The Tim Atkin Cork Talk Podcast

Michael Silacci grew up on a dairy farm in the San Francisco Bay Area but didn’t discover his calling in life – wine – until he did a harvest in the Loire Valley in his mid-twenties. After jobs at Beaulieu and Stag’s Leap in California and at King Estate in Oregon, he joined Opus One in 2001. He’s been at this celebrated Napa Valley project ever since, refining the style and cementing Opus’s status as one of the New World’s most sought-after wines.

To read more about Michael have a look at the Opus One website. You can also follow him on Instagram at @opus_one_winemaker.

Don’t forget, Cork Talk is now available on Spotify as well as Apple Podcasts, where you can listen to this week’s episode, plus my back catalogue of interviews with some of the world’s most extraordinary wine figures.

Richard Kershaw MW started out as a chef, but then switched to wine instead. After a spell at La Réserve in Hampstead, where the comedian Peter Cook was one of his clients, he worked as a cellar hand in various countries before moving to South Africa, perfecting his skills at Mulderbosch and Kanu before establishing his own eponymous label in 2012. He’s deep thinker as well as a passionate advocate of cool climate wines.

To read more about Richard have a look at his website. You can also follow the winery on Instagram at @kershawwines.

Don’t forget, Cork Talk is now available on Spotify as well as Apple Podcasts, where you can listen to this week’s episode, plus my back catalogue of interviews with some of the world’s most extraordinary wine figures.

A musician by training, Ben Witchell moved into winemaking after a career in IT, working first in Beaujolais before setting up in his own venture, Flint Vineyard, with a tenant farmer in Norfolk’s Waveney Valley. He’s a person who likes to take a few risks, as well as being what he calls “bloody minded”, which may explain his success with the underrated Bacchus grape, Prosecco-style English sparkling wines and his boundary-pushing Labs Project.

To read more about Ben have a look at the Flint Vineyard website. You can also follow the winery on Instagram at @flintvineyard.

Don’t forget, Cork Talk is now available on Spotify as well as Apple Podcasts, where you can listen to this week’s episode, plus my back catalogue of interviews with some of the world’s most extraordinary wine figures.

A talented singer and linguist, Anne McHale is a northern Irish Master of Wine who’s one of the best teachers in the business as well as gifted story teller. Our amusing, in-depth chat covered everything from tasting skills to religion, the joys of eating out in Lyon to what the Romans and Ancient Greeks liked to drink. No wonder so many students trust her to guide them through the Wine & Spirit Education Trust’s notoriously trick exams. 

To read more about Anne have a look at her website. You can also follow her on Instagram at @annemchalewine. 

Don’t forget, Cork Talk is now available on Spotify as well as Apple Podcasts, where you can listen to this week’s episode, plus my back catalogue of interviews with some of the world’s most extraordinary wine figures.

Pierre-Henry Gagey is a passionate Burgundian who believes that his region is a “kind of miracle”, working at top négociant Maison Louis Jadot since 1985, including a 30-year stint as its president. Our extensive chat about what he calls “Big Burgundy” from Chablis to Beaujolais covered everything from wine prices to climate change, recent vintages to his love of Oregon. He’s a man with a sense of history and a vision of the future.

To read more about Pierre Henry have a look at the Résonance Wines website . You can follow Louis Jadot on Instagram at @louisjadot.

Don’t forget, Cork Talk is now available on Spotify as well as Apple Podcasts, where you can listen to this week’s episode, plus my back catalogue of interviews with some of the world’s most extraordinary wine figures.