Podcasts about california wine country

Dan and Matt Matt Duffy from Vaughn Duffy Wines is back on California Wine Country. Matt has been on the show before, on this episode last summer. Dan Berger is back after taking last week off to attend the Anderson Valley White Wine festival, which we previewed on a few recent CWC episodes. He was in charge of the Riesling table with 12 different ones. They will hold a Pinot Noir festival in about five weeks, which we will hear about too. Matt Duffy was on CWC once before, last summer. Vaughn Duffy Wines specializes in single vineyard Pinot Noir. Their wines have captured many awards. Today Matt has brought four Pinot Noirs, all from different vineyards in the Petaluma Gap AVA. They are all from 2024. There are 3 vineyard designates, and one called Petaluma Gap which is a blend of Pinot Noir all from within the AVA. CWC is brought to you by Deodora Estate Vineyards. Visit Deodora to discover 72 acres in the Petaluma Gap that are producing exceptional Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and Riesling. Sip the difference!  This wine has characteristics of a Petaluma Gap Pinot Noir. A Russian River Valley Pinot Noir has a little more raspberry and strawberry flavors. This one has a little more rustic character that reminds Dan a little more of Burgundy than one from RRV. Matt notices that the wines from Petaluma Gap makes purple, darker fruit compared to the bright reds from the Russian River Valley. The wind keeps things cooler in the growing season which lengthens the ripening season and limits the yields. Pinot Noir: a delicate balance Dan describes Pinot Noir as being on the edge between being too light or too heavy. A winemaker has to be careful through harvest and production, “…because if you try to get too much or too little (from it), it either lacks something or has too much of something.” Daedalus finds Pinot Noir sometimes too dark or too light but this one is “just right.”  Dan says you can run the risk of making an overripe wine anywhere with any varietal, but there is more forgiveness in some varieties and in some regions. If you harvest Cabernet a little too late, you can get away with it. If you harvest Pinot Noir a little bit too late in some regions, “…you're going to get an odd configuration of characteristics.” And those aren't necessarily a benefit to anyone. The first wine they taste is the blend, of Sangiacomo’s Roberts Road vineyard and Uberroth vineyard, both in the Petaluma Gap. Later in the show they will taste single vineyard Pinot Noir bottlings from each of those vineyards.

Miro Tcholakov is back on California Wine Country with Dan Berger and Daedalus Howell, and Melissa Galliani is also in the studio today.  He operates Miro Cellars and is also winemaker for Trentadue Wines. Miro has been on CWC before, on this episode back on September 9, 2020. and his last appearance was this episode on April 5, 2024. Miro has brought a Chardonnay, the only Chardonnay he makes now. The vineyard belongs to the De Loach family. It was given “incomplete” malolactic fermentation, so it doesn't have too much “popcorny” flavor. This wine won a gold medal at the SF Chronicle competition. Miro grew up in Bulgaria. Sometimes he refers to it as “way back east.” After college in Bulgaria, he came to the US on a student visa. He had good grades in biology and, also needed to do two years of military service. His degree was agronomy engineering, specialized in viticulture. Then in 1990 he won access to an exchange program to the US. He chose viticulture and he was the only one of the six who went to the west coast. He worked a standard harvest internship at Dry Creek Vineyards. The night before he was supposed to leave, they asked him to stay, to cover for an injured colleague. He rose through the ranks and nine years later he took a full time winemaker job at Trentadue. When he was growing up in Bulgaria, his grandfather made wine. They made about 1000 bottles of wine per year. CWC is brought to you by Deodora Estate Vineyards. Visit Deodora to discover 72 acres in the Petaluma Gap that are producing exceptional Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and Riesling. Sip the difference!  Pinot Noir too Next they taste the Pinot Noir. Miro doesn't usually make Pinot Noir. He was known for making Petite Syrah and Zinfandel, but he wanted to try it just to say he can do that too. He gives credit to the work in the vineyard. “I am in opportunistic buyer…” of Pinot Noir grapes. It won a double gold medal from the SF Chronicle competition. Daedalus tastes dry cherry, old books, dustiness. Miro thinks maybe it's from the oak or the terroir. It's supple and round. It might handle about five or six years of aging. Daedalus' judgement: “Super drinkable, dangerously drinkable.” Later the discussion turns to the wine market and everyone’s opinion of how this downturn looks from their point of view. Aurelio Aguilar who is twenty-six, speaks for his generation. He suggests that winemakers have an important opportunity to get young people familiar with experiences like wine tasting. Then Miro tells his story of how the cave woman invented wine. Next they taste the Grenache named after his daughter, Cuvée Sasha. He started making it when she was born, 23 years ago, and for the last 10 years the grapes have come from the same vineyard on the shore of Lake Mendocino. Grenache is a good wine for any occasion, sort of like Pinot but spicier, and can have a hidden bite of tannin when younger. It’s fruity but can also be earthy. It is easy to pair with anything, Miro suggests grilled salmon or tuna. It can benefit from chilling, too. Melissa suggests bringing Grenache as a hostess gift, for it novelty and quality. Affordable Luxury “You can make high quality wines at a reasonable price. It’s possible. I’ve been doing it for twenty-three years.”

Dan Berger, Chris O’Gorman and Daedalus Howell. Chris O’Gorman and Chris Sawyer are our guests on California Wine Country, to present Pour and Explore at Rodney Strong Vineyards on Feb. 12. Chris O’Gorman is in the studio and Chris Sawyer joins us on the phone. Chris O’Gorman has been on CWC before, his last appearance was this episode last August. It was actually Daedalus Howell’s first CWC episode as full time host of the Drive. Dan has brought one of the wines he will be pouring at the Riesling table next week at the Anderson Valley White Wine Festival on February 14th. The 2021 Smith-Madrone Riesling is a dry wine but not as dry as some of the really bone dry types. Dan likes it with Thai food. The winery is releasing their 2022 Riesling now. This is the same hillside where Stony Hill winery also makes Riesling on an adjacent property. Chris Sawyer is with us on the phone from Ft. Lauderdale, Florida. He is there to judge the American Fine Wine Competition. It is one of the largest invitational wine competitions in the US. It is taking place at Florida International University. Pour and Explore at Rodney Strong Vineyards Chris O'Gorman describes Pour and Explore which is taking place next Thursday night, February 12, from 5:30 to 7:30 PM at Rodney Strong Vineyards. Pour and Explore will feature Bordeaux varietals, Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, Merlot, Malbec and Petit Verdot, by themselves or blended. Dan enjoys the company, since there are winemakers pouring the wine, so they can answer his questions. CWC is brought to you by Deodora Estate Vineyards. Visit Deodora to discover 72 acres in the Petaluma Gap that are producing exceptional Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and Riesling. Sip the difference!  The first tasting today is a Rodney Strong Bordeaux blend named Symmetry. Rodney Strong has been producing Symmetry since 1996. Single varietal wines are not as common in France as they are here. They realized that Chateau St. Jean provided a model of a successful blended red. This Symmetry wine is a 2021 vintage. The label shows it is 88% Cabernet Sauvignon. With other wines being released at 2 and 3 years old, this wine is different. Cabernet Sauvignon can’t be too young. Chris O’Gorman describes the qualities that each of the five grapes bring to the blend. Next they taste a wine from Alexander’s Crown, one of the most historic red wines in Sonoma County. The first Alexander’s Crown vintage was 1974. This is the first single vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon from Sonoma County.  

Chris Puppione from Puppione Family Wines is back on California Wine Country with Dan Berger and Daedalus Howell. The last time Chris was on the show was this episode last summer, on June 6, when he spoke to Steve Jaxon and Dan Berger. Chris has brought four wines that Dan describes as “fabulous” and they are low-alcohol wines. Dan says Chris has had an opportunity to explore the lower-alcohol market. Chris says that people are just looking for flavor and “what’s old is new” and Dan notes that higher alcohol takes flavor away from the variety. Low alcohol is not less wine but just less noise. It takes away from nuances that they prefer to bring forward in their wines. There is a white and three reds. First, Dan’s cellar wine is the 2024 Bahl Fratty Riesling, which he will pour at the VIP event at the Anderson Valley White Wine Festival. “It’s coming out of its shell,” but in three or four years it will be really ready. They will also pour Vermentino and other whites. Dan’s table is all Riesling. It’s at the Mendocino County Fairgrounds, February 14. Tickets are $160 and are all-inclusive, with beverages and food. CWC is brought to you by Deodora Estate Vineyards. Visit Deodora to discover 72 acres in the Petaluma Gap that are producing exceptional Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and Riesling. Sip the difference!  Friulano The Puppione label is blue, which is supposed to discourage spontaneous sales. Well, not always, says Daedalus, tell that to Blue Nun. Chris wants to make “Tuesday night wines” not Friday night wines. Festa was his grandmother’s name, so he makes a Festa Bianca and Festa Rossa. The white is Friulano, which means “from Friuli” which is in north-eastern Italy. He got the vines from a high mountain vineyard in California. He uses a combination of stainless steel and barrels. His children press the grapes with their feet. The alcohol is just 12.4%. Compared to those othe heavy wines that come in around 15% or 16%, this is refreshingly light. It is just a 2023 and it will still evolve. “This is something I do with my wife and kids for fun,” says Chris. Chris made his first wine to honor the birth of his daughter. He made it in secret. He is grateful to have help from many friends in the business. Everyone agrees that this camaraderie and willingness to help other is typical of Sonoma County people. Juventus Cuvée Next they taste a red wine. It is their Juventus Cuvée. His family is from a village outside of Torino in Italy, and one of the home teams is Juventus, but also Juventus is the goddess of youth. This is a blend of Syrah and Cab. He used stainless steel and captured a little effervescence. It’s in a clear bottle and he suggests chilling it. It reminds Dan of the simple wines you find in the back roads in France. He smells “fruit, not adorned…” This is a young wine that doesn’t need any maturation. After 2 years it is still lively and fruity. Dan says that Syrah and Cab are compatible varieties and compliment each other.

Dan, Daedalus and Julie Julie Pedroncelli from Pedroncelli Winery is back on California Wine Country with Dan Berger and Daedalus Howell. She has been on the show before, the last time was this episode of last January. Dan describes the current slowdown in the wine business. The other times that the wine market went soft, there were one or two causes, but today there are several causes. But the benefit to the consumer is, the longer it takes to sell the wine, the more the wine improves. The Pedroncelli family has owned the property for almost 100 years. The vineyards are very carefully farmed and they take great care making their portfolio of wines. “Four generations and still going strong,” says Julie. Her grandparents put down roots in Dry Creek Valley outside of Geyserville. They bought a property in 1927 that had a vineyard and a shuttered winery. The previous owners were making wine as far back as the early 1900s. Their winemaker Montse Reese just completed her 18th harvest at Pedroncelli. They produce mostly Zinfandel, Cabernet Sauvignon, Sauvignon Blanc and a few red wine blends. Her father is 94 and retired just a few years ago. CWC is brought to you by Deodora Estate Vineyards. Visit Deodora to discover 72 acres in the Petaluma Gap that are producing exceptional Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and Riesling. Sip the difference!  Sauvignon Blanc and Zinfandel Julie has brought the “block party” today, with single-vineyard wines that represent certain blocks in the Pedroncelli vineyards. She has brought a Sauvignon Blanc, which they will start with, before moving on to the Zinfandel and others. “White wine is always good to start with.” This Block 11 reserve Sauvignon Blanc, vintage 2024, is not their regular production. It is a special designation reserve. Block 11 showcases the grassier, herbaceous side of SV and Montse Reese thought the neutral oak would bring out that side of SV without overdoing it. Daedalus detects a bit of Pez candy flavor, which Dan thinks is like green mint. Next is a Block 13 Zinfandel from 2023 which was a cool year. This is a little spicy, with a bit of black pepper flavors, and a raspberry note that Dan says is a characteristic of Dry Creek Valley Zins. Block 13 has had Zinfandel grown on it for over 100 years. It is the third generation of Zinfandel vines on the property. Some of the vines are 100 years old but they have replanted twice. It was Zinfandel, then Petit Syrah, then back to Zin. Montse found that this block stands out and merits a single-vineyard bottling. They used bud wood from the Rockpile vineyard for the planting and Montse also uses a yeast that was developed at Rockpile. Julie describes its character as feminine, not high in alcohol, very delicate in its fruit, “…it doesn’t hit you over the head, it’s not a fruit bomb, it’s more like a light spice bomb,” says Julie. Cabernet Sauvignon and Syrah The Cabernet Sauvignon needs to breathe, decanted it would be a little more open. The long finish is not oak, though, it’s all the flavors you want in Cab without the other flavors like too much Oak. Dan Berger will be opening a 1966 Louis Martini Barbera next week for a special occasion. There are two Masters of Wine candidates from Taiwan who are taking a course at the Flamingo. Dan has met them and they expressed interest in an old California wine. Dan has one of two remaining bottles. He will open one for the students at Ca’ Bianca in Santa Rosa, along with two or three other wines from the era. The fourth wine they taste today is the Pedroncelli Syrah. Dan says he has never heard of anything like this before. It is a lower-alcohol Syrah, about 12%. This one was earlier harvested, to make a lighter style of red with lower alcohol. They picked two or three weeks before they otherwise would have.

