A Question of Drinks

• Ep 19: The 5 Psychological Traps Dominating Your Liquor Cupboard

  Lulie and Felicity put out a plea on social media — “Tell us what’s in your drinks cabinet” — and discovered a whole world of crimes against taste.  Sweet, creamy liqueurs dominated the offerings (Baileys, Advocat, and even a banana liqueur with holiday PTSD), alongside objects of pride like single malt and bourbon that get opened but never finished. There was plenty of Sherry, Muscat and half-dead whites lurking in the name of “cooking” while the global curios proved that even the most discerning consumer can get suckered by duty free.  Researcher Lulie revealed the five drivers of the drinks cabinets, from the endowment effect and sunk-cost fallacy to identity signalling, magical thinking about future selves and sacralisation. Along the way we got into the Baileys origin story, why Advocat is basically alcoholic custard with 140g sugar/litre, and a simple cocktail framework that rescues strays without requiring a degree in bartending. It’s confession, anthropology, and behavioural science in one tidy purge. You’ll never look at crème de menthe the same way again. Meet Your Hosts: Lulie Halstead founded and led international consumer research and strategy consultancy Wine Intelligence, and led it to a successful PE exit. Today she is a renowned global beverage alcohol and wine sector specialist, focused on consumer behaviour, strategy, retail and hospitality. An accomplished keynote speaker, she has spoken at more than 70 international events over the past 20 years. Felicity Carter is an award-winning wine and drinks journalist, editor and content strategist. She led Meininger’s Wine Business International to become the world’s most must-read wine trade magazine, and was founding Executive Editor of The Drop/Pix, which the Wall Street Journal named one of the most trusted sources of wine information. A regular keynote speaker, she was named a 2024 Industry Leader by WineBusiness Monthly.

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• Ep 18: Why the Reign of Red Wine Is Ending

  Why is it red wine that accrues all the prestige? Is this because red wine is better — or for a historic reason? Felicity and Lulie dig into this mystery and discover that red wine’s prestige didn’t come from taste alone, but from logistics, trade, and the infrastructure that developed around red wines — merchants, classifications, and long-distance shipping. Red’s ability to age made it tradable and collectible, creating a system of status and expertise that white wines couldn’t match. We trace this history through Bordeaux’s port advantage, Burgundy’s influence, and Italy’s late pivot from bulk production. Riesling’s boom-and-bust cycle shows how fragile reputations can be when they depend on markets and laws rather than inherent quality. We also look at the technologies that are reshaping the hierarchy. Cool fermentation, stainless steel, sulfur management, screw caps, and cold-chain logistics have given whites new aging potential, just as consumer tastes shift toward freshness and chillable styles. Bourdieu’s sociology explains how prestige is socially constructed and maintained, while colour psychology reveals how strongly hues influence perception — even leading to the oddity of blue wine. Finally, we explore China’s move from gifting reds, where colour symbolised luck, to a growing preference for whites, alongside rosé’s celebrity-driven rise. The conversation ends by asking whether prestige still lies in the glass or mostly in the stories we tell around it. Meet Your Hosts: Lulie Halstead founded and led international consumer research and strategy consultancy Wine Intelligence, and led it to a successful PE exit. Today she is a renowned global beverage alcohol and wine sector specialist, focused on consumer behaviour, strategy, retail and hospitality. An accomplished keynote speaker, she has spoken at more than 70 international events over the past 20 years. Felicity Carter is an award-winning wine and drinks journalist, editor and content strategist. She led Meininger’s Wine Business International to become the world’s most must-read wine trade magazine, and was founding Executive Editor of The Drop/Pix, which the Wall Street Journal named one of the most trusted sources of wine information. A regular keynote speaker, she was named a 2024 Industry Leader by WineBusiness Monthly.

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• Ep 17: Why Does Natural Wine Make Some People So Angry?

  Natural wine has attracted vitriol, mean-spirited editorials and plenty of controversy. One of our listeners wrote in to ask why all the angst, and the hosts use it as a springboard to map the movement’s rise, backlash, and commercial co-option. Felicity sketches the history from Beaujolais and the “Gang of Four,” through the Parker era reaction, NOMA’s catalytic influence, and the media flashpoints that framed natural wine as an oppositional identity.  Lulie and Felicity also define what natural wine is, how it’s produced and the role of additives like sulphur dioxide. And they also discuss consumer perceptions and how consumer psychology can harden snap judgements into prejudice. They then stress-test today’s narratives, from the beginning of the movement to today. Verdict: the movement reshaped wine culture and writing, but its successes and excesses now coexist. Better farming and more experimental styles on one side, muddled claims and unpredictable quality on the other.   Meet Your Hosts: Lulie Halstead founded and led international consumer research and strategy consultancy Wine Intelligence, and led it to a successful PE exit. Today she is a renowned global beverage alcohol and wine sector specialist, focused on consumer behaviour, strategy, retail and hospitality. An accomplished keynote speaker, she has spoken at more than 70 international events over the past 20 years. Felicity Carter is an award-winning wine and drinks journalist, editor and content strategist. She led Meininger’s Wine Business International to become the world’s most must-read wine trade magazine, and was founding Executive Editor of The Drop/Pix, which the Wall Street Journal named one of the most trusted sources of wine information. A regular keynote speaker, she was named a 2024 Industry Leader by WineBusiness Monthly.

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• Summer Repeat: Why Isn't There More Wine In Small Bottles? (Or Cans?)

  While Lulie and Felicity are busy writing the scripts for the new episodes, here's a repeat of one of our most downloaded episodes to date, asking that all-important question of why you can only get wine in big formats. If everybody is moderating their wine intake, then how come there aren’t more small wine bottles on the shelf? And what would it take to put them there? In this episode of A Question of Drinks, join hosts Lulie Halstead and Felicity Carter as they explore why wine continues to be sold in those standard 750ml bottles. And who decided it should be 750 ml in the first place? Come on a journey into wine history, into a world of glass blowers, Biblical figures, show-offs and vending machines. Along the way the hosts explore bag-in-box, aluminium cans, and whether there’s really a bottle called the Goliath or whether it’s just an urban myth. Meet Your Hosts: Lulie Halstead founded and led international consumer research and strategy consultancy Wine Intelligence, and led it to a successful PE exit. Today she is a renowned global beverage alcohol and wine sector specialist, focused on consumer behaviour, strategy, retail and hospitality. An accomplished keynote speaker, she has spoken at more than 70 international events over the past 20 years. Felicity Carter is an award-winning wine and drinks journalist, editor and content strategist. She led Meininger’s Wine Business International to become the world’s most must-read wine trade magazine, and was founding Executive Editor of The Drop/Pix, which the Wall Street Journal named one of the most trusted sources of wine information. A regular keynote speaker, she was named a 2024 Industry Leader by WineBusiness Monthly.

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• Summer Repeat: The Unstoppable Rise and Rise of Rosé Wine

  Lulie and Felicity are going on holiday! And so have re-uploaded one of our most commented-upon episodes, for new listeners. Pink wine is everywhere. On supermarket shelves, on Instagram, and clutched in the hands of celebrities. If there is a single defining wine of the 21st Century, it has to be rosé. How did this pink wine go from being considered an icon of 70s kitsch to a celebrity diva? In this episode of Drinks Insider, hosts Lulie Halstead and Felicity Carter delve into the fascinating world of rosé wine, looking at the economic, social, and technological forces that have made rosé wine such a hit. From novel cooling systems to Instagram, the story of rosé is one of quirky changes that have had major consequences. Tracing the story from Portugal to Provence to the world, this is a story about how and why rosé became an unstoppable trend. [00:05:28] Is the rosé wine boom here to stay — or just a fad? [00:13:00] The surprising truth about global rosé consumption  [00:18:17] How changes in technology led to the unstoppable rise of rosé  [00:27:12] The role of Provence [00:35:06] How Instagram fuelled a wine boom Got a question for us? Email us at [email protected] and it might just become our next episode. Meet Your Hosts: Lulie Halstead founded and led international consumer research and strategy consultancy Wine Intelligence, and led it to a successful PE exit. Today she is a renowned global beverage alcohol and wine sector specialist, focused on consumer behaviour, strategy, retail and hospitality. An accomplished keynote speaker, she has spoken at more than 70 international events over the past 20 years. Felicity Carter is an award-winning wine and drinks journalist, editor, speaker trainer and content strategist. She led Meininger’s Wine Business International to become the world’s most must-read wine trade magazine, and was founding Executive Editor of The Drop/Pix, which the Wall Street Journal named one of the most trusted sources of wine information. A regular keynote speaker, she was named a 2024 Industry Leader by WineBusiness Monthly.   

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