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  • This episode is the second half of our interview with Elena Brooks, the winemaker for Dandelion, Sister’s Run, and Heirloom Vineyards. Part 1 tells the story of Elena’s upbringing in communist Bulgaria and how she moved to Australia and started her own wine label in her early twenties. This episode, Part 2, covers Elena’s ambition with Dandelion, the challenges and opportunities that exist today within the Australian wine scene, and the region Elena believes should have ‘Grand Cru’ status.

    At the time she started Dandelion, the trend in Australia was big, bold red wines. Elena launched Dandelion to tell a new story, one of acid and tannin and aroma over fruit and alcohol alone. She was also trying to tell the story of place and regional diversity, which she believes is paramount if Australia wants to compete globally.

    While Australian wine today faces plenty of challenges, Elena’s perspective is one of gratitude to be making history, writing the playbook for Australian wines alongside an incredibly talented cohort of peers in the industry. Changing the narrative has always been Elena’s drive. When she started Dandelion 17 years ago, she had one lofty mission: to change peoples’ palates.

    01:19 Boutique Wines and Changing Palates

    01:50 Wine as a Storytelling Medium

    03:05 Food and Wine Culture

    05:14 The Aspirational Journey of Wine

    09:18 Exploring Unique Vineyards

    14:37 Eden Valley's Signature Riesling

    17:49 Challenges in the Australian Wine Industry

    20:16 Opportunities in the Australian Wine Industry

    21:03 Trust Your Palate

    Hosted by Charlotte Alsaadi.

    Special thanks to SNACKTIME for the music!

    Vine Street Imports Instagram | Website

  • In today’s episode, which is part one of two, Elena Brooks from Dandelion Vineyards shares how she went from making pantyhose-filtered wines as a teenager in Bulgaria to a true winemaking visionary in South Australia. Elena has multiple wine brands, including three that we import: Dandelion, Sister’s Run, and Heirloom Vineyards. All of these brands are based in McLaren Vale but feature varietal wines from all over South Australia. Elena makes some of our highest volume wines, but don’t confuse that for low quality. These wines often come from single, old-vine sites, and they are drinkable and acid-driven while staying true to the benchmark styles of their respective regions.

    Elena has made quite a name for herself in Australia and the US, and her path to success success was entirely self-made. It involved immigrating from Bulgaria to Australia around the age of twenty and learning the customs and language of a new country. In this episode, you’ll hear how Elena’s first experience with wine was at a 45,000-ton Bulgarian winery that employed 500 people, including her mom. When communism fell in 1990, an influx of foreigners, namely Australians, came to work at this winery for big supermarket brands. At the age of 12, Elena was interpreting at the winery after school, and a few years later she’d move to Adelaide to study winemaking. Elena was drawn not only to the winemaking side but the marketing of wine, as marketing wasn’t exactly a thing in communist Bulgaria. She’s a true entrepreneuer in every sense of the word, diving not only into the product, wine, but the sales, marketing, and philosophy of the product.

    Part one sets us up for part two, which delves into Elena’s wines, the challenges and opportunities in Australia today, and which region Elena would classify as Grand Cru if Australia used the cru system.

    To begin, we have to go all the way back to Elena’s childhood in Communist-era Bulgaria, when she remembers tasting her very first wine, a sparkling herb infused white wine


    00:29 Wine Culture in Bulgaria

    01:32 Childhood Entrepreneurial Ventures

    03:43 The Analytical Mind Behind Winemaking

    06:27 Accidental Entry into the Wine World

    15:36 Transition to Australia

    18:44 Starting Dandelion Vineyards

    Hosted by Charlotte Alsaadi.

    Special thanks to SNACKTIME for the music!

    Vine Street Imports Instagram | Website

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  • This is the fifth and final episode in our mini-series on South African wines. The goal with this series is to highlight the key regions, grapes, winemakers, and stories of the South African wine industry to distill this huge category into bite sized, educational pieces. Joining me for this episode about the Stellenbosch is our in-house South African wine expert, Aaron Meeker.

