Summary
Welcome back to Wine Blast!
This short trailer ahead of Season 8 is a recap on what’s been going on lately, and also what’s coming up. It even features Dolly Parton and an apology – so well worth a few minutes of your time.
We touch on our brand refresh (hope you like it!), archive tasters, our back catalogue (187 episodes to date, with 76 now subscriber-only), and plans to enhance the Wine Blast PLUS subscription club.
Coming up in Season 8 we’re exploring Bordeaux, the importance of your palate, the invention of champagne, NOLO wine, the future of classic grape varieties, chillable reds and Britain’s Best Wine Visits. And that’s just for starters!
It’s going to be an absolute blast and we can’t wait to share all the fun with you.
Thanks for spending time with us, we really appreciate your time and support.
Here’s to you – and to wine. Cheers!
Links etc
- Here’s the Wine Blast back catalogue, Seasons 1-3 are currently subscriber-only
- NB: If you listen in Apple Podcasts, the subscriber-only content won’t show up there if you haven’t yet taken out a subscription. Head over to Wine Blast PLUS, sign up, and all your wonderful subscriber benefits, from Early Access to Archive Access and Bonus Content, will magically appear.
- We run our subscriptions in partnership with Supporting Cast – if you have any problems or questions, please email help@supportingcast.fm
- Do check out and subscribe to our YouTube channel, where there’s all sorts of fun content including all our freely available Wine Blast episodes
- You can find our podcast on all major audio players: Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google, Amazon and beyond. If you’re on a mobile, the button below will redirect you automatically to this episode on an audio platform on your device. (If you’re on a PC or desktop, it will just return you to this page – in which case, get your phone out! Or find one of the above platforms on your browser.)
Subscribe
Sign up to Wine Blast PLUS for first-class subscriber-only content, to access our full archive, support the show and get every episode before it goes on free release.
You’ll also get subscriber-only discounts with the likes of Coravin, Jancis Robinson glassware and Academie du Vin Library.
Just visit WineBlast.co.uk to sign up – it’s very easy, and we will HUGELY appreciate your support.
It takes a monumental amount of work to make Wine Blast happen. Your support will enable the show to continue and grow – and we have lots of fantastic ideas of things we’d like to develop as part of Wine Blast to maximise the wine fun. The more people who sign up, the more we’ll be able to do.
Get in Touch!
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You can send us an email. Or find us on social media (links below).
Or, better still, leave us a voice message via the magic of SpeakPipe:
Transcript
This transcript was AI generated. It’s not perfect.
Susie Barrie MW 0:00
So here we are, poised to launch Wine Blast Season Eight! And it’s as good a time as any to say HUGE thanks to you, our lovely and loyal listeners, and a very warm welcome to any new listeners joining us. We couldn’t do what we do without you, and we appreciate your company and support enormously.
Peter Richards MW 0:21
Particular thanks to everyone who’s signed up to Wine Blast PLUS, our new subscriber club. Launching that was a big step for us! The ultimate aim is to secure the longer-term future of Wine Blast while also offering you a richer, better, more rewarding Wine Blast experience, with exclusive bonus material, discount giveaways and benefits, plus full archive access and more to come soon.
Susie Barrie MW 0:45
Now, this trailer is a quick recap and explainer of what’s been going on lately and also what’s coming up. It even features Dolly Parton and an apology, so it’s well worth a few minutes of your time…
Peter Richards MW 0:58
Yeah, first up, the brand refresh! We hope you like it. It’s a new lick of paint, something we felt was a bit overdue. Fingers crossed you’re getting used to it. Personally, we’re really excited about our new look.
Susie Barrie MW 1:09
Quite right, we are indeed. Also, as you may have seen in the free feed, and as we announced in our Season Seven finale, we’ve published a whole bunch of archive tasters from the very first season we ever did, Season One, back in 2020. And it was a bit of a trip down memory lane, wasn’t it?
Peter Richards MW 1:27
It really was. I mean, Hugh Johnson with his tasting note for a wine from 1540, uh, Ernie Loosen turning the air blue, u Michael Karam on Lebanon, Joseph Vouillamoz on wine grapes, superstars like Paul Hobbs, Alberto Antonini, Miguel Torres, Timo Mayer, uh speeding from Burgundy to South Africa, Chile, Australia, Italy, Germany, China, Singapore. I mean, what a blast.
