Straight Talk Episode 26: Harvest Reality Check with Thomas Rivers Brown

Harvest 2024 is in full swing in California wine country. It’s the busiest time of year, and Napa Cabernet superstar Thomas Rivers Brown took a break to tell Wine Spectator‘s Straight Talk podcast host James Molesworth about the realities—and rigors—of harvest season.

Brown also shares his “Ziploc baggy mini-maceration method” for determining when a vineyard parcel is ready to be picked.

Plus, Wine Spectator education and advice columnist Dr. Vinny joins the program for an advanced harvest vocab refresher.

Now available on Apple, Google, Spotify and more, including at WineSpectator.com/podcast, Straight Talk debuted in October 2022 and has attracted some of the wine industry’s biggest stars for honest, probing, revelatory and sometimes hilarious conversations.

Season 1 guests included winemakers Aubert de Villaine, Tim Mondavi, Tony Soter, Mark Aubert, Helen Keplinger, Thomas Rivers Brown, Greg Brewer and many more, as well as chefs Thomas Keller and Marcus Samuelsson, NBA Hall of Famer and winery investor Tony Parker and film, TV and New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc star Sarah Jessica Parker.

“The Straight Talk podcast is a must-listen for anyone in the wine industry, and gives consumers a personal connection with our expert staff of tasters that no other format—or podcast—can offer,” said Wine Spectator editor and publisher Marvin R. Shanken, who himself made several guest appearances in Straight Talk‘s first season.

Wine Spectator‘s Straight Talk podcast is available for free on all major podcasting platforms, as well as at WineSpectator.com/podcast, and listeners can email their questions and comments to StraightTalk@WineSpectator.com.