Alicia Towns Franken is a Co-Founder of Towns Wine Co. and the Executive Director of Wine Unify.Alicia discusses her upbringing in Chicago and her introduction to wine in college. She then segways into describing her role as the Head Sommelier at Grill 23 & Bar in Boston, Massachusetts during the 1990s and early 2000s. Alicia talks about the bigger themes of her career, including inclusion, mentorship, building community, being hospitable, building long term relationships, and being a woman supportive of other women. She also talks about the differences between the 1990s and now in the wine world.Alicia details how the experiences in her life affected and shaped her work, and how she organized her life as a parent raising two children. She identifies the connecting thread of her mentorship in the wine world and the parenting in her personal life. She discusses what makes a good mentor, and what support and scaffolding can achieve for mentees. She further addresses the challenges and rewards of personal and work transitions. Alicia stresses the importance of education, as well as the need to welcome more people into the wine world.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Neil Empson is the founder of Empson & Co., an exporter of wines from Italy and other countries.Neil, who was born in New Zealand in 1939, recounts his youthful days driving fast, reselling Ferraris, and meeting with intelligence officers. He talks about meeting his wife Maria, who convinced him to move to Italy and take up the wine business there, founding a company for wine export. And he recalls his first sale of wine to the United States, a Chianti that was sold to Trader Joe's. At that time, back in the early 1970s, Neil recognized the potential for Italian wine sales in the United States. He both exported the first Italian wine labelled Chardonnay to the United States, and coined the term "Super Tuscan".Neil discusses the changes in the market for Italian wine in the United States in the intervening decades since the 1970s. He also talks about his relationships with key Italian wine producers, such as Angelo Gaja (Gaja), Beppe Colla (Prunotto), Elvio Cogno (Marcarini), Sergio Manetti (Montevertine), Emilio Costanti (Conti Costanti), Alberico Boncompagni Ludovisi (Fiorano), Silvio Jermann (Jermann), and Ampelio Bucci (Bucci). He touches on the rise of varietal wines made with Chardonnay, Merlot, and Cabernet Sauvignon in Italy. He addresses the changes in cooperage that happened in Tuscany around the same time. Neil also discusses his relationships selling Sassicaia, discovering Poderi Luigi Einaudi, bringing Cantina Santadi Shardana to market, and his memories of oenologists like Giorgio Grai, Giacomo Tachis, and Vittorio Fiore. He also touches on Luigi Veronelli and what Neil learned from Veronelli's writing.As the interview wraps up, Neil talks about some of the difficult moments in his career selling Italian wines for export, opening up about his feelings around producers that have left his portfolio as well as the difficulty of collecting payments.This episode features commentary from:Angelo Gaja, GajaAmpelio Bucci, BucciSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Jean-Emmanuel Simond is a writer and wine critic for "La Revue du vin de France", covering the Côte de Nuits of Burgundy and Alsace. He is also a co-owner of wine importer Oenotropie. He is based in Paris, France.Jean-Emmanuel describes a chance introduction to fine, old wine and the subsequent revelation he had about wine. He discusses a key period for his wine experience that happened while he was living in New York City in the late 1990s, where he met Joe Dressner. He explains that in his role selling bottles from Natural wine pioneers to restaurants and wine shops in Manhattan that he learned about the wine philosophy and outlook of Joe Dressner and the vigneron he represented, at a time when there were few Natural wine producers. Jean-Emmanuel talks about tasting little known wines from the Loire Valley and the south of France, and how he recognized those as something artisanal and local, and wines with a sense of place.Jean-Emmanuel next describes his transition back to France, and then to writing and reviewing wine for "La Revue du vin de France" magazine, something he has done since 2005. He emphasizes that he is drawn to the side of wine writing that is about making discoveries, while covering diverse regions like the Côte de Nuits and Alsace. He contrasts the positions of Burgundy and Alsace in the market, with strong demand following the wines of Burgundy, but with Alsace being perceived as stylistically out of fashion, despite the emphasis on organic and Biodynamic farming there. Jean-Emmanuel goes on to describe a global fashion for lean, crisp white