Wine News
A weekly run-down on the latest news in wine and spirits from the team at wine-searcher.com. Hosted by editor Don Kavanaugh and wine writer and winemaker Oliver Styles
Episodes
29 episodes
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. ...
The Week in Wine Episode 24
Montepulciano and the wonder of southern Italian red wines. Calvados and the flavour (or otherwise) of fruits in spirits. This week, Don and Olly discuss the California wineries for sale (and why it appears no-one is buying them). RTDs surge in...
The Week in Wine episode 23
Don waxes lyrical about the beauties of Chenin Blanc while Olly has a whiskey, distilled in Scotland and aged in Burgundy in Sherry barrels. Despite the 2024 Burgundy harvest report, this is a generally bad news week where we ask if we're maybe...
The Week in Wine episode 22
Don drinks a spectacular Champagne and Olly has a delicious Pinot Noir. This week's podcast covers the 2024 vintage in Burgundy and asks whether winemakers are especially honest about the weather and the struggles when their wines are good. The...
Wine News Episode 21
Don drinks an Elijah Craig Rye while Olly celebrates a birthday with grower Champagne. The suicide in Bordeaux and Silicon Valley Bank's bleak prognosis top the most-read wine news stories in what has been a relatively bleak week. Only Oregon C...
Episode 20
To kick off 2026, Don rediscovers his love of Mosel Riesling and Olly loves a California Chardonnay that's not your regular California Chardonnay. Meanwhile, a look over the top stories of the festive season proves that the big-name wines aren'...
Wine News episode 19
Don returns to an old favourite – oaked Chardonnay; the multi-faceted beauty of Albariño; and varietal labeling – are we past that stage yet? This week's big stories spanned an interview with Napa winemaking power couple Philippe and Cherie Mel...
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 whi...
Wine News episode 17
Old (wine) favourites (Australian Shiraz joins California Chardonnay in Don's glass this weekend); why on earth should you/you should drink non-alcoholic beer; chucking it all in to make wine; US spirits hit doldrums overseas (is the current ad...
Wine News episode 16
Don rediscovers an old friend; unmemorable wines; has wine reached rock-bottom; Elon Musk, trillionaires, and would the wine world be better with a more affluent middle class (is the wine market a reflection of a shrinking middle class?). Are S...