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 days ago he brought freshly pressed Chardonnay juice, not fermented yet. Today, he has a sample of the same juice that has fermented for 10 days. It is about 3/4 of the way through the fermentation process. This will be bottled and ready for sale by next July. The next step will be after blending with some stainless steel-made Chardonnay and malolactic fermentation, in a few more weeks. Evan says he likes getting his hands dirty making wine. William Weese, their winemaker, is too busy right now to come to the show. Many people this year say that the quality of this vintage is very good although the volume seems less, generally. Tom had only 6 heat spikes, and there were 13 over 100 degrees last year. Peter drank a good bottle of Burgundy wine back in the late 70s with Evan’s godfather. Then he ran a “package store” back east for 20 years, while visiting Tom every year since 1982. Long story short, he eventually acquired a property then another. His first vintage was 2000, 12 acres of Merlot. 18 months in oak and 18 more in bottle, before release. Then Sideways came out (…) These are 2 double golds, both Merlots. There were 58,000 acres, up from 7,000 acres a few years earlier. Too many vineyards of Merlot were in the wrong places. Today’s Merlots however have recovered from that and the new ones are quite good now. They are tasting their Undisclosed Chardonnay, which came from a fine Russian River Valley vineyard whose true name is a professional secret. But it’s excellent. They are tasting the 2019, their second of these bottlings. This Chardonnay is about 30% new oak. Tom Simoneau gets tangerine, Dan Berger gets Orange Peel. Dan says the best part of Russian River Valley is that it gives good acidity, and the best way to make wine is not to have to adjust it. The new Merriam label (right) is the work of Evan, who wanted to feature the unique terroir of the Russian River Valley on the label design. William Weese is their winemaker, who couldn’t come in today because they are in the middle of harvest and he is too busy. As a winemaker he has been a consultant for a few brands as well as their full time winemaker and vineyard manager. He went to Chico State for Agricultural Business and he has gaines his wine industry experience through travel in the Southern Hemisphere and Europe. Merriam Vineyards has won three double golds at Harvest Fair this year, and Tom Simoneau won four. Not bad for two guys from Maine! Then they taste a Rosé of Pinot Noir, a double gold medal winner. It comes from where their winery and tasting room is, on Los Amigos Road. Peter describes how it is made, stainless steel and neutral oak barrels. It was picked to be Rosé, rather than "saigner" method. This is picked at lower sugar and higher acid. “I focus on the details at a very slow speed.” So says Peter, on their website. Peter describes how their whole family works in the winery, including his daughter who is in charge of the lab and also does everything else in the winery. Dan Berger explains that the lab helps winemakers make decisions between “the field and the house.” They are on Los Amigos Road between Windsor and Healdsburg. Their last wine tasted is a Merlot. Dan says it's the wine you want for a lean piece of meat. Tom explains that a New York Strip would be better with a Cab. Then another Merlot and the inevitable reiteration of the Sideways effect.

California Wine Country

Merriam Vineyards

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. First, as usual, we open a bottle from Dan Berger’s extensive personal cellar. This Sauvignon Blanc from New Zealand is green. It’s very flavorful even after 11 years in the cellar, where it was lost. He did not deliberately age this wine for so long. Dan “Lay It Down” Berger agrees with Clark Smith that there is no point in cellaring it since it tastes the same as it did eleven years ago. Clark explains how the screw cap had a lot to do with its preservation. “Screw caps are really really good for aging.” The Winesmith website has dropdown menus for Forgeries and Oddities. By Forgeries, he means, wines that he makes here, but in a European Style, to imitate them as much as possible with local origin. He does a Cabernet Franc that’s a St. Emillion style, he does a St. Laurent that’s like an Austrian wine. He also makes sulfite-free wines, Norton which is a native American grape, and other oddities. Winesmith is an experimental winery. He also has about 120 wineries that he coaches as a consultant. He wrote Postmodern Winemaking and teaches through those principles. Dan Berger says there is nothing expected about his wines, it’s always unexpected. They are distinctive. That is the most important issue, distinctiveness is what you see and imagine and feel about a wine. They will open a sparkling wine made from a variety that nobody would normally use for a sparkling. Clark explains that this is one of three wines from the Slow Wine Guides. Their principles are making wine from “living soil” and sustainably, “…as opposed to the natural wine movement which we both hate.” He goes on to explain that in a sense, all wine is natural wine.

