344: The Ultimate Travel Guide for Wine Lovers with Decanter Magazine’s Editor Amy Wislocki

Why does wine taste different when you’ve stood in the vineyard it came from? What's one myth about wine travel that Amy dispels? With Gen Z drinking less wine, how does a 50-year-old wine magazine stay relevant without alienating longtime readers?

In this episode of the Unreserved Wine Talk podcast, I'm chatting with Amy Wislocki, editor-in-chief of Decanter, the world’s most prestigious wine magazine.

You can find the wines we discussed at https://www.nataliemaclean.com/winepicks

 

Giveaway

Two of you are going to win a copy of her terrific book, The Ultimate Wine Lover's Travel Guide. To qualify, all you have to do is email me at [e-mail] and let me know that you’ve posted a review of the podcast. I’ll choose two people randomly from those who contact me.

 

Highlights

What was it like to join Decanter magazine as a 27-year-old magazine editor?

How did Amy establish her credibility as a young editor?

What exciting incident marked one of her press trips to Chile?

Which aspects of wine writing are often misunderstood or undervalued?

How does Decanter balance engaging Gen Z readers without alienating their long-term readers?

Why has Decanter started reviewing low-alcohol wines?

What’s made Amy stay at Decanter for 25 years>

What's one myth about wine travel that Amy hopes this book dispels?

Why is the experience of tasting wine at the vineyard where it’s made so powerful?

What are some of Amy’s favourite essays in

Why did Amy include South Carolina, which has no vineyards, in her wine travel book?

 

Key Takeaways

As Amy observes, anybody who's visited a vineyard will understand that there's no substitute. You will have a different relationship with that wine for the rest of your life. The lucky thing is that wine growing areas are often the most beautiful areas of the world. You can see what type of soil it is like. The climate might be very near to the ocean, with the cooling breezes. So that side of it will really give you a better understanding of why that wine tastes like it does. You see the age of the vines. Also meeting the people behind the wine. It could be a small, family-owned winery, hearing the stories associated with the wine. Drinking them with the food of the place and in that environment, it's an irreplaceable experience.

Amy says the main thing is that it has to be an elitist thing, because I suppose wine in general has the elitist kind of associations. And I think it's just getting across that, you don't have to have tons of money and only drink the world's finest wines to enjoy wine travel. It's just becoming much more accessible to everyone, and in so many more regions and countries than it was.

Amy explains that it's many things: recognizing moderation as a trend. It's a tricky one to get right, and you don't want to be preaching to people. You don't want people who think I'm buying a wine magazine because I love wine. I don't want to be made to feel guilty for drinking wine. This is my refuge. But it's not about that. It's about recognizing a trend that even among wine lovers, people are trying to kind of think about how and when and where, where they're drinking, how much they're drinking. Obviously, there are some things that Gen Z will want to read about that our more traditional conservative readers might not all be so bothered about, like natural wines. It's all a balance, isn't it? And trying to give something to everybody.

 

About Amy Wislocki