The Drinking Hour: With David Kermode - FoodFM

In partnership with Club Oenologique - the world through the lens of wine and spirits. The lost art of the cocktail is David’s focus, with guest Tim Hayward, FT food and drinks writer, BBC Radio 4 presenter, restaurateur and author of a new book, The Cocktail Hour, celebrating what he calls an ‘attitude adjuster’. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In partnership with Club Oenologique - the world through the lens of wine and spirits. David’s guest is Charlotte Kristensen, who worked as a lawyer before becoming the London Wine Girl on Instagram, then a columnist for the Mail on Sunday, and now author of Wine and Dine at Home, taking on the challenge of food and wine pairing.   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In partnership with Club Oenologique - the world through the lens of wine and spirits. Australia has been synonymous with the likes of Chardonnay and Shiraz, but so-called ‘alternative’ grapes, many from Italy, are now  making waves. David meets two champions of these varieties: Brendan Carter at Unico Zelo and Brett Butcher at Soumah.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In partnership with Club Oenologique - the world through the lens of wine and spirits. Representing a diverse and exciting new wave of South African winemakers, Kyle Davids of Babylonstoren talks to David about winning a place on the Cape Winemakers’ Guild protegé programme and carving a career in wine production.   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In partnership with Club Oenologique - the world through the lens of wine and spirits. David’s guests are JC and Carolyn Martin, a dynamic double act, both scions of winemaking families, who fell in love, married and moved to Hemel-en-Aarde to establish Creation Wines, a wine business that is firmly rooted in its rural community.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In partnership with Club Oenologique - the world through the lens of wine and spirits. David meets Tinashe Musora, sommelier and 2025 IWSC emerging talent award winner, to hear how he has overcome obstacles, hailing from humble beginnings to become a sommelier and wine judge who believes in giving back to his community. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In partnership with Club Oenologique - the world through the lens of wine and spirits. David travels to South Africa to meet the winemaker at Vergelegen, Luke O’Cuinneagain. They talk about his winemaking philosophy, his experience working with Bordeaux varieties and how he has evolved the estate’s celebrated wines. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In partnership with Club Oenologique - the world through the lens of wine and spirits. David selects some highlights from the latest series including Black Chalk’s Jacob Leadley on beating the British weather; UK Sommelier of the Year 2026, Emma Denney; Olly Smith on turning talents to writing fiction; Peter Stafford Bow on his nom-de-plum; Helen McGinn talks about her guide to supermarket wine; and Robert Mondavi’s chief winemaker, Kurtis Ogasawara.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In partnership with Club Oenologique - the world through the lens of wine and spirits. Edwina Watson, senior wine buyer for Fortnum & Mason is David’s guest to talk about buying British wines and spirits, including the inexorable rise of English sparkling wine and how a new breed of world-class still wines is emerging.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In partnership with Club Oenologique - the world through the lens of wine and spirits. Fresh from her success in the fiercely-contested competition for UK Sommelier of the Year 2026, Emma Denney, director of wine at Claridge’s, is David’s guest to talk about what it means to her and how she prepared for the demanding event.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In partnership with Club Oenologique - the world through the lens of wine and spirits. David explores the flourishing world of Indian whisky with Michael D’Souza, the globally acclaimed Master Distiller and Master Blender for Paul John, to talk about the use of local Indian six-row barley and how Goa’s climate influences whisky. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In partnership with Club Oenologique - the world through the lens of wine and spirits. To mark English wine week, the owner of Hampshire winery Black Chalk, Jacob Leadley, is David’s guest to talk about the pleasures and pitfalls of making wine in our climate, the future for English wine, and his latest pair of prestige cuvées. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In partnership with Club Oenologique - the world through the lens of wine and spirits. Most famous as the wine expert and host of the BBC’s Saturday Kitchen, Olly Smith is David’s guest to talk about his first work of fiction, the vinous murder mystery Death by Noir, and where he found inspiration for central character, Barclay Flint. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In partnership with Club Oenologique - the world through the lens of wine and spirits. Just an hour from Melbourne, the Yarra Valley is a striking contrast to the buzzing city, with its rolling hills and many vineyards. David explores the region, talking to winemakers to find out what makes it so versatile for a multitude of grape varieties. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In partnership with Club Oenologique - the world through the lens of wine and spirits. As the Napa Valley’s iconic Robert Mondavi winery emerges from a three-year $200 million refurbishment, David chats to director of winemaking Kurtis Ogasawara about the new facility, the To Kalon vineyard and the future for California wine. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In partnership with Club Oenologique - the world through the lens of wine and spirits. David’s guest is a mystery… Or rather, it’s Peter Stafford Bow, a ‘nom de plume’ for the author behind the exploits of wine buyer and globetrotter, Felix Hart. The fifth book in the series, Black Odesa, sees our hero become a social media sensation. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In partnership with Club Oenologique - the world through the lens of wine and spirits. David takes the temperature at VieVinum, a biennial celebration of Austrian wines, held in Vienna. Focusing on the country’s high number of family wineries, he talks to new generation winemakers and finds out more about organics and biodynamics. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In partnership with Club Oenologique - the world through the lens of wine and spirits. A former supermarket wine buyer, turned TV and Instagram star, bestselling author, judge and professional ‘knackered mother’, Helen McGinn is David’s guest to talk about her eagerly anticipated supermarket wine guide. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In partnership with Club Oenologique - the world through the lens of wine and spirits. David travels to North America’s Pacific northwest to discover Washington State, the USA’s second biggest wine producer after California, to find out more about the terroir, meet winemakers and answer the question ‘what are its signature grapes?’ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In partnership with Club Oenologique - the world through the lens of wine and spirits. David has highlights from the most recent series, with Master Distiller John Hall talking about reinventing gin; Mel Chester of Giant Steps in the Yarra Valley; Bob Biale talks old vine Zinfandel; there’s a look at the wines of Cyprus; while Billy Abbott talks about China’s spirits scene. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices