It’s thatthat blog

Marketing, storytelling, sales strategy, digitalisation and pure wine stories.
Everything that makes wine move, in one place.

Margot van Lieshout, seated on the blog banner

What we write about

Wine, and everything that sells it

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The Playbook

New here? Start with the playbook here

The foundational reads for building your wine business, in one place.

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Rolling green vineyard hills of Südsteiermark in April, slopes stacked to the horizon.

Wine Travel

Beyond the Hills: Where Austria Grows Its Finest Sauvignon Blanc

The smallest of Styria's three regions carries the most vines and quietly makes some of Europe's finest Sauvignon Blanc. A field guide to...

The Schloss Kapfenstein terrace view over Vulkanland toward Slovenia, where Margot's day in volcano country ended.

Wine Travel

Wine Wanderings Through Vulkanland: Where to Taste in Volcano Country

Austria's volcano country is its most underrated wine trip: seven wineries worth pulling over for, and a castle where you can end the day...

View over the valley from Schloss Kapfenstein in Vulkanland Steiermark, Austria's volcanic wine region.

Wine Travel

Eruption Wines: Steiermark's Extinct Volcanoes, Bottled

Austria's volcanic east, where vines root into extinct volcanoes: the Eruption Wines and a Krispel B1 aged inside a basalt sarcophagus.

Rolling green vineyards and hills of the Weststeiermark region along the Schilcher Wine Route in southern Austria.

Wine Travel

The Schilcher Wine Route, Austria's Best-Kept Secret

Austria's pink outlier, made from a single stubborn grape in the green hills of Weststeiermark. Here is what Schilcher tastes like, and t...

Armenia

Home of the oldest winery on earth

From the Areni-1 cave to the winemakers of today: every Armenian wine story in one place.

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Crate of wax-sealed natural wine bottles in a cellar in Steiermark, Austria

Wine Knowledge

The Natural Wine Movement in Steiermark, Coexistence or Conflict?

A conventional winemaker leaned across the table and told me he was worried about the young natural winemakers moving into Steiermark. Af...

Rolling green vineyard hills of Südsteiermark in spring, slopes stacked to the horizon under a bright sky.

Wine Travel

Steiermark: The Green Heart Where Austria Hides Its Best Whites

Austria's greenest wine country hides three sub-regions, a wildly varied soil map and a Sauvignon Blanc good enough to make you forget Gr...

Schloss Seggau castle above the vineyards of Südsteiermark, South Styria, home to one of Austria's oldest wine cellars.

Wine Travel

Austria's Oldest Wine Cellar Hides in a Bishop's Castle

I drove up expecting a pretty castle hotel with a cellar tacked on for the tourists. The Sauvignon Selection by Concours Mondial de Bruxe...

The Classic and Contemporary Australia trade masterclass, eight bottles lined up to argue the country moved on.

Sales & Trade

Your Australia List Is Stuck in 2005 (The Wines Moved On Without You)

Ask most buyers what Australian wine tastes like and you get an answer from twenty years ago. A trade masterclass poured eight bottles to...

A gnarled old vine with a thick, twisted trunk and green canopy in Arbois, Jura, France.

Wine Knowledge

Old Vines Are Worth Preserving

They look forgotten and produce less fruit, so why do the best growers refuse to pull them out? The case for old vines, from the soil up.

Margot cheek to cheek with a grey dapple horse outside a stable, a nod to the horse-stable and barnyard aromas that Brett throws in wine

Wine Knowledge

Have You Ever Met Brett?

I greeted him and glanced at the smallest table ever, with chairs so uncomfortable, a churches bench would have felt more relaxing, and b...

Green Touriga Nacional sign on a wooden post above vines, with sunburnt terraced vineyard hills behind in Portugal

Wine Knowledge

Touriga Nacional Portugal’s Finest?

“Few would dispute that the Touriga Nacional is Portugal’s fines red grape variety, deserving a place right up at the top of the world le...

A Pomodoro timer app counting down 23:40 on a phone lying on a warm wooden study desk, with green flashcards, colour-coded Post-it tabs and a pen

WSET Studies

The Pomodoro Technique: Study Wine in 25-Minute Sprints

Focus is not a tap you can leave running. Here is how the Pomodoro Technique breaks WSET revision into 25-minute sprints that actually st...

Hand holding a chunk of chalky white albariza soil in a sherry vineyard near Jerez, photo Lustau

Wine Knowledge

Tickling Roots in White Sand, Sun Adoring Palomino Fino

In my opinion a very interesting variety that is highly adaptable to the winemakers’ choices. You can either choose to make a very neutra...

Overhead view of a study setup on a white bed, an open laptop surrounded by open books, a tablet, a green notebook and a spiral planner with sticky notes.

WSET Studies

How to Build a Study To-Do List That Actually Gets Done

"Prepare for class" is the most useless line on any to-do list. Here is how to write study tasks so specific they practically start thems...

Barbera d'Asti vineyards rolling across the hills of Monferrato in Piemonte, courtesy of the Consorzio Barbera d'Asti e Vini del Monferrato.

Wine Knowledge

Beyond Barolo and Barbaresco: The Rise of Barbera, Piemonte's Unsung Hero

Barbera lives in the shadow of Barolo and Barbaresco. Here is why Piemonte's unsung grape belongs on your list, with tasting notes on 14 ...

Dark Nerello Mascalese grape bunches resting on black volcanic soil with vine leaves and the hazy slopes of Mount Etna behind

Wine Knowledge

Nerello Mascalese a True Volcanic Varietal

This varietal grows across Sicily, Italy and loves the variable volcanic soils especially. It is planted throughout the Etna Volcano at a...

A neat stack of wine study books, including Wine Science, Amber Revolution, Understanding Wine Technology and The South America Wine Guide, topped with two corks, against dark palm-patterned wallpaper.

WSET Studies

What Kind of Learner Are You?

Copy the smartest person's study method and it does nothing for you? Here is how to find your own learning type, and why it is a menu, no...

An open WSET study notebook filled with handwriting on a warm wooden desk, beside a watercolour paint palette used as a colour key, a stack of pastel sticky notes and two pens, in soft natural light.

WSET Studies

Seven Dynamic Methods of Active Notetaking

For years my notes were just transcription I never reread. Seven active methods that turn a wall of text into notes you actually use.

It’s thatthat blog

Wine, and everything that sells it

New here? Start with the playbook here

Beyond the Hills: Where Austria Grows Its Finest Sauvignon Blanc

Wine Wanderings Through Vulkanland: Where to Taste in Volcano Country

Eruption Wines: Steiermark's Extinct Volcanoes, Bottled

The Schilcher Wine Route, Austria's Best-Kept Secret

Home of the oldest winery on earth

The Natural Wine Movement in Steiermark, Coexistence or Conflict?

Steiermark: The Green Heart Where Austria Hides Its Best Whites

Austria's Oldest Wine Cellar Hides in a Bishop's Castle

Your Australia List Is Stuck in 2005 (The Wines Moved On Without You)

Old Vines Are Worth Preserving

Have You Ever Met Brett?

Touriga Nacional Portugal’s Finest?

The Pomodoro Technique: Study Wine in 25-Minute Sprints

Tickling Roots in White Sand, Sun Adoring Palomino Fino

How to Build a Study To-Do List That Actually Gets Done

Beyond Barolo and Barbaresco: The Rise of Barbera, Piemonte's Unsung Hero

Nerello Mascalese a True Volcanic Varietal

What Kind of Learner Are You?

Seven Dynamic Methods of Active Notetaking

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