Dan, Daedalus & Courtney Courtney De Graff, from the Anderson Valley International White Wine Festival joins Dan Berger & Daedalus Howell on California Wine Country. She is the executive director of the Anderson Valley Winegrowers Association. The International White Wine Festival is coming this February 14th through 16th. Courtney was on California Wine Country at this same time last year, for the previous annual festival. Courtney De Graff, of the Anderson Valley Winegrowers Association talks to Dan Berger and Daedalus Howell about Anderson Valley White Wine Festival. It is happening on February 14-16, with the 14th being the big tasting day. CWC is brought to you by Deodora Estate Vineyards. Visit Deodora to discover 72 acres in the Petaluma Gap that are producing exceptional Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and Riesling. Sip the difference!  Dan remembers when this was called the Alsatian Festival, but they changed the name to include more wines from other places. Dan Berger will be there this year at a special Riesling table. There will also be Gewürtztraminer, Chardonnay, Grüner Veltliner, Chenin Blanc, Pinot Blanc and Pinot Gris. Dan likes the festival because white wines are easier to identify by their scent. The 17th Annual Festival This is the seventeenth annual festival. It has had a few different names and rebrandings.There are 64 members in the Association and not all of them produce Alsatian varietals. Dan notices a worldwide evolution in white wine tastes. There are grape varieties showing up today that were not produced in great volumes, because we lacked the technology to make the wine. Anderson Valley is eager to do a white wine festival because white wine is at the forefront of the current evolving trends in wine popularity. The Anderson Valley is an hour north of Healdsburg, on the way to the town of Mendocino. festival is on Hwy 128. Visitors either say overnight or make a day trip. Saturday is the grand tasting from 11 to 3, then on Sunday is winery open houses. They will open their doors for food, wine and entertainment. There are 44 wineries booked this year, the largest contingent ever. They also have wineries from all over the world, including Swiss, German, Italian, French and Mexican wines. It is held at the Booneville Fairgrounds.

The book that Dan and Don agree is the best one on this subject. Don Chigazola has brought Colle Ciocco wines to taste and review with Dan Berger and Daedalus Howell on California Wine Country. Don’s company Chigazola Merchants imports selected small lots of Italian wines made by small family-owned wineries. He travels to Italy regularly to find wines and to meet everyone involved. Don Chigazola has been on California Wine Country several times, the last time was this episode on June 13, 2025, with wines from the Alto Adige region. They begin by tasting a very dry Trebbiano. It's a white wine popular in Italy but not widely known in this country. This Trebbiano is one of the wines Don has brought today, all from the same producer, which is one of his favorites, the Spacchetti family in Montefalco, Umbria. Their label is Colle Ciocco, which translates to “Choko Hill” in English. Don Chigazola founded Chigazola Merchants to travel in Italy looking for wines to import. They started importing from the Spacchetti family after he got to know them about four years ago. They only make about 5000 bottles per year. The wines that Don chooses for Chigazola Merchants are combinations of a variety and a region that are common in Italy but not well-known here. Don looks for those varieties that will surprise and delight his customers. Dan Berger remarks on a wine that was a 2022 Sancerre which is made with Sauvignon Blanc and it was sweet, not dry as he expected. Sweetness sells, apparently, according to Dan. Trebbiano Spoletino There are different clones of Trebbiano in this wine which make it unique. Trebbiano Spoletino is grown around the village of Spoleto in Umbria. Don describes it as very clean and dry, flavors of apricots, peaches, stone fruit. Dan notices good minerality that makes it go well with food. The only way to get a California Chardonnay to have any acidity at all is to chill it down. We all agree that's a cheap trick and beneath us. Don Chigazola has run Chigazola Merchants for about 13 years now. He has seen the shift in demand from Italian reds to white wines. So he began to favor white wines about six years ago. Now his portfolio of Italian white wines is very strong and unique among American retailers. Some of Chigazola Merchants' wine club members are local wine producers. They are eager to taste a wide range of production. A lot of his members have joined after they got to know the wines from their friends. Grechetto The next wine is a Grechetto, another Italian white grape grown around Orvieto and near the town of Todi. The Spacchetti family has blended a couple of clones of Grechetto with about 15% Viogner, which gives it a soft finish on the palette and “rounds the edges.” The third wine tasted today is a red blend, called Montefalco, which is 70% Sangiovese, 15% Sagrantino and 15% Merlot. Dan notices this difference: in California, we make wines that are big and rich and bold, for reasons “I don't wanna talk about,” ok fine. But he finds them tiresome. Contrast that with what these Italian wines accomplish. “It is not very ripe, only just ripe.” Sagrantino Then they have a Sagrantino from Montefalco. This is a 2019. Sagrantino was first a sacramental wine, and was made to be sweet. But it is now a dry wine because tastes have changed. Don explains that the Spacchetti family ages it for two years in barrels and then a minimum of five years in the bottle. With all that it still feels young. There are over 400 varieties of Italian wine, so Don says that nobody can claim to be an expert, there is too much to know.  But Dan Berger begs to differ and cites Ian D’Agata and his book, Native Wine Grapes of Italy. Dan admires the author as an expert because of his book. Don actually knows Ian and agrees about his level of knowledge. Don describes himself as a student of wine.

Dan, Daedalus and Casey Graybehl. Casey Graybehl from Grenachista Wines joins Dan Berger and Daedalus Howell on California Wine Country today. This is Casey’s first time on the show, although we mentioned Grenache as recently as last September on this episode with Oded Shakked of Longboard Vineyards. Grenachista Wines specializes in Grenache, and makes several types and styles of this one varietal. Before getting to Casey Graybehl’s Grenache wines, Dan Berger has brought another cellar dweller this week. It is a 2004 Rkatsiteli from Dr. Konstantin Frank, in the Finger Lakes region of upstate New York. It is a French grape that has been grown in Eastern Europe for decades. Asked why he chose Grenache, Casey explains that he needs guardrails, to constrain himself. By focussing on his favorites, he can run a small operation and produce a high quality product. Dan explains that Grenache is also an important blending wine. The same is true of Syrah. You need some Grenache to make a Rioja from Tempranillo grapes. There is also the GSM blend, Grenache, Syrah and Mourvedre. Instead of making wines for other people’s tastes, he makes wine for his own palette. The Holy Trinity of Grenache Casey describes the holy trinity of Grenache as Grenache Gris, Grenache Noir and Grenache Blanc. They taste a Grenache Gris and then a Grenache Rosé. Dan and Casey agree that their favorite varietal for Rosé is Grenache. “It’s a fruit salad in a glass,” says Daedalus. Dan says the tropical notes are fermentation flavors called terpenes that will be gone in six more months. “This is not one to age,” says Dan. CWC is brought to you by Deodora Estate Vineyards. Visit Deodora to discover 72 acres in the Petaluma Gap that are producing exceptional Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and Riesling. Sip the difference!  If you’re going to limit yourself to one grape, Grenache is the one to do, says Casey, because of its versatility. Next they open the North Coast Grenache Noir. The grapes come from Sonoma Valley, Napa Carneros and Mendocino, which qualifies it for the North Coast AVA. Dan notices pomegranate and cranberry flavors. Casey says some nice licorice and leather flavors will come on with aging. Dan finds that Grenache is more sensitive to its soil and vintage than many other red wine grapes. Pinot Noir can be a headache but Grenache can be more consistent. They call it a blender but it is really a base, making up 60% of blends, such as Gigondas.

Melissa Galliani and Dan Berger. Dan Berger takes some time to explain Gamay Beaujolais today on California Wine Country with Dan Berger and Daedalus Howell. Later in the show, Barry Herbst from Bottle Barn will be in, to talk about sparkling wines they have in the store for the holidays. That portion of the show has its own podcast episode, right here. Dan has brought a Beaujolais from 2023 from a California winemaker who moved to France. He got tired of trying to make European style wines in California. Johnathan Pey made Pinot Noir in Marin County and made a Cabernet in Napa called Textbook. He decided to make a break from California and move to France. This wine is his French production, Domaine Johnathan Pey. Beaujolais ain’t no “Boo-jo-lay” Johnathan Pey bought two cru vineyards in Beaujolais. Gamay Noir au jus blanc is the full French name of the grape. Beaujolais is generally an unpretentions wine, easy to drink and not expensive. Pey wanted to apply modern winemaking techniques to grapes from the old plantation. He bought the vineyard about five or six years ago and has been tending the vines personally. Dan says this vintage is starting to show depth and intensity above the average for Beaujolais. 13% alcohol. The color is intense and suggests a highter ABV but that’s not Beaujolais. CWC is brought to you by Deodora Estate Vineyards. Visit Deodora to discover 72 acres in the Petaluma Gap that are producing exceptional Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and Riesling. Sip the difference!  Usually, Beaujolais is just to open and drink. But some of the Cru Beaujolais will benefit from a couple of years in the bottle. John found that the other producers in France were young, and he is teaching them California techniques that are ahead of the game. This wine is full of fruit, but also an intensity, a Syrah-like aftertaste. Dan thinks maybe this wine will age in two days once opened. “Way more interesting than a typical Beaujolais.” It doesn’t have any oak, there was no barrel aging.

Barry Herbst is here to talk about sparkling wines for the holidays on California Wine Country with Dan Berger and Daedalus Howell. Barry has been on CWC many times before. For the comparison, here is a show where he brought sparkling wines, recorded on Dec. 29, 2023. He is the wine buyer at Bottle Barn. First, Dan recaps part one, which is here on its own podcast episode page, a detailed talk about Gamay Beaujolais. Then, right here, Dan and Barry conduct a tasting and discussion of four very fine sparkling wines that Barry has brought, all of which are at Bottle Barn. Late December is one of the peaks of wine purchasing season. The first peak usually comes at Harvest Fair, that and the Press Democrat Competition before that, “gets things going.” From the end of September it starts, then pops again for the holidays. Also people stock up for June events. CWC is brought to you by Deodora Estate Vineyards. Visit Deodora to discover 72 acres in the Petaluma Gap that are producing exceptional Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and Riesling. Sip the difference!  Bottle Barn also does flash sales and rare wine sales on their website. Online sales account for about a third of their business now. They didn't even have a website until 2019 but now their website is first class. Dan says it's maybe the best wine sales site in the country. It was good that they did it just before Covid. The bottle barn site is well built and works great. Barry remembers six weeks when four people did nothing but data entry, to get the site started. They had 6000 SKUs. Cremant d’Alsace Rosé Sparkling wines are the order of the day. So they pop a cork and taste Bottle Barn’s best-selling sparkling wine of all time. Cremant d'Alsace made 100% with Pinot Noir, so it's Rosé. Bottle Barn sells 600 cases per year of it. It sells for $17.99. Dan says it tastes drier than it did before. You can really taste the Rosé character and the aftertaste is “clean as a whistle,” says Dan. Cremant means sparkling in French. Sparkling wines can only be called “Champagne” if they come from the province of that name. So there are Cremant wines named for their region, such as Cremant d’Alsace. That naming rule pertains to sparkling wines from Italy, which are called Vini Spumanti or Prosecco, depending on the region and the varietals. Cava are Spanish sparklers. The new British sparkling wines might earn a new name. Seppi The next tasting is Seppi, a California product. Mostly Pinot Noir, beautiful balance, says Dan. Intense pink wine flavors with more acidity than he expected, and rounded and more full bodied. Dan also mentions a grower champagne and Barry actually has one to taste,  Lalarge Peugeot. They grow everything biodynamically. Barry notes that they have kept their prices reasonable compared to their neighbors there, in the heart of Champagne. There is more Pinot Meunier planted in Champagne than Pinot Noir or Champagne grapes. Pinot Meunier is a red wine grape but lighter than Pinot Noir.

Garry Brooks from Brooks Note Winery in the Petaluma Gap is back on California Wine Country with Dan Berger and Daedalus Howell. He has been on the show before, the last time was this episode in February of this year. They begin by tasting the 2023 Chardonnay. It started five weeks late and they didn’t think anything was going to ripen. These grapes are usually picked mid to late September but this time, it was mid October. “This is a brilliant wine, it has so much personality. It’s crisp and delightful with food, light and only 13% alcohol,” says Dan. There is a chicken truck that parks near the winery that cooks chicken with this wine and herbs. “This is a Chardonnay that doesn’t have that big rich buttery soft center.” It’s a wine made for food. It comes from 3 different vineyards, one in Sebastopol Hills, one in the Santa Rosa plain and one in Petaluma Gap. Dan says it is round and crisp. There is only one eighth done in oak barrels. That small amount is just a kiss of spice and sweetness. Garry says Chardonnay is risky when it goes through a crazy transformation when being made. If you try to bottle it too soon, it’s bland, says Dan. Bung and Roll If you stir Chardonnay you can gain and lose different flavors. There is no stirring involved here, they are just waiting. Dan says this was Jim Clendenon’s technique that he called “bung and roll.” He would fill the barrels with Chardonnay, seal it with a bung, roll the barrel away and never touch it. CWC is brought to you by Deodora Estate Vineyards. Visit Deodora to discover 72 acres in the Petaluma Gap that are producing exceptional Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and Riesling. Sip the difference!  Next he has brought a couple of their single vineyard wines. There is one vineyard in southern Petaluma Gap, in Marin County, near Marin French Cheese. It’s cold and windy there. You can’t do barbeque in Petaluma Gap because the wind blows hard at 4:00 every day. As the wind speed goes up it slows down photosynthesis so you get a longer growing season. The coastal influence keeps it cool, so there are more floral notes and a lighter style to the wine. Dan describes the Azaya vineyard that grew this Pinot Noir. A really good wine has personality and if you use the word great, it has to have many good things about it, such as this one. They just did their first ever Wine Stroll in Petaluma. All the folks in Petaluma who sell wine, retailers, they sold 400 tickets. Petaluma has a great food scene and the wine scene is growing with the whole city, as an attractive district. They have live music tonight and live comedy tomorrow night. There is Trivia Night on Saturday, this weekend too. Panther Ridge Pinot Noir The next wine is the Panther Ridge Pinot Noir, also from the Petaluma Gap, but up on Sonoma Mountain. The vineyard is all volcanic soil, pumice and basalt, that gives dark flavors and good structure to the wine. Garry majored in Political Science at Duke and was in the Navy, in San Diego, France, Spain and northern California. By the time he was 23 he had tasted wine from all over the world. He was working in Hawaii, for a while selling advertising for the Honolulu Weekly. While going to go to the University of San Diego for an MBA and he met someone who said she was going to UC Davis for Viticulture and Enology. The very existence of such a degree was a surprise. Well, the passion became a job in 2004. He left a well-paying job as an IT project manager in the city and started the winery. All of his business skills carry over to winemaking in ways that help him ensure quality. The Wier Vineyard Pinot retails for $60. A 2018 is for sale now, already aged for you. This is already aged enough to be in the ‘right spot.’ Brooks Note is open daily from 11-6. Brooks Note is open daily from 11-6. Every Friday they have music from 5-7. Tomorrow (Sat. Dec. 13, 2025) the comedy show is at 8pm, there are tickets available on the website. They have Trivia next Saturday, Dec. 20. They only send ONE email per week. Weir Vineyards has a waiting list. He gets the fruit because his daughter went to school with the owner’s granddaughter and he pulled family friendship strings to get the fruit. Garry understands that he has to do things to attract attention for his wines. It all came together for him in Petaluma when he found his location. They bought the place in 2019 and it was their covid project to fix it up. Their capacity is  up to 150 people for private events. They have a couple of events, coming up. Dan Durkin the lead singer of Petty Theft, is performing. Bring a can of food to pass on to the homeless center, Friday Dec. 19, 2025. On Feb. 12, 2026 it’s a bigger event, stay tuned to California Wine Country and watch Brooks Notes Wines for more about that.

