Six of the best wine podcasts to listen to in 2020

If you’re looking for a new wine podcast to listen to, you are increasingly spoiled for choice. What used to be a niche area when podcasts were still in their infancy has developed into a fairly crowded playing field. Indeed, I produce a successful trade-focused wine podcast, Interpreting Wine.

My motivation for writing this article was that none of google’s top articles on where to find wine podcasts are actually written by podcast producers (except perhaps this article by Fiona Beckett, host of Batonnage podcast, who have just posted their 19th episode).

I’m a firm believer that a rising tide lifts all ships and that increased awareness of wine podcasts is good for everyone. Another motivation is that despite having published more than 420 episodes at the time of writing I get still relatively little feedback from my thousands of listeners. So, assuming the same might be true for some of my peers, in no particular order, here are some of the podcasts you should be listening to in 2020. Apologies in advance to anyone I’ve missed out!

To simplify things I have organised the six featured podcasts into two categories; those primarily aimed at the general public, and those aimed at the wine trade, which usually include more niche or nerdy topics, or guests less well known in the mainstream. I’ve chosen three of each to get you started.

CONSUMER PODCASTS

Consumer-facing wine podcasts arguably have it the hardest. While we on the trade side can rely on educational content or highly qualified guests to spark interest, wine is never likely to be the most popular podcast genre; as evidenced by this poll from the States.

UK based Olly Smith’s A Glass With “The podcast that drinks with the stars!” does exactly what it says on the tin, featuring interviews with wine loving A-listers the likes of Pink and Sam Neill. It’s also produced by Master of Wine Richard Hemming who impressively still seems to be handling production duties from his new home in Singapore. In the US, Elizabeth Schneider produces Wine for Normal People “the podcast is for people who like wine but not the attitude that goes with it.” Recently, episode #332 featured Tahiirah Habibbi from the Hue Society speaking about diversity in wine, a topic the wine world is grappling with at present if this article from Jancis Robinson is anything to go by. Lastly on the consumer side is Eat, Sleep, Wine, Repeat from Sommelier and Brand Ambassador Janina Doyle, proving that technical detail and winemakers discussion needn’t be boring! 

TRADE PODCASTS

It’s not possible to talk about wine podcasts for the wine trade without mentioning I’ll Drink to That with Levi Dalton, which has reached Episode #481 at the time of writing. An ex-sommelier and New York resident Levi, has a loyal following among the sommelier community and was profiled in this 2018 article. The UK Wine Show with Chris Scott was the first wine podcast in this country and is still going strong. Expect deep dives with a broad selection of guests and a regular news section to boot. Last but not least is the Italian Wine podcast, hosted by author Monty Waldin. While the focus is of course on Italy, episodes such as those recorded at last year’s incredible Wine2Wine conference feature Monty in relaxed conversation with a range of interesting guests.

And that’s my Whistle-stop tour of some of my favourite wine podcasts. This article could have been much longer and I am thankfully only scraping the surface of great wine podcasts out there. If I’ve missed out your favourite please let me know in the comments below. Cheers!