Ihana Wine is a boutique wine brand launched by Finnish Formula One driver Valtteri Bottas in partnership with sixth generation McLaren Vale wine company Oliver’s Taranga.

A ten-time race winner currently driving for the Kick Sauber F1 team, Valtteri shares with us his longstanding passion for wine, and specifically South Australian shiraz, which has been crystallised through his relationship with South Australian Tiffany Cromwell, the professional cyclist.

Listen in as Valtteri opens up about the blending process, collaborating with Oliver’s Taranga winemaker Corrina Wright, and how he balances his interests in wine, coffee and gin with the demands of the F1 season.

We find out what he thinks of the DR3 wines created by Australian F1 driver Daniel Ricciardo, who we had on the show in early 2023.

Later on this episode I talk again with Corrina who gives her perspective on one of the more unlikely celebrity wine partnerships that I’ve been able to share with you on the Drinks Adventures podcast.

We're joined this episode by the founders of Sydney’s newest craft brewery, Chuck & Son’s Brewing Company.

And yes, we’re talking about Chuck Hahn, who is sensationally making a return to the brewing industry in partnership with his son Scott.

Chuck notched up 50 years in the brewing industry in 2021, which we celebrated on this podcast with this special documentary episode.

I naively thought that would be a footnote to his incredible brewing career. But it turns out Chuck has unfinished business.

Together with Scott, the next chapter begins May 2024 at a new brewery in St Peters in the inner west.

However, it is of course an exceedingly difficult market to launch a new brewery, even if you’re Chuck Hahn.

We’ll address some of those challenges later on in this interview with Chuck and Scott.

Rollo Crittenden is general manager, winemaker and vineyard manager of Crittenden Wines in Victoria’s Mornington Peninsula region.

Mornington Peninsula is synonymous with premium quality pinot noir and chardonnay, and Crittenden certainly excels at making wine from those varieties.

But when it comes to differentiating the winery from its peers, Rollo has an ace up his sleeve.

Since 2011, Crittenden has been making a rare Australian example of the white wines made from savagnin grapes that are unique to the Jura region of France.

Known as ‘vin jaune’ wines in Jura, they’re aged for years in barrel under a layer of flor yeast, similar to how fino sherry wines are made in Spain.

And the results are quite extraordinary, as I experienced myself late last year when Rollo presented a retrospective comprising six vintages of Crittenden’s Cri De Couer savagnin wines.

Coming up, you’ll hear how this project has evolved from an accident into one of the most celebrated wines on the contemporary Australian scene.

NB: This interview was recorded following the event late in 2023, right before I took an extended break from the podcast. Keep that in mind when we reference the upcoming pipeline of releases during this interview.

The Australian Distillers Association is the peak body for the 700 craft distillers that are now spread across the country, up from just 40 a decade ago.

I work pretty closely with the ADA and its chief executive Paul McLeay in my day job as media & communications manager of Spirits & Cocktails Australia.

In this bonus episode, Paul and I catch up for a quick chat about the ADA Conference coming up in Brisbane on April 28 to 30, 2024, which is the association’s 20th anniversary year.

I know quite a few of you are in the distilling industry, so Paul and I will hope to see you there.

Since we were already sitting down for a chat, I took the opportunity to ask Paul about the latest global accolades for Australian distillers at the World Whiskies Awards, and how his members are coping in the challenging economic environment.

Register for the ADA Conference here.

Last year I reported on the worrying spate of insolvencies in the drinks industry, particularly among craft brewers.

And things have gotten even worse so far in 2024. Dave Padden of Sydney’s Akasha Brewing was pretty open with us last year on the show about the difficulties his business was confronting.

Sadly, Akasha last week became the latest brewery to enter voluntary administration.

In this episode I’m joined by Dale Meddings, joint CEO of Bintani, Australia’s leading supplier of ingredients to the brewing and distilling industries, and a long-term sponsor of the podcast.

Coming up, Dale shares with us the impact this brewing industry turmoil has been having on his business, and we get a health check on the emerging craft spirits sector.

Dale reveals what are some of the hottest ingredients currently on the market that will shape the drinks of the future.

And you’ll hear why, in spite of everything that’s going on, he is still optimistic about the future of independent brewing in Australia.

• Where to here for local beer? (Crafty Pint article)

Back in early 2023 we met Jeremy Blanks and Greg Jackson of Tarac, the largest distiller of grape spirit in Australia, which is diversifying into the contract production of whisky.

Twelve months on, Jeremy and Greg return to the show having recently had their first trial whiskies come of age.

I’ve had a chance to taste these whiskies that have been column distilled from malted barley, and was really impressed with them.

Don’t take my word for it though, if you’re a distiller and heading to the Australian Distillers Association Conference in Brisbane at the end of April, you can try these whiskies for yourself at the trade show. See you there!

In this special episode of Drinks Adventures – produced in partnership with Tarac – Greg and Jeremy update us on all the developments in their whisky program since we last spoke.

The company’s first commercial batch of whisky will reach maturity in August 2024. And based on the level of interest from distillers thus far, this milestone should mean we start to see some more blended whiskies coming on to the market in Australia.

Does Australian whisky have the appropriate regulations to accommodate these products? That’s something Jeremy, Greg and I explore a bit later on in today’s conversation.

Click here for more information on Tarac's Australian single malt whisky offering.