    While the last four episodes covered wine regions specifically, this episode is about the industry at large. We talk about stereotypes and push back in the market and how the story of South African wine is being rewritten thanks to a number of movers and shakers in the US. We also talk about Vine Street’s strategy for premiumizing South African wines. Through storytelling, persistence, and direct engagement with buyers, our goal has always been to cultivate a greater appreciation for South African wines.

    Our conversation starts by going back to 2015 with an introductory email from Mick Craven, and how we got into South African wine knowing virtually nothing about this category...

    00:46 Discovering South African Wine: A New Opportunity

    01:33 Challenges and Learning Curves

    02:03 Initial Knowledge and Perceptions

    02:57 The Hard Sell and Changing Perceptions

    03:48 Growth and Optimism

    05:38 Key Players and Market Dynamics

    07:15 Strategies for Success

    10:02 The Long Game: Building a Market

    12:46 The Future of South African Wine

    18:55 Conclusion: The Road Ahead

    Hosted by Charlotte Alsaadi.

    Special thanks to SNACKTIME for the music!

    Vine Street Imports Instagram | Website

  • This is the fourth episode in our mini-series on South African wines. The goal with this series is to highlight the key regions, grapes, winemakers, and stories of the South African wine industry to distill this huge category into bite sized, educational pieces. Joining me for this episode about the Stellenbosch is our in-house South African wine expert, Aaron Meeker.

    Despite being the seventh-largest wine-producing country, South Africa has a highly concentrated viticultural area predominantly within a short drive from Cape Town. This episode dives into South Africa's unique winemaking regions with some of the country’s more extreme climates. Our very own Aaron Meeker shares the places that should be on your radar if you’re looking to move beyond Stellenbosch and Swartland. From the cool climate of Elim to the rugged terroir of the West Coast, this episode highlights the challenges of farming in harsh conditions and the evolving diversity in wine styles and grape varieties across the country.

    00:52 Exploring Remote Wine Regions: Malgas

    01:22 Extreme Winemaking in Cape Agulhas

    02:09 The Coldest Wine Region: Elim

    02:37 Rugged Elegance: Montagu and the Karoo

    03:00 West Coast Wine Pioneers

    03:42 Diversity in South African Chenin Blanc

    Hosted by Charlotte Alsaadi.

    Special thanks to SNACKTIME for the music!

    Vine Street Imports Instagram | Website

  • This is the third episode in our mini-series on South African wines. The goal with this series is to highlight the key regions, grapes, winemakers, and stories of the South African wine industry to distill this huge category into bite sized, educational pieces. Joining me for this episode about the Stellenbosch is our in-house South African wine expert, Aaron Meeker.

    In this episode, Aaron shares the highlights of Walker Bay in under five minutes. There is obviously much more to this area, but in the interest of keeping these episodes bite sized, we’ve distilled this down to the key info you should know. Aaron covers the climate, landscape, and styles of wine from the Walker Bay, plus names of key winemakers located here. As you’ll hear, this is a region that we feel is still very much in its infancy but has so much potential in the next decade.

    00:08 Journey Through Elgin

    00:35 Exploring Bot River

    01:28 Notable Producers in Bot River

    02:00 Characteristics of Bot River Wines

    02:43 Soil Composition and Its Impact

    03:38 Future of Bot River

    Hosted by Charlotte Alsaadi.

    Special thanks to SNACKTIME for the music!

    Vine Street Imports Instagram | Website

  • This is the second episode in our mini-series on South African wines. The goal with this series is to highlight the key regions, grapes, winemakers, and stories of the South African wine industry to distill this huge category into bite sized, educational pieces. Joining me for this episode about the Stellenbosch is our in-house South African wine expert, Aaron Meeker.

