The Wine Centric Show

Lars Maack says the farm was offered to his family over drinks in a pub, for about the price of a double garage in Germany. Today Buitenverwachting, known in the US as Bayten, is one of the best-known Sauvignon Blanc estates in Constantia.

Recorded in the vineyards at Buitenverwachting, on the back slopes of Table Mountain, Matt Weiss talks with Lars Maack, who took over the estate from his parents in his twenties. Lars explains how the farm moved from Riesling to Sauvignon Blanc, how his family found cuttings when apartheid had closed South Africa off, and how the Atlantic and Indian Oceans keep Constantia cool enough for Sauvignon Blanc while its warm winters trouble Chardonnay. He compares Constantia and New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc, shares his favorite seafood pairings, and makes the case for opening a meal with dessert wine and salty food. He also tells the story of Constantia's sweet wine, once prized by Europe's royal courts, and how the region lost its winemaking before replanting began in the 1980s. The conversation closes with his son stepping into the day-to-day running of the farm, home to the families who work it.

Buitenverwachting means "beyond expectation" in old Dutch. The estate was once part of Simon van der Stel's original Constantia farm, and the Mueller family revived it in the early 1980s.

Mentioned: Buitenverwachting Sauvignon Blanc, Beyond, the 1769, Chenin Blanc, Riesling, Chardonnay, Sancerre, Marlborough, Franschhoek, the Cloete family, Groot Constantia, Klein Constantia, Vin de Constance, Simon van der Stel, Muscat de Frontignan, Muscat d'Alexandrie, phylloxera, the Dutch East India Company, Napoleon, Kanonkop, kingklip, snoek, Table Mountain, Stellenbosch, Cape Classics.

GLASVIN
Glasvin is The Preferred Glass of The Wine Centric Show. Use code WINECENTRIC for 10% off (affiliate link): https://tidd.ly/41vgdSQ

FEARRINGTON HOUSE
Fearrington House is the location and hospitality partner of The Wine Centric Show. Fearrington House / Fearrington Eats

Buitenverwachting: buitenverwachting.com
Instagram: @buitenverwachtingwinetasting
The Wine Centric Show: winecentricshow.com

Kanonkop opened its 1973 Cabernet Sauvignon and Pinotage to celebrate 50 years of bottling its own wine, and Johann Krige says both were stunning.

Recorded in the garden at Kanonkop in Stellenbosch, Matt Weiss talks with Johann Krige, who co-owns the estate with his brother Paul. Johann explains how the family pulled out Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc, Pinot Noir and Riesling to focus on Cabernet Sauvignon and Pinotage, and how bush vines, open concrete fermenters and a fermentation of about three and a half days give Kanonkop's Pinotage its structure and long life. He talks about the philosophy behind the estate's reputation, his rule against nepotism in a family business, and his time in the Botswana bush. He also explains what Americans get wrong about Pinotage, how South Africa's wine reputation suffered after sanctions lifted in the early 1990s, and how a signal cannon on the Simonsberg gave Kanonkop its name.

Kanonkop sits on the lower slopes of the Simonsberg. Johann and Paul Krige are grandsons of Paul Sauer, namesake of the estate's Bordeaux-style blend, and the first wines under the Kanonkop label were bottled in 1973.

Mentioned: Kanonkop Pinotage, Kanonkop Cabernet Sauvignon, Paul Sauer, Pinot Noir, Cinsault, Merlot, Cabernet Franc, Chenin Blanc, Stellenbosch University, the Simonsberg, Cape Town harbour, Chilean Cabernet Sauvignon, Botswana, the South African braai.

GLASVIN
Glasvin is The Preferred Glass of The Wine Centric Show. Use code WINECENTRIC for 10% off (affiliate link): https://tidd.ly/41vgdSQ

FEARRINGTON HOUSE
Fearrington House is the location and hospitality partner of The Wine Centric Show. Fearrington House / Fearrington Eats

Kanonkop: kanonkop.co.za
Instagram: @kanonkopwineestate
The Wine Centric Show: winecentricshow.com

Before every blend, De Toren's cellar master writes three or four words on a sticky note. The final wine has to taste like them.

Recorded in the vineyards of De Toren in the Polkadraai Hills of Stellenbosch, managing director Albie Koch and cellar master Charles Williams tell the story of South Africa's first five-grape Bordeaux blend. Albie made his first vintage in 1999, at 22, and explains how they tracked down Petit Verdot and Malbec when almost no one in Stellenbosch grew them. Charles explains why the vineyard comes before the cellar, what working in Napa taught him about elegance over power, and why South African wine is no longer afraid to be South African.

They also take on what Americans get wrong about South African wine, why Polkadraai belongs on the label, and where they want De Toren to be in 2046.

De Toren means "the tower," named for its gravity-flow cellar. Its flagship, Fusion V, blends Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Cabernet Franc, Malbec and Petit Verdot.

Coming up in the South Africa Series: [confirm next estate].

Mentioned: De Toren Fusion V, De Toren Z, Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Cabernet Franc, Malbec, Petit Verdot, Carménère, Polkadraai Hills, Stellenbosch, the Helderberg, the Simonsberg, Constantia, Buitenverwachting (Bayten), Table Mountain, Cape Point, Bordeaux, Languedoc, Napa Valley, Rutherford, Screaming Eagle, Andy Erickson, Nick Gislason, Martin Fourie, Bruwer Raats, Simon van der Stel.

GLASVIN
Glasvin is The Preferred Glass of The Wine Centric Show. Use code WINECENTRIC for 10% off (affiliate link): https://tidd.ly/41vgdSQ

FEARRINGTON HOUSE
Fearrington House is the location and hospitality partner of The Wine Centric Show. Fearrington House / Fearrington Eats

De Toren Private Cellar: de-toren.com
Instagram: @detorenprivatecellar
The Wine Centric Show: winecentricshow.com

The South Africa Series, Episode 2 of 5.

Taaibosch makes one wine. No second label, no entry-level bottling, just Crescendo, a Cabernet Franc-led blend from the slopes of the Helderberg.

Recorded in the Taaibosch cellar in Stellenbosch, Matt Weiss talks with cellar master Schalk-Willem Joubert, Petri Venter, winemaker at Le Chant, and Heinrich van der Watt, winemaker at Pink Valley. Schalk-Willem explains how elevation and the cooling influence of False Bay give Crescendo its freshness and natural acidity, and why none of their wines are built for heavy extraction. Petri compares the rolling hills of Le Chant, its old-vine Chenin Blanc and its Merlot-led red blend. Heinrich tells how a few tons of Sangiovese from a neighbor's vineyard turned into the backbone of Pink Valley's Provence-style rosé. The team also explains how they decide when to pick, why taste comes before the lab numbers, and what Americans are still missing about South African wine.

Taaibosch was once Cordoba, home of the original Crescendo, a cult wine of the 1990s. The Oddo family of France bought the property and renamed it Taaibosch. Schalk-Willem, formerly CEO of Rupert & Rothschild Vignerons, leads the estate and its sister wineries, Le Chant and Pink Valley, South Africa's first winery built only for rosé.

Coming up in the South Africa Series: De Toren.

Mentioned: Taaibosch Crescendo, Le Chant Blanc and Le Chant Rouge, Pink Valley Rosé, Cabernet Franc, Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon, Chenin Blanc, Sangiovese, Shiraz, Grenache, the Helderberg, False Bay, Table Bay, Polkadraai Hills, Stellenbosch, Provence, Bandol, Rioja, Bruwer Raats, Fisher Vineyards, Paul Grieco.

GLASVIN
Glasvin is The Preferred Glass of The Wine Centric Show. Use code WINECENTRIC for 10% off (affiliate link): https://tidd.ly/41vgdSQ

FEARRINGTON HOUSE
Fearrington House is the location and hospitality partner of The Wine Centric Show. Fearrington House / Fearrington Eats

Taaibosch: taaiboschwines.com
Pink Valley Wines: pinkvalleywines.com
Instagram: @taaiboschestates
The Wine Centric Show: winecentricshow.com

Jacques Viljoen & Greg Guy: Boschendal, South Africa's 340-Year-Old Wine Farm

The South Africa Series, Episode 1.

Boschendal celebrated 340 years of winemaking history last year, and its wines sell in more than 70 countries. According to Greg Guy, America is still the missing piece.

