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 […]

David Stare and Tim Bell from Dry Creek Vineyards are our guests on California Wine Country today. Tom Simoneau is in with Steve Jaxon, Dan Berger and Barry Herbst from Bottle Barn. Tim Bell was last on this show back in 2017. David Stare founded Dry Creek Vineyards in 1972 and Tim Bell is their winemaker. David grew up in Boston and then lived and worked for a couple of years in Germany. He was right […]

Jake Fetzer joins Steve Jaxon and Dan Berger on California Wine Country today. Jake’s family founded Fetzer in 1968 and now Jake has also has opened Masut Vineyard and Winery. Both are located in Mendocino County. Barney Fetzer was an iconic character in the industry. He came to Mendocino to be an executive in the logging industry. He had a lot of ideas about how to promote wine. He bought only the best grapes and hired the […]

Ornella Molon and Loris Traverso are in with Don Chigazola today on California Wine Country with Steve Jaxon and Dan Berger. Ornella Molon and her son Loris Traverso produce wine at their family’s two wineries, in the Veneto and Friuli regions of Italy. (In a couple of places, Ornella speaks in Italian, then her son translates for her. For anyone interested in her comments in Italian, there is a transcript and translation of her words, at the […]

David Lattin, winemaker at Emeritus Vineyards, joins Steve Jaxon and Dan Berger on California Wine Country. Barry Herbst from Bottle Barn is also in. Emeritus Vineyards specializes in Russian River Valley estate-grown Pinot Noir. Dan Berger says that this wine is exemplary of Russian River Valley. With all the fog, the land is a little cooler than the rest of the county. Emeritus has made careful selections of which clones are planed in exactly which vineyards. […]

Robert Larsen is back with Steve Jaxon and Dan Berger on California Wine Country today. He has brought the Grenache and Grenache Rosé from his personal label, The Larsen Projekt. Robert Larsen is also a publicist with many years experience in the wine business. The 2018 Rosés are coming out now and Robert has brought his entry. Dan Berger starts with a big compliment to Robert’s wines. “The most important thing is, it’s dry!” says Dan. It […]