dan barwick trecini

Dan Barwick, winemaker, Trecini Winery

Dan Barwick, winemaker, is back on California Wine Country with Steve Jaxon and Dan Berger, with Harry Duke also in the studio. Dan Barwick is here to talk about being the winemaker at Trecini Winery, and more. Dan Barwick has been on California Wine Country before, most recently this episode of July 21 2021, and also this episode of July 29, 2022. First, we have two bottles from Dan Berger’s cellar. First, a Gary Farrell Chardonnay from […]

chigazola merchants umbria

Don Chigazola Wines of Umbria

Don Chigazola is back on California Wine Country with Steve Jaxon and Dan Berger. Don Chigazola runs Chigazola Merchants, which imports specially selected wines from Italy direct to consumers here in California. He and his son spent the month of September in Italy, meeting current producers and looking for new ones. The first wines come from Benedetti & Grigi, one of his suppliers. First, they taste a Grechetto, named Eros, to honor the grape’s Greek origins. It’s […]

tom simoneau 2021

Tom Simoneau 2021 Wines of the Year

Tom Simoneau joins Steve Jaxon, Dan Berger and Harry Duke on California Wine Country today, to present his 2021 Wines of the Year, including the book of the year and winery of the year. Best Whites Sparkling Wine: Domaine Carneros 2014 Le Rêve Blanc De Blancs, Estate Grown, $120. Every now and then we all need to do something special for ourselves, a new car or a pair of earrings for your beautiful wife. Well that’s […]

clark smith wine music

Clark Smith on Pairing Wine with Music

Clark Smith joins Steve Jaxon, Dan Berger and Harry Duke on California Wine Country to discuss his book on pairing wine with music. He has published a book called A Practical Guide to Pairing Wine and Music. Clark has been on California Wine Country a few times before, including this most recent episode on September 15 of 2021. Today Clark Smith will tell about his book and his website dedicated to pairing wine with music. But before we begin […]

davis bynum

Greg Morthole from Davis Bynum

Greg Morthole is our guest again on California Wine Country with Steve Jaxon, Dan Berger and Harry Duke today. Greg has been on this show twice before, on October 10, 2018 and again in this other episode from January 15, 2020. The Davis Bynum site says “The original Russian River Valley Pinot Noir,” and Steve asks Greg about that. Back in 1973, Davis Bynum was one of the first Pinot Noir producers in Russian River Valley, […]

mcilroy cellars

Will McIlroy from McIlroy Cellars

Will McIlroy from McIlroy Cellars is our guest on California Wine Country with Steve Jaxon and Dan Berger. Before we begin with Will McIlroy’s wines, they taste a 2014 Sauvignon Blanc from Geyser Peak, which Dan has brought from his cellar. Dan says it’s still all right, in good shape, still tastes like Sauvignon Blanc. Very drinkable, for a 7-year-old Sauvignon Blanc. Dan would never have cellared this one for so long but sometimes a bottle gets […]

bottle barn sparkling

Dan Berger Cellar Dwellers Plus Barry Herbst

Our guest on California Wine Country with Steve Jaxon and Dan Berger today didn’t make it to the studio, so, the podcast will be about two wines that Dan Berger has brought in, one young Rosé and another “cellar dweller” from his extensive personal wine cellar. And we’ll end with a phone call from Barry Herbst. The harvest in California was over two weeks ago in Sonoma County but only ended today, Nov. 17, in Monterey […]

wine spoken here

Wine Spoken Here: Rusty Eddy and Tim McDonald

Rusty Eddy and Tim McDonald are back on California Wine Country with Steve Jaxon and Dan Berger today. Harry Duke is also in the studio today. The last time they were on this show and podcast was this episode of November 1, 2017, which was all about cool climate wines. Rusty Eddy and Tim McDonald run Wine Spoken Here/Rogue Strategies, a public relations firm that specialized in the wine industry. Rusty and Tim will taste five […]