Recorded on the estate in the Cape Winelands, Matt Weiss talks with Boschendal cellar master Jacques Viljoen and Greg Guy, who leads international sales for DGB. Jacques explains how cool-climate Elgin and its shale soils shape Boschendal's Chardonnay and Pinot Noir, where the gunflint character comes from, and how he brings in complexity with barrels, sites and malolactic fermentation. Greg talks about Cap Classique against Champagne, the South African brands that rose and fell in the US, and why real stories matter to younger drinkers. Jacques also explains why Cabernet Franc is the X factor in Boschendal's blends, by way of a Springbok wing breaking through the line.

Jacques Viljoen has been cellar master at Boschendal since 2018, after 16 years as winemaker at Zevenwacht. DGB has owned the Boschendal wine business since 2005. The estate sits in the Drakenstein Valley between Stellenbosch and Franschhoek, on land first granted to French Huguenot Jean le Long in 1685.

Coming up in the South Africa Series: Taaibosch and De Toren.

Mentioned: Boschendal Cap Classique, Boschendal Elgin Chardonnay and Pinot Noir, Cabernet Franc, the Helderberg, DGB, KWV, Beachhouse, Fairview Goats do Roam, A.A. Badenhorst, Champagne, Prosecco, Meursault, Corton-Charlemagne, the Springboks and the All Blacks, Nelson Mandela.

GLASVIN
Glasvin is The Preferred Glass of The Wine Centric Show. Use code WINECENTRIC for 10% off (affiliate link): https://tidd.ly/41vgdSQ

FEARRINGTON HOUSE
Fearrington House is the location and hospitality partner of The Wine Centric Show. Fearrington House / Fearrington Eats

Boschendal Wines: boschendalwines.com
Instagram: @boschendalwines
The Wine Centric Show: winecentricshow.com

Olivier Krug isn't interested in putting Champagne producers in a box. Arthur Larmandier says that at La Fête du Champagne, no one is above anyone. The house and the grower join Matt Weiss before La Fête returns to New York City, October 14 to 17, and Chicago, October 22 to 24.

The Wine Centric Show is presented by InVintory. InVintory scans a wine label, pulls up the bottle's details and shows you where it sits in your cellar in 3D. Code WINECENTRIC takes 25% off one year of InVintory Premium at invintory.com.

Arthur Larmandier shares how he left marketing at Chanel for his family's estate in Vertus, the day-one test his father taught him for depth in a wine, and how ploughing came back to vineyards where grass had been treated like a disease. He explains the chalk behind Longitude and Latitude and the lineup he is pouring at Obélix in Chicago. Olivier Krug names his walk-up song, explains why Grande Cuvée is not a non-vintage, takes you inside Krug's blind tasting committee, and remembers when people laughed at his family for bringing Champagne to chefs and sommeliers.

The Larmandier and Bernier families have worked vines in Champagne since 1765, and Larmandier-Bernier has been certified organic since 2003. Olivier Krug is the sixth generation of the family behind Krug, founded in Reims in 1843. The Wine Centric Show is a proud media partner of La Fête du Champagne.

Grab your Tickets here: https://bit.ly/4rxU9mZ

Watch Part 1: Peter Liem, Daniel Johnnes and Laurent Champs of Vilmart & Cie: 
https://youtu.be/ZdDgr1P3vNE?si=1ulx4-X9MGJVfH6Q

Mentioned: Chanel, Pierre, Sophie and Georges Larmandier, Champagne Fleury, Leclerc Briant, La Paulée, Longitude, Latitude, Vieille Vigne du Levant, Les Chemins d'Avize, Vertus Rouge, Obélix (Chicago), The Clash, Krug Grande Cuvée, Clos du Mesnil, Clos d'Ambonnay, Joseph Krug, Henri and Rémi Krug, Julie Cavil, Manuel Reman, Max Richter, Peter Liem, Daniel Johnnes, the Court of Master Sommeliers and the Krug Cup, Arnaud Lallement and L'Assiette Champenoise, Krug Rosé.

