California Wine Country podcast

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Treść dostarczona przez Steve Jaxon & Dan Berger, Steve Jaxon, and Dan Berger. Cała zawartość podcastów, w tym odcinki, grafika i opisy podcastów, jest przesyłana i udostępniana bezpośrednio przez Steve Jaxon & Dan Berger, Steve Jaxon, and Dan Berger lub jego partnera na platformie podcastów. Jeśli uważasz, że ktoś wykorzystuje Twoje dzieło chronione prawem autorskim bez Twojej zgody, możesz postępować zgodnie z procedurą opisaną tutaj https://pl.player.fm/legal.

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Andrianna Natsoulas: Don't Cage Our Oceans 40:50

10 dni temu40:50

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“That's taxpayer’s money that is going to support research and development and pilot projects to develop a food system that is based on environmental destruction and greed and disregard for animals, fish, and any of the other marine mammals that might be around it.” - Andrianna Natsoulas Andrianna Natsoulas is the campaign director for Don't Cage Our Oceans, an organization that exists to keep our oceans free from industrial fish farms. Offshore finfish farming is the mass cultivation of finfish in marine waters, in underwater or floating net pens, pods, and cages. Offshore finfish farms are factory farms that harm public health, the environment, and local communities and economies that rely on the ocean and its resources. Don’t Cage Our Oceans are a coalition of diverse organizations working together to stop the development of offshore finfish farming in the United States through federal law, policies, and coalition building. And, although it is not yet happening, right now the US Administration and Congress are promoting this kind of farming, which would be nothing short of disastrous for the oceans, the planet and the people and animals who live here. dontcageouroceans.org…

California Wine Country

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California Wine Country

1
Tom Gendall, winemaker at Cline Family Cellars 46:38

7 dni temu46:38

46:38

Tom Gendall, winemaker at Cline Family Cellars is our guest on California Wine Country with Steve Jaxon and Dan Berger. Cline Family Cellars has been featured on this show before, most recently when Fred Cline and his daughter Hillary Cline were on this episode on January 4, 2023 . Tom Gendall from Cline Family Cellars is our guest on California Wine Country with Steve Jaxon and Dan Berger. The Cline family has been on this show before, most recently when Fred Cline and his daughter Hillary Cline were on this episode on January 4, 2023. Tom was born and raised in Christchurch, New Zealand and has wine experience in both hemispheres. He also made wine in Germany. Some of the Cline family vineyards were planted as early as 1904. They survived Prohibition and Phylloxera. They started making wine under this label in 1984. Hold on to your hat! The first wine they will taste is the 2023 Chardonnay from Carneros, where you had better strap your hat on because the wind will carry it off. Tom describes the process that produced it, but he gives credit to the great fruit from that year. From year to year, they finished picking month later than before. In 2024 they finished picking on the 16th of October and in 2023 they finished on the 12th of November. It was a cooler year so the grapes could stay on the vine almost a month longer than the year before. Dan remembers the vintage of 2010 and 2011, which were both cool vintages. 2023 was like that but even better. It is great now but in 10 years will be even better. Tom Gendall is one of the two winemakers at Cline Family Cellars. The other is Katie Hoggins. She is also from New Zealand and has also worked around the world making wine. He compares their collaboration to building, as if he were the architect and she is the engineer. Dan describes the Cline Family Cellars history as having been through everything imaginable in more than a century of growing grapes. They survived Phylloxera because their vines grow in sand which does not bear phylloxera. The secret to their balance is the lees contact that they give to the wine, which imparts flavor. Tom describes how the root systems feed flavor into the vines and the grapes. Later in the show Melissa Galliani joins the group and Tom opens a Mourvèdre which is ra…

