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Wine Road: The Wine, When, and Where of Northern Sonoma County.
Episode 198 Sponsored by: River Road Family Vineyards and Winery Coco and Michele from Rock'n Vino Tune into Rockin' Vino Radio where hosts Michelle Marquez and Coco Sturzenbach take you on a journey through the intriguing intersection of music and wine. They engage with winemakers, musicians and chefs, discussing the fascinating impacts of music on wine perception and enjoyment. Available on KSRO and various podcast platforms, this show offers a unique auditory experience for all wine and music enthusiasts with lively discussions and thoughtful pairings. Fast Five: Andrea Card from Francis Ford Coppola Winery *Super Easy Caprese* -Log of Mozzarella (preferably fresh) -Fresh Basil - whole leaves -Tomatoes- sliced -Reduced Balsamic -Extra Virgin Olive Oil (Salt & Pepper to taste) Slice the mozzarella, put fresh basil and sliced tomatoes on top - top with balsamic and EVOO! Simple, fresh and delicious! Pairs nicely with Francis Ford Coppola - Sofia Blanc de Blancs Links: https://www.ksro.com/podcast/rock-n-vino/ https://www.rocknvino.com/ https://www.francisfordcoppolawinery.com/ Sponsor: River Road Family Vineyards and Winery Credits: The Wine Road podcast is mixed and mastered at Threshold Studios Sebastopol, CA. http://thresholdstudios.info/
During this episode of ROCKnVINO, hosts Coco and Michelle talk with Mark Hanson, co-founder and CEO of Bricoleur Vineyards. Mark is a Santa Rosa native and his wife Beth is the great granddaughter of Pietro Carlo Rossi, the original oenologist at Sonoma County's historic Italian Swiss Colony. As such, both had a strong connection to Sonoma County, and after "retiring" they decided to start their own winery in Windsor. The location had an old horse barn on site which has since been transformed into a beautiful tasting room and event space. The name Bricoleur is French and it reflects the spirit of flying by the seat of your pants. At Bricoleur Vineyards you can experience wine and food together in a variety of ways, including the Soaring and Rooted tastings, live music concerts, corporate events, wine club events, cooking classes, and even a cruise along the Seine from Normandy to Paris with Bricoleur! In fact, this Saturday, you can attend An Evening with Patrick Davis & His Midnight Choir, December 16th, a benefit for Toys 4 Tots. Mark has offered KSRO listeners a discount code for 25-percent off! Use code BRICOLEURFRIEND at checkout. ROCK'nVINO is sponsored by American AgCredit.
During this episode of ROCK'nVINO, hosts Coco and Michelle talk with The Wine Guy, Tom Simoneau! KSRO listeners are quite familiar with Tom's voice, since he started his radio career as The Wine Guy on KSRO back in the 90s. Tom is uniquely suited for our show, since he started out as a musician and ended up a winemaker! Tom learned to play guitar with his college friends and decided to make a go of it as a band in Georgia. Their first band was named C&W Mow Company, since their landlord told them they needed to pay rent somehow and mowing lawns was a good way to earn some dough! Influenced by bands like the Allman Brothers and Little Feat, Tom and his bandmates started to play bigger shows and tour across the country. The music scene in San Francisco drew them west, and they decided they were going to head to California to get signed and become professional musicians. Luck wasn't in the cards, but after a holiday trip home, Tom started to date a beautiful girl he knew from home in Maine, and brought her back to California. Tom and Brenda Lee bought a home in Healdsburg and Tom started working by selling wine over the phone direct to customers. He had the chance to make some wine, and won awards as an amateur winemaker. They sold their first home and bought a ranch in Alexander Valley. That sealed the deal, and Tom the bassist became Tom Simoneau, winemaker and grape grower. In the early years, Tom relied on American AgCredit to help him live from harvest to harvest, as he fleshed out his business. This episode is PACKED with great stories not only about Tom's history, but stories of Sonoma County, Healdsburg, and the families who make this place their home. Check out Tom's wines (including the Brenda Lee Chardonnay!) online at simoneauvineyards.com and find it on the menu at Valette in Healdsburg. ROCK'nVINO is sponsored by American AgCredit.
Harry Duke & Natalie Cilurzo. While The Drive is on vacation and there is no new BHH show today, here is a reissue of the show from last February 2, with the very first taste of the 2023 Pliny the Younger, featuring special guest Natalie Cilurzo from Russian River Brewing Co. Enjoy! Natalie Cilurzo from Russian River Brewing Company joins Brew Ha Ha with the first growler of the Pliny the Younger 2023 edition. Later, the subject changes to SF Beer Week, when Colin McDonald from Hen House Brewing and Gail Williams will also be on. That portion of today's live show will have its own separate podcast page, here. Today's episode of Brew Ha Ha continues a tradition of Russian River Brewing Co. bringing the new Pliny the Younger into the KSRO studios for its first tasting. Here is last year's episode on the same occasion. A Triple IPA Pliny the Younger is a Triple IPA, which means it is a lot hoppier and a little bit higher in alcohol than regular double IPA beers. It is actually a quadruple dry hopped beer. “There is a copious amount of hops in this beer, which gives it that beautiful luscious aroma.” The hops are Simcoe, Amarillo, Chinook, Citra, Mosaic, Nectaron, Warrior and Elixir. Elixir, “the strawberry hop,” was added last year. Nectaron is the new hop for 2023. It brings nectarine and candied citrus fruit flavors. Russian River Brewing Co. is open in Santa Rosa on 4th St. and at their big Windsor location. Click the logo to visit their website for up-to-date hours, menus, beers and more info. Pliny the Younger's official release will happen from March 24 through April 6. During that time it will be on tap in Santa Rosa and Windsor. Guests will be limited to three 10-oz. pours and bottles will be available too, at the brewery. You can purchase bottles or sit down at the brewery. They started local distribution today and there are hundreds of locations serving it. Rejection is their Valentine's Day Ale. It is on tap and in cans at their two locations. Visit our sponsor Victory House at Poppy Bank Epicenter online, for their latest viewing and menu options.
Natalie Cilurzo from Russian River Brewing Company joins Brew Ha Ha with the first growler of the Pliny the Younger 2023 edition. Later, the subject changes to SF Beer Week, when Colin McDonald from Hen House Brewing and Gail Williams will also be on. That portion of today's live show will have its own separate podcast page, here. Today's episode of Brew Ha Ha continues a tradition of Russian River Brewing Co. bringing the new Pliny the Younger into the KSRO studios for its first tasting. Here is last year's episode on the same occasion. Pliny the Younger is a Triple IPA, which means it is a lot hoppier and a little bit higher in alcohol than regular double IPA beers. It is actually a quadruple dry hopped beer. “There is a copious amount of hops in this beer, which gives it that beautiful luscious aroma.” The hops are Simcoe, Amarillo, Chinook, Citra, Mosaic, Nectaron, Warrior and Elixir. Elixir, “the strawberry hop,” was added last year. Nectaron is the new hop for 2023. It brings nectarine and candied citrus fruit flavors. Russian River Brewing Co. is open in Santa Rosa on 4th St. and at their big Windsor location. Click the logo to visit their website for up-to-date hours, menus, beers and more info. Pliny the Younger's official release will happen from March 24 through April 6. It will be on tap in Santa Rosa and Windsor. Guests will be limited to three 10-oz. pours and bottles will be available too, at the brewery. You can purchase bottles or sit down at the brewery. They started local distribution today and there are hundreds of locations serving it. Rejection is their Valentine's Day Ale. It is on tap and in cans at their two locations. Visit our sponsor Victory House at Poppy Bank Epicenter online, for their latest viewing and menu options.
Ed McGrath from Ace Cider and Adam Ray, founder of Beer City are both guests on Brew Ha Ha with Harry Duke and Herlinda Heras. We have had Ed McGrath on Brew Ha Ha most recently on this July 2020 episode. Brew's News with Herlinda is sponsored by the Beer City Festival, which was going to be in Calistoga in November this year but instead will be held Easter weekend, April 16th, 2023. Also, Santa Rosa will have a Beer City festival on February 25th, 2023, downtown in Old Courthouse Square. They begin the show by christening the new KSRO studio with an heirloom cider. It's a dry cider that tastes a bit different every year. It is 9% ABV, Herlinda calls it "sneaky." Gravensteins! This is an heirloom cider made from local Gravenstein apples. The French ciders have less alcohol and uses more traditional cider apples. During Prohibition all the American cider apples were chopped down because they're not for eating. Today there is a west coast style cider, called Blackjack, made from west coast apples. There are also distinctive ciders coming from New York and Michigan. Ace Cider founder Jeffery House has been a guest on Brew Ha Ha before. Visit our sponsor Victory House online for their latest viewing and menu options. They have another cider called Ace High, a card playing reference. It is semi dry and has subtle fruit flavors. Ace doesn't add food coloring or sugars so the colors are all natural. Blueberry doesn't give color, so the other berries do. Beer City is less than a year old. Adam Ray tells about how the idea started in Santa Rosa, about how to create an attraction. Ed McGrath is happy to have introduced cider to more people than anybody. Cider is gluten free, since there is no grain. Russian River Brewing Co. is open in Santa Rosa on 4th St. and at their big Windsor location. Visit their website for up-to-date hours, menus, beers and more info. Cider for Thanksgiving Cider is the perfect pairing for a lot of Thanksgiving foods; not the sugary non-alcoholic kind, but the real fermented cider. Ace has also made a seasonal pumpkin cider (although the pumpkin is nearly flavorless and what we are actually tasting in all of these things is the spices, not the pumpkin). Hendrick Verspecht Brew Ha Ha gets a visit from Hendrick Verspecht from cuVer Brewing. He has been on Brew Ha Ha before. Today he brought some beer to the studio. He brought their three Belgians. Pepperwood Saison, a Belgian Saison with meyer lemon peel and bay leaf, and two types of Belgian abbey ales, a golden one and a dark one.
Craft beer has a long history in California with breweries such as Anchor Steam that started in San Francisco in the mid-1800s and still brews there today. But lately, the industry has exploded. In the past decade the number of craft breweries in California has tripled to 1,100 – and growing. It's a competitive landscape out there for small, independent beer makers. We'll talk about what is driving the growth of craft beer in California, why IPAs still dominate beer lists and hear your picks for your favorite local brews. Guests: Barry Braden, co-founder and owner, Fieldwork Brewing Eric Ortega, craft beer specialist and taproom coordinator, Almanac Beer Company Herlinda Heras, artisan beverage expert and co-host of Brew HaHa, a craft beer show, KSRO in Sonoma
Greg Graziano joins Steve Jaxon and Dan Berger on this encore presentation. The CWC folks are gone fishin' this week and there is no new show for today, Sept. 7, 2022. So this podcast episode is a repeat of a show that originally aired on KSRO on Dec. 30, 2020, featuring Greg Graziano, the winemaker for the Graziano Family of Wines. Greg Graziano, winemaker for The Graziano Family of Wines the joins Steve Jaxon and Dan Berger on California Wine Country today. His grandfather, Vincenzo Graziano, landed on Ellis Island in 1907 and worked his way across the country to Mendocino where he bought 100 acres with his future brother-in-law and began planting grapes, two years before Prohibition. During Prohibition they did whatever they could to survive, selling what wine was legal to sell. Then they sold grapes to Gallo and Italian Swiss Colony, and also Sebastiani and Parducci. Then the family started Mendocino Vineyards in the early 1950s. Gallo and Italian Swiss Colony bought most of the bulk wines then. Later, it was purchased and renamed Cresta Blanca. Then Constellation bought it and changed it to Dunwood, which never took off. Greg started making wine in 1977 and started Milano winery with his friend Jim Maloney. In 1985 he went to work for La Crema and took over in 1986 and was winemaker until 1990. They made 50,000 cases per year then, and now it's maybe 2 million, so it's a different thing now. The Jackson Family owns it now. They grow around 30 different grape varieties. He studied at UC Davis and did not graduate, but he explains how he knows what he needs to know. He learned by working for some really great winemakers. Dan Berger appreciates that they make wine from so many varietals from Italy and elsewhere that nobody else is working with. They have a 2019 Monte Volpe called Vesuvius from Potter Valley. The wine is a blend of grapes that grow around Vesuvius, including Coda di Volpe, Fiano, Greco di Tufo, Trebbiano and others. The vineyard is at a higher elevation so it is cooler so the grapes have higher acidity. The different varieties in this wine are usually never all together. It is very complex and rich, but not oaky. “The fruit is barking at me in this, it's wonderful.” – Steve Jaxon Greg mentions that they are using screw caps now. They found that there are too few people able to work a corkscrew. The year has been difficult due to all the pandemic closures, but that will improve. Click the logo to visit our sponsor Bottle Barn online for the coolest bargains on wine, beer and spirits. The Graziano Family of Wines includes all the different brands, four at the present time with one more on the way. Monte Volpe is all Italian grape varieties. St. Gregory is all Pinots. They take a break to taste Dan Berger's Cellar Dweller of the week. It is a 2014 J Lohr Cuvée POM, a Merlot-based Bordeaux style wine. It was fresh and young in 2018 and now (2020) it still has yet to develop its characteristics. Next they taste the 2017 St. Gregory Pinot Meunier. Dan mentions that there is more Pinot Meunier planted in France in Champagne than actual Champagne grapes. Dan calls it a white wine with color. Greg explains how to identify it against ordinary Pinot Noir by looking at the growing tips of the vine and underneath the leaf, they are covered with tiny white hairs. (The Munier in French is a miller, who gets covered with white dust by milling grain.) It's very floral. They're probably the oldest producer of this in the state. Chandon used to make it but stopped, there was another too. They also make sparkling wine from it. The winery is in Redwood Valley but the tasting room is in Hopland, so that is the place to visit. There are outdoor chairs and umbrellas, for now, but they are open (late 2020). Click the logo to visit our sponsor Rodney Strong for the latest on the 2022 Summer Concert series. A 2016 Barbera is next. Greg opines that in America,
My guest is Mitch DeArmon. He is a leader of men and a forceful advocate for men. He currently facilitates the Man-to-Men event, an initiation event for men who are looking for the strength that comes with associating with other great men (man-to-men.org).As someone who has maintained himself with men's groups and through strong relationships with other men, he believes that this is the key to changing the role men have in our society and the social view that men are expendable.Mitch's areas of specialty include Drug and Alcohol Addiction, Adolescent Males, Mentoring, Initiation, Leadership, Conflict Resolution, Men, Couple Dynamics, At-Risk Youth, and Character Development. Over the last 30 years, he has served as a Mentor, Trainer, Motivator, Mediator, Speaker, Counselor, Leader, Coach, Program Developer, Problem-Solver, Case Manager, Facilitator, and Sponsor. He has been a radio show host on KSRO and authored several guidebooks on teen boys and mentoring.Mitch's background also includes 30 years of working with teen boys. An original founder of the Young Men's Ultimate Weekend, he developed the programming still used today to serve hundreds of youth and also facilitated the weekends. Awarded a personal $240,000 private foundation grant for 2002 and 2003 to develop mentoring and initiation programs for male adolescents of which the LeadershipWorks programs are the result. LinksMan to Men
