PODCAST · society
Vininspo! podcast
by Ed Merrison
A podcast in plain English about connection through wine—linking nature, time, place and people—to unlock its meditative, restorative, inclusive and expansive potential and brighten the experience of anyone with the vaguest interest. edmerrison.substack.com
Episodes
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Strictly classified
This is intended as a video. Watch it on my Vininspo! Substack: https://edmerrison.substack.com/Follow me on Instagram: @vininspo.wine After 550-plus Austrian wines over four days, my first impulse was to share some highlights with you. And there were many. It was fun, too. I mean, there were...
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Vininspo! Episode 49: Simon Osicka
I didn’t realise how off-the-beaten path the Osicka family vineyard was until I took the beaten path out of Heathcote and went off it for a considerable time before rolling into this vine-strewn refuge in the bush. The whole thing lulled me into profound contemplation: the sacred vault-like feel…
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Vininspo! Episode 48: David Bicknell, Bicknell F.C.
David Bicknell’s unceremonious axing from Oakridge came as something of a bombshell. The Yarra Valley estate’s owner, Endeavour Group, had announced a couple of months previously that it was selling up. But it seemed improbable that the man who’d led it for a quarter of a century and put it on…
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Vininspo! Episode 47: Kelby James Russell, Apollo’s Praise
Kelby James Russell had the air of the whizzkid about him when I first met him, and that’s clearly what he was. It was Melbourne, 2015. Riesling Downunder, a now-defunct triennial trade event, had rolled into town. With it came winemakers from Clare, Eden Valley, Great Southern and Canberra. A...
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[Vininspo! Alt. Format] Eugene Qiao, G.D. Vajra
For a long time, I’ve been intrigued by Eugene Qiao’s brain—one I’ve picked on several occasions, not least for a reality check and a unique perspective on Italian and Australian wine culture. A Chinese student destined, seemingly inevitably, for medical career, somehow turned up in Barolo and...
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Vininspo! Episode 46: Liam McElhinney, Tasmanian Vintners
Subscribe to this Substack and follow on Instagram so you never miss a story! Liam McElhinney’s astonishing show-circuit success at Lowestoft once seemed to me like lightning from a blue sky. The land of the long white cloud had seen it all before—twice over—but I was oblivious. The irreverent,...
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[Vininspo! Alt. Format] Haardt-to-Haardt with Sophie Christmann
Sometimes it’s easy to confuse classicism with conservatism. On the face of it, 1798-founded Weingut A. Christmann seems to tick both boxes. Urbane 7th-generation patriarch Steffen Christmann read law at Heidelberg and presides over the VDP group of revered growers. The estate’s super-elegant…
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Vininspo! Episode 45: Andreas Wickhoff MW, Bründlmayer
Andreas Wickhoff spread his wings and travelled far and wide before coming home to roost in the Danube Valley, not too distant from where he grew up in rural Steiermark. As general manager at the Bründlmayer estate in the Kamptal, he keeps the flame burning at what Jancis Robinson has called “a...
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Vininspo! Podcast Episode 44: Lorraine Leheny, Bilancia
Like content like this? Get it straight to your inbox by subscribing to my Substack. Follow on Instagram: @vininspo.wine The simplicity of La Collina’s label is almost as enchanting as the complexity of the liquid inside the bottle. A slender figure, arms stretched out straight on either side,...
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[Hiatus] Ode to Wine: Renegade Reinhard hands over the reins
The Vininspo! podcast will resume regular broadcasting next week, back with a Bilancia bang when Lorraine Leheny joins me from Hawke’s Bay. I’m taking a little breather and leaving you in the capable hands of Reinhard Löwenstein, and an article penned as a Substack post in November 2025. Read it...
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Vininspo! Podcast Episode 43: Kate McIntyre MW, Moorooduc Estate
Support the show and don't miss an episode by subscribing to my Substack: edmerrison.substack.com and follow on Instagram: @vininspo.wine Kate McIntyre got a taste for the wonder of travel young. Her earliest memories were formed beneath the dreaming spires of Oxford, and the exoticism of Europe...
