California Wine Country

Dan Berger Dan Berger is the featured guest on his own show today, to tell Steve Jaxon about Bahl Fratty Riesling, his new wine label. When Dan Berger first discovered fine wine early in his career as a journalist, it was an encounter with Riesling that got his attention. Today we get to hear about his first attempt to make a Riesling to his own demanding standards, and Steve Jaxon gets to taste some of it. Dan Berger is on CWC every week, but in these two special episodes last year, he was also the featured guest, telling his story to Steve Jaxon and co-host Harry Duke. The first week was about his career in journalism. The second week has the story about the corked Riesling and about Dan's annual wine competition. First they taste a 2018 Black Kite Chardonnay from Petaluma Gap. It has combined flavors of citrus fruit and cream. (Like a Creamsicle? asked the editor.) It spent about a year  in the barrels. Mendocino County Grown Riesling Dan is a big fan of Mendocino county for the great fruit it produces. In 2005 a friend in New York said they can make Riesling better than we can in California. He thought of Cole Ranch in Mendocino County. The name Bahl Fratty is in Boontling, the local lingo of Booneville. It has an entire vocabulary of local terms. For example, the very first telephone installed in Booneville was put in by a man named Bucky Walter. So, the telephones were called a buckywalter. A cup of coffee is a Horn of Zeess. Anderson Valley Brewing Company has a beer called Bahl Hornin'. Click the logo to visit our sponsor Bottle Barn online for the coolest bargains on wine, beer and spirits. Dan likes his Rieslings dry and this may be the driest of all. Dan's winemaker is Greg La Follette, who will be on CWC next week. It was not until 2022 that Dan could get access to some of the Cole Ranch fruit. This is his first production. Riesling takes the personality of where it grows, in the mountains or valleys. Dan has brought some salmon and cream cheese to show how his Riesling goes perfectly with it. He plans to make another vintage, from two different sources this time, the one in Mendocino and another from Carneros. He will also make a little bit of Vermentino.

Carol Shelton Today's episode of California Wine Country features Carol Shelton with Harry Duke and Dan Berger. Steve Jaxon has the day off. Carol Shelton has been on California Wine Country several times, the last was this May 31, 2023 episode about her wines other than Zinfandel. Carol Shelton Wines is on its 24th harvest and Carol has been in the business for 47 harvests. She was one of the first women to graduate in winemaking at UC Davis. She specializes in Zinfandel (she makes 7 or 8) and also in Rhone wines. Those include red and white blends and varietals like Viognier and Carignane. Their location is in a business park, not a bucolic rural vineyard. Dan Berger tells how she was making wines for Windsor Vineyards which was under the radar but the wines were really distinctive. The varietal characteristics were so precisely defined and Dan noticed that the Windsor wines won a lot of awards. He investigated and discovered Carol was making all those wines. It took about two years of “slogging hard” to start her own brand but about the third year it took off like a rocket ship. Carol Shelton wines continue to collect awards and she is known as one of the most distinguished winemakers in the business. Click the logo to visit our sponsor Bottle Barn online for the coolest bargains on wine, beer and spirits. They taste the Coquille Blanc 2022 is a white blend, mostly from one vineyard in Paso Robles, which is one of the best spots in the US for Rhone grapes. Grenache Blanc is the basis, steely and minerally and green apple-y, and she adds Roussane which is “round” and “oily” adds “big beautiful soft delicious fruit. Then Viognier brings flowers and delicacy then Marssane, a little more almond and peach flavors. They barrel ferment it all in old French oak, which give more delicate flavors. It is almost Chardonnay-like in structure but the aromatics are more like a northern Rhone wine with all those Rhone varietals. Paso Robles Paso Robles produces some great white wines, in addition to the Zins and Cabs that it is known for. The white wines deserve more notice. The main issue right now is heat, they have to be careful to pick as soon as they can. Carol finds it is 5 to 10 degrees warmer at night. White grapes like a chance to rest at night, so Russian River delivers that. Carol Shelton Wines’ Coquille Blanc is available at Bottle Barn, and also at Oliver’s. Her tasting room is open every day 11-4, in the far back of the Pine Creek business park, the same one where Moonlight Brewing is. Wild Thing Rendez-Vous Rosé The next tasting is Wild Thing Rendez-Vous Rosé. The grapes are from Mendocino County. It’s primarily Carignane with a little Zin and Petit Syrah. The name Wild Thing is because the Zinfandel is the wild yeast fermentation. This is a darker Rosé. She does a delayed Sagnier, which is bleeding juice. Since all the flavor is in the skins, some Rosés are too pale and lack flavor. They wait three days to bleed off the juice for the Rosé and the rest goes into the Zin. Dan says this is really more like a very light red wine, but the overwhelming aromatics are white and pink in character. The same wine could go with either steak or seafood. Next they taste Wild Thing Zinfandel, the new 2021 release. The 2020s are probably still in the stores. It is organically grown and uses the wild yeasts that live on the skins of the grapes. It has to be organic because fungicides would kill the natural yeast. These yeasts leave a little bit of glycerol, unfermented sugar, which adds roundness and creaminess to the flavor. It also has about 14 % Carignane and 9% Petit Syrah, and the rest is all Zinfandel. Dan Berger says it has, “blackberries up one side and down the other.”

