Mark Walpole has been one of the most influential people in the alternative variety scene in Australia, particularly Italian varieties, mostly stemming from his time working for the Brown Family, the Pizzini family, and then the Greenstone project in Heathcote. He has consulted to many growers and producers over the years, and been heavily involved with the importation of new varieties and better clones as well. His focus now is on his own vineyard and winery in Beechworth, Fighting Gully Road.

Nick James-Martin had a long and varied career in wine before ending up in the Margaret River in 2017, freshly relocated with his family from Adelaide. Due to unforeseen circumstances Nick found himself with an opportunity to launch his own project, which he did under the Wines of Merritt banner. In only a few vintages he and his wife Sarah have gained a cult following and much acclaim for their wines that break the mould of one of Australia's most prestigious (but also conservative) wine regions. He joins me on this episode to talk about his journey and influences that led to making wine his way.

Marco Tinessa was a wine enthusiast for many years before he decided to start making his own wine. Though he was based in Milan working in the finance industry, he originally hailed from the Campania region in Italy's south, and he was determined to produce something from his area. Until recently this wasn't easy, initially relying on the assistance of Frank Cornelissen on Etna, then making his wines in a cellar under a restaurant in Milan. He has now quit his 'day job' and relocated back to Campania where he is better able to manage the vineyards and work in his own winery.

For the 150th release of The Vincast I thought it might be interesting for the listeners to find out more about the host of the podcast, James Scarcebrook aka The Intrepid Wino from Vino Intrepido. Recently I caught up with Marc Malouf from Wine Worth Writing About via Zoom, as he was keen to interview me. With his permission this is the audio from that interview, touching on my own background, influences and my recent exploits in winemaking. I hope you enjoy it, and feel free to get in touch if you have any questions yourself!

After a very long hiatus, I'm thrilled to finally be able to release this interview with Jane Lopes recorded last year, who at the time was the sommelier at Attica restaurant in Melbourne. In the time since we recorded this chat, Jane's book Vignette has been released to much acclaim, but she has returned to the United States of America with her husband Jon. It was fantastic to listen back to our conversation about her journey, particularly having read her book and knowing more about her.

For cricketing fans the name Sir Ian Botham should be very familiar as one of the most famous all-rounders in English test cricket history. Not as many know that Sir Ian has long been a passionate wine lover, having taken advantage of both the proximity of European regions from England, and a touring schedule that took him to many new world wine producing countries. I was invited late 2018 to a tasting of his recently released range of wines from a number of premium Australian regions, and I was honoured to have the opportunity to sit down with him to find out more about his love of wine and enthusiasm for crafting his own.

Peter Weinberg has been at the helm of Brand's Laira in the Coonawarra region for almost twenty years, having relocated from the Hunter Valley with experience at Mount Pleasant. Originally from Newcastle his reason for getting into the wine industry was a love of the outdoors and good hard manual labour. On this episode of The Vincast Peter speaks about his journey to becoming the custodian of one of Coonawarra's most historic vineyards and cellars, and how he has guided the brand since he joined the team.

When the Donaldson family established their Pegasus Bay winery in the early 1970s, they were pioneers in the New Zealand region of North Canterbury. Over the past 40 years they have evolved and got better every year, remaining a family-owned and operated business. The second generation of the family are currently at the helm, with all four of their sons in key positions within the business. Paul Donaldson is the General Manager of the winery, making use of his varied experience and expertise in business and finance. I sat down with him when he was in Melbourne recently to hear more about his background and the families endeavours in premium New Zealand wine.

Ashley Huntington is a man on a mission, with great courage of conviction and incredible persistence. Though he has a background as a winemaker and spent many years working in the Languedoc region of France in that field, after purchasing a property in the Derwent Valley perfect for viticulture, he ended up brewing beer. The reason he was so interested in this alternative path was the discovery that the region grew in excess of 80% of the nation's hops, which can only be used for beer production. In spite of this fact there were no local breweries, and thus he embarked on a mission to take the same approach to beer as he had to wine; using well-grown local raw materials, fermenting naturally and not filtering. It has taken many years but he is now held in high esteem as the craft beer market continues to grow in Australia.

Ashley Huntington is a man on a mission, with great courage of conviction and incredible persistence. Though he has a background as a winemaker and spent many years working in the Languedoc region of France in that field, after purchasing a property in the Derwent Valley perfect for viticulture, he ended up brewing beer. The reason he was so interested in this alternative path was the discovery that the region grew in excess of 80% of the nation's hops, which can only be used for beer production. In spite of this fact there were no local breweries, and thus he embarked on a mission to take the same approach to beer as he had to wine; using well-grown local raw materials, fermenting naturally and not filtering. It has taken many years but he is now held in high esteem as the craft beer market continues to grow in Australia.