Bettina Sichel, the owner of Laurel Glen Vineyard is back in the studio as our guest on California Wine Country with Dan Berger and Daedalus Howell. She was on the show once before, on this episode last May. Bettina has brought a new wine that Dan is tasting for the first time. This is a 2025 Gruner Veltliner from a historic vineyard on Sonoma Mountain, an unusual grape from a historic vineyard. It is most associated with Austria, usually made dry and has a natural richness. It is not as austere as a Riesling can be. Dan suggests a little bit of green tea component in the grape, and some mineral flavors like slate. It is dry and rich at the same time. CWC is brought to you by Deodora Estate Vineyards. Visit Deodora to discover 72 acres in the Petaluma Gap that are producing exceptional Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and Riesling. The Steiner Vineyard on Sonoma Mountain has two acres of Gruner Veltliner. Dan remembers the Galen Glen Vineyard in Lehigh Valley, Pennsylvania also makes a great Gruner Veltliner. Dan appreciates that Laurel Glen Vineyard uses a screw cap. Bettina says that all their white wines are bottled with screw caps. Dan explains that screw caps work great but with red wines of a certain price, people just expect a cork. Recently some screw cap producers have developed different screw caps that completely seal or that allow a little bit of air. You can choose the cap that matches your intentions as a winemaker. If a wine has to sit on the shelf for a long time, the cap protects the wine better than a cork might do. They are tasting the Laurel Glen Cabernet, which is blended with about 20% Merlot, to soften it.

James MacPhail James MacPhail is our in-studio guest today on California Wine Country with Dan Berger and Daedalus Howell. This is his first time on the show. James MacPhail tells about how he was able to buy back the rights to his brand in July of 2024, so his business is undergoing a rebirth. He has just finished his thirtieth harvest. He and his wife started a brand in 2012 called Tongue Dancer Wines and he has four other collaborations where he is the winemaker. He works with some of the best vineyards in both Napa and Sonoma counties. Over several years he built his company MacPhail Family Wines, then sold it to Hess, then bought it back. Dan mentions that he will have to reassert his style over the brand's production. With the tagline, “Crafted by nature, nurtured by hand,” the prospects are very good. CWC is brought to you by Deodora Estate Vineyards. Visit Deodora to discover 72 acres in the Petaluma Gap that are producing exceptional Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and Riesling. “After 30 years, I'm still a kid in a candy store. I still love what I do. I still get up at 4AM. You know? And it has not yet… put me down.” He and his wife collaborate on their company. He just makes the wine and she does everything else. “Sometime she is a lot busier than I am.” Their tasting room is open by appointment. San Giacomo Family Vineyards Dan asks about the connection to San Giacomo Family Vineyards. The name is well known in the wine business but not so much outside. James says the San Giacomo family represents Sonoma County to him. San Giacomo sends grapes to many wineries, but James MacPhail is the only winemaker who lists their name on the label. Dan credits MacPhail with being predicting of what Pinot Noir would become, starting in the early ‘80s. The San Giacomo fruit is “precise” says Dan. The San Giacomo vineyard had early success planting Chardonnay en masse, providing fruit to all the up and coming producers. At that time, UC Davis was really figuring out how to grow Chardonnay. At first, James made a lot of reds, but he needed to add a white to his production. Dan describes Chardonnay as red wine with no color, and Pinot Noir is like white wine but with color. Pinot Noir is seductive and Chardonnay can be powerful and intense. Dan says they should be served at the same temperature. James and his wife have been traveling to Italy recently so his knowledge of wine is extending to Italian wines. Vermentino, Arneis and Cortese are Italian white wines that were hardly ever exported until the last 25 years. That is because they have only recently improved production technology, using stainless steel that is temperature controlled. There are more varieties in Italy than anywhere, more than 200 white varieties and 400 reds.

Peg Champion and Brad Whitworth from the Sonoma County Wine Library join Dan Berger and Daedalus Howell on California Wine Country. The Sonoma County Wine Library is reopening and the wine community is celebrating the rebirth of this great resource. They even have an Instagram page, here. The library holdings document the history of wine in Sonoma County, as well as all over. The renovation of the Healdsburg regional library has been a benefit to the wine library too. There is more space for meetings and for study. The Wine Library Association has just opened The Millie Howie Memorial Garden. She was the founder of the association. They also have several transcriptions of oral history interviews done with wine pioneers starting in the 1950s and ’60s. CWC is brought to you by Deodora Estate Vineyards. Visit Deodora to discover 72 acres in the Petaluma Gap that are producing exceptional Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and Riesling. Peg, who is president of the Association, talks about their upcoming community events, starting with the Holiday Gathering on December 4. The library is in the center of Healdsburg. There is a photo exhibit of George Rose, the wine country photographer. and on December 16 he will be there for a “meet the photographer” event. The Atlantic Seaboard Wine Association on Feb. 1 They also collaborate with other wine organizations. The Atlantic Seaboard Wine Association will come in on Saturday, February 1, from 4-6 pm for a tasting of the Atlantic Seaboard's 2024 wine competition award winners. [@ 12:16] Peg describes the culture in wine country as being open to collaboration and sharing of information. That feels like the opposite of the business culture where NDAs are enforced. The Sonoma County Wine Library is a part of fostering and favoring that open information culture. Dan Berger says that the library is important so that 100 years from now there will be a story to be told. The wineries are too busy trying to stay in business. They don’t have time to document their own history. There are treasures that are the last of their kind, that don’t exist anywhere else. It’s not just for the wineries, it’s for any interested researchers. Peg Champion mentions Megan Jones, the Sonoma County Library research librarian dedicated to this subject.

Bibiana Ravé Bibiana Ravé, winemaker and co-owner of Shared Notes, joins Dan Berger and Daedalus Howell on California Wine Country. Bibana has been on CWC twice, first on this episode of August 29, 2019, to talk about her own wine brand Alma de Cattleya. Then, on April 5, 2023, Bibiana and her husband Jeff Pisoni were on this episode, to talk about Shared Notes. Bibiana grew up in Medellin, Colombia and studied enology in France. They are tasting a wine from Shared Notes, a winemaking project that she shares with her husband Jeff Pisoni. It is a blend of Sauvignon Blanc and Semillon. The blend is a bit different from year to year, depending on how the Semillon tastes. French Winemaking in California Bibiana practices French winemaking techniques in California. She describes winemaking as a personal experience. During her time in France, she stayed there and focussed on French wines only. She didn't even study Italian or Spanish wines. CWC is brought to you by Deodora Estate Vineyards. Visit Deodora to discover 72 acres in the Petaluma Gap that are producing exceptional Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and Riesling.  Her wines are “bone dry” with no residual sugar. They are on the low-to-middle alcohol level. She believes that it is truly all in the vineyard. They work with great vineyard sites. Their Sauvignon Blanc comes from the Ridge Vineyard, which Dan says is one of the best. The vines are 60 years old and have a low yield per acre. She ways that she could not make the wine that she does, if the growers were not as committed as she is. Dan Berger says this wine shows the ancient style with all the dry flavors that it requires. “Very few people in this world make wine that you want to open when your child is 21.” These wines will support 20 years in the bottle. [12:38] Dan Berger: “Most people don’t realize, in the olden days, they would make a wine that was one of the greatest wines in the history of mankind and the next vintage they would make something that was undrinkable. Because they didn’t have the science behind them to tell them what they needed to do! Now we have science, so we can do what we need to do to make great wine every single year.” https://calwinecountry.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/CWC-Promo-EG-Science.mp3 Every choice is a force on the vector There is a limit to letting the land and the vineyard speak for themselves. There are choices such as what to plant and where, how many vines per acre? For example, the difference between 848 vines per acre and 2420 vines per acre can completely determine the concentration, the phenolic ripeness and the quality of the fruit. Bibiana describes how she and Jeff wanted to produce wines in California in a way that many people thought could not be done. Dan says that this kind of project takes vision because there is no guarantee that anyone in this country will even understand these wines. [min. 20] Bibiana describes her arrival in Sonoma County in 2005 and she was making wine at the same facility as Jeff, for different labels. They became friends and then got married. Shared Notes Colombian Coffee [min. 23] Bibiana has also brought some special Colombian coffee. It is 100% hand grown single origin. The roast is done properly so the smell of coffee is permeating the room. Her two sons are 8 and 10 and she wanted something to connect her family to something positive from her home country. Coffee fits that perfectly. She thought they should start importing green coffee beans and roasting in California. That started in 2019, then in 2022 they started roasting coffee at the winery in Rhonert Park. Acidity is important for both coffee and wine. Also, both depend on fermentation, since even coffee beans have to be fermented to get the husks off. “I’ve never smelled a light roast with this kind of character,” says Dan Berger.

Winemaker Adam Lee is our in-studio guest today on California Wine Country with Dan Berger and Daedalus Howell. He has enjoyed a distinguished career as a winemaker and winery owner and now he runs Clarice Wine Co. The last time Adam was on the show was this episode of July 14, 2021. “If Adam Lee’s in the room, it’s gotta be Pinot Noir,” says Dan Berger, right at first. They are tasting a wine called Dial Tone, which has a picture of an old telephone dial on the label. For Adam Lee, Clarice should be, “…a very good honest Pinot at a reasonable price point.” It is 100% Pinot Noir with no alterations or additions. It uses the less expensive barrels which work well enough and are cheaper. This helps keep the retail price down. Adam remembers that the first wine he ever fell in love with was a 1989 Rocchioli Pinot Noir. It was great and cost about $13. Now he bottles this Pinot Noir and it retails for $19, so he achieved his goal. “Adam Lee is one of the greatest winemakers in America, period,” says Dan Berger. Adam founded Siduri Wines and also made wine in Oregon and Santa Barbara. He has also started a project in France. Clarice was Adam’s grandmother, born in 1896. She was his best friend growing up and taught him how to cook. There are QR codes on the labels with extensive information about what went into the wine. There is a lot of relevant information that does not fit on a 3×5 index card. Some wineries don’t publish this kind of information. Some people care to know the pH of a wine.

Jake Lachowitzer from Banshee Wines is our guest on California Wine Country with Dan Berger and Daedalus Howell. Banshee Wines was last on this show on this episode of June 1, 2022 which featured their winemaker at the time, Alicia Sylvester. Banshee wines stand out because they “…are so good and so reasonably priced…” says Dan Berger. They have broad distribution and are available “everywhere.” They begin tasting their Sauvignon Blanc. SV has become an important grape in Sonoma County, especially because winemakers are making it from places like Chalk Hill and Russian River Valley. This one comes from Dry Creek Valley, Chalk Hill and Russian River Valley AVAs. Dan Berger explains that this variety is capable of holding up against warmer weather later in the year. 2024 will be Jake’s first vintage at Banshee Wines. Their tasting room has moved to Geyserville, from Healdsburg. This wine has good enough acidity that it is made to go with food. Dan likes to serve it with goat cheese. Daedalus suggests gorgonzola with a little bit of honey. Dan suggests to go light on the honey so as not to overpower the wine flavors. He detects some flavors of preserved lemon and  Chamomile tea. Most people don’t age their wines, but the most interesting aspects of wine come out, in whites as well as reds, with a few years in the bottle. Jake Lachowitzer Jake Lachowitzer had a long journey to winemaking. He was born in Fargo, ND and had several careers before this. He first studied Sustainability and Environmental Science at Minnesota State University, then he got a graduate degree in winemaking and moved to Sonoma County. His first job was at Sonoma Cutrer in 2019. Then, he was assistant winemaker at Chalk Hill Estate.  There isn’t much wine made in the midwest, but there are some varieties that are made to withstand the Minnesota winter. Dan Berger says that the farmers have adapted a cold-hearty variety of grapes to their soil types and weather. Next they taste the 2024 Banshee Chardonnay. It is sourced from the Sonoma County Banshee estate. There are flavors of creme brulée, lemon curd, banana and nice barrel spice to finish it. It’s 30% new French oak, 9 months aging. Dan mentions the citrus flavors that characterize Sonoma County Chards. Most restaurants will serve it too cold, and the wine will have different flavors. This is because the health departments require refrigerators to be below 40 degrees and they can’t afford a separate refrigerator that is less cold. Today they are drinking it at about 65 or 66 degrees, which is warm enough for the flavors to express themselves. Next up is a Pinot Noir. Dan Berger says that up to about 20 years ago, it was hard to find the right locations for Pinot Noir. Jake is working with a wide variety of clones and locations. They also taste a 2023 Cabernet Sauvignon, which Dan likes because he remembers it was a cool year. This wine has green herbal flavors and beautiful aromatics, structure and herbal notes. The fruit is mostly from Alexander Valley.

