This episode features the return of Ann Reynolds, who runs Wine Compliance Alliance, and was on the podcast previously in Episode 45. As I was busy with grapes and harvest during the month of October, I asked Ann to record a solo episode and discuss an outline navigating the federal and California state winery permitting processes. Ann has vast experience in helping clients obtain both Alternating Permit and Custom Crush / Wholesale licensing, processes that are daunting to folks approaching eit...
Nov 06, 2017•58 min
This episode features John Caldwell, the maverick, the grape-grower, the vine-smuggler, the clonal researcher, the winemaker, and the story-teller. John didn't plan to start his own winery, and neither did he plan to plant grapevines on his property in Coombsville when he first bought it. Today Caldwell Vineyard is a thriving winery and also continues to sell grapes to other wineries. This episode starts a little slow--John didn't even realize that I was recording an audio podcast--and then delv...
Sep 22, 2017•2 hr 6 min
Having grown up on the Cinnabar Winery estate in the Santa Cruz Mountains, Caleb Mosely has worked with grapevines for nearly all his life. In this episode we talk about his upbringing at Cinnabar, school at CalPoly, work at Ridge Vineyards and then his vineyard positions in Napa before he moved to his current role as viticulturist with Mike Wolfe Vineyard Services. We cover a ton of technical geekdom about rootstocks, weed management, and organic practices. LINKS AND RESOURCES MENTIONED IN THIS...
Sep 10, 2017•1 hr 55 min
As the fourth generation in the Musto family business, Christina Musto is on this episode of the podcast to talk about what Musto Wine Grape Company has available for home and commercial winemakers in New England and to discuss her role as a founding member of Women Winemakers of Connecticut. Musto is the largest and oldest wine grape and juice distributor in New England, with their own vineyards in Suisun Valley, CA and long-standing contracts with growers in Lodi, Central Valley, Napa, Sonoma,...
Aug 22, 2017•54 min
Hailing from the Pisoni family that helped put Santa Lucia Highlands on the winemaking map in California, Jeff Pisoni shares the story of his family's relationship with farming and the development of Gary's, Pisoni, and Soberanes, which supply grapes to numerous top end wineries across the state. Recounting clandestine attempts his father, Gary Pisoni, undertook to find water on the family ranch, Jeff shares how he and his brother, Mark Pisoni, grew up on the farm and now split the work with Mar...
Aug 09, 2017•1 hr 8 min
This episode is the first in a series of solo podcasts where I present my assessment of the most critical chemical analyses a winemaker needs to understand. It's a peek inside the chaotic jungle that is my harvest-season brain and the attempts to organize sugar's conversion to alcohol during harvest, when winemaking decisions are most critical. If there was a straight-forward and precise working ratio of sugars to ethanol, this would be a simple, 60-second podcast. Approach this as my quest to i...
Jul 27, 2017•29 min
In the basement of the world's cutest micro-winery, I met with Mark Porembsky to talk about his work there making not only the wine for Anomaly Vineyards, but also for his own brand, Zeitgeist Cellars. Our conversation covers: Mark's favorite winemaking tool The mentors that Mark had when learning to make wine How Mark and his wife, also a winemaker, harness "creative conflict" in their blending process How subtlety and complexity have evolved to be hallmarks of the Zeitgeist wines The origins o...
Jun 27, 2017•1 hr 22 min
Three years after my first podcast with Mike Dunn, he helped me rope Randy Dunn into a podcast so that we could learn more about old-school Napa winemaking and the stories from a place that had far less glitz than exists today. Not one to seek the spotlight, Randy has consistently turned out iconic mountain Cabernets, which have brought the spotlight up to their otherwise quiet ranch on Howell Mountain since the 70's. Mike and Randy count their harvests together in decades, not years. There are ...
Jun 22, 2017•1 hr 52 min
I had a great time talking with Rebekah Wineburg, who has made worked at some of the top wineries in the world and is currently the winemaker at Quintessa in Napa Valley. Rebekah told me her background and then the full history on Quintessa including the key elements she uses to describe the wine, "Elegance, harmony, and layers." Our conversation covers a whole range and vineyard and winery topics such as: How to pick vineyards for a specific wine style Rebekah's thoughts on extended maceration ...
Jun 09, 2017•1 hr 18 min
As Vice President and General Manager at Cliff Lede Family Wines Remi Cohen oversees the grapegrowing and winemaking for the Cliff Lede wines in Napa and the FEL wines from Anderson Valley. In this episode Remi tells of her job in entomology that led to enrollment to study viticulture at UCDavis. From there she quickly rose through the vineyard ranks at Napa wineries and farming companies, such as Saintsbury and Bouchaine. With her technical background and MBA from Berkeley she was well suited t...