Evie covers the purported North Coast Killer, and the girls research the epidemic of missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls. Story Begins: 5:00 Content Warnings: Violence against women, substance abuseIf you know anything about the circumstances surrounding Dillon's or Crane's death, contact Sonoma County Sheriff's Office at (707) 565-2650.If you have information about Sawdey's death, contact Mendocino County Sheriff's Office at (707) 234-2100 or the WeTip anonymous crime reporting hotline at (800)782-7463.If you have information about the death of Crystal Lea McCarthy, contact Napa Police Department Detective Brendt Keown at (707) 257-9592.The North Coast of California has a disproportionately high rate of drug abuse and addiction compared to the rest of California.Treatment can help. The following resources are available to those seeking support for themselves or their loved ones:Mendocino County: Contact Behavioral Health and Recovery Services at 1(855)765-9703.Humboldt County: Contact the Humboldt County Substance Use Disorder Hotline at 1-855-765-9703Trinity County: Contact Alcohol and Other Drug Service at (530)623-1362Lake County: Contact the Substance Use Disorder Services at 1(800)900-2075Cynthia Crane's GoFundMe: https://www.gofundme.com/f/a-last-goodbye-for-cynthia-caneCrystal Lea McCarthy's GoFundMe: https://www.gofundme.com/f/Crystal-Lea?fbclid=IwAR2aGCZEmbfdsD39B5J9uKD4yjBuhFYEY3GaTslidK3dch78XP0E0wNZmTsNational Indigenous Women's Resource Center:https://www.niwrc.orgReach out to us at LifeWithoutPodcast@gmail.com or with a text or voicemail to (970) 315-2724.Music: “Cloud City” by Neon BeachSources: ARREST OF SUSPECT IN HOMICIDE OF CENTRAL VALLEY WOMAN CHIPS AWAY AT DUBIOUS NORTH COAST SERIAL KILLER NARRATIVE and UKIAH'S ALYSSA MAE SAWDEY, ONCE THOUGHT A VICTIM OF AN INTERNET-INVENTED SERIAL KILLER, DIED ACCIDENTALLY FROM ‘ACUTE METHAMPHETAMINE TOXICITY', SAYS MCSO Articles by the Redheaded Blackbelt - Matt LaFever, owned by Kym KempRancho Cordova PD Press Release dated February 11th Body of missing Napa woman reportedly found in Napa River and Napa woman Crystal McCarthy remembered as best friend to all - Napa Valley Register Article by Edward Booth Woman Found Dead Near Cloverdale Died Two Days Before Her Body Was Discovered - article KSRO - no byline Willits Woman's Cause of Death ‘Undetermined'— Multiple Signs Point Towards a Traumatic Blow to the Head and Sheriff Kendall on Rumors a Serial Killer Is Behind Recent ‘Suspicious' Deaths of Mendocino County Women: ‘Currently, There Is No Evidence They're Connected' - Matt LaFever - Mendo Fever article Coroner declares cause of Willits woman's death ‘undetermined' - Justine Frederiksen - The Willits News article ‘Deep turmoil': Emma Roark's family releases statement after Rancho Cordova killing - Daniel Macht - KCRA Article Native HopeNational Indigenous Women's Resource Center:https://www.niwrc.org
Timo Marshall from Spirit Works Distillery joins Harry Duke on Brew Ha Ha today in the KSRO studios. Spirit Works Distillery is coming into its tenth year. Based in the Barlow, they are a small family run operation, “grain to glass.” They have a Spirit Club too. They are perhaps best known for their Sloe Gin and their Bourbon has won several awards recently, including a "Best Of" from the North Bay Bohemian. In 2020 they won Distillery of the Year, which was “hugely flattering” but there was no celebration due to the pandemic. The award focusses on how the distillery operates and their general philosophy as well as quality of product. They received by a Zoom conference. For him and his wife Ashby, the head distiller, they felt like it was a real career milestone. Timo was born in Britian and became interested in spirits early on. His grandmother taught him how to make sloe gin. He was fascinated by having to forage for Sloe berries and by learning the local traditions. He is proud to be making Sloe gin in the old traditional way. The Sloe berry grows on the blackthorn bush that was planted as a hedgerow in England for centuries because it's thorny and protects the fields. In the late Autumn it produced very tart sour berries. Slider is Cider with Sloe berries. The British nation owes a debt to whoever first put Sloe berries into gin. Their Sloe Gin is far less sugary than the English one. They wanted to create one that is “...very fruit forward, with sour tart plummy flavors, a cranberry, citrussy flavor, very special.” In the UK some people drink it neat after dinner, and in the US it is a cocktail ingredient, anywhere its flavor is desired, such as in a Manhattan. People can add a dash to some sparkling wine to make a kind of Sloe Royale. It's also nice with ice. The tasting room open Wednesday through Sunday in the Barlow in Sebastopol. Their tasting room staff is friendly and a visit is an educational experience. There is a window into the production space, for all to see. The still is a large copper structure that is beautiful to see. Part of making Sloe Gin is making regular gin, which in turn requires pure spirits so they do it all. Timo calls it a “grain to glass” facility. They bring in whole grain, wheat from the Sacramento area, which they mill and mash then distill. They also make a Bourbon whiskey, called Four-Grain Straight Bourbon Whiskey. It is a true California made Bourbon. That has to be at least 51% corn, then wheat and rye and topped off with some malted barley. Then it is stored in American oak barrels. American White Oak is what gives the vanillas and butterscotch flavors to American whiskey. They use 53-gallon barrels, a normal standard size. Herlinda Heras calls in from Italy, where it is 2:20 AM, and she is there to be a judge in the Italian national beer competition called Birra dell'Anno (“Beer of the Year”). Herlinda was in Italy two years ago just before the pandemic. She is visiting friends here and there, then she will go to Rimini, on the coast near Bologna, for the beer convention. She will be back soon with beers to share.
Crooked Goat Brewing and Valley Ford Cheese make up the beer and food pairing on this week's podcast episode of Brew Ha Ha. Brew Ha Ha today features Karen Bianchi from Valley Ford Cheese Company and Paul Vianello of Crooked Goat Brewing, who both join Herlinda Heras and Harry Duke who is sitting in for Steve Jaxon. Curtis Bedford is also in the studio, staying through from the previous segment live on The Drive on KSRO. (This podcast episode, published Sept. 30, 2021, was recorded live on the air on Sept. 23, 2021.) Vinnie and Natalie from Russian River Brewing Co. were just recently on a trip to Washington to choose hops for Russian River Brewing Company. Right now they are making two seasonal beers, Dribble Belt and Happy Hops. They will be in the studio next week with their fresh wet hopped beer and some fresh hops too. Paul Vianello has brought a variety of beers from Crooked Goat Brewery. The beer is in massive 32-ounce cans, Vanilla Bean, Blackberry Ale and a honey beer. Blackberry Ale is popular on warm days. It's a light easy-drinking beer with a hint of raspberry. Born to Run and uses hops from the Alexander Valley. They even ran into Vinnie from RRBC when they were up there hop hunting. “We survived the flood, we survived the pandemic, we survived the fires.” -Paul Vianello Their new brewer Ilya and assistant brewmaster Rich make a good team. They are hoping to open a second location in Petaluma by next year. Valley Ford Cheese & Creamery Karen Bianchi from Valley Ford Cheese has brought three cheeses: Highway One, Estero Gold extra aged, and some Gorgonzola, which is young and not piquant. They have a new location, a marketplace and restaurant on Hwy 1, between Petaluma and Bodega, about 6 miles in from Bodega Bay. They opened their new space two years ago and managed to survive the pandemic. Karen has brought in one of their signature sandwiches too. They also make their own home made potato chips, daily. They also make Pastrami, and the sandwich from it. The Honey Ale goes with the Rueben sandwich. Its sister beer is the Blackberry Beer, called Bramble. Crooked Goat has no kitchen of its own but offers access to food from various food vendors at the Barlow. There is a great core group of adjacent restaurants, so you can order food from any of them. The Beet Beer is the beer for someone who doesn't love IPA. It's a honey ale. They add the honey during a boil in the brewing. The Blackberry is made by adding a puree of the fruit. Brew Ha Ha "Brews News with Herlinda" is sponsored by Russian River Brewing Co. and by The Beverage People / Fermenter's Warehouse. Brew Ha Ha is sponsored by the Santa Rosa branch of Yoga Six located in Coddingtown Center.
This is one funny bit. On my last trip to Sonoma, I was tapped to be on KSRO's California Wine Country with host Steve Jaxon and famed wine critic Dan Berger. Great conversation and laughter with talented Steve Jaxon and never a dull wine moment with Dan Berger. And look for the podcast (coming soon) I recorded with Dan just before going on the air with these two characters.
Dan Barwick is back on California Wine Country with Steve Jaxon and Dan Berger. Harry Duke is also in the KSRO studio today. Dan Barwick is a busy winemaker who produces wine for two well-known wineries, Trecini Winery and Paradise Ridge Winery. Today he is here to talk about Trecini Winery. Before tasting the Trecini wines that Dan Barwick has brought, Dan Berger has another cellar dweller, a 2008 Sonoma-Cutrer Russian River Ranches Chardonnay, a bottle that was lost and hidden at the bottom of a box in the cellar. He thought it would be dead but both Dans find it wonderful. The flavors are mature, the acids have held up nicely. They are still making beautiful wine there, but this is amazing, how it has held up. Steve's getting it on the third taste. Harry declares, "I'm out. It's not leaping to me as anything special." After that, they taste Dan Barwick's Trecini Sauvignon Blanc. There is David, Cathy and John Vicini, the patriarch. Dan Barwick has been making wine for them for 20 years, and Sauvignon Blanc is their biggest production. Dan Berger says that Sauvignon Blanc is their claim to fame. They have several different vineyards, which Dan Barwick describes, in the Alexander Valley. Dan Berger tasts a bit of lemon and Cynar, which is an Italian artichoke liqueur. Dan thinks it would be perfect with a little bit of age, it expands the herbal components. It would ideally accompany shellfish. Dan Berger says that the Trecini wines are cleaning up at competitions, and that Trecini is under the radar because they're mostly available locally. There is a small Trecini tasting room in downtown Santa Rosa. 684 7th St., corner of Humbold St, in downtown Santa Rosa. Dan Barwick grew up in England and came to a harvest in Sonoma County in 1991 with the intention of learning about wine. He spent the next 19 years working in cellars throughout Sonoma County and asking a laot of questions. In 1995 he met Sonia Byck, part of a Byck family that owns Paradise Ridge. They married and went to wineries in the southern hemisphere on their honeymoon. He says he learned a lot by taking great winemakers to lunch. He has taken some courses at UC Davis which he calls an extraordinary bastion of information. Dan Barwick says that among all the facts you need to know, pay attention to pH. Dan Berger adds, it starts in the vineyard. If you're careful, beginning before harvest, it will carry you all the way to the bottle. Next they have a vineyard designate Vicini Estate Russian River Valley Pinot Noir from 2019. It is very smooth and easy to drink. Trecini wines specifically aim for a slightly lower alcohol so that if you compare a glass of 12.5% alcohol wine to another at 15%, too much alcohol covers the great flavors. Next they taste a 2018 Trecini Merlot, which triggers the memory of the movie Sideways and how Dan Berger inadvertently influenced that script. At the time, Dan was writing for the Los Angeles Times and had a frequent byline in LA. When the screenwriter contacted Dan for some information about wine, he misunderstood what Dan was telling him, and that is how the famous line about Merlot got into the movie. It's a story that's always good for a laugh or two. It's fresh and vibrant, tannins are low, and all you have to do is capture that in the vineyard, says Dan Barwick. It's still young, so vibrant and fruity, but already shows some of that dried black olive component. The idea is to capture the varietal character, which this does. It gives you something more than just fruit. Dan Barwick says, "part of having that balance is picking your fruit early enough with a low enough level of sugar. You have all those dried herbs in Merlot, but if the fruit gets riper, these flavors disappear. All of these flavors ... are the medium-rares of the ripening level of any grape, really, and I troll in capturing those characteristics of the fruit." Dan Berger remembers the 1980s when people didn't want "green" and they ...
Dan Barwick Dan Barwick is back on California Wine Country with Steve Jaxon and Dan Berger. Harry Duke is also in the KSRO studio today. Dan Barwick is a busy winemaker who produces wine for two well-known wineries, Trecini Winery and Paradise Ridge Winery. Today he is here to talk about Trecini Winery. Before tasting the Trecini wines that Dan Barwick has brought, Dan Berger has another cellar dweller, a 2008 Sonoma-Cutrer Russian River Ranches Chardonnay, a bottle that was lost and hidden at the bottom of a box in the cellar. He thought it would be dead but both Dans find it wonderful. The flavors are mature, the acids have held up nicely. They are still making beautiful wine there, but this is amazing, how it has held up. Steve's getting it on the third taste. Harry declares, "I'm out. It's not leaping to me as anything special." After that, they taste Dan Barwick's Trecini Sauvignon Blanc. There is David, Cathy and John Vicini, the patriarch. Dan Barwick has been making wine for them for 20 years, and Sauvignon Blanc is their biggest production. Dan Berger says that Sauvignon Blanc is their claim to fame. They have several different vineyards, which Dan Barwick describes, in the Alexander Valley. Dan Berger tasts a bit of lemon and Cynar, which is an Italian artichoke liqueur. Dan thinks it would be perfect with a little bit of age, it expands the herbal components. It would ideally accompany shellfish. Dan Berger says that the Trecini wines are cleaning up at competitions, and that Trecini is under the radar because they're mostly available locally. There is a small Trecini tasting room in downtown Santa Rosa. 684 7th St., corner of Humbold St, in downtown Santa Rosa. Dan Barwick grew up in England and came to a harvest in Sonoma County in 1991 with the intention of learning about wine. He spent the next 19 years working in cellars throughout Sonoma County and asking a laot of questions. In 1995 he met Sonia Byck, part of a Byck family that owns Paradise Ridge. They married and went to wineries in the southern hemisphere on their honeymoon. He says he learned a lot by taking great winemakers to lunch. He has taken some courses at UC Davis which he calls an extraordinary bastion of information. Dan Barwick says that among all the facts you need to know, pay attention to pH. Dan Berger adds, it starts in the vineyard. If you're careful, beginning before harvest, it will carry you all the way to the bottle. Click the logo to visit our sponsor Bottle Barn online. Next they have a vineyard designate Vicini Estate Russian River Valley Pinot Noir from 2019. It is very smooth and easy to drink. Trecini wines specifically aim for a slightly lower alcohol so that if you compare a glass of 12.5% alcohol wine to another at 15%, too much alcohol covers the great flavors. Next they taste a 2018 Trecini Merlot, which triggers the memory of the movie Sideways and how Dan Berger inadvertently influenced that script. At the time, Dan was writing for the Los Angeles Times and had a frequent byline in LA. When the screenwriter contacted Dan for some information about wine, he misunderstood what Dan was telling him, and that is how the famous line about Merlot got into the movie. It's a story that's always good for a laugh or two. It's fresh and vibrant, tannins are low, and all you have to do is capture that in the vineyard, says Dan Barwick. It's still young, so vibrant and fruity, but already shows some of that dried black olive component. The idea is to capture the varietal character, which this does. It gives you something more than just fruit. Dan Barwick says, "part of having that balance is picking your fruit early enough with a low enough level of sugar. You have all those dried herbs in Merlot, but if the fruit gets riper, these flavors disappear. All of these flavors ... are the medium-rares of the ripening level of any grape, really, and I troll in capturing those characteristics of the fruit."
