The Viti+Culture Podcast, by Winemaker Chris Missick, Announces YouTube and Podcast Plans
April 7th – Podcast growth and listenership accelerated during the Covid-19 pandemic. An article published in Forbes in February, reported that podcasts reached an estimated 100 million Americans each month in 2020, with Business Insider noting that listenership more than doubled since 2016, and is expected to grow year over year at a rate of 16%.
Against the backdrop of continued podcast growth, Finger Lakes winemaker Chris Missick is proud to announce the launch of Viti+Culture. The Viti+Culture Podcast can be found on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and will feature videos of all interviews on its YouTube channel. “We’ll talk a lot about wine, but that won’t be the whole conversation,” Missick says. Viti+Culture will share conversations with makers, growers, thinkers, and doers, and emphasize the value of appreciating the aesthetics involved in living a good life.
Content creators such as Wine Folly and Wine Enthusiast publish eponymous podcasts, and in recommended top podcast lists, they include Elizabeth Schneider’s “Wine for Normal People,” Levi Dalton’s “I’ll Drink to That,” Natalie MacLean’s “Unreserved Wine Talk”. Joining the ranks of wine related podcasts, Viti+Culture is unique in that it is one of the few in the genre to be hosted by a winemaker, features both video and audio, and seeks to go beyond the glass to explore a range of topics beyond wine, from history, philosophy, art, and music, to sustainability.
Missick stated “As with my winemaking, the podcast is focused on high quality and intellectual depth. We employ the best in audio equipment, provide our community with engaging video, and seek in-depth conversations with a range of compelling individuals. I’m inspired by the work of Joe Rogan and Mike Rowe, and wanted to produce a show along those lines.” The podcast is being sponsored by Missick’s family winery, the soon-to-be-announced Missick Cellars (formerly Villa Bellangelo). “Our family business came together, designated a great studio space, and helped to build it out in our Geneva, NY tasting room building.”
The podcast launches April 8, 2021, and is set to release a new show every Thursday. Long-form interviews are released bi-weekly, and alternate with examinations of the current activities happening in the vineyard (Season 1) and the wine cellar (Season 2). Guests include a range of industry leaders in the Finger Lakes wine industry and beyond, including Scott Osborn of Fox Run Vineyards, Laura Winter Falk of Experience the Finger Lakes, Paul Brock of Silver Thread Vineyards and Finger Lakes Community College, and Bob Madill co-founder of Sheldrake Point Winery, as well as notable musicians and philosophers.
Viti+Culture can be found at www.viticulturepodcast.com, and features a Substack subscription where listeners can get transcripts and other information at www.viticulture.substack.com.
Missick has earned numerous 90+ point ratings for his wines, farms Chenin Blanc, Riesling and Cabernet Franc in the Finger Lakes region of New York, is an Army veteran, and is America’s only winemaker admitted to practice before the Supreme Court of the United States. In the wake of a decade of ownership and the changes brought on by Covid-19, Missick’s family winery recently changed its name from Bellangelo to Missick Cellars. Details on the change will be forthcoming.