    Located conveniently near Cape Town, Stellenbosch has the longest winemaking history in the country dating back to the 1600s. In this episode, our resident South African wine expert Aaron Meeker covers the region's diverse soils, unique climate influences, and historical evolution of vineyards and wine styles. You’ll hear all the benchmark names, plus some of the up-and-coming players on the scene. The episode finishes with a look to the future of Stellenbosch wine and why this is still one of South Africa’s most interesting regions.

    00:16 Historical Roots: The Birth of Stellenbosch Vineyards

    02:24 Geography and Climate: The Unique Terroir of Stellenbosch

    03:00 The Majestic Mountains of Stellenbosch

    03:58 Soil Types and Their Influence on Wine

    05:40 The Evolution of Stellenbosch Winemaking

    07:28 Modern Winemaking and New Investments

    08:06 The Next Generation of Stellenbosch Winemakers

    12:34 Community and Collaboration in Stellenbosch

    12:59 Top Stellenbosch Producers to Watch

    14:09 The Future of Stellenbosch Wine

    Hosted by Charlotte Alsaadi.

    Special thanks to SNACKTIME for the music!

    Vine Street Imports Instagram | Website

  • This is the first episode in our mini-series on South African wines. The goal with this series is to highlight the key regions, grapes, winemakers, and stories of the South African wine industry to distill this huge category into bite sized, educational pieces. Joining me for this episode about the Stellenbosch is our in-house South African wine expert, Aaron Meeker.

    In the next 15 minutes or so, you’ll hear about the Swartland’s rise to prominence with the Great Swartland Revolution initiated by five key winemakers in the early 2000s. You’ll learn about the unique geographical and climatic factors contributing to the region's viticulture, the dominant grape varieties like Chenin Blanc and Syrah, and the distinct soils that influence the flavor profiles of these wines. You’ll also hear the names of important winemakers from the Swartland, and we’ll finish by talking about what’s new in the world of Swartland wine.

    00:16 The Swartland Revolution: Pioneers and Their Impact

    01:33 Geography and Climate: The Backbone of Swartland Viticulture

    03:02 Key Grape Varieties: Chenin Blanc and Syrah

    04:09 Unique Terroirs: Granite, Shale, and Beyond

    07:22 The People Behind the Wines: Personalities and Community

    09:11 Natural Wine Movement: Swartland's Role and Evolution

    11:07 Notable Producers: Must-Try Wines and Winemakers

    12:19 Future Prospects: Emerging Regions and Innovations

    Hosted by Charlotte Alsaadi.

    Special thanks to SNACKTIME for the music!

    Vine Street Imports Instagram | Website

  • In this episode of 'Stories from the Cellar,' we catch up with Trizanne Barnard of Trizanne Signature Wines from South Africa's Cape South Coast. We discuss current wine consumption trends and Trizanne shares her profound 'aha moment' with wine on a secluded beach, diving for oysters, solidifying her passion for the wine industry. In ten minutes, this episode perfectly captures the essence of who Trizanne is: a down-to-earth winemaker with a fierce love of the ocean and a total disinterest in status or scores. If you're looking for humble wines of place, Trizanne Signature Wines is a label for you. 01:01 Wine Consumption Trends 01:21 Generational Differences in Wine Preferences 02:58 The Cyclical Nature of Wine Trends 06:06 Trizanne's Aha Moment 09:22 Wine is Personal

    Hosted by Charlotte Alsaadi.

    Special thanks to SNACKTIME for the music!

    Vine Street Imports Instagram | Website

  • This episode with Vine Street Imports founder and CEO Ronnie Sanders delves into the evolution of Australian wine over the last 25 years. It explores the shift from the '90s highly manipulated, high alcohol content wines appreciated by critics like Robert Parker, to a modern appreciation for natural, lower alcohol content wines. Ronnie contrasts the older, bigger, and bolder styles with the fresher, more minimalist approach influenced by the natural wine movement. Highlighting both a historical perspective and current trends, Ronnie acknowledges the shifting spectrum of winemaking philosophies in Australia. Amidst these shifts, the episode also touches on his personal stories and connections in the wine industry, emphasizing how the personalities of Australian winemakers are reflected in their wines. The discussion brings out the diversity of Australian wine, underlining its global uniqueness and the value it offers across various styles.