California Wine Country

1
Dennis Hill from Langhart-Hill Wines 46:25

14 dni temu46:25

46:25

Dan and Dennis Dennis Hill, co-founder of Langhart & Hill Wines joins Steve Jaxon and Dan Berger on California Wine Country today. The last time he was on California Wine Country was this episode in September of 2023 . The first tasting is a 2023 Chardonnay. While a lot of California Chards are the heavy oaky buttery ML style, this is different. It is more in the European style, higher acidity and better for pairing with food. They use high quality grapes from Sonoma County so there are a lot of fruit flavors in it. Dennis Hill and his wife were both raised in Healdsburg. There was a Renaissance in the wine industry in the 1970s when he was starting in the business – right place, right time. Healdsburg is located at the confluence of the Dry Creek River and the Russian River. That puts it at the intersection of three main viticultural areas, Dry Creek, Anderson Valley and Russian River Valley. In the northern part of this region the afternoons are hotter and in the southern part, it is cooler and foggier. Where to find Langhart & Hill wines Langhart & Hill wines are available in restaurants and some retail locations. They do not have a tasting room. Their production is still rather small for that. After working for some very large wineries with complicated operations and relationships, Dennis enjoys being able to work by himself. Their vineyards are located in the different climate zones described, so there is a four-week window for them to harvest everything. Dennis describes their two brands. Landhart & Hill are classic Sonoma County varieties, a Chard, two Pinot Noirs, a Rosé and a Merlot. They also have another label, Rumplestiltskin , which is for the less common varieties. For instance, today there is a Dobricic, a Croation variety, and an Orange wine, made of Trouseau Gris grapes originally from the Jura region in France. Trousseau is a Gris variety, not purely a white grape. Wine grapes come in three colors, black, aka red, white and gris, meaning gray. There is also Trousseau Noir. It’s a tricky grape to use. You have to harvest not too soon or too late. Then, if you want Orange wine, you have to leave it on the skins just long enough.…

California Wine Country

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Brooks Note Wines owner Garry Brooks 36:45

21 dni temu36:45

36:45

Dan Berger and Garry Brooks. Garry Brooks, owner of Brooks Note Wines , is our guest on California Wine Country with Steve Jaxon and Dan Berger today. This is his first time on CWC. Garry grew up in Annapolis, Maryland. As he grew up the family had wine on the table. He served in the US Navy and got sent to France and Spain where he had a chance to learn about wine all over the world. After the Navy he ended up in northern California and planted some vines in his sister-in-law’s garden. He was working in middle management in the tech world and his wife convinced him to take the great leap and make a career change. He attended UC Davis then worked at Ravenswood, Acacia, Kosta Brown and Dutton Goldfield. Then he and his wife started Brooks Note in 2012. The first tasting is a Chardonnay. Garry likes Chardonnay to be “a little bit restrained.” It is made with grapes from three different vineyards. Dan finds that it has rich mid-palette and good acidity and subtle character. Dan would decant it for about two hours. Petaluma Gap Dan explains how Petaluma Gap wines get their special character. The wind makes the big difference. The acidity is going to be higher because of that. There is consistent wind every day in Petaluma Gap. The vines slow their sugar production down and it lets the grapes develop more flavor. The skins become thicker and the plants get a longer growing season. Garry has a lot of ways of describing it (about 9 minutes in). They can pick grapes as much as a month later than in other regions. They are also tasting a 2023 Pinot Noir. Of course it is very young. It comes from four different vineyards in Petaluma Gap. Taylor’s Crown, with high elevation and volcanic soil, then Panther Ridge vineyard, rocky basalt and pumice, some from Paradise Vineyard which gets blasted by the wind and the last from Zyer Ranch.…

California Wine Country

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The Steven Kent Winery 47:04