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Vininspo! Podcast Episode 42: Bree Stock MW, Limited Addition
Follow and subscribe to this show and written content on Substack; see what's happening on Instagram: @vininspo.wine. I met Bree Stock in Melbourne a decade and a half ago, and boy, has she gone a long way since then. Some 8,000 miles away now, she’s appended a pair of powerful initials to her…
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Vininspo! Podcast Episode 41: Kym Milne MW, Global Wine Solutions
Subscribe to edmerrison.substack.comFollow on Instagram: @vininspo.wine With his teetotal forebears and country-town upbringing, Kym Milne wasn’t an obvious candidate for clocking up airmiles and accolades as one of the world’s most influential flying winemakers. But a thirst for travel, a nose…
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[Vininspo! Alt. Format] How harvest happens at Dr Loosen
Ernst Loosen is one of the most recognisable global figures in wine. This indefatigable ambassador for Mosel Riesling pops up all over the place to spread the gospel according to this most versatile of grapes. Dr Loosen has managed to pull off something special as a brand and a domaine: quality…
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Vininspo! Podcast Episode 40: Scott Wasley, The Spanish Acquisition
Dubious logic first led Scott Wasley to Spain. First, he figured planes jetting into Sydney for the 2000 Olympics would, once emptied of their sporting spectators, be offering cheap flights back to Europe. And second, he was drinking a slightly stale dry Sherry when that fateful miscalculation...
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[Vininspo! Alt. Format] Louis Michel Chablis
The best way to enjoy this episode is to watch the video, which comes complete with subtitles, maps and other visuals. I urge you to watch it; you'll find it at edmerrison.substack.com. Don't forget to follow along with happenings on Instagram, too: @vininspo.wine So, when Bryan Adams was getting...
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Vininspo! Podcast Episode 39: Jane Thomson OAM
Get every Vininspo! episode as soon as it drops on Substack: edmerrison.substack.com; follow on Instagram: @vininspo.wine Jane Thomson still gets grossly underestimated. Her substance, strength and sensitivity—not to mention a grasp of behavioural psychology that is so rare in the industry—make a...
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Vininspo! Podcast Episode 38: Stephen Wong MW
Get all these stories as soon as they drop bt subscribing to ed.merrison.substack.com Follow on Instagram: @vininspo.wine There’s a moment in our interview where Stephen Wong talks about playing twin tracks of his life in tandem, a micro-focused intellectual yin and an expansive, warmly…
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Vininspo! Podcast Episode 37: Felicity Carter, Drinks Insider
Don't miss an episode! Subscribe on Substack Instagram: @vininspo.wine Felicity Carter is in demand. It would probably be better for us wine-lovers if she weren’t—but if anyone is fit to report on a wine industry in crisis, it’s this globe-trotting journalist who’s made it her business to cover…
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[Vininspo! Alt. Format] Wittmann & Dönnhoff
“1663 is just a number,” Philipp Wittmann tells me, and in some ways it is. But also, 350-plus years of growing fruit in your village is likely to give you some kind of edge. The Dönnhoff family’s farming roots in the Nahe are shallower—a mere 270 years—and it’s true that it was Cornelius’s…
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Vininspo! Podcast Episode 36: Jason Lett, The Eyrie Vineyards
I don’t remember when I first became aware of Eyrie’s existence. It just isn’t possible to interact with Pinot Noir obsessives without this domaine coming to your attention. It owes its existence to a pioneering pinotphile who bet the farm on the entirely untested potential of the Dundee Hills to...
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Vininspo! Podcast Episode 35: Giuseppe Vaira, G.D. Vajra
Giuseppe Vaira is one of those tireless torchbearers whose faith in his region is matched by an exemplary work ethic, the uniformly beautiful results of which constantly justify and fuel that belief. It’s a virtuous cycle that has seen many people fall in love with the Langhe through these wines....
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Vininspo! Podcast Episode 34: Judy Finn, Neudorf
Pioneer stories always draw me in. No matter how niche the thing—and Nelson might still be considered niche—sticking vines in the dirt with no grounds for belief that your venture will bear fruit is a leap of faith to marvel at. Judy Finn says they got by on “hard work, high hopes and a dollop of...
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Vininspo! Podcast Episode 33: Marcus Satchell, Dirty Three Wines
The smiling faces of Marcus Satchell and Lisa Sartori are synonymous with Gippsland food and wine. Anyone who’s taken off from Melbourne Airport in recent years will have seen them beaming down from a billboard above the freeway. Their flagbearer status has been earned from a buzzing cellar door...
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[Hiatus] What KT did
The Vininspo! podcast is still on holiday. Here instead is a spoken version of a relatively recent story you might have missed. (If you’d prefer, you can read it here.) This is the story of Kerri Thompson, whose highly acclaimed Wines by KT label is a fitting tribute to her love of the Clare...
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[Hiatus] Fagan Ritual
The Vininspo! podcast is on holiday. Here instead is a spoken version of a relatively recent story you might have missed. This is the story of Sarah Fagan, chief winemaker at TarraWarra in the Yarra Valley. All the context is in the story (which you can read here if you’d prefer). Speaking of...
