On the road for Modo di Bere, Rose Thomas records the story of how she overcame her trepidation about driving in Italy and Spain and embraced the thrill of the wine tour driving that brings her such adventures as meeting mules at midnight on a mountaintop in the Sierra Nevadas. She shares the elements of winery tours, lessons learned when renting cars overseas, and how falling in love with wine is to fall in love with the landscape.

Ersilia Prosperi, the composer of the Modo di Bere theme music, and her illustrious producer Amy Denio play together in Ou, a band that sings in a myriad of dialects. This episode includes clips of Ersilia's compositions for Ou in Spanish, Italian, French, Sardo, and Pygmy. Ersilia, Amy and Rose Thomas swap naughty toasts and discuss the various personalities expressed through different languages and different instruments.

For each of Italy's 20 wine regions, Rose Thomas asks an expert to bring the map to life. Wine Scholar Susannah Gold illuminates the geological and social factors behind Campania's deep commitment to its local grape varieties, including her old friends Aglianico, Fiano, Greco, and Falanghina.

Are children really better at learning language than adults? Is an unknown language a "barrier," or a door to another culture? What is an idiom, anyway? Lindsay Szper and Rose Thomas refer to Hannah Arendt on the mother tongue, James Baldwin on good bread, and the power of friendship to learn a language and to repair the world.

Lindsay Szper and her pals believe the best way to learn language is through friendship. Modo di Bere agrees! Lindsay is a language teacher and a language learner by vocation.

Michela shares her deep experience with Sicilian folk instruments, Italian poetry, the history of wine as medicine, and a sweet vision of every pre-commercialization Italian farmer who made—and still makes—wine for "family consumption."

A happily exhausted Rose Thomas, still in Verona for the Vinitaly fair, records an episode of wine fair wisdom, including: Verona taxi tips, how to spit, how to pack for an Italian wine fair, how to find balance, and how to joyfully accept that there's no "winning" Italian wine knowledge--the diversity of Italy is too vast. And that's the fun: you might as well just jump into the river.

Bebe, Diamante, and Pioggia are a team of Italian horses who practice organic viticulture in Umbria with Roberto di Filippo. Roberto got into working with horses when he and his wife Elena opened a second winery in Romania with their partner Roberto Pieroni. Naturally, he made friends with a couple of Amish farmers to ask for advice. Roberto tells Rose Thomas the whole story as they taste and discuss wines made from the local grapes of Umbria and Romania's Danube Delta.

Peppe Voltarelli is a songwriter and actor who travels all around the world singing in Calabrese, the Calabrian dialect. He and Rose Thomas taste a wine from the Cirò DOC. They discuss moving from Cirò to Bologna, and from Nebraska to NYC. They swap sayings, and both Peppe and Rose Thomas perform live songs!

Raised in the purest air, where waterfalls cascade down the forested hills of Campania, Teresa Bruno and Ilaria Petitto became friends by chance. Now Teresa is the president of the consorzio for the Southern Italian wine region of Irpinia, and Ilaria is the vice-president. The two winemakers introduce the historic local grapes of Irpinia: Greco di Tufo, Fiano di Avellino, and Aglianico (including Taurasi). They explain their work for the consorzio and impart their best advice for discovering new wines.

Dr. Rebecca Lawrence is a wine educator, running enthusiast, podcaster, and the Head of Editorial for Wine and Hip Hop. She and Rose Thomas discuss minor(?) wording differences in insults from Verona and Friuli, Rebecca's BBC accent, rap in wine study, and the best advice for people with dreams to get started in wine or any other grand adventure.

Introducing the Modo di Bere podcast, Rose Thomas Bannister's interview show about local drinks and local sayings.