For Episode 76 of Read Between the Wines, we head to Spain with the dynamic Nathalie Bonhomme, the French-Canadian force behind Les Vins Bonhomme. From her early days in Valencia to becoming a global wine brand, Nathalie shares her remarkable journey, blending bold branding with serious winemaking. We explore her partnerships with top Spanish producers, her deep connection to the Canadian market, and her foray into olive oil. It's a story about passion, persistence, and creating wines that truly resonate—across Sweden, Japan, Canada, and beyond. An inspiring and flavour-packed conversation not to be missed.

For more information about our Podcast, visit us on the web: https://readbetweenthewines.com Follow us on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/betweenthewinesmedia Connect with us on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/read-between-the-wines

Bordeaux is evolving. Not everyone got the memo — but Château Tour des Termes did.

In Episode 75 of Read Between the Wines, Pierre Ferland heads to Saint-Estèphe, in the northern Médoc, Bordeaux, France, for a refreshingly candid conversation with General Manager Julien Brustis about shaking the dust off Bordeaux tradition without losing its soul.

Under the O'Connor family's stewardship, Tour des Termes is writing a bold new chapter. Climate-savvy vineyard replanting. A white wine — yes, in Saint-Estèphe. A carbon-neutral winery by 2026 that isn't just a noble goal but part of the actual business plan. A Merlot-heavy blend that's aging beautifully — and doesn't require waiting until retirement to enjoy it.

Julien explains why the art of modern Bordeaux is making wines that charm your palate after five years, not fifty. And how a château once defined by quiet tradition is becoming more open, more welcoming, and frankly — more fun.

Accessible yet age-worthy. Fresh yet full of soul. Tour des Termes might just be the Saint-Estèphe you didn't know you needed.

Featuring: Château Tour des Termes, Saint-Estèphe, Médoc, Bordeaux, France, Merlot, sustainable viticulture.

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40 years at the same estate. One forgotten grape. And the wine that started a revolution.

In this episode of Read Between the Wines, Pierre Ferland returns to the heart of Tuscany, Italy, to sit down with Leonardo Bellaccini — oenologist at San Felice for over four decades, and one of the quiet architects of modern Italian wine. Some winemakers chase trends. Bellaccini has spent his career doing the opposite.

The conversation opens with Vigorello — the first Super Tuscan ever produced in Chianti Classico, a wine that broke the rules before breaking the rules had a name. Then it turns to Pugnitello: a grape so obscure it had nearly vanished from the historical record, now central to San Felice's identity and a testament to what happens when a winery treats its own archive as a vineyard.

Bellaccini also speaks candidly about sustainability — regenerative viticulture, climate adaptation, and a firm refusal to use irrigation regardless of what the seasons bring. And then, somewhere between the terroir and the tannins, the conversation becomes something else: a meditation on why wine matters at all. As Bellaccini puts it — wine makes your soul richer.

Featuring: San Felice, Chianti Classico, Tuscany, Italy, Vigorello, Pugnitello, Super Tuscan.

Someone moved 140-year-old vines. Not metaphorically. Physically relocated them, root system and all, so they could keep growing.

In this episode of Read Between the Wines, Pierre Ferland heads to the Barossa Valley in South Australia to sit down with James Lindner of Langmeil Winery — a fourth-generation producer whose relationship with old vines goes well beyond reverence. It goes all the way to logistics.

Langmeil is home to some of the oldest Shiraz vines on earth. James talks about what it actually takes to preserve them — the Barossa Old Vine Charter, the philosophy behind vine age classifications, and why the decision to relocate century-old vines rather than lose them to development was not romantic but necessary. This is living history, and someone has to fight for it.

The conversation moves through soil, sustainability, the balance between tradition and modern winemaking, and what it means to be the custodian of something irreplaceable. James Lindner makes wine the way Barossa vines grow — slowly, deliberately, and with a long view of what matters.

Featuring: Langmeil Winery, Barossa Valley, South Australia, Australia, Shiraz, old vines.

Wine is being compared to asbestos. By scientists. In peer-reviewed journals. That is the conversation we need to have.

In this episode of Read Between the Wines, Pierre Ferland sits down with Dr. Ignacio Sánchez Recarte, Secretary General of the Comité Européen des Entreprises Vins (CEEV) and one of the leading voices behind VitæVino — the industry campaign pushing back against what has become a coordinated global effort to reclassify wine as a public health threat on par with tobacco and carcinogens.

Dr. Sánchez Recarte breaks down the science — and the gaps in it. The 2018 Lancet report that reshaped public policy across Europe. The difference between absolute and relative risk, and why that distinction matters enormously when headlines are being written. The J-curve, gut health, the Mediterranean diet, and what decades of epidemiological research actually show when read carefully rather than selectively. And the deeper question underneath all of it: how did a product rooted in six thousand years of human culture, community, and moderation end up in the same regulatory conversation as industrial chemicals?

This episode is the beginning of a conversation that runs through the entire show. For more on this subject, go deeper with Felicity Carter in Episode 87 and Dr. Laura Catena in Episode 83.

Featuring: CEEV, VitæVino, wine and health policy, European wine, moderate drinking research.

There are fewer than 280 Master Sommeliers in the world. New Zealand has exactly one.

In this episode of Read Between the Wines, Pierre Ferland sits down with Cameron Douglas MS — the only Master Sommelier in New Zealand, and one of the most respected voices in hospitality education across the Asia-Pacific region. This is not a conversation about wine lists. It's a conversation about how we perceive flavour, why most people misunderstand what a sommelier actually does, and what it takes to train a palate to the level required to pass one of the most demanding examinations in the food and drink world.

