We're back with series 11 of The English Wine Diaries and kick starting this season is The Mistress of Wine, aka Sam Caporn MW.

Not only is Sam one of just 421 Masters of Wine world-wide, (of which there are only 149 women) she was also the recipient of the 2011 Madame Bollinger Medal for Excellence in Tasting and remains one of just 16 women to have received the medal to date.

Sam’s wine career started as a trainee manager at Majestic and in the years that followed, she studied a swathe of wine qualifications, culminating in her Masters of Wine accreditation.

But, she remembers all too well the time before that, when – in her own words, she knew not a sausage about wine. And it is this that drives her passion today for educating others about wine in an approachable and entertaining way.

As well as working as a consultant across the wine industry and judging for awards, including co-chairing the International Wine Challenge, Sam hosts corporate and private tastings, which are often focused on her wine flavour tree.

The tree forms the basis for her debut book, The Wine Flavour Guide, which shows readers how to pick the best wine for any occasion.

Listen in to find out who Sam's favourite English wine brands are, who she'd choose to share her favourite bottle of wine with and the reason she has some Veuve Clicquot branded wellies in her closet.

You can follow Sam on Instagram @themistressofwine and find out more about her at themistresswine.com. The Wine Flavour Guide is published by Square Peg and is available from all good book stores, RRP £20.

With thanks to our series sponsor, Wickhams, The Great British Wine Merchant. Visit wickhamwine.co.uk to see their award-winning range of English wine with free delivery on orders over £40. The English Wine Diaries listeners can also get 10% discount on their first purchase by entering the code TEWD10. Please drink responsibly.

Thanks for listening to The English Wine Diaries. If you enjoyed the podcast then please leave a rating or review, it helps boost our ratings and makes it easier for other people to find us. To find out who will be joining me next on the English Wine Diaries, follow @theenglishwinediaries on Instagram and for more regular English wine news and reviews, sign up to our newsletter at thesouthernquarter.co.uk.

Joining me on the last episode of series 10 of The English Wine Diaries is wine expert and presenter, Tom Surgey.

Tom was just 14 when his career in hospitality started, peeling carrots and potatoes in a Sussex pub after school. At the tender age of 20, he found himself working at The Ivy in London, where a hero called Sancho taught him the basics of wine and his passion for the drink really grew.

He took his WSET qualifications and, hooked on wine, left the restaurant side of the industry in 2014 to join Ridgeview, where he spent six years working alongside renowned pioneers of high-quality English wine-making, the Roberts family.

During his time at Ridgeview, Tom was invited to join the official line-up of Three Wine Men – joining Oz Clarke, Olly Smith and Tim Atkin with his unique style of wine presentation.

As a freelance wine communicator and consultant, he works with a broad range of premium wine businesses, is a regular on BBC Sussex & Surrey Radio and often shares his expert drinks tips with star guests on ITV’s Love Your Weekend with Alan Titchmarsh.

Set for release later this summer, Tom’s debut book, How to Drink Wine, promises to be a charismatic guide to teach you everything you need to know to enjoy this tremendous tipple.

During this episode, which is brought to you in partnership with Plumpton College Wine Division, we talk about those early days at The Club at The Ivy, how he joined the Three Wine Men line-up and - having grown up and still living in Sussex – his true thoughts on the Sussex PDO.

Follow Tom @tomsurgey on instagram and pre-order his book, How to Drink Wine, published on August 29, at geni.us/howtodrinkwine.

Find out more about Plumpton College Wine Division's new short courses at plumpton.ac.uk.

With thanks to our series sponsor, Wickhams, The Great British Wine Merchant. Visit wickhamwine.co.uk to see their award-winning range of English wine with free delivery on orders over £40. The English Wine Diaries listeners can also get 10% discount on their first purchase by entering the code TEWD10. Please drink responsibly.

Thanks for listening to The English Wine Diaries. If you enjoyed the podcast then please leave a rating or review, it helps boost our ratings and makes it easier for other people to find us. To find out who will be joining me next on the English Wine Diaries, follow @theenglishwinediaries on Instagram and for more regular English wine news and reviews, sign up to our newsletter at thesouthernquarter.co.uk.