Clark Smith with Grenaches and more

Alex Holman from Notre Vue Estate Winery and Vineyard is our guest today on California Wine Country with Steve Jaxon and Dan Berger. The last time Alex Holman was on California Wine Country was October 28, 2020, almost a year ago. Here is that podcast episode. Before we visit with Alex Holman, Mike Martini from Taft Street Wines has brought some delicious fresh grape juice, specifically the juice of the 2021 Hopkins River Ranch Chardonnay, which they have just pressed over the last few days. He will bring some more in, from time to time, as it gradually becomes wine. By tasting the juice along the way, you can learn about what winemakers do every year. As we often do, we open the show with a bottle from Dan Berger’s extensive personal wine cellar. This week it turns out to be a bust. This 2016 Rosé has been stored at 55 degrees the whole time but today he noticed the color was really shot. And it’s terrible. The nose is abominable. When you see an old Rosé, if you don’t pay attention to the vintage, you can get a bad bottle. It should never be sold. Alex Holman explains how he makes Rosé, and it’s not like this. Later they will taste one of his Rosés. The first wine that Alex Holman has brought to taste is a Chardonnay. It’s a clone of Chardonnay called Chardonnay Musqué, that has a lot of terpenes that are reminiscent of Muscat, Gewurtstraminer and Riesling. It is very floral and aromatic There is no new oak on it, you might call it Chablis style. The last time Alex was on the show one year ago, Dan took the half empty bottle home and 24 hours later the wine was better. This is a 2020, one of the rare 2020s that actually survived. He processed their normal 80 tons but only used about 16, the rest was discarded. Dan says the secondary characteristics have not developed yet. This won’t be released for several months. Dan thinks this wine won’t reach its peak for another two years, given the way Alan controls the acid in the vineyard. Notre Vue winery is on land that was part of the early Vallejo Ranch lands so grapes have been planted there since the 1800s. But Doug Knoll and Dave Koonsgaard started the vineyard in the 1970s and Balverne was one of the first publicly traded wine companies. The Notre Vue winery has been making wine since 2010, prior to that they were just selling grapes. They grow 500-600 tons and he keeps "the best 100 tons" and sells the rest. The current owners have planted about half of the vines and the property includes 350 acres of forever-wild open space. Wine club members can hike and bike on the property. Their wine club actually grew during the pandemic because local people needed a place to get away. All the information is available at Notre Vue dot com. They have a lot of space, so they won't be full up. Dan Berger says it's a beautiful property and really worth a visit. They are located in North Windsor. They do tastings Thursday through Monday from 11:30 am to 3:30 pm. Alex Holman tells about being a Fresno State grad in Chemistry and one of his mentors in Chemistry is Barry Gump, who also taught at Santa Rosa JC. He is at Florida International University now. After he got into wine, he want back to school for an Enology degree that included hands-on wine production. Dan Berger describes the Chardonnay as "stunning" as he has some in the glass and it is warming up. It's already great and you can tell how much better it's going to get. Next they taste the 2020 Rosé which will be released in October. It's GSM, Grenache, Syrah and Mourvedre which are co-fermented. They make a sparkling Rosé, a still Rosé and a red blend. It's different from year to year depending on the crops. Even the bottle is unique, made of French glass, designed by Renée Stein, one of the co-owners. Speaking of the Rosé, Dan Berger says it is really stylish. There is zero sugar. The acidity is perfectly balanced, tart with a mid-palette freshness because of the fruit.

Alex Holman, winemaker for Notre Vue Estate

Raghni Naidu, owner of Naidu Wines, is our guest on California Wine Country with Steve Jaxon and Dan Berger. Harry Duke is sitting in for Steve Jaxon today. Barry Herbst is also in the studio today. To begin, Dan Berger has brought a 2021 Allan Scott Sauvignon Blanc from New Zealand. It was harvested in February, sells for about $15 a bottle and it is excellent. Allan Scott is known as the Marlborough Man, because in 1973 he planted the first Sauvignon Blanc in New Zealand, particularly in the Marlborough region. It has flavors of lime and is rich without being too sweet, but there is only a trace of sugar. "It has perfect structure," says Dan Berger. The lime character is a function of their cold temperatures at night, and winds that go east to west. It is a two-and-one-half hour drive from end to end of the island, so the vines have coastal influences on both sides of it. In that way it does not resemble Californian SVs very much. Raghni Naidu was born and brought up in India. She tells her story on this page of her website. Her family loved to host and entertain, but her parents were very enthusiastic about it. Her mother would bring seeds back home from her travels, and the fruits would end up on their tables with guests. This had an important influence on her. In 2000 she went to Melbourne to study, where she also met her husband. After they got married they moved to the United States, to the Bay Area. They lived in the city and raised a family and took many visits to wine country. in 2018 they happened to be on a road trip from Monte Carlo to Barcelona. She loved everything about Provence and decided to have that in their lives, back in California. Three months later they purchased a vineyard property in Sebastopol from an Italian American gentleman who had the vineyard for 45 years. Soon after purchase, she realized it was not just a house and a farm, but collectively a very special place that she associated with the joy she felt growing up in her family. Barry Herbst notes that the property was already known for producing great fruit that was going to several single-vineyard labels. Raghni describes her personal commitment to the quality of Naidu Wines and she wants to do the best she can in showcasing it. She also mentions later that her winemaker, Matt Duffy, was already making wine for the previous property owner and has a lot of experience. Despite the pandemic, she launched her wines on time during 2020. This year, they released their Viognier, a Rosé of Pinot Noir and their estate Pinot Noir. Her wines have gained some early recognition and awards that she describes. Harry Duke introduces Chris DiMatteo, podcast editor and friend of Steve Jaxon. They begin tasting the 2020 Viognier. Barry likes it for being restrained and dry, bright and clean, while some other Viogniers get boring and cloying. Dan says this is "flower basket" which is ideal for Viognier. Chris can't add anything to what the experts have said, but he suggests a musical comparison. It suggests Mozart, not jolly fun light-hearted Mozart, but the darker Mozart, such as the Fantasy for solo piano K. 397. Dan Berger suggests he hears Debussy and Chris thinks maybe the Prélude called Puck's Dance. W. A. Mozart, Fantasy in D minor for piano, K. 397, played by Alfred Brendel. Claude Debussy, the Prelude called Puck's Dance, Book 1 n. 11, played by Leonard Pennario. Raghni says that even as an outsider, the challenges of making wine are the same for her and everyone else in the business, so she feels that unites them and makes her feel the same as any other. She also wants her customers to have a personal experience with the wine that is an expression of who she is as a person. Barry Herbst tells about Bottle Barn, where most of the center of the store is full of Rosé. The harvest fair is 3rd week of September, and the winners will be in the store the following week.