Janice MacDonald is here to talk about Mendocino Sparkling and Oysters festival on California Wine Country with Harry Duke sitting in for Steve Jaxon, and of course with Dan Berger. Janice is the Festival and Events coordinator for Visit Mendocino. Janice seems to enjoy what must be a pleasant and easy task, promoting and describing Mendocino County to people. In Mendocino there are cool climate wines growing in the Anderson Valley and the warmer climate wines in the eastern area of the 101 corridor. Mendocino is a slightly less travelled place, so there are not great crowds, but it is worth a visit because the views are beautiful and the wines are phenomenal. Dan Berger started judging in the Mendocino wine competition in 1983. He has personally tasted the progress of Mendocino winemakers. Many years ago, their quality was “hit and miss” but today it is all first class. Their Cabernets have been great for the last five years and so have the Pinot Noirs, for the last ten years. The Mendocino Sparkling Wine and Oysters Festival The Mendocino Sparkling Wine and Oysters Festival is Saturday, January 27. Destination Hopland is hosting the event in the caves at Saracina Winery. There will be about 18 wineries pouring sparkling wines, and some others pouring still whites. There will also be generous servings of Hog Island oysters and delicious tastings from Left Coast Seafood which will also pair perfectly. Tickets are available on EventBrite, at this link. Here is the Mendocino Winegrowers web page about the event. Click the logo to visit our sponsor Bottle Barn online for the coolest bargains on wine, beer and spirits. The climate and soils in Mendocino are ideal for sparkling wine so this event will show them all off. The caves were founded by John Fetzer, son of Barney Fetzer who founded Fetzer Vineyards. In the studio they taste a Nelson Family Vineyards Brut Sparkling Wine, made from Chardonnay and carrying the North Coast appellation. Dan says it is beautiful with distinctive Chardonnay aromatics. Five years ago there were two or three top quality sparkling wine producers in Mendocino, but now there are more like twenty. It has really taken off. The Crab Cake Cookoff is a benefit for the Mendocino Coast Clinics, and that is next weekend. Each winery is paired with a local chef and the guests will elect a people's choice favorite. There is a live auction, too. February 3, from 11am-3pm, in Ft. Bragg. Visit the website visitmendocino.com for all information about what's going on in Mendocino County.