Joining me on today’s episode of The English Wine Diaries is Michael Kennedy, Chief Executive Officer of Roebuck Estates – who make premium sparkling wine from their multi-vineyard estates in Sussex.

Following university, Michael joined the Graduate Management Scheme of Marks and Spencer, and became the first trainee manager to be appointed to an overseas position in Paris. After a period as a buyer, he moved to Mars Confectionery where he worked as a National Sales Manager in the UK.

What followed was years in the drinks industry working predominantly in premium branded spirits – he joined the Drambuie Liqueur Company in 2002, became CEO in 2011 and after a successful turnaround of the iconic Scottish brand, led the subsequent sale to William Grants & Son in 2014.

His most recent role, prior to joining Roebuck Estates, was with Stock Spirits Group, one of the largest manufacturers and marketers of alcoholic beverages in Europe, where he ran the Italian and international arm of the business and headed up the Mergers & Acquisitions department.

During his comparatively short time at Roebuck Estates, which was established in 2013, the brand has won numerous trophies and awards at global wine competitions, launched a new tasting area at its flagship Petworth vineyard and become the first exclusive English sparkling wine partner at RHS Hampton Court Garden Festival.

You can find out more about Roebuck Estates by following them @roebuckestates on Instagram and facebook.

With thanks to our series sponsor, Wickhams, The Great British Wine Merchant. Visit wickhamwine.co.uk to see their award-winning range of English wine with free delivery on orders over £40. The English Wine Diaries listeners can also get 10% discount on their first purchase by entering the code TEWD10. Please drink responsibly.

Thanks for listening to The English Wine Diaries. If you enjoyed the podcast then please leave a rating or review, it helps boost our ratings and makes it easier for other people to find us. To find out who will be joining me next on the English Wine Diaries, follow @theenglishwinediaries on Instagram and for more regular English wine news and reviews, sign up to our newsletter at thesouthernquarter.co.uk.

Joining me on today’s episode of The English Wine Diaries is David Bailey – the owner of Wraxall Vineyard in Somerset.

David and his wife, Lexa Hunt bought Wraxall – thought to be the oldest vineyard in Somerset – in February 2021 having moved into the neighbouring 200-year-old farmhouse a few years earlier.

The couple, who have both run and grown businesses within the financial sector, had absolutely no viticultural experience but saw an opportunity, not only to make great wine, but a place where people can come and enjoy that wine.

Last year, they opened The View at Wraxall, a stunning glass-fronted tasting and events space overlooking the vines and they have recently finished renovating the old, dilapidated winery into a charming rural botlhole to get away from it all.

Their increasing portfolio of high-quality wines currently includes a still rosé, made from early ripening pinot noir, a still bacchus and a barrel fermented bacchus, which recently won the trophy for Best Bacchus at the WineGB Awards. The first of their traditionally method sparkling wines are expected to be ready for release towards the end of the year.

We talk about David's reluctance to become a vineyard owner, how important tourism is to the longevity of Wraxall and what the vineyard's previous 90-year-old owners think about David and Lexa's takeover.

You can find out more about Wraxall and order their award-winning wines at wraxallvineyard.co.uk and you can follow them @wraxallvineyard on Instagram.

With thanks to our series sponsor, Wickhams, The Great British Wine Merchant. Visit wickhamwine.co.uk to see their award-winning range of English wine with free delivery on orders over £40. The English Wine Diaries listeners can also get 10% discount on their first purchase by entering the code TEWD10. Please drink responsibly.

Thanks for listening to The English Wine Diaries. If you enjoyed the podcast then please leave a rating or review, it helps boost our ratings and makes it easier for other people to find us. To find out who will be joining me next on the English Wine Diaries, follow @theenglishwinediaries on Instagram and for more regular English wine news and reviews, sign up to our newsletter at thesouthernquarter.co.uk.