Justin Green, head brewer at Steele and Hops is our guest on Brew Ha Ha with Steve Jaxon and Mark Carpenter. Herlinda Heras is also in the studio today. Mark Carpenter was head brewer for Anchor Brewing in San Francisco which started in 1896. Next month is the 84th anniversary of KSRO, the home station of Brew Ha Ha. Anchor made a beer called "Steam" which is a type of beer which was brewed as a type of beer that they could make, since they could not make lager because they did not have refrigeration. The beer had a lot of foam and got the nickname Steam from that. After refrigeration, Steam beer went out of fashion but it survived in San Francisco because the climate was cool enough to allow it. Fritz Maytag, son of the washer and dryer family, bought the brewery in the late 60s when it was in distress and Fritz made it successful. Mark stayed there for his whole career. Fritz has vineyards in St. Helena and another million projects. Justin Green joins Steve, Herlinda and Mark on the phone. Justin tells how he became the head brewer at Steele and Hops. He started as a corporate restaurant manager, then worked for Jupiter, where he did brewing while also being a manager. He got to make beers but on a small scale, 3 barrels, then he worked for another brewer ten times larger. Then he started at Steele and Hops which was already operating as a restaurant and was adding the brewery. Herlinda mentions a beer labeled "F**k Cancer" and Justin tells the story. He and a fellow brewer each had a cancer scare, Justin's was caught early but his friend had to go through treatment. So Justin wanted this beer to help raise awareness for early detection. The beer has sold out from the Sonoma Springs location but they have some left at Steele and Hops. It's also in other brewpubs throughout the Bay Area.
This week's guest is Herlinda Heras, beer judge and co-host of Brew HaHa heard on KSRO in the San Francisco Bay area. This episode originally aired on POP FM 99.9 in New Jersey. All ads have been removed.
We had a fun conversation with Clark as he tells us about his fascinating journey as a waiter on the railroad, working eighteen-hour days on the line from Oakland to Chicago, managed a cheese and wine shop at the base of Nob Hill, opened the San Francisco branch of the Oakville Grocery and retooled the original Napa Valley store. He knows just about everyone in food including a lasting friendship with the legendary James Beard. He was the first to retail Laura Chenel's California Chevre and spent countless hours finding and sampling foodstuffs with the likes of Marion Cunningham, Alice Waters, Ruth Reichl, Jeremiah Tower and Catherine Brandel. He splits his time between New York and Guernville in Sonoma County and happens to be one of Sonoma County's biggest advocates for farmers and the incredible Sonoma bounty. Clark Wolf has been a food business consultant for 30 years, working with developers, restaurateurs, whole towns or resort properties. He is the founder and President of Clark Wolf Company, a New York-based food and restaurant consulting firm. He helped found the nation's first Food Studies program, at NYU, he writes and talks about food on radio and tv and continues to help build successful enterprises large and small. He is a contributor for Forbes Magazine and his radio show is called 'At The Table with Clark Wolf' on KSRO. He authored the book "American Cheeses" published by Simon & Schuster in 2012. You can find more about Clark: http://www.clarkwolfcompany.com/ https://www.ksro.com/podcast/at-the-table/ https://www.facebook.com/clark.wolf.5
We continue our series of podcast episodes featuring women in the wine business this week, since there is no new show today due to Coronavirus coverage on home station KSRO in Santa Rosa. This episode with Barbara Lindblom remembering Mary Ann Graf was originally recorded and broadcast on April 17, 2019. Barbara Lindblom visits with Steve Jaxon and Dan Berger today, to remember Mary Ann Graf, a pioneering, iconic local winemaker who passed away recently. She also worked at Simi Winery (as laboratory director) then as a winemaker in some other places. She is now retired. Mary Ann Graf studied at UC Davis and was the first woman in the US to graduate with a degree in Oenology. She was the winemaker at Simi Winery, the first in a series of notable women winemakers there. Then, she ran a successful laboratory testing company called Vinquiry, which performed testing services for wineries. She was the first woman on the board of directors of the American Society for Enology and Viticulture. Here is a page about Mary Ann Graf at the Santa Clara University Women in Wine website. Mary Ann Graf worked with André Tchelistcheff. They will taste a non-vintage Simi North Coast Burgundy, which Dan can see is from 1973, from the code printed at the bottom of the bottle. This was Mary Ann’s first year at Simi. Dan bought these wines at Trader Joe’s for $1.99 per bottleMost of the major wineries in those days made a generic so-called Burgundy and most of them were blends. Mary Ann Graf started Vinquiry at about that time. Dan knows it as one of the most professional wine analysis laboratories at the time. She had a lot of clients in Alexander Valley. Barbara Lindblom started working at a harvest at Mondavi with Zelma Long. When Zelma got the job as Simi, she asked Barbara to join her, and she worked there for 10 years. Dan Berger says that Zelma Long and André Tchelistcheff were a strong team, since André was more inclinded to understanding wine from its sensory perception and Zelma understood it more from the technical standpoint. Barbara remembers Mary Ann was so generous with her time and her thoughts, and a steadfast friend. Her consulting business grew and grew because she and her partner were so smart and patient with their clients. Dan remembers when he and Mary Ann were judges in a competition in the midwest where the wine was really bad. Dan remembers she was so kind and quiet. A winemaker from Illinois asked her, “Did you like my wine?” She replied kindly, “We can talk about this, you’ve got potential.” She could not say anything negative about it. As a consultant, she would tell her clients what’s there and what can make it better. She was always looking out for the best long-term solution, not a quick fix. They taste a 2000 Old Vine Zinfandel from Fanucci vineyards and a 2016 Stonestreet Estate Chardonnay that is a good example of Alexander Valley fruit having enough acidity to age well. Barbara Lindblom spent some time in France and Spain as well as working as a winemaker in California. Dan brought in a Simi North Coast Burgundy from 1973. This was Mary Ann Graf’s first year at Simi. It is only 12% alcohol, mostly Carignane and a bit of Zinfandel. Dan says that wineries had their blends with all kinds of different varietals that they all called Burgundy. They were the varietals that were in their high end portfolios, but the leftover wines were also good. Dan Berger tasted wine with Joe Coulombe at Trader Joes in the 1970s and remembers tasting these wines. Giuseppe and Pietro Simi selected their location, five years before Italian Swiss Colony was founded. They used to call a generic red wine “Mountain Burgundy” often based on Carignane which was a workhorse variety that was never intended to be aged. Dan discovered some old bottles of it in the back of his cellar and they were fine. There was a little oxidation. There was some fruit flavor, but dried fruit,
We continue our series of podcast episodes featuring women in the wine business this week, since there is no new show today due to Coronavirus coverage on home station KSRO in Santa Rosa. This episode with Barbara Lindblom remembering Mary Ann Graf was originally recorded and broadcast on April 17, 2019. Mary Ann Graf Barbara Lindblom visits with Steve Jaxon and Dan Berger today, to remember Mary Ann Graf, a pioneering, iconic local winemaker who passed away recently. She also worked at Simi Winery (as laboratory director) then as a winemaker in some other places. She is now retired. Mary Ann Graf studied at UC Davis and was the first woman in the US to graduate with a degree in Oenology. She was the winemaker at Simi Winery, the first in a series of notable women winemakers there. Then, she ran a successful laboratory testing company called Vinquiry, which performed testing services for wineries. She was the first woman on the board of directors of the American Society for Enology and Viticulture. Here is a page about Mary Ann Graf at the Santa Clara University Women in Wine website. Mary Ann Graf worked with André Tchelistcheff. They will taste a non-vintage Simi North Coast Burgundy, which Dan can see is from 1973, from the code printed at the bottom of the bottle. This was Mary Ann's first year at Simi. Dan bought these wines at Trader Joe's for $1.99 per bottleMost of the major wineries in those days made a generic so-called Burgundy and most of them were blends. Mary Ann Graf started Vinquiry at about that time. Dan knows it as one of the most professional wine analysis laboratories at the time. She had a lot of clients in Alexander Valley. Barbara Lindblom started working at a harvest at Mondavi with Zelma Long. When Zelma got the job as Simi, she asked Barbara to join her, and she worked there for 10 years. Dan Berger says that Zelma Long and André Tchelistcheff were a strong team, since André was more inclinded to understanding wine from its sensory perception and Zelma understood it more from the technical standpoint. Barbara remembers Mary Ann was so generous with her time and her thoughts, and a steadfast friend. Her consulting business grew and grew because she and her partner were so smart and patient with their clients. Dan remembers when he and Mary Ann were judges in a competition in the midwest where the wine was really bad. Dan remembers she was so kind and quiet. A winemaker from Illinois asked her, “Did you like my wine?” She replied kindly, “We can talk about this, you've got potential.” She could not say anything negative about it. As a consultant, she would tell her clients what's there and what can make it better. She was always looking out for the best long-term solution, not a quick fix. They taste a 2000 Old Vine Zinfandel from Fanucci vineyards and a 2016 Stonestreet Estate Chardonnay that is a good example of Alexander Valley fruit having enough acidity to age well. Barbara Lindblom spent some time in France and Spain as well as working as a winemaker in California. Dan brought in a Simi North Coast Burgundy from 1973. This was Mary Ann Graf's first year at Simi. It is only 12% alcohol, mostly Carignane and a bit of Zinfandel. Dan says that wineries had their blends with all kinds of different varietals that they all called Burgundy. They were the varietals that were in their high end portfolios, but the leftover wines were also good. Dan Berger tasted wine with Joe Coulombe at Trader Joes in the 1970s and remembers tasting these wines. Giuseppe and Pietro Simi selected their location, five years before Italian Swiss Colony was founded. They used to call a generic red wine “Mountain Burgundy” often based on Carignane which was a workhorse variety that was never intended to be aged. Dan discovered some old bottles of it in the back of his cellar and they were fine. There was a little oxidation. There was some fruit flavor, but dried fruit,
This is another in our series of repeat podcast episodes featuring women in the wine business, since there is no new California Wine Country show this week, due to Coronavirus coverage on home station KSRO. This episode was recorded and aired live on Dec. 12, 2018. Theresa Heredia from Gary Farrell Winery is back on California Wine Country with Steve Jaxon and Dan Berger. Barry Herbst from Bottle Barn is also in. Gary Farrell had his own ideas, he wanted to pick his grapes earlier, rather than the trend at the time, which was to pick rather later. Theresa came to Gary Farrell wines and carried on Gary's practices in the winery where he had all the right equipment. It's not easy to grow grapes in a cold climate and make great wine, and Dan says that Gary Farrell agrees that Theresa is succeeding. Theresa Heredia explains that Gary Farrell is one of the pioneers of the Russian River Valley. He started at Davis Bynum and worked at Rochioli. His first vintage was the 1982 Pinot Noir. He makes “site-expressive” wines. Dan tells how Gary started as a cellar worker and later, wineries wanted his magic. Theresa tells how they do it, that they have the same idea in mind. Gary wants the vineyard to shine through in the bottle, rather than any other components like the oak, or ripeness, or alcohol. It's what she was tryign to do at Joseph Phelps Freestone Vineyard previously. She's getting wines that are generally under 14% alcohol and uses light oak, so as not to mask the flavors. Theresa was a graduate student in Chemistry at UC Davis and she thought she would get a PhD and teach at the University level. But she discovered wine at UC Davis and “that was it.” Dan Berger says you have to have great intuition and great vision to work in cold climates. The cooler years are more challenging, she says. Theresa's first vintage was 2002 for Joseph Phelps and 2012 for Gary Farrell. They taste a 2016 Russian River selection Chardonnay blend. The grapes come from many of the famous Russian River vineyards, she mentions Rochioli, Olivet Lane, a bit of Durell, Bacigalupi, Ritchie. They always want to pick the components for this blend first, then they set aside the single-vineyard selections. Dan says it could take 6-8 years in the cellar. The next bottle is a 2015 Chardonnay from Durell Vineyards. Theresa says it takes about 3 weeks to create the blends, both the Chardonnay and Pinot Noir, they need time to pick out the components of the blend. Dan says that the secret of this wine is the acidity, which allows it to pick up many nuances. It could take a decade in the cellar. Theresa Heredia says that Durell is one of her favorite vineyards, with natural concentration and structure. Dan notes the citrus components in the flavors. Next tasting up is a 2016 Pinot Noir blend from all the great Russian River Valley vineyards. Dan tells about an expensive French Burgundy, which sells for $5200 per bottle. They consider Chardonnay to be colorless red wine and Pinot Noir to be white wine with color. These Gary Farrell bottles cost around $35 but they are comparable to those French wines that cost many times more. Dan proclaims that Sonoma County specializes in premium wines at affordable prices. Barry says he has tasted some fantastic Pinot Noirs from 20 years ago that come from a cellar that Bottle Barn has purchased. Then they taste the 2015 McDonald Mountain Pinot Noir. This is a new vineyard for them. It's located in Sebastopol Hills between the Petaluma wind gap and Green Valley. It's foggy and windy and the yields are low, so it gets great concentration. Dan smells some raspberries and wild strawberries, with a faint taste of cranberries in the aftertaste. Theresa says it works very well with lamb. Dan points out that there are some iconic wines in the region but that they are only sold direct to consumer at the vineyard. Last they taste a 2014 Siduri, a lush Pinot Noir that will sell out in the next few day...
