The Tim Atkin Cork Talk Podcast

Born and brought up in New York, where she made wine with her father in the basement of their house as a kid, Natalie Oliveros had a very successful career in the Adult Entertainment Industry as Savanna Samson before buying a majority stake in La Fiorita in Brunello di Montalcino in 2014. Our fascinating chat covered society’s attitude to sex, her love of Sangiovese, celebrity wines, organic viticulture and how climate change is affecting Tuscany.

To read more about Natalie have a look at the La Fiorita website. You can also follow her on Instagram at @natalie_lafiorita. 

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

 

 

Jancis Robinson is the world’s leading wine writer, acknowledged as such by consumers, the wine industry and her peers. She has a weekly column in the Financial Times, her own website, jancisrobinson.com, and has authored a series of landmark books about her chosen subject. I caught up with her from her home in London to talk about food, tasting, writing, communicating, her favourite wines and what it was like meeting the Queen.

To read more about Jancis have a look at the her website. You can also follow her on Instagram at @jancisrobinson. 

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

 

The Prüms are one of the oldest wine families in Germany’s picturesque Middle Mosel region. The family business, J.J. Prüm, is now run by Katharina Prüm, who is as charming and amusing as she is intelligent. Listen to us chat about tradition, Fortnum & Mason and Oklahoma, the differences between the estate’s two great vineyards, Wehlener Sonnenuhr and Graacher Himmelreich, and the eternal beauty of Riesling.

To read more about Katharina have a look at the J. J. Prüm website. You can also follow the winery on Instagram at @jjpruem.

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

 

 

Part of an extensive, wine-focused family known in Bordeaux as “les Lurtons du vin”, François Lurton runs a successful global business that has estates in southern France, Spain, Chile and Argentina, places where he finds it “easier to breathe”. Our fascinating chat covered everything from cherry trees to different Malbec clones, flying winemaking to the Dakar rally, natural wines to the differences between Chile and Argentina.

To read more about François have a look at the Domaines François Lurton website. You can also follow the bodega on Instagram at @francoislurton.

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

 

Born into a famous winemaking family in Tuscany, Piero Incisa della Rocchetta had a brief spell as a banker in Geneva, before he dedicated himself to his first love, Pinot Noir. At Bodega Chacra in Patagonia, he’s made some of the finest examples of the variety in South America, as well as a pair of brilliant Chardonnays with the Burgundian guru Jean-Marc Roulot, using biodynamic, low-intervention methods to get the best out of a great terroir.

To read more about Piero have a look at the Bodega Chacra website. You can also follow the bodega on Instagram at @bodegachacra.

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

Poet, novelist, academic and tenth generation winery owner, Piero Mastroberardino is a modern-day Renaissance man. Passionate about the wines of his native Campania, he’s a fascinating source of information about the best local varieties, the terroir of one of the coolest grape growing regions in Italy, the ancient vineyards of Pompeii and the legacy of his father, Antonio, the so-called “grape archaeologist”.

To read more about Piero have a look at the Mastroberardino website. You can also follow him on Instagram at @pieromastroberardino.

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

Tony Laithwaite fell in love with wine in the Côtes de Castillon, where he’d gone to work as a holiday intern before university. Spotting a gap in the market, he founded a company called Bordeaux Direct, which has gone on to become one of the most successful mail order businesses in the world. Our intriguing chat covered his love of the under-dog, flying winemakers, fateful meetings and what keeps Laithwaite’s Wine ahead of the competition.

To read more about Tony have a look at the Laithwaite's Wine website. His autobiography, Direct, is also a fantastic read. 

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

The locals laughed when Dominik Huber made his first wines at Terroir al Límit in Priorat, but he’s proved them all wrong. Born in Germany, it was his dream to live close to the Mediterranean and he’s done it, producing some of Spain’s finest reds. I caught up with him on a welcome day of rain in Catalunya to talk about Garnacha and Cariñena, slate and clay, what he learnt from South African Eben Sadie and the exciting future of Spanish fine wines.

To read more about Dominik have a look at his website. You can also follow him on Instagram at @terroirallimit.

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

Sara Danese is a financial consultant and investment analysis, who uses her experience and expertise to write about the fine wine world in her spare time. Her newsletter, In The Mood for Wine, is a brilliant overview of the sector. Our fascinating chat covered Bordeaux En Primeur, the extravagant, unregulated claims made by some wine investment platforms, passion assets, the Liv-Ex 100 Index and why the first rule of investment is diversification.

To read more about Sara have a look at her newsletter. You can also follow her on Instagram at @inthemoodforwinemagazine.

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

 

Robert Joseph was one of the key figures in what he likes to call the “summer of love” for wine in the late 1980s, setting up Wine Magazine and the International Wine Challenge. He now divides his time between writing, consultancy and making his own wines in the Languedoc and Georgia. Our amusing and insightful chat covered everything from influencers to wine brands, AI to his upbringing in a family hotel.

To read more about Robert have a look at his website. You can also follow him on Twitter (X) at @robertjoseph.

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