Wine Makers Show: the wine podcast

What makes the son of one of Burgundy's best-known wine families walk away from the cellar to chase gin, vodka and liqueurs instead? We drove to Meursault, vineyards on every side, to sit down with Maxime Girardin and find out why he bet on spirits.

Maxime runs Pegasus, the distillery he built from scratch after a decade abroad in finance and trading. He walks us through the six-litre still in his parents' garage, the Dutch technology that lets him scale without babysitting a boiler, and the reason the base spirit, the part most distillers ignore, decides everything.

Expect back-to-basics thinking, an obsession over organic wheat and Menton citrus, a clear read on why premium spirits keep growing while wine talks crisis, and a pilot's licence earned before a driving one. Tune in!

▬▬ 🎁 GIFTS 🎁 ▬▬
📚 The Savoy Cocktail Book, by Harry Craddock
🚀 Learn more about Pegasus Distillerie
🎁 Get your wine essentials on our shop: a curated selection of wine accessories, posters and much more
🗺️ Get the best French Wine Map: as information as decorative

▬▬ ⭐️ ABOUT ⭐️ ▬▬
My name is Antoine, and I’ve been passionate about wine for several years. I knew nothing at first, so I went out to meet the biggest figures in the industry and turned those encounters into a podcast that’s now listened to by over 100,000 people. I now share with you what I’ve learned, and I hope we embark together on a beautiful wine journey to discover the finest experiences.

ALCOHOL ABUSE IS DANGEROUS FOUR YOUR HEALTH. CONSUME IN MODERATION.

Hosted on Ausha. See ausha.co/privacy-policy for more information.

What does it take to run the wine programme for eight restaurants inside one of Hong Kong's most storied hotel groups, and how do you earn a guest's trust for a US$600 pour of 1975 Petrus? We sat down inside Petrus itself, the flagship restaurant at Island Shangri-La Hong Kong, high above Pacific Place at the heart of the city's energy, to find out.

We're joined by Cyrus Ho, hotel sommelier for the Shangri-La Group in Hong Kong, who oversees the wine programme across all eight of the group's restaurants, from Cantonese fine dining to Japanese, French and everything in between.

Cyrus walks us through the week he spent doing nothing but refilling water glasses under his mentor's watch, the vintage mix-up that taught him never to skip showing a label, and the six-hour mountain drive into Yunnan that convinced him Chinese Chardonnay deserves serious attention.

Expect back-vintage Petrus by the glass, a side career as a certified tea master, and a clear-eyed read on why the next generation isn't reaching for wine. Tune in!

▬▬ 🎁 GIFTS 🎁 ▬▬
📚 Inside Burgundy, by Jasper Morris
🍷 Discover the Island Shangri-La Hong Kong
🍽️ Discover the Restaurant Petrus
🎁 Get your wine essentials on our shop: a curated selection of wine accessories, posters and much more
🗺️ Get the best French Wine Map: as information as decorative

▬▬ ⭐️ ABOUT ⭐️ ▬▬
My name is Antoine, and I’ve been passionate about wine for several years. I knew nothing at first, so I went out to meet the biggest figures in the industry and turned those encounters into a podcast that’s now listened to by over 100,000 people. I now share with you what I’ve learned, and I hope we embark together on a beautiful wine journey to discover the finest experiences.

ALCOHOL ABUSE IS DANGEROUS FOUR YOUR HEALTH. CONSUME IN MODERATION.

Hosted on Ausha. See ausha.co/privacy-policy for more information.

🗺️ The France Wine Map: https://www.winemakersshow.com/shop/carte-vins-france
🎓 Learn wine, join the academy: https://academy.winemakersshow.com

In 1968, an Italian marquis with a passion for Bordeaux and racehorses released a wine the Italian wine authorities called "table wine »: the lowest classification possible. Ten years later, in a blind tasting in London, that same "table wine" beat some of the most expensive Bordeaux on Earth. This is the story of the Super Tuscans: the rebel wines that broke Italian wine law, made a swamp on the Tuscan coast world-famous, and forced Italy to rewrite its own rules. Featuring Sassicaia, Tignanello, Ornellaia, Solaia, Masseto, and the men who made them.

▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬ 📚CHAPTERS 📚 ▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬
00:00 Introduction
01:23 The rebellion of Tuscan wines
03:09 A Marquis with a Bordeaux obsession
05:43 Tignanello: the rebellion enters Chianti
08:03 The 1978 blind tasting that changed everything for Tuscan wines
09:20 The origin of Super Tuscan name
10:26 Bolgheri becomes Italy’s Bordeaux
12:40 Italy admits defeat: IGT Tuscana, Bolgheri DOC and DOC Sassicaia 
14:19 How to read a Super Tuscan wine label
16:15 Is the term Super Tuscan still relevant today?

▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬ ⭐️ ABOUT ⭐️ ▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬
My name is Antoine, and I’ve been passionate about wine for several years. I knew nothing at first, so I went out to meet the biggest figures in the industry and turned those encounters into a podcast that’s now listened to by over 100,000 people. I now share with you what I’ve learned, and I hope we embark together on a beautiful wine journey to discover the finest experiences.

Follow us on our platforms: 
Website: https://winemakersshow.com
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/winemakersshow/
Podcast: https://open.spotify.com/show/1J50w14nMbVRCnKSsQ4hEP
Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@winemakersshow?sub_confirmation=1

Image credit: https://www.tenutasanguido.com/en/history

Hosted on Ausha. See ausha.co/privacy-policy for more information.

Ever wondered what it takes to turn Saint-Émilion's overlooked neighbours into a destination in their own right? This episode takes us to Château de Lussac, flagship estate of a Bordeaux group that's rebuilding itself château by château, and rethinking what a satellite appellation can be.

We sit down with Anthony Appollot, general manager of Sarments Vignobles, a sixth-generation Saint-Émilion winemaker who spent years as an independent vineyard consultant before assembling the group's four estates in under a decade, to trace how it all came together and where he's taking it next.

Anthony walks us through top-grafting Chenin Blanc onto decades-old Merlot vines, why he's pulling up a third of Lussac's vineyard to plant walnut trees and truffle oaks, and the disease-spotting drone he helped calibrate that kept the group's harvest intact during 2024's brutal mildew year.

Expect an 80-year-old field blend planted after a killer frost, a secret Italian grape variety, and a very candid read on the Bordeaux crisis from someone who's still buying. Tune in!

▬▬ 🎁 GIFTS 🎁 ▬▬
📚 The World Atlas of Wine, by Hugh Johnson and Jancis Robinson
🍷 Learn more about the estates:
Sarments vignobles
Château de Lussac
Château de Saint-Pey
Château Saint-Jean de Lavaud
Château Vieux Maillet
Château Cantereau
🤖 Disease-spotting drones: Chouette
🎁 Get your wine essentials on our shop: a curated selection of wine accessories, posters and much more
🗺️ Get the best French Wine Map: as information as decorative

▬▬ ⭐️ ABOUT ⭐️ ▬▬
My name is Antoine, and I’ve been passionate about wine for several years. I knew nothing at first, so I went out to meet the biggest figures in the industry and turned those encounters into a podcast that’s now listened to by over 100,000 people. I now share with you what I’ve learned, and I hope we embark together on a beautiful wine journey to discover the finest experiences.

ALCOHOL ABUSE IS DANGEROUS FOUR YOUR HEALTH. CONSUME IN MODERATION.

Hosted on Ausha. See ausha.co/privacy-policy for more information.

Calculate the perfect number of bottles: https://www.theweddingwines.com/calculator
Personnalize your wine label for your wedding: https://www.theweddingwines.com/label-maker

Choosing wine for your wedding is the biggest wine purchase most people ever make (often hundreds of bottles) and almost nobody teaches you how to do it. In this video: the exact quantity formula, where to spend and where to save, the crowd-pleaser styles that work for 100+ guests, why your toast bubbles shouldn't be Champagne, the sale-or-return trick, corkage math, serving logistics that make cheap wine taste expensive (and expensive wine taste cheap), and how to make the wine actually mean something on the day.

▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬ 📚CHAPTERS 📚 ▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬
00:00 Introduction
01:00 Rule 1: Do the math first
03:01 Rule 2: Buy for the crowd, not for you
04:17 Rule 3: Keep it simple
05:07 Rule 4: Spend early, save late
06:22 Rule 5: Don’t overspend on the toast
06:33 Rule 6: Kitchen and the calendar pick your style 
08:21 Rule 7: Taste before ordering 
09:30 Rule 8: 3 pieces of financial advice
11:20 Rule 9: Confirm the serving conditions
12:52 Rule 10: Add a meaning in the wine 
13:56 Recap of the rules for your wedding wines 
14:47 Conclusion 

▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬ ⭐️ ABOUT ⭐️ ▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬
My name is Antoine, and I’ve been passionate about wine for several years. I knew nothing at first, so I went out to meet the biggest figures in the industry and turned those encounters into a podcast that’s now listened to by over 100,000 people. I now share with you what I’ve learned, and I hope we embark together on a beautiful wine journey to discover the finest experiences.

Follow us on our platforms: 
Website: https://winemakersshow.com
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/winemakersshow/
Podcast: https://open.spotify.com/show/1J50w14nMbVRCnKSsQ4hEP
Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@winemakersshow?sub_confirmation=1

ALCOHOL ABUSE IS DANGEROUS FOUR YOUR HEALTH. CONSUME IN MODERATION.

Hosted on Ausha. See ausha.co/privacy-policy for more information.