Wine Blast with Susie and Peter

Wanna hear us get humbled and schooled? Interested in exploring whether expensive really means better when it comes to coffee and wine? Or how we're getting it wrong when it comes to storing coffee and wine?!

This is a collaborative episode in which we get together with Scott and Jools from the brilliant Adventures in Coffee podcast. We give them a blind wine tasting, they serve us a blind coffee tasting. Hilarity and humiliation ensue - as well as lessons about how to get the biggest bang for your buck in both.

There are tips, confessions, jeopardy and fun galore in this crossover episode. There's even mention of plastic beach balls, 'de-gassing' and 1974 Barolo. Enjoy!

Do check out the brilliant Adventures in Coffee podcast!

Buy our delicious English sparkling wines, with all profits going to the Marine Conservation Trust charity via this link: The Big English Wine Adventure.

Show notes and details are on our website: When Coffee Dorks Meet Wine Nerds on susieandpeter.com

You can also find us on social media: Instagram or Twitter.

Wines featured in this episode:

• Viña del Cura Rioja 2020, 13% (was £5 at time of recording, now £6.75, Tesco) 
• Marqués de Riscal Rioja Reserva 2016, 14.3% (from £13.99, Majestic) 
• López de Heredia Viña Tondonia Rioja Reserva 2009, 13% (From £29.99 for the 2008, Majestic)

So: the big question. What to drink when you're not drinking?!

In this short Wine Blast Live, we share our favourite non-alcoholic concoction, one which goes some way to replicating the joy of wine. It's based on Aecorn Bitter, which is made using (unfermented) English sparkling wine grapes mixed with botanicals, mixed with Fever Tree Aromatic tonic plus ice and orange.

We also share a few other options. Including ways to be 'damp' rather than dry - eg by choosing naturally lighter alcohol wines, and perhaps drinking a bit less of them too. Like Riesling, or Hunter Semillon, or a fabulous Sicilian Catarratto...(well, we couldn't bring ourselves to do a whole episode of Wine Blast without some mention of proper wine!)

We touch on the evidence, which suggests a global trend towards increasing moderation on an ongoing basis rather than periods of abstinence. One of the reasons for this has to be the emergence of ambitious, high-quality non-alcoholic drinks over the last few years, a category which is growing fast (and includes the likes of Aecorn).

So: if you want a day off, our 'Anti' cocktail is a great option! Enjoy the pod.

If you have a wine question or challenge you'd like us to tackle, get in touch!

Reach out to us on social media: via Instagram or Twitter.

Check out the video of this podcast, and subscribe to our YouTube channel while you're at it, via this link: A Drink to Dry on YouTube

Details of all  products, plus a full transcript, are on our show notes: https://susieandpeter.com/podcast-episodes/season-three/a-drink-to-dry/

Listen to our previous (full) episode on Dry Drinking here: https://susieandpeter.com/podcast-episodes/season-two/dry-drinking/ 

Wine investment is booming - particularly since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic. Regular headlines champion it as giving greater returns than not only the major equity indices but also other so-called 'alternative' investments like gold, cars and handbags.

But what exactly is wine investment? Why do it? What are the potential gains and pitfalls? What kind of returns and time-scales are we actually talking? How to get the most out of it? And what does the future hold?

In this sponsored episode with fine wine merchant Oeno, we quiz Director of Wine Justin Knock MW as well as Chief Portfolio Manager Sid McNamara-Rajeswaran on all the above and more.

If you're interested in finding out more about wine and wine investment, please contact [email protected] or see www.oenogroup.com

Show notes and transcript are on our website via this link: Investing in Wine on susieandpeter.com

Catch up with us and say hi on Instagram or Twitter - we'd love to hear from you. Cheers!

At this time of year, we get asked two things. What wines we'd recommend. And will we wear silly Christmas stuff. So here you go - the double whammy, all wrapped up in a brand new format: Wine Blast Live, a 5-minute video-podcast, for your delectation.