Naidu Wines with Raghni Naidu

Tom Liden is our guest on California Wine Country with Steve Jaxon and Dan Berger. He is one of the organizers of the Mendocino County Fair Wine Competition. The 42nd annual edition was held two weeks ago at the Fairgrounds in Booneville and Dan Berger was one of the judges. Before they taste and describe the winning wines from the 2021 Mendocino County Fair Wine Competition, they have a bottle to taste from Dan Berger’s extensive cellar. It’s a 2016 Vintner’s Reserve Kendall Jackson Chardonnay. It was not supposed to be for aging but it has held up very well and it is a lot more complex and tasty than it was a few years ago. Dan likes to put wine away to see what happens and about 20% of the time, the wine falls apart, but the well made ones get better and better. The Mendocino Winegrowers Inc, led by Executive Director Bernadette Byrne, produces the annual wine competition. Bernadette Byrne last appeared on California Wine Country in this episode, first heard on July 11, 2018. This is their 42nd year. There were 233 entries, and 43 double golds were awarded, also 36 golds and 103 silvers. Tom Liden is also a photographer and he has brought a book of his photos to the studio. He worked for a commercial photographer in New York and then moved “back to the land” in Ukiah in the mid ‘70s and opened a commercial photography studio. His business grew along with the wine industry. The book is called Mendocino Roots and Ridges. The text was written by Heidi Cusick Dickerson and Dan Berger remembers writing a good review of this book when it came out in 2012. Heidi had been doing weekly stories for the local press then the Mendocino County Museum published the book as a good promotional piece for the county and the wines. The Mendocino County Museum in Willits has copies available for purchase. He brought the Syrah, a Booneville Road 2018 Syrah from a small producer named Ed Donovan, which won the best of show red. It’s called Broken Leg Vineyards because it’s steep and the guy who planted the vineyard broke his leg in the process. The second bottle is a 2019 Jaxon Keyes Estate Grenache from the final flight. He has also brought a Gruner Veltliner 2020 Anderson Valley Navarro Vineyards. Dan Berger says that the minerality in the aftertaste is what makes this wine great. This varietal can be tricky to make and he says it is almost unheard of for a winemaker’s first effort to be this good. Tom Liden tells about being a volunteer in the early days of the competition. It was the first wine competition that featured only wine from Mendocino County grapes. Last year was the first Michigan wine competition. There is also one in Idaho and the Sonoma County Harvest Festival is also locals only. Mendocino County is one of the areas at the forefront of organic farming, biodynamic farming and sustainability. Fetzer has been a leader in this area, for a long time. Dan Berger is an internationally known wine judge. After this most recent competition in Mendocino, he said, “This is the best flight of reds in the 30 years I’ve been coming to this competition.” Dan says 25 years ago, the wines may have tasted great but didn’t represent anything. Now, an Anderson Valley Pinot Noir tastes like one and a Grenache tastes like a Grenache, etc. At the Mendocino County Fair in Booneville on Sept 17, 18 and 19, the double gold medal winners will be pouring their wines. They will be there one at a time, taking turns. The 2012 Best of Show awards are: Best of Show Sparkling: McFadden Farm Cuvée Brut, Potter Valley Charlie Barra Award, Best of Show White: Navarro Vineyards 2020 Edelzwicker, Anderson Valley Best of Show Rosé: Lula Cellars 2020 Rosé of Pinot Noir, Anderson Valley John Parducci Award, Best of Show Red: Thomas T. Thomas Vineyards 2018 Reserve Pinot Noir, Anderson Valley Best of Show Dessert: Navarro Vineyards 2019 Cluster Select Late Harvest Riesling, Anderson Valley

2021 Mendocino Wine Competition Winners with Tom Liden

Canned Wine is the subject today, as Allan Green is here to talk about the International Canned Wine Competition on California Wine Country with Steve Jaxon and Dan Berger. Allan Green is the founder and former owner of Greenwood Ridge Vineyards. Allan Green sold Greenwood Ridge Winery to the Wilson family, it is one of two wineries that they have in Mendocino Co. He started it in 1980 and sold in 2017. He made wine for 37 years. He was one of the pioneers of Pinot Noir and he also made Riesling. His background is in graphic design, but he has been running the Mendocino Co. Fair Wine Competition for 40 years so when the idea came to do the International Canned Wine Competition, he knew how to do it. Now they just completed their third annual competition. They had 335 entries from 16 countries, including India, places where you don't expect to find wine at retail. Getting the international entries through customs was hard. 85 Gold medals out of 335 were awarded. He has collected wine cans since 1980. Dan Berger explains that the French were putting wine in cans since the late 1940s. About 1975 or 1980, the plastics industry came up with a plastic liner for these cans. Today's can liners are quite perfect, they put a good seal on the can. Dan Berger has brought a cellar dweller today, which he says is a little bit past its prime. He thought he would open it about 2015 and the extra years haven't really helped. But they all say the second taste is better. It is a 2006 Arrowood Côte de Lune Blanc, made of Rousson, Marsane, Viognier and Grenache Blanc. It is a little bit oxidized but the flavors are still intact. "About 6 to 10 years in, these wines are really gorgeous." They have the best of show white wine, which was a surprise, from Allied Wine Works on the central coast, a Grüner Veltliner. They agree that you should pour this into a glass, not drink from the can. Allan explains that they let the wines breathe for a few minutes after opening, before tasting at the competition. This has the steely minerality of the varietal. Harry Duke says that he could never have told that it comes from a can. And Dan points out that it is so well protected from oxygen, that the wine needs a few moments to breathe. You have a fresher and younger wine than from a bottle. Wine in cans is very convenient. The portions are small enough that you don't have to put it away with a cork. It's easy to fit the cans into a loaded fridge or ice cooler. The results of the International Canned Wine Competition are online, from 2019, 2020 and this year. Dan found that the Tin Pony can from Iron Horse was excellent. Iron Horse is a major prestige label. Joy Sterling of Iron Horse, who was on the show not long ago, has launched the Tin Pony label for canned wine. The early Chardonnay grapes are already coming in, in Sonoma County. Wineries that are picking for sparkling wine production are almost finished. Allan describes the competition, which was set up like any other. One day they did 127 spritzers and coolers, in about 3 hours. The whites and reds had about 80 a day to taste. Allan also brought the best of show red, a Pinot Noir from Oregon. The size of the can is 375 ml, half a bottle. Dan says you can tell this wine was aged in barrels before it was put in the can. Dan tasted about 130 wines in a day at the Mendocino County Fair competition. Dan Berger remembers a great line from Donine Dyer, a former winemaker of Domaine Chandon, who said, "Viewing a wine competition is like going to someone else's high school reunion." The public is never allowed into a competition. Dan was judging once when the public was invited and it was not easy at all and not to be repeated.