28 dni temu47:04

47:04

Steven Kent Steven Kent, owner of The Steven Kent Winery in Livermore Valley, joins Steve Jaxon and Dan Berger on California Wine Country. Dan Berger recently visited Livermore with his friend, winemaker Clark Smith, to investigate Cabernet Franc. Steven given Cabernet Franc a privileged position in his portfolio. For centuries, Cabernet Franc has been used as a blending grape, but Steven says it can do a whole lot more. He has brought four Cabernet Francs for tasting today, Steven Kent’s son is the seventh generation of Kent family winemakers. In 1854 they started making wine in San José. The Livermore Valley was a wine producing region forty years before Sonoma County. Steven says that Cabernet Franc and the Livermore Valley both deserve more recognition. Dan attended a Cabernet Franc festival there recently and there were a lot of people there who are very enthusiastic about Cab Franc. Cab Franc: not just a blending grape. Cabernet Franc gets harvested about 2 weeks earlier than Cabernet Sauvignon. It has less tannin and more aromatics with some dried herb character. In some ways it is a finer variety. Dan calls Cab Franc the father and Cab Sauvignon, “the wild and wooly teenage son.” For people who are looking for a slightly different approach to red wine, Cab Franc is a good choice. It is graceful and doesn’t have the same power as Cab Sauvignon. They have a 2022 Cab Franc from the Ghielmetti vineyard. Livermore is hot by day but gets cold at night. The nearby Altamont pass is a windy place, which extends the growing season. They would normally harvest this in early November. It gets no new oak. Dan Berger says, “This is red wine of a very serious nature but without any of the heavy tannins or the over-ripe components that sometimes creep into bigger, richer, oilier wines that are aged in barrels.” He also calls it “the Pinot Noir of Cabernet.” Dan would give it two to three more years, but it doesn’t need much smoothing because it’s already more than half way there. Located in Livermore They are located on Vasco Road in Livermore. Their tasting room is in a light industrial area, with seven other wineries nearby, known call the place “Vasco Row.” They buy 95% of their fruit from their local friends, and the remaining portion from the Santa Cruz area. They have a club lounge at the winery for their members. Dan calls it “uncontaminated by tourists.” The Kents are the oldest continuous winemaking family in the country. Lineage is another label that they produce. When he and his father Steven Kent Senior opened Steven Kent Winery, they wanted to produce high quality Bordeaux style wines. After working with a lot of Rhone varietals, he wanted to return to Bordeaux styles. In 2007 he started Lineage as a Bordeaux blend and so they could produce elegant age-worthy wines that would go well with food. The one they are tasting is the 2017. Dan says it is well-balanced. It’s called Lineage because it represents the family history in winemaking.…

California Wine Country

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Barbara Barrielle 31:41

5 weeks temu31:41

31:41

Barbara Barrielle Barbara Barrielle , publicist, writer, actress and producer, joins Steve Jaxon and Dan Berger on California Wine Country. She writes about travel, wine, food and entertainment and she also works for Anderson Valley Winegrowers, promoting the International White Wine Festival . Her documentary film about Anderson Valley wines features Dan Berger. The Anderson Valley Winegrowers Association is putting on the International White Wine Festival. The festival used to be called the Alsatian Wine Festival because it focused on Alsatian aromatic whites that grow in Anderson Valley. The valley is also known for Pinot Noir now. The new name of the festival opens the door to other whites that are also growing in Anderson Valley. Dan Berger will be in charge of the Rieslings. There will also be Pinot Gris, Gewürtztraminer and lots of others. As an example, Dan has brought a dry Riesling from Ra Ra Wines. Ra Ra wines is run by winemaker Kara Groom who was on this episode of CWC last year on Feb. 16. 2024 . Cole Ranch grows the best Riesling in California The fruit comes from Cole Ranch, which grows the best Riesling in Mendocino County. They have a total of 81 acres and only four and a half of Riesling. Riesling and Cabernet Franc are selling well, but all the other California varieties are down. This is in the context of a huge downturn in overall wine sales. Anderson Valley also produces fine sparkling wines. The best known brands are Sharffenberger and Roderer. In about 1980 the Roderer company in Champagne, France, decided to look for property in the US. Their agent hired the Foppiano family to take him around to different properties. They found a ridge where the influence of marine air flow was arriving. They decided to plant a couple of acres of vines as a test, which went well. To this day, Roderer is making the best sparkling wines in the US. They compare well to Iron Horse, the best American maker. Lichen Estate also makes excellent product. There are small producers like Pennyroyal Farms and Navarro that also have sparkling wine production.…