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Vininspo! Podcast Episode 32: Virginia Willcock, Vasse Felix
I first heard Ginny Willcock speak about wine in Adelaide back in 2013 when I attended Savour Australia as a freelance journalist for Business Insider. This event courted wine-buyers, writers and opinion-shapers from across the globe in an attempt to reset the image of Australian wine. On an...
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Vininspo! Podcast Episode 31: Sue Bell, Bellwether
You'll find extensive show notes below to help clarify any details in this wide-ranging conversation. In the meantime, I'd love to count on your ongoing support to make this and other Vininspo! work possible. Here is where you can follow and share what I do. Substack: edmerrison.substack.com...
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Vininspo! Podcast Episode 30: Stephen Pannell
It’s weird and fitting that the first serious comment on a wine blog I wrote came from Stephen Pannell. The lack of preceding remarks speaks volumes about the anonymity in which I was operating; the fact that the most decorated winemaker of his generation deigned to pipe up says a lot about how...
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Vininspo! Podcast Episode 29: Matt Paul, Trembath & Taylor
While Italian footballers are known for their histrionics, Trembath & Taylor has scored goals and won fans while sparing us the theatrics. Arguably Australia’s foremost importer of Italy’s wines plays the game with no shortage of passion, but has passed it on to a legion of converts in a...
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Vininspo! Podcast Episode 28: Corrina Wright, Oliver’s Taranga
The first time I met Corrina Wright, she was done up in Viking garb and grinning like a Cheshire cat. It was Melbourne’s inaugural Game of Rhônes tasting, a celebration of all things Grenache, Shiraz et al, and one of those too-rare wine events where a cheerful disposition is de rigueur. But even...
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Vininspo! Podcast Episode 27: Maryann Egan, Wantirna Estate
Some people don’t even believe there’s a vineyard there, let alone the site that spawned a second coming for one of the country’s most hallowed cool-climate regions. Reg Egan was working as a lawyer when he decided to plant a vineyard in the Yarra Valley in 1963. The site he chose was not far…
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Vininspo! Episode 26: Julian Langworthy, Deep Woods Estate
Julian Langworthy first struck me as the embodiment of happy-go-luckiness. A healthy irreverence, ready quip and loud laugh were standard issue, and he seemed to be breaking and losing more trophies than anyone else was winning. I was the Victorian chair of Wine Communicators of Australia when...
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Vininspo! Episode 25: Kathleen Quealy
I vividly recall my first meeting with Kathleen Quealy. I had tasted and delighted in her Pobblebonk field blend of Friulano, Riesling and Pinot Gris, and followed it up with the Rageous red, an unlikely marriage of Sangiovese, Shiraz and Pinot Noir. Among the Mornington Peninsula’s calm little…
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Vininspo! Episode 24: Max Allen
Not starting with an end in mind has led this English-born, multi-award-winning writer to unearth profound connections down labyrinthine rabbit holes. Max Allen is too young to be deemed a national treasure, but that’s what he is. In a field where the esteem in which commentators are held is...
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Vininspo! Episode 23: Steve Lubiana, Stefano Lubiana
It makes sense when you meet Steve Lubiana that he was up to his chin in grape skins from the moment he could walk, snapping at the heels of his winemaker dad. There’s barely a moment when Steve isn’t playing with plants, fermenting stuff or pouring drinks to try with food. I first met Steve and...
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Vininspo! Episode 22: Gwyn Olsen, Henschke
I told Gwyn Olsen when I first met her that I somehow expected her to be stern. It wasn’t the first time she’d heard that—apparently, it’s how she’d come across in photographs in the wine press. In reality, she is anything but; sharp, warm and witty, I was intrigued by how her mind worked, and…
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Vininspo! Episode 21: Geoff Weaver, Adelaide Hills pioneer
Geoff Weaver is a man from another time—a world of steam trains and horse-and-cart milkmen—yet his pristine, cool-climate white wines hold their own with the best of the modern Australian wine scene. I’ve got to know Geoff pretty well over the years, thanks to my role with his distributor,...
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Vininspo! Episode 20: Rob Mann, Corymbia
Rob Mann has gone a long way to get back where he started; he's a forward-thinking high-achiever with a strong sense of self who's working extremely hard to efface any notion of ego or fashion from the wines he grows. His wines are produced under the Corymbia label, which he runs with his wife,...
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Vininspo! Episode 19: Belinda Thomson, Crawford River
Crawford River is off the beaten track—on the road to nowhere, as Bee Thomson puts it—yet lovers of elegant, soulful, deftly balanced wines make a beeline to this second-generation label because they know precisely what it stands for. Much of the credit goes to Bee’s worldly parents, John and...
