Born in England, Gary Walsh moved to Australia with his family and after completing his studies moved back to the United Kingdom. Working in London in the IT industry, he discovered a love of wine and an interest in discussing it. Once back in Australia he launched his own wine review site before joining forces with Campbell Mattinson and launching The Wine Front. This website was ahead of its time in providing content behind a paywall, and it has become one of the most active and visited wine w...
Jul 24, 2021•1 hr 4 min
Growing up, Giuseppe Russo didn't have much interest in the vineyards his farther and grandfather lovingly tended on the northern slopes of Mt Etna, particularly as the wine they made in the cellar under their house was being sold as bulk wine. He followed his passion for music, studying in nearby Catania then nurturing young musicians as a teacher, the same way his father Girolamo tended the family vines. When Giuseppe's father passed away suddenly he made the decision to honour him by not only...
Oct 16, 2020•1 hr 9 min
When James Audas became part of the sommelier team at Noma (one of the top restaurants in the world) it caused a bit of a stir back home in Australia, particularly as he was then only 24 years old. In fact he had already earned his stripes working for Tetsuya Wakuda both in Sydney and Singapore, before taking a position at Black by Ezard. Upon returning home from Denmark he launched an imports company with fellow sommelier Tom Sheer named Lo-Fi Wines, that tapped into a small but growing market ...
Oct 04, 2020•1 hr 13 min
Though not born in Australia, Dave Bicknells family most certainly embraced their Australian life when they brought him here as a child. He is a self-professed lover of a good time, so after initially starting a career as an EMT it's perhaps unsurprising that he ended up working in the wine industry. Formative years as a winemaker working with Steve Webber at De Bortoli clearly had a lasting impact, as he has been Yarra Valley based since then, for most of it as the Chief Winemaker at Oakridge b...
Sep 27, 2020•1 hr 14 min
For the past 30 years the Pizzini family have been at the forefront of Italian grape variety based wines, not only in the King Valley where they are based, but for the whole country. Working with respected viticulturist Mark Walpole and Tuscan consultant Alberto Antonini, they established a stronghold and pedigree for varieties like sangiovese and nebbiolo. Much of the success of Pizzini Wines is owed to Fred Pizzini, who not only converted the family property to viticulture, but also saw the po...
Sep 22, 2020•59 min
What is The Vincast wine podcast all about?
Sep 12, 2020•52 sec
Though it was working in hospitality in Yorkshire that first introduced her to wine, working for Majestic Wine gave Curly Haslam-Coates more opportunity to explore. It was also here she began her wine education in WSET, something she has continued to put great value in, as she has been one of the most important wine educators based in Tasmania. Her love of the Apple Isle and sparkling wine has recently seen her join the team at The Wine Front.
Sep 12, 2020•1 hr 3 min
Though initially interested in the study of horticulture, after being introduced to wine, Jim White very quickly transferred to viticulture. After a few years he gained employment near where he grew up, managing the vineyard on the headquarters of Chandon Australia in the Yarra Valley. His next step was to take the Viticulturist position at sister winery Cape Mentelle, on the opposite side of the country no less, in Margaret River. Finally Jim relocated to Cloudy Bay in New Zealand, where he now...
Sep 04, 2020•1 hr 10 min
Growing up in the outer suburbs of Melbourne, David Clarke's interest in wine came initially from his time working in state government. His wine career proper started working in the Harrod's wine department in London, which is where he met his wife Jeanette. Upon his return to Australia, he followed a career as a sommelier, before he and Jeanette returned to her birthplace, South Africa. Since relocating they have established a business distributing independent wine producers both domestically a...
Aug 26, 2020•1 hr 18 min
After being politely asked to leave his university degree in Adelaide, Nick Ryan found himself living in Sydney in need of a vocation. He spent many years in wine retail where he cultivated a passion for communication. Since then he has become one of Australia's foremost freelance wine writers, bringing an acerbic wit and a personal flair to his craft.
Aug 21, 2020•1 hr 9 min
Mark Walpole has been one of the most influential people in the alternative variety scene in Australia, particularly Italian varieties, mostly stemming from his time working for the Brown Family, the Pizzini family, and then the Greenstone project in Heathcote. He has consulted to many growers and producers over the years, and been heavily involved with the importation of new varieties and better clones as well. His focus now is on his own vineyard and winery in Beechworth, Fighting Gully Road.
