Tom Simoneau is in today with two guests from J Lohr Vineyards & Wines, Steve Peck, director of winemaking, and Kristen Barnhisel, director of white wines. Dan Berger has brought a 2010 Morgan Sauvignon Blanc from Monterey. Dan Morgan Lee makes this wine, he likes the distinctive flavors of valley floor, green pepper, cilantro, parsley, all the green flavors. Dan finds it fascinating and reminisent of 70s and 80s style wines. In ‘95 or ‘97 we […]

Ross Halleck of Halleck Vineyard joins Steve Jaxon and Dan Berger on California Wine Country today.  They begin tasting a 2019 Gewurtz from Halleck Vineyard which just won best of class in the North Coast wine competition. It won a gold medal and Dan Berger was on the judging panel. Ross Halleck likes Alsatian white wines, which he got to know while living in Kenya as a young man. The merchant class at that time was primarily […]

Alan Baker of Cartograph Wines returns to California Wine Country with Steve Jaxon and Dan Berger. He has been on this show before, the last time was here, on January 8, 2020. First, they taste a bottle from Dan Berger’s cellar, a 2017 Chardonnay from New Zealand, which was fermented in a concrete egg. It’s the first one made in New Zealand ever, made by a master concrete expert. With the shape of the egg, the […]

Mitch Cosentino from pureCru Wines is our guest on California Wine Country with Steve Jaxon and Dan Berger. The first pureCru vintage was in 2006, but he started Cosentino winery in 1980. They went public, which he says he didn’t enjoy, and he left it in 2010. They don’t have a tasting room at the moment. He considers pureCru “a winemaker’s wine project.” Before we go on with Mitch, Dan Berger has brought a “cellar dweller” […]

Cody Rasmussen from Desire Lines Wine Company and Megan Cline of Gust Wines are both in the studio today for California Wine Country with Steve Jaxon and Dan Berger. They are here to celebrate the 3rd anniversary of the Petaluma Gap AVA on California Wine Country with Steve Jaxon and Dan Berger. Barry Herbst from Bottle Barn is also in the studio today. Here is the website of the Petaluma Gap Winegrowers Alliance. The first wine of […]

Pete Foppiano is sitting in for Steve Jaxon today on California Wine Country, but Dan Berger is in the studio as usual and his guest is Haley Jackson Hartford Murray from Hartford Family Winery. Barry Herbst from Bottle Barn is also in today. The Hartford was established as a winery by Jess Jackson in 1994. It is in Forestville in a remote area of Russian River Valley. Dan calls it the most ideal winery on the […]

Greg Graziano, winemaker for the Graziano Family of Wines, 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 […]

California Wine Country today has Tom Simoneau in the studio with Steve Jaxon and Dan Berger, to present his favorite wines of 2020. At the end of this episode they speak with Joy Sterling, from Iron Horse Winery, which is Tom Simoneau’s 2020 Winery of the Year. Here are the wines presented by Tom and Steve. Today’s page was written by Tom Simoneau. He can be reached at [email protected]. Best Whites Sparkling Wine: Iron Horse Vineyards 2016 […]

Our guest today on California Wine Country with Steve Jaxon and Dan Berger is Martha Barra from Barra Winery of Mendocino. Charlie Barra started the home ranch in 1955. At the time they were growing “grapes that nobody cared about” as Dan Berger says, grapes that went into jug wine. But Charlie had friends in Napa Valley and asked them how to change the quality of his ranch’s output. They began with 150 and have grown […]

Stu Smith, co-founder of Smith-Madrone Winery, joins Steve Jaxon and Dan Berger today. He will be on Zoom from his home on the vineyard in upper Napa Valley. The last time he was on California Wine Country was May 3, 2017, here is a link to that podcast episode. Before they begin talking to Stu Smith, Dan Berger has brought another “cellar dweller” to the show, an old bottle from Dan Berger’s massive personal wine cellar, to […]

Alex Holman, the winemaker at Notre Vue Winery joins Steve Jaxon and Dan Berger on California Wine Country today. This is Alex’s first time on the show. Notre Vue means “Our View” in French. The property was once called the Balverne Estate. Notre Vue is their top tier brand that can only be acquired through the estate. Balverne is their 3-tiered brand, more of new world varietals, with wider distribution. Notre Vue is more based on old-world […]

Tom and Rusty Eddy from Tom Eddy Winery are our in-studio guests today on California Wine Country with Steve Jaxon and Dan Berger. Michelle Marquez is sitting in for the vacationing Steve Jaxon today. Tom Eddy Winery is the most northern parcel in Napa county and their property straddles the line between Sonoma and Napa counties. His parents moved to Davis when he was young so he went to high school there and was attracted to […]

Miro Tcholakov from Miro Cellars is our guest today on California Wine Country with Steve Jaxon and Dan Berger. Joy Sterling from Iron Horse is also staying in the studio, from the previous hour. Miro Tcholokov has won many awards for Miro Cellars wines. He has been the full-time winemaker at Trentadue Winery since 1999. This is his 31st year as a winemaker in California. He came to the US as an exchange student and worked […]

Darryl Miller from Dehlinger Winery is the guest today on California Wine Country with Steve Jaxon and Dan Berger. He has a background in the wine business, first in Seattle then in California since 1975. He moved to Sonoma County and started his own wine brokerage. There were only 2 or 3 distributors in California at the time. He got some really good wineries together and he could represent them. In 1982 he met Tom Dehlinger […]

Nick Goldschmidt owner and winemaker of Goldschmidt Vineyards is our guest on California Wine Country with Steve Jaxon and Dan Berger today. The last time Nick Goldschmidt was on California Wine Country was this episode in May of 2018. Goldschmidt Vineyards is active on Instagram and maintains this YouTube channel, where Nick posts updates about his winemaking activities for his own production and for his clients in six countries in the northern and southern hemispheres. The first tasting […]

Lisa Amaroli, winemaker at Benziger Family Winery, and Chris Benziger both join Steve Jaxon and Dan Berger on California Wine Country. Chris’ family founded the winery in the early 1970s and Lisa Amaroli has been their winemaker since 1999. Chris Benziger tells the family story. His grandfather was a bootlegger during Prohibition. After WWII, he came back, legitimized his liquor distribution business, then Chris’ eldest brother Mike moved to California to the Livermore Valley for a […]