GLASVIN

Glasvin is The Preferred Glass of The Wine Centric Show. Use code WINECENTRIC for 10% off (affiliate link): https://tidd.ly/41vgdSQ

FEARRINGTON HOUSE

Fearrington House is the location and hospitality partner of The Wine Centric Show. Fearrington House / Fearrington Eats

La Fête du Champagne: lafeteduchampagne.com

Instagram: @lafetenyc

Champagne Larmandier-Bernier: larmandier.fr

Instagram: @larmandier.bernier

Krug: krug.com

InVintory: invintory.com

For years, Champagne's great houses and its small growers didn't share a room. La Fête du Champagne changed that. Co-founders Peter Liem and Daniel Johnnes, and Laurent Champs of Vilmart & Cie, take you inside the festival before it returns to New York City, October 14 to 17.

Peter and Daniel share how La Fête began over dinner, the Burgundy tradition of La Paulée that inspired it, the first year Olivier Krug and Raphaël Bérêche found themselves in the same room, and how 35 producers are chosen from a list of 150. Laurent Champs tells the story of his father, a carpenter who bought an oak cask in 1970 when everyone else wanted steel, explains how Vilmart blocks malolactic fermentation, and remembers tasting two 1988 magnums 12 seconds apart.

Peter Liem is the James Beard Award-winning author of Champagne and the writer behind ChampagneGuide.net. Daniel Johnnes founded La Paulée in the United States and is Wine Director for Daniel Boulud's Dinex Group. Vilmart & Cie was founded in 1890 in Rilly-la-Montagne. The Wine Centric Show is a proud media partner of La Fête du Champagne.

Grab your Tickets here: https://bit.ly/4rxU9mZ

Mentioned: Olivier Krug and Krug, Raphaël Bérêche and Bérêche & Fils, Louis Roederer, Bollinger, Veuve Clicquot, Dom Pérignon, Chartogne-Taillet and Alexandre Chartogne, Pierre Péters and Rodolphe Péters, Pol Roger Cuvée Sir Winston Churchill, Aquavit, Daniel Boulud and DANIEL, Arnaud Lallement, A. Bergère, Eric Rodez, Comte Jules Lafon and La Paulée de Meursault, Dominique Lafon, Jay McInerney, Terry Theise, René Champs, Thomas Champs, Vilmart Grand Cellier d'Or, Cœur de Cuvée, Krug Vintage 1988.

The Wine Centric Show is presented by InVintory. InVintory scans a wine label, pulls up the bottle's details and shows you where it sits in your cellar in 3D. Code WINECENTRIC takes 25% off one year of InVintory Premium at invintory.com.

GLASVIN
Glasvin is The Preferred Glass of The Wine Centric Show. Use code WINECENTRIC for 10% off: https://tidd.ly/41vgdSQ

FEARRINGTON HOUSE
Fearrington House is the location and hospitality partner of The Wine Centric Show. Fearrington House / Fearrington Eats

La Fête du Champagne: lafeteduchampagne.com

Instagram: @lafetenyc

Vilmart & Cie: champagnevilmart.fr

Instagram: @champagnevilmart

InVintory: invintory.com

Offers to buy Chappellet? The family has said no. Cyril Chappellet, CEO and Chairman of Chappellet, explains why the winery is worth more as an asset than as cash flow.

Cyril tells the story of Robert Mondavi calling his father on a party line to offer his tanks and presses, and why the first Chappellet vintage, 1968, carries no vintage date. He names his five First Growths of Napa, explains why 100 points is not the goal, and shares the lesson Louis Martini Sr. delivered at the family dinner table.

Chappellet was founded on Pritchard Hill in 1967 by Donn and Molly Chappellet and was the second winery established in the Napa Valley after Prohibition.

Mentioned: Donn and Molly Chappellet, Robert Mondavi, Jack Davies and Schramsberg, Joe Heitz and Heitz Cellar, Beaulieu Vineyard Georges de Latour Private Reserve, Joseph Phelps Insignia, Silver Oak, Caymus, Louis Martini Sr., Cathy Corison, Phillip Corallo-Titus, Ry Richards, Hillstone Restaurant Group.

The Wine Centric Show is presented by InVintory. InVintory scans a wine label, pulls up the bottle's details and shows you where it sits in your cellar in 3D. Code WINECENTRIC takes 25% off one year of InVintory Premium at invintory.com.

