incentives, advocacy networks, funding trails, and the political machinery behind a "consensus" that looks a lot more manufactured up close than it does from a distance.

This isn't a defense of wine. It's an investigation into how a 9,000-year-old part of human culture became a public health flashpoint — and what gets lost in translation along the way.

A thoughtful, provocative, occasionally uncomfortable conversation about science, spin, and what wine actually means to the people who still gather around it.

Featuring: Felicity Carter, Drinks Insider, alcohol policy, wine journalism, wine culture.

Sangiovese does not just reveal terroir. It reveals the winemaker.

In Episode 86 of Read Between the Wines, Pierre Ferland sits down with Federico Cerelli, head winemaker at Castello di Gabbiano, one of Chianti Classico's most historic estates in Tuscany, Italy, to unpack what freshness, drinkability, and "modern classicism" really mean in Tuscany today.

From Federico's first move at Gabbiano in 2011 — taste the past, then rebuild the future — to a masterclass on three distinct vineyard zones, you'll hear how soil, wind, and microclimate shape Sangiovese into radically different personalities, from bold and structured to mineral and quietly elegant.

They dive into oak without the theatre: fewer barriques, more large casks, and a rare local oak experiment that rewinds history without becoming nostalgic. Add climate chaos, the Chianti vs. Chianti Classico misconception, and the "drink less, drink better" shift, and you have an episode built for wine lovers who want truth, not gloss.

Featuring: Castello di Gabbiano, Chianti Classico, Tuscany, Italy, Sangiovese.

In Episode 85 of Read Between the Wines, Pierre Ferland sits down with Cristián Vallejo, the winemaker who helped build Viña VIK in Chile under owner Alexander Vik — starting from absolute zero. No vineyards. No cellar. Just 4,500 hectares of wild land in the Millahue Valley and an ambition that practically screamed, "We are not here to make normal wine."

This is a deep dive into terroir precision and controlled madness: micro valleys, hundreds of parcels, high-density planting, and a pivotal moment Vallejo calls the vineyard's personality. We explore circular winemaking, wild yeast, amphora ageing, and why VIK keeps nearly 90 percent of the estate untouched.

Then, in our bonus coverage — available exclusively at readbetweenthewines.com — the conversation goes even deeper into the Stone VIK project, where amphoras age in a forest aligned with solstice, full moons, geology, vibration, and time. Stonehenge meets Grand Cru wine. We also uncover the very human moment Cristián Vallejo learned VIK had scored 100 points — standing alone in the Atlanta airport.

If you like your wine talk equal parts craft, culture, and a touch of spirituality, this episode is for you.

Featuring: Viña VIK, Millahue Valley, Chile, biodynamic, amphora ageing.