    01:08 Reflecting on Australian Wine: A 25-Year Journey
    05:34 The Rise and Impact of Parkerization
    06:21 Championing Traditional Winemaking Amidst Trends
    08:22 The Shift Towards Lower Alcohol Content
    12:16 Exploring the Natural Wine Movement in Australia
    18:10 Generational Shifts and Future Trends
    20:25 Personalities Behind Australian Wines

    Hosted by Charlotte Alsaadi.

    Special thanks to SNACKTIME for the music!

    Vine Street Imports Instagram | Website

  • This episode with Vine Street Imports' founder and CEO, Ronnie Sanders, discusses the dynamics affecting Australian wine prices. Beginning with an overview of how market demand, rather than production cost, determines pricing, the discussion tracks the shift from the era of 'cheap and cheerful' Australian wines to today's landscape of premiumization. Key factors include the global financial downturn in 2008, supply chain challenges, rising costs of labor, expensive land and grapes, alongside environmental issues like bushfires and drought exacerbated by climate change. Ronnie reflects on the early days of Australian wine importation and the evolution of the market, emphasizing the significant increase in labor costs and other economic pressures. He advocates for strategic pricing to build and sustain wine brands, concluding with the potential of Australian wines to offer value within the global market despite higher price points. The episode argues for a reevaluation of New World biases, presenting Australian wines as competitive in quality and value against global benchmarks.


    00:37 The Evolution of Australian Wine Prices
    01:17 The Golden Age of Affordable Australian Wines
    04:47 The Shift in Australian Wine Economics
    05:13 The Rising Costs of Labor in Australia
    07:20 Navigating the Complexities of Wine Pricing
    10:59 Advice for Wine Producers on Pricing Strategies
    12:15 Finding Value in Australian Wines Amidst Global Pricing
    13:34 Concluding Thoughts on the Value of Australian Wine

    Hosted by Charlotte Alsaadi.

    Special thanks to SNACKTIME for the music!

    Vine Street Imports Instagram | Website

  • This episode of Stories from the Cellar gets into Western Australia's wine region, with a special focus on Margaret River. With insights from Ronnie Sanders, founder and CEO of Vine Street Imports and an expert in Australian wines, the podcast uncovers the geographical isolation, diverse climates, and cultural uniqueness that make Western Australia's wine regions so special. Highlighting Margaret River for its Chardonnay and Cabernet productions, the episode explores the region's history, climate influences, and its blend of Bordeaux and California characteristics, alongside a culture that combines luxury with a casual surf atmosphere. The discussion also touches on other important wine hubs in Western Australia like Pemberton, Denmark, and Franklin River, emphasizing the variety of wines produced due to the area's vast size and varied climates.

    00:29 Welcome to Stories from the Cellar: The Western Australia Wine Episode
    01:23 The Geographical and Viticultural Diversity of Western Australia
    03:25 Spotlight on Margaret River: A Premier Wine Region
    04:34 Margaret River's Unique Climate and Culture
    06:12 The Surf-Inspired Lifestyle of Margaret River
    07:28 Wrapping Up: Insights and Invitations

    Hosted by Charlotte Alsaadi.

    Special thanks to SNACKTIME for the music!