California Wine Country

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Henry Belmonte of VJB Cellars SPECIAL 23:35

6 weeks temu23:35

23:35

Henry Belmonte and Madisyn Goerlitz Henry Belmonte and Madisyn Goerlitz are here from VJB Cellars and Wellington Cellars, on a special podcast-only edition of California Wine Country, recorded last week on Jan. 20 on The Drive with Steve Jaxon, on Wine Country Radio. Henry Belmonte and Steve Jaxon go way back together. Steve used to say he lived at Portofino on 4th Street. VJB Cellars in Kenwood is a place with a family story behind it. They made a migration from the restaurant industry to the wine industry, as a family business. After his brother’s passing, he named his winery after him by the initials VJB. They make wine but they are also still focused on hospitality and providing a great experience, environment and atmosphere. They apply the same philosophy to making wine. Henry’s mother ran the kitchen at Portofino and also still directs the elaborate traditional Italian offerings at VJB Cellars. VJB Cellars makes 95% Italian varietals. Wellington Cellars, their other winery down the road, focusses on French varietals. VJB has about 20 different Italian varietals, all of the ones that are popular in Italy. Some of them are very small runs, 200-300 cases. You have to be in the wine club to access these wines. From Food to Wine Belmonte’s Deli was their first venture into restaurants, in the late ‘70s and ‘80s. It was a springboard to open Portofino’s in Santa Rosa on Columbus Day in 1987. VJB Cellars is like walking into a small town in Italy, with an expansive piazza with tables and chairs. There are storefronts, for the deli, tasting room, a Tommy Bahama boutique store and a chocolate and gelato shop. May 26, 2003 they opened their doors as a stand-alone tasting room. He knew he had to bring something they were really good at, into the shop to make it more attractive. It took about 7 or 8 years to build out the full operation, with all the feeling for hospitality, experience and entertainment along with the finest flavors. Wellington Cellars came about when they outgrew their production facilities for VJB. He and his father found the Wellington property down the road which came up for sale. They were really just looking for production, but it turned out to be a bonus that the whole operation was already there. Maria Gabriella Belmonte is Henry’s mother was the guiding force at Portofino and has the same role now at La Cucina and the Red Rooster Kitchen in Petaluma. She has passed her knowledge and insight over to Henry. About That Italian Sausage Pizza You can see all of that knowledge at work in the pizza that Henry has brought for Steve to taste, and in the pride that Henry takes in making it. It is an Italian Sausage pizza from Red Rooster Kitchen. They make their own dough from scratch. They also make their own pork sausage and their own sauce from fresh tomatoes. Everything is as fresh as it can be. The accolades for this pizza have come from far and wide. Madisyn Goerlitz Madisyn Goerlitz also tells about her role as Social Media manager for VJB Cellars and Wellington Cellars. She was a student at Sonoma State University and had to finish her last terms online during Covid. So her goal, which she has achieved, was to make it back to Sonoma County after all that. She is developing her role in hospitality and marketing and is “…happy to be part of the story.”…

California Wine Country

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Anderson Valley’s International White Wine Festival 40:58