Canned Wine? The International Canned Wine Competition!

Today Tom Simoneau has brought Tim Bell, winemaker at Dry Creek Vineyard, to be our guest on California Wine Country with Steve Jaxon. Harry Duke is also in the studio and Dan Berger is away judging the Mendocino wine competition. Tim Bell was a guest on California Wine Country in an episode that first aired on March 22, 2017. He was here again along with Dry Creek Vineyard founder David Stare in this episode from May 29, 2019. Tim Bell begins by telling his personal history in the wine business. He worked for a wine retailer in Southern California called Liquor Barn, where he became acquainted with wine. He later attended UC Davis and he has been working in the business for 30 years now. Dry Creek Vineyard was founded by David Stare in 1972, part of a wave of new wineries that brought modern winemaking to California, including Chateau Montelena, Stag’s Leap and Burgess Cellars. They are known as the Class of ’72. They are planning some big parties for their 50th anniversary next year, along with several other North Coast wineries.  “Sauvignon Blanc and Chenin Blanc continue to be staples for us today,” says Tim Bell. Dry Creek is best known for Sauvignon Blanc and Zinfandel. They are taste the Dry Creek Vineyard 2020 Sauvignon Blanc. This sells for $20, which is a bargain for a good one. Next they taste a Dry Creek Vineyard 2019 Chardonnay, which is sold out. Steve, whose middle name is Chardonnay, loves it. They only make about 700 cases of this wine. They only pick from their favorite spots. In another month the 2020 will be out and it will be at least this good. Their best well known wine is Fumé Blanc which is a mix of Dry Creek and Russian River Valley grapes. This wine is a second take on that, but with only Dry Creek fruit, and they also use some Sauvignon Musque and Sauvignon Gris. It has taken a few years for the vineyard to reach maturity but it’s there now. Tom Simoneau says it’s not too green, new mown hay. Tim Bell tastes ripe Meyer lemon, lime and a hint of peach or apricot. They do a limited amount of barrel fermentation but they don’t use new oak. They use older barrels, which may have held Chardonnay for a few years. They also use Acacia wood barrels, which have floral and minty notes. They also use 2-3% chestnut wood barrels, which add a vanilla cream quality David Stare was quite a pioneer. Tom Simoneau says that we are in the middle of the golden years of winemaking and Dave is a friend. David Stare founded the winery and his daughter Kim Stare Wallace is President now of Dry Creek Vineyard. She is on the cover of Wine Spectator this issue. Dry Creek Vineyard is open outdoors by appointment only, since Covid. They are located on Dry Creek Road at the corner of Lambert Bridge Road, right across from the Dry Creek General Store. Harry Duke asks what has to happen to a used barrel, before it can be used again. Tim Bell describes the cleaning process. You would never put a white wine in a red barrel. After 3 years, the oak flavor is used up. So a neutral barrel is its own individual fermentation tank. Especially with Sauvignon Blanc, the fermentation happens in one big steel tank. But with barrel fermentation, different barrels will have different characters, which add different layers of complexity Next they taste a 2018 Dry Creek Vineyard Estate Zinfandel from the Wallace Ranch. This single vineyard zinfandel is from a vineyard right across from the winery. They make a wine called Heritage Vine Zinfandel that sourced budwood from an old Zinfandel vineyard, the Mazzone selection. They have it in 4 different estate vineyards, and each has its own personality. It’s 95% Zin and 5% Petit Syrah. It’s available only through the winery or the wine club. Then they taste the second Zin. Tom Simoneau noticed the smoothness of the first Zin, this one is the 2019 and it’s a little softer. It was a cooler vintage, says Tim. This is a little lower in alcohol compared to some other big Zins.