Joining me on this week's episode of The English Wine Diaries is John Wilkins, Commercial Director at Itasca Wines and Penn Croft Vineyards in Hampshire.

Itasca Wines is a sustainable full contract winemaking company, which under the lead of award-winning winemaker Ben Smith, delivers a grape to bottle service for a host of top wine brands and premium boutique vineyards across the UK.

Ben and the Itasca team also produce wines from grapes grown in their own vineyard, Penn Croft, where they have 16,000 vines of Chardonnay, Pinot Noir, Pinot Meunier and Bacchus.

The business is the shared vision of local farmer and sustainable agriculture expert, Simon Porter, and filmmaker Malcolm Walker, whose credits include Star Wars, Aliens and wine documentary show Cellar Rats.

Central to their business vision is sustainability and a mission to drive adoption of biodiverse viticulture and they have invested huge amounts into sustainability-focused innovations including a natural wetlands system so no waste water leaves the site, a solar farm for electricity and thermo controlled tanks.

This, they say, is because they are in it for the long run and want to make wine in a way that not only protects, but actively gives back to the natural world.

To find out more follow @penncroftvineyards and @itascawines on Instagram.

This episode of The English Wine Diaries is brought to you in partnership with New Dawn Pubs and The Red Lion in Odiham, where you can book a Pinot & Pyjamas weekender, which includes a 2-night weekend stay, early check-in, or late check-out, a welcome glass of wine each, your choice of two nibble dishes to share, plus a £100 food and drink credit and 10% off a Penn Croft Wine Tasting & Tour - all for just £365. Visit redlionodiham.co.uk and keep an eye out on socials for your chance to win a Pinot & Pyjamas stay!

With thanks, as always to our series sponsor, Wickhams, The Great British Wine Merchant. Visit wickhamwine.co.uk to see their award-winning range of English wine with free delivery on orders over £40. The English Wine Diaries listeners can also get 10% discount on their first purchase by entering the code TEWD10. Please drink responsibly.

Thanks for listening to The English Wine Diaries. If you enjoyed the podcast then please leave a rating or review, it helps boost our ratings and makes it easier for other people to find us. To find out who will be joining me next on the English Wine Diaries, follow @theenglishwinediaries on Instagram and for more regular English wine news and reviews, sign up to our newsletter at thesouthernquarter.co.uk.

Joining me on today’s episode of The English Wine Diaries is none other than Blur bassist, Alex James.

Blur formed in 1988 and their nine studio albums have all topped the charts in the UK, generating numerous hit singles along the way including Song 2, Beetlebum and Coffee & TV.

Now you may be wondering why a member of one of the most successful and influential bands of the 90s would come on a podcast about English wine but I assure you, there is good reason!

Following a hugely successful career with Blur, and as a songwriter and producer for other big-name artists, Alex somewhat stepped away from the limelight in the early noughties when he moved to the country with his wife, Claire, and set up a cheese farm.

This 200 acre estate in The Cotswolds now plays host to The Big Feastival, which brings together over 75,000 people across three days in August to celebrate good food, good music and good times.

What goes down well at festivals? Cider of course. And in 2019, Alex launched his first sparkling medium dry cider, which he aptly named BritPop.

Last year he threw a bit of a curve ball into the mix and launched an English Sparkling Wine, also under the Britpop name and made with grapes grown on the Furleigh Estate in Dorset, the county where Alex was born and bred.

He has now added an English sparkling rosé and elderflower wine spritzer to the range and I can attest to the fact they all go brilliantly well with his award-winning cheeses!

We talk about crisps as canapés, drinking Champagne for breakfast and what dream person Alex would love to share a glass of Britpop with.

The Britpop collection is available from laithwaites.co.uk and you can book tickets to The Big Feastival (which takes place between 23rd to 25th August 2024) at thebigfeastival.com.

With thanks to our series sponsor, Wickhams, The Great British Wine Merchant. Visit wickhamwine.co.uk to see their award-winning range of English wine with free delivery on orders over £40. The English Wine Diaries listeners can also get 10% discount on their first purchase by entering the code TEWD10. Please drink responsibly.