wines drunk too young, a trend which he finds frustrating. He cites a lack of aged white wine bottles on restaurant wine lists and suggests that white wine producers should hold back bottles longer in their own cellars. He then goes on to suggest that a fashion for underripe white wines from across many different wine regions has resulted in white wines that have been made in a way that emphasizes acidity over ageability, arguing that white wines from riper vintages will age better.Jean-Emmanuel strongly believes that global warming has helped improve the quality of Pinot Noir grapes for red Burgundy today, and he discusses this while comparing and contrasting the red Burgundy vintages of 2019, 2020, and 2021. He addresses the role of chaptalization in Burgundy today, and also raises that point that with climate change and riper grapes, the growers are finding that they cannot work in the same way that they used to. He postulates that more acidity in wines can result from adjusting work in the vineyards. He also covers current trends for red Burgundy in whole cluster use and for the level of extraction. He touches on how the timing of malolactic conversion can affect the build of a red Burgundy. He also describes how adjustments to canopy and trellising in the vineyards may affect wine quality and texture. He further touches on the importance of lees contact for red Burgundy, and how Burgundians are moving away from pumping grapes and juice, and towards an increased interest in bottling barrel by barrel. He talks about learning about wine by tasting in Burgundy cellars, and what that has been like for him. He also postulates more unpredictability and small yields in Burgundy in the future, as a result of further climate change.Jean-Emmanuel highlights the quality and value of Pinot Noir from Alsace today, suggesting that this is not always noticed because of the image of the region for white wines. He covers some of the different styles of Pinot Noir being made in Alsace today, and talks about why consumers should buy them.He also discusses his import business, which imports Italian wines into France for French consumers.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Levi Dalton speaks with three Ukrainians about the struggles faced by winemakers and winery owners amongst the warfare in Ukraine.Alla Plachkova discusses fleeing Kyiv as bombs begin to fall on the city in 2022. She talks about rescuing her mother and fleeing south inside Ukraine as warfare stretches across the country. She shares the fears she felt as a mother trying to protect her children, and the terror she felt as bombs fell and planes roared over her home. Alla talks as well about her family's decision to open their home to refugees fleeing the war.Alla talks about the roots of her husband's family, and his founding of a winery near Odessa. She talks about the success her husband found with Odessa Black, a grape variety specifically associated with Ukraine. She also touches on the success the winery has had in bringing tourists to the region it was founded in. She finishes with a strong statement of ideals about the freedom of the Ukrainian people.Sergiy Klimov covers the recent development of Ukrainian wines since the early 2000s, as well as the ancient roots of winemaking in the country stretching back thousands of years. He describes a history where winemaking has at times flourished in the area, while it has been restricted or suppressed at other times. He also touches on the different winemaking regions of Ukraine today. Sergiy describes what it is like to sell Ukrainian wines to people who have never had it before, and gives a rationale for the recent rapid quality development for winemaking in the country.Anna Gorkun talks about the difficulties faced by a wine business in Ukraine today, and about adjusting business strategies to cope with a country that has seen waves of turmoil from warfare and the pandemic. She also talks about what her own business is trying to achieve. Anna further gives her assessment of Ukraine's shift towards the west, and of Volodymyr Zelensky, Ukraine's President.This episode features commentary from:Alla Plachkova, Kolonist WinesSergiy Klimov, the author of "The Untold Story of Ukrainian Wine"Anna Gorkun, 46 Parallel Wine GroupNOTE: This episode contains discussions that may be disturbing for children. Parental discretion is advised.