This week on the show, Mark Hicken, President of Alca Intelligence Inc., a wine and liquor industry consulting firm with offices in Vancouver and London, joins us to discuss why the current crisis facing the wine industry may also be an opportunity to rethink Canada's outdated liquor system. What's wrong with the way wine is sold in Canada today, and how much is the average wine drinker paying for those inefficiencies? Next, we're off to Italy's Alto Adige, where the Alois Lageder family has been making wine for more than 200 years. Today, the sixth generation is helping shape the future of this historic estate through biodynamic farming, sustainability, and a willingness to rethink tradition. Joining us is Helena Lageder, Chief Marketing Officer and Export Area Manager at Alois Lageder. Then we head to Uruguay to meet Germán Bruzzone, Head Enologist and Winemaker at Bodega Garzón in Maldonado. Uruguay may be one of South America's smaller wine-producing countries, but it's producing some seriously exciting wines. At Bodega Garzón, Atlantic influence and distinctive terroir come together in fresh, expressive wines, from the country's flagship Tannat to wonderfully vibrant, mineral-driven Albariño. Finally, we travel to Australia's Barossa Valley to speak with Peter Kelly, Chief Winemaker at Thorn-Clarke Wines. With six generations of grape-growing and geological heritage behind the family, Thorn-Clarke remains family-owned and firmly focused on sustainability and producing authentic, expressive wines that reflect the Barossa.