This is another in our series of repeat podcast episodes featuring women in the wine business, since there is no new California Wine Country show this week, due to Coronavirus coverage on home station KSRO. This episode was recorded and aired live on Dec. 12, 2018. Theresa Heredia from Gary Farrell Winery is back on California Wine Country with Steve Jaxon and Dan Berger. Barry Herbst from Bottle Barn is also in. Gary Farrell had his own ideas, he wanted to pick his grapes earlier, rather than the trend at the time, which was to pick rather later. Theresa came to Gary Farrell wines and carried on Gary’s practices in the winery where he had all the right equipment. It’s not easy to grow grapes in a cold climate and make great wine, and Dan says that Gary Farrell agrees that Theresa is succeeding. Theresa Heredia explains that Gary Farrell is one of the pioneers of the Russian River Valley. He started at Davis Bynum and worked at Rochioli. His first vintage was the 1982 Pinot Noir. He makes “site-expressive” wines. Dan tells how Gary started as a cellar worker and later, wineries wanted his magic. Theresa tells how they do it, that they have the same idea in mind. Gary wants the vineyard to shine through in the bottle, rather than any other components like the oak, or ripeness, or alcohol. It’s what she was tryign to do at Joseph Phelps Freestone Vineyard previously. She’s getting wines that are generally under 14% alcohol and uses light oak, so as not to mask the flavors. Theresa was a graduate student in Chemistry at UC Davis and she thought she would get a PhD and teach at the University level. But she discovered wine at UC Davis and “that was it.” Dan Berger says you have to have great intuition and great vision to work in cold climates. The cooler years are more challenging, she says. Theresa's first vintage was 2002 for Joseph Phelps and 2012 for Gary Farrell. They taste a 2016 Russian River selection Chardonnay blend. The grapes come from many of the famous Russian River vineyards, she mentions Rochioli, Olivet Lane, a bit of Durell, Bacigalupi, Ritchie. They always want to pick the components for this blend first, then they set aside the single-vineyard selections. Dan says it could take 6-8 years in the cellar. The next bottle is a 2015 Chardonnay from Durell Vineyards. Theresa says it takes about 3 weeks to create the blends, both the Chardonnay and Pinot Noir, they need time to pick out the components of the blend. Dan says that the secret of this wine is the acidity, which allows it to pick up many nuances. It could take a decade in the cellar. Theresa Heredia says that Durell is one of her favorite vineyards, with natural concentration and structure. Dan notes the citrus components in the flavors. Next tasting up is a 2016 Pinot Noir blend from all the great Russian River Valley vineyards. Dan tells about an expensive French Burgundy, which sells for $5200 per bottle. They consider Chardonnay to be colorless red wine and Pinot Noir to be white wine with color. These Gary Farrell bottles cost around $35 but they are comparable to those French wines that cost many times more. Dan proclaims that Sonoma County specializes in premium wines at affordable prices. Barry says he has tasted some fantastic Pinot Noirs from 20 years ago that come from a cellar that Bottle Barn has purchased. Then they taste the 2015 McDonald Mountain Pinot Noir. This is a new vineyard for them. It's located in Sebastopol Hills between the Petaluma wind gap and Green Valley. It's foggy and windy and the yields are low, so it gets great concentration. Dan smells some raspberries and wild strawberries, with a faint taste of cranberries in the aftertaste. Theresa says it works very well with lamb. Dan points out that there are some iconic wines in the region but that they are only sold direct to consumer at the vineyard. Last they taste a 2014 Siduri, a lush Pinot Noir that will sell out in the next few day...
We continue our series of repeat podcast episodes featuring women in the wine business this week, since there is no new show today due to ongoing Coronavirus coverage on our home station KSRO in Santa Rosa, CA. This episode with Bernadette Byrne from the Mendocino County Wine Growers, is originally from July 11, 2018. Bernadette Byrne, Executive Director of the Mendocino County Wine Growers, is our guest on California Wine Country today. She joins Steve Jaxon, Dan Berger and Barry Herbst to talk about Mendocino County grape growers and vintners and to taste several examples of their production. Dan Berger describes the Mendocino County as having a series of sub-regions regions such as Anderson Valley, Redwood Valley and Potter Valley. Each one has very different characteristics that come out in the different varieties that they produce. Potter Valley produces a lot of good Riesling, it's cooler and produces a finer quality of wine, same as Anderson Valley. There are eleven different sub-AVAs in Mendocino County, says Bernadette. This page on the Mendocino Wine Growers' website has detailed information about the AVAs and sub-regions. Bernadette has been in the Mendocino County wine business for thirty years, including time working for Fetzer and then in other wineries in Napa. She was the hospitality director for Fetzer in the ‘80s and ‘90s when they were growing rapidly. They were innovators in organic farming at the Food and Wine Center in Hopland, and introducing the Bonterra line of wines. She was marketing director for McDowell Vineyards and had a wine shop called Sip Mendocino, which she later sold. Barry says that Mendocino County wines are on the move and that there is an intertwining between Sonoma and Mendocino counties, because some Sonoma based vintners are using grapes grown in the cooler climates in Mendocino. Dan says that for a long time, Mendocino fruit was sold outside the county but now, Mendocino County is making more of its own wine than ever before. The fruit from Mendocino County is high quality and costs less than Sonoma or Napa grapes, so some vintners in those other counties will buy some fruit from Mendocino. More than a quarter of the acreage is organic, and they have more biodynamic vineyards than anywhere. Dan says Paul Dolan gets credit for this. He was wine master at Fetzer who gave lectures on biodynamic farming. He and the late Dennis Martin were leaders in this. Barry says it's expensive to get certified so many farmers apply the techniques without being registered. Full biodynamic farming means zero pesticides and herbicides. There are a lot of wineries that could not afford to make the change because there is risk in awkward and bad vintages that they risk losing their entire crop. Yet, sustainable farming is a step toward that and many more farmers are farming that way. Bernadette Byrne describes the land is very diverse in the county, with unique microclimates. The inland corridor along Hwy 101 is a warmer place so they grow more Rhone varietals and traditional reds. Mendocino is also known for Zinfandel. They have some fabulous 100-year-old vineyards in rugged land that is still managed by the same Italian farmers who settled the area and planted the vines a century ago. They grow Caranant, Petit Syrah, Barbera and lots of old vine Zinfandel. Coro Mendocino is their project dedicated to their heritage variety of Zinfandel. Coro means “chorus” in Italian and the wines must have 40-60% Zinfandel then blend with a list of allowed varietals. They do a blind tasting to choose the wines. Dan says sometimes, people would reject their own wine. Dan Berger mentions that if you blend Zinfandel with Barbera the result is in one direction and if blended with Grenache, the result is quite different. First they taste a Seebass Grenache Rosé. She worked for McDowell Valley Vineyards where they made a similar wine. They also tasted the Seebass Chardonnay,
We continue our series of podcast episodes featuring women in the wine business this week, since there is no new show today due to ongoing Coronavirus coverage on our home station KSRO in Santa Rosa, CA. This episode with Bernadette Byrne from the Mendocino County Wine Growers, is originally from July 11, 2018. Bernadette Byrne, Executive Director of the Mendocino County Wine Growers, is our guest on California Wine Country today. She joins Steve Jaxon, Dan Berger and Barry Herbst to talk about Mendocino County grape growers and vintners and to taste several examples of their production. Dan Berger describes the Mendocino County as having a series of sub-regions regions such as Anderson Valley, Redwood Valley and Potter Valley. Each one has very different characteristics that come out in the different varieties that they produce. Potter Valley produces a lot of good Riesling, it’s cooler and produces a finer quality of wine, same as Anderson Valley. There are eleven different sub-AVAs in Mendocino County, says Bernadette. This page on the Mendocino Wine Growers’ website has detailed information about the AVAs and sub-regions. Bernadette has been in the Mendocino County wine business for thirty years, including time working for Fetzer and then in other wineries in Napa. She was the hospitality director for Fetzer in the ‘80s and ‘90s when they were growing rapidly. They were innovators in organic farming at the Food and Wine Center in Hopland, and introducing the Bonterra line of wines. She was marketing director for McDowell Vineyards and had a wine shop called Sip Mendocino, which she later sold. Barry says that Mendocino County wines are on the move and that there is an intertwining between Sonoma and Mendocino counties, because some Sonoma based vintners are using grapes grown in the cooler climates in Mendocino. Dan says that for a long time, Mendocino fruit was sold outside the county but now, Mendocino County is making more of its own wine than ever before. The fruit from Mendocino County is high quality and costs less than Sonoma or Napa grapes, so some vintners in those other counties will buy some fruit from Mendocino. More than a quarter of the acreage is organic, and they have more biodynamic vineyards than anywhere. Dan says Paul Dolan gets credit for this. He was wine master at Fetzer who gave lectures on biodynamic farming. He and the late Dennis Martin were leaders in this. Barry says it’s expensive to get certified so many farmers apply the techniques without being registered. Full biodynamic farming means zero pesticides and herbicides. There are a lot of wineries that could not afford to make the change because there is risk in awkward and bad vintages that they risk losing their entire crop. Yet, sustainable farming is a step toward that and many more farmers are farming that way. Bernadette Byrne describes the land is very diverse in the county, with unique microclimates. The inland corridor along Hwy 101 is a warmer place so they grow more Rhone varietals and traditional reds. Mendocino is also known for Zinfandel. They have some fabulous 100-year-old vineyards in rugged land that is still managed by the same Italian farmers who settled the area and planted the vines a century ago. They grow Caranant, Petit Syrah, Barbera and lots of old vine Zinfandel. Coro Mendocino is their project dedicated to their heritage variety of Zinfandel. Coro means “chorus” in Italian and the wines must have 40-60% Zinfandel then blend with a list of allowed varietals. They do a blind tasting to choose the wines. Dan says sometimes, people would reject their own wine. Dan Berger mentions that if you blend Zinfandel with Barbera the result is in one direction and if blended with Grenache, the result is quite different. First they taste a Seebass Grenache Rosé. She worked for McDowell Valley Vineyards where they made a similar wine. They also tasted the Seebass Chardonnay,
California Wine Country continues with its series of repeat podcast episodes featuring women in the wine business, since there is no new show due to continuing Coronavirus coverage on home station KSRO. This episode with Rebecca Robinson from ZAP was originally recorded and aired on January 10, 2018. Rebecca Robinson is today’s featured guest on California Wine Country with Steve Jaxon and Dan Berger. Rebecca is the Executive Director of ZAP, Zinfandel Advocates and Producers. ZAP will be holding ZIN EX, the Zinfandel Experience, in San Francisco, January 18-20, 2019, dedicated to Zinfandel. Robert Larsen is also back in the studio today. He spent many years at Robert Strong and now runs The Larsen Projekt. (He was last on California Wine Country in September of last year. Here is a link to the podcast of that show.) Recap of Wines Tasted Today: 2014 Acorn Zinfandel, Heritage Vines, Alegría Vineyards, Russian River Valley. 2015 Robert Biale Vineyards Zinfandel, Black Chicken, Napa Valley. 2015 Ledson Zinfandel, Sonoma Valley Reserve, Estate Ancient Vine. 2015 Armida Zinfandel, Maple Vineyards, Dry Creek Valley, Sonoma County. First, Steve asks Dan Berger about his wine column published today in the Press Democrat. Dan tells that it is about the large number of 2017 white wines that will start to appear in the stores over the next two months. They will be very fresh and young but they would benefit from at least another 6 months in the bottle. Read the whole article here. Dan introduces Zinfandel as a natural grape for the United States because it doesn't grow anywhere else. It was a variety that came from Europe around the turn of the previous century. It has a lot of fruit and not a lot of other places grow it. (It is grown in Italy and known by its Italian name, Primitivo.) It has a long growing season and phenomenal flavors. It can make many different styles. Rebecca Robinson's experience in Zinfandel goes back to when she was a student at Sonoma State University. She worked in the wine industry for a while before starting as Executive Director of ZAP about 20 years ago. Rebecca Robinson on ZIN EX She describes the Zinfandel Experience, which they have been producing since 1991. They are at 3 locations this year; Thursday January 18, there is a farm to table dinner at One Market. The next day there is an educational session about growing the grape and making the wine. Then on Friday night there is a winemakers' dinner and auction to support their educational foundation. On Saturday they finish with the grand tasting at Pier 27 on the Embarcadero in San Francisco. Some events are sold out, see the websites prior to the event for all updated information. Rebecca Robinson talks about how they are telling their story of how the California winemaking business has evolved and how they were successful at promoting big tasting events early on. Dan points out that Zinfandel has become one of the most interesting varietals in terms of vineyard designations. Joel Peterson at Ravenswood was a pioneer at this. You don't just look for the brands, you look for the vineyards. Some of the vines are over 100 years old and the flavors are consistent from year to year. He mentions that it can be made into everything from white wine to port, and you will see (and taste) all of those and everything in between at the event. The Flights event on Friday is about carrying Zinfandel into the future. They celebrate the living treasures of the old vineyards, but the young winemakers are in a unique position to carry it forward. Dan discusses Zinfandel as a food wine. They all had lunch today and talked about how they go with food. Lamb goes well with Zinfandel, says Steve. The 2014 Acorn Russian River Zinfandel that they are tasting is a good example. It should be decanted at least, or left in the cellar for several years. They thought that other dishes would be better with other Zinfandels that are not...