    Vine Street Imports Instagram | Website

  • In this episode, we dive deep into the world of Victorian wines, featuring Vine Street Imports founder and CEO, Ronnie Sanders. The episode highlights Victoria's distinct climate, geography, and the exceptional wine producers within the region. Ronnie shares his passion for presenting Victoria's cool climate wines, such as Pinot Noir, Chardonnay, and Syrah, which challenge the common perceptions of Australian wines. The discussion traverses through various Victorian wine regions, showcasing their unique soil types, wine styles, and standout wineries. Key areas like the Macedon Ranges, Yarra Valley, Rutherglen, and the Pyrenees are spotlighted for their innovative and diverse wine offerings. 00:29 Exploring the Unique Wines of Victoria, Australia 02:24 The Diverse Wine Regions Surrounding Melbourne 04:33 Highlighting Exceptional Australian Winemakers 04:58 Personal Anecdotes and the Impact of Victoria's Wines

    Hosted by Charlotte Alsaadi.

    Special thanks to SNACKTIME for the music!

    Vine Street Imports Instagram | Website

  • This episode featuring Ronnie Sanders, the founder and CEO of Vine Street Imports, focuses on wines from South Australia. Ronnie shares his extensive knowledge on the subject, discussing the history, key regions like McLaren Vale and Barossa, notable grape varieties, the influence of climate and soils, and the pioneering of the natural wine movement in the Adelaide Hills. He also emphasizes the importance of old vine material, the diverse winemaking talent fostered by the University of Adelaide, and touches on personal relationships and stories intertwined with South Australia's wine industry. The podcast aims to provide educational insights into the complexities and distinctions of South Australian wines, celebrating its significance in the global wine landscape.


    00:47 The Genesis of Vine Street Imports
    01:07 Exploring Australian Wine: A Series Overview
    01:33 Deep Dive into South Australia's Wine Scene
    02:28 The Significance of McLaren Vale and Barossa
    03:13 The Rich Diversity of South Australian Wines
    08:09 Understanding the Impact of Soil on Wine
    09:42 The Role of Education in South Australia's Wine Industry
    10:42 Personal Connections and Closing Thoughts

    Hosted by Charlotte Alsaadi.

    Special thanks to SNACKTIME for the music!

    Vine Street Imports Instagram | Website

  • This episode is the second half of our conversation with Johan Meyer (also known as Stompie) from Mother Rock and J.H. Meyer Signature Wines based in the Swartland, South Africa. Here, we dive into his wines and why the Cape needs to diversify beyond old vine Chenin Blanc. We also talk about the new wine of origin appellation called Picket-bo-berg that he’s created at his home estate on top of the Piketberg Mountain. Plus, we end with the story of why Stompie is called Stompie. We’ll pick up our conversation where we left off, talking about how Chenin Blanc allows him a little bit more creativity than Chardonnay, and why this desire to make something outside the box led him to become South Africa’s first producer to receive the special invite to the ‘Brutal!’ club of winemakers, a label that is very much a part of the global natural wine movement today.

    Hosted by Charlotte Alsaadi.

    Special thanks to SNACKTIME for the music!

    Vine Street Imports Instagram | Website

  • Today's episode is with Johan Meyer (also known as Stompie) from Mother Rock and J.H. Meyer Signature Wines based in the Swartland, South Africa. If you’re privy to the natural wine scene in the Cape, you’ll know these labels without a doubt. I often hear people say that there are three guys that really put natural wine on the map in South Africa and that is Johan Meyer, Jurgen Gouws of Intellego (there’s an episode with him a few back) and Craig Hawkins of Lammershoek and Testalonga.

    In this episode, you’ll hear how Stompie got into natural wine, and how it wasn’t always what he did. At the beginning, he was working for a big commercial winery called Sutter Home – you might have heard of it – out in California. After another stint at a smaller winery in New Zealand, plus a transformative experience at Matassa in Southern France – a natural wine project started by Tom Lubbe, a New Zealander who grew up in South Africa South – Stompie returned home determined to do his own thing. He shares how the Swartland Revolution which took place around 2010 helped pave the way for newcomers like himself, and how at that time, there was a huge gap in the market for affordable natural wine made at scale. Enter: Mother Rock Wines.

