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 […]
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 […]
Barry Herbst from Bottle Barn joins Steve Jaxon today on California Wine Country. Dan Berger is away this week. Jason Schneider, spirits manager at Bottle Barn, is also in. Our guests are Michelle Rahm and Annie Barber from Coffey Strong and also Guy Davis from Davis Family Vineyards. Coffey Strong is an organization of people in Coffey Park, in Sonoma County, dedicated to helping others to recover from this year’s fires. To raise money for public […]
Bruce Cohn visits with Steve Jaxon and Dan Berger today on California Wine Country. He used to own the B.R. Cohn label, which he sold in 2015. Now he owns Trestle Glen Vineyards, which is a relatively small operation, having one acre of Zinfandel and seven acres of Cabernet Sauvignon on the 21 acre property. Bruce Cohn was a business manager for several popular bands in the music business. In 1974, he bought a vineyard in […]
This episode of California Wine Country was originally recorded and published on Dec. 20, 2017. Carol Shelton was last on this show in February of this year. There is no new episode recorded today, Nov. 6, 2019, as we recover from the aftermath of this year’s fires in Sonoma County. Please consider making a donation to the Red Cross, which has done so much for Sonoma County again this year to help the community in its […]
(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 […]
Louisa Rose joins Steve Jaxon and Dan Berger on California Wine Country. She is the winemaker at Yalumba in Australia and one that Dan Berger holds in the highest esteem. We also have a visit today from Mariangela of Della Toffola, one of our sponsors. She tells how Della Toffola was founded in Italy and opened their Santa Rosa, California affiliate in 2009. Even Louisa Rose uses some Della Toffola equipment, in Australia. The company also […]
Donald Patz joins Steve Jaxon and Dan Berger. Tom Simoneau is also in again this week, while Barry Herbst from Bottle Barn is busy and not in the studio today. Steve Jaxon asks Donald Patz about Patz & Hall wines and Donald explains that they sold the company in 2016. He stayed on to help run it but they got to a point where he wasn’t sure what more to do so he asked to be […]
Jen Walsh and Ben Fine from La Crema join Steve Jaxon and Dan Berger today on California Wine Country. The Jackson family now owns the property. Dan says that La Crema’s brand has taken off in the last five or six years. The wine is great and the prices are fair and their production of Chardonnay and Pinot Noir is very consistent. Ben Fine tells about how Pinot Noir went from an afterthought to a mainstay. […]
Today’s guests are Sheila Quince from the Sonoma County Harvest Fair and Tom Simoneau who join Steve Jaxon Dan Berger and Barry Herbst from Bottle Barn. Barry has brought in the three top Sweepstakes Gold Medal winners from the 2019 Sonoma County Harvest Fair. Shelia is the wine judging coordinator for the Harvest Fair. Tom Simoneau has never judged at Harvest Fair. In 1992 Tom won the Best Amateur Wine Sweepstakes award, and Steve’s station called […]
Today’s guests are from Mt. Beautiful Winery in New Zealand, CEO Robert Watkins and Marketing Manager Suzanna Mannion join Steve Jaxon, Dan Berger and Berry Herbst in the studio. Dan Berger believes this is an exciting time in California when we will start to have more distribution of New Zealand wines here, because they are excellent. Robert says they have distribution now in 38 US states and about 10 export countries. With the US dollar currently stronger […]
Michelle Marquez is filling in for Steve Jaxon today. Dan Berger and Tom Simoneau are both in today as well. Simoneau Vineyards is putting on a Winemaker Dinner at the Bay View Restaurant at the Inn at the Tides in Bodega Bay. Today, Tom Simoneau has invited Marco Gallazzo and Luca Duria from the Inn at the Tides. Luca is the chef there and will prepare the dinner that they will serve at the Winemaker’s Dinner […]
