The Week in Wine
Get all the latest wine news stories in time for your Monday morning commute.
A weekly run-down on the latest news in wine and spirits, covering top stories and breaking news from the team at Wine-Searcher.com.
Hosted by editor Don Kavanaugh and wine writer and winemaker Oliver Styles
Episodes
38 episodes
The Week in Wine Episode 47
Don moves from a delightful Cuba Libre to a pensive sipping Rum, while Olly is sent a 6-bottle case of wines to review from Central Otago. The top story of the last 7 days is that which covers the "Napa needs to bulldoze vineyards" while Olly's...
The Week in Wine Episode 46
Don has a delicious Douro red from Niepoort to discuss before we talk about the top story this week: an impressive selection of best value California wines that cover a range of regions, varieties, styles and labels. We also discuss stories on ...
The Week in Wine Episode 45
Pinot Blanc seems to be increasing its profile of late, with Don tasting a nice example from Alsace this weekend and Olly getting asked about the grape on the fencing piste! Olly enjoyed a Hawke's Bay Albariño over the weekend.This week,...
The Week in Wine Episode 44
Don drinks an Alsace blend from New Zealand producer Yealands while our end-of-month roundup is dominated by spirits headlines, with value Tequila and high-end Bourbon grabbing much of the attention in June. Bordeaux prices, the news that the w...
The Week in Wine Episode 43
Don has a Guinness with the rugby and Olly has a light red wine blend from a small producer in New Zealand (Halite). Don asks if winemaking nations correlate to soccer success and we look at some of the great, best-value Tequilas on the market ...
The Week in Wine Episode 42
US soft diplomacy hits Don via a bottle of Elijah Craig Small Batch Bourbon while Olly is still enjoying the aftertaste of a Barolo from Rivetto. The best-value Tequilas tops our most-read stories of the week, closely followed by a fascinating ...
The State of Wine in the USA Special
Star Wars, Soundgarden and My Chemical Romance? Wine-Searcher's US Editor W. Blake Gray talks to Don and Olly about the current state of wine in the United States.Blake looks at the state of the Californian wine industry (with a particul...
Bordeaux En Primeur 2025 Weather Special
"Two Englishmen talking about the weather..." Wine-Searcher's editor Don Kavanaugh bravely entertains David Allen MW and Olly Styles as the pair battle it out over the effects of the weather in the 2025 Bordeaux growing season.In the blu...
The Week in Wine Episode 41
Don lauds a pair of 'workhorse' wines (a Côtes de Rhône and a Californian Zinfandel) while Olly enjoys a steely Riesling from the Saar. Two pieces this week tickle Don's fancy: wine's reluctance to engage in a class-based discussion (all while ...
The Week in Wine Episode 40
Our list of best-value Bourbon has readers arriving in droves, all while the main wine news continues to swirl around just how well (or not) the wine industry is doing, globally. Other stories in the last 7 days include a group of wine investor...
The Week in Wine Episode 39
End of Month special! Too many wineries in California is the story that continues to dominate the headlines, alongside En Primeur coverage from Bordeaux. The best value Sauvignon Blancs of 2026 gets eyeballs while Mexico's push to shout down pr...
The Week in Wine Episode 38 - hopes and fears in the US wine market
The week is dominated by interest in the US wine market, with three W. Blake Grey stories driving readership. The stories span the current state of the market with recommendations that the number of wineries in the US drop to accommodate the si...
The Week in Wine Episode 37 - Free Trade
When did supermarket wine labels start featuring their flavor profile prominently on their labels? Is the US three-tier wine distribution system unconstitutional? Recent rulings on Ohio may bring this question to the fore. Don't shoot the messe...
Beyoncé in the market for Château Palmer? The Week in Wine Episode 36
Is the world moving back towards big red wines, or is it just a generational thing? Don and Olly represent both parties this week with a big Argentinian Malbec from Bodegas Estancia and an unusual California blend from Extradimensional Wi...
The Week in Wine Episode 35
End-of-Month bumper issue! Don drinks a cyclone wine (Te Mata Awatea 2023) from Hawke's Bay's Cyclone Gabrielle vintage while Olly has a delicious Petit Chablis. We review the top stories of the week (our most-wanted Napa wines story blows them...
Was Robert Parker Bordeaux's best advertiser? The Week in Wine Episode 34
Don opens rosé as a crowd pleaser to some dogged palates while Olly opens a De Moor Chablis for a mate. The most-wanted Tequilas tops our news stats this week while California hogs the rest of the limelight. Don looks at the latest out of Napa ...
Do All Napa Cabs Taste the Same? The Week in Wine Episode 33
Don drinks a delicious Gamay while Olly has a Sauvignon Blanc from Italy and a fantastic Saumur rouge which leads to a confession about Cabernet Franc. We kick off quite a long list of bad news with Napa Cabernet and a recent article claiming t...
The Week in Wine Episode 32
Don finds contentment in two very different places: Martinborough Pinot Noir and Jim Barry Cabernet Sauvignon (and Shiraz). Olly has a magnum of Côte du Puy and a Dauvissat Chablis. Against the backdrop of a bottle of 1945 Romanée-Conti going f...
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 Marlboro...
The Week in Wine Episode 30
The Hawke's Bay harvest is looking excellent (so far!), while Don is disappointed by a recent Mondavi Cabernet and Olly regrets a lager. The biggest story of the last seven days is that of California's much-reduced grape harvest while our Most ...
The Week in Wine Episode 29
Don prepares for St Patrick's Day by limbering up with Guinness while Olly drinks a delicious 2020 Puligny-Montrachet 1er Cru from Etienne Sauzet. The Most Wanted Chardonnays and the Most Wanted New Zealand wines top the reader statistics...
The Week in Wine Episode 28
Don enjoys wine as beverage this weekend while Olly has a Langhe bianco that was delicious, but from an unusual combination of grapes. The Most-Wanted Chardonnays tops the readers' favourite articles this week with Don also enjoying a story abo...
The Week in Wine Episode 27
Don drinks a 100-point wine and we have a look at the implications therein, including asking if we will ever see the likes of Robert Parker's influence in the wine world again. The news that Piedmont is facing crisis dominates readership figure...
The Week in Wine Episode 26
Unpretentious rosé and wines, nominally for aging, drunk too early. Don and Olly discuss the latest US Supreme Court ruling on tariffs (and what - if anything - this means for the wine trade). The Domaine de la Romanée-Conti tasting story keeps...
The Week in Wine Episode 25
Don drinks a delicious McLaren Vale Shiraz while Olly has a lovely 'Carignane' from Lodi. Don talks Napa Merlot, RTDs taking over the drinks space, an oversupply of agave in Tequila and the latest from the Domaine de la Romanée-Conti tastings. ...