Brian McClintic
Rethinking Wine, Letting Nature Lead
My guest for this episode is Brian McClintic. For many people in the wine world, Brian needs no introduction. He’s one of the co-stars of the Somm documentaries where we watch him go from being a young, ambitions lover of wine, to becoming a Master Sommelier, and then his further evolution as global wine expert. Then, perhaps even more significantly, Brian became disillusioned with his membership in the Court of Master Sommeliers, turned in his pin, and resigned from the Court. The development of his perspective on wine continued through the projects and ideas he began exploring through his online wine club Viticole and its associated podcast.
When Brian recently wrote a post on his Viticole blog titled “Reimaging Terroir” – which I highly recommend everyone read – I knew I wanted to get Brian to talk about his new ideas here on the podcast. Brian presents a way to reimagine wine. He discusses how our climate issues are just a symptom of our disconnection from the natural world. He shares a vision where a diversity of wine ingredients leads to biodiversity in agriculture, and makes our obsession with clearing forests and landscapes to plant a monoculture of non-native single variety plants seem absurd. We talk about blind tasting, terroir, and growing polyculture agroforestry that includes grapes with fruit trees and bushes.
If you are ready for a new vision of wine, get ready for a ride of rethinking viticulture to remind us of our dependence on the natural world, reconnect and deepen our bond with nature, and be reminded of who is leading the dance… It’s not us.
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