    That is all part 1 of my conversation with Stompie. In Part 2, we talk more about the wines, including his 'Brutal!' series, which is a natural wine “club” of sorts, to which Stompie was the first South African producer ever invited. You’ll also hear about the new wine of origin appellation that he has established at his high elevation home on the Piketberg Mountain, about two and a half hours north of Cape Town. Plus, stick around for the end of part 2 where you’ll hear why Stompie is called Stompie.

    To begin the story, we need to go all the way back to Stompie’s childhood in the Garden Route, where the dominant type of farming was not of grapes, but of cows...

    Hosted by Charlotte Alsaadi.

    Special thanks to SNACKTIME for the music!

    Vine Street Imports Instagram | Website

  • This episode is a compilation of interviews with the Cowley brothers: Ben, the viticulturist, and Luc, the winemaker.

    For some excellent context on Ben’s backstory, go back and listen to the episode just before this one. It tells the story of how he made the switch from the film industry to wine, and how, at the beginning when he moved from Auckland to his parents' new Auntsfield estate, he was living in a primitive woolshed on the property that still had the slats for manure to fall through while the sheep were being sheared. You’ll also hear about Ben’s thoughts on how Marlborough became synonymous with Sauvignon Blanc, and his take on new wave New Zealand.

    Today, we’re diving into the place and the wines. You'll hear about the history of Auntsfield as Marlborough's first commercial winery. You'll hear what makes the Southern Valleys particularly well suited to Pinot Noir, and why it makes less herbaceous styles of Sauvignon Blanc. And you'll hear about the new Appellation Marlborough map that is the first of its kind to highlight the subregional differences in Marlborough.

    This is an excellent episode if you're curious about the climate, soils, and history of Marlborough!

    Hosted by Charlotte Alsaadi.

    Special thanks to SNACKTIME for the music!

    Vine Street Imports Instagram | Website

  • Today's episode is with Ben Cowley, the viticulturist at Auntsfield Estate based in the southern valleys of Marlborough, New Zealand. Auntsfield is unique in Marlborough for two main reasons. First, they put a heavy focus on their Pinot Noir production in an industry that is almost entirely focused on Sauvignon Blanc. Unlike many Marlborough vineyards, Pinot Noir makes up half of Auntsfield’s vineyard area, as it’s particularly well suited to the old clay hillsides found there. Second, Auntsfield was the first commercial winery to be established in Marlborough in the late 1800s. A Scottish immigrant named David Herd planted his first vines in 1873 at a time when most agricultural work had to do with sheep, not wine.

    As you’ll hear Ben explain, wine was made at Auntsfield until the 1930s when prohibition kicked in and the vineyard closed. Fast forward about 70 years, and Ben’s parents Graeme and Linda bought the property and restored the wine estate with the help of their sons, Ben, the viticulturist, and Luc, the winemaker. Before getting into wine, Graeme and Linda were movers and shakers in the New Zealand film industry, having been the first people to rent motion picture cameras, which kick started the independent filmmaker movement. Ben followed in their footsteps and was working in the film industry in Auckland before his second career in wine. As you’ll hear, an unsteady freelance paycheck and a newborn baby got Ben and his wife thinking about their futures, and then a house break in was the straw that broke the camel’s back. They packed up their car and headed to the south island on the fateful day of September 11th, 2001.

    In this episode, you’ll hear all of those stories, plus we’ll get into New Zealand's wine scene – the challenges, the cool stuff happening, and the balance between old-school and next-gen. We talk about why the Cowleys are so passionate about Pinot Noir, and why Marlborough became synonymous with Sauvignon Blanc. For a deeper dive into the wines and the site, check out the episode just after this one with both Ben and Luc. But first, the story of Auntsfield as told by Ben, who could never have imagined such a dramatic switch from film to wine...

    Hosted by Charlotte Alsaadi.