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Patrick Campbell was the owner of Laurel Glen Vineyard on Sonoma Mountain in California, a winery he sold in 2011. He began the Tierra Divina Vineyards company, which encompasses the Terra Rosa, REDS, !ZaZin, and Tierra Divina wine labels, among others. The Tierra Divina Vineyards brands include wine labels from Lodi in California, from Argentina, and previously from Chile.Patrick talks about growing up in Southern California in the 1950s and 60s, and his early experiences drinking wine with his family as a teenager. He talks about visiting wineries in the Cucamonga Valley of California during the period of the time when that was a prominent appellation for California wine production. And he sums up the kind of wines that were being made in the Cucamonga Valley area at that time.Patrick talks about his increasing engagement with his religious feelings, which would eventually lead him to study the Philosophy of Religion at Harvard University, and to then join a Zen Buddhist Center in Sonoma, California. He makes a connection between religious feeling and farming, and talks about his work pruning old vine Palomino at the Zen Center. When a vineyard then came up for sale near the Zen Center on Sonoma Mountain, Patrick bought it and expanded the acreage. In the process he learned about the history of immigration to Sonoma Mountain, spoke with many of the interesting characters who called the Mountain home, and took an increasing interest in wines from the area.Patrick describes the vine growing conditions of Sonoma Mountain, and discusses his early days as a grape grower in the late 1970s. He talks about learning how to prune. He contrasts his business experiences with Chateau St. Jean with the more positive outcome he had selling grapes to Kenwood Vineyards. He discusses the vintages of the 1970s and 1980s on Sonoma Mountain, some of which were more successful than others. And he details his shift from just selling grapes to then making wine and selling it under his own label.The grape material at Laurel Glen and the Laurel Glen clone are discussed, and so are the market preferences for California wine in the 1980s. Patrick talks about the setup of his winery in the early days, and details his use of punching down to maximize contact between juice and skins. He also stresses the importance of tannin management when dealing with Mountain Cabernet. He emphasizes that he is not a university trained winemaker, and talks about winemaking as a process of controlled spoilage. He explains facets of his technique, such as his approach to maceration, pressing, and cooperage at the time. And then the conversation takes a turn, as Patrick describes his increasing interest in bulk wine, in marketing bulk wine from California, and then subsequently developing projects in Chile, followed after that by a long period of working with wine from Argentina.Patrick talks about Argentina as a relatively little known wine region at the time he first visited it, and shares his experience of first trying a wine from Malbec. He then covers the situation for winemaking in Argentina during that period, and the social, economic, and political realities that he witnessed as well. Patrick contrasts the wine culture and society of Chile at that time with what he witnessed in Argentina, and then describes the boom period for Argentinian Malbec in the global wine market, as well as what happened next. Patrick enunciates a philosophy in step with and taking cues from local winemaking traditions, while also being frank about his embrace of modern winemaking techniques and methods. He further discusses the market for the wines.Patrick's involvement with the push for expanded direct shipping of wine in the United States comes into the discussion, and he talks about the numerous strategy sessions, the different partnerships, and the approaches that were developed in the run up to a United States Supreme Court verdict on the question of direct shipping from wineries to out of state customers. He then addresses the ramifications of that 2005 decision on the wine market of today,There is a forthright discussion about Patrick's decision to sell Laurel Glen Vineyard, as well as some sage advice for young people just starting out in the winemaking business today. Patrick also speaks about the severe illness that left him partially paralyzed for life, with limited mobility.Erin Scala also describes in this episode the background to Granholm v. Heald, the US Supreme Court decision which had large ramifications for direct shipping of wine inside in the United States after it was decided in 2005. This was the court case in which Patrick Campbell was involved, along with a group of other people who were looking for the expansion of direct shipping opportunities for wine.This episode features commentary from:Mike Chelini, formerly winemaker at Stony Hill VineyardRay Coursen, founding winemaker at Elyse WineryRandall Grahm, founding winemaker at Bonny Doon VineyardJoel Peterson, founding winemaker at Ravenswood WineryDavid Rafanelli, A. Rafanelli WinerySee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.