Episode 143 with Gilles Martin, Senior Winemaker at Sparkling Pointe

In this episode, we welcome Gilles Martin, Senior Winemaker at Sparkling Pointe. Raised near France’s Champagne region, Gilles combined an early love of agriculture with studies in food science and oenology, earning national recognition when his master’s thesis on wine filtration was honored by President Jacques Chirac. His career has taken him from vineyards in France, Germany, and Australia to celebrated wineries in California and Virginia, before arriving on the North Fork in 1997. Since then, he’s helped shape acclaimed wineries and crafted award-winning sparkling wines, blending old-world tradition with new-world innovation. We’ll talk about his global journey, his passion for the region’s terroir, and his vision for the future of North Fork wine.