GLASVIN

Glasvin is The Preferred Glass of The Wine Centric Show. Use code WINECENTRIC for 10% off: https://tidd.ly/41vgdSQ

FEARRINGTON HOUSE

Fearrington House is the location and hospitality partner of The Wine Centric Show. Fearrington House / Fearrington Eats

Chappellet: chappellet.com

Instagram: @chappellet_winery

InVintory: invintory.com

Nicole and Xavier Rolet bought a 900-year-old ruin in the hills above Provence and turned it into one of the Rhône's most talked-about wine estates, a property critics have called the world's first "Super Rhône." They built it inside a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve on Mont Ventoux, where wolves and wild boar walk through the vineyard at harvest and eat the grapes right off the vine. They still won't spray a single synthetic chemical.

Nicole and Xavier talk about what it actually costs to farm that way, the research that convinced them it was worth it, why their rosé can age for decades when the industry says it should be finished in a year, and the medieval love story behind the names of their two flagship reds, Abélard and Héloïse. It's a conversation about building something the slow, uncompromising way, on purpose.

What We Cover

• Why Viognier is one of the most divisive grapes in the Rhône, and a Master Sommelier's blind-tasting trick for spotting it
• How buying a "complete ruin" in France became a decades-long restoration, and a marriage
• Why Chêne Bleu farms without synthetic chemicals, even with wolves and wild boar eating the crop at harvest
• The additive that's quietly responsible for the "drink your rosé within a year" rule, and why Chêne Bleu's rosé doesn't follow it
• The 12th-century love story behind the names Abélard and Héloïse, and why Xavier is glad he isn't the one the wine is named after

Presented By InVintory
This episode is brought to you by InVintory. Get the most out of your wine collection, download InVintory and enjoy wine the way it's meant to be. Use code WINECENTRIC for 25% off Premium. Learn more at invintory.com

The Preferred Glass of The Wine Centric Show

Glasvin Every wine in this episode tastes better out of the right glass. Glasvin is the glassware The Wine Centric Show pours into at home. Use code WINECENTRIC for 10% off your order. Shop Glasvin → https://tidd.ly/41vgdSQ

Where We Recorded

This episode was filmed on location at Fearrington House, in Pittsboro, North Carolina.

About Chêne Bleu

Chêne Bleu is the wine estate Nicole and Xavier Rolet built at Domaine de la Verrière, a restored 9th-century priory in the Vaucluse, southern Rhône. The estate sits inside a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve on Mont Ventoux and is farmed without synthetic chemicals. Nicole Rolet also chairs Areni Global, an institute focused on the future of fine wine, and founded Fine Minds for Fine Wines.

• Website: chenebleu.com
• Instagram: @chenebleuwine · @laverriereprovence
  
  

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Rudi Pichler has a rule: act, don't react. It's shown up in every decision he's made since he came home from working a harvest in Napa Valley and took over his family's small, struggling vineyard in 1997 — including the year he deliberately cut two-thirds of his own harvest, the year his twins were born, just to make sure there'd be a handful of bottles waiting for them thirty years later.

Matt talks with Rudi and his daughter Theresa, who now runs export and marketing for the estate. The Pichler family has farmed since 1731. They talk about the grandmother who told Rudi which impossible, abandoned vineyard to buy (it's now one of the most celebrated sites in the region), the moment a legendary Burgundy critic told him he didn't need a single oak barrel, and the two soils in one small vineyard that are 370 million years and 16,000 years old respectively. It's a conversation about staying small on purpose in an industry that mostly rewards getting bigger.

In this conversation:

• Why Rudi calls himself a "wine caretaker" instead of a winemaker
• The Wachau's three-tier quality system — Steinfeder, Federspiel, Smaragd — explained simply
• The vineyard nobody else wanted, and the grandmother who told him to buy it anyway
• What it means to lose the fear of being too small, learned in the shadow of Napa Valley
• Foot-stomped maceration, leaf canopies as sun umbrellas, and why Rudi still refuses new oak
• The 1996 harvest Rudi cut on purpose, and the wine his twins are only now old enough to drink

Presented by InVintory. Download InVintory and enjoy wine the way it's meant to be. Code WINECENTRIC gets you 25% off a year of Premium.

We’re grateful for the support of our episode partners:

▪️Fearrington House: https://fearrington.com/

THE PREFERRED GLASS OF THE WINE CENTRIC SHOW
▪️Glasvin: Use code WINECENTRIC for 10% off: https://tidd.ly/41vgdSQ

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