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 […]

Winemaker Clark Smith is back on California Wine Country with Steve Jaxon and Dan Berger, with some wines he has made from unusual grapes, including the native American variety called Norton. Clark Smith joins Steve Jaxon and Dan Berger on California Wine Country today. He has his own label WineSmith Wines, he is the winemaker for Diamond Ridge, and also an author and professor. His new book is called Postmodern Winemaking. Clark Smith dropped out of […]

Bob Cabral is back on California Wine Country with Steve Jaxon and Dan Berger. He was last on CWC in June of 2017 and that episode was repeated in March of this year. Three Sticks Wines is a project that Bob Cabral does with Bill Price. Bill also works with Kistler and Gary Farrell. But Bill Price owns the Dorell vineyard and Gap’s Crown vineyard overlooking Sonoma State. Bob Cabral wanted the opportunity to work with the […]

Bibiana González Rave, owner and winemaker of her own label Alma de Cattleya is our guest today, together with Robert Larsen and The Larsen Projekt. Robert has been on the show a few times before. Bibiana was born and raised in Medellin, Colombia, including during some of the most turbulent times there. She went to France to work and study, for 6 years. She came to California in 2004 and she started her brand in 2011 […]

Don Chigazola of Chigazola Merchants is back on California Wine Country with Steve Jaxon. He has just returned from Italy with wines from the region of the Marche (“MAR-kay”) which is located on the eastern side of central Italy, on the Adriatic coast. The Chigazola Merchants mission is to travel the back roads of Italy to find great wines which he buys wholesale and distributes. Don speaks Italian well enough to get into conversations with the […]

Anthony Beckman, winemaker at Balletto Vineyards, is back on California Wine Country with Steve Jaxon and Dan Berger. Anthony Beckman tells how his first passion in life was as a newspaper reporter and so he took a BA in Journalism and worked in Washington DC and Philadelphia. Then, the Internet wore down the newspaper business so he worked in Internet startups but spent all his money on wine. He visited some wineries and went back to […]

Our guests are from Sterling Vineyards and Beringer Wines. Tom Simoneau is back on California Wine Country with Steve Jaxon, as Dan Berger is travelling this week. Megan O’Connor, Brand Manager for Beringer. Jim Cawdell is also in. He begins by mentioning Whisper Sisters, a new brand, whose name celebrates the speakeasies. Beringer is the oldest continuously operating winery in Napa Valley. They grew sacramental wine and spirits during Prohibition and continued to operate. They shipped grape bricks […]

Our guest today is Ross Halleck from Halleck Vineyard, who tells his story to Steve Jaxon and Dan Berger. Steve asks Ross to describe the journey that he and his wife Jennifer have had in the wine world. They planted the vineyard in 1992 and 1993. They were the first vineyard in west Sebastopol. They ordered the root stock out of the yellow pages, and their first vintage won best Pinot Noir in the US. Greg […]

From Cuvaison Winery, Steve Rogstad winemaker and Dan Zepponi, CEO, join Steve Jaxon and Dan Berger on California Wine Country. The Cuvaison story starts in 1969. Back then, it was all new. If you look at wineries today that were also there 50 years ago, there are only 16, and even fewer that are family owned. A couple of friends Thomas Cotrell and Thomas Parkhill, founded Cuvaison Winery. They were both optical engineers who wanted to […]

Today on California Wine Country with Steve Jaxon and Dan Berger, our three guests all come from Santa Rosa Junior College Wine Program. Kevin Sea is the head of the program, Mark Stupich is the winemaker and Cassandra Howard is a student. Cassandra has done the Wine Service and Evaluation program and is now finishing in Wine Business and Marketing. Before that she lived in Asia to learn Chinese and to teach English and became a […]

Tony Dann, president of Conetech in Santa Rosa, joins Steve Jaxon and Dan Berger on California Wine Country today. Conetech is a high-tech alcohol-removal company for wines that occasionally get too high in ethanol. Their website states that they are a pioneer in alcohol adjustment and alcohol reduction, with 100% preservation of aroma and flavor. Tony tells about how 30 years ago he owned a winery and learned that in California, alcohol levels were high, in the […]

The Petaluma Gap is the subject of today’s California Wine Country with Steve Jaxon and Dan Berger. Our guests are Erica Stancliff from Trombetta Family Wines and Tom Gendall, Assistant Winemaker at Cline Family Cellars. In 1989 Erica Stancliff’s parents were home winemakers. In 2010 she and her mother started Trombetta Family Wines. Paul Hobbs was their consulting winemaker until 2014 when Erica stepped in. Cline started in 1982 with some old vineyards in Contra Costa […]

Merry Edwards and Heidi von der Mehden are our guests today on California Wine Country. Tom Simoneau is in with Steve Jaxon while Dan Berger is away this week. Merry Edwards owns Merry Edwards Winery and Heidi von der Mehden is the winemaker there. Tom declares that the world is a better place because Merry Edwards is in it. The last fifty years have been a golden age of California wine. Ever since the 1976 tasting […]

Pete Foppiano is sitting in for Steve Jaxon today. Dan Berger has brought in Brook Bannister from Bannister Wines. He is the son of Marty Bannister, the noted wine chemist and wine maker who also founded the family label. Marty Bannister and Mary Ann Graf ran Vinquiry in Healdsburg, which was for a long time the leading lab testing firm in wine country. Marty started Bannister Wines 1989 to 2006 when she had to retire due […]

Rick Tigner and Randy Ullom from Jackson Family Wines are back with Steve Jaxon and Tom Simoneau. Dan Berger is away this week. Rick is the CEO and Randy is the Wine Master for Jackson Family Wines. Randy grew up back east and lived and worked in Ohio and upstate New York. He came to California 38 years ago and worked for Cecil De Loach for 12 years. He met Jess Jackson 26 years ago and […]

Bernie Orsi and Rusty Eddy from Orsi Family Vineyards join Steve Jaxon and Dan Berger on California Wine Country today. Rusty Eddy’s brother is Tom Eddy, the winemaker. Rusty does public relations for the winery. Tom Eddy has a long history as a winemaker. He graduated from UC Davis in 1975 and first worked for Wente. He has had a label of his own since 1991. They taste a 1994 Cabernet that Tom Eddy made. The […]