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, […]

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 […]

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. […]

There is no new California Wine Country episode this week, due to statewide Coronavirus precautions. For this week’s podcast episode, we begin a series of reruns of episodes that feature women in the wine business. This episode was originally broadcast on August 23, 2017. Cheers!  Megan Schofield, winemaker for Robert Mondavi Winery, joins Tom Simoneau, Dan Berger and Steve Jaxon, who are all excited to have a 2014 Robert Mondavi To Kalon I-Block Fumé Blanc to […]

Jeff Gaffner, winemaker for Black Kite Cellars, is back on California Wine Country with Steve Jaxon and Dan Berger, after a three-year absence from the show. (Here is the last show he appeared on, recorded in March of 2017.) Barry Herbst from our sponsor Bottle Barn is not in this week. Right off the bat, they taste a 10-year-old Black Kite Semillon, as Jeff tells the story of Black Kite Cellars. The owners opened Black Kite Cellars […]

Dan Berger and Barry Herbst are with Steve Jaxon today on California Wine Country. Steve Jaxon begins by asking Dan Berger about the Wine Glut, the overabundance of wine on the market right now. Dan tells about how wine is like many other agricultural products, there are cycles of scarcity and abundance. In 2009, wine was scarce and prices were high. This year, prices are falling pretty much across the board. Even Trader Joe’s has lowered […]

Laurence Sterling from Iron Horse Vineyards is here today with Steve Jaxon and Dan Berger on California Wine Country. Barry Herbst, the wine buyer at Bottle Barn, is also here. The Iron Horse Vineyards property was one of the original post-gold-rush farm estates. The owners sold it to Rodney Strong, who had a vision in the late ‘60s and early ‘70s that it would be an ideal place to grow Chardonnay and Pinot Noir. Then Laurence […]

This is a sample podcast episode of Off the Vine (piggybacking on California Wine Country) to give you an idea of what an OTV podcast could look like and to see some of the available systems and tools. For another example, check out this OTV episode with Erik Miller of Kokomo Wines. Here, I ran a current OTV show in a CWC slot during the Drive’s recent summer break.  Off the Vine is back on the […]

This episode was originally recorded on Wednesday, October 4, 2017. There is no new show today due to unforseen circumstances. . In this repeat episode, Ed and Adam Sbragia from Sbragia Family Vineyards and Mark Tchelistcheff join Steve Jaxon, co-host Dan Berger, Tom Simoneau and Barry Herbst.  Ed Sbragia of Sbragia Family Vineyards is introduced, with his son Adam. Ed was the winemaker at Beringer Winery for a long time but now he has started his […]

Nicole Hitchcock is our featured guest on California Wine Country with Steve Jaxon and Dan Berger today. She is the winemaker of J Vineyards and Winery. Her colleague Chef Carl Shelton is also here and he has brought several delicious appetizers. Tom Simoneau is also on today’s show. The show starts with a cork popping out of a magnum bottle of J Cuvée 20 sparkling wine. This was Tom Simoneau’s Sparkling Wine of the Year for […]

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 […]

Corey Beck, chief winemaker for Francis Ford Coppola’s wine portfolio, is back on California Wine Country today, joining Steve Jaxon, Dan Berger and Barry Herbst from Bottle Barn. Corey grew up in Knights Valley and his grandfather was a vineyard manager for Chateau Montelena. He planted the vineyard that produced the grapes that won the Judgement of Paris. The label said Alexander Valley-Napa, even if Alexander Valley is actually in Sonoma. Dan Berger briefly tells the […]

John Harley is our guest this week on California Wine Country with Steve Jaxon and Dan Berger. His label is called Inizi Wines and he specializes in growing and producing Italian varietals in California which are rarely found in the United States. Inizi Wines was founded by two couples, A.J. and Jen Filipelli and John and Kirsti Harley, in 2012. John and A.J. became friends when they were studying Enology and Viticulture, respectively, at Fresno State, and […]

Greg Morthole visits California Wine Country with Steve Jaxon and Dan Berger today. Barry Herbst is back today too. Greg Morthole is a winemaker who first worked as a lab technician at Vinquiry in 1999. It’s an analytical lab for wine. Then he worked for Chalk Hill Winery before he joined Rodney Strong in 2005. Today he is the winemaker for Davis Bynum. He got to know wine better from the perspective of the wine lab, […]

Alan Baker from Cartograph Wines joins Steve Jaxon and Dan Berger on the first California Wine Country show of 2020. He was last on this show in December of 2018. Alan Baker was a Music Major in college and worked with music in public radio for 15 years before he got into wine. “It was a Riesling that got me hooked,” he says, as he tells the story. In 2005 he moved to Healdsburg. “I got […]

Tom Simoneau joins Steve Jaxon this week with his 2019 Wines of the Year and to interview Nicole Hitchcock, winemaker at J Vineyards and Tom’s 2019 Winery of the Year. Today’s show notes are by Tom Simoneau. Winery of the Year: J Vineyards & Winery With the J Cuvée 20 being my sparkling wine of the year, I’m here to tell you that’s just a small part of what is happening at J. Since it was […]