    Special thanks to SNACKTIME for the music!

    Vine Street Imports Instagram | Website

  • This is the second half of ourconversation with Louis Schofield from Worlds Apart Wines. Part 1 is integral for understanding who Louis is thanks to the mentors, especially Taras Ochota, who helped shape his winemaking identity today. You should really start there if you haven’t listened already. In this episode, we go into more depth with Louis’ Worlds Apart wines. We cover the extraordinary places that they come from, why Louis believes that “in South Australia, the path to Burgundian style winemaking is not paved with Pinot but with Grenach,” as well as his thoughts on the challenges and opportunities present within the Australian wine industry today.

    To jump back in, we’ll start with the meaning behind the name, Worlds Apart.

    Hosted by Charlotte Alsaadi.

    Special thanks to SNACKTIME for the music!

    Vine Street Imports Instagram | Website

  • Today's episod is with Louis Schofield from Worlds Apart Wines based in Adelaide Hills, Australia. Louis is a jack-of-all trades wine industry legend who spent a decade working in fine wine retail and dining, including at the acclaimed Orana and East End Cellars. He was content in that world, until he met one of his biggest mentors, the late Taras Ochota of Ochota Barrels. Taras was a mover and shaker who is widely credited as having been the impetus behind South Australia’s new wave. His style can be summed up as punk, boundary-pushing, minimalist, small-batch wines. Or, as Taras puts it, “I reckon you can often see the styles of music people like in the wines they make. I like edgy music, rawer, sharper, and my wines tend to be all elbows and knees sticking out."

    Louis met Taras when he was working at East End Cellars, and he was was quick to accept when a friend alerted him that Taras was looking for harvest workers. Seven years later, Louis is still an integral part of the Ochota Barrels production, helping Taras’ wife Amber in the cellar after Taras’ tragic passing in 2020.

    At first, Louis was reticent about starting his own label. “There were enough people making shit wine without me doing it too,” he told me. But with a bit of a nudge from Taras, Louis and his now wife, Hannah, co-founded Worlds Apart in 2017. Their wines could technically be called natural, with no additives but minimal sulfur, but they avoid rigid dogma and focus on crafting wines that are pure, vibrant, and most importantly, speak of place. They source grapes from all over South Australia, notably McLaren Vale, Adelaide Hills, and Eden Valley. You’re going to find verve and energy in Louis wines, a bit of texture in the whites, and lacy tannins in the focused reds.

    In this episode, which is part one of two, Louis and I talk about his experiences at Orana, East End Cellars, Ochota Barrels, and even that time he did a harvest in Arizona with Maynard James Keenan from Tool. We talk a lot about Taras, and the impact he and Amber continue to have on Louis’ wine identity. There are some really special memories that Louis shares in here, and having never met Taras myself, I feel really lucky to have gotten to hear firsthand from someone who knew him so well.

    In part two, we talk a little bit more about Louis wines, and the extraordinary places that they come from, why Louis believes that “in South Australia, the path to Burgundian style winemaking is not paved with Pinot, it's paved with Grenach,” as well as his thoughts on the challenges and opportunities present within the Australian wine industry today.

    To start our conversation, we begin with how Louis got into winemaking in the first place. It was a circuitous route, starting with a job in music, and briefly, shed engineering


    Hosted by Charlotte Alsaadi.

    Special thanks to SNACKTIME for the intro music!

    Vine Street Imports Instagram | Website

  • This episode is with Matt Gant from Gant & Co. wines based in Karridale at the southern tip of Margaret River in Western Australia. This is the second half of our conversation with Matt – go back and listen to Part 1 if you haven’t already. In this episode, we dive into the wines in more detail as well as the special place that Matt now calls home. Plus, why Australia's past is it's biggest challenge...

    Hosted by Charlotte Alsaadi.

    Special thanks to SNACKTIME for the music!

    Vine Street Imports Instagram | Website