Elaine, the owner of Elaine Wines is our guest today on California Wine Country with Dan Berger and Daedalus Howell. She started her winery after a career as an biotech intellectual property attorney. Dan Berger discovered these wines just by tasting them at an event. He was excited to find a Chardonnay that was not overdone and that smelled and tasted like Chardonnay. It is an older style of making Chardonnay that appeals to people like Dan who remember when that style was prevalent. Elaine Wines is a small winery but has already earned a bunch of awards. This first one for tasting is the 2023 Chardonnay, the youngest one that Elaine brought. All of the Chardonnays are made with fruit from her vineyard. She has three acres with one acre of Chard and two of Pinot Noir. Dan detects a little bit of dried pineapple character and the oak is very subtle. The vineyard is at high elevation and Dan says the wine matches the smell of the vineyard. There are fir trees and oaks nearby which influence the vineyard. Dan also appreciates the good acidity. The vines are 25 feet from their house. Before Elaine moved to California, she was a biotech patent attorney, with a background in molecular and micro-biology. She got an online certificate in winemaking from UC Davis, before she moved from North Carolina. Elaine found a custom crush where she was not obligated to meet a tonnage minimum, which allowed her to start making wine with a small production. She found a community of helpful people in California, who work in wine. That is uniform throughout most wine regions in the world, says Dan Berger. Dan says that Prohibition may have ended in 1933 but it was the 1960s before winemaking woke up in the US, in California mostly. Chardonnays The second Chardonnay they taste came from the same grapes, but the first had newer barrels and the 2022 was made in one single barrel that had been used once before. That is generally considered 50% new. She only made 23 cases of this, because they had a very low yield and she had promised some grapes to another winemaker. This wine won a Double Gold at the San Francisco Chronicle wine tasting. Dan says that the problem with a lot of Chardonnay today is that it has to be big and rich. This is the other side of the spectrum of types of Chard. A lot of people making Chardonnay are trying to make a wine that they think will sell. Elaine, on the other hand, came into this without that notion at all. She just lets the vineyard do what it can do, and then handle it in a way to bring that out. Don't serve it too cold, because the flavors won't come out. What's more, this wine is a 2022 and it has had enough time to reach full maturity. She likes to do "as little as I can" and treat it gently. Pinot Noir The next tasting is a Pinot Noir that earned 99 points and a Double Gold from the American Fine Wine Competition, and Gold Medals all over the place. Dan says that the judges like it when the dominant flavor is fruit not oak. Dan describes the flavor of beets that is hiding in the wine.

Ken Wilson and Katie Ambrosi from Wilson Artisan Wines are here on California Wine Country with Dan Berger and Harry Duke sitting in for the vacationing Daedalus Howell. This is their first time on the show, although some award-winning Wilson wines were mentioned on Dan Berger’s report from the 2023 Harvest Fair competition, on this episde. Dan says that Wilson Artisan Wines is one of the most successful brands in Sonoma County and wine country, with many award winning wines in their portfolio. Their first wins go back to 1991. They produce a lot of different varieties from several leading vineyards. The early ’90s were tough times for the wine industry. They were lucky that the first wine they made, a 1993 or 1994 Cabernet Sauvignon won Best of Class at Harvest Fair a couple of years after that. The business expanded as opportunities opened up, especially during wine market downturns. Most of their fruit comes from northern Sonoma County. The furthest south they go is probably a Bacigaluppi and some from St. Anne’s Crossing and a few others. But it’s mostly northern county and mostly mountain fruit. Mazzocco and Antoine Favera In the early 2000s there was another glut and nobody could sell wine to the East Coast, after 9-11. That’s when Ken had a lot of fruit that the wineries didn’t want that year. That’s when he acquired Mazzocco and that is when Antoine Favera became their winemaker. There are lots of other brands in the Wilson Artisan Wines portfolio, and each one has a view on the Wilson Artisan Wines website. One after another, Ken had the opportunity to acquire various vineyards. Some were in need of restoration but every one produces great wine. Some of them are specialized in one varietal, like Honey Hill is mostly Zinfandel. Ken tells the story of each one that Harry asks about. They also blend brandies. You get one gallon of distillate out of ten gallons of wine. They have been tasting the 2022 Cabernet Sauvignon labeled Pocket Highlands. That is the name of their ranch at the top of Mayacama Mountains. It is about 2000 feet altitude. Pocket Highlands Ranch is located east of Asti. Ken loves his mountain vineyards. A picture of the vineyard is used as the Apple computer OS update Sonoma.

Dan and Kevin Kevin Bersofsky, owner of Montagne Russe wines, is back on California Wine Country with Dan Berger and Harry Duke sitting in for Daedalus Howell today. He has been on CWC before, the last time was this episode of July 19, 2024. Dan Berger begins with a compliment for Kevin’s Pinot Noir. He replies, “Syrah is my spirit animal,” so he has brought some Syrah too. His cellar is 50% Syrah. Most collectors don’t keep as much as Kevin does. Dan explains that Syrah has to be grown in a cold climate, and warmer climates are risky. 2024 was “strange” and 2023 was cold. So the cold years give nicer aromatics. The San Giacomo Family vineyards The Pinot Noir says “Roberts Road” on the label, and Kevin explains. The San Giacomo family owns the vineyard. Kevin gives credit to the San Giacomo family for setting the conditions for making such a great wine. Angelo San Giacomo founded their company in the Carneros region. It wasn’t until about 1988-1990 when they started planting in what became known as the Petaluma Gap. The combination of the soils and the weather have made Petaluma Gap one of the most interesting AVAs in the country. There are volcanic soils on one side, and a mix of clay and loam in other areas. Gap’s Crown falls in the middle layer halfway up the hill, where the sediment has settled in the lower region. Every region of Gap’s Crown can produce different flavors, even just by crossing the street. Dan compares this to Burgundy. Montagne Russe means Russian Mountain literally, and is the French word for roller coaster. He was making 13 barrels of wine in his garage, which his neighbor objected to. He called ATF federal police and he had to destroy 4 barrels and promise to stop making wine at home. So then he and his friends started Montagne Russe. Their first wines got high scores, 93 and 94. About 3 months ago they opened a tasting room in Petaluma and they love it there.

The Farm4Profit Podcast heads to California wine country for a two-part series highlighting the remarkable people shaping the legacy and future of Sonoma County Winegrowers.In Part 1, Dan Rotlisberger—fifth-generation farmer and Vineyard Manager at Robert Young Estate Vineyards—shares how his family's operation evolved from diverse orchards to one of Alexander Valley's most respected vineyards. He discusses the heritage of Sonoma County farming, the transition from prunes to grapes, and the enduring commitment to sustainability and soil stewardship. With over 14 years of professional vineyard management experience, Dan also touches on how education, mentorship, and local collaboration keep Sonoma at the forefront of responsible viticulture.In Part 2, listeners meet Kris Hicks, Vineyard Manager for Vimark Vineyard Management and Trione Vineyards & Winery. Kris's unconventional journey—from construction and concrete work to vineyard leadership—embodies what it means to grow through grit and curiosity. He shares stories of mentorship under longtime vineyard legend John Tankersley, his philosophy of farming alongside his crew, and the techniques he employs—water conservation, cover crops, integrated pest management—to farm profitably while leaving the smallest environmental footprint possible.Across both episodes, listeners gain insights into:How multi-generational family farms adapt across decades of change.The parallels between Sonoma's sustainability goals and the Midwest's regenerative agriculture movement.The mindset of vineyard managers who balance heritage, quality, and innovation.The personal stories that keep family farming—and the passion for the land—alive.From Dan's century-old family farm to Kris's craftsmanship in every vine, these episodes reveal that farming excellence is both art and science—no matter the crop or coast. Want Farm4Profit Merch? Custom order your favorite items today!https://farmfocused.com/farm-4profit/ Don't forget to like the podcast on all platforms and leave a review where ever you listen! Website: www.Farm4Profit.comShareable episode link: https://intro-to-farm4profit.simplecast.comEmail address: Farm4profitllc@gmail.comCall/Text: 515.207.9640Subscribe to YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCSR8c1BrCjNDDI_Acku5XqwFollow us on TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@farm4profitllc Connect with us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Farm4ProfitLLC/ Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Nicola Pellacani of Saintsbury Winery joins Dan Berger and Daedalus Howell on California Wine Country today. Dan Berger explains that Saintsbury has been around for about 40 years with a record of getting better and better all the time and Nico will tell us their story. Saintsbury used to be focussed on Carneros and now have shifted toward Sonoma Coast. Nico has brought their Sonoma Coast Chardonnay and Pinot Noir, made from their favorite vineyards. They start with the 2023 Sonoma Coast Chardonnay. Most of it comes from a San Giacomo family vineyard. Dan Berger describes the cool climate influence with a bit of the complexity of Chablis and a light acidity. Saintsbury has been using this vineyard for a long time. Some of the planting was even done for Saintsbury. Where the senses and the mind come together The process of building a blend involves three or four passes. Nicola describes blending as a process where "...senses and mind come together. You have to allow yourself to reach that point." Nicola started at Saintsbury as an intern in 2018. He worked on his first harvest that year, while was still a student in viticulture and enology at the University of Bologna in Italy. He is now the assistant winemaker A family winery with a family atmosphere Nico grew up in Italy and wine is on the table all the time. Dan Berger is eager to learn from the younger people in the world of wine. People's palettes have evolved and this continues, just as weather patterns have changed. Nico mentions two mentors at Saintsbury, they are Tim Colla, the head winemaker at Saintsbury, and Jaime, their cellar master who has been there for 20 years. They have lots of conversations and taste lots of blends. They have family style lunch every Friday at Saintsbury. Having come from Italy, Nico is grateful to have a family feeling at Saintsbury. Dan Berger describes the house style of Saintsbury, which has remained consistent for 40 years. Next they taste a pétillant-naturel, which is abbreviated to pét-nat.  It has very small and light bubbles and Dan declares it is delightful. They only made about 150 cases of it. Saintsbury has an event scheduled for November 1, 2025, at the Napa winery at 1500 Los Carneros Ave. It is a celebration of past and present winemakers. It is structured as a market, with local artisans.

Oded Shakked, Longboard Vineyards Oded Shakked from Longboard Vineyards is back on California Wine Country with Dan Berger and Daedalus Howell. He has been on CWC several times before, the last two times were this episode on September 20, 2024. and a year before that, this episode on November 17, 2023. Today he has brought more Longboard wines to taste and to discuss. Oded Shakked’s episodes on California Wine Country have the distinction of holding the N.1 and N.2 positions for the most traffic (streams plus downloads) among all CWC episodes in the last eight years of the podcast. Congratulations to Oded and Longboard Vineyards! Daedalus Howell begins by remembering that his last film premiered at Longboard Vineyards, as part of what is now the True West Film Fest. Oded Shakked remembers that he liked the movie. 40 Harvests! This morning, Oded Shakked finished his 40th harvest, 28 for Longboard and the rest, for others. He still gets energized during harvest, when you work 12-18 hour days and feel jazzed afterwards. Oded wants to find a balance, for Sauvignon Blanc, using grapes from different regions and 40% in neutral barrels, the rest in stainless steel, so partial ML, but still good natural acidity. They are tasting the 2024 SV from Russian River Valley. A lot of SV has been converted to Pinot Noir, but not this vineyard. “It has a nice snap to it, … green pea… melon… Meyer lemon…” says Dan. It has a character that Oded likes to call sun-dried linen. Dan says that unfortunately, California Chardonnay is produced for people who like something rich. Dan considers those Chardonnays to be cocktail wines. SV is more fascinating because it has more nuances of flavor. In this Chard from Longboard, the ML is subtle. And unlike some New Zealand SVs, it is not too sweet. It is not served too cool, so the flavors are more evident. Watergirl Rosé Oded always wanted to make Rosé, and initially he made it from Syrah. However it did not sell. At the time, Rosé had not yet become fashionable. Most people in Russian River Valley make Rosé from Pinot Noir. Oded makes his Rosé mostly from Grenache, with some Syrah and Caringnane. He is looking for that southern French style. The name Watergirl Rosé comes from the wine’s previous name, which was Wahine. That means a surfer girl in Hawaiian, and nobody knew the word or could pronounce it. Oded is a lifelong surfer. He noticed that whenever there were women in the water, they had to work twice as hard to compete for space to drop in. He has a lot of respect for them because of that and so the wine is named for them. This Watergirl Rosé has juicy berry notes and watermelon at first, then the finish gets a little bit of the red wine component. Later in the show Oded tells the story of how he grew up 100 yards from the beach in Israel. He started surfing as a kid and he still surfs. After his military service he made surfboards for a living, for a while. He would close shop in September and go to surf the west facing beaches in Portugal, Spain and France for months at a time. His interest in wine started in Spain on surf trips, drinking Albariño. It took some time for him to get so interested in wine. A friend of the family told him about a winemaking school in the US, and he took the suggestion. Later, he started Longboard because he wanted to write off his surf trips and admits that at first, he never thought the winery would last, let alone be so successful.

Christian Adams with the German Wine Collection is back on California Wine Country with Dan Berger and Daedalus Howell. The last time he was on CWC was this episode last November . The name Fumé Blanc is still used by about 10% of the bottlers of Sauvignon Blanc. It was a name that Robert Mondavi came up with, for Sauvignon Blanc wine. Then in 1973 David Stare, founder of Dry Creek Vineyards, also started using it. Once the name was used, the federal government required the subtitle “Sauvignon Blanc” to explain Fumé Blanc. Dan Berger has invited Christian Adams again, to emphasize the great wines coming from Germany. They used to have a reputation for being dominated by sweet whites but that's no longer true. Who wants dry Riesling? I do! I do! After France and the US, Germany is the world's third producer of Pinot Noir by volume. The weather in Germany is just warm enough for Pinot Noir, although mostly still too cold for Cabernet. Pinot Noir was brought to Germany in the middle ages. Up to about 40 years ago, the German Pinots were rather light. Some producers were making “off dry” Pinot Noir, slightly sweet. Now they are making world class Pinot Noir that rivals those of Burgundy. “This is really good!” -Dan Berger The use of oak is so careful that it's almost not there, which favors the fruit flavors. Pfeffingen has been making wine since 1622. Pfaltz is the German name of the Palatinate region in western Germany where a lot of German Pinot Noir comes from. CWC is brought to you by Deodora Estate Vineyards. Visit Deodora to discover 72 acres in the Petaluma Gap that are producing exceptional Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and Riesling. This wine is aged in a combination of smaller German and French oak barrels. Christian Adams raises the question that people often ask. What are the differences among barrels, where the wood is grown, and where the barrels are made? Christian explains that some wood comes from Romania or Germany. The differences include how much the wood is toasted and how big the barrels are. Smaller barrels make for more contact area with the wine.