Listen (or watch) as we try to gloss over our absurd festive attire while recommending our three top wines of the year, including a bargain option, the best wine we've ever tried out of a can (a white, as it happens), and a gorgeous red that represents a large slice of humble pie for Susie.

You can watch on YouTube via this link (even if just to see just how tragic Peter's Christmas jumper really is): Susie & Peter's Wines of the Year 2021 on YouTube

Show notes, including all wine details and the video, are on our website: Susie & Peter's Wines of the Year on susieandpeter.com 

The three wines we feature are:

• Raul Perez Bierzo La Vitoriana 2018, Spain
• Banks Brothers Chardonnay No. 3, South Africa
• Santa Tresa Rina Russa Frappato 2019, Italy

Catch up with us and say hi on Instagram or Twitter - we'd love to hear from you. Cheers!

Oz Clarke has done most wine things you've ever thought of, and some you maybe haven't even imagined.

But we're not here to dwell on sex in a Margaux vineyard (though we do, of course, ask the question). This is about Oz Clarke OBE the wine titan, the great storyteller, the acclaimed author and broadcaster, surely the most successful person who ever claimed to have spent his, 'whole life avoiding getting a proper job.'

We try not to slur as we work our way through a bottle of 1985 claret and discuss what Oz would criticise about wine today, climate change, natural wine, his favourite (and least favourite) wine grapes, Bordeaux, whether Burgundy should re-plant Pinot Noir with Syrah (heresy though it might sound)...and how to disagree.

A sponsored episode in collaboration with Academie du Vin Library, publishers of Oz Clarke on Wine, who are generously offering £5 or $5 off the cover price when you use the discount code WINEBLAST5 at www.academieduvinlibrary.com

Show notes are on our website via this link: The Oz Clarke Exclusive on susieandpeter.com

Catch up with us and say hi on Instagram or Twitter - we'd love to hear from you. Cheers!

'Nobody thinks of wine as the villain in the climate story. But in fact we are.' So says When In Rome's Rob Malin, who spoke at COP26 about how shipping wine around the world in glass bottles leads to significant carbon emissions.

'We have to take this seriously because if we don’t do something about climate change, you can forget a lot of your nice wine producing regions,' says Oli Purnell of canned wine startup The Copper Crew.

WTAF stands, in this case, for Wine Traders for Alternative Formats (things like bag-in-box, pouches, bagnums, cans, kegs and plastic bottles). In this episode, we hear their impassioned case for building a more sustainable future for wine, citing figures showing glass bottles have nearly ten times worse carbon footprint than bag-in-box. Their secret weapon? Quality wines and new technology meaning no scrimping on drinking pleasure - while presenting a strong case for sustainability. 

We also get a sense of the overview from packaging experts WRAP. And along the way, we talk about featuring climate impact on labels, new ways to recycle plastic, cost savings of alt format wines, wastage, carbon tax...and Nero d'Avola on cornflakes.

Featured in this episode are:

- Rob Malin, When in Rome
- Ollie Lea, The BIB Wine Company
- Rich Hamblin, More Wine
- Nik Darlington, Graft Wine
- Oli Purnell, The Copper Crew
- Adam Herriott, WRAP

As ever, show notes for this episode (including our 'alt format' wine recommendations) are on our website. 

You can catch us and say hi via Instagram or Twitter.

Please join in the fun! For our Big English Wine Adventure, we've gone and made 3 one-off English wines, with all profits going to charity. Now the project is reaching its climax: the wines are going on sale on 25th November 2021. But we're no experts in making or selling wine. Our necks are on the line and we need your help...

We have some BIG announcements in this episode, which features plenty of drama, intrigue and jeopardy. We reveal our brilliant charity partner as well as the name for our sparkling wines - both of which were voted for as part of a public competition we ran over 5 years.