We’re joined again this episode by Andrew Caillard MW, one of Australia’s leading authorities on wine.

Andrew was last on the show in November 2020 discussing the debut of two Australian wines on the prestigious international wine marketplace, La Place de Bordeaux.

This time Andrew joins us to discuss his magnum opus, The Australian Ark, the most extensive history of the Australian wine industry ever written.

First up, Andrew and I discuss the challenges involved with getting a book of this scale and ambition off the ground.

We then explore just a handful of the individuals and events that have shaped the wine industry as told by Andrew in The Australian Ark, such as:

• Who was the real father of Australian wine – it’s not James Busby as I previously thought;
• How colonial wine evolved from a cottage industry into a booming export industry spearheaded by the Emu brand of Australian burgundy in the late 1800s; and
• The Australian Wine Canon – Andrew’s list of the most influential Australian wines of all time, starting with the Rosehill Red Wine produced in Parramatta in 1792.

Trigger warning: This episode which includes some pretty confronting discussion about the displacement of First Nations people that sadly occurred as part of this story, and which Andrew doesn’t shy away from in his book.

I'd like to acknowledge the Traditional Custodians of the land on which this podcast is produced – the Gadigal people of the Eora Nation – and pay my respects to their Elders past and present.

Satya Sharma is the new CEO of Australia’s pioneering whisky company, Lark Distilling.

Sash – as he prefers to be called – has only been on deck since May 2023.

But already, he has put his stamp on the Lark business.

The frenzy of special releases has been dialled back in favour of a clearly defined core range.

Export deals have been announced for several markets in South East Asia.

700ml bottles are on the cards, and as you just heard, the business has committed to greater transparency about the provenance of whiskies that carry the Lark name.

Sash joined Lark following ten years with William Grant & Sons, most recently in Singapore, where he played an integral role establishing export markets for its iconic brands including Glenfiddich and The Balvenie.

We’ll explore that career background and Sash’s vision for Lark coming up in this extended interview that gets the Drinks Adventures podcast underway for 2024.

If you haven’t already, make sure you listen to the special episode I did for the 30th anniversary of Lark Distillery in 2022. I’ve linked to it from the show notes.

First up this episode, I asked Bill Lark his thoughts on the new leadership, which signals the beginnings of another chapter for the business he founded back in 1992.

Victorian winery Seppelt today is probably best known for its exquisite table wines.

I’m talking about St Peters Shiraz from its home region of the Grampians, and chardonnay, riesling and pinot noir from the esteemed Drumborg Vineyard in the cooler climes of Henty.

Perhaps lesser known to some of us is Seppelt’s rich heritage in sparkling wines.

In 2022, the company highlighted that pedigree with two new cuvees named in honour of Charles Pierlot, the Frenchman who in 1890 made Australia’s first traditional method sparkling wines at Seppelt’s Great Western winery.

Pierlot also pioneered one of Australia’s most unique wine styles, sparkling shiraz.

Seppelt Show Sparkling remains the benchmark for this style today. And Seppelt winemaker Clare Dry argues it deserves to be consumed more broadly than the traditional occasion of Christmas time.

In this special episode of Drinks Adventures, produced in partnership with Seppelt, I started by asking Clare about the story behind this unique wine.

Later in this interview, you’ll find out a little bit more about how sparkling shiraz is made, and we’ll explore the new vintage, 2012 Show Sparkling, released this year.

Click here to open episode in your podcast player.

Dr Tim Jones is undoubtedly one of Australia’s top cider makers. After starting his drinks production career making industrial cider in Cascade Brewery, Tim joined Willie Smith’s as head cider maker in 2014.

He stayed in that role until 2020 and during that period of almost six years, Willie Smith’s won a stack of trophies for its ciders showcasing the complexity offered by heirloom English and French cider apple varieties.

Tim’s new venture is Wild Mother Tasmania, a vinegar company that like Willie Smiths is based in the Huon Valley, Tasmania.

Wild Mother is dedicated to minimal intervention, unfiltered and unpasteurised vinegars from apples and cherries, some of which have been aged in casks that have previously held bourbon, port and Tasmanian whisky.

And more relevantly to this podcast, there are also some liqueurs and apple brandies in the pipeline that you’ll hear about, right after Tim explains how he first became interested in exploring the world of craft vinegar.

Click here to open episode in your podcast player

Five years ago when I started this podcast I never thought I’d see small craft brewers making products like hard seltzers, low carb and non-alcoholic beers, or “cervezas” that to me look very much like the macro lagers they originally railed against.

But these are interesting and challenging times in the drinks industry. All producers are currently grappling with a plethora of economic headwinds and the need to cater for increasingly health conscious consumers.

Chris Moschos, who is innovation director at Lion, is better placed than most to speak about these trends.

Prior to joining Lion – Australia’s second biggest brewer – in February 2022, Chris worked for almost 14 years at spirits company Diageo Australia.

In this interview, Chris and I speak about a couple of Lion’s big bets in 2023. James Squire Stride, the first low carb beer released by the pioneering craft beer brand in its 25-year history.

And Kirin Hyoketsu, a premix vodka lemon sour that’s been phenomenally successful in Japan, where it’s been available since 2001.

This is a special episode of the Drinks Adventures podcast, produced in partnership with Lion.

And given Chris’s job title, I started this interview by asking what the word ‘innovation’ means to him.

Click here to open episode in your podcast player.