The Real Business of Wine: 50 Expert Podcast Interviews on the Wine Industry

The wine world is full of stories. But behind every bottle, label, and trend lies the real business of wine—the strategy, regulation, marketing, and economics that shape what ends up in your glass.

The Real Business of Wine was launched by Robert Joseph and Polly Hammond on the day Europe locked down in March 2020. What began as a response to crisis quickly became one of the industry’s most respected forums for candid, unscripted conversation. Over the course of the series, we hosted more than 400 global guests, offering a rare look at how wine really works—from production to policy, from ecommerce to ethics.

This podcast isn’t about tasting notes or winery profiles. It’s a deep dive into the forces shaping the industry: changing consumer expectations, fractured supply chains, digital transformation, climate resilience, and the uncomfortable truths that rarely make it into marketing copy.

Whether you’re a winery owner, retailer, importer, or curious observer, this archive is designed to help you understand the business of wine as it actually is: messy, fascinating, and full of opportunity.

Below, you’ll find episodes grouped by theme, with links to summaries and full recordings. This is your starting point for understanding wine’s present, and shaping its future.

Innovation and Disruption in the Business of Wine

New technologies, changing tastes, and bold thinkers are rewriting the wine playbook. These episodes highlight the disruptors shaping what’s next in wine.

• Wine Innovation with Coravin Founder Greg Lambrecht
• Orange is the New Black
• The Grapes, with Randall Grahm
• Alice Feiring on Natural Wine & Industry Disruption
• Flying Winemakers: Nayan Gowda
• Luxury Wine Reimagined: Maggie Henriquez of Krug
• From The Top, with Jancis Robinson
• Making A Start

Wine Industry Strategy and Global Market Trends

Explore how trade, regulation, and geopolitical shifts are reshaping the global wine industry. These episodes dive into the realities of pricing, exports, and the macro forces influencing wine businesses today.

• Inside Europe’s Wine Policy with Irene Tolleret MEP
• India: The Other Emerging Market
• Brazil: Brave New World
• A Focus on China
• Talking Russia
• Talking New Zealand
• Inside Burgundy’s Wine Trade with Jasper Morris MW
• Bordeaux Beyond En Primeur with Jane Anson
• By The Numbers
• When On-Premise Turns Off
• Events Beyond Our Control

Wine Branding, Marketing, and Storytelling

From label design to influencer campaigns, this section unpacks how wineries build brands that resonate—and where storytelling meets strategy.

• Building a Brand, Italy, Real Business of Wine Ep. 25Building a Brand, Italy
• Wine Consumers Today: Insights from ARENI Global
• A Better Wine Story
• Alternative Media
• Wine Writing: Fact vs Opinion
• The Influencers
• Sex and Wine
• Wine Writing: With Karen MacNeil
• The Wine Writers
• The Editors
• Qualified Success

Sustainability and Ethical Challenges in the Wine Business

Climate, equity, and resilience aren’t just buzzwords—they’re the future of the wine business. These episodes spotlight the hard conversations and hopeful solutions that matter.

• Getting to Sustainability
• Wine in the Time of Plague and War
• COVID-19: The Impact
• The Future of Virtual Tastings
• Remote Control
• The East Wind, with Philip Cox
• Getting the Horn, with Monty Waldin

Wine Retail, Ecommerce, and Direct-to-Consumer Sales

Digital disruption has changed how wine is bought and sold. This section explores the rise of ecommerce, retail survival strategies, and how wineries can thrive in a DTC landscape.

• Excelling at Ecommerce
• Independent Wine Retail Today: Holter & Boyne Speak Out
• Somm-Thing for the Weekend
• Tourism – Being There
• English Sparkling Wine
• Remote Control

The business of wine goes well beyond what’s in the glass. It’s a global web of decisions, systems, and people, shaped by tradition, disrupted by innovation, and constantly adapting to change. Through The Real Business of Wine, we’ve had the rare opportunity to explore this complexity with hundreds of industry insiders.

This archive is a practical resource for anyone looking to understand how the wine world works, from producers and marketers to retailers, policy-makers, and curious drinkers. If you’re working in wine, or thinking about the future of your wine business, there’s something here for you.

Keep Going

If you care about where the wine industry is headed, follow The Wine Marketer’s Radar—Polly Hammond’s weekly take on the trends, campaigns, and tools shaping how wine reaches today’s drinkers. Smart, quick, and built for wine businesses that want to think ahead.

Or, if you’re working through challenges of your own, get in touch with us. We help wine brands turn strategy into real-world results with the tools, tech, and experience to back it up.