Cameron breaks down the art and science of food and wine pairing — including what he calls the cashew test, a deceptively simple method for understanding how texture and fat interact with tannin. He talks about decoding restaurant wine lists, sensory training, palate disruption, and why the changing face of wine consumption globally is both a challenge and an opportunity for the next generation of wine professionals.

Featuring: Cameron Douglas MS, Master Sommelier, New Zealand, food and wine pairing, sommelier training.

They were driving into San Francisco when they heard it on the radio: Nelson Mandela was about to be released. They turned the car around and went back to South Africa.

In this episode of Read Between the Wines, Pierre Ferland returns to South Africa for the first time in nearly four years to sit down with Kathy and Gary Jordan of Jordan Wine Estate in Stellenbosch — an economist and a geologist who built one of the Cape's most celebrated estates not by following the industry but by reading the land beneath it.

Gary talks geology the way most winemakers talk grapes — test pits, 600-million-year-old granite, the precise boundary between two soil types where they put their roads. Kathy talks about economics the way most winemakers talk about harvest — supply chains, stock flow, and why running out of wine for even a week means a restaurant will never put you back on the list. Together they make wines that span four cardinal directions and 250 metres of altitude on a single estate — and somehow make it all look inevitable.

The conversation covers the Timepiece Range and its old-vine philosophy. The Chameleon conservation bursary funding PhD research into endangered Cape Dwarf chameleons. The bold climate adaptation plantings — Assyrtiko, Mencía, Cinsault — and what a 20-year quarantine period looks like when you're trying to bring an ancient Greek grape variety to South Africa. Their UK project, Mousehall Country Estate in England, where they're quietly building something on the same geology as Champagne. And the art-versus-science debate, settled definitively by two people who happen to have degrees in both.

A bonus conversation with Kathy and Gary — an additional 30 minutes of discussion available exclusively at readbetweenthewines.com.

Featuring: Jordan Wine Estate, Stellenbosch, South Africa, Assyrtiko, Chardonnay, Cabernet Franc, Mousehall Country Estate, English wine.

She was recovering from severe COVID. She needed something to keep her mind working. She made a puzzle.

That puzzle is now sold in over 40 countries.

In this episode of Read Between the Wines, Pierre Ferland sits down with Sanna Yamit Viitaoja-Malmberg, sommelier and co-founder of Water & Wines — the wine-themed puzzle company that went from a kitchen table idea to a global brand in a matter of weeks. What makes Water & Wines different isn't just the subject matter. It's the obsessive attention to detail that only a sommelier could bring to a 1,000-piece product — the kind of accuracy that makes wine professionals stop and look twice.

Yamit talks about the journey from concept to company, how sustainability became a non-negotiable part of the business model, why play is one of the most underrated tools in wine education, and what the data says about which wine region sells the most puzzles worldwide. The answer is not what you'd expect.

Featuring: Water & Wines, wine puzzles, wine education, sustainability.

Some sparkling wine producers release their wine after eighteen months. Ambriel waits six years.

In this episode of Read Between the Wines, Pierre Ferland sits down with Wendy Outhwaite, co-founder of Ambriel — an English sparkling wine producer in West Sussex built around a single, unfashionable idea: patience. Their wines don't leave the estate until they're ready. Not market-ready. Actually ready.

Wendy walks through the five-year search for the right vineyard, and why greensand — a rare, ancient soil type found beneath the South Downs — became the foundation of everything Ambriel does. She talks about hand-picking, blind blending, and a "palate, not wallet" philosophy that shapes every decision from vineyard to disgorgement. And she explains the name: a nod to angels, ambrosia, and a quip attributed to Pope Gregory the Great that has quietly informed the estate's identity ever since.

Oh, and the corks say "Huzzah!" — because why wouldn't they.

Featuring: Ambriel, West Sussex, English sparkling wine, greensand terroir, Great Britain.

Tuscany's largest organic winery isn't run by a corporation. It's run by a family in its tenth generation — and their most important business principle has no KPI attached to it.

In this episode of Read Between the Wines, Pierre Ferland sits down with Santiago Marone Cinzano of Col d'Orcia in Montalcino, Tuscany, Italy — a winery that has been farming the Val d'Orcia since the fifteenth century and has spent the last several decades turning 540 hectares into what Santiago calls a "biological oasis." No pesticides. No herbicides. Tuscany's largest certified organic estate.

Santiago talks about the specific decisions behind that transformation — not as a marketing exercise, but as a conviction that began long before organic wine was fashionable. He goes deep into the Val d'Orcia terroir, what distinguishes Brunello di Montalcino from every other expression of Sangiovese on earth, and the winemaking philosophy that underpins everything Col d'Orcia produces.

And then there is La Filosofia della Pazienza — the philosophy of patience. At Col d'Orcia, patience is not a virtue. It is a discipline. A framework for every decision from pruning to release, built on the understanding that Brunello does not respond to urgency. It never has. It never will.

A bonus conversation with Santiago — over 30 minutes of additional discussion — is available exclusively at readbetweenthewines.com.

Featuring: Col d'Orcia, Brunello di Montalcino, Montalcino, Tuscany, Italy, Sangiovese, organic viticulture.

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

Follow us on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/betweenthewinesmedia

Connect with us on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/read-between-the-wines