Aug 14, 2020•1 hr 6 min
Nick James-Martin had a long and varied career in wine before ending up in the Margaret River in 2017, freshly relocated with his family from Adelaide. Due to unforeseen circumstances Nick found himself with an opportunity to launch his own project, which he did under the Wines of Merritt banner. In only a few vintages he and his wife Sarah have gained a cult following and much acclaim for their wines that break the mould of one of Australia's most prestigious (but also conservative) wine region...
Aug 06, 2020•1 hr 5 min
Marco Tinessa was a wine enthusiast for many years before he decided to start making his own wine. Though he was based in Milan working in the finance industry, he originally hailed from the Campania region in Italy's south, and he was determined to produce something from his area. Until recently this wasn't easy, initially relying on the assistance of Frank Cornelissen on Etna, then making his wines in a cellar under a restaurant in Milan. He has now quit his 'day job' and relocated back to Cam...
Jul 29, 2020•1 hr 19 min
For the 150th release of The Vincast I thought it might be interesting for the listeners to find out more about the host of the podcast, James Scarcebrook aka The Intrepid Wino from Vino Intrepido. Recently I caught up with Marc Malouf from Wine Worth Writing About via Zoom, as he was keen to interview me. With his permission this is the audio from that interview, touching on my own background, influences and my recent exploits in winemaking. I hope you enjoy it, and feel free to get in touch if...
Jun 24, 2020•1 hr 8 min
After a very long hiatus, I'm thrilled to finally be able to release this interview with Jane Lopes recorded last year, who at the time was the sommelier at Attica restaurant in Melbourne. In the time since we recorded this chat, Jane's book Vignette has been released to much acclaim, but she has returned to the United States of America with her husband Jon. It was fantastic to listen back to our conversation about her journey, particularly having read her book and knowing more about her.
Jun 18, 2020•1 hr
For cricketing fans the name Sir Ian Botham should be very familiar as one of the most famous all-rounders in English test cricket history. Not as many know that Sir Ian has long been a passionate wine lover, having taken advantage of both the proximity of European regions from England, and a touring schedule that took him to many new world wine producing countries. I was invited late 2018 to a tasting of his recently released range of wines from a number of premium Australian regions, and I was...
Jan 07, 2019•38 min
Peter Weinberg has been at the helm of Brand's Laira in the Coonawarra region for almost twenty years, having relocated from the Hunter Valley with experience at Mount Pleasant. Originally from Newcastle his reason for getting into the wine industry was a love of the outdoors and good hard manual labour. On this episode of The Vincast Peter speaks about his journey to becoming the custodian of one of Coonawarra's most historic vineyards and cellars, and how he has guided the brand since he joine...
Dec 20, 2018•42 min
When the Donaldson family established their Pegasus Bay winery in the early 1970s, they were pioneers in the New Zealand region of North Canterbury. Over the past 40 years they have evolved and got better every year, remaining a family-owned and operated business. The second generation of the family are currently at the helm, with all four of their sons in key positions within the business. Paul Donaldson is the General Manager of the winery, making use of his varied experience and expertise in ...
Oct 08, 2018•42 min
Ashley Huntington is a man on a mission, with great courage of conviction and incredible persistence. Though he has a background as a winemaker and spent many years working in the Languedoc region of France in that field, after purchasing a property in the Derwent Valley perfect for viticulture, he ended up brewing beer. The reason he was so interested in this alternative path was the discovery that the region grew in excess of 80% of the nation's hops, which can only be used for beer production...
Sep 17, 2018•1 hr 10 min
In 2018 De Bortoli Wines is celebrating 90 years of wine history in Australia, and as a member of the third generation, Leanne De Bortoli has worked tirelessly with her winemaker husband Steve Webber to take the company to new heights. Growing up in Griffith where the business was founded by her grandfather, she and Steve helped establish their Yarra Valley-based facility in the 1980s and was instrumental in evolving the brand image to a more premium one. In a number of ways and at numerous time...