6 weeks temu40:58

40:58

Courtney DeGraff, Executive Director of Anderson Valley Winegrowers , is our guest on California Wine Country with Steve Jaxon and Dan Berger. They are putting on the International White Wine Festival , for the fifteenth year, on February 15 and 16 at the Mendocino County Fairgrounds. It used to be called the Alsatian White Wine Festival. The name change opens the festival to feature a wider variety of wines, such as Grüner Veltliner and Chardonnay. Dan Berger will be in charge of the Rieslings. The in-person Grand Tasting is at the Fairgrounds in Booneville, on Saturday. Early access from 11 to 12 and general access from 12 to 3. Go to this page at the AV Wines website for more info about the International White Wine Festival and for links to purchase tickets. Use the discount code RADIO for 20% off. Anderson Valley is growing in Chardonnay production. Most of the fruit used to go to sparkling wines but they are also producing some very nice still Chardonnays now. Scharffenberger Sparkling Wine Barry Herbst has brought a Scharffenberger sparkling wine, which he considers to be a great value. They make six or seven different kinds of sparkling wine. It is also a beautiful property to visit, in Philo. Dan calls it more persistent in its flavor profile, with more structure. It’s $21.99 at Bottle Barn. The winemaker Jeffery Jindra came over from Husch Vineyards. Dan Berger reports that there are several Napa valley growers who are also buying property in Anderson Valley. It is a more relaxed setting. It’s definitely worth a visit. There are also other attractions like beer and cheese making. Bottle Barn is in the process of putting out the San Francisco Chronicle Competition winners. They will have about a hundred different awarded wines. After that, the Press Democrat limited competition (north of the Golden Gate) takes place. Barry’s other wines today are the Maggy Hawk Chardonnay, a Gewurtztraminer from Husch and a Goldeneye Brut Rosé. They are all pictured in the top illustration and are also all available at Bottle Barn.…

California Wine Country

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Ross Cobb from Cobb Wines with Ziggy the Wine Gal 40:11

7 weeks temu40:11

40:11

Cobb Wines tasted today. Ross Cobb from Cobb Wines and Ziggy the Wine Gal from The Krush join Steve Jaxon on California Wine Country. Dan Berger is away this week. Ross Cobb first met Ziggy when he was at Williams Selyem in 1998 or 99, while he was working with Bob Cabral there. Cobb Wines is a winery inspired by creative freedom. A quote from Patti Smith provides context. Robb was always motivated by music and he lets “…Patti Smith explain the rest.” Ross has also been working with Les Claypool’s Pachyderm Wines They start by tasting the Cobb Wines Riesling, from a 14-15 acre vineyard at a high elevation. It is officially the smallest appellation in America. The soil is limestone, at 1200 feet. It is the last of the Sonoma Coast vineyards that he picks every year. The fermentation is long and slow. He just tasted his 2024 vintage, which began last Fall, so even that step comes late with this wine. It is balanced between fruit and alcohol. How about some sushi? Fresh oysters? Fresh Dungeness crab? Ziggy says it is a dry Riesling that should go with “dry January” whatever that is. Ross Cobb’s 25th Vintage Ross grew up in Valley Ford and his dad worked at Bodega Marine Lab. They were friends with other families that made wine in the area. The family moved away and later he went to UC Santa Cruz to study Soil Science and Environmental Engineering. They have lived at Coastlands Vineyard since 1989. He worked for a lot of different wineries in northern California. In 2001 He started Cobb Wines and this year will be his 25th vintage. He only started making the dry Riesling in 2016. He also makes Chardonnay in the traditional way, not the big buttery style that Ziggy calls “Chateau Two by Four” with too much oak. Cobb Wines dot com is the website with all of the wines they have today, available for sale. They are also at Bottle Barn and many local restaurants. They aren’t a tasting room but they can receive guests.…

