The Wine Saves Lives! Pod

Steven and Beth talk about the craziness of putting together large (relatively) blends of Cab Franc. Sara Mirassou adds her own twist on things. Great night!Wine Saves Lives! is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit winesaveslives.substack.com/subscribe

A soliloquy about the turning of a tide, a vision of the future; making great wine and championing Cab Franc. Wine Saves Lives! is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit winesaveslives.substack.com/subscribe

Give a listen to me and Beth talking about the past week's craziness, Livermore Valley's celebration of TASTE! and how Cab Franc is the future. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit winesaveslives.substack.com/subscribe

It has been a crazy week! We thought we had all of our fruit in on one day, but then added 20% more of the total harvest with 10 tons of Cabernet Franc from a new vineyard in the Valley a day later. As the video above notes, we are close to being dry on our newest Cabernet Franc Blanc just as we are presenting the few cases we squirreled away from last year for a series of TASTE! events that we stupidly committed to way before harvest began. you know it's non-winemakers who are the ones who schedule events smack dab in the middle of the busiest time of our year!So, morning, noon, and night punchdowns everyday, inoculating new 15 fermenters over the last three days, and pressing off Cab Franc and Merlot; and four pouringevents/seminars over the last four days makes for a dull boy. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit winesaveslives.substack.com/subscribe

*The headline above was written to test various hypotheses about how to garner attention from the substack world. While this video does not explicitly address the headline, it does describe our focused commitment to a single grape and reaffirm our desire - as a 7th generation family wine brand - to be circumscribed by the magnificence of Cabernet Franc and to move forward in the wine world with one guiding star, come what may. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit winesaveslives.substack.com/subscribe

If there is a lifecycle to wine (and there is!), today was that most auspicious of meetings. Sperm meet Egg. Yeast meet Must.An early morning stroll through fog-shrouded vineyards grabbing a sample of grapes to set a baseline for maturation, led to a later-morning moment of creation. I take you through the process of preparing a specific yeast strain and the pitching of that yeast into a fermenter in order to start (in a “controlled” chaos sort of way) the life of a wine. That moment is an absolute turn-on, by the way. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit winesaveslives.substack.com/subscribe

In which a crushing fuck-up gets un-fucked, and we walk through one of our favorite vineyards to begin an apotheosis of Merlot and Cabernet Franc. Oh, and we talk about selling wine too. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit winesaveslives.substack.com/subscribe

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit winesaveslives.substack.com/subscribe

Beth and I shared a glass of Champagne at the top of Sachau Vineyard (one of our favorite places) overlooking the Livermore Valley, celebrating crystal-clear skies and the wonderfully inevitable advent of another harvest. It was a great morning. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit winesaveslives.substack.com/subscribe

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit winesaveslives.substack.com/subscribe

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit winesaveslives.substack.com/subscribe

Sean Boyd had the fortunate experience, as a young man, to be able to make wine in both hemispheres for some of the finest wineries in the world — in Australia and Miguel Torres in Spain — before founding his own brand, Sightglass Cellars in the Columbia Valley of Washington. While he makes most of the Bordeaux varieties and a number of Rhônes, in his words, Cabernet Franc has become the most important grape for his brand. Wine Saves Lives! Caught up with Sean to talk about his history with wine, the state of wine in Washington State, and to define what Cab Franc means. We hope you enjoy this episode of the Wine Saves Lives! Pod. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit winesaveslives.substack.com/subscribe

Lori Budd, along with her husband, Mike, is the founder of Draecena Wines in Paso Robles. From winemaking classes and hobbyist winemaking in New Jersey more than 20 years ago to making some of the finest Cab Francs in California and founding #cabfrancday, Lori is one of the most passionate advocates for Cab Franc that I know. Wine Saves Lives! had the pleasure of talking with Lori about the birth of her brand, what cabernet franc means, how to build Brand: Cab Franc, and the future of our favorite grape in this episode of The Wine Saves Lives Pod! we hope you enjoy. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit winesaveslives.substack.com/subscribe

Leah Jørgensen, owner of the eponymous Cabernet Franc brand in Oregon, is the leading producer of the greatest grape in the state. Leah and I first met when I worked with her more than 20 years ago in Washington, DC calling on accounts. I've followed her rise with great interest. She is one of the most thoughtful winemakers I know, and her brand is a testament to perseverance and vision. Leah spent about an hour talking about her childhood, what got her into wine, and how she became one of the preeminent producers of Cab Franc in the country. I hope you enjoy the Wine Saves Lives Pod! This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit winesaveslives.substack.com/subscribe

