When Kim first invited me to join the group of columnists here, she said that the management team really wanted to have someone who was a podcaster, so I fit the bill. Since I have some qualifications to talk about wine podcasts, I thought it might be worthwhile over the next few columns to offer some wine podcast reviews and suggestions.

The 800-pound gorilla of wine podcasts is, of course, Grape Radio. While I listen to a variety of podcasts, I must admit that this one is the podcast that I listen to most often. The hosts of the show, Brian Clark, Eric Anderson and Leigh Older, with other occasional hosts all clearly love wine. They drink it during their recording sessions (listen carefully and you can sometimes hear a glass being refilled) and they know their stuff. But at the same time, they are not stuffy, and they aren’t afraid to admit there’s a lot that they don’t know about wine.

The great thing about Grape Radio is that the show has the street credentials to land interviews with big names in the wine industry. From importers to experts to winemakers, you get to hear from the real experts who live with and work with wine every waking moment of the day. The main focus of Grape Radio is education, both for the novice and the more experienced wine enthusiast. The production values are top-notch, making it an easy listen.
Grape Radio has started releasing short videos to complement their podcasts, and they have done everything right in this process, going so far as to hire a professional cinematographer to ensure that nothing looks like it was done with a cheap home video camera.

If there’s one thing I don’t like about Grape Radio, it’s simply that these guys are the king of the hill. As a wine podcaster, I’d love to have their level of success, but I also realize that their location in California and their ability to treat this as at least a part-time business gives them advantages that many of us lack. I often find myself a bit jealous of their ability to interview some major players, but I do not begrudge them this. If I worked as hard as the Grape Radio crew does, I might be able to accomplish the same.

Grape Radio gets a solid 95+/100, no question about it.

Our next podcast is actually a video podcast, Wine Library TV [Disclosure: Wine Library TV advertises on WineLog. Hey Gary, when you gonna sponsor my podcast? :-)] The host and producer, Gary Vaynerchuck, is an amazingly enthusiastic person when it comes to wine, and this enthusiasm doesn’t just show up in his video podcast, it reaches right through the screen and sits down next to you (if only it would bring a bottle of wine with it). Gary works for a wine retailer, Wine Library, so he has access to plenty of resources, namely wines.

A typical show involves Gary sitting at a table, talking to us viewers, telling us about wines and then tasting those wines so he can share his impressions. Not too long ago, Gary broke from that mold to do a show about training your palate. Want to learn how to detect gooseberries in your Sauvignon Blanc? Go buy some gooseberries and eat them. Gary had the table top covered with foods with aromas and flavors that show up in wines, and he ate his way through most of them with a furious determination. While I haven’t duplicated Gary’s feat, I have suggested to my students that they go through the grocery store and try to do this until they get kicked out by the management.

For some folks, Gary’s ferocity is going to take some getting used to. He also has this odd tendency to favor the New York Jets, so sometime a bit of football trash talking with his listeners works its way into the show. But to the extent that Grape Radio is akin to Mr. Rogers’ Neighborhood in terms of its calmer presentation, Wine Library TV is akin to Sesame Street’s fast and fun learning.

Wine Library TV also scores a solid 95+/100.

Both Grape Radio and Wine Library TV are required listening/viewing for this wine enthusiast, and I happily recommend them.