New news episode 18

Don drinks Rioja Gran Reserva and gin while Olly enjoys skin-fermented Semillion from Sonoma. We look over a stunning run of vintages in Barolo and talk about wine being aged (and made) in space. Don is slightly unimpressed with the ice and whiskey debate and wonders if writers shouldn't take more of a position on their subjects. We talk about the "Grand Cru Gang" theft trial in Bordeaux; look at murmurs in Burgundy (that things might not be so rosy and that wine tourism in the region might not be doing so well); the Georgian Prime Minister's gift of wine to the Pope (and we ask if the Swiss Guard is the most wine-savvy military force in the world); another wine destination in Pauillac; Spain exports on a slow downward trend; still more on Argentina's deregulation of the wine industry; and a politician caught drink-driving in Mendoza. We also touch on Chardonnay Rose being admitted into Champagne, Gaza being the centre of the ancient wine trade, uprooting in the Loire and the state of wine news in December.