California Wine Country continues with its series of repeat podcast episodes featuring women in the wine business, since there is no new show due to continuing Coronavirus coverage on home station KSRO. This episode with Rebecca Robinson from ZAP was originally recorded and aired on January 10, 2018. Rebecca Robinson is today's featured guest on California Wine Country with Steve Jaxon and Dan Berger. Rebecca is the Executive Director of ZAP, Zinfandel Advocates and Producers. ZAP will be holding ZIN EX, the Zinfandel Experience, in San Francisco, January 18-20, 2019, dedicated to Zinfandel. Robert Larsen is also back in the studio today. He spent many years at Robert Strong and now runs The Larsen Projekt. (He was last on California Wine Country in September of last year. Here is a link to the podcast of that show.) Recap of Wines Tasted Today: 2014 Acorn Zinfandel, Heritage Vines, Alegría Vineyards, Russian River Valley. 2015 Robert Biale Vineyards Zinfandel, Black Chicken, Napa Valley. 2015 Ledson Zinfandel, Sonoma Valley Reserve, Estate Ancient Vine. 2015 Armida Zinfandel, Maple Vineyards, Dry Creek Valley, Sonoma County. Today's tastings (click to enlarge). First, Steve asks Dan Berger about his wine column published today in the Press Democrat. Dan tells that it is about the large number of 2017 white wines that will start to appear in the stores over the next two months. They will be very fresh and young but they would benefit from at least another 6 months in the bottle. Read the whole article here. Dan introduces Zinfandel as a natural grape for the United States because it doesn't grow anywhere else. It was a variety that came from Europe around the turn of the previous century. It has a lot of fruit and not a lot of other places grow it. (It is grown in Italy and known by its Italian name, Primitivo.) It has a long growing season and phenomenal flavors. It can make many different styles. Rebecca Robinson's experience in Zinfandel goes back to when she was a student at Sonoma State University. She worked in the wine industry for a while before starting as Executive Director of ZAP about 20 years ago. Rebecca Robinson on ZIN EX She describes the Zinfandel Experience, which they have been producing since 1991. They are at 3 locations this year; Thursday January 18, there is a farm to table dinner at One Market. The next day there is an educational session about growing the grape and making the wine. Then on Friday night there is a winemakers' dinner and auction to support their educational foundation. On Saturday they finish with the grand tasting at Pier 27 on the Embarcadero in San Francisco. Some events are sold out, see the websites prior to the event for all updated information. Rebecca Robinson talks about how they are telling their story of how the California winemaking business has evolved and how they were successful at promoting big tasting events early on. Dan points out that Zinfandel has become one of the most interesting varietals in terms of vineyard designations. Joel Peterson at Ravenswood was a pioneer at this. You don't just look for the brands, you look for the vineyards. Some of the vines are over 100 years old and the flavors are consistent from year to year. He mentions that it can be made into everything from white wine to port, and you will see (and taste) all of those and everything in between at the event. The Flights event on Friday is about carrying Zinfandel into the future. They celebrate the living treasures of the old vineyards, but the young winemakers are in a unique position to carry it forward. Dan discusses Zinfandel as a food wine. They all had lunch today and talked about how they go with food. Lamb goes well with Zinfandel, says Steve. The 2014 Acorn Russian River Zinfandel that they are tasting is a good example. It should be decanted at least, or left in the cellar for several years.
We continue our series of repeat podcasts featuring women in the wine business, while regular programming has been interrupted for Coronavirus coverage on our home radio station KSRO in Santa Rosa. This episode was recorded live on December 13, 2017. Enjoy! Ana Diogo-Draper of Artesa Winery joins Steve Jaxon, Dan Berger and Barry Herbst today. Ana Diogo-Draper started at Artesa in 2013, became head winemaker in 2015, and we have some 2015 wines to try today. The winery has been around for quite a while, Dan says the winery, which is located in the Carneros region of Napa Valley, is a beautiful building. Ana expains that her winemaking style is intended to bring out the characteristics of the terroir which has a unique combination of limestone, sandstone and silt loam soils, and they are able to achieve a beautiful minerality and acidity in their white wines. They also have a lot of hillsides and ridges, which makes for beautiful concentraion of flavor in the Pinot Noirs. Her method is all about acidity, watching that more than the sugars. Ana tells how she learned her winemaking skills in Portugal then came to California in 2005, got married and has been here since then. She always wanted to work in agriculture and then realized she wanted to work with wine, after a semester of a winemaking class at university in Portugal. Steve asks what the difference is between California and Portuguese wines and she says the main difference is acidity, the wines in California are more acid driven, while the Portuguese wines are lighter and frutier. Dan comments on an Alberiño wine, which is rare in California and more common in Spain and Portugal. It has a slightly Pinot Gris-like aroma but with a spicy aroma typical of other varieties. Ana says it’s very floral and bright, low alcohol. Dan mentions that it is completely dry and more subtle than, say, a Gewurtztraminer. Dan mentions that a Spanish architect was brought in to design the winery and Ana says he just redecorated the tasting room too. They are redeveloping the vineyards now, studying clones and rootstocks that are best suited to their property. Dan mentions that the property is near Hyde Vineyards and that it is a special region, not often seen. Ana Diogo-Draper holds a degree in Agricultural Engineering from the University in Évora, Portugal, which is in the region that produces cork trees. They taste a special vineyard designate Cardonnay, which is very subtle, without heavy oak flavors and good acidity. Dan is impressed that the Artesa website lists the acid levels in their wines. Barry says that people who appreciate balance in wines will like this. He also mentions that Portuguese wines are more and more popular at Bottle Barn. Ana Diogo-Draper was exposed to making homemade wine while growing up in Portugal, but not commercially. Dan explains the differences between Spanish and Portuguese wines. Portuguese wines get influenced by their coastal geography, while southern Spanish wines have more Mediterranean characteristcs. Portugal makes light white wines in the north too. They are hard to pronounce but delicious to drink. After the break, they discuss the Alberiño, which Dan says could be called a semi-aromatic variety. He says if you ferment it cold, as she did, you can taste the citrus blossom flavors. Next they open a sparkling wine, a 2013 Gran Riserva Brut bottled under the Artesa label with Cornonìu Napa. It is 100% from the estate, 50% Pinot Noir and 50% Chardonnay. They make it on the property (with a lot of special equipment). Next they taste a second Artesa Chardonnay, a 2015 Estate Vineyard Chardonnay, made with different clones and sun exposure, and picked based on acidity. About 20% is fermented in stainless steel and only about 20-25 % goes through malolactic fermentation. Dan says that Chardonnay usually needs 3-4 years to come together. This one has fruit up front and some subtle acidity, to carry it.
We continue our series of repeat podcasts featuring women in the wine business, while regular programming has been interrupted for Coronavirus coverage on our home radio station KSRO in Santa Rosa. This episode was recorded live on December 13, 2017. Enjoy! Ana Diogo-Draper of Artesa Winery joins Steve Jaxon, Dan Berger and Barry Herbst today. (L-R) Ana Diogo-Draper and Dan Berger. Ana Diogo-Draper started at Artesa in 2013, became head winemaker in 2015, and we have some 2015 wines to try today. The winery has been around for quite a while, Dan says the winery, which is located in the Carneros region of Napa Valley, is a beautiful building. Ana expains that her winemaking style is intended to bring out the characteristics of the terroir which has a unique combination of limestone, sandstone and silt loam soils, and they are able to achieve a beautiful minerality and acidity in their white wines. They also have a lot of hillsides and ridges, which makes for beautiful concentraion of flavor in the Pinot Noirs. Her method is all about acidity, watching that more than the sugars. Ana tells how she learned her winemaking skills in Portugal then came to California in 2005, got married and has been here since then. She always wanted to work in agriculture and then realized she wanted to work with wine, after a semester of a winemaking class at university in Portugal. Steve asks what the difference is between California and Portuguese wines and she says the main difference is acidity, the wines in California are more acid driven, while the Portuguese wines are lighter and frutier. Dan comments on an Alberiño wine, which is rare in California and more common in Spain and Portugal. It has a slightly Pinot Gris-like aroma but with a spicy aroma typical of other varieties. Ana says it's very floral and bright, low alcohol. Dan mentions that it is completely dry and more subtle than, say, a Gewurtztraminer. Dan mentions that a Spanish architect was brought in to design the winery and Ana says he just redecorated the tasting room too. They are redeveloping the vineyards now, studying clones and rootstocks that are best suited to their property. Dan mentions that the property is near Hyde Vineyards and that it is a special region, not often seen. Ana Diogo-Draper holds a degree in Agricultural Engineering from the University in Évora, Portugal, which is in the region that produces cork trees. They taste a special vineyard designate Cardonnay, which is very subtle, without heavy oak flavors and good acidity. Dan is impressed that the Artesa website lists the acid levels in their wines. Barry says that people who appreciate balance in wines will like this. He also mentions that Portuguese wines are more and more popular at Bottle Barn. Artesa Winery (click to enlarge). Ana Diogo-Draper was exposed to making homemade wine while growing up in Portugal, but not commercially. Dan explains the differences between Spanish and Portuguese wines. Portuguese wines get influenced by their coastal geography, while southern Spanish wines have more Mediterranean characteristcs. Portugal makes light white wines in the north too. They are hard to pronounce but delicious to drink. After the break, they discuss the Alberiño, which Dan says could be called a semi-aromatic variety. He says if you ferment it cold, as she did, you can taste the citrus blossom flavors. Next they open a sparkling wine, a 2013 Gran Riserva Brut bottled under the Artesa label with Cornonìu Napa. It is 100% from the estate, 50% Pinot Noir and 50% Chardonnay. They make it on the property (with a lot of special equipment). Next they taste a second Artesa Chardonnay, a 2015 Estate Vineyard Chardonnay, made with different clones and sun exposure, and picked based on acidity. About 20% is fermented in stainless steel and only about 20-25 % goes through malolactic fermentation. Dan says that Chardonnay usually needs 3-4 years to come together.
There is no new California Wine Country show this week due to NBA basketball on our home station KSRO in Santa Rosa, CA. Here is a repeat of our show from April 26, 2017 that you may have missed, featuring winemaker Theresa Heredia from Gary Farrell Winery. Steve Jaxon and Dan Berger welcome Barry Herbst of Bottle Barn and this week's special guest, Theresa Heredia, the winemaker at Gary Farrell Winery. Theresa Heredia Steve asks Theresa Heredia to tell how she became a winemaker. She says she grew up in Pittsburgh, California, which was not a wine producing region when she grew up. She went to Cal Poly San Luis Obispo and studied microbiology. She was accepted to grad school at UC Davis, where she discovered the wine program. She heard that they were using gas chromatography, which she was using for her research. But they were also using “olfactometry” i.e. sense of taste and smell, to identify aromatic components being separated on the instrumentation. She had been doing peptide synthesis, so wine was much more interesting. At the time UC Davis was the only big university wine program. Today there is also Fresno St., and Cal Poly San Luis Obispo has a new program. Dan points to Santa Rosa Community College too and says the programs need more funding as the industry develops. He mentions programs at Columbia, Cornell, Purdue, Michigan State (Steve' alma mater), U. of Texas at Austin, Mississippi St. and that there are about 30 programs in the country. Gary Farrell was a pioneer with his 1982 Pinot Noir. Back in the ‘80s people were beginning to develop name brands and get high scoring reviews. But the pioneers were coming together to make wine from what are now iconic vineyards. He built the Gary Farrell winery in 2000, retired in 2004 and now is selling classic cars. Dan says he was tired of all the different social obligations a famous vintner has, so he left the business. He was the handyman at Davis Bynum winery, then in 1978, Hampton Bynum gave him the opportunity to make the wine, which won a Silver Medal at the Sonoma County Harvest Fair that year, where Dan was a judge. He remembers how good it was. Theresa tells that in 2011 they were purchased by a group called Vincraft. Bill Price is one of the owners. Steve remembers that he has been on the show before. She has been at Gary Farrell Wines for almost five years. Dan remembers knowing Gary since before his first wine came out in 1982. He says this is a winery that respects terroir and respects acidity, which together in the same bottle makes a great wine. Theresa Heredia is proud to work with an all-star list of great vineyards. She likes to pick on the early end of the ripeness spectrum, to get better acidity, just as Gary did. They begin by tasting a Rosé that Barry brought in, a Sancerre Rosé from the Loire Valley. Made with 100% Pinot Noir, with longer cooler growing season and chalky soils, Dan says it gets great cherry flavors and is dry without being austere. Dan says that Rosé is the best of both worlds. You get the fruit of the grape variety and when made right, it's got the acidity. So it has the structure to go with great food, whether creamy or austere flavors. Rosés are coming in now from all kinds of varieties from all over the world. They are doing renovations to the old tasting room, which had an amazing terrace view over the valley, stunning in any weather. The new room will be for seated appointment tastings only, with floor-to-ceiling windows and more comfortable furniture on the terrace. Teresa also tells about how they also do “glamping” which is “glamor camping” or fancy tents with nice furniture. Next they taste the 2014 Olivet Lane Russian River Valley single vineyard Chardonnay. She likes to harvest it a bit early and this is her third vintage for the winery and she is happy with it. Steve really likes it. Next they have two Pinot Noir bottles to taste,
There is no new California Wine Country show this week due to NBA basketball on our home station KSRO in Santa Rosa, CA. Here is a repeat of our show from April 26, 2017 that you may have missed, featuring winemaker Theresa Heredia from Gary Farrell Winery. Steve Jaxon and Dan Berger welcome Barry Herbst of Bottle Barn and this week’s special guest, Theresa Heredia, the winemaker at Gary Farrell Winery. Steve asks Theresa Heredia to tell how she became a winemaker. She says she grew up in Pittsburgh, California, which was not a wine producing region when she grew up. She went to Cal Poly San Luis Obispo and studied microbiology. She was accepted to grad school at UC Davis, where she discovered the wine program. She heard that they were using gas chromatography, which she was using for her research. But they were also using “olfactometry” i.e. sense of taste and smell, to identify aromatic components being separated on the instrumentation. She had been doing peptide synthesis, so wine was much more interesting. At the time UC Davis was the only big university wine program. Today there is also Fresno St., and Cal Poly San Luis Obispo has a new program. Dan points to Santa Rosa Community College too and says the programs need more funding as the industry develops. He mentions programs at Columbia, Cornell, Purdue, Michigan State (Steve’ alma mater), U. of Texas at Austin, Mississippi St. and that there are about 30 programs in the country. Gary Farrell was a pioneer with his 1982 Pinot Noir. Back in the ‘80s people were beginning to develop name brands and get high scoring reviews. But the pioneers were coming together to make wine from what are now iconic vineyards. He built the Gary Farrell winery in 2000, retired in 2004 and now is selling classic cars. Dan says he was tired of all the different social obligations a famous vintner has, so he left the business. He was the handyman at Davis Bynum winery, then in 1978, Hampton Bynum gave him the opportunity to make the wine, which won a Silver Medal at the Sonoma County Harvest Fair that year, where Dan was a judge. He remembers how good it was. Theresa tells that in 2011 they were purchased by a group called Vincraft. Bill Price is one of the owners. Steve remembers that he has been on the show before. She has been at Gary Farrell Wines for almost five years. Dan remembers knowing Gary since before his first wine came out in 1982. He says this is a winery that respects terroir and respects acidity, which together in the same bottle makes a great wine. Theresa Heredia is proud to work with an all-star list of great vineyards. She likes to pick on the early end of the ripeness spectrum, to get better acidity, just as Gary did. They begin by tasting a Rosé that Barry brought in, a Sancerre Rosé from the Loire Valley. Made with 100% Pinot Noir, with longer cooler growing season and chalky soils, Dan says it gets great cherry flavors and is dry without being austere. Dan says that Rosé is the best of both worlds. You get the fruit of the grape variety and when made right, it’s got the acidity. So it has the structure to go with great food, whether creamy or austere flavors. Rosés are coming in now from all kinds of varieties from all over the world. They are doing renovations to the old tasting room, which had an amazing terrace view over the valley, stunning in any weather. The new room will be for seated appointment tastings only, with floor-to-ceiling windows and more comfortable furniture on the terrace. Teresa also tells about how they also do “glamping” which is “glamor camping” or fancy tents with nice furniture. Next they taste the 2014 Olivet Lane Russian River Valley single vineyard Chardonnay. She likes to harvest it a bit early and this is her third vintage for the winery and she is happy with it. Steve really likes it. Next they have two Pinot Noir bottles to taste, a 2014 Rochioli Vineyard and a 2014 Hallberg Vine...