Aug 06, 2018•46 min
Alice L'Estrange is undoubtedly a lover of culture and language, so it is unsurprising that she got into wines from Chile. While spending a year living in Mexico improving her Spanish, she gained an appreciation for the purity of farming and natural agricultural produce, but it was her friend Lucy who introduced her to wine. After a fateful evening and a fateful bottle, they decided to do something wine-related, and Cultivar Vinos was that something.
Jul 16, 2018•42 min
Lucy Kendall has managed to fit in quite a bit of winemaking experience in a relatively short amount of time, both in Australia and overseas. Thanks to her BFF Alice she got the opportunity to not only make wine in Chile, but also import some to Australia via Cultivar Vinos and give trade and consumers the opportunity to see authentic traditional Chilean wines. More recently she and Alice have been making wine closer to home and are about to launch them under the George brand.
Jul 11, 2018•45 min
Growing up in the Hawkes Bay region of New Zealand it is not surprising that Michael John Corbett ended up working in the wine industry, even though he doesn't come from a wine family. After studying winemaking he had the opportunity to work vintages in Europe, which was where he discovered a great love of the grenache variety. After originally meeting in Hawkes Bay, he joined forces with Burgundian Edouard Maurisset-Latour and his Australian wife Ali to launch Vanguardist Wines, producing incre...
Jun 12, 2018•44 min
Though Jonathan Ross always had competitive tendencies, it wasn't until he discovered hospitality and wine that he truly applied himself and found his passion. From growing up in New Jersey to working at one of the top restaurants in the world, his career has always had an upward trajectory. Soon after relocating to Australia with his fiancée Jane Lopes (who is also a top sommelier), he became a Master Sommelier of which there are currently only 249 in the world. He joins me on this episode of T...
May 28, 2018•58 min
Though her parents are Australian, Nina Caplan was born and has been based in the United Kingdom her whole life. It was her father that first introduced her to wine, though writing was her first passion. She began writing about wine after tackling the arts for many years, but found a great affinity with the vinous particularly as it related to travel. Recently she has had her first book published, a personal perspective on the vines journey through Europe during the Roman Empire, mirrored by her...
May 15, 2018•48 min
Loic Avril was destined to work with wine, considering he grew up in one of France's most historic wine regions, and sharing of great wine and food was always important to his family. His love of hospitality and restaurants came very early, from the age of ten in fact, and he was determined to follow a path in fine dining. After gaining experience in restaurants in the Loire Valley and northern England, he joined the team at The Fat Duck - at one point considered the best restaurant in the world...
Apr 30, 2018•49 min
Late in 2017, in conjunction with Ear Buds, I held the first edition of The Vincast Live at Noisy Ritual in Brunswick East and on Facebook Live. Two former guests of The Vincast - Ben Ranken from Galli Estate (Episode 127) and Dan Buckle (Episode 67) - joined myself and co-host Nevena Spirovska (Quickie Podcast) to talk about grape varieties in Australia: what are they, why are they, where are they and what are the best ones? I hope you enjoy this chat, as much as the live audience did. Please p...
Mar 19, 2018•1 hr 19 min
There aren't many people who call Steve Lubiana Stefano, and you merely need to spend a few minutes with him to understand why. He is one of the most affable and soft-spoken Australian vignerons you'll find, very much a product of having grown up in the Riverland, the product of Italian migrants. In spite of his very generous and gregarious nature, he is a philosophical wine grower with a deep passion for not only biodynamic farming but the history of these practices. His imprint on the island s...
Feb 12, 2018•47 min
When Jean-Jacques Morel made the decision to move his family from Paris to Burgundy, it in fact wasn't for wine, his entry into the wine industry was merely to earn a living once he moved to the region. It was his previous influences and experience that not doubt led to him finding a true passion for viticulture, and the decision was made to follow a path of wine farming. His incredible journey in life has not only influenced his approach to his wines, but also his approach to life, as his enthu...
Jan 23, 2018•51 min
The Pannell family is one of the most iconic in Australian wine, having not once but twice pioneered the vigneron model in Western Australia. After being one of the first commercial wine producers in the now legendary and substantial Margaret River region (Moss Wood), they had a complete shift East to the still somewhat unexplored Pemberton region, where they established Picardy Wines. Here they focused on Chardonnay and Pinot Noir, and invited their son Dan to be an important part of the future...
Jan 03, 2018•51 min
