Wine Blast Podcast to bring Western Australia to the Global Stage
The internationally acclaimed Wine Blast podcast, hosted by Masters of Wine Susie Barrie and Peter Richards, has launched their podcast mini-series on Western Australian wines which kicked off on the 24 January and 7 February 2025. Part 1 featured the wines, people, landscapes and stories of the Great Southern wine region (listen here), while Part 2 shone the spotlight on Margaret River (listen here).
Coordinated by Wines of Western Australia’s WA Wines to the World program, this podcast mini-series showcased the Great Southern and Margaret River to a highly engaged global wine audience, both consumers and trade, inspiring listeners to explore and purchase Western Australian wines.
The mini-series follows Peter Richards’ week-long immersive tour of WA’s iconic south-west wine regions in November 2024, where he experienced the regions first-hand – walking through vineyards, tasting wines and recording a diversity of local conversations and scene-setting sound bites.
Peter’s journey began in the Great Southern, with stops at Plantagenet Wines (Mount Barker), Swinney (Frankland River), Alkoomi (Frankland River), Forest Hill Vineyard (Mount Barker), Singlefile Wines (Denmark) and Cherubino’s Riversdale Vineyard (Frankland River). Peter was also invited to taste a line-up of sub-regional wines at a masterclass held at West Cape Howe winery, hosted by Gavin Berry (West Cape Howe) and Rob Diletti (Castel Rock Estate).
Tom Wisdom, President of Great Southern Wine Producers’ Association and Managing Director for Plantagenet Wines remarked “From an industry standpoint, it’s deeply rewarding to have people of this calibre visit our regions, engage with us as dedicated wine producers, and provide a broader global perspective on our work.”
Larry Cherubino commented “I was lucky enough to spend the whole day with Peter, taking him from Frankland River to Margaret River and everywhere in between. He was exploring familiar terrain in a completely different context, also delving into some of the emerging varieties and how they suit what we’re doing, especially in the Great Southern. It was fantastic to get his perspective – it really boosted my confidence in the decisions we’ve made about what to plant and where. From a stylistic point of view, it was exciting to see our work through fresh eyes.”
Peter then travelled west to Margaret River, spending time with Cherubino Wines, Xanadu, Voyager Estate, Cape Mentelle, Moss Wood, Passel Estate, Vasse Felix, Cloudburst and Cullen Wines.
Tim Shand, Chief Winemaker at Voyager Estate said “It was a privilege and a pleasure to host Peter at Voyager Estate I am excited to have an MW as erudite as Peter taking a deep dive into Margaret River wine and taking his experience to the broad audience that Wine Blast has built.”
Peter’s Margaret River visit was also timed so that he could attend the annual flagship tastings at Cape Mentelle (Cabernet Sauvignon) and Cullen Wines (Chardonnay) where he additionally took on VIP speaker roles. He also attended two events held as part of the Pair’d Margaret River festival – Leeuwin Estate X JAAN (a wine dinner collaboration between Leeuwin Estate’s Head Chef Dan Gedge and JAAN Singapore’s Michelin-starred Kirk Westaway) and the Grand Tasting by Singapore Airlines (a collaborative wine, food and music event held at Howard Park Wines).
Liz Mencel, Program Manager for WA Wines to the World summarises “Peter Richards’ time spent in the Great Southern and Margaret River regions has provided a rich palette of content from which Wine Blast is able to draw on for this exciting podcast series. This is a first for Australian wine regions and we were very excited to listen in!”
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Podcast & social medial links:
Podcast: https://podfollow.com/wine-blast (select preferred podcast platform and follow/subscribe)
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/susieandpeter/
About Wine Blast:
Launched in 2020, Wine Blast swiftly gained recognition as a Top-10 podcast in the US and UK (Chartable: Apple, Food) and now ranks among the top 1% of podcasts globally by downloads (Buzzcast). Boasting a 5-star rating on iTunes, it is heard in over 200 countries and has been featured in major media outlets, including The Daily Telegraph, Radio Times, Evening Standard, Club Oenologique, and Wine Folly. Cementing Wine Blast’s position in the wine media firmament was their big win at the 67 Pall Mall Global Wine Communicator Awards 2024 in the audio category alongside a host of top wine talent. Hosted by two award-winning broadcasters with 12 years on BBC1 and more than two decades of broadcasting expertise, the podcast delivers engaging, expertly crafted content.
About Peter Richards MW:
Peter Richards MW has written four books and contributed to many more; other writing credits include The Guardian, FT, Times Online, Food & Drink, Sunday Times, Decanter, Daily Mail, FHM, The World of Fine Wine and Square Meal. He’s been described as a ‘polished and fluent writer’ (Evening Standard) and ‘illuminating and unpretentious’ (World of Fine Wine). See Peters full bio here
Funding partners:
- WA Wines to the World
- WA wine industry – including featured wine producers and the Great Southern Wine Producers’ Association
- TradeStart / South West Development Commission
- Pair’d Margaret River
Photographs:
Access key images HERE (please credit Ovis Creative for the images where specifically mentioned)
For further information:
Please contact: Liz Mencel, Program Manager for WA Wines to the World
Mobile: +61 (0)422 910 424
Email: [email protected]
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