Susie Barrie MW 1:51
But this wasn’t just us getting all nostalgic, was it? The reason we’re releasing these archive tasters is because on some platforms or apps, like Apple Podcasts, when we put a past season of Wine Blast behind the subscriber-only paywall, those episodes just disappear off the free feed. Now, this isn’t the case on other platforms or apps like Spotify, for example.
Peter Richards MW 2:12
The plan, as we’ve said from the outset, is to gradually make our archive subscriber only. So that’s why we’re putting out these tasters on the free feed. So the archive episodes do show up, albeit in short form, so everyone can see the full back catalogue.
Susie Barrie MW 2:27
And now for the apology. Uh to be totally honest, we weren’t quite sure how best to go about releasing these archive tasters. So we did it in one big splurge because it seemed like the quickest and easiest way to get them out between season seven finishing and season eight starting. But in doing so, we realise we may have slightly overwhelmed your feed. Uh, if so, we’re very sorry. Please forgive us!
Peter Richards MW 2:51
Sorry! Moving forward, we’ll do things differently. Uh, the plan is to release the odd archive taster here or there as we go through our normal season schedule. This won’t overwhelm your feed, and it will also have the added benefits of providing some extra content or background to the latest episodes we’re releasing. Or just serving as a reminder of the great material we have in our back catalogue.
Susie Barrie MW 3:13
So hopefully that’s all as clear as mud. Um sorry if we clogged up your feed, and just to reiterate, seasons one to three are now subscriber only, with season four due to go that way imminently. But as we say, archive tasters will be popping up for all of these in due course.
Peter Richards MW 3:28
Talking of our back catalogue briefly, do you know how many episodes we’ve done to date?
Susie Barrie MW 3:32
Absolutely no idea. Too many. But also, not nearly enough…
Peter Richards MW 3:37
Yeah, as of late August 2026, we’ve done 187 episodes. Yeah, and counting. Not bad, eh? Um and as it stands, 76 of those episodes are now subscriber only. So if you’d like full and unfettered access to the fascinating repository of wine, insight, opinion, and fun that is our ever-growing subscriber archive, or you know someone who would appreciate it as a gift, please do sign up to Wine Blast PLUS. Just head to wineblast.co.uk or follow the links in the show notes.
Susie Barrie MW 4:09
And this brings me on to our next point, which is that we have plans to enhance the subscriber offering even further very soon. We not only have some excellent subscriber-only bonus episodes coming up, uh, we’re going to be covering Rioja, and the microbiome, to start season eight. We also have a tasty newsletter and delicious recipes complete with wine matching suggestions. And that’s not all, so stay tuned for more.
Peter Richards MW 4:36
Yeah, we’re beavering away behind the scenes all the time to try to bring you more and make Wine Blast an even more enjoyable and rewarding experience. Um, we have some very exciting plans, and fingers crossed, we’ll be making them happen soon.
Susie Barrie MW 4:47
As for what’s coming up in season eight, well, we don’t want to spill too many beans, but Bordeaux, uh, the importance of your palate, the invention of champagne, uh NOLO wine, the future of classic grape varieties, chillable reds, and Britain’s best wine visits. They are all on the horizon, and that’s just for starters. It’s gonna be lots of fun, and we’d love you to join us for the ride.
Peter Richards MW 5:13
We’d like to take this opportunity to thank the judges of the 67 Pall Mall Global Wine Communicator Awards for shortlisting us for an unprecedented third time in a row, and all the many people who make Wine Blast happen, from the guests we have on to the sponsors to the producers whose wines we feature, and of course, the key ingredient: you, our lovely listeners.
Susie Barrie MW 5:33
Yeah, it’s a funny old world right now. But as the late great Dolly Parton once said, wine is about connection, storytelling, and making memories. It brings us together and reminds us how to live well, to cherish life, friends, family, and nature. Going back through our first season, launched into the teeth of COVID and global lockdowns, it reminded us how wine can be a source of positivity, of togetherness and fun, and it’s a team effort, so thank you.
Peter Richards MW 6:04
Yes, thanks for your time, thanks for your company, thanks for your questions and feedback and input. Thanks for your support. Here’s raising a large glass to you and to this wonderful thing we call wine. Cheers!