Kim Stare Wallace and Brian Pruett are our guests on California Wine Country with Dan Berger and Daedalus Howell. Brian is the winemaker at Dry Creek Vineyards and this is his first time on California Wine Country. Kim’s last time on the show was this episode of March 30, 2022. Dan begins by describing Chenin Blanc and how versatile it is in Europe. Dry Creek Valley is making a sparkling Chenin Blanc to celebrate their 50th anniversary. They love Cremant de Loire, and the Stare family have friends in Loire Valley, so it felt right to make one for the celebration. Brian had never made a sparkling wine before but it worked so well they will make it every year. Sparkling Chenin Blanc They only needed to harvest a couple of weeks earlier than the still wine harvest, in order to get lower sugars and higher acidity. It is actually 90% Chenin Blanc and 10% Cabernet Franc. Chenin Blanc of course also makes a great still wine. Dry Creek Vineyards has been bottling Chenin Blanc for many years. They always called it Dry Chenin Blanc. Her father, is the pioneering winemaker David Stare. He always thought it important to point out the difference between their Chenin Blanc and many others, that veer toward the sweet side. CWC is brought to you by Deodora Estate Vineyards. Visit Deodora to discover 72 acres in the Petaluma Gap that are producing exceptional Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and Riesling.  Dry Creek Valley has been bottling Bordeaux-style blended wines “since the get go.” They have made some that favor the Cabernet side, and others like this new one that favor Merlot. They know the vineyards they are using, and they are looking for the oak not to overshadow the fruit or the vineyard. They want the wines to be as complex as possible and support combining with food. Daedalus notices a balance between power and elegance. Kim tells about Dry Creek Vineyard’s decision to focus on Dry Creek Valley as a source for their Bordeaux program. They have all kinds of conditions that favor the growth of Bordeaux varieties. Brian also remembers the influence of the Pacific Ocean that cools us off at night.

Dan Berger, Clark Smith and Clark’s book Postmodern Winemaking. Clark Smith, one of our most frequent guests, is back again on California Wine Country with Dan Berger and Daedalus Howell. His last time on CWC was this episode on Dec. 6, 2024, when he talked about unusual varietals. Dan Berger is at WineSong today, and Clark Smith is here with Daedalus Howell. Clark Smith just got through bottling 12 new wines. One of the great things about wine is that you can’t experience it on the internet. You can experience a lot of BS about wine on the Internet, though. Daedalus remembers. At first, there were some important writers who moved wrote in magazines, now writing online. Clark remembers that they were friends of the wine industry. They wanted to promote the idea of wine as a beverage. In 1972 when Clark Smith went into the wine business, he toured the country and met as many of them as he could. Now there are 13,00o so that’s a big change. Clark Smith notes the difference between regulation of the wine industry between the US and France. In France, the regulations are all about making the wine, and in the US, regulation all about selling the wine. CWC is brought to you by Deodora Estate Vineyards. Visit Deodora to discover 72 acres in the Petaluma Gap that are producing exceptional Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and Riesling. They have a Pinot Noir from the Lester Family estate in the Santa Cruz mountains, which Clark calls the best region for growing wine anywhere. They also have a Sangiovese and a Zinfandel classico. Dan Berger Calls from WineSong Dan is on the road at WineSong, calling on the phone. Clark mentions the Zinfandel they are tasting in the studio, which he made in the old style, “before the world went nuts” and people started asking for wines that were big “pruny high-alcohol” wines. Zins that reach 17% ABV, absurd. Why did Napa Cabernet go this way? It’s really a disgrace. Clark makes wonderful Napa Cabernet, the way they used to in the ’70s. “We got into this sort of wet T-shirt contest, how big can we make the wine?” Big became too big. Napa really grows some of the best Cabernet in the world, “then we just piss it away making these clown wines…” Word.

Winemakers Greg Morthole and Chris O'Gorman join Dan Berger and Daedalus Howell on California Wine Country. Greg is the winemaker at Davis Bynum. They are here to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Davis Bynum's wine company. He was a pioneer in Russian River Valley and was one of the first to make Pinot Noir. Pinot Noir is difficult to grow properly. Davis Bynum's father was a journalist and wrote a book about how to make wine. Davis became a journalist from the age of 25 to 40 for the San Francisco Chronicle. At 40 he studied winemaking at the Berkeley library and went through a few "hard knocks." Dan points out that the one thing about Russian River Valley is that the weather is cool. The wines had natural acidity and did not need to be adjusted. Davis liked the natural style of winemaking because they required less work. His wines were always very good. When Dan interviewed him in 1986, he was making Merlot which he loved. Greg remembers that Davis would also play music to the vines. He started by raising organic grapes but got tired of paying certification fees. Davis Bynum Greg Morthole got to work with Davis Bynum, who passed away in 2017 at the age of 92. He was an interesting character and Greg heard a lot of stories from him. They taste a 2023 Davis Bynum Dutton Origin Chardonnay (on the left, in the picture above). It has a beautiful rich personality. Dan calls it almost Burgundian in its aromatics. It has good acidity so it could be served with rich seafoods like lobster. It will probably get better after 2 or 3 years in the bottle. This wine come from a block that the Dutton family has been farming since the 1880s. The 50th Anniversary Wine The next tasting is the 50th Anniversary wine, a 2023 vintage. Dan Berger loves it but Greg Morthole gives credit to the weather. That year the ripening was slow, then there was some rain, and only then, the fruit ripened perfectly. "Mother nature just gave us a great wine," says Greg. Dan suggests, and Greg agrees, that the ripening conditions this year remind him of 2023. They only made 35 cases of it.

Jamie Peters from WineSong is our guest here in the studio on California Wine Country with Dan Berger and Daedalus Howell. The Mendocino Coast Botanical Gardens, September 5 and 6 will host Winesong. Dan Berger has invited Jamie Peters from Winesong to talk about the 40th anniversary of this event. Dan has brought some Riesling that was grown at Cole Ranch in Mendocino County. This is Dan’s production called Bahl Fratty. He made 65 cases this year. There is also an Anderson Valley Handley Cellars 2019 Gewurtztraminer and a Dancing Crow Vineyards wine, and many more. (Bahl Fratty is Boontling for Great Wine. Boontling is a historic local argot that is native to Anderson Valley. It was a secret code that locals used to confound visitors.) Mendocino Coast Healthcare Foundation Dan Berger describes WineSong as a tasting event with great food, music and a walk through the botanical gardens. The wine auction is a fund raiser for the Mendocino Coast Healthcare Foundation. They actually also have wines from Napa and Sonoma at the auction, and even from Oregon, but mostly local product. The foundation supports health care and also local fire stations. Forty years ago the idea for WineSong started at the kitchen table of a local nurse. She is still involved in the event. Dan is proud that one year, the auction raised enough to purchase a new ambulance. That was a big deal. There are lots of musicians who love to play this gig. Some are regulars, others rotate in and out. Some regular guests get to know the band members. Since it’s always the first weekend after Labor Day, the cooling breezes are always blowing at the end of the day. It’s a great scene for a great cause. It’s a barrel auction, so how do you get the wine home, asks Daedalus? They have a solution that turns it into about 24 cases.

Ventura Smalley, Harry Duke, Cathy Ratto and Dan Berger. Dan Berger and Harry Duke are in the studio together on California Wine Country today on the Italian holiday of Ferragosto. Our expected guest was not available. California Wine Country is brought to you by the 40th annual WineSong! Ferragosto is the Italian holiday celebrated on August 15th. It is the middle of summer vacation season in Italy. It is also a religious holiday, the Catholic Feast of the Assumption. Dan describes the rich history of Ferragosto and how a holiday with ancient roots is still an annual occurrence. Dan Berger has brought a bottle of his Bahl Fratty Riesling, and several other wines. The Bahl Fratty is probably the driest Riesling ever made anywhere. There are also some red wines to taste. Bahl Fratty Bahl Fratty is Boontling for good wine. There is a typewriter on the label, which reminds us of Dan Berger's illustrious career as a print journalist. The 40th Winesong Weekend Celebration is Sept. 5-6, 2025. Click the Winesong 40th logo for details. The next among the wines that Dan Berger has brought today is a 2024 Chateau Montelena Riesling. They have been making this exact same wine for a long time. It has aromas of tropical fruit, pineapple, a spice component, it's not entirely dry, but it's not sweet, just barely off-dry. It would go well with Thai or Chinese food. Riesling is a grape variety that requires a cooler climate, or if not cool, it needs high winds to cool it off. There is only a little Riesling left in Russian River Valley, and some in Carneros and Petaluma Gap. Harry asks Dan to tell about how Steve Jaxon introduced himself and invited Dan to join the show. They met for coffee and did a show that day, and have done it weekly since 2017, eight years ago. "It's been an absolute blast," says Dan. Dan mentions a lot of our regular guests, people with a great story to tell, like Don Chigazola from Chigazola Merchants, Alan Baker from Cartograph Wines, Darryl Miller from Delingher Wines. People travel long distances sometimes, to be on the show. Carol Shelton is another favorite, and Harry agrees. Ferragosto Dan describes the Italian holiday of Ferragosto, pronouncing it almost correctly, so Chris DiMatteo in Los Angeles calls in with the right sound and little more about the story of this important Italian holiday. This gives Chris the chance to raise a glass of Dan Berger's Bahl Fratty Riesling and to toast Steve Jaxon, who has been a friend and mentor to Chris. Cin-cin, maestro! Dan's next tasting is a 2018 Syrah from Carneros. Syrah is considered a warm climate variety and Carneros is a cool region. So Dan decided to give it a few years to test it and it turned out to be "really really good." It's not a dark red but has a white pepper character. It was released probably is 2021 and the white pepper component has developed. It also has some dried violet character, which Harry can't confirm. Cuvaison has been in business for close to 50 years and has owned that vineyard for about that long. This wine produces "an explosion of flavors" says Harry.

Winemaker Michael Browne is our guest on California Wine Country with Steve Jaxon and Dan Berger. Daedalus Howell is sitting in for Steve Jaxon today. Michael has brought a few wines today. The first pour is a 2020 Santa Rita Hills, made under his Cirq label. It his is focus on Russian River. His other brand, Chev, focuses on all the west coast, from Oregon to Central California. The Santa Rita Hills is interesting to him because “it really moves in your mouth…it has a lot of movement. … It has massive presence. If you let it sit on your palette just a bit, you can kind of see that.” It is not heavy but it has presence. It has what he calls intense elegance. Michael Browne wrote a book called Pinot Rocks, subtitled A Journey Through Intense Elegance. He describes good wine as a piece of music, with high notes, middle notes and low notes. Daedalus calls it, “a wine that went to charm school.” The Song and the Instruments The “song” has been written in the vineyard and the barrels are the “instruments” that will play it. Dan Berger has one last bottle of a 2005 Santa Rita Pinot Noir that is one of the best he has ever tasted. California Wine Country is brought to you by Rodney Strong Vineyards and Davis Bynum Wines. Next to be tasted is under the Chev label, which is Russian River, heart and soul. It's a wine to be aged, or decanted at least. Their 2013s, '14s and '15s are in great shape right now. In the 1990s there was an explosion of Pinot Noir producers in California and also Willamette Valley in Oregon. When Kosta Browne started, they were the second wave, doing unique things with Pinot Noir. He tasted a “substantial” Pinot Noir from Williams-Selyem and asked winemaker Burt Williams for advice on how to achieve that result. He learned how to time his harvest to get exactly that result. They are also tasting a Santa Lucia Highlands wine. Michael Browne talks about making wine with “the Garys,” who are growers Gary Pisoni and Gary Franscioni. Gary Pisoni runs Pisoni Family Vineyards while Gary and Rosella Franscioni run Gary's Vineyard and ROAR Wines. Both of them are located in the Santa Lucia Highlands. “They are the best growers that I know… They are family to me, big time.”

It's been nearly seven months since the Eaton Fire tore through Altadena, killing 30 people and hollowing out a once vibrant community. For many survivors, the fire has impacted their mental health, as many try to navigate rebuilding their homes and their lives. Reporter Steven Cuevas lives in Altadena, and he's been talking to therapists who are finding ways to support their community at the same time they're grappling with their own losses.  Later, we dive into the troubling history of a California wine dynasty. Wine aficionados may now look down on white zinfandel, but in the 1980s and ‘90s, it was the most popular wine in the US. The rise in demand for this sweet, pink wine is the backdrop of a wild story covered in a new podcast called Blood Vines. It's about the largest grape fraud in US history, the powerful family at the center of it, and how betrayal and murder triggered the fall of a California dynasty. The California Report Magazine's Sasha Khokha talks to investigative journalist Chris Walker – who wrote and produced the podcast – about the scandal, and how it changed the course of winemaking across the country.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Kyle Cameron and Gianna Fugazi of Trecini Winery are our first-time guests on California Wine Country with Daedalus Howell in for Steve Jaxon, and with Dan Berger. Kyle is a seventh generation Russian River Valley farmer. They are farming grapes now. He and his wife Christina bought Trecini Winery in order to get more involved in the rest of the wine business, apart from growing grapes. The wine market is in a downturn, so he has a positive outlook. Dan Berger says this downturn is a predictable one or two year cyclic drop. Giana Fugazi is originally from Linden, California, where she grew up on a cherry orchard. She studied wine business and archaeology at Sonoma State. Her dad calls grape growing "fancy farming."  She worked as an archaeologist in Italy for three years. California Wine Country is brought to you by Rodney Strong Vineyards and Davis Bynum Wines. Dan Berger believes that the future will include more Italian grape varieties. He peaks to retailers all around the country and the world. Retailers are telling him that there is less enthusiam for the Number one varietals in white and red, which are Chards and Cabs. There are many wines that used to be obscure that people are asking for. "I'm interested in making any kind of obscure wine," says Kyle. Dan's Albariño and Gianna's Verdolo As a starter, Dan has brought a wine from grape grower Francis Mahoney, a friend of his. It is a 2024 Albariño, quite dry, sells for about $24 a bottle. It's in a lot of local retain shops. Gianna has brought a Verdolo from Portugal. There are less than 500 acres of this grape in California. This is a 2024 from Taft Street, where Gianna is a series winemaker. This is her first take, a 100% neutral barrel. The organic grapes are from Calaveras County. She fermented it outside in barrels, no temperature control, then she consolidated it into an egg (concrete). There was no temperature control, so it was risky but successful.