blagden wines

Catherine Blagden

Catherine Blagden, the owner of Blagden Wines. is our guest on California Wine Country with Steve Jaxon and Dan Berger. As a prelude to the show, Dan Berger has brought another cellar dweller this week. This is from Nichol and Nichol in the Napa Valley. For some reason they got some Russian River Valley grapes. It’s a 2005 Syrah, it’s really rustic and has some bottle age on it. It is inky, very dark in color. It […]

remi cohen

Remi Cohen CEO Domaine Carneros

Remi Cohen, CEO of Domaine Carneros, is our guest on California Wine Country with Steve Jaxon and Dan Berger. Tom Simoneau is also in the studio today and the subject is the sparkling wines of Domaine Carneros. But first, Dan Berger has opened a 12-year-old 2009 Pinot Noir from his extensive personal cellar. Morelli Vineyards provided the grapes for this wine made by a winery called Lost Canyon. Dan looked for them online but didn’t find […]

Bob Cabral Returns

Bob Cabral is our guest today on California Wine Country with Steve Jaxon. Harry Duke and Barry Herbst from bottle barn are also in the studio. Bob Cabral has been on California Wine Country twice before, on this episode from June 21, 2017 and again on this other episode from September 4, 2019. Before we start with Bob Cabral’s wines, Dan Berger has brought a bottle from his cellar. It’s a 12 year old Columbia Valley Riesling. […]

petaluma gap

Petaluma Gap wines: Three Sticks and Barber Cellars

Ryan Pritchard, winemaker at Three Sticks Wines and Mike Barber of Barber Cellars are our two guests on California Wine Country with Steve Jaxon and Dan Berger. Barry Herbst from Bottle Barn and Harry Duke are also in the studio. First, a cellar dweller from Dan Berger’s extensive personal cellar. It’s a 2010 Riesling from Arroyo Seco. It is very sweet but probably about three years past its prime. Ryan Pritchard’s take is that the nose […]

jeff mangahas

Jeff Mangahas, Williams Selyem Winemaker

Jeff Mangahas, winemaker at Williams Selyem Wines, is our guest on California Wine Country with Steve Jaxon and Dan Berger. Harry Duke is sitting in or Steve Jaxon today. We begin with a wine that Dan Berger has brought from his extensive personal cellar. He calls it “a baby,” it is a 2010 Riesling from Robert Weil from the Rheingau. As they taste the 2010 Riesling from Robert Weil in the Rheingau, region in Germany (located east […]

foppiano wines

Nova Perrill, Foppiano Vineyards Winemaker

Nova Perrill, winemaker at Foppiano Vineyards, is back on California Wine Country with Steve Jaxon and Dan Berger. He has been on this show before, the last time was this episode on April 24, 2019. The pronunciation FOH-ppi-a-no is Italian, FAH-ppi-a-no is American and you can take your pick. Foppiano winery is at the southern end of the city limits of Healdsburg.There have been grapes on that property for over 125 years. Southbound on the 101, […]

merriam vineyards

Merriam Vineyards

Tom Simoneau has brought his friend Peter Merriam and his son Evan, of Merriam Vineyards. They are both from Maine. Tom’s brother and Peter were best friends. In the early 90s, he became interested in purchasing a vineyard. In 2000 Tom had a friend who was selling Windacre Ranch which he bought. He also has Merriam Vineyards now. But first, Mike Martini from Taft Street Winery is also here, staying over from the last segment. 14 […]

clark smith grenaches

Clark Smith with Grenaches and more

Clark Smith is back on California Wine Country with Steve Jaxon and Dan Berger. His personal professional website is Who is Clark Smith dot com and his winery website is Winesmith Wines dot com. Clark Smith was on CWC the last time on this episode from Sept. 11, 2019, with some wines that he made from exotic and rare grape varieties. The previous time Clark Smith was on CWC was this episode from March 15, 2017. […]