May 27, 2017•1 hr 6 min
Viticulturist and vineyard guru, Garrett Buckland, returns to the Inside Winemaking Podcast to discuss organic farming as it applies to winegrapes. Garrett has a wealth of vineyard experience, having spent his entire life farming grapes in Napa. He is one of the rare farming gems who also understands winemaking and is immersed in the creation of some of Napa Valley's leading wines. We spend the majority of the podcast discussing my questions about the actual vineyard practices that are employed ...
May 16, 2017•1 hr 50 min
"California terrior through the lens of Zinfandel." As a winemaker sourcing Zinfandel vineyards, from 12 counties throughout California Tegan Passalacqua has an unrivaled view of this grape's potential in his role at Turley Wine Cellars. Tegan and his wife also have their own small brand, Sandlands Wines, which is often known for its Chenin blanc, but is also producing lesser-known varieties such as Trousseau noir. In this episode of The Inside Winemaking Podcast Tegan and I discuss: Why Zinfand...
May 03, 2017•2 hr 6 min
Spanning wine regions in Israel, California, Walla Walla, and Chile winemaker, Maayan Koschitzky, has accumulated more winemaking experience in ten years than many enologists would in an entire career. Our conversation in this episode explores the practices of Kosher winemaking, especially from Maayan's early career in Israel. After moving the the US to take winery jobs at Screaming Eagle and Dalla Valle Vineyards, Maayan moved into his current position as Director of Winemaking at Atelier Melka...
Apr 20, 2017•1 hr 24 min
In this episode I take questions submitted from listeners and give my best advice. Winemaking is like cooking in that there is rarely a discreet best answer, so each response is to be taken with a grain of salt. There's more than one way to ferment a grape. When appropriate I explain how you might scale up or down given the size of winery involved. Questions in this episode about how to make wine cover: the use of SO2, winemaking in Texas, nutritional strategies for native fermentation managemen...
Apr 06, 2017•1 hr 1 min
Tyler Thomas, who is the director of winemaking at Dierberg and Star Lane Vineyards, was the guest on the very popular Episode: 35 of The Inside Winemaking Podcast. In this episode Tyler returns in a solo format to give color to his thoughts on what it means to be a winemaker and then results from some of the vineyard and winery trials that he has taken on. There are numerous academic studies of how yield affects wine quality, but Tyler's trials with Pinot Noir might surprise you. How about the ...
Mar 14, 2017•47 min
Tom Rinaldi I had the privilege to sit down and talk with one of my professional heroes, one of the most requested winemakers for this podcast, Tom Rinaldi. After a long career including building the Duckhorn brand from the ground starting in 1978, Tom then went on to launch and direct the Provenance and Hewitt brands with the Chalone group. Tom is now retired from full-time work, but continues to consult on small winemaking projects in Napa and Washington state. Our conversation ranges from wha...
Mar 10, 2017•1 hr 22 min
ANN REYNOLDS, THE INSIDE STORY OF A WINE LABEL This episode features author, Ann Reynolds, and her book The Inside Story of a Wine Label . Ann's business, Wine Compliance Alliance, is focused resource on navigating the sea of the TTB's federal regulations for everything from grapes to bottling. Ann's book details all of the regulated items on a wine label from brand name, alcohol content, to the specific nuances of appellation and the items that are not required on a wine label. After years invo...
Feb 27, 2017•1 hr 32 min
This episode features Philippe Melka, one of the most renowned winemakers in California. Joining us is Meghan Zoebeck, who is one of the winemakers that make up the small Atelier Melka workshop, which is responsible for the consultation to some of Napa's leading wineries. I have received many requests for a discussion of managing native fermentations and I felt Philippe's experience would be ideal for this topic. After Philippe shares the mishap of feeding red pomace to the winery cows at Seavey...
Feb 02, 2017•1 hr 41 min
Austin Peterson decided that he wanted to become a winemaker his father, also a winemaker, tried talking him out of it. Winemaking may not be the most lucrative career, but it is rife with people choosing passion over payment. Austin, now winemaker at Ovid Vineyards in Napa's Pritchard Hill, brings a relentless passion to the vineyard and winemaking processes at Ovid Vineyards. Austin and the rest of the Ovid team might have one of the most spectacular daily commutes. Resting above the main vall...
Jan 25, 2017•1 hr 16 min
From experiments with co-fermentation, harvest timing, and shade v. sun-side canopies Robert Hunt has a contagious curiosity for the endless pursuit of refining his technical approaches to winemaking. In 2016 Anderson's Conn Valley lost its founder, Gus Anderson, and thus I asked Robert to describe the founding of stories of the vineyard and subsequent winery. Our conversation in this episode covers topics from estate winemaking and its gritty details, what a good winery lab job looks like, to t...