Tim Bell, winemaker, Dry Creek Vineyard

Paul Kalumkarian is today’s guest on California Wine Country with Steve Jaxon and Dan Berger. His father founded his company, the Wine of the Month Club, in 1972. His dad grew up in Cairo and was a Pharmacist who operated a pharmacy but he also liked wine and so he opened a wine shop adjacent to his pharmacy. It was one of the first shops in the LA area that stocked fine wine. Finally he left his pharmacy profession and dedicated himself to wine which he simply found to be a more pleasant line of work. When his father was ready to retire, Paul took over the family business. As a promotion for his wine sales company, Paul Kalumkarian does a podcast called Wine Talks with Paul K. Since he buys a lot of wine, a lot of people will agree to be on his show, including some big names. Dan Berger was a guest on Paul’s podcast and now Paul returns the favor. Dan Berger explains that Paul’s success depends on the qualaity of the wines that he choses for his club members. Every one of them has to be great, and that is what keeps the business going. Paul tastes every single one, and each one has to pass his own personal quality test. That’s why many people keep their subscriptions for many decades. Paul recently met some customers who joined in 1988. “Nothing goes through this club without me tasting it and approving it…” They taste a 2016 North Coast Buena Vista Chardonnay. It’s available at Bottle Barn for $12.99. This is a good example of the great values in Paul’s club selection. He has done his tasting ritual every Tuesday from 9am to 2pm, for 32 years and he estimates he has tasted over 100,000 wines. He says that he rejects 85% of the wines he tastes, which Dan Berger says matches his own experience. He has a 12,000 square foot warehouse in Monrovia, where there is also a tasting room. There are also 2 brewpubs nearby.

Paul Kalumkarian

Dan Barwick is back on California Wine Country with Steve Jaxon and Dan Berger. Harry Duke is also in the KSRO studio today. Dan Barwick is a busy winemaker who produces wine for two well-known wineries, Trecini Winery and Paradise Ridge Winery. Today he is here to talk about Trecini Winery. Before tasting the Trecini wines that Dan Barwick has brought, Dan Berger has another cellar dweller, a 2008 Sonoma-Cutrer Russian River Ranches Chardonnay, a bottle that was lost and hidden at the bottom of a box in the cellar. He thought it would be dead but both Dans find it wonderful. The flavors are mature, the acids have held up nicely. They are still making beautiful wine there, but this is amazing, how it has held up. Steve's getting it on the third taste. Harry declares, "I'm out. It's not leaping to me as anything special." After that, they taste Dan Barwick's Trecini Sauvignon Blanc. There is David, Cathy and John Vicini, the patriarch. Dan Barwick has been making wine for them for 20 years, and Sauvignon Blanc is their biggest production. Dan Berger says that Sauvignon Blanc is their claim to fame. They have several different vineyards, which Dan Barwick describes, in the Alexander Valley. Dan Berger tasts a bit of lemon and Cynar, which is an Italian artichoke liqueur. Dan thinks it would be perfect with a little bit of age, it expands the herbal components. It would ideally accompany shellfish. Dan Berger says that the Trecini wines are cleaning up at competitions, and that Trecini is under the radar because they're mostly available locally. There is a small Trecini tasting room in downtown Santa Rosa. 684 7th St., corner of Humbold St, in downtown Santa Rosa. Dan Barwick grew up in England and came to a harvest in Sonoma County in 1991 with the intention of learning about wine. He spent the next 19 years working in cellars throughout Sonoma County and asking a laot of questions. In 1995 he met Sonia Byck, part of a Byck family that owns Paradise Ridge. They married and went to wineries in the southern hemisphere on their honeymoon. He says he learned a lot by taking great winemakers to lunch. He has taken some courses at UC Davis which he calls an extraordinary bastion of information. Dan Barwick says that among all the facts you need to know, pay attention to pH. Dan Berger adds, it starts in the vineyard. If you're careful, beginning before harvest, it will carry you all the way to the bottle. Next they have a vineyard designate Vicini Estate Russian River Valley Pinot Noir from 2019. It is very smooth and easy to drink. Trecini wines specifically aim for a slightly lower alcohol so that if you compare a glass of 12.5% alcohol wine to another at 15%, too much alcohol covers the great flavors. Next they taste a 2018 Trecini Merlot, which triggers the memory of the movie Sideways and how Dan Berger inadvertently influenced that script. At the time, Dan was writing for the Los Angeles Times and had a frequent byline in LA. When the screenwriter contacted Dan for some information about wine, he misunderstood what Dan was telling him, and that is how the famous line about Merlot got into the movie. It's a story that's always good for a laugh or two. It's fresh and vibrant, tannins are low, and all you have to do is capture that in the vineyard, says Dan Barwick. It's still young, so vibrant and fruity, but already shows some of that dried black olive component. The idea is to capture the varietal character, which this does. It gives you something more than just fruit. Dan Barwick says,  "part of having that balance is picking your fruit early enough with a low enough level of sugar. You have all those dried herbs in Merlot, but if the fruit gets riper, these flavors disappear. All of these flavors ... are the medium-rares of the ripening level of any grape, really, and I troll in capturing those characteristics of the fruit." Dan Berger remembers the 1980s when people didn't want "green" and they ...