Darryl Miller from Dehlinger Winery is back on California Wine Country today with Steve Jaxon and Dan Berger. He has been on the show before, the last time was this episode, last summer. This is the 50th anniversary of Dehlinger Winery. Darryl has known the family for forty years. Tom Dehlinger was a biochemist and got the wine bug. He studied wine at Davis and worked with some local wineries. Then, bought a property on the corner of Vine Hill Road and Guerneville Road in 1972. He and his brother built an octagonal house in the middle of the property which is iconic. They crushed their first grapes in 1975. Dan Berger started writing about wine at that time and tasted his first Dehlinger wines in 1979. They were among the first to plant grapes in the area which would later become Pinot Noir and Chardoheaven. The other local pioneers were the Rocchioli and Martinelli vineyards, not far from there. The vineyard is a rolling hill property with two types of soil, Altamont, a red iron based clay, and Goldridge, a gray sandy loam. The sections of the vineyard with different soils produce different results in the wine. This is why they produce some wines from each section and soil type. Bahl Fratty Riesling The 40th Winesong Weekend Celebration is Sept. 5-6, 2025. Click the Winesong 40th logo for details. Dan Berger has brought a bottle of his Bahl Fratty Riesling It is a 2023 that just got a Gold Medal at the American Fine Wine Competition in Miami. The grapes are from Cole Ranch in Mendocino County, near Booneville. Bahl Fratty means Good Drink in Boontling, the local lingo. Dan's goal was to make the wine as dry as possible. The 2022 was also a gold medal winner. Darryl went to college in Humbolt State then moved to Seattle and worked as a waiter. He met someone who suggested he could sell wine and he did end up selling a lot of wine. The business took him to San Francisco, Hawaii and Tahoe. Eventually he ended up in Sonoma County, the same year as Dan, in 1981. He started his own company as a broker and sold some very famous wines like Taft Street, Davis Bynum and Iron Horse. Then in 1995 he sold his company to the Henry Wine Group and continued to work with them. Darryl is one of the judges at Dan Berger's annual wine competition. There are different ways to know good wine but what's really important is what you like. -Darryl Miller California Wine Country is brought to you by Rodney Strong Vineyards and Davis Bynum Wines. Dehlinger makes about 8,000 cases of wine per year, but they grow enough grapes for 40,000. Many famous wineries get grapes from them, whose names are not to be made public. The rest of the show is the tasting of the wines Darryl has brought. First  is the 2021 Goldridge Pinot Noir. Round, rich and juicy, Dan says silky with a crisp finish. The next one is also a Pinot Noir, from the Altamont soil section, that has more structure because it also gets some whole cluster fermentation. Darryl calls the Altamont tighter, stronger with more minerality. Visit the website for details.

Matt Duffy from Vaughn Duffy Wines joins Steve Jaxon, Dan Berger and Daedalus Howell on California Wine Country today. Daedalus Howell is also in. He is doing an hour every weekday from 2 to 3 PM on Wine Country Radio. Vaughn Duffy specializes in Pinot Noir. They make 8 or 10 Pinot Noir wines from Russian River Valley and Petaluma Gap. Their tasting room is on Sonoma Highway next to Palooza Restaurant. Today he has brought two bottles of Pinot Noir. The San Giacomo vineyard and Uberroth vineyard, as well as a barrel sample of another Pinot Noir that is in production. Petaluma Gap In August there will be a tasting event that culminates on August 10 at a new venue in Santa Rosa called The Backdrop. There will be over 100 Petaluma Gap wines to taste. Petaluma Gap is one of the greatest wine growing regions that gets its cool climate from the wind. This keeps the acidity levels high. As the climate gets warmer, regions like Petaluma Gap will enjoy favorable conditions. The wind comes up every evening at about 5:00 and it is unstoppable. The region is ideal for Pinot Noir but they grow Grenache, Syrah and Blau Frankish. Great Pinot Noir will not be dark red, and Dan noticed that about these wines. California Wine Country is brought to you by Rodney Strong Vineyards and Davis Bynum Wines. Pinot Noir lovers have been drinking Petaluma Gap wines since even before the AVA of Petaluma Gap was establihed in 2017. Before that, it was all Sonoma Coast AVA. But Sonoma Coast is a gigantic area and it made sense to carve out the Petaluma Gap due to its unique conditions and results. The Wind to Wine Festival is coming on August 8, 9 & 10 with exclusive vineyard walks, winery tours and the great tasting on August 10 with super-chef Charlie Palmer. Matt Duffy and his wife Sarah Vaughn are about to make their sixteenth consecutive bottling. His first year working was 2007. After being a harvest worker and learning winemaking from the process of doing it. He and his wife bought some grapes in 2009 and started making wine, while he was still working his day job managing the crush facility. They have a tasting room in Kenwood in the Sonoma Valley. "The wine business is a long game. It takes a year or two to get your line into the bottle to sell it... You've got to stick it out... Keep going, keep growing... look for better vineyards every year."

David Hejl from Domaine Della is our guest on California Wine Country with Steve Jaxon and Dan Berger. Blair Hardman is also in the studio today. The Domaine Della winery is named after David's mother, Della. David used to be the CEO and general manager for Kosta Browne. He worked for Kosta Browne winery after they were sold to new owners. He was entrusted with managing the staff through a transition to go from 10,000 cases per year to 30,000. Before that, David started in the 1980s living in Paris, France, working for Nabisco. He had great French wine at dinner every night. That was the exposure to wine that started his lifelong interest. California Wine Country is brought to you by Rodney Strong Vineyards and Davis Bynum Wines. They are tasting a Chardonnay that Dan Berger calls, “Chardonnay to make you wake up,” and, “incredible.” David gives credit to the vineyard, one of Sonoma County's finest. It's all about picking to get the perfect acidity. He also prefers not to use too much oak. That is how he gets the fruit to take the lead. Dan calls this wine perfectly balanced. It has the rich fruit that you want, but the acidity to make it pair well with food. It is a remarkable balance between big and delicate. And of course, it should get better in about three years. David says, "We'll be in harvest before you know it!" Then they open a Pinot Noir. He uses fruit from some of the same vineyards that supplied Kosta Browne. The owners and growers are longtime friends. They are 85% direct to consumer. The rest sells through charity events around the country. Dan says the Pinot Noir is excellent, and has all the best characteristics of Russian River Pinot Noir. Elegant, raspberry aromas, a little bit of cherry, and a spice component. David explains that there are 6 different clones, in two different vineyards.

Dan, Melissa and Deadalus. Melissa Galliani and Daedalus Howell are our guests on California Wine Country with Steve Jaxon and Dan Berger today. Melissa Galliani is the GM of Wine Country Radio.  Deadalus Howell is the editor of the North Bay Bohemian and some other local publications. He is also a frequent guest on The Drive with the Boho Buzz, a regular feature of what's currently in the paper. Lisa Santos, the advertising director of The Bohemian, is also in. This is Bay Area Burger Week. Co-incidentally, Dan Berger wrote an article this week about hamburger meat and hamburger sandwiches. There is just one vowel of difference between burger and Berger! There is a promotion with restaurants that have specials throughout the 12-day "week." Daedalus has a trivia question for listeners, which is, what actor played the part of McDonald's entrepreneur Ray Kroc in the movie The Founder? Listener Kelley knew that answer is Michael Keaton and she wins the prize. Later we will ask who played Pussy Galore in Goldfinger? Honor Blackman is the answer. After all the banter, the wines. Terry Damskey from Dehlinger Winery could not come in as scheduled today. So Dan Berger has brought a few wines from Bottle Barn for tasting and discussion. The first one tasted is a Washington state wine which was at Bottle Barn for a mere $4.99. Today is the first day of summer, so there will be a lot of whites (and Rosés) on the show. California Wine Country is brought to you by Rodney Strong Vineyards and Davis Bynum Wines. Then they taste a 2022 Babich Sauvignon Blanc from New Zealand. It is on sale at a close-out price at Bottle Barn. There is also a Cinsault from Lodi, California. The winery is called Jesse's Grove. They have their own vineyards, some of which are original vines planted in 1886. They have some of the oldest Cinsault grapes in the world. Finally, Ammunition is a Sonoma County Pinot Noir.

Wine importer Don Chigazola is back on California Wine Country with Steve Jaxon and Dan Berger, with newly arrived wines from Alto Adige.  His company Chigazola Merchants brings small lots of carefully selected wines from small family producers in many different regions of Italy. Steve Jaxon describes what he does as "...the coolest job in the world." Melissa Galliani is also with us in the studio today. Don begins by describing how he has recently expanded his activity into France, by applying the same model that they do to their business with Italian winemakers. They went to the Paris wine show, and they also spent some time visiting family winemakers in Provence. They met with four and they will definitely be importing from two of them. That will begin once the tariff situation settles down. Chigazola Merchants Don started traveling to Italy with his wife Debbie, visiting small hilltop towns, asking the locals about who made the best wine. He found a lot of great wine, and noticed that the quality of wines he found in Italy was not available here. So he figured out how to import wine from Italy, to sell directly to consumers. He needed three different licenses and eventually fulfilled all the requirements. California Wine Country is brought to you by Rodney Strong Vineyards and Davis Bynum Wines. In the first few years, Chigazola Merchants sold about 80% of their wine to local bars and restaurants, and 20% to individuals. That proportion has reversed now, since their wine club has grown so much. Today Don has brought some white wines from the Alto Adige region, where they grow grapes at very high altitude. The wines come out with high minerality and fresh acidity. The first are tasting a Riesling that arrived in California last February. This Riesling is bone dry. Dan Berger calls this wine the anti-Chardonnay. It's not so dry that it's austere. It has fresh clean aromatics and it goes with food. Melissa agrees that it tastes fresh and crisp. The Rieslings from this producer will age well. The second wine they taste is a Sylvaner, which is a dry white variety very different than the Riesling. Dan says it is oriented to delicate foods, as a delicate wine. It could go with halibut or sturgeon. Riesling is more aromatic, this wine is more minerally. Melissa suggests Teriyaki Sea Bass. These wines are all 2023s. The third wine is a varietal that if very difficult to find here in California called Kerner. It typically makes a little sweeter wine, a little bit like Gruner Veltliner. It has a nice balance between sugar and acid. It's a "porch pounder" says Dan. Meet the Producers There is a section on the Chigazola Merchants website called Our Producers where you can learn more about the families that produce the wines that Don imports. The fourth varietal tasted today is a Gewürtztraminer. Usually that is a sweet wine, but Dan describes this one as "succulent without being sweet." The label says 3g of residual sugar, which Dan calls "nothing." Dan says it's not an easy wine to make because you have to be in a really cold climate and know exactly when to pick the grapes. The producer makes a very small amount and sells most of it in their local village. Don got 10 cases. Dan Berger says it is the most amazing Gewürtztraminer he has ever tasted.

Leah Scurto and Chris Puppione. Chris Puppione from Puppione Family Wines joins Steve Jaxon and Dan Berger on California Wine Country today. Leah Scurto from PizzaLeah is also here, and she brought several different pizzas. We will try some pizza and wine pairings. Chris Puppione starts telling the story of the family winery. He had worked in wine and thought of bottles of wine as time capsules. So when his first daughter was born, he made a wine for her to celebrate her birth. A neighbor in the Russian River area sold him one ton of Syrah grapes. He even told a tall tale to his wife to get her to come out and prune the first grapes for their wine. When the second daughter was born he made another wine and they kept on making wine that connects to their family history. This wine they are tasting today is a 2017. California Wine Country is brought to you by Rodney Strong Vineyards and Davis Bynum Wines. Dan Berger discovered Puppione Family Wines when he was a judge in a blended red category at a recent competition. Immediately he liked it so much he found out who made it. It was a really low alcohol wine, which Dan likes. About 10 days later, Dan found the winery and met Chris for the first time. Chris Puppione mentions his day job, he oversees US wineries for Coravin, a company that makes wine equipment. Pizza and Wine Pairings Festa Bianco + Sicilian We're going to do pizza and wine pairing today. Leah Scurto has brought four different pizzas, each one with very different flavors. We will pair them with four Puppione wines. The first pairing is a bottle of Festa Bianco, a white wine, with the Sicilian pizza. Festa was Chris' grandmother's maiden name. The Sicilian pizza has Castelvetrano olives, Italian salame, chili flakes, ricotta and a little red onion. The wine is a Friulano, which is a northern Italian white wine often mistaken for Sauvignon Blanc. It goes well with green vegetables and salads. It come from the Friuli region of Italy, which is the north-eastern part of the country, next to Slovenia. Festa Rosso + Nico The next pizza is the Nico, which is an award winner. It has confit garlic, fresh rosemary, black pepper and Italian sausage. This is paired with Festa Rossa, which is a blend of Syrah, Cabernet and Friulano. It is again, pretty low alcohol. PizzaLeah's Cold Fermentation Dough Dan calls PizzaLeah's pizza the most classic pizza in Sonoma County. A lot of factors make PizzaLeah's pizza special. Importantly, the dough is made by a slow, cold fermentation process. She uses local flour from Central Milling. She makes dough fresh daily. Only after two or three days of proofing in cold storage does it become pizza. Extended fermentation makes bread more digestible. It also gives the dough the right texture. Some deep dish pizzas are not really even pizza, they are more like cake. For comparison, it's almost more like a casserole. PizzaLeah does have two Detroit-style pan pizzas. The crust comes out looking like a brick but light as a feather when you eat it. Juventus + Spade Dan appreciates Chris Pappapietro's wine for the abundant fruit flavors. To make their Friulano, he had to go up into the hills near Tahoe, to a vineyard called Snow's Crossing. It's an alpine wilderness. They foot stomp all of their fruit, just like his grandfather did. His kids get into the bins and stomp fruit. There are pictures of that on their site. Especially, they left the Friulano on the skins in order to get more flavors from it. Next up is the Juventus wine, named after the goddess of youth and rejuvenation (not the soccer team). Instead, he wanted to make a red wine that would invigorate people instead of bringing heaviness. He made it in stainless steel which helps maintain the fruit flavors. An American Pizza, An Italian Award Syrah + Detroit Pepperoni The Spade pizza won an award in the American category in a competition in Napoli. The next wine is their Intero Syrah.