For this week’s California Wine Country podcast here is a repeat of our interview with Byron Kosuge from February 7, 2018. (Due to a live NBA game on home station KSRO in Santa Rosa, there is no new show this week.) Byron Kosuge, winemaker, is today’s guest on California Wine Country with Steve Jaxon and Dan Berger. Byron Kosuge is the winemaker at his own label, B Kosuge Wines, in addition to having been the winemaker at Saintsbury and many other labels. Today’s Tastings from B Kosuge Wines: 2016 Gamay Noir, Carneros 2015 Chardonnay, Sonoma Coast 2015 Sonoma Coast Pinot Noir, The Habitat Today’s guest is Byron Kosuge who has been making wine for 30 years, but a lot of it was under the radar. He was with Saitsbury in Carneros, Napa Valley, but he didn’t get a lot of publicity. Byron says he liked being behind the scenes. He got into wine to make it, not sell it or represent it. He grew up in Davis and his dad was a professor there, though not in wine. He started as an English major but had an aptitude for chemistry and entered the wine program. He makes his wine in Sebastopol, but does have one Carneros vineyard he works with. Dan points out that B Kosuge wines is a small brand and he makes small quantities. Typically small quantity producers charge a lot but he does not. He says it was important to him for his prices to seem fair on “the global stage.” His wines are available on his website and he has been sold at retail in Bottle Barn sometimes, when there is supply, since he makes so little of it. Dan says of the Chardonnay that they are tasting, that it is delicate, fragrant, citrussy, blossomy. It’s not a sipping wine, it’s for having with food so its beautiful structure will work within that context. About 2/3s of it is done in oak and some in a concrete egg, which Steve and Dan insist he explain. It’s a little tank, shaped like an egg. His interest in it is for properties associated with the egg shape, but he wanted it in concrete and not stainless steel. He wanted to ferment and age in the same tank, which he can’t do in stainless steel. He says the wine gets a little bit of oxygen so it develops more quickly as it would in stainless steel. The end result is a portion of the wine that is quite fresh and perfumed and bright, and another part that is rich, which has more oak, typical California Chardonnay, and they get put together. Steve says the result is very subtle. Dan says you start to salivate as soon as you taste it, “…it entices you with its little nuances.” Byron Kosuge was the winemaker at Saintsbury. Dan notes that they never made ostentatious wines and he asks Byron Kosuge whether their style was already set when he started working there. He says the style was established since 1981 when he started in 1985. The founders were Burgundy lovers and that was their inspiration and their standard. They make Pinot Noir and Chardonnay, almost exclusively. Byron Kosuge tells how he thinks many young winemakers come out of school with a good idea of the way they want to make wine; he had no idea at that stage, he just wanted a job. He feels that he was lucky to be in the right place at the right time. Dan suggests that this Chardonnay is an all-purpose wine and it will be even better in three or four years. Byron Kosuge says he does not necessarily set out to make a long-lived wine, but rather for it to be balanced, complete and refreshing. He thinks it’s a by-product of making wine that way, that it will also age well. Dan thinks the bottle is worthy of a $55 or $60 price, even if it sells for $35. Next they taste a Gamay, which is typically used to make Gamay Beaujolais or Beaujolais Nouveau. That trivializes the variety, but this is Gamay Noir as it should be: serious, top drawer stuff. You don’t have to age it very much and it goes with everything. It can be chilled or served at room temperature. Byron Kosuge does not have a tasting room,
There is no new Caifornia Wine Country show this week, due to a live NBA basketball game in our usual time slot on our home station KSRO in Santa Rosa. Here is an edited repeat of our October 31, 2018 show featuring Eva Dehlinger and Dominic Foppoli. Eva Dehlinger tells how her father founded the winery over 40 years ago. Dehlinger Winery is small, independent family-owned and operated in the Russian River Valley. They specialize in four varietals, Chardonnay, Pinot, Cabernet and Syrah. Eva is the winemaker and general manager. She became a winemaker by being born onto a farm and having a strong connection to agriculture. She studied environmental sciences at Stanford. She thought she would become a brewer and started studying brewing at UC Davis, then had an epiphany and realized she needed to work with wine. Dan got to know the winery when it was founded in the 1970s. When Dan started writing about wine, it was hard to find the wine. Dan had to travel to Sonoma County to taste it. Dan says that at the time, nobody had heard of Pinot Noir from Russian River Valley. They were pioneers, it was considered very obscure there. Russian River Valley wasn’t even an official appellation then and Dan says the roads weren’t even marked correctly and he got lost. Dominic tells about the Foppoli home ranch in Windsor. They have produced Chardonnay since he was a kid. Christopher Creek was started in 1972 and he took a chance to buy the winery six years ago and never looked back. They make about 40 different wines now. They taste a 2014 Russian River Valley Chardonnay, unoaked. Dan says it’s very gentle with a fresh fruit component. Dan says that the newer drinkers like a Chardonnay that is more delicate and not so oaky. The 70s or 80s style wines were fleshier. Today better quality wine making means a more delicate approach to oak. Dominic says his first wine was unoaked because he couldn’t afford oak barrels. Barry says this has a silky texture and harmonious flavors. Dan says it’s soft but not lacking in acidity. Eva says it’s very fruity and fresh and would have a broad appeal. Dan says this is an example of the new style of wine in Sonoma County. He thinks the mid-palette richness comes from the skin contact. That’s when you leave the juice in the tank, were the juice is in contact with the skins. The next wine coming up is an Orange Wine, which is made with even more skin contact. Dominic says that traditionally they make a barrel of orange Chardonnay and one of orange Viognier every year. You leave a white wine on the skins, like a red wine. Eva’s white wines are made with minimal skin contact and they do not make orange wine. The goal is to extract more different flavors and she thinks Viognier is good for that. Dan says the skin contact white wines tend to want to spoil so a winemaker has to be very strick with sanitation. Dan tells of a wine from the Jura region in France, which have a very strong odor. This one is cleaner and fresher. It has just enough of the “orange” style to still taste the Viognier. Dominic says they only make 25 cases of it. Eva says orange wine is atyical and controversial in the US. Next they taste a 2015 Dehlinger Chardonnay, which is a counterpoint to the one they just tasted. This is a traditional oaked Chardonnay, no skin contact, barrel fermented and aged for a year on the lees. Dan says this is the way that oak should be done. Eva says it is unfiltered so it retains a lot of textures and flavors. Dominic remembers drinking Eva’s father’s wines when he was a kid. Their family estates are about two miles from each other as the crow flies. Next they taste the 2015 Dehlinger Altamont Pinot Noir. Altamont refers to the soil type on their property. 2015 was a very classic vintage in the region, but with low quantities. Particularly the Pinot Noirs, have very intense flavors and color. Next they taste the 2015 Dehlinger East Face Syrah. In really good years,
The Froggy team are joined in studio by KSRO super producer Mike DeWald, discussing everyone's experience during the Kincade Fire, and stories from inside the KSRO newsroom during the event.
(Due to the Kincade Fire in Sonoma County, there is no live California Wine Country show on KSRO today. This podcast episode was recorded 4 weeks ago in the show that aired on October 2. Please consider making a donation to the Red Cross which has done so much to help Sonoma County again during the fires this year.) Nigel Westblade is visiting from Australia, sharing some of the wines that he produces as the chief winemaker at Peter Lehmann Wines in Australia. Tom Simoneau and Barry Herbst from Bottle Barn are also in today. Dan Berger has fond memories of the late Peter Lehmann, "Peter Lehmann was quite a character... Every day of the year was a party with Peter Lehmann." Dan Berger has been to Australia 23 times so he knows their wine scene very well. He describes Barossa Valley as a wine-making region north of Adelaide, Australia, capable of producing great reds, "...but if you are very careful you can also make fabulous white wines." Peter Lehmann has enjoyed great distribution in the United States for a few decades so the wines are highly regarded here. They taste a Pinot Noir which Nigel says has "bunchy" flavors, meaning it was made with whole berry fermentation. Nigel Westblade has also brought two bottles of Shiraz; first, a 2015 Barossa Shiraz with soft tannin structures that Dan calls "a strikingly together wine." Nigel Westblade describes how they work with the growers to get the canopy and the fruit levels right, and to get the winemakers out into the vineyard towards harvest, "to make sure we get the picking date absolutely spot on." The Barossa Valley is about an hour or two north of Adelaide. It is on the way to the Clare Valley wine region, where all the Rieslings are produced. In Australia they call their wine regions Geographical Indications or GIs, which are like the AVAs in the United States. They taste the Peter Lehmann Barossian Shiraz. Barry Herbst says this will be available at Bottle Barn. It will retail for about $21, which they all agree is a bargain. Dan finds that this one is more elegant, more personality of fruit, more florals. He says that this wine has great fruit and beautiful structure and you don't taste much barrel at all. Nigel explains that it does get put in barrels. He explains that they use barrels in the old English style called "hogshead" which is 300 liters, instead of the standard French-style barrel which Nigel calls a barrique, which has a capacity of 225 liters. The don't get a strong oak impact but they do get a lovely softening of the tannin structure. Tom Simoneau notes that when the cheap Syrah and Shiraz came in from Australia 10 years ago kind of ruined the varietal for the US. But now these new Shiraz wines that are coming in are going to redeem the varietal's reputation. Next they taste a 2014 Cabernet. Dan says it's wonderful to have an aged Cabernet available. The 2017s out now are too young. Nigel says they are getting to a stage in the Barossa Valley where they are making nice Cabernet too. Tom Simoneau says it tastes like it could come from California. It is an older style, compared to the way Cabs are made now. Dan says Cabernets from Australia are under rated, only that the prices are so low that it's not really worth it to import to the US. Nigel remembers Peter Lehmann as a winemaker who thought about the relations with his growers so he managed to beg, borrow or steal enough equipment to be able to start a winery and promised the grape growers that he would take care of them in the future if they gave their grapes to him that year. They had a huge success and many of the relationships with growers that he started then are still in place, based on a handshake. The Beverage People is Sonoma County's fermentation headquarters since 1980. Tom Simoneau remembers that he used to buy a lot of equipment from them back when he was a home wine maker, before he turned pro.
Due to the Kincade Fire in Sonoma County, there is no live Brew Ha Ha show on KSRO today. For this podcast episode, here is a repeat of our July, 2018 visit with Brian Hunt, founder of Moonlight Brewing Co. Please consider making a donation to the Red Cross which has done so much to help Sonoma County again during the fires this year.) Brian Hunt, Moonlight Brewing founder and brewmaster and Shannon Thomas, tasting room and social media manager, are in today with Herlinda Heras and Steve Jaxon. Mark Carpenter is away this week. Brian Hunt started Moonlight Brewing in 1992. He jokes that he needed to support his beer habit and he actually stared home brewing in his bedroom when he was in high school. He had some German friends who helped him too. He graduated from UC Davis brew school in 1980, where Michael Lewis was his brewing instructor. There were 43 brewing companies in the United States then. There are more than that number now in just Sonoma County. He worked for a while at Schlitz in Milwaukee. The guy who had bought Schlitz said, “It don’t matter what I put in the can as long as it has Schlitz on the label.” He was only interested in money and he was fired. Then they hired a brew master and they decided to make good beer again. But the brand was in decline and when they closed Milwaukee Stroh’s bought them. Then Pabst bought them. Moonlight Brewing will celebrate their 26th anniversary at an event in September 2018. They are the closest brewery to Coffey Park in Santa Rosa, which burned in the October 2017 fires. They have a new taproom that holds almost 50 people. They built a bar out of reclaimed redwood, furniture from Bergamot Alley and old school chairs, making a very comfortable place. Moonlight Brewing is known for a beer they produce called Death and Taxes. They are snacking on some popcorn called Hippie Dust, which has Nutritional Yeast on it, which is tasty and very nutritious. Herlinda Heras tells about how spent grain from brewing is being used by bakers, such as one in Forestville, and that bread is available on Saturdays. They have a taproom open Thursday and Friday at 4 and Saturday and Sunday at 1. It’s the third location that they have had. They also make Bloody Mary popcorn and Maple Syrup popcorn. Their beer called Death and Taxes is one of the first beers he made at Moonlight. It’s a San Francisco style black lager. He has found that in Europe, people are used to there being local versions of beer named for cities or regions, while here, people act surprised at the idea. Shannon says everyone remembers where they were when they first taste Death and Taxes. Brian says that because it’s clean and crisp, it’s great for California. Brian describes the Lagunitas Beer Circus in London from his point of view. He gets to serve beer to people who like beer, but there are trapeze artists, burlesque, bikes, and a crazy goofy atmosphere. “See things you can’t unsee” is their slogan. As for his hop philosophy, he also likes to make beer without hops. He says hops are just a spice, but that you can put other things in beer to flavor it. He just really loves a drinkable beer.
In this episode, Zack Monday, Chief Love Officer at Mercy Wellness comes down to the KSRO studio to talk about Mercy Love – the new loyalty program at Mercy Wellness. Joining in on the conversation is Joe Sullivan, Leading Expert and Product Manager at Mercy Wellness and Felicia Accomazzo, Co-Producer of Canna Help You & […]
This episode was originally recorded on August 3, 2017. There is no new BHH episode this week due to other programming on home station KSRO. Kim Lentjes & Jeroen Hobert are our guests on Brew Ha Ha today. Kim Lentjes founded the Dutch Beer Academy in 2015 and it is still going strong. She organizes training courses for restaurant staff, tastings and Kim is also active as a judge in beer competitions. Steve first mentions that Sapporo of Japan has just bought Anchor Brewing, which was news back then in 2017, when this show was recorded live. Mark’s opinion is that it is great because today, a successful brewery will have to have its own bars, like Gordon Biersch. If Anchor wants to continue to sell in New York and Chicago, they need bars there and Sapporo can do that. There are no changes in management planned and they plan to keep the brewery as it is. Mark thinks they realize what a great brewery it is and how closely it is associated with San Francisco. Fritz Maytag speaks Japanese and was always happy to visit with the Japanese brewers who would often visit his brewery. Steve mentions that Anchor Brewing is credited with sparking the craft brewing business in the US when Fritz Maytag bought it in 1965. Mark Carpenter started there in 1971. Herlinda knows a lot of people in the beer business worldwide and when they come to visit San Francisco, they want to visit Anchor Brewing. Kim explains that they train people who work with beer, what it is, how to taste it, how to sell beer and even how to get more people to drink more beer. Herlinda mentions that Lagunitas is a Dutch company now since Heineken has purchased it from the founders. Kim sees that the craft beer movement is very strong here in America. Mark says they should be happy that the breweries like Anchor and Lagunitas will continue to operate the same way.
