The Cellar Door Podcast Tom Massey

There is nothing as important as going back to basics, so I called on wine rockstar Doug Neal for some education – on the topic of oak and its role in the wine world. As always, its difficult to be comprehensive, especially when you’re on the clock, but the passionate teacher in Doug came out and I found his class very insightful. A huge thanks to Doug for joining me. 

It’s important to tie off loose ends, so I sat down with Jeremy Oliver a second time to cap off the themes in his recently release paper to the wine industry. We discussed China’s decision to lift the tariffs on Australian wine imports, the difficulties posed where a duopoly controls a consumer market and we discussed some of the feedback from our first chat. As always -  fun and insightful. A massive thanks to Jeremy for joining me.

For more than three decades, Huon Hooke has dedicated his pen to the world of wine. Beginning his career as a journalist in the traditional print media, Huon has witnessed the evolution of wine reviewing and criticism from the era of the print media to the digital age and now the uncharted territory of social media. Huon generously shared his insights on the Real Review's work, the current landscape of wine criticism, and the myriad challenges and exciting opportunities that lie ahead for the Australian wine industry. A heartfelt thank you to Huon for joining me.

Andrew Burchell's vision is to put Mount Gambier on the national and global radar as a premium producing wine region. He has the passion, the love of wine and viticulture, and Mt Gambier provides the perfect conditions, including – wait for it – a volcano – yes Andrew crafts wines in the foothills of Australia’s only inactive volcano which is predicted to erupt in the next 1000 years. But far from loving the limelight, Andrew is a passionate crusader for the Mt Gambier region as a whole and of all those who have dedicated their lives to making wine there. Though he may not like to admit it, he is the perfect ambassador – passionate, enthusiastic, bubbling with personality, bold and all along adopting an approach to wine which is a little outside the conventional box, a bit like my audio in this episode. A massive thanks to Andrew for joining me. 

Brandon Farrell travels the world tasting the world’s finest wines so that he can present them at events and as part of specially curated lists at dinners put on through his company the Brilliant Wine Co. Brandon’s travels recently brought him to Australia’s sunny shores. His intentions had originally been to get some sun and enjoy the surf, but when his network put him in touch with some of Australia’s finest producers, Brandon abandoned leisure and decided the do a blitz of the Australian wine trail, from the Hunter south to Tassie and across to WA. To summarise Brandon liked what he saw. I spoke with Brandon shortly after he returned to the US and he joined me to share his story, and insights of the current state of play in wine world. A huge thanks to Brandon for joining me. 

The stars are aligning for Stephen Cook of Eisenstone Wines. Stephen modelled his project at Eisenstone on the production of small batch Barossa Shiraz, where success would follow Stephen’s attention to detail and captivating his audience with the resulting quality wines. Since I last spoke with Stephen, his range has grown to 12 subregional Barossa Shiraz expressions, all which tell a different story of the region and the producer. His wines continue to receive accolades and international recognition and Stephen’s success may be a blueprint for small producers to follow. As always, a huge thanks to Stephen for joining me on the show.