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[Hiatus] Marksist evolution: How a timeless gem is formed
This is the story of Gembrook Hill. All the context is in the story. It’s a long article, addressing perhaps my frustration with the shallowness of much so-called storytelling around wine. This is just a second-generation estate in a wine region whose modern era only dates back 60-odd years. And...
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[Hiatus] Vaughn again: Growing and regrowing love at Sinapius
This is the story of Vaughn Dell and Linda Morice, written towards the end of 2024. If you’d prefer to read it, you can do so here. All the context is in the story. It’s dear to my heart; I hope you’ll listen. Please leave a comment to share your thoughts on the piece and this format of delivery....
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Vininspo! Episode 18: David Lloyd, ex-Eldridge Estate
I got to know David Lloyd when he was living on his beautiful Eldridge Estate in Red Hill, a few kilometres up the road from where I live on the Mornington Peninsula. A fellow journalist on a trade magazine I’d been freelancing for suggested I contact him because I was scouting around for some...
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Vininspo! Episode 17: Kim Chalmers, Chalmers Wines
Kim Chalmers wears many hats, not least in a family business that serves as vine nursery, grape supplier and wine estate with vineyards in two separate geographical indications (GIs). She’s also wife to a winemaker and mother of two daughters, as well as serving on numerous committees. “History…
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Vininspo! Episode 16: Steve Smith MW
There’s no challenge too steep for this brainiac entrepreneur viticulturist who likes to do things differently—and he’s certainly not done with redefining world-class New Zealand. Ambition is something Steve Smith can’t get enough of. He saw it in revolutionary viticulturist Richard Smart, who...
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Vininspo! Episode 15: Tim Shand of Voyager Estate
Tim Shand is not one to follow the flock. In a world where yes-men get ahead and homogeneity wins widespread acceptance, his contrarian nature hasn’t always gone down well. But an impulse to challenge conventional wisdom and see through mediocrity has made him stand out from the crowd in the long...
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Vininspo! Episode 14: Johannes Hasselbach of Gunderloch
His 19th-century forebear sold a bank to buy vineyards, so deeply did he believe in the beauty and promise of a red slab of ancient slated desert sand above the River Rhine. Make no mistake: Johannes Hasselbach is fully invested—even if there was a time when he might have wondered what on earth…
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Vininspo! Episode 13: Anna Flowerday, Te Whare Ra
From McLaren Vale to Marlborough, straight-shooting natural farmer Anna Flowerday has walked the walk with “vine Jedi” husband Jason—all the way to the title of NZ Vigneron of the Year. “Wines made with cowshit not bullshit” went the famous tagline at Te Whare Ra (TWR), the Marlborough estate…
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Vininspo! Episode 12: Christina Pickard
A discernible warmth always manages to seep through Christina Pickard’s writing, and it does nothing to lessen the import of her output, which is serious, considered and searching. The affection is infectious. Christina is based in the Hudson Valley in her native New York State, and her primary...
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Vininspo! Episode 11: Steve Flamsteed
Steve Flamsteed grew up in a full and lively household and succumbed to the pleasure of feeding people at a young age. Infected by punk energy from a young age, this lifelong devotee of good music has never lost the instinct of providing for—and feeding off—others. At the same time, a man whose...
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ABOUT THIS SHOW
A podcast in plain English about connection through wine—linking nature, time, place and people—to unlock its meditative, restorative, inclusive and expansive potential and brighten the experience of anyone with the vaguest interest.
edmerrison.substack.com
HOSTED BY
Ed Merrison
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Frequently Asked Questions
How many episodes does Vininspo! podcast have?
Vininspo! podcast currently has 61 episodes available on PodParley. New episodes are automatically indexed when they're published to the podcast feed.
What is Vininspo! podcast about?
A podcast in plain English about connection through wine—linking nature, time, place and people—to unlock its meditative, restorative, inclusive and expansive potential and brighten the experience of anyone with the vaguest interest. edmerrison.substack.com
How often does Vininspo! podcast release new episodes?
Vininspo! podcast has 61 episodes. Check the episode list to see recent publication dates and frequency.
Where can I listen to Vininspo! podcast?
You can listen to Vininspo! podcast on PodParley by clicking any episode. We provide an embedded audio player for direct listening, and you can also subscribe via your preferred podcast app using the RSS feed.
Who hosts Vininspo! podcast?
Vininspo! podcast is created and hosted by Ed Merrison.
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