(There is no new Brew Ha Ha show this week, due to an NFL pre-season game being broadcast on our home station KSRO, today. So here is a repeat of a show that originally ran last February, featuring the great Charlie Bamforth, professor at UC Davis.) Prof. Charlie Bamforth, an English scientist who specializes in malting and brewing, is our guest on Brew Ha Ha today with Steve Jaxon, Mark Carpenter and Herlinda Heras. Charlie has been a professor at UC Davis since 1999, and has 40 years in the brewing industry. When he was a biochemist working on enzymes, as a post-doc student at the University of Sheffield, he found a job in his field. He has also written about the English soccer league for the English press. He is a fan of Wolverhapton Wanderers. Herlinda Heras is the coordinator of the craft beer program at Sonoma State University. Charlie Bamforth is a professor at UC Davis. He runs a summer abroad program, teaching brewing science in the UK, for college credit. They did it in 2014 and 1016 and again this year. It is based in Nottingham. They go on a lot of field trips to malt houses, breweries and hop yards. What is Isinglass? Herlinda asks about isinglass, which is a kind of gelatin that comes from fish. It is used to make beer clear. Mark says it is still used in England to make clear beer. Charlie says it is a protien, actually a collagen. The course takes place in the UK where the legal drinking age is 18 and a university student has to be in good standing. He says that the craft brewing industry today is based on English brewing practices. Herlinda mentions that she will be judging the English Pie competition in England. These pies are savory and go with beer. Charlie says that the people of Wigan are called “pie eaters” since they like it so much. They are a staple of the British diet. Steve mentions that British food gets a bum rap here in the US, but there are so many tasty recipies and Charlie agrees. Charlie tells that they’ve been teaching brewing at UC Davis since 1958. It used to be the only university beer program in the US but there is also one at Oregon State. Charlie tells that the first brewing equipment was donated in 1958 by the Lucky Lager company in San Francisco. Mark is drinking a “fresh squeezed” beer. Earlier he had a Belgian beer, Abbé du Roc. Charlie Bamforth says that if there is one country in the world where they have real reverence for beer, it is Belgium. Herlinda mentions that he used to work at Bass, in 1983. Charlie says that their red triangle is the oldest registered trademark in the world.
Today Herlinda Heras tells about La Chouffe Beer from Normandy, which she discovered recently. Pete Foppiano is sitting in for Steve Jaxon today, on a special abbreviated edition of Brew Ha Ha (cut short for the last time this season for an NBA basketball game on home station KSRO). Herlinda and her father, a Navy veteran, are just back from France where they attended the 75th annual commemoration of the Allied landing in Normandy on D-Day. Herlinda was in charge of finding the good places to find food and beer on the trip through, France, the Netherlands, Belgium and Luxembourg. In one place, you got a tab card, and you could swipe the card to pay for your selection from among 200 taps. At one point, they were in Wallonia, the French part of Belgium. Herlinda met the founder of La Chouffe beer, who knows Mark Carpenter. He may visit California to see Mark and other friends in the beer business like Pete Schlosberg.
Rebecca Newman is our first guest today on Brew Ha Ha with Steve Jaxon and Mark Carpenter. Rebecca is the Director of Global Quality for Lagunitas Brewing. We also have Dr. Hoby Wedler back on the show. He holds a PhD in Chemistry from UC Davis, is blind, and is a renowned expert on perception science. He will talk about some of his work later in the show. Rebecca Newman has been doing this job for three decades for different companies. She was recruited by Anheuser-Busch after she graduated from UC Davis. She worked there with some Japanese colleagues and learned how to make Sake, how to taste and understand it. Then she met the folks at Sierra Nevada and ended up working there. At UC Davis she majored in Food Science & Technology with a minor in Nutrition and Fermentation Science. In quality control, they want to measure “the magic” to make sure the product is consistent. They help the brewers to achieve their goals. It is all focussed on flavor and human experience. Mark Carpenter, who was a brewer, says that smart brewers love to have people like Rebecca around, because even the educated brewers don’t’ know enough and they have to concentrate on the acdtual brewing. It’s valuable to have someone to explain what’s happening in the brewing process who can help fix problems or help brewers focus on the results they really want. She uses both scientific measurements and articulation of the sensory side. They to lots of tasting testing at Lagunitas for quality control. When they taste beer, unlike wine tasting, they swallow the beer because they need the whole mouth feel and need “the whole trigeminal” nerve, where the jaw and the cheek meet. Dr. Hoby Wedler Dr. Hoby Wedler is a renowned PhD Chemist at UC Davis who does original research into taste perception. He is blind and his focus has been on full sensory design and the science of human perception through the senses. He tells about his work with beer, wine and spirits. He is co-founder of Sense Point Design, where they use full sensory design to test products, to study human perception and to record perceptions of beer, wine and spirits. They are in the midst of launching a spirits line so they are doing a lot of sensory research into that product. They do a beer tasting in the dark, where they actually blindfold people to taste beer. “The blind tastings give us the chance to think differently about beer.” When we are not distracted by the vision of beer, we lose the 85 or 90 percent of the perception that we normally get from sight. He is based in Petaluma and works with the Petaluma Educational Foundation. This week’s show is short because there is a live Golden State Warriors playoff game coming up on home station KSRO in Santa Rosa, so Hoby Wexler and Rebecca Newman will be back on the show. Phase Change Before the end, Rebecca Newman talks about a beer from Lagunitas called Phase Change which is a wet hopped beer in the spring They loved the fresh hops and to use them out of season, they “slurried up” whole cone hops from 2018 put them under nitrogen co2 to freeze them, topped with nitrogen and flash frozen. The Lagunitas website describes it thusly: Hops are good, fresh hops are better, wet hops are best. We say 'wet hops' because they have not been dried after harvest. We say 'better' because they possess the fullest expression of hop flavor; vine-fresh.
(This week CWC is off due to a live Golden State Warriors basketball game on our home station KSRO in Santa Rosa. For the podcast, here is a reprise of our Aug. 9, 2017 show featuring Rex Pickett, author of Sideways, and Trevor Durling, winemaker at Beaulieu Vineyard.) Today’s pre-show guest is Rex Pickett, author of Sideways. The main show guest is Trevor Durling, Winemaker at Beaulieu Vineyard. In the live segment before CWC begins at the top of the hour, Steve and Dan visit with Rex Pickett, author of Sideways, the book, movie and now stage play. Then after the main show, we will hear more of Steve’s interview with Rex Pickett. First, Dan tells that somebody called him on the telephone way back in the ‘90s when he was writing at the LA Times, to ask him about Pinot Noir, Santa Barbara and Santa Ynez, the area where the book is set. Dan never got his name, and after the movie came out, Dan always assumed the call had come from Rex, but Rex says he wasn’t the caller. (The stage adaptation played at the Left Edge Theater in Santa Rosa at the Luther Burbank Center in Aug. 2017.) The movie Sideways was not really about Merlot, it was more about Pinot Noir, or people, really. The situation of the market for Merlot changed as a consequence of the movie. The book was about Pinot Noir, not about Merlot. Dan says that Rex put his finger on the pulse of the industry at the time, what people were talking about in the industry then, which was that Pinot Noir was starting to take off in the US and particularly in cooler regions, Santa Barbara and Sonoma Counties in particular. But it was a book about personalities and people, and only incidentally about wine. In Dan’s opinion, it was a great book and movie but it really tapped into something that was more wine-related than what Rex was hoping for. Rex tells that he was starting to go to wine tastings and loved the lyricism and poetry about describing wine, (apart from some pretentiousness). Rex didn’t know that the wine tasting scene would become so important in the movie. Merlot had been “overcropped” at the time and the movie thinned out the herd, as a lot of poor Merlot producers no longer make it. They agree that the movie did a lot for Pinot Noir and at that time we were starting to get away from the routine Cabernet-Chardonnay and into other wines and Pinot Noir was the one that first broke through, and that the movie picked up on that momentary market trend. Dan points out that in 1992 California had 8,000 acres of Merlot. In 1995, there were 58,000 acres of Merlot. Rex says they were mechanized-farming it and Steve says it just wasn’t that good. Dan says there is good Merlot all over the place now but you have to be very careful what you buy because we’re down to about 29,000 arcres now, which is way too much, and planted in the wrong places. Steve tells that his friend Jim from BV is there and he talks about when they were in DC, in April. Jim was there, he started singing and Steve was playing piano. Later we will hear a musical excerpt. At the intro to the main show, Steve re-introduces Rex Pickett, author of the book, screenplay and the new stage adaptation of Sideways). Dan introduces Trevor Durling, winemaker at BV, which has been around since 1900. It was the home of the great André Tchelistcheff, starting in the 1930s up to around 1973. The BV style of the wines had been formed and it’s not easy to shift. It’s like turning an ocean liner. The problem always had been to use French oak versus American oak. BV started using American oak, for Cabernet. The fact is that BV didn’t make certain grapes that had become popular, such as Zinfandel. Dan talked to André about that and André said he would not know how to make Zinfandel, as he didn’t know it. BV is a historic property and makes more varieties now. The flagship is still the BV Private Reserve. Trevor tells that was born and raised in Santa Rosa and had wine at the dinner table from...
(Due to NBA basketball on home station KSRO, there is no new CWC show today. For this week's podcast here is a reprise of this June 2017 show.) Bob Cabral is here to taste and talk about the three wines that comprise the launch of his own new winery, Bob Cabral Wines. He has worked at De Loach and Kunde and others, was winemaker at Williams Selyem (from 1998-2014) and is now at Three Sticks Winery. Tom Simoneau introduces Bob Cabral who is is introducing his first line of wines under his own name. Tom says these wines are spectacular. All the wines have proprietary names because none of them have a single vineyard. They are: • 2015 Troubadour Russian River Valley Pinot Noir, • 2015 Cuvée Anne Rose Sonoma Coast Chardonnay, • 2016 American Girl Russian River Valley Rosé of Pinot Noir. He describes how they made the Rosé, using the saigner, or bleeding process, which uses CO2 to keep the oxygen out and natural yeast. He put the juice in a once used French Oak barrel. Dan says you run risk of volatility but he has none. He insists that he has to work clean. He insists on a clean cellar. He got the gorgeous color that he wanted. He back blended some red into it to adjust the color. Dan and Bob both think it will be better in about two years. Dan calls it “rosé with a purpose” meaning it is close to a red wine style. Bob remembers a label called Garnet, which was like a light Pinot or a dark Rosé. Bob wants to combine the four things most important to him, which are family, music, wine and philanthropy. Read the section “why now?” on his website. Steve asks Bob to tell his background. He grew up near Modesto, where his family grew grapes and almonds. He went to school at Fresno State. He worked for some large producers and later he wanted to do small batches of wine. So he moved to Sonoma 1986, and became assistant winemaker for De Loach under Randy Ullom, who is now in charge of Kendall-Jackson. He taught him that you had to do the best no matter the price point, and the importance of a clean cellar. He sells wine to musicians and bands such as Sammy Hagar. Steve at first didn't remember the name, but they had Les Claypool, the bassist of Primus, on California Wine Country last year. He produces Pinot Noir on his own property. Barry Herbst is back from a trip to Europe, where he went to France and Italy, touring wine country in the Loire Valley, then through Piedmont and Tuscany in Italy. He brought two wines from Italy, one from Liguria that is called Pigato, which is very popular in Italy. (A listener texted in with the information that it was Les Claypool.) Bob describes some of his interactions with famous musicians who are also wine lovers. The second wine that Barry brought from Italy is a light rosé. Dan calls it a light, quaffy wine. It’s a nice refreshing wine, not very serious, nor does it have to be. Steve toasts to the first day of summer. Bob describes the Anne Rose Cuvée Chardonnay, which he calls almost Chablis-like. It’s named after his wife’s and daughter’s middle names. It is whole cluster pressed, with nice acidity, good verve. It had a 100% malolactic fermentation and still came out with a pH of only 3.32. At that, Steve calls a GEEK ALERT and asks for an explanation of that. He says a lot of California Chards run about 3.45 to 3.65, which Dan says means they are softer and Bob calls rounder, more approachable. It should be superb in 10 years, but Steve says only Dan can lay it down for that long. They all agree it has a strong, persistent finish. Dan says it will be sublime in five years. Bob says that he knows Bottle Barn for being good at bringing in obscure and hard-to-find wines. Bob has a song list for each of his wines on his website and he thinks the music is as individual as the wines. Next they taste the Pinot Noir and Bob says it may be hot in the daytime in the Russian River Valley but in the evening and at night it gets a lot colder,
(This episode of CWC was first heard on March 29, 2017. There is no new show this week due to NBA games on KSRO. We're back with a new show next week.) Eileen Crane, the CEO, founding builder and winemaker from Domaine Carneros joins Steve Jaxon, Dan Berger and Tom Simoneau. Today Eileen Crane tells about being hired thirty years ago to build and open Domaine Carneros and how it became one of the most famous and important wineries in the world. Right away they are tasting a brand new Beaujolais that Dan brought in. It is the top of the line Cru Beaujolais and the first one Dan has tasted this year. The 2015s were fabulous, and the early word is that this year’s vintage may be the best ever in the history of Beaujolais. This was a warm year. The grapes are 100% Gamay grown in granitic soil, which stays warm at night time from the day time heat, so they don’t lose acidity and they have to pick it as early as they can. Steve finds that by the third sip it is great. Dan and Tom say it would go well with pizza. Steve introduces Eileen Crane, President and winemaker at Domaine Carneros. First, Steve takes a call from Paul in Petaluma who has kept a bottle of Domaine Carneros for 20 years and called to tell the story. In 1998 his family took him to tour Carneros winery on Father’s Day. His family bought a bottle of 1993 sparkling wine which he took back to Minnesota. He moved to Petaluma in 2011 and opened it on his birthday in 2014, when the wine was 22 years old. It was great, he says. Eileen says that the ’93 was the second vintage of the “Le Rêve” and says that if her wines are kept away from direct sunlight they can last for 30 or 40 years. They open a Pompadour Rosé. In the main foyer at Domaine Carneros, there is a picture of Madame Pompadour, who is famous for saying, “Champagne is the only wine that a woman can drink and remain beautiful.” As always, Steve asks for the history and Eileen tells about Claude Taittinger who said, he doesn’t care how the name is pronounced as long as you reach for the bottle. In his early 20s, in the 1950s, he came through Sonoma and Napa and when he returned to France he told his partners that he would like to own a property in California so they eventually bought into Carneros. Eileen Crane was hired to open Domaine Carneros, in 1987, which opened its doors in 1989. When they opened they had so much caviar that they were eating it for lunch for weeks. They had fireworks, which scared the neighboring cattle. The cattlemen protested and she replied that they had posted the notices that they were required to post, but a cattleman told her that the cows don’t read. So they have never had fireworks again after that. As a child, she would share the wine with her family’s Sunday dinners and one day, her father opened a bottle of Champagne, which she was allowed to taste. Thus began her lifelong fascination with Champagne. A friend had a book called The Art of Winemaking that came from UC Davis, so she called the university and was on her way to taking classes. She had a science background so she had a head start and took five classes there. Since she had also been to the culinary institute, she was hired as a pastry chef until the winery chemist offered her to work in the lab. Eileen Crane also worked at Gloria Ferrer. Since Spring is coming she moves into drinking rosés, which she brought to the studio for tasting. Eileen explains how rosé is made and how the wine they’re tasting has a soft peach color. Next they taste a Pinot Noir, which is a small part of their production. It is easier to be known for Sparkling wines than for Pinot Noir because there are fewer wineries making it. They taste their Ultra-Brut which is only available at the winery. But their classic brut is available in Santa Rosa at Bottle Barn, as is the rosé tasted earlier. Steve asks Eileen for directions and she says to follow the Carneros Highway east from the town of Sonoma.
