The Vinimark Podcast – Details, episodes & analysis

Tim Atkin has just completed his 12th South African Wine Report, including notes on more than 2200 wines. 

Jono sat down with Tim to mine out some of the most important themes in the report, including his discovery of exciting new winemakers and positive winemaking trends. Conversely, Tim also shares a few notes where he feels that South African wine could do better. 

In this episode, Jono chats to the supremely eloquent Elleunorah Allsopp, the Senior Researcher at Nietvoorbij Research Farm.

Elleunorah shares the fascinating history of how the vine parasite Phylloxera conquered the world, and why no one is safe just yet…!

In our latest podcast episode titled Future-Focussed Wine Brands, Jono speaks to Lulie Halstead, CEO of Wine Intelligence about her incredibly useful framework for helping wine producers and brands be more future-focussed, and strategically position themselves for maximum commercial success during the decade heading up to 2030.

She identified six elements: Awareness / Availability / Accountability / An accommodating mindset / Affluence and Adaptability. It's been four years since Lulie shared this framework and with CAPEWINE2022 just around the corner, it felt like a good time to take stock of her Six A's, to see how they're holding up.

In this Vinimark podcast episode titled The Fine Wine Debate, we speak to CEO of the Areni Global Institute, Pauline Vicard, about her wine industry study: “The Future of the Fine Wine Consumer”.

Together we try to figure out where South Africa’s top-tier wines fit into the global picture of fine wine. We grapple with what the term “fine wine” actually means, and explore how a “nice wine” may be different to a “good wine”. Pauline shares her own thoughts on the definition, as well as what global wine critics and industry professionals deem of utmost importance when distinguishing “fine wine” from everything else. 

In the second of our two-part series titled The Fine Wine Debate, we continue the conversation with Areni Global Institute CEO, Pauline Vicard.

In this final episode, we explore what it means to declare wine as a “cultural product”. Pauline shares more on how the consumer mindset differs slightly to the industry mindset when it comes to deciding which wines are “fine” and which ones are not. 

In this two-part series titled The Fine Wine Debate, we speak to CEO of the Areni Global Institute, Pauline Vicard, about her wine industry study: “The Future of the Fine Wine Consumer”.

Together we try to figure out where South Africa’s top-tier wines fit into the global picture of fine wine. We grapple with what the term “fine wine” actually means, and explore how a “nice wine” may be different to a “good wine”. Pauline shares her own thoughts on the definition, as well as what global wine critics and industry professionals deem of utmost importance when distinguishing “fine wine” from everything else. 

As part of Women’s Month, Jono sits down with Felicity Carter to discuss everything from the structure of the female brain - and the dangers of genetic determinism - through to the fine wine scene in China, and how it offers a glimmer of hope for female wine lovers.

Felicity is an enormously experienced wine journalist who has been writing on wine around the world for over twenty years. Her wealth of experience delivers superb insights into some of the challenges surrounding marketing wine to women, and how the emerging generation of female estate owners may just be the thing to shift the power balance for the better.

In this episode, Jono speaks to Robert Joseph – wine critic-turned producer, industry-analyst and consultant. Joseph shares very practical ideas on how businesses in the on-trade sphere can use their own customers' behavioural data to run more strategic businesses in these tough COVID conditions. Joseph’s background in hospitality, as well as his international experience as a consultant, delivers countless “why-didn’t-I-think-of-that?” moments that will give on-trade operators in South Africa plenty of food for thought.

In the latest Vinimark Podcast episode, Jono talks to the enigmatic Callie Louw - the custodian, farmer and winemaker at Porseleinberg, about the effects of drought, both in the vineyards, and also in the glass.

Whether one is a wine drinker or not, most of us understand that, when it comes to farming,  drought is a bad thing. But wine lovers will know that vines are at their best in marginal environments, where everyday life for the plant is a struggle. This point is never more obvious than when we look at how many of South Africa's most exciting wines come out of some very harsh and dry environments. 2015 - 2017 were some of the driest years on record in the Western Cape, but the 2015 and 2017 vintage were also touted as two of the most exciting vintages of the decade.

In this episode of the Vinimark Podcast, we talk to Rosa Kruger, the founder of the Old Vine Project (OVP) here in South Africa. Rosa shares some fascinating insights, and puts Jono in his place on more than one occasion! They discuss the OVP's exciting new projects, talk about the need for a culture of viticulture and explore the scientific studies that show just how different old vine wines are to their younger counterparts.

The discussion touches on the blindtasting of old vine wines, explores consumer behaviour in the sales of old vines, and covers the secret life of vines. Are grape vines sentient? Can vines communicate through the soil? Find out here!