California Wine Country

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Arista Winery 32:03

8 weeks temu32:03

32:03

Dan and Mark. Mark McWilliams from Arista Winery is our guest on this edition of California Wine Country with Steve Jaxon and Dan Berger. Dan’s weekly cellar dweller bottle is a 2022 Chenin Blanc from Les Atlètes du Vin in France. $15 a bottle at Bottle Barn. Chenin Blanc is coming back. You can get 7-9 tons an acre of Chenin Blanc and it makes nice wine. Mike says it’s refreshing. Mark’s parents started as grape growers when he was young. They grew a lot of Cabernet. His mom lived in Burgundy after college and got to know Pinot Noir. They family felt a calling to make wine. In 2002 they started the Arista brand to make wine. They use their own grapes and grapes grown elsewhere. Their Chardonnays have been very highly rated. In December they did a 10-year retrospective tasting of their Chardonnay. In 2013 their new winemaker Matt McCourtney was on the job. Now those wines are aging very well and still have years to go. Arista’s style has been to focus on the fruit, not on manipulating the wine to make something that the grapes don’t want to do. Acidity is always front and center in their wines. They also have the 2021 Russian River Valley Chardonnay. The appellation wines are the top of their production. Wines like this which are not single-vineyard estate wines, are put together on purpose to combine elements ideally. This wine has so much complexity that it promises to age well. Arista is the shining star of California Chardonnays Steve Jaxon quotes Wine Spectator, which declared, “Arista Wines are the shining star of California Chardonnays.” Mark says that’s because they use the best fruit and they have the best staff. There is a hazelnut component in the flavors that Dan detects. It resembles Meursault which is a district in Burgundy. The wines have trace flavors of hazelnut. There is also a lemon peel component in the nose. But the wine is only 3 years old. “A great Chardonnay like this really deserves time in bottle,” says Dan “Lay It Down” Berger. Mark declares that there is world-class Chardonnay coming from California and Oregon and that Burgundy no longer is the only place that makes the best wine from that varietal.…

California Wine Country

1
Julie Pedroncelli St. John 41:13

9 weeks temu41:13

41:13

Julie Pedroncelli St. John is back as a guest on California Wine Country with Steve Jaxon and Dan Berger today. Her last time on this show was this episode of April 26, 2023 . The Pedroncelli family winery began when her grandparents bought some property in Dry Creek Valley that contained a vineyard, a home and a shuttered winery. This was seven years before the repeal of Prohibition. They sold grapes and then after Prohibition was repealed in December, 1933 they started producing wine. They have been family-owned and operated ever since then. The Dry Creek Valley has ideal conditions for certain grapes including Sauvignon Blanc and Zinfandel. The Pedroncelli property is on the hillside. Different ends of the property have different microclimates and today they farm about 11 different varieties on all of their vineyards. By owning the property the wine production is not subject to the financial pressure of a mortgage. Winemaker Montse Reese Their winemaker in Montse Reese who just celebrated 18 years there. Everything they grow comes into the winery. They also buy from growers all around Dry Creek Valley. The Zinfandel they are tasting today is an example of their product that comes from their own vineyards and from other local growers. There is a tab on the Pedroncelli website called Vino in my Dino, which comes from the Flintstone’s Dino the Dinosaur cup. When Julie was 5 years old her first taste of wine, watered down, of course, came from one of those. Julie has brought a 2023 Chardonnay that comes from F. Johnson vineyard in southern Dry Creek Valley. The winemaker Montse Reese put it in French oak barrels for 8 months, and it undergoes malolactic fermentation sur lies . This makes a wine with complex citrus and melon flavors. It is a candidate for at least a year of aging but is already tasty. It has a wild tropical fruit component which suggests that the wine will improve with aging or when decanted. “Time in bottle or time in the air,” giving aeration helps a lot, says Dan.…

