Blood Vines: Wine, Fraud and Murder
Until the 1980s America was mostly a nation of blue collar beer drinkers. Only a few high society and a few evangelists in California’s Napa valley were true wine aficionados. But that all changed when a winemaker at Sutter Home botched a batch of grapes and created an abomination: White Zinfandel. You probably know it by another name: Rosé.
Sold at under $5 a bottle with notes of Jolly Rancher and clove, it was a swill that no sommelier could stand, but it was an instant hit across the nation. This pink wine kicked open the door to a veritable craze. But the full story of White Zinfandel has never been told: a story thick with family intrigue, a multi-million dollar fraud that affected just about everyone who ever picked up a wine glass and murder.
For the last five years I’ve been working on the new podcast Blood Vines with Chris Walker—a talented investigative journalist who was also the host of or previous show The Syndicate. I’m the executive producer of this show along with my wife Laura Krantz at our company Foxtopus Ink. We were all fascinated at how a reasonably prosaic story about a wine that we have all tasted, and maybe even sneered at, both almost toppled the California’s multi-billion dollar wine industry while also laying its commercial foundations.
I don’t want to give too much away about the story, except to say that if you’re a fan of true crime—this is a whole new take on the genre. There are twists and turns that you won’t expect. The story affects you directly (assuming you’re a wine drinker). And there is a big payoff at the end when Walker actually solves a murder.
Think of it as Succession meets Ozark in California’s wine country.
The video above sets up the story without any spoilers. I’d love you to go queue up Blood Vines on your podcast app of choice right now. The first four EPs are live with new EPs dropping every week. There’s also an ad-free version on Wondery+ where all EPs are available to binge.
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