The Drinks Business Podcast

Patrick Schmitt MW dives into the US drinks market with Gino Colangelo, the founder and president of leading North American comms agency for wine Colangelo & Partners. Gino considers the threats and opportunities for wine in his home nation today, as well as the changes this century as he celebrates 20 years since he established his business.

Patrick Schmitt MW sits down with Guillaume Lété, who is the cellar master at Champagne Barons de Rothschild – a brand that was founded in 2005 by three French branches of the Rothschilds, bringing together for the first time the families behind the Lafite, Mouton, and the Edmond de Rothschild wine estates.

A dynamic dialogue with leading brands and writers about how AI is creating truly personalized experiences in wine and spirits destinations, and how an AI-first world is creating new opportunities for the industry to reframe its approach and turn challenges into triumph.TopicsHow Leaders Are Creating Personalized ExperiencesMeet the Transformation EconomyWhat Makes an Experience EcosystemSensory Optimism in an AI-First World

Db’s Bordeaux correspondent Colin Hay speaks to Arabella Mileham about the 2025 Bordeaux en primeur campaign. Noting the surprising quality of the wines despite challenging weather conditions, he shares his top picks of the vintage as well as the challenges ahead. This year, more than ever, pricing discipline will be crucial, and a successful campaign is vital for Bordeaux's financial stability - so far, the pace of the campaign has been slow and early releases shows modest reductions, but this may accelerate, and the next two weeks will prove decisive.

In a wide-ranging interview with Patrick Schmitt MW, Michelle Brampton outlines her vision for the future of the Wine & Spirit Education Trust (WSET): a more inclusive, digitally-enabled, sustainability-focused, and globally-connected organisation that remains the benchmark for drinks education worldwide.

Patrick Schmitt MW discusses the past, present and future of Spain’s diverse wine scene with Ferran Centelles, the drinks manager at the El Bulli foundation, and Maria Naranjo, the director of food and drink at Spanish trade organisation ICEX.

Panellists include Danny Cooper, chief information and digital officer at Virgin Wines; Rachel Wilson, general manager of Napa Valley Marriott; and Patrick Comiskey, Master of Fine Arts, wine writer and critic.As AI capabilities evolve at speed – enabling increasingly sophisticated product recommendations, targeted communications and data-driven insights – drinks businesses face a particular challenge: applying these tools in a category defined by complexity and deeply subjective consumer preferences.This session examines how AI-powered personalisation can be deployed effectively across retail, e-commerce and hospitality, and what a specialist, drinks-focused approach looks like in practice.Hosted in partnership with Preferabli, which provides recommendation solutions tailored specifically to the drinks sector, the webinar will bring together voices from across the trade — spanning digital retail, hospitality and wine criticism — to assess both the opportunities and practical realities of AI implementation.

Château Galoupet managing director Nadine Fau tells Patrick Schmitt MW about the steps needed to produce wine sustainably in Provence and why premium rosé packaging doesn’t have to come at the expense of the environment.

According to CellarTracker founder Eric LeVine, “Dry January does not exist” – at least among his audience – though drinkers are exploring far more wine regions than in the past. He tells Patrick Schmitt MW about the trends from his 'Year in Review'.