California Wine Country

1
Mike Carpenter, The Redd Collection 36:04

10 weeks temu36:04

36:04

Brandi, Dan, Steve and Mike. Mike Carpenter, The Redd Collection owner is back on California Wine Country with Steve Jaxon and Dan Berger. His last time on the show was this episode on November 3, 2023 . Dan Berger has brought a magnum of a wine that he himself made 33 years ago. It is a 1991 Cabernet from the Napa Valley. Its aging was in an old French oak barrel. It was a project for his family, when his sons were young, the youngest was 4 that year. They opened it last night and it was still really good. Mike Carpenter from the Redd Collection is back on California Wine Country. The Redd Collection is a wine retail business that is built on a stock of old, rare and collectable wines. There are some rare wines, such as an old vine Chablis, from 2020. Dan Berger says this is French style Chardonnay “to beat the band.” This drinks like a $100 bottle but sells for $45, says Mike. The Redd Collection began with a large inventory acquired from a single collector. His name was close to Redd, and the client did not want his own name on it, so the name Redd is a derivation from that. Visit Chigazola Merchants online to shop their unique selection of fine Italian wines. Mike used to work in a wine store in LA, where there was a stock that is boring and overwhelming. “150 feet of the same varietal.” He wanted wines that were unique, old and rare. Dan points out that these wines are already aged, so the wines have the mature character that you cannot get from underaged wines. Also, it is expensive to store wine properly. Dan also mentions that these wines have been carefully vetted, for origin and quality but also for how they have been kept. The first thing that goes in the fruit, when a wine has not been aged properly. The Zelma Long collection He is currently offering private collection of a famous Napa Valley winemaker named Zelma Long. There is a wide selection of wines that go back to the ‘50s and ’60s. The oldest is a half bottle of 1929 wine. Zelma Long was a great collector of wine. She was a winemaker at Robert Mondavi. He wrote in his book that losing Zelma Long from his staff was his biggest regret. She became the winemaker at Simi for a long time. She became the president at Simi which made her the first woman top executive at a major winery.…

California Wine Country

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Dan Berger Selections with Melissa Galliani 31:14

11 weeks temu31:14

31:14

Melissa and Dan Dan Berger selections are the focus today on California Wine Country with Steve Jaxon and Dan Berger, with Melissa Galliani special guest. Melissa was also on the show on this episode just about a couple of months ago, on Nov. 1, 2024 . Joy Sterling from Iron Horse Vineyards was due to be our guest today but at the last minute she was not available. Instead, we have a table of Dan Berger’s selections, including one from Iron Horse, for tasting and discussion. Melissa Galliani (Wine Country Radio General Manager) is also in the studio today. Dan’s cellar wine is a 2017 St. Andrews Chardonnay which brings up the subject of the currently depressed wine market. Dan offers some reasons for it, including the plethora of other beverages that are available for drinkers. One of them is RTD which means ready-to-drink cocktails in a can. Visit Chigazola Merchants online to shop their unique selection of fine Italian wines. This Chardonnay is from Wakefield, in Clare Valley, Australia. It has a little bit of toasted hazelnut flavors, along with fruit flavors that are still strong, apple and pineapple. Wakefield also makes a Shiraz and a dry Riesling that Dan likes. Australia consumes a lot of wine, although they are working under some restrictions on total alcohol. The Australian consumer cares about flavor profiles, which are stronger when alcohol is lower. The driving laws in Australia are also quite strict. If you can keep the alcohol below 14% you can pay 50 cents per gallon less in taxes. The next tasting is a much y0unger wine, a 2023 Sauvignon Blanc from New Zealand. “Whoa! This is a whole different ball game!” says Steve. This comes from Marlborough. It has an “unbelievable” nose. It’s a little sweet but has plenty of acid. It comes from a property that Gallo purchased in New Zealand about 20 years ago. We have seen lots of wine coming from New Zealand in the last few years, including lots of Sauvignon Blancs. Dan’s opinion is that their cold climate Pinot Noirs are the most interesting wines coming from there and they are also some of the most popular wines in the country.…

California Wine Country

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Dry Creek Vineyard winemaker Tim Bell 39:11