Dan Barwick, winemaker, Trecini Wines

Tom Simoneau is back on California Wine Country with Steve Jaxon and Dan Berger today and he has brought a guest, Adam Lee, the winemaker at Clarice Wine Company. He was the founding winemaker at Siduri and Clarice is his own project that he launched after that experience. Adam Lee begins by describing his experience in the wine business, beginning with jobs in retail and wholesale of wine, starting after college. He majored in History and studied the French Revolution. He also worked in restaurants. When he moved to California he made 107 cases of wine his first year here. He tells the story of bringing some wine to Robert Parker and he managed to start Siduri out of that and he got up to 35,000 cases and sold it to the Jackson family. He still works with the Siduri winery. But a few years after he left Siduri, he started Clarice. He named the winery after his grandmother who was born in 1896 in Giddings, Texas. She used to cook in a crock pot and used to say if you make a stew over 8 hours, the flavors blend together, but if you add something late in the cooking, the flavor stands out. He has applied that principle to his winemaking and describes making field blends of his Pinot. Steve also introduces Morét, the Clarice general manager, who describes her own wine project. Today is July 14, Bastille Day, and Dan Berger notes that the changes in primogeniture laws affected properties in Burgundy but not on Bordeaux. They begin tasting a 2011 Swiftwater Cellars Zephyr Hills Chardonnay, from Dan's cellar, made by his friend Linda Trotta. She is now winemaker at Jameson Ridge in Napa. Tom Simoneau says he would never guess that this wine is ten years old.  Adam Lee says that we don't think of aging white wines. Then they taste Tom Simoneau's Chardonnay, the Brenda Lee Chardonnay, this is the 2019, their newest. It's 100% Chardonnay, wild yeast fermented, all from the Brenda Lee vineyard, planted with 9 different clones. Only 20% ML, since it's Alexander Valley AVA, it's a warm region and he does not need to soften the acidity, the fruit is all up front. The vineyard was planted in 1972. Dan Berger says that 3 or 4 years is plenty. Tom Simoneau sells wine only direct-to-consumer. Adam Lee finds making white wine to be like baking, which requires exactness, and so it's more challenging than red wine, which is more forgiving and that he compares to cooking, rather than baking. They taste the Clarice 2018 Rosella's Pinot from Monterey County. which is completely natural, no added sugar or yeast. Dan Berger says, "...you can smell the place..." and compares it to an empty nutmeg jar. Adam Lee describes the history of the vineyard and how he makes the wine differently now that the vineyard is older. Tom Simoneau reminds us that Clarice has a tiny production so if you're interested, get 'em now! The vineyards are in Monterey County but Adam Lee makes his wine in Sonoma County which is where he lives. He makes the Clarice in Sugarloaf, across from Oakmont, and he makes the Beaumarchais wines up in Healdsburg. Pierre Beaumarchais was the author of the Marriage of Figaro and the Barber of Seville, and he was also active in supporting the American Revolution. Adam Lee feels closest to Pinot Noir so he has made that his specialty. Tom notes that these wines are different, though they all come from the central coast.

Adam Lee, Clarice Wine Co.

Don Chigazola is back on California Wine Country with Steve Jaxon and Dan Berger. He is an Italian wine merchant. His company, Chigazola Merchants, imports small lots of fine Italian wine from small family producers located all over Italy, which he sells mainly through the Chigazola Merchants website, to his subscribers. Some wines are also in a few top local restaurants, by the glass. Don describes how he made the transition from a career in the tech industry to setting up his company. He would go on vacation to italy and sample their great wines, most of which are never imported to America. He would come home and look for them, but he could not find the selection and quality he knew from Italy. So, he set up the company to look for good deals on the best wine. He finds small family producers in the country’s many wine producing regions, and he selects his favorites among them to establish a business relationship. Dan Berger agrees that there are many great Italian varietals that deserve our attention, that simply do not arrive upon our shores. That’s why Chigazola Merchants has such an important role in the market here. There are great varieties that people here have never heard of, and will never find away from Italy. Here is the recording that shows the pronunciation of these Italian wine and geographical names, from Sonia Maspero, an Italian broadcaster expert in languages, food and beverages. Grazie Sonia!  Dan says that the key to their success is to monitor the quality all the way from bottling to shipping, in cold containers. It's a complicated process. 200 years ago Don’s ancestors immigrated to America from Genoa, italy, they went to New Orleans, which was the other early center of Italian immigration. The first wine they taste is Passerina, it’s bright, fresh, young, elegant with aromatics and a very delicate fresh fennel element with a bit of celery on top. Very bright with no oak, balanced, beautiful acidity to go with just enough alcohol. It’s labeled as 13.5 but feels like less. The winery is about two kilometers from the beach. Passerina is grown strictly in the Marche, which is the region on the Adriatic coast, along the middle of the peninsula. Every region has its famous wines. Piedmont is known for Barbera and Barolo, Tuscany is known for Chianti, and central Italy is known for whites. Don's wine club members have been asking for more and more white wines lately. Dan Berger thinks it's because there is too much sameness in Chardonnay and Sauvignon Blanc in the US. There is some Pinot Grigio which usually isn’t very interesting. The Italian whites grow on you, they all have character of their own. The same family produces the next wine, a Pecorino. It shares a name with sheep’s milk cheese, because the grapes grew in the mountains where shepherds brought sheep up into the mountains every summer. The sheep and shepherds ate the grapes and the grapes got their name that way. Don Chigazola has many great stories about friendships made among the families and winemakers. One story of a family in Montemiletto, in the province of Avellino, in the inland hills. There is an old Norman castle there. Don found the piazza in town, in the afternoon, where the local men were congregating .He asked them who made the best local wine and immediately he got a flood of suggestions. He asked them about the De Santis family, whom he was going to visit, and they all said their wine was first rate. So before he even went to the winery, “we had the endorsement of the park bench.” Later, they family got him a private tour of the castle.They also taste the Pecorino, also from Paolo and Carlo Petracci at Cantina Madonnabruna. Dan says it has a very faint hint of dried pineapple. It is great now and could get richer after a year. They also taste the Verdicchio which would go very well with clams. This variety is emerging as one if Italy’s most significant white wines.