Dan and Paul from Small Vines. Paul Sloan from Small Vines Wines joins Steve Jaxon and Dan Berger on California Wine Country. Daedalus Howell also joins us today. Small Vines Wines makes “world class wines of distinction.” Paul grew up in Sonoma County on a 250-acre horse and cattle ranch, on the eastern side of Santa Rosa. He worked in restaurants and ended up at John Ash & Co., known as one of the original farm-to-table restaurants. His favorite wines were always from families that grew the fruit and also made the wine. When he fell in love with age-worthy, food-friendly wines, he continued to work for the Dutton family and studied viticulture at Santa Rosa JC. He planted some high-density vineyards over the years and his wines come from them. High-Density Vines Dan Berger says that the predictions of weather are less reliable than ever, as climate change is not uniform. Paul finds that high-density planting helps, in hot years by shading the vines. High density planting works but you have to take careful care of the vines. Paul was the first person to actually design a wine with good natural acidity by planting high density vines. California Wine Country is brought to you by Rodney Strong Vineyards and Davis Bynum Wines. Phylloxera is a root louse that is so small it is hard to see. It chews on certain roots and in particular, native roots. So you have to choose rootstock that is impervious to it. It appeared in the late 1980s. It was inevitable that all the vines affected had to be torn out and the vineyards replanted. The more leaf surface you have, the more dappled sunlight you have, instead of direct light. By planting a 4-foot tractor row instead of an 8-foot tractor row, you can get fifty percent less direct sunlight on the fruit. Daedalus asks about automation and the potential to use drones in the vineyard. Paul tells about advanced tractors that gather data. The high end producers will continue to do things by hand, but a lot of less expensive wines will have to use some automation. Dan Berger mentions that a lot of the automation is in the winery, rather than in the vineyard. There are tanks with built-in chemical analysis equipment. Also, sorting the fruit is still an important manual process. Ideally, you only harvest the ideally formed clusters of fruit. Their first tasting is a 2021 TBH Chardonnay, that demonstrates the fruit selection. They sort the fruit on the vine. You only take the ideal length of cluster and diameter of berries. Their 2021 Chardonnay is the current release. His goal is to make age-worthy, food-friendly wines, so he sees no reason not to hold his wines for a few years before releasing them.

Erica, Judy & Doug. Doug Mryglod, Judy Phillips and Erica Stancliff from Deodora Wine are our guests with Steve Jaxon and Dan Berger on California Wine Country. Daedalus Howell is also in the studio today. This is the first time that Doug and Judy have been on the show for Deodora Estate Vineyards. Erica Stancliff has been on CWC before on this episode of June 24, 2020. Dan Berger introduces Deodora for winning a gold medal for a dry Riesling at the latest wine competition. The 2019 that won was up against some very stiff competition. The 2024 is maybe better, says Dan. Judy says they bottled it back in February and this is the first bottle they are opening. The grapes come from “an amazing site in the Petaluma Gap.” This is precisely what the American consumer wants, and doesn't know it. It is dry but not too much, with just enough personality in the aftertaste to suggest what kind of food it would go with. It should be served chilled but not ice cold. Dan describes plumeria, wild tropical fruit, and citrus flavors. The lime flavors will come out in about two years. Judy says Dan's commentary makes the perfect tasting notes for this wine. It is not gripping and so lemony. California Wine Country is brought to you by Rodney Strong Vineyards and Davis Bynum Wines. Daedalus Howell is also here today. He notices the minerality in this wine, “a quiet little whisper” of slate, underneath the fruit flavors. It was barreled in concrete, there was no malolactic fermentation, and there was one neutral French oak barrel, and stainless steel. Doug tells the Deodora story that starts with Judy. In 2012 they got a property that was an old goat farm. It took them months to clean it up and decide what to plant. There is a story behind the Riesling. He worked with Ford family in the Finger Lakes region, Heron Hill wine. Doug fell in love with Riesling after tasting theirs. Doug's Riesling made for himself Doug didn't want his Riesling to be too dry or too sweet, just in the middle, and for himself only. Dan says, “I did the same thing… just for me.” Dan says that Riesling makes itself if you have the right grapes. Judy says it was hard for them to believe they won that award for the Riesling. Erica Stancliff tells how she was born and raised in Forestville with parents who were home winemakers. They started Trombetta Winery where Erica is the winemaker. Her mentor was Paul Hobbs and she is now a winemaker for various local labels. She loves Petaluma Gap for the wind, climate, Sonoma coast influence and the fog. That makes it perfect, absolutely perfect for Pinot Noir, Chardonnay and also Riesling. Daedalus asks Erica if their friend Chris Sawyer, the “sommelier to the stars” is really the originator of the term Petaluma Gap. He claimed it, says Daedalus. Erica has a precise technical description of the climate that makes for slow development of brix levels. In Petaluma Gap you only get a few hours of the peak heat, before the wind comes in every day. The name Deodora comes from an old tree that is on a property he owns on a golf course. The tree is beautiful and comes from the Himalayas.

Steve, Ben, Yolanda and Olli. Ben Papapietro and his wife Yolanda join Steve Jaxon on California Wine Country. Dan Berger is away today, visiting the Anderson Valley Pinot Noir Festival, which we talked about on this episode two weeks ago. Ben is a co-founder of the Papapietr0-Perry winery. This is Ben and Yolanda's first time on CWC. Ben Papapietro started in his basement in San Francisco as a home winemaker. He had a friend, Bruce Perry, who worked with Ben in the delivery of the San Francisco Chronicle. They wanted to make Pinot but there was hardly any fruit at that time. Another friend, Burt Williams, also helped him get some Pinot fruit. But they made a lot of Cabernet Franc blends and Zinfandel. In 1990 he got a really good source of Pinot fruit. Then his partner talked him into opening a professional winery in 1997. Early in his winemaking career, Ben did some harvests with Burt Williams, the co-founder of Williams-Selyem, who was a mentor to Ben. He was one of the local winemakers who started producing Pinot Noir in Sonoma County. California Wine Country is brought to you by Rodney Strong Vineyards and Davis Bynum Wines. Goldridge Soil Again They are tasting a 2023 Pinot Noir, a vineyard designate from Peter's Vineyard. It is in the high southern hills with the famous Goldridge soil that makes the region famous. Melissa Galliani joins us in the studio today. Her t-shirt says “near perfect” and it has a story. Ben's partner made the t-shirt that reproduces the comments of wine reviewers who liked their wine. Bruce Perry was Ben's partner and very close friend. He passed away a couple of years ago. Papapietro-Perry is participating in the Healdsburg Wine and Food Experience this weekend. But he and his wife are taking 80 people on a cruise up the Douro River in Portugal. They have organized several other cruises with as many as 140 people with them. They visit a lot of wineries and taste a lot of wine. Ben grew up in the Mission district of San Francisco and visited Italy several times to see relatives on both sides of his family. The Papapietro-Perry Light & Bright Club Papapietro-Perry has a “Light and Bright” club, which is for Rosé and Chardonnay. On June 14th there is an event called “Wine, Cheese and Chocolate.” Even during Covid they did a once-a-week live show that kept people involved. And in July there is the Papapietro-Perry Lobster and Chardonnay Festival. Next they taste a Chardonnay which is a lighter style, fruit forward with a nice spicy finish that lingers. Ben also brought a Pinot Noir, made from the 777 clone grown in four different vineyards with different growing conditions.

Bettina from Laurel Glen Vineyard is our guest on California Wine Country with Steve Jaxon and Dan Berger. Bettina's father Peter M. F. Sichel recently passed away at 102. He was an old friend of Dan Berger who credits him with great contributions to winemaking, in Germany and in the US. Dan wrote a review of Peter's book called “The Secrets of My Life: Vintner, Soldier, Prisoner, Spy.” He was instrumental in making Blue Nun wine popular, a dry white wine from Germany. Dan describes the story of Blue Nun as a story of the Atomic Age. There is a bottle of it on the cover of the Fleetwood Mac album Rumors and there is a Beastie Boys song called Blue Nun. Blue Nun was very popular in the 1970s. The brand ran radio advertisements nationally that were written and recorded by Stiller & Meara. Here is one of them: https://calwinecountry.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/BLUE-NUN-1970-Stiller-Meara.mp3 Laurel Glen is on top of Sonoma Mountain. It is a remarkable property. The fact that people would plant Cabernet up there is “outrageous” says Dan. It makes a special kind of wine. Bettina says it's a great site for Cabernet. In the 1990s, Cabernet was a much more restrained, a low-alcohol wine with high acidity. That is still the Lauren Glen style. Sonoma Mountain AVA The vineyard was first planted to Cabernet in the 1960s. They are located on a plateau. The Sonoma Mountain AVA is on the east side of the mountain. The west side of the mountain is now the Petaluma Gap AVA. The mountain blocks the wind and fog. They don't achieve the degree of ripeness that Napa Cabernets do, which produces what Dan calls a richer, oaky, more concentrated and higher in alcohol. California Wine Country is brought to you by Rodney Strong Vineyards and Davis Bynum Wines. Next for tasting is a Riesling that comes from a vineyard on the central coast near Monterrey. They are the last grapes that come into the winery, after all the other grapes. That shows what a long maturation process these grapes require. Dan can think of only about 5 vineyards in California that produce high quality dry Riesling and this is one of them. They make three Cabernets, a Rosé and some Gruner Veltliner.

Barbara Barrielle Barbara Barrielle calls in to California Wine Country with Steve Jaxon and Dan Berger to talk about the Anderson Valley Pinot Noir Festival 2025 coming May 16-18. She was a guest on CWC last January on this episode when the Anderson Valley Winegrowers were promoting the International White Wine Festival in February. The Pinot Noir Festival has been going on for 26 years. Anderson Valley is home to some picturesque small towns and to several vineyards. Its cool climate is ideal for Pinot Noir. The Anderson Valley Pinot Noir Festival runs from Friday May 16 through Sunday May 18. Get all the information at the Valley AV WINES website, and get tickets at the Eventbrite page for the 2025 Festival. Use the Promo Code MENDOCINO to get 30% off tickets to the Barbeque and the Grand Tasting.  On Friday May 16, there is a barbeque where the vintners bring special wines from their cellars. It's a show-off opportunity and everyone brings their best. Plus, the food is fantastic. Then on Saturday, May 17, the Grand Tasting is at Scharfenberger Cellars. It's one of the few wine festivals that takes place right in the vineyard. In the morning, VIPs spend a few hours "in the bubble lounge" with oysters, caviar etc. In the afternoon, 45 different wineries and great food. On Sunday, the local wineries open up for visits. California Wine Country is brought to you by Rodney Strong Vineyards and Davis Bynum Wines. One Hour Away From Santa Rosa To get there you drive north on highway 128 for about an hour, from Santa Rosa. It's springtime and everything is in bloom. There will be easily 60 different wines. Dan Berger says the sub-region of Comptche (pronounced "com-CHEE") is producing very good wine. Three years ago there was nothing coming from there. Today, they are world class. It's remarkable that they are still unknown even in a town as large and as close as Santa Rosa.

Joy Sterling from Iron Horse Vineyards is our guest today on California Wine Country with Steve Jaxon and Dan Berger. Joy has been on California Wine Country before, on this episode of Sept. 27, 2017. Clark Wolf is sticking around from the previous segment to talk about the Northern California Public Media Awards that are coming back on May 10. This year's honorees are Joy Sterling and her whole family, who are getting the recognition they deserve for all the delicious wines they make and also for all of their other work outside of winemaking. Joy describes Iron Horse as a magical place, with stunning views across rolling hills of vines, with Mt. St. Helena in the distance. "The grapes know they are growing in a gorgeous place." Dan Berger says its magic is a result of its location. The old road has not changed in 100 years. As you cross the bridge, it feels like you are 100 miles from anywhere. While a lot of wineries try to "turn it up so much" as Clark says, Iron Horse is natural. There is wildness thriving around them, including deer, who ate Joy's roses. The turkey vultures that live all around northern California are thriving. Green Valley Creek bisects the property. The Coho Salmon use the river for spawning. Their farming is so careful that the water is clean. Iron Horse has been legendary for making some of the finest Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and sparkling wines in the world, not just in Sonoma County. These wines are "really pristine" such as the 2023 Audrey Chardonnay, named after Joy's mom. Ever since the beginning, they keep the malolactic fermentation to a minimum and they use steam-bent barrels, so there is no smoke on the wood and therefore none in the wine either. Joy describes this wine as gracious and elegant, just like her mom. Dan Berger describes it as having perfect acidity and all the components are subtle, not ostentatious. The aren't "blow your socks off" wines, more like "glide your socks off," says Joy. POP goes the cork! "Who doesn't like a big pop? It just says "party," says Joy. This is their 2021 Spring Rosé. It has a beautiful petal pink color and it really tastes like spring." Dan Berger, who has an extensive personal cellar, says that these wines will improve with age in the bottle. They already have three years on the yeast. It is a limited production wine, only available at their tasting room. The second wine they pour is the one they are best known for, Iron Horse Wedding Cuvée. Joy explains that their sparkling wines have become drier and drier, due to two factors, the increased quality of their craftsmanship and their vineyard practices. Dan Berger also gives credit to Iron Horse's customers, who demand their quality. "We have the best customers!" says Joy. Iron Horse wines have been served at the White House for the last six consecutive administrations, as well as State Department events and to foreign dignitaries and royalty including the Queen of England. The Intimate History of Iron Horse Joy's mother is a San Franciscan and her father was from Los Angeles and they lived in LA when Joy was a child. Then the family moved to France in 1967 and that is where they encountered wine. They would go on trips together to discover wine and their parents felt right at home. When they missed on a vineyard acquisition there, it may have been a blessing because by the mid-1970s they found a property in California. They have 3 generations living on the property in an 1876 house. Next year they will celebrate several big anniversaries. The USA turns 250, Iron Horse turns 50, winemaker David Munksgard celebrates 30 years making wine there. They had a second label for a while called Tin Pony which they don't make anymore. It was for wine made from grapes that did not make it into the Iron Horse blend. Joy said they preferred to focus on their top quality product. Dan thinks that with the market the way it is, Tin Pony could make a comeback, but Joy says she is busy enough.