Jan 12, 2017•1 hr 14 min
This episode features Jeremy Weintraub, who is making some of the most exciting wines in California's Central Coast. Having worked at wineries in New York, New Zealand, Italy, Napa, and throughout the Central Coast, Jeremy is well suited to understand vineyard potential and the methods to craft wines that demonstrate what he finds exciting in each site. Our conversation covers his path to winemaking, lessons from Antinori in Chianti, how to co-ferment Viognier and Syrah, meshing lessons from aca...
Dec 15, 2016•1 hr 43 min
Fueled by tequila, and recorded naked in an ofuro, or Japanese soaking tub, this episode gave me the chance to exhaust my thoughts on flavor through grapes and winemaking. Part science, part clinical experience, and part bad science veiled as expertise the thoughts presented range from highly technical to pure speculation. I think the hot water and cold night air allowed me to relax and ultimately gives a peek inside my thought processes during grape ripening and the harvest season.
Nov 17, 2016•44 min
A friendship that spans the divide between California and The Cape in South Africa has manifest in the partnership that is the talented viticultural and winemaking prowess behind Wilson Foreigner. After working the 2004 harvest together in South Africa, Dave Wilson and Chris Alheit, remained friends as they both gained experience working at some of the most prestigious vineyard and winery estates throughout the world. In 2015 they produced a Valdigue from Rancho Chimiles, Dave's family's home vi...
Sep 27, 2016•1 hr 22 min
After working among some of the top wineries in Napa, Aaron Miller took over the helm as winemaker for Plumpjack Winery in 2012. Plumpjack sits on some of the most valuable real estate in the Napa Valley, with the estate vineyard planted in the iron-red soils of Oakville's eastern edge. In this episode Aaron tells the story of Plumpjack and its relation to its sister wineries Cade Winery and Odette Estate, also operated by the Plumpjack Group. Each of the three wineries has been created to expre...
Sep 09, 2016•1 hr 8 min
In a quiet nook off of Silverado Trail in St Helena District of Napa Valley, Boeschen Vineyards is hidden where the grapevines meet the oak hillside. Cypress trees interplanted with the Sauvignon blanc vines was the compromise the Boeschens struck with their master gardener mother, Susan. After a career as a strategy consultant for technology companies Doug Boeschen was compelled to take a viticulture job and learn about growing grapes and making wine. That compulsion is what catalyzed the purch...
Aug 17, 2016•1 hr 5 min
This episode is the return of David Bos, a guru of organic, biodynamic farming, and one of Inside Winemaking's most popular guests. For those that have yet to listen to David's initial interview ( #011 "Beyond the Cowhorn" from Februrary, 2015) I would suggest listening to that first. During his round two we get explore compost, its creation, and how to source high quality material. David gives a background on his early experiments with biochar, something that has a potential to aid compost in t...
Jun 28, 2016•1 hr 34 min
This episode of the Inside Winemaking Podcast is an exciting one for two reasons. First, my guest, Tyler Thomas weaves us through the epic vineyard and winery estate that is Dierberg and Star Lane Vineyards. Second, this episode was recorded over Skype, and is the initial foray outside a previously limited geographic range of the northern California. From own-rooted vines, to the differential rates of flavor and tannin extraction, all the way to the 250-year plan that Star Lane Vineyards is buil...
Jun 21, 2016•1 hr 40 min
As I prepare to bottle my 2014 red wines I've put together a working document of all the important aspects that have to come together to successfully wrap up wines' tenure in the cellar. This episode of The Inside Winemaking Podcast is a peek inside my brain, and my planning for the end of the 20-month affair I've had with these grapes and wines. With so much to prepare and a heightened level of consequence, winemaking becomes very technical on the route to the bottling line.
Jun 01, 2016•1 hr 5 min
After an education that spanned the Canary Islands, Barcelona, and Bordeaux, Anthony Weytjens has set roots in Napa as the Winemaker and Estate Manager at Edge Hill Estate. It wasn't until Anthony left Tenerife, the main island of the Canaries, and went to law school in Spain that he found an interest in vineyards and winemaking. In the podcast Anthony weaves through the trials that were a part of his viticulture and enology education at the University of Bordeaux, including his having to learn ...
Apr 29, 2016•1 hr 24 min
This episode is all about the use of whole berry fermentation in red winemaking. I used this opportunity to make a solo podcast and go over what whole berry fermentation is, the reasons a winemaker would want to employ this technique in a winery, and also the multitude of challenges that it presents. For each of the challenges, I address the methods I have adopted in order to overcome potential issues.
Apr 13, 2016•30 min