Don Chigazola Brings Five White Wines from Italy

Theresa Heredia is back on California Wine Country with Steve Jaxon and Dan Berger today. She is the winemaker at Gary Farrell Winery and she has been on CWC twice in the last few years, first in April of 2017 and again in December of 2018. Theresa Heredia from Gary Farrell Winery is back on California Wine Country with Steve Jaxon and Dan Berger. Steve Jaxon reads from the winery’s website: “’Explore the legacy of our Pinot Noir and Chardonnay roots.’ That’s enough for me! My two favorite wines in the world,” says Steve Jaxon. The Gary Farrell brand has been around since the early 80s. His first was 1982 when he worked for Rocchioli. Gary went to Fresno State and studied political science and made beer in his dorm room, which is how he got into fermentation science. Dan adds a little to the story, about how Gary’s first job at Davis Bynum was as a handyman. He was painting and doing light construction. All the while he was paying attention to his surroundings and Hampton Bynum gave him a chance to make wine. Theresa Heredia is the current winemaker at Gary Farrell. She comes from Pittsburg California which is not a wine making place. She studied biochemistry as an undergrad at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo then worked in biopharmaceuticals for a short time before starting grad school in biochemistry at UC Davis. She was already in love with wine even if she was doing cancer therapeutics research. When she had meetings with the other chemistry majors where they would describe their work to each other, she discovered the wine program when the enology students brought wine to the meetings. She has been at Gary Farrell for 9 years. Before that she was winemaker at Freestone Vineyards for 10 years. Dan Berger ads that every bit of equipment at this winery is carefully construted to get the result that they do, which is delicate wines that go well with food. Theresa Heredia says that Gary Farrell Winery makes “between 24 and 27, approximately” different wines, SV, R of Pinot Noir, about 8 different Chardonnays, 12 to 14 pinots and a Zinfandel. Dan Berger says of the 2018 Chardonnay, that the last thing you taste is the acid, and it is very smooth. Venovia vineyard is planted in the Burgundian style, the vines are lower and closer together so the plants have more competition. Gary Farrell retired after the 2005 vintage. Dan says that Theresa and others are carrying on a lot of the work that Gary Farrell did in the wine world. Next they taste a 2017 Pinot Noir. Dan Berger describes it. It is too young, but has a lot of potential. It’s not a strawberry/raspberry Russian River Valley style. It is more like the Petaluma Gap, having better acidity. It would go well with rare roast beef, says Dan. It’s so young, and it does need time. Gary Farrell Winery is located in the heart of Russian River Valley on West Side Road. The winery is at the top of a hill, in front of Mt. Jackson. Dan Berger says that Sonoma County people probably don’t go wine tasting, like many people who live in famous cities don’t frequent the local monuments. But Gary Farrell winery is one to visit. Dan tells about some friends who went there and said it was their favorite winery experience. Next they taste the Taboni vineyard, near Santa Rosa, and it’s a classic Russian River Valley style, strawberries and raspberries with a little bit of wild thyme. Compared to the other one, this is succulent. It’s got more pizzaz, and you can drink it now, even if it’s just a 2018. The 2017 needs more time in the bottle but this one is silky, juicy and delicious right now. Dan Berger likes it because it illustrates what Russian River Valley does best.

Theresa Heredia, Winemaker, Gary Farrell Winery

Tom Simoneau has brought two guests on to California Wine Country with Steve Jaxon and Dan Berger today from Rodney Strong Vineyards. They are Head of Winemaking Justin Seidenfeld and Director of Communication Chris O’Gorman. Their story begins 55 years ago when a celebrated American dancer, Rodney Strong, retired to wine country after a career dancing on Broadway and in Paris. He was a famous dance prodigy from Washington state. He was asked to bring American dances to the Parisian audiences and he fell in love with wine when he lived in France. When Rodney Strong planted the Chalk Hill vineyard in 1965 there were 300 acres of Chardonnay in California in 1965. Then he planted 100 acres of it and truly, the rest is history. Tom Simoneau remembers when he first came to California in 1978 and was playing music at the time, he lived in Healdsburg and they had a big band house Fitz Mountain where they would rehearse. Then they would drive down to their tasting room and taste through everything. This is when he got into wine. Rodney Strong passed away about ten years ago but remained active at the winery into the 1990s even after the Kline family purchased the winery. Wine Enthusiast’s American Winery of the Year in 2013. Justin Seidenfeld is only the third winemaker at Rodney Strong Winery, the first was Rodney Strong and the second was Rick Sayre. First they taste a Rosé of Pinot Noir that Justin calls an “intentional” Rosé, meaning that these grapes were grown and harvested just for Rosé, earlier, like 20-21 brix. They have watermelon and strawberry components, jasmine, and lower alcohol. Dan Berger explains that some Rosés are made from juice bled off the red wine tank, which makes a stronger Rosé. This wine, on the other hand, is more like a white wine with a bit of color, more delicate and fragrant than other Rosés. They have a new label which is part of their rejuvenation project. They have converted to screw caps which have a lot of advantages. They find that their consumers appreciate. Dan Berger explains that the kind of liner in the cap determines the OTR Oxygen Transfer Rate for the wine. They still use cork for the big reds though. “Comitted to Community since 1959” is their slogan. They have always supported the arts in Sonoma County. They are not going to do the big Summer concert series but they are working on a smaller scale Americana concert. Next they taste the 2019 California Chardonnay which has evolved over the years. Now they are looking for cool climate vineyards, to get the tropical character, and the Sonoma County grapes compliment with their flavors, like green apple. Dan says it’s meant to be enjoyed immediately. Like the Rosé, Steve finds it unique. Tom says this one might take an award away from some more expensive Chards. It is creamy, rich and tangy. Justin Seidenfeld declares his philosophy that, “The wine is made in the vineyard” and that if there is one term to define his wine, it is balance. Tom Simoneau tells about a Cabernet Sauvignon he is making called True Love, that he and his wife Brenda picked and made. They taste a 2019 Petaluma Gap Pinot Noir, from the newest AVA in Sonoma County. This AVA is truly distinguished by its climate. This is the most southernly vineyard in Sonoma County, on the top of a hill about 275 feet elevation.

