Hello, Wild Things. It's me, your long-lost host, Laura. I know I've been a little MIA lately,

but I've been working on some pretty cool projects, including the third Wild Thing book,

Do You Believe in Magic, and a brand new narrative podcast. It's called Blood Vines, and right now

it's available exclusively on Wondery Plus. It's the untold story of the Lecharty family,

one of the most powerful wine dynasties in California history, whose battle for succession

almost brought down the entire wine industry. I worked with reporter Chris Walker to edit and

produce this juicy tale, and you're about to hear a clip from the first

episode of the series. If it catches your fancy, you can listen to all of blood vines right now

on Wondery Plus. Here we go. June 11, 2021. It's a stifling hot day in California's Central

Valley. The air feels thick and heat shimmers above the ground.

But the area I've just walked into is cold, clinical, bureaucratic.

I pull out my phone to record a voice memo.

Okay, so I just got to the San Joaquin County Superior Courthouse to view the case exhibits.

We're going to go through them in the order that they were presented at trial, and we'll

see what comes up here.

I'm in a private room off the courthouse's second floor lobby, and spread out before me on

tables are envelopes, bags,

and boxes. A legal clerk named Margarita stands among them wearing gloves. She doesn't want

me to record her while she gives instructions, but they are as follows. I'm not to touch anything,

I'm not to take photos, she will handle each piece of evidence

so I can observe it, and yes, she says, I can record voice memos as I view the items.

I'm nervous and excited. While I've read a lot about the evidence presented in this room,

...