Dennis McCarter Dennis McCarter, founder and winemaker of McCarter Cellars, joins Steve Jaxon and Dan Berger on California Wine Country. To begin, Dennis talks about how he got started in wine, which happened when he joined his first wine club where they made some wine. He was born and raised in Santa Rosa and started making wine at home with five gallons of Barbera in his garage. Then he studied on his own and kept on making wine. Some of it was good enough to win some nice awards so he decided it was the time to go pro. 2022 is his inaugural vintage. They are working on getting a tasting room up and running. Dennis reminds us that there is a 15% discount at McCarter Cellars dot com, using the Promo Code "KRUSH" on the website, for the rest of this month. (That promo code is close to the name of Wine Country Radio's sister station KRSH, but with an extra U.) Before starting McCarter Cellars, Dennis worked in the insurance business but after the fires he wanted a change. He took some classes at Santa Rosa Junior College, worked in wineries and kept making wine. He went from being an intern at Vinify to a full-time cellar worker. Dan Berger later suggests that Dennis has shown us an ideal pathway to becoming a great winemaker and these wines show why that is. Girasole and Barra of Mendocino wines are available at Bottle Barn. Tasting Diversity, February 25 Dennis describes an event he is organizing with the Sonoma County Public Library Foundation. They raise money to build and rebuild libraries, "...like the one in Roseland." On February 25 they are doing an event called Tasting Diversity, a celebration of black leaders in the wine industry. There will be five guests and Jay Jackson will be the moderator. (He is an actor on Parks and Recreation.) They want to show that anybody from any background can have access to the wine business. The event is February 25, and starts at 3:00 to 5:00 pm, at Fog Crest Vineyard, 7606 Occidental Road in Sebastopol. For more information and the complete roster of guest speakers, visit the Events page on the Sonoma County Public Library Foundation website. McCarter Cellars Tastings They taste a 2021 Chardonnay first, called Tritone Cuvée, made by Greg La Follette. This is a blend of three lots, done with light oak. Steve describes it as "a little tart." It wouldn't go with rich food, but some kind of white fish or clams would work. Next they will taste the Sauvignon Blanc, then the Rosé. The Sauvignon Blanc comes from Rogers Vineyard in Dry Creek, in the cooler part of the AVA. The 2022 Pinot Noir has all the aromatics of the varietal. Dan notices raspberry, strawberry, a bit of blackberry. It is light and feathery, of the Burgundy style, that you don't often see in darker California Pinot Noirs. Dennis describes how he did it. It is 25% whole cluster. When there are stems, it can take away some color, and bring some other aromatics, like green peppercorns. Dan says, "this is succulent and delicious." The acidity is strong enough so chances are good that it will age well. Photo credits: Dennis McCarter, from https://www.mccartercellars.com/about. Bottles lineup by Vicario Productions.

Martha Barra Our guest today on California Wine Country with Steve Jaxon and Dan Berger is Martha Barra from Barra of Mendocino, the vineyards and winery. Martha was on CWC one other time, on this episode of November 18, 2020. Barra of Mendocino is and always has been an organic farm, even before certifications existed. Their tasting room is located about 10 miles north of Ukiah. Redwood Valley Vineyards is the vineyard estate which is about 5 miles from there. Dan mentions that too much fertility in the soil is not favorable to wine grapes. As you drive up the 101, past Hopland, there are fewer vineyards visible. When you finally get up to Ukiah, that is the last outpost for fine wine in California, and Barra is right in this zone. Then, there are just a few in Humboldt. They open a bottle of Barra wine for tasting that Dan says is “fabulous…exotic.” It has won several gold medals and is Dan’s white wine of the year.  This 2022 Pinot Blanc tastes as it is supposed to taste, made with no oak at all. It is delicious and ready to drink now, fresh. Pinot Blanc There are 4 or 5 good Pinot Blancs around and they all come from Mendocino County. This is due to the soils, as Martha explains. They don’t get the fog influence in their weather. There is a 15 degree diurnal shift. Among all the tropical and fruity flavors that Dan discerns in this Pinot Blanc, he also detects a trace of Fenugreek. Martha mentions that this wine comes from two different clones. The older one was planted in 1962. Barra only started making wine in 1998 and Pinot Blanc in about 2000. Before that they were just growers. There are only 438 acres of Pinot Blanc and Barra has 14 of them. Girasole and Barra of Mendocino wines are available at Bottle Barn. Winesong is Dan’s favorite annual event. It is a wine festival held in Mendocino, a fund raiser for the local hospital. Barra of Mendocino is always there. Martha would give a bee to each guest as a symbol that Barra of Mendocino is an organic farm. Later she learned that many people would keep the bees as souvenirs. Dan remembers the wine from Mendocino County as early as 1981. Back then the wine was not very good. The fruit had potential and eventually their winemaking skills caught up to the quality of the grapes they grow there. John Parducci was a winemaker who helped them make the leap in quality. Girasole They also taste a Girasole wine. The name means "sunflower" in Italian. They have had to defend the trade mark Girasole from competitors who had been using the brand, which is exclusively Barra's. Dan reminds us that Barra wines and wines from Mendocino generally are less expensive than wines from other places, and give great value. There are only 88 wineries in Mendocino, which is not a lot. Many of them, like Barra, are small producers. A lot of the new wineries are Pinot Noir producers in Anderson Valley. Barra also makes Sangiovese and an excellent Petit Syrah.

Dan Berger and Barry Herbst. Barry Herbst has brought Bottle Barn sparkling wines to California Wine Country with Steve Jaxon and Dan Berger today. Barry was on CWC on this episode last July 5, with Rosé wines available at Bottle Barn. He was also on last January 12 for this episode about low-alcohol wines at Bottle Barn. Dan Berger declares that Bottle Barn has a bigger selection at better prices than any store in the country and maybe the world. Champagne Champagne, as we know, is a protected name for French sparkling wine produced in that region. But great sparkling wines come from lots of other places and we will taste several today. Champagne is getting expensive compared to the others and there are great values from Spain, Italy and California. The first tasting is a Cava from Catalunya, the region around Barcelona, Spain. It is a very cool region that helps the wine maintain acidity. About 50% of the blend is a rare grape called Xarello. The brand name is Mercat and it is at Bottle Barn for $13.99. Dan says that he has tasted over 30 years of sparkling wines production from this region and they have consistently improved. Click the logo to visit our sponsor Bottle Barn online for the coolest bargains on wine, beer and spirits. Next, we go to Sharffenberger, located in Mendocino County, California. This is a sparkling Rosé that is a blend of different vintages. Dan says that kind of blending explains why a lot of champagne is not vintage dated. A lot of sparkling wines and Champagnes that are not vintage dated will be blends of more than one vintage. The word Cuvée just means a blend. The single-vintage sparkling wines are a lot more expensive. For example, Dom Perignon sells for $259 at Bottle Barn. Franciacorta Then they taste a wine from Franciacorta, in the province of Brescia, east of Milan in Lombardy. The ground it white and reflects light, so they grow the grapes up high where the reflections of light are not so strong. Franciacorta makes great sparkling wines, especially for the price. See our sponsor Victory House at Poppy Bank Epicenter online, and check out their family-friendly New Year's Eve party! After that, they taste a French Champagne, La Salle. It is from a small family producer that is as good as the more expensive brands. Dan says that this one could benefit from 6 to 12 months in the bottle. In England they like to age their sparkling wines, where American people tend to drink theirs right away. $33.99 at Bottle Barn, and $50 at least anywhere else. The Schramsberg Blanc de Noirs is the next tasting. It is a 2020, but since you harvest grapes for sparkling wine in August, that was before the fires that year. That is how this wine avoided fire damage. Dan Berger says it has Dom Perignon quality at a price you can afford.

Dan and Nick. Nick Goldschmidt winemaker and owner of Goldschmidt Vineyards, returns to California Wine Country with Steve Jaxon and Dan Berger. Nick has been on CWC a few times. The first in this series was this episode recorded on May 19, 2018. His most recent appearance was here on October 19. 2022. Nick was born in New Zealand but left the country as a young adult. “At the age of 20, I saw my destiny as somewhere other than New Zealand,” he explains. Dan Berger usually brings a cellar wine for tasting, but since Nick has brought something better, they will taste that instead. It is his Boulder Bank Sauvignon Blanc. They are tasting it at room temperature, so it is not cold. It has grapefruit and lime flavors. It would go well with seafood and salads. Three decades a winemaker. Nick has been a winemaker for more than three decades. He was a winemaker at Simi for 14 years. They are owned by Louis Vuitton and later by Constellation, who gave him the job of supervising still wine produced around the world. That is how Nick got to work with many iconic brands in many countries.   In 2008 he started his own winery. He also consults for 16 vineyards in 6 countries. He describes his passion as preserving small family-owned business. He likes helping them with a route to market and a sustainable business model. Click the logo to visit our sponsor Bottle Barn online for the coolest bargains on wine, beer and spirits. He lived in Chile during the dark times of the Pinochet dictatorship, and sometimes the government would cut off all the electrical power. So they learned how to make wine with no electricity, “unplugged.” He makes wine with his daughters and it was cool to have a project to work on together during her teen years. They taste a Merlot, which Nick and Dan describe. They also will taste a Cabernet. Nick says that about 50% of what they produce is Cabernet, and another quarter is Sauvignon Blanc. Then they do some others, such as Merlot. In his own vineyard he has planted Cabernet Franc and Petit Verdot and Malbec. He has also planted Zinfandel and Petit Syrah. They also make a Carignane and a Mourvedre, available only at the tasting room. Dan appreciates that Nick’s wines always have good structure and balance. International Winemaker of the Year Nick is very modest about having been named International Winemaker of the Year by Wine Enthusiast.

Dan and Greg. Davis Bynum winemaker Greg Morthole is back on California Wine Country with Dan Berger and Harry Duke, who is sitting in for Steve Jaxon. Katie Lalonde, Marketing and Communications Coordinator for Davis Bynum, is also in today. Greg has been on CWC a few times, most recently on this episode of December 1, 2021. Today Dan Berger has brought another wine from his vast collection, only this time it is not a cellar wine. Instead, it is a 2022 Chardonnay from Jesse’s Grove Winery in Lodi, made with no oak at all. Dan calls it a drink-it-now wine. They make Carignane, Sinsault, Zinfandel, Petit Syrah, a lot of red wine. The winemaker is Greg Burns and he is also the owner of the property. They sell grapes to winemakers all over California and are gaining a reputation for their own wines too. Davis Bynum, wine pioneer First, Greg Morthole tells the story of Davis Bynum Winery, one of Sonoma County’s historic labels. Davis Bynum started making wine commercially in Albany, California, in 1965. Later he purchased a vineyard in Napa Valley and got to know all the original winemakers there. In late 1972 he tasted a bottle of. Russian River Valley Pinot Noir that reminded him of Burgundy. It made such an impression on him that he began making it. He purchased the River Bend property and made the first single vintage Pinot Noir from grapes grown by Joe Rocchioli. Dan says it is rare to have moved from Napa to Sonoma. Davis Bynum was the first to care about Pinot Noir from Russian River, which put him ahead of almost everyone else. Click the logo to visit our sponsor Bottle Barn online for the coolest bargains on wine, beer and spirits. Greg tells his story and background as a winemaker. He grew up in different places including Wyoming, where he attended college and took a degree in sciences. Art was also important to him. He got a job in a wine lab in Sonoma County. Then he got an opportunity to work for Rodney Strong in 2005, which was interesting because of the many varieties they produce. He got to know Davis Bynum when he was in his 80s. As Greg remembers him, Davis Bynum was inquisitive about both the art and the science in wine. He too likes leaning into both of those aspects of winemaking. Katie Lalonde We also get to meet Katie Lalonde. She is the Marketing and Communication Coordinator for Davis Bynum . They have finished their 2023 program of events so they are planning the 2024 schedule now. The most recent event was a wine blending session with winemaker Greg Morthole. That was a lot of fun and they plan to do another one next year. Greg also remembers how Davis Bynum loved balance in his wines and he strives for that too. The rest of this episode is a tasting and discussion of Greg's two Chardonnays and two Pinot Noirs.

Dan and Carol. California Wine Country welcomes Carol Shelton, famous for Wild Thing wines with wild yeast, and for much more. CWC has the day off today so for today's podcast edition, this is a replay of the May 31, 2023 episode.  Carol Shelton makes varietals beside Zin, although she is known as the Queen of Zinfandel, and she is back on California Wine Country today, with Steve Jaxon, Dan Berger and Harry Duke. She has been on California Wