D’Amato & Szabo: Wine Thieves John & Sara

In this episode, we take a look behind the scenes of one of the wine and spirits industry’s most important trade fairs: Wine Paris and Vinexpo Paris. The Thieves speak with with Rodolphe Lameyse, CEO of Vinexposium, the company that runs the fair – and spoiler alert: Wine Paris and Vinexpo Paris are two names for the same show – Rodolphe explains why the trade fair has a dual name, and will discuss some of the issues that are most pertinent to the world of wine today, the challenges and...

The Wine Thieves are back with part two of a series on the Unità Geografiche Aggiuntivi of Chianti Classico (or UGAs) the recently announced additional geographic units that will begin appearing on labels of the Chianti Classico Gran Selezione category as of this year. Joining us again are Caterina Mori, Director of Communications for the Chianti Classico Consorzio, and the "Map Man" Alessandro Masnaghetti who literally drew up the map of the 11 new UGS that we’ll be covering in deep de...

In part one of this two-part episode, the Thieves go behind the scene in Chianti Classico with Caterina Mori, director of Communication for the Consorzio Vino Chianti Classico and Alessandro Masnaghetti, aka Map Man Masnaghetti, to take a deep dive into the recently approved “added geographic units” of this important Tuscan region , which were officially signed into law this past July 2023. (Alessandro will be familiar to Wine Thieves listeners - he joined us for an episode devoted to t...

The first of a three-part journey into Chianti Classico. in this episode we look at the past, present and future of the denominazione with our special guest, Giovanni Manetti, Chariman of the Chianti Classico Consorzio and proprietor of the venerated Fontodi estate in Panzano. This is Manetti’s second term as the Chairman , where he has been a driving force of innovation and evolution, helping to re-establish Chianti Classico as one of Italy’s, and the world’s, leading quality wine-prod...

The Thieves embark on a South African “wine safari” with Pieter Walser of Blank Bottle Wines based in Sommerset West near Stellenbosch, one of the most unusual and innovative wine businesses anywhere, and Peter-Allan Finlayson of Crystallum Wines and Gabrielskloof in the Bot River region. Finlayson is a third generation winemaker and the son of the man who pioneered Pinot Noir winemaking in the Hemel-en-Aarde region, Peter Finlayson, the first winemaker at Hamilton Russell and the...

This episode takes a wide-ranging look at biodynamic agriculture, which, perhaps not so coincidentally, seems to be the foundational philosophy underlying a disproportionately large percentage of the world’s best wines. The Thieves speak with two prominent Californian practitioners of biodynamics to discuss several aspects of this philosophy-cum-practical manifesto, first developed by Austrian-born philosopher and social reformer Rudolf Steiner, who lived from 1861-1925. Show guests Rodr...