Much like an "unprecedented economic boom" is really just "a boom that has rarely been seen before", in an unprecedented move, the crew of Salty Jason's Revenge - Maggie Moore, Elie Jacobs & Frank Spring - go LIVE on The Drive with Steve Jaxon show on KSRO. The Taking Ship crew are huge fans of Steve's and have been thrilled to join Steve and Mike DeWald as individual crew members, but this time, all of the crew joins at the same time. TECHNOLOGY!! Take a listen.
This podcast episode is a repeat of the show from March 22, 2017, with Tim Bell, winemaker at Dry Creek Vineyard. (This week's live radio show has been pre-empted by a Golden State Warrior's basketball game on our home station KSRO.) The first tasting is a Rosé from Bonny Doon Vineyards in Santa Cruz. Dry Creek Vineyards was celebrating their 45th anniversary (last year when the show was recorded). Today they will celebrate with tastings of their Chenin Blanc, Sauvignon Blanc, a Zinfandel and a blended red. First, Dan Berger opens a bottle of A Proper Pink, a rosé produced by Randall Graham, owner and “king for life” of Bonny Doon Vineyard in Santa Cruz. It is a slightly sweet Rosé, made with 69% Tannat and 31% Cabernet Franc. Dan explains that to make Rosé you have to get the skins out of the juice pretty quickly. Steve asked Tim Bell to describe how he got into the wine business. He grew up in Southern California and worked for the Liquor Barn chain and got interested in wine. He studied winemaking at UC Davis, graduated in 1994 and did an internship at Gloria Ferrer, then worked at a few different wineries including Freemark Abbey, for 10 years. Now he has been at Dry Creek for 6 years, since 2011 In 2017 Dry Creek Vineyard was celebrating the 45th anniversary of their first vintage and we will taste these Dry Creek Vineyard wines: Chenin Blanc: Dan says this is the best Chenin Blanc he has ever tasted. Chenin Blanc to be popular in California but today only a few thousand acres of it remain, mostly for jug wine. It is dry, has beautiful melon fruit and subtle spices of green tea. Dan points out that chilling this wine covers the sugars and gives it a weightiness from the sugar which shows up as texture rather than as sweetness. Sauvignon Blanc: Dry Creek Vineyard planted the first Sauvignon Blanc in Dry Creek Valley. The pioneers tried different vines to see what varieties were appropriate for each region. Dan tells that when David Stare planted Sauvignon Blanc in the 1970s, it reminded him of the Loire Valley. He and Robert Mondavi adopted the name Fumé Blanc for the wine. Tim Bell says that the Loire Valley was David’s inspiration. Some other grapes that go into its blend and Dan says the aromatics are fascinating, with hints of chamomille. Tim also tastes ripe limes. This variety has a tendency to show its distinctiveness based on the weather and soil where it is planted. For this reason, some regions give green herb flavors while others do not. Tim agrees, having made Sauvignon Blanc from different regions. It also has a tendency to show its distinctiveness based on the weather and soil where it is planted. Some regions have green herb flavors, others, do not. Tim agrees, as he has made Sauvignon Blanc from different regions. When talking to somelliers in restaurants, Dan discovered that that patrons who ordered Sauvignon Blanc ended up spending more money on their checks because they would order two bottles. Steve asks Dan to sum up the history of Dry Creek. When David Stare planted Sauvignon Blanc, he discovered it was an ideal place for it to grow. Pedroncelli was another pioneer, with Zinfandel. The Dry Creek area was important for home wine making during Prohibition. Since in certain states it was illegal to make wine even at home, they shipped “wine bricks” with “warnings” saying, “do not add 30 gallons of water and some sugar or else this will ferment.” 2014 Old Vine Zinfandel: This grape ripens unevenly and Tim says this contributes to its unique flavor. Dan finds flavors of black pepper and mocha, not woody, but cocoa-like and black cherry and raspberry. Steve finds that it is smooth, and doesn’t "slap him in the face" like some Zins. Dan says there is a handful of California Zins that deliver this kind of fruit in the $60 range, but this one sells for $38, a great bargain. 2013 The Mariner, a Bordeaux-inspired blend. Tim says the wine changes from year to year,
On the anniversary of the devastating Tubbs Fire in Sonoma, David hosts Micheal O’Shea, co-owner of Amaturo Sonoma Media Group, owners of KSRO in Santa Rosa, discussing the documentary Urban Inferno, about the fires that devastated Santa Rosa in 2017. Michael’s radio station KSRO was the lifeline for many local folks and they won two Read More The post Episode #485 – The Anniversary of the Tubbs Fire and Sustainability appeared first on .
Bug interviews three generations of the Friedman family from Friedman’s home improvement. Live every Tuesday at 5:20 PM on KSRO 1350 AM and 103.5 FM the Drive with Jaxon. Right click to download this podcast as an audio file. The post Reclamation Road Radio Podcast Episode 23 – Three Generations of Friedman’s appeared first on Heritage Salvage.
Bug interviews Doris Duncan Executive Director of Sonoma County Wildlife Rescue with the fabulous Linnea Furlong. Live every Tuesday at 5:20 PM on KSRO 1350 AM and 103.5 FM the Drive with Jaxon. Right click to download this podcast as an audio file. The post Reclamation Road Radio Podcast Episode 22 – Doris Duncan & Linnea Furlong appeared first on Heritage Salvage.
Bug interviews Nicole Burdock, Inventor of the Go Patch; Homeopathic Remedies for Motion Sickness and Menstrual Cramps. Live every Tuesday at 5:20 PM on KSRO 1350 AM and 103.5 FM the Drive with Jaxon. Right click to download this podcast as an audio file. The post Reclamation Road Radio Podcast Episode 21 – Nicole Burdock appeared first on Heritage Salvage.
Jaxon and Bug talk politics, platitudes, Lack of Outrage and bug does a rap song from 1995. Live every Tuesday at 5:20 PM on KSRO 1350 AM and 103.5 FM the Drive with Jaxon. Right click to download this podcast as an audio file. The post Reclamation Road Radio Podcast Episode 20 – Jaxon and Bug appeared first on Heritage Salvage.
Bug interviews photographer Michael Woolsey on sustainable enthusiasm. Live every Tuesday at 5:20 PM on KSRO 1350 AM and 103.5 FM the Drive with Jaxon. Right click to download this podcast as an audio file. The post Reclamation Road Radio Podcast Episode 19 – Michael Woolsey appeared first on Heritage Salvage.
Bug interviews Mitchel Slade of the band Reclamation Road. Live every Tuesday at 5:20 PM on KSRO 1350 AM and 103.5 FM the Drive with Jaxon. Right click to download this podcast as an audio file. The post Reclamation Road Radio Podcast Episode 18 – Mitchel Slade appeared first on Heritage Salvage.
Bug interviews Sheila Bride and Nick Harris of Petaluma Coffee and Tea. Live every Tuesday at 5:20 PM on KSRO 1350 AM and 103.5 FM the Drive with Jaxon. Right click to download this podcast as an audio file. The post Reclamation Road Radio Podcast Episode 17 – Sheila Bride and Nick Harris appeared first on Heritage Salvage.
Bug interviews Tennis Wick – Director of the Sonoma County PRMD on Reclamation Road Radio. Live every Tuesday at 5:20 PM on KSRO 1350 AM and 103.5 FM the Drive with Jaxon. Right click to download this podcast as an audio file. The post Reclamation Road Radio Podcast Episode 9 – Tennis Wick appeared first on Heritage Salvage.
Live from Hanson Island British Columbia Bug interviews Dr Paul Spong of Orcalab – studying the habits and speech of the Orcas (Killer Whales) http://orcalab.org/ Live every Tuesday at 5:20 PM on KSRO 1350 AM and 103.5 FM the Drive with Jaxon. Right click to download this podcast as an audio file. The post Reclamation Road Radio Podcast Episode 15 – Dr Paul Spong of Orcalab appeared first on Heritage Salvage.
Live from Hanson Island British Columbia Bug interviews Dr Paul Spong of Orcalab – studying the habits and speech of the Orcas (Killer Whales) http://orcalab.org/ Live every Tuesday at 5:20 PM on KSRO 1350 AM and 103.5 FM the Drive with Jaxon. Right click to download this podcast as an audio file. The post Reclamation Road Radio Podcast Episode 15 Part 2 – Dr Paul Spong of Orcalab appeared first on Heritage Salvage.
Bug interviews Trisha Almond along with the Commission’s Chair, Regina De La Cruz of the Sonoma County Commission on the Status of women on Reclamation Road Radio. Live every Tuesday at 5:20 PM on KSRO 1350 AM and 103.5 FM the Drive with Jaxon. Right click to download this podcast as an audio file. The post Reclamation Road Radio Podcast Episode 14 – Regina De La Cruz & Trisha Almond appeared first on Heritage Salvage.
Bug interviews Em, up and coming P-town Singer daughter of Karen Brockman on Reclamation Road Radio. Live every Tuesday at 5:20 PM on KSRO 1350 AM and 103.5 FM the Drive with Jaxon. Right click to download this podcast as an audio file. The post Reclamation Road Radio Podcast Episode 13 – Em Brockman appeared first on Heritage Salvage.
Bug interviews Jennifer Jensen of Visiting Angels on Reclamation Road Radio. Live every Tuesday at 5:20 PM on KSRO 1350 AM and 103.5 FM the Drive with Jaxon. Right click to download this podcast as an audio file. The post Reclamation Road Radio Podcast Episode 12 – Jennifer Jensen appeared first on Heritage Salvage.
Bug talks story with Paige Green, Passion, People and Photographs; Photogra(fighters) challenge for Valley Fire victims and on being Arann Harris’ wife on Reclamation Road Radio. Live every Tuesday at 5:20 PM on KSRO 1350 AM and 103.5 FM the Drive with Jaxon. Right click to download this podcast as an audio file. The post Reclamation Road Radio Podcast Episode 11 – Paige Green appeared first on Heritage Salvage.
Bug interviewsMary Sheila Gonnella of Occidental Nutrition and we talk about good food and eating right as health care on Reclamation Road Radio. Live every Tuesday at 5:20 PM on KSRO 1350 AM and 103.5 FM the Drive with Jaxon. Right click to download this podcast as an audio file. The post Reclamation Road Radio Podcast Episode 10 – Mary Sheila Gonnella appeared first on Heritage Salvage.
Bug interviews Julia Valentine of the School Garden Network on Reclamation Road Radio. Live every Tuesday at 5:20 PM on KSRO 1350 AM and 103.5 FM the Drive with Jaxon. Right click to download this podcast as an audio file. The post Reclamation Road Radio Podcast Episode 8 – Julia Valentine appeared first on Heritage Salvage.
Bug interviews Craig Anderson, Executive Director of Landpaths on Reclamation Road Radio. Live every Tuesday at 5:20 PM on KSRO 1350 AM and 103.5 FM the Drive with Jaxon. Right click to download this podcast as an audio file. The post Reclamation Road Radio Podcast Episode 7 – Craig Anderson appeared first on Heritage Salvage.
Bug interviews Trathen Heckman, Executive Director of Daily Acts on Reclamation Road Radio. Live every Tuesday at 5:20 PM on KSRO 1350 AM and 103.5 FM the Drive with Jaxon. Right click to download this podcast as an audio file. The post Reclamation Road Radio Podcast Episode 6 – Trathen Heckman appeared first on Heritage Salvage.
Bug interviews Michael Presley of Davero Farms and Winery on Reclamation Road Radio. Live every Tuesday at 5:20 PM on KSRO 1350 AM and 103.5 FM the Drive with Jaxon. Right click to download this podcast as an audio file. The post Reclamation Road Radio Podcast Episode 5 – Michael Presley appeared first on Heritage Salvage.
Bug interviews Gary Starr of GoSun Solar Cooking Adventures on Reclamation Road Radio. Live every Tuesday at 5:20 PM on KSRO 1350 AM and 103.5 FM the Drive with Jaxon. Right click to download this podcast as an audio file. The post Reclamation Road Radio Podcast Episode 4 – Gary Starr appeared first on Heritage Salvage.
Bug interviews Jacquelyn Buchannan of Marin French Cheese company on Reclamation Road Radio. Live every Tuesday at 5:20 PM on KSRO 1350 AM and 103.5 FM the Drive with Jaxon. Right click to download this podcast as an audio file. The post Reclamation Road Radio Podcast Episode 3 – Jacquelyn Buchannan appeared first on Heritage Salvage.
Bug interviews Lt. Ken Savano of the Petaluma police department on Reclamation Road Radio. Live every Tuesday at 5:20 PM on KSRO 1350 AM and 103.5 FM the Drive with Jaxon. Right click to download this podcast as an audio file. The post Reclamation Road Radio Podcast Episode 2 – Lt. Ken Savano appeared first on Heritage Salvage.
Bug interviews John Crowley of AQUS Community on Reclamation Road Radio. Live every Tuesday at 5:20 PM on KSRO 1350 AM and 103.5 FM the Drive with Jaxon. Right click to download this podcast as an audio file. The post Reclamation Road Radio Podcast Episode 1 – John Crowley appeared first on Heritage Salvage.
Description: Get tips on how to learn a foreign language using music, movies, TV, radio and other free and low-cost resources from polyglot Susanna Zaraysky, author of the book, "Language is Music". (Susanna speaks English, Spanish, French, Italian, Russian and Bosnian/Serbo-Croatian.) www.createyourworldbooks.com
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