Justin Seidenfeld winemaker at Rodney Strong

Cameron Hughes joins Steve Jaxon and Dan Berger on California Wine Country today. He is a wine merchant, following more or less the business model of a négociant in France. He buys bulk wine for a low price and sells it to retail customers through De Négoce, his label and sales company. (The company name is French for "of the trade.") California produces so much good wine that not all of it finds a buyer. Dan Berger agrees the wine is really high quality wine that simply doesn’t have a home. Cameron Hughes has been doing this for about 20 years. He built a concept called the “lot concept.” He sold that company in 2017.  Cinergi was his previous brand. Then in 2019 someone offered him 100,000 gallons of 2018 Cabernet Sauvignon at a really good price and he felt he had to get back into the business. He finds wines that he can sell for 80% below their normal retail price. En Primeur is the French name of the early buying period in French wineries. (This is also done in Italy, la vendemmia. -ed.) Dan Berger says the difference is that Cameron Hughes has a fabulous palette so customers can trust his choices will turn out well. Mondavi used to have the slogan, “We’ll sell no wine before its time,” spoken by the great Orson Welles. Cameron Hughes has reversed that and says, “We’ll sell a big chunk of the wine before its time, because it’s what I do.” They did over 90,000 cases of wine in the last year. The website store has launched. Last year, the wine wasn’t even bottled. The earlier you buy in the cycle, the lower the price. They are tasting a Viognier that would sell for about $25 and Cameron Hughes sells it for $8. Since these wines are so young, consumers should cellar them for a while. Cameron agrees and says the need to keep them for a while is the tradeoff for getting a $25 bottle for $8. California Wine Country's sponsor Bottle Barn is where Wine Country buys its wine. Bottle Barn can ship wine to most states. Cameron Hughes grew up in Modesto, California and went to high school "with the Gallo kids" and his dad worked for Gallo then for The Wine Group. His first job was to collect and dump old out-of-code wine. He got a sales job in the wine business where he could build up his personal cellar. There used to be a 40% discount given among people in the wine trade, but that’s no longer done. Then he put a brand together and made a sale to Costco that started Cameron Hughes Lot 1. He sold that company and went into the high-end steak business, but was tempted by the wine business again and now has also started De Négoce. They taste a Chardonnay that Dan Berger says, “…leans in the direction of Chablis” so if you don’t like fancy oak Chardonnay, this will be your taste. It will age for 10-12 years. Now they taste a different Chardonnay, in a different style. It’s a richer, more opulent style. It is 14.2% alcohol, from Russian River Valley. It retails for $95, from a world-famous winemaker. But De Négoce is able to sell it for $20. Dan Berger says that is outrageous. There is a character in the fruit, it is less tropical and more citrus. It leans to a lime-flavor and fresh grapefruit component. There is another Chardonnay to taste. It comes from high up the Mayacamas Mountains, in Sonoma County, about 2000 feet of elevation. Part of the De Négoce business is that Cameron Hughes can not disclose exactly where the wine came from or who made it. Next is a Sonoma Mountain Cabernet, made by a husband-and-wife team. The vineyard is called Pickberry Vineyard on Sonoma Mountain. It is very young and needs time in the bottle. Dan says it’s hard to tell how long to keep it because it is so young you still get primary fermentation characteristics in it. He would put it away for at least a year. Cameron and Dan agree that the 2018 Vintage of Napa Cabs is a great year. Next they taste a Spring Mountain Cabernet. It sells for $29 at De Négoce and its normal retail is over $100.

Cameron Hughes, De Négoce

This week's two-part episode begins with Amber Lucas, who is back on California Wine Country with Steve Jaxon and Dan Berger. She is a lifestyle blogger and Instagram wine influencer. She is featured in an article that appeared on the front page of the San Francisco Chronicle, (see below) with an article entitled, “The Disruptive Power of Instagram’s Wine Influencers.” There is a paywall on the article at the San Francisco Chronicle website, which will make it impossible to read unless you have an account with them. Amber describes the article as “fair” and tells about cooperating with Esther Mobley, the San Francisco Chronicle journalist who wrote the article. Amber Lucas has been named a Wine Unify Award recipient. The Wine Unify website title says, “A more diverse wine industry starts with you.” Amber admits to hearing questions about her qualifications as a wine influencer and so she is emphatic about placing herself in a position to learn more about wine all the time. One critic, whose name does not need to be repeated to make the point, was quoted in the Chronicle, using big words such as, “They’re wanna-bes practicing a nauseating form of self-aggrandizement.” This elicited a loud and righteous, “Aw, give me a break, man!” from host Steve Jaxon.  Amber explains that she works closely with wineries and winemakers to share their stories with her audience. Her blog and her Instagram pages tell the whole story. She also says that some misunderstanding about what she does is a confusion between marketing and advertising, what they are and how they are different. She is emphatic about providing marketing services to her clients, not advertising (in the sense of a series of billboards or commercials that are bought and paid for by the number of days or minutes or seconds of exposure). Photos from Amber Lucas' Instagram page. 

hubhopper

California Wine Country

hubhopper