What's more, our labels have been designed by mysterious street artist Hendog so we talk illegal art and free walls. Finally, the tension ramps up when we taste our wines for the first time in 5 years: will they be up to scratch?!

We also spill the beans on how you can support the project - where and how you can buy the wines, and what your support will mean (not just to us, but a fantastic charity doing vital work). Thanks for listening, and for supporting - we really appreciate it!

As ever, show notes for this episode are on our website.  You can catch us and say hi via Instagram or Twitter.

Are you a bargain hunter, a new-experience seeker, a drinker-in as well as taker-out, someone with thirsty friends or friends to impress?

Whoever you are - we can help you buy wine better.

Buying wine isn't easy. So much choice, so little time - but getting the right bottle, and the right experience, makes a big difference. To help inform, guide and hopefully inspire you, we draw not only on our personal experience (confession: we buy too much wine) but also Peter's experience of chairing the Decanter Retailer Awards, a major UK competition whose 2021 results have just been announced.

We ask Pierpaolo Petrassi MW of UK supermarket Waitrose and Paola Tich of small independent merchant Vindinista for their go-to 'bang-for-buck' wines. Plus we discuss discounts, wine in cans, subscription plans, diversity in wine, own labels, sustainability, virtual events and POTENTIAL WINE SHORTAGES.

Somehow, lampshades and frozé also get a mention. To correct the karma, we recommend a great value red from Majestic and a Croatian white from Tanners. Enjoy!

As ever, show notes for this episode are on our website.  You can catch us and say hi via Instagram or Twitter.

It's gone from a joke to world-class in just a couple of decades - but what does the future now hold for English and Welsh wine? Will it be a case of boom and bust, as some are predicting? Or will this be the success story that just keeps on rolling?

We dive into this debate with plenty of facts and figures to hand, plus we hear from Dermot Sugrue (Wiston), Ruth Simpson (Simpsons), Sergio Verillo (Blackbook) and Josh Donaghay-Spire (Chapel Down). We talk about climatic challenges, the 'nightmare' 2021 vintage, over-production, sales, exports, wine tourism, controversial new brands and styles, still wines...and reindeer sausages.

Talking of success stories, this could be YOU as this episode features a FREE GIVEAWAY where you could win six (6!) award-winning bottles of brilliant English and/or Welsh wines. Just give us a rating and review wherever you get your podcasts, then let us know, and you'll go straight in the hat. (Deadline: Sun 17th October 2021, but we'll still love you if you do it after then too.)

To top things off, we've also got a brilliant value English wine recommendation for you. 

As for how to get in touch, you can send us an email.  Or let us know via Instagram or Twitter. As ever, show notes for this episode are on our website. Cheers!

Something a bit different to kick off Season 3...our first ever EXPLICIT episode!

It's not what you're thinking. Just a few gentle sweary words. Because this one is all about Fake Booze: a bitter, twisted, dark and damp website stuffed full of satire lampooning the world of wine and drinks, whose strapline is, 'Like truth, but better'. It's the brainchild of hitherto respectable drinks journalist Chris Losh and it's painfully funny, so we wanted to get Chris on the show to bring us bang up to date with the very latest headlines, breaking news and absurd sideswipes at the world of booze. And to have a bit of a laugh.

The episode features everything from James Bond to human sacrifice via hobbits, Ginfandel, dinosaurs, hungover graduates and Sea-vignon Blanc. We definitely come in for a bit of a pasting too.

On top of all that, we manage to be serious for a moment and recommend a FANTASTIC value Sicilian red. Enjoy the show!

PS: If you like what you hear, please do consider leaving us a positive rating and review, we'd love to hear from you and we really appreciate your time in doing so. You can also find us on Instagram, Twitter and YouTube. Show notes, including a transcript, are on our website. Cheers!

And please do check out Fake Booze - it's quite brilliant. If you like what Chris does, please consider supporting him via Patreon.