Thanks for listening to The English Wine Diaries. If you enjoyed the podcast then please leave a rating or review, it helps boost our ratings and makes it easier for other people to find us. To find out who will be joining me next on the English Wine Diaries, follow @theenglishwinediaries on Instagram and for more regular English wine news and reviews, sign up to our newsletter at thesouthernquarter.co.uk.

Joining me on today’s episode of The English Wine Diaries is Will Perkins, winemaker for Louis Pommery England, the English project under the Vranken-Pommery portfolio, which has planted 35-hectares of vines on the Pinglestone Estate in Hampshire.

Having grown up in Hampshire, just outside Winchester, Will has fond memories of formative years in the county and it was here that his first work in wine began – helping out at Hattingley Valley vineyard during his school holidays.

Travelling to South Africa to study History, Politics and Spanish at university in Cape Town, a career in English viticulture wasn’t hugely on his radar. But when he returned to England, a harvest cellar hand position at Hattingly presented itself. Soon Will had embarked on a degree in Viticulture and was promoted to Assistant Winemaker at Hattingley.

After five years, an unrelenting quest to explore, experiment and experience further afield saw him leave his home county once again and spend time working on pioneering projects across the globe, from California to Central Otago and from the Adelaide Hills to the Yarra Valley.

Now with his feet firmly back on home soil, Will describes joining Pinglestone Estate in 2022 as an opportunity to ‘reconnect with the land and community that runs through his being.”

You can keep up to date with developments at Pinglestone Estate by following @louispommeryengland on Instagram.

With thanks to our series sponsor, Wickhams, The Great British Wine Merchant. Visit wickhamwine.co.uk to see their award-winning range of English wine with free delivery on orders over £40. The English Wine Diaries listeners can also get 10% discount on their first purchase by entering the code TEWD10. Please drink responsibly.

Thanks for listening to The English Wine Diaries. If you enjoyed the podcast then please leave a rating or review, it helps boost our ratings and makes it easier for other people to find us. To find out who will be joining me next on the English Wine Diaries, follow @theenglishwinediaries on Instagram and for more regular English wine news and reviews, sign up to our newsletter at thesouthernquarter.co.uk.

Joining me on today’s episode of The English Wine Diaries is winemaker Charlie Holland.

Charlie worked his first vintage in Australia some 24 years ago and caught the wine bug. He returned to England and immediately enrolled at the renowned Plumpton College in Sussex.

While there he worked part-time at nearby Ridgeview wine estate before heading off to do winemaking stints in California, Germany and New Zealand.

In 2009 he took on a full-time winemaking role back home at Ridgeview, before being offered the position of Head Winemaker at Gusbourne in 2013 – that role expanded to CEO just three years later.

However, last year Charlie announced he was leaving this prestigious role to join California-based wine company, Jackson Family Wines, and help spearhead the brand’s own English wine venture, which has included the planting of vines in Essex’s Crouch Valley.

He joins me from the edge of said vineyard in Essex, having just moments earlier planted the last vine in the current phase of this English wine venture to talk about the evolution of winemaking in Kent & Sussex over the past decade, the future for grapes in Essex and why, sometimes, beer is better than wine.

To find out more about what the new Essex vineyard and what's next for Jackson Family Wines' English adventure, follow @jacksonfamilywines on instagram or visit jacksonfamilywines.com.

With thanks to our series sponsor, Wickhams, The Great British Wine Merchant. Visit wickhamwine.co.uk to see their award-winning range of English wine with free delivery on orders over £40. The English Wine Diaries listeners can also get 10% discount on their first purchase by entering the code TEWD10. Please drink responsibly.

Thanks for listening to The English Wine Diaries. If you enjoyed the podcast then please leave a rating or review, it helps boost our ratings and makes it easier for other people to find us. To find out who will be joining me next on the English Wine Diaries, follow @theenglishwinediaries on Instagram and for more regular English wine news and reviews, sign up to our newsletter at thesouthernquarter.co.uk.