So where does the humble glass bottle fit into the bigger picture of wine? Some are decrying its impact on the environment, citing the carbon footprint of smelting glass and shipping heavy, space-inefficient bottles around the planet. But glass has one of the highest recycling rates of any packaging and has served wine well for centuries, an inert container that has no interaction with its contents and allows wine to age and develop over time (or retain its fizz). As energy inputs include ever-more renewable sources, and shipping in bulk and light-weighting mean ever fewer carbon emissions per bottle, is it time to re-evaluate glass's place in the debate? We talk to British Glass technical director Dr Nick Kirk and Simon Lawson, GM Europe of Casella Family Brands, makers of one of the world's biggest wine brands, [yellow tail]. A partnership pod with British Glass. 

A trip to *hic* Hollywood via Napa Valley as we chat to Matt Crafton, winemaker at the renowned Chateau Montelena, about serious stuff like making elegant wine in Napa, the wildfires, climate change, sustainability, his lockdown wines and...the film Bottle Shock. This enables us to segue neatly onto a rollicking ride through our (and your) favourite wine movies and wine moments on screen, from Sour Grapes to Sideways, Silence of the Lambs, Somm, The Secret of Santa Vittoria, The Sopranos and The Simpsons (and that's only the letter S). Plenty of wine material to inspire fun and delicious drinking over the holidays...

'My day job is acting but my life is really wine and farming.' So says Sam Neill, world famous for his roles in screen hits like Jurassic Park, Peaky Blinders, Dead Calm and The Piano, but whose real passion is his Two Paddocks wine estate in Central Otago, New Zealand.  We caught up with Sam while he was quarantining after arriving back in New Zealand from 5 months filming Jurassic Park 6 in the UK. We chat wine, dinosaurs, ukeleles, lockdown, animals named after celebrities (like Merryl Streep the chicken), the antichrist's taste in wine, Burgundy, Charlie Chaplin, the quest to make great great Pinot Noir, and what's REALLY in Sam's mug of 'tea'... ps Part of this interview originally appeared on screen as part of our Wine Festival Online (www.thewinefestival.co.uk) but if you'd like to 'see' our full (unedited) chat, head to our YouTube channel 'Susie and Peter on Wine.' 

The wild, fun wine ride continues after a first season full of intrigue, deliciousness and, erm, magnum Jenga. For those who don't know Wine Blast, welcome! We don't bite (unless very thirsty). The show is for everyone - we bring wine to life with a smile, chatting to intriguing people all around the world , sharing our recipes and recommendations, and chewing the wine cud in general. You are warmly invited to share a glass with us, have a laugh and hopefully go away just a bit more inspired to try new things. Thanks to everyone who's tuned in and supported so far, what a brilliant bunch you are. We have very exciting plans for Season 2 - so please do subscribe if you haven't already, leave a rating and review, sit back and enjoy. Cheers!

Where's best for wine travel? (Well - we can dream, can't we?!) The best value bold New World Chardonnays out there? Greek wine? Why no love for Merlot? How to deal with being considered pretentious when it comes to wine?? We answer your burning wine questions and pick our favourite highlights from the 30 episodes to date in this fun, momentous culmination to Season 1 of Wine Blast. And it has been a blast, THANK YOU everyone for listening, supporting, recommending, rating, reviewing and getting in touch. Don't go anywhere because Season 2 starts straight away, we've got lots of exciting new plans to reveal - we can't wait to get started. See you there - and, in the meantime, cheers! 

We use our wine festival (formerly Wine Festival Winchester, this year Wine Festival Online) as a springboard to talk English wine, wine education, making a wine festival happen in lockdown, events in general and how normal people engage with wine. We chat to acclaimed English winemaker Emma Rice of Hattingley Valley, Erica Dent of Enjoy Discovering Wine and Tony, who has a great story to tell about his own personal Damascene conversion to wine. As Tony puts it so brilliantly, 'Things have got out of hand.' Join us at Wine Festival Online on Sat 28th November, when things could definitely get out of hand.

So what's the BEST red wine grape variety? Ever? We asked you - and you replied in your droves, more than a thousand of you sending in weird and wonderful suggestions from all over the world. Thank you! We've compiled the results, and the funny comments and goings-on, and you can hear the results in this fun episode. We name names so see if you get a mention! (Sorry if not...) We also find time to talk to legendary Yarra Valley producer Timo Mayer (who's clearly obsessed with Trollinger - listen to find out why). We throw numbers and stats about like, well, confetti. And we name check a few good bottles by way of recommendations too (can't have you going thirsty). 

We've reached a tipping point in environmental terms. Not just in terms of biodiversity, climate change, pandemics and the like - but also in the media. Recent releases showcase this trend - from Kiss the Ground (Netflix) to Extinction: The Facts (BBC/David Attenborough) and The Food Programme's English Pastoral episode. All are powerful, terrifying, inspiring calls to action - and made us think about wine's place in all of this. Given we all share personal responsibility for this crisis, should we only buy sustainable wine? Should we both, as professional wine communicators, only recommend sustainable wines? What even is sustainable when it comes to wine? Can (or is) wine taking a lead in this regard - or not? We all need to be asking questions - of ourselves, the products we consume, the lifestyles we lead. And we can be positive, and much good can come of this. Including delicious, sustainably produced wine in a biodiverse, stable, healthy planet.

So what's been happening to wine during lockdown? It's the BIG question on everyone's lips - and the answer is not what you might expect. We dive right into the debate, throwing about facts, figures and opinions as we go. It does seem as if people revert to the familiar in times of crisis - and we're not afraid to treat ourselves a bit either. With this in mind, we launch a Twitter hullabaloo then taste test the biggest of all wine brands (car crash? Maybe...) After all that excitement, we go to the other end of the spectrum and get views from historic club The Wine Society and 'counter-cultural' wine bar and shop Diogenes the Dog. It's another wine rollercoaster of an episode - hop on, and don't look down.

Chile is a wine scene stuck on fast forward. Many of the most exciting projects lately have been developed in the country's deep south, where the cooler conditions mean more elegant, refreshing wines (and respite from a decade-long drought). And these aren't projects for the faint-hearted: we visit a new vineyard on a remote island 1,200km south of Santiago - and another on the side of a smoking volcano. It's not just about terroir, either - southern Chile is home to indigenous Mapuche communities, where poverty and disputed land rights (among other issues) have long been bones of contention with the Chilean state and industry. But now, alongside pioneering vineyards aiming to champion the south's remarkable terroirs, wine is providing new hope of social unity as a new project is launched by Viña San Pedro Tarapacá in association with the local Mapuche community in Buchahueico. It all makes for a compelling and intriguing future - one we explore in this episode. (We also announce the winners of our WineGB giveaway!)