Nolan Jones, winemaker at Lava Cap Winery, is our guest today on California Wine Country with Steve Jaxon and Dan Berger. Lava Cap Winery is located in the Sierra Foothills, in Placerville. It is two hours due east of Napa and Sonoma. Dan Berger says that Sierra Foothills makes great wines but there are differences between the different regions. The Sierra Nevada Foothills is one of the biggest AVAs in the state. Their vineyards are at some of the highest elevations in California, at roughly 3000 feet. That is close to the snow line. They get snow and frost in the Spring. Nolan grew up in Placerville. His grandfather started the winery and brought his father into it. Now a retired as a Geology professor at Berkeley, he looked for a place where the climate and soil were what he wanted. They bought the property in 1979, planted in 1980 and their first vintage was the next year. Vermentino They begin by tasting a Vermentino which Dan Berger says is excellent. Vermentino mostly grows in Liguria and Tuscany, in north-western Italy. It is popular there and it is just starting to get recognition in California where more and more producers are making it. This Vermentino has a faint tropical note with a hint of pineapple. This is their second Vermentino vintage. It has fun, bright summer characteristics. It has been very popular since they started making it. Nolan thinks the intensity of being at high elevation produces the acidity and other flavors they want. It was fermented in stainless steel, aged on light lees for three months and then bottled. Dan attributes this wine to the fact that we now have the technology to make wine this way. It uses cold fermentation and good quality filters. This used to be unavailable to most producers. Thanks to new reasonably priced equipment, notably from Italy, local producers can make these world class wines that require special treatment. Nolan says this highlights the California character, which is aromatic, bright and intense. Their freshness comes from the Alpine region, while most other California wines come from coastal regions. To make a parallel, it's like a Sauvignon Blanc but with none of the green grass flavors. Vermentino has its own spice profile that is different than Sauv Blanc. His grandfather, being a geologist, named the winery after the soil, which the old miners named Lava Cap. Lava Cap dot com is their website, where you can buy their wines. They do 26 different SKUs, including Italian, Spanish and French grapes. El Dorado has not settled on a "signature grape" the way that other regions have. Their goal is to showcase their elevation and the volcanic soil. Dan explains that the higher you go in elevation, the cooler it gets, and that gives you the effect and benefits of cooler weather, at a time where other vineyards are experiencing warmer weather. They go on to taste a Chardonnay which is unique due to all the unique growing and winemaking conditions at Lava Cap Winery.

Dan Barwick joins Steve Jaxon and Dan Berger on California Wine Country this week to talk about his impending return to England. He has been on CWC several times in recent years, the last time was this episode last August. He is one of the founders and the winemaker for Trecini Winery. They made their first Sauvignon Blanc in 1999. Dan has brought a New Zealand wine, a 2022 Babich Sauvignon Blanc from Marlborough. It cost $4.99 at Bottle Barn. It's not a great wine but for $4.99 it's fine. There's no such thing as a terrible wine, as long as it's reasonably priced enough. - Dan Berger. Dan was born in Dover, England and worked at Harrod's London in the food hall where he saw a lot of wine. He moved to Sonoma in 1991 and has been making wine for thirty years. But he is moving back to England. They have a Chardonnay to taste, which is Russian River, 2022, barrel fermented in 500 liter neutral oak. It's one of his favorite Chardonnays that he has ever made. Clean crisp and immensely complex. Dan Berger says it will still improve with age, or even time in decanter. England is on the horizon, in particular the county of Kent where The Wine Garden of England is getting warmer and warmer. It is champagne country, says Dan Berger. The English have started making some great sparkling wines and they have one today. It is a non-vintage brut from Chapel Down. Dan Barwick tells the story that the timing was right to move back to England, for a combination of reasons. Dan Berger says that it is an exciting moment for English wine and that it is a well-timed move. They are tasting the wine from Chapel Down. It is made to emulate the style of Champagne and is "gorgeous." 16:00 What Dan Barwick Will Bring Back to England In England, Dan Barwick will do some consulting and will be able to bring all of his experience from California. He has already begun networking. He found an old friend he hadn't seen for forty years who says he has vineyards and asked if Dan could help him. Prospects are good. 23:00 Dan Berger: US Wine Consumer wine knowledge essentially zero. You have to hear Dan Berger speak truth to the people about how the average American wine consumer has zero knowledge of wine and what goes with what. It starts with his deadpan hilarious observation of Chardonnay on every table in a famous Chinese restaurant, where he was having the Gewurtztraminer.

Dan Berger, Alan Baker. Cartograph Wines co-founder Alan Baker is back with us on California Wine Country with Steve Jaxon and Dan Berger. His last time on the show was this episode in April of 2024, almost one year ago. Cartograph is a label known for small-lot elegant Pinot Noir, Rieslings and sparkling wines as well, from Russian River Valley and Mendocino Ridge. Dan Berger says that if you are a wine lover, you know that the best part of that is finding these small local producers that make excellent wine. These wines are under the radar, so Alan declares they need a better radar. Alan and his wife moved up from San Francisco in 2009 to launch the brand. Cartograph Wines has just purchased a new property in Dry Creek Valley which will become their new home and tasting room. It should be ready in about one year. There is Syrah on the property and they plan to install some art there too. For now they are in Healdsburg. From Radio to Wine Alan worked in radio in St. Paul, MN for sixteen years before he “caught the wine bug.” Before that he studied music and shifted into making recordings of music, which led him to NPR in the twin cities. When he tasted a certain bottle of wine, which was a 1998 Alscatian Riesling. “That silly $13 bottle of wine changed my entire life.” – Alan Baker Steve Jaxon has named Dan Berger “Mr. Riesling” and the nickname is well earned. Alan and Dan first interacted because they share a taste for dry Riesling. If you handle it right, it can be “bone dry” and still have a lot of fruit flavors. Cartograph has planted Riesling recently so next year they will have some to taste from their estate. Alan did bring a Rosé, a 2024, 100% Pinot Noir, light salmon color and completely dry. 90% was pressed directly from the grapes, and they also collect the juice that comes from the sorting table. Dan believes that the screw cap is one of the secrets to California Rosé. The screw cap makes a prefect seal with no oxygen transfer at all. This way, the wine stays in perfect condition for a lot longer. They are also tasting a 2023 Pinot Noir that Dan calls "dramatic." There is a hint of pomegranate. The majority of the fruit in this bottle comes from their estate vineyard in Russian River Valley near Cotati. Dan says it is so close to Petaluma Gap that it could be considered a Petaluma Gap style wine. It has low alcohol, 13.7%.  There is some oak, Dan calls it a "grace note" of aromatics. Dan suggests decanting it for an hour or so between opening it and tasting it.

Dan Berger. California Wine Country with Steve Jaxon and Dan Berger today includes Dan's thoughts about tariffs and wine sales. This continues some of the subject matter he discussed on this episode of CWC three weeks ago. Dan Berger begins by describing an online newsletter and Substack called Fermentations, written by Tom Wark. Dan says it has the most interesting perspective on the business. For the rest of today Dan and Steve will talk about some tastings and also about tariffs and the changing retail and wholesale wine market. Dan sees that the impositions of tariffs is going to be devastating throughout the wine industry. It will negatively impact foreign wine, but it will also adversely affect the entire market. 37% of retail sales are imported. If a bottle of champagne has gone from $50 to $125, buyers won't buy. Wine prices are going to stay the same for California wine, and prices of European wine will go up. The United States Wine Trade Alliance, representing 5,000 businesses, is attempting to lobby against the tariffs, but with dim prospects. Dan suggests looking for wines that are already here and buying what you want, now. Layoffs, Disinvestment & Ownership Concentration There have been layoffs in the wholesale wine business. In the last year, wineries have been going out of business. Vintage Wine Merchants has closed and Constellation has announced their intention to sell their wine properties. Mr. Foley has been buying wineries in these distressed conditions and now owns something like thirty brands. Dan says that if the tariffs stay in place for over a year, look out for big trouble. Also, Canada has stopped buying American wine and spirits too. Canada has been an important source of revenue for some California wineries. Chardonnay, Albariño and Gamay 2023 Kumeu River Estate Chardonnay from New Zealand that comes from a winemaker named Michael Brackovich that Dan knows. The winery is not far from Auckland, on a lovely bay. The wine is delicious. No tariffs have been threatened on New Zealand and Australia, at least yet. It is a great example of southern hemisphere Chardonnay. They also taste a Hendry 2023 Albariño, from the Napa Valley. It is a variety that grows in Portugal and Spain, and also some in California. Dan says it has the structure of Gewürztraminer but the aromatics of a Riesling only with additional orange peel flavors. Dan has selected wines today from California, Australia and New Zealand whose prices will not change. Finally they taste a Gamay, which is similar to Pinot Noir. This comes from a property called Mount Edward in New Zealand. It could have been made into a fruity Beaujolais style wine but this one has a little more substance. It has black pepper flavors that come from the colder climate. New Zealand makes a lot of Gamay, which usually becomes the young fruity Beaujolais style. This wine is made more like a Syrah, focussed on acidity, instead of that. Dan would pair it with a well-done hamburger with some char on it.

Dan Berger and Rick Davis. Rick Davis, winemaker and owner Cal Star Cellars, joins Steve Jaxon and Dan Berger on California Wine Country. This is Rick's first time on CWC although we have taked about his wines before. Dan Berger says that Rick is not personally well-known because he does not promote himself. He is too busy in the winery. Rick tells his story of starting in the industry on the east coast in 1988 before coming to California in 1992. He became cellarmaster and assistant winemaker at Flower, then in 1997 he worked three vintages on the central coast. He started his own brand in 2001 with 160 cases of Zinfandel. Flowers began as a project under the auspices of Greg La Follette and it became one of the most important brands in Sonoma County history. Dan says that the Cal Star wines are some of the best wines that nobody has ever heard about. The Cal Star Lineup Cal Star makes a Sauvignon Blanc, a Chardonnay, a red and a rosé from Pinot Meunier, six different Pinot Noirs (three vineyard designates and three and three AVA blends) and two Zinfandels. He only does 1200 cases per year total volume, and he works with 11 different SKUs. Dan says its virtue is that this is how to keep track of all the different vineyards. The Sauvignon Blanc has a lot of varietal character, in Dan's opinion. He also gets varietal character from his Lodi Zinfandels. Rick is not interested in what he calls “cocktail wine” or what Dan calls a “sipping wine.” Rick got interested in wine because he likes to cook and wanted to make wine that would match the food he cooks. That sounds like the way to end up making wines that Dan Berger will like. Then they taste a 2023 Rosé of Pinot Meunier which Dan says is has strong cherry flavors. His account in Georgia called it a “porch pounder that will go with food.” This rosé is made direct to press, not by the bleeding-off process. Dan agrees that this method makes better Rosés. The red Pinot Meunier is next. It is rarely made as a red wine because it is already light in color. It's just darker than a Rosé, but it is a red. Rick describes it as Cru Beujolais without the funk factor.

Evan Damiano, Marchelle Wines winemaker, is back on California Wine Country with Steve Jaxon and Dan Berger. His last time on CWC was this episode on May 31, 2024. Evan Damiano, Marchelle Wines winemaker, is back on California Wine Country with Steve Jaxon and Dan Berger. His last time on CWC was this episode on May 31, 2024. Evan started in January 2021 volunteering with Greg La Follette and has risen all the way to the rank of winemaker now. Greg is one of the most famous winemakers around. He has worked in all the most famous wineries in Sonoma County and he even worked with André Tchelistscheff when he was a teen. They have some of Dan's 2024 Riesling in their glasses, which Greg made. It's a barrel sample of the wine that Dan will be putting in bottles this week. In 2022 Greg asked Evan to go into the cellar and make selections for blends. He said, “Go in there and listen to what the wines want to be. Go be with the barrels. Smell, taste and put these wines together for me.” A small amount of another wine blended in can make a huge difference in a final result. Greg La Follette is known as “The Vine Whisperer” but he also has a degree in Botany. Dan gets his Riesling fruit from a vineyard in Mendocino County. There are a few people making Riesling around there, but nobody is making it as dry as this. This is Dan Berger's personal quest to produce the wine he wants to taste. It's got some tropical fruit, but also citrus lemon peel and a bit of herbal flavors. They also have some other wines from Marchelle. 2021 Manchester Ridge Chardonnay This is the Chardonnay that Greg brought to Evan while he was in Wisconsin taking a break. Greg tries to induce shatter into the vines, which tricks the vines into making smaller berries. The Manchester Ridge vineyard is 2200 feet above sea level, on a flat mountain top. Evan made his first harvest in Oregon in 2010 and if 16 hours per day for 21 days straight didn't put him off the joy of winemaking, he was hooked. He did another harvest at Balletto Vineyard, with Anthony Beckman. He took a break from it but came back to it. Dan appreciates that these wines are always authentic to the grape variety.