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 […]
Nova Perrill is our guest today on California Wine Country with Steve Jaxon and Dan Berger. He is the winemaker at Foppiano Vineyards. (The owner and CEO of Foppiano Vineyards were on CWC last August, here is the podcast page of that episode.) Nova Perrill tells how he took a Crop Science degree at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo then he got hired at Mount Eden, where he learned winemaking and viticulture and where he was […]
Barbara Lindblom visits with Steve Jaxon and Dan Berger today, to remember Mary Ann Graf, a pioneering, iconic local winemaker who passed away recently. Barbara Lindblom also worked at Simi Winery (as laboratory director) then as a winemaker in some other places. She is now retired. Mary Ann Graf studied at UC Davis and was the first woman in the US to graduate with a degree in Oenology. She was the winemaker at Simi Winery, the […]
(This week CWC is off due to a live Golden State Warriors basketball game on our home station KSRO in Santa Rosa. For the podcast, here is a reprise of our Aug. 9, 2017 show featuring Rex Pickett, author of Sideways, and Trevor Durling, winemaker at Beaulieu Vineyard.) Today’s pre-show guest is Rex Pickett, author of Sideways. The main show guest is Trevor Durling, Winemaker at Beaulieu Vineyard. In the live segment before CWC begins at the […]
We welcome Pierre and Monique Seillan from Verité Wines today. Tom Simoneau, Dan Berger and Barry Herbst are all in today with Steve Jaxon. Pierre is a Vigneron, a winemaker and vineyard master. Tom has watched him take great care with his vines, separating the clusters by hand to get them perfect sun exposure. Pierre and Monique met Barbara and Jess Jackson 25 years ago in Bordeaux. Pierre makes wine in France, Italy and Sonoma County. […]
(Due to NBA basketball on home station KSRO, there is no new CWC show today. For this week’s podcast here is a reprise of this June 2017 show.) Bob Cabral is here to taste and talk about the three wines that comprise the launch of his own new winery, Bob Cabral Wines. He has worked at De Loach and Kunde and others, was winemaker at Williams Selyem (from 1998-2014) and is now at Three Sticks Winery. Tom […]
Tom Simoneau has brought David Ramey and the Ramey family in to join Steve Jaxon and Dan Berger today on California Wine Country. Barry Herbst is back from a trip to France where he visited all of the Boisset family properties. Boisset wines were mentioned on Tom Simoneau’s 2018 Wines of the Year show last December.) David’s wife Carla, their elder daughter Claire, who has worked in the family business for six years and her brother […]
Erik Miller from Kokomo Winery visits Steve Jaxon and Dan Berger on California Wine Country today. Kokomo Winery is named after Erik’s hometown in Indiana. Kokomo started in 2004 and Erik was working at a winery in Dry Creek. He is now up to his 17th harvest. After taking a business degree from Purdue University in Indiana, he learned winemaking in the cellar, with some classes at UC Davis (but not a winemaking degree). Erik also […]
On California Wine Country today, Dan Berger is back from 3 weeks in New Zealand. Barry Herbst from Bottle Barn is also in, with Steve Jaxon. In New Zealand it is the end of their Summer. They had warm weather and a really early harvest. The whole situation in New Zealand has changed, in terms of wine. Dan has visited there 10 times in the last several years and has followed their growth. Dan shipped about […]
