The Week in Wine Episode 31

Don has a weekend of barbeque wines while Olly asks low-end Pinot Noir winemakers to stop trying to make a wine that Pinot Noir isn't – and asks for recommendations for enjoyable, cheap, honest Pinot Noir outside of his usual region of Marlborough, New Zealand! We face the possibility that more than one person might be listening to us and Don runs down the top wine stories of the last seven days, including: the passing of global wine consultant Michel Rolland; Tanzania, the Codex Alimentarius, Russia and the continued workings of the neo-prohibitionist movement; the now-troubled legacy of Californian union boss César Chavez (and whether wine publications should stop lionizing people); and did it all start going downhill after David Bowie died? Olly looks at the Brown-Forman and Pernod merger talks, the 600 year-old Pinot Noir seed in a toilet; a third "Clos" label on the cards for Krug; France gets hit by frost; Catholic natural wine served at mass in Monaco; the Middle East conflict worries Mendoza winemakers; the 40th anniversary of the Godello revival; the Revue du Vin de France gives its verdict on the best 'universal' wine glass (and what is the word for being prejudiced against stemless wine glasses – please write in and let us know?); and the Bordeaux barrel hire firm going into administration. Olly gets pessimistic about the wine world but we have En Primeur coverage and a fantastic piece by Randall Grahm to look forward to in the near future.