12 weeks temu39:11

39:11

Dry Creek Vineyard winemaker Tim Bell is back on California Wine Country with Steve Jaxon and Dan Berger today. Tim has been on CWC a few times but the last one was this episode on August 4, 2021 . Dan Berger gives credit to Tim Bell for making wines that are interesting for their subtlety. He tells how his first exposure to wine was in retail. He went to UC Davis, worked at a custom crush facility for a while, then at Freemark Abbey for 10 years making Rutherford Cabernet. From there he worked at Kunde estate, where they had more then 600 acres of vineyards. After five years there, he got the opportunity to move to Dry Creek Vineyard. It is one of the rare family-owned wineries that is still in the hands of the original family owners. The other winemaker is Brian Pruett . Sauvignon Blanc in Dry Creek Valley Dan Berger talks about when David Stare planted Sauvignon Blanc in Dry Creek Valley, he had an intuition that it would work, but nobody knew yet. Tim describes a lot of the varietals that they have planted. Visit Chigazola Merchants online to shop their unique selection of fine Italian wines. They have a 2022 Chardonnay from Marchelle, Greg La Follette’s brand. After all these whites, they also have some Zinfandel. Dry Creek Vineyards claims credit for being the first winery to use the term “Old Vines” on the label. There are several old vineyards in the area that are also family-owned, which produce fruit that they use. These vineyards are field blends of Zinfandel with a scattering of other varieties. There are head-trained vines and are dry farmed. Dan detects a violet spice and bay leaf flavors. But the best part is the structure, which makes it ideal for food like pizza. The one they are tasting is a 2021.…

California Wine Country

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Clark Smith WineSmith Unusual Varietals 50:50

13 weeks temu50:50

50:50

Dan Berger and Clark Smith. Clark Smith is back on California Wine Country with Steve Jaxon and Dan Berger, to discuss WineSmith unusual varietals and more. Clark Smith is an influential wine consultant, university instructor, scientist and musician. That is his website, Who Is Clark Smith? which is about wine and more. He is also one of the most frequently appearing guests in the history of California Wine Country. His most recent CWC show is this one last May. Clark Smith applies the full spectrum of creative powers to making wine. He is known for making wine from unusual varietals, many that nobody has heard of. Dan Berger has known Clark Smith for decades and their conversation is one of hundreds they have had about wine over the years. This is the full unedited live show, nearly an hour of Dan and Clark’s combined experience. Visit Chigazola Merchants online to shop their unique selection of fine Italian wines. Clark Smith has brought a Chardonnay that he made, in a Faux Chablis style. A lot of people have grown tired of the big buttery toasty Chardonnays. That wine can be made in a very different way that gives it a steely, mineral flavor, not the oaky creamy kind that comes from ML (malolactic fermentation). As an example of WineSmith unusual varietals, it is at least an alternative way of making a common varietal. This is a 2003, so it is well-aged. This wine is an example of Clark’s Forgeries and Oddities. This is Clark’s other website, WineSmith Wines , devoted entirely to wine.…

California Wine Country

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Williams Selyem Winemaker Jeff Mangahas 28:44

15 weeks temu28:44

28:44

Jeff Mangahas Winemaker Jeff Mangahas from Williams Selyem Winery is back on California Wine Country with Steve Jaxon today. Jeff has been on this show a few times before, the most recent was this episode from last March . Williams Selyem produces a limited quantity of wine in the Russian River Valley, primarily Pinot Noir and Chardonnay. Most of their wines come from a single vineyard and so they express varietal and terroir characteristics. While Williams Selyem wines are very famous among well-informed wine enthusiasts, it does not have enough production for its fame to be as widespread as others who make more product and can get it out into more places. Dan Berger calls Williams Selyem, “…one of Sonoma County’s greatest wines.” Visit Chigazola Merchants online to shop their unique selection of fine Italian wines. The founders Ed Selyem and Burt Williams were early garagistes making wine in the late ‘70s. They came out with the 1985 Rocchioli Vineyard bottling that won the California State Fair Sweepstakes in 1987. After that, demand shot up and they had to allocate individual bottles of wine to people. Jeff’s first career was as a cancer research biologist with a degree in molecular biology from University of Washington. He became curious about wine while living in the pacific northwest. Wanting to try something different, he took a degree from UC Davis in viticulture and enology and has been working in the Russian River Valley since then. They make many individual bottlings of single vineyard varietals, and Jeff is happy that he gets to work with the same top quality vineyards year after year. “Greatness in the bottle starts with greatness in the vineyard.” Because they are a vineyard-designate specialist, each wine has a unique profile that is a reflection of the location.…

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