Kristy Wenz, a wine educator, marketer, and Cabernet Franc fiend based in the Willamette Valley of Oregon, got her start in cellars serendipitously on a family vacation in Michigan wine country. She ran her own PR firm, principally covering the construction industry, for 20 years before she moved into wine full-time. Wine Saves Lives! had the opportunity to sit down with Kristy to talk about our shared obsession with Cabernet Franc, her impressions of the wines of the Livermore Valley, and what it takes to build a successful wine brand, and her goal to live among the vineyards of Spain. We hope you enjoy!Wine Saves Lives! is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit winesaveslives.substack.com/subscribe

Wes Hagen is a wine educator, a wine historian, a vineyard manager, a writer of AVA proposals, and a damn good winemaker. He is a Renaissance man in the world of wine, connected inextricably to Santa Barbara County, where his family brand Clos Pepe made some of the finest Pinot Noirs of the 1990s and 2000s. He is also a fan of Cabernet Franc. Below, he gives Wine Saves Lives! he answers the question: What Does Cabernet Franc Mean?The Cab Franc people are how Pinot Noir people used to be. Cab Franc is the, is the grape to me that's attracting the seekers. It's attracting the people that are searching for something outside the norm. And so, to me, it's weird — because when I'm in that room full of Cab Franc people, I kind of feel the same way that I feel now in a post Sideways world at World of Pinot Noir.These are my people. I feel like, like I mentioned, The Dead Show and one of my descriptions earlier… and I used to, follow the Grateful Dead quite a bit. And, um, when you're in the show, it feels like these, these are your people. And I feel like, I feel like Cab Franc people are my people.I feel like, uh, I feel like the same way about them, that they're the ones that are looking, they're just in front of the trend, but the trend is never going to happen the way that we imagine it's going to happen. It's not going to be a Cab Sauv. It's always going to be a little bit sort of edgy, and I think that's where Cab Franc would prefer to be. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit winesaveslives.substack.com/subscribe

Kristy Wenz, a wine educator and marketer hailing from the fighting city of Chicago — now ensconced in the beautiful Willamette Valley with her husband and children — spent some time with Wine Saves Lives! to answer the question: “What Does Cabernet Franc Mean?What does Cabernet Franc mean? To me, happiness. I mean, it is, the grape that got me into wine. It is, I shouldn't say it is, Spanish wines are what got me into like really enjoying wine to begin with.But as in terms of variety, it was Cap Branc. It was, it's just been hands down my favorite. To me, it's just, it's so food friendly. The acidity is so refreshing. It's, got those just crunchy fruits in there. And , it can be, it can be a bold structured wine or it can be a light, easy drinking wine.And there's, you know, everything in between depending on where it's come from, how it's made, takes well to oak, takes well to amphora. Like it just, it just can be such a beautifully expressed grape that it's, yeah, it's happiness to me. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit winesaveslives.substack.com/subscribe

My friend, Allison Slute of Cab Franc Chronicles, recently joined Wine Saves Lives! to talk about how she became the go-to authority on Cab Franc, especially from the Loire Valley, how she uses social media to communicate her love for the “greatest grape,” and to answer the question What Does Cabernet Franc Mean? This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit winesaveslives.substack.com/subscribe

David Stannard, a British engineer living in Melbourne, Australia, bought a vacation home in a little French village called Cardan in Bordeaux. The small house had a small vineyard attached to it. What David was told was a hectare of Merlot actually ended up being Cabernet Franc. Over the intervening 10 years, Paradise Rescued became not only a small wine brand making delicious Cabernet Franc, it also became a journey and a mission to preserve the authentic character of the site and the rural village that surrounds it. Wine Saves Lives! talks with David about that mission, about the glories of Cabernet Franc, and about the challenges of staying true to a company ethos in a place half a world away from home. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit winesaveslives.substack.com/subscribe

Kirk Wiles, the founder of Paradise Springs Winery in Virginia, left a future in finance to lead his family's effort to navigate arcane and fusty state rules to create a winery on land that had been in family hands since the 1700s.Cabernet Franc is the the most widely planted grape in Virginia, and the grape plays an important role in Paradise Springs' portfolio. In the midst of our conversation Wiles reveals important details about what this grape means to him, to the winery, and to the State. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit winesaveslives.substack.com/subscribe

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit winesaveslives.substack.comEarlier today, in a cold and silent cellar (except for the clattering of ladders as the rest of our team was topping barrels stacked four high), I went about adding various components to our Rosé of Cabernet Franc to make a wine pleasing to eye, nose, and mouth.Typically, the idea of the color of a wine doesn't intrude much into my blending process — most of our wines are red — as long as it seems appropriate to the variety and our style of winemaking. Rosés are different. The wine reminded me of a languorous day spent by the sea, coming from the water salt-rimed…This is a wine style that is drunk with the eyes first, and the color not only needs to be beautiful but it also has to mirror for the drinker— in acid and fruit and litheness — what that color evokes.

As harvest approaches, time changes. All the things that we put on our calendars starting in September and extending through November serve only as placeholders. Hosts, Steven and Beth Mirassou, talk about prepping for the upcoming harvest in the midst of bottling 11 different wines that will be released next year. As harvest approaches, time changes. All the things that we put on our calendars starting in September and extending through November serve only as placeholders. The grapes control the clock. When they are ready to be picked it doesn't matter what else is supposed to get done, the grape rules. There is something comforting in this…when something MUST be done, it stows away —temporarily— the myriad choices we are forced to make about how to spend our time and distills them down to one, concrete, top-priority action. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit winesaveslives.substack.com/subscribe

Steven & Beth Mirassou talk about the First Annual CabFranc-A-Palooza, the importance of the grape to the future of their brand -- The Steven Kent Winery -- and to the Livermore Valley growing area. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit winesaveslives.substack.com/subscribe

Steven & Beth Mirassou, days before their wedding at the top of Bates Ranch, talking about a site and a lifetime together (Part 1 of 2). This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit winesaveslives.substack.com/subscribe

Steven Mirassou talks with Beth Murray, one of the founding members of The Women's Wine Collective of Livermore Valley, about the historic absence of the female voice in California winemaking and winery ownership, how every winemaking region struggles to create a context for itself that will attract customer, and how those voices help to make better wine when working together. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit winesaveslives.substack.com/subscribe

Steven Kent Mirassou and Beth Murray of The Steven Kent Winery talk about the new release of The Premier, Steven Kent's best Cabernet. This vintage, due to the smoke-taint that affected nearly all of the 2020 Livermore harvest, The Premier was made from Cabernet Sauvignon from the Bates Ranch in the Santa Cruz Mountains appellation. Coincidentally, we decided to venture out to SCM and Napa to great vineyards that had an amazing story to tell. Prudy Foxx — our friend and the immensely talented viticultural consultant who calls the SCM her home — turned us on to this site for Cab Franc and Cabernet Sauvignon, and her instincts were exactly right!This wine is a blend of 95% Bates Ranch Cabernet Sauvignon from all three of the blocks on the site and 5% Cab from a vineyard in Rutherford. As I write this, sipping the wine, I am mesmerized by the amazing interplay of acid, fruit, and tannin. So young now, this wine will age gorgeously for decades. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit winesaveslives.substack.com/subscribe

Steven and Beth talk about a recent trip to Oregon wine country to celebrate wine and the passing of a mentor and friend. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit winesaveslives.substack.com/subscribe

Exploring the idea that one can devote a lifetime to studying something (in my case, Cabernet Franc) and realize (happily) that one knows only the smallest bit about it. Art rewards passion and openmindedness…each time one shoves her nose into a great book or piece of art or glass of Cab Franc, she learns more about that thing, and - more crucially - about herself.Exploration burns away biases and preconceived notions and makes us better people. Wine Saves Lives! is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit winesaveslives.substack.com/subscribe

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit winesaveslives.substack.com/subscribe

Wine Saves Lives! is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit winesaveslives.substack.com/subscribe

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit winesaveslives.substack.com/subscribe

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit winesaveslives.substack.com/subscribe

I am joined by my Assistant Winemaker, Beth Refsnider, as we talk about the unprecedented heatwave in California and its potential effects on the harvest. Wine Saves Lives! is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit winesaveslives.substack.com/subscribe

All posts on Wine Saves Lives! are complimentary for the first 7 days. Consider becoming a paid subscriber to unlock the archive of past posts. Thank you for your generous support! This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit winesaveslives.substack.com/subscribe

I had the opportunity to sit down recently with Jim Rollston - a man at the absolute pinnacle of his profession - to talk about the cult of personality surrounding “star” chefs and sommeliers, what it is like to deliver remarkable hospitality service to diners at his 3-star Michelin restaurant, Manresa, and what great restaurants mean in the context of taking care of people and providing an outlet for the cutting edge vision of amazing food and wine artists. Please drop a comment and share with friends. Wine Saves Lives! is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit winesaveslives.substack.com/subscribe

Wine Saves Lives! is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit winesaveslives.substack.com/subscribe

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit winesaveslives.substack.com/subscribe

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit winesaveslives.substack.com/subscribe

Steven Kent Mirassou talks about the abject frustration that the most mundane AND crucial activities - those that separate his wine from his wine fans - causes, and his hope for furthering his esthetic goals This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit winesaveslives.substack.com/subscribe

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit winesaveslives.substack.com/subscribe

Thank you for reading Wine Saves Lives!. This post is public so feel free to share it. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit winesaveslives.substack.com/subscribe

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit winesaveslives.substack.com/subscribe

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit winesaveslives.substack.com/subscribe

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit winesaveslives.substack.com/subscribe