Welcome to your favourite new podcast, Wine Flight! Hosted by Sophia Longhi and Ben Franks. Each week, we interview a new guest with a shared love for wine. Sophia and Ben face off with a flight of wines and we ask each guest to pick a winner at the end of the podcast.

In this episode of Wine Flight, we are joined by the brilliant Ingrid Bates - owner and manager of Somerset's Dunleavy Vineyards. Ingrid began her career in the vineyard 20 years ago, when gardening led to her maintaining a local vineyard. Discovering her true love for tending to vines, Ingrid took the plunge and planted her own vineyard on leased land at the age of 28 years old. Since planting her vines in 2008 and releasing her first wines in 2013, Ingrid has built a reputation as one of the most exciting wine producers in Somerset, leading with her flagship rosé wine and a new range of limited edition sparkling wines.

Ingrid has been shortlisted as Young Grower of the Year and featured on the BBC. Her wines are stocked by critically acclaimed restaurants across the south west and in London. We chat to her about her passion for growing grapes and share some delicious wines from unusual origins, such as Japan, Canada, Hungary and Brazil. Who will triumph in this week's competition? Listen to find out!

You can find out more about Ingrid Bates' vineyard and buy her wines online here: https://www.dunleavyvineyards.co.uk/

The Wines:

Wine 1 - Grace Koshu Kayagatake, Japan (Ben)

Wine 2 - Okanagan Crush Pad Haywire White Label Secrest Mountain Chardonnay, Canada (Sophia)

Wine 3 - Bolyki Egri Bikaver, Hungary (Ben)

Wine 4 - Guaspari Vista da Serra Syrah, Brazil (Sophia)

Listen on your favourite app, or visit wineflightpod.com for the full series.

This episode was recorded in January 2023. Wines in this episode are from Novel Wines.

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Ben Franks FRSA is the Managing Director of the international drinks consultancy Ben Franks Wine, helping bring brands to the UK market. He is also the co-founder of the multi-award-winning wine merchant Novel Wines and Canned Wine Co., a sustainability-focused alt-format wine business putting Europe's best wines in can.

Sophia Longhi is the owner of wine blog skin+pulp, winner of the IWSC Emerging Talent in Wine Communication Award 2022 and was named one of Wine GB’s Great British Wine Industry Women of 2021. She is an acclaimed wine writer, wine judge and tastings host.

Wine Flight is produced by Ben Franks Wine Ltd and edited by Kat Agg. Follow @BenFranksWine on Twitter, or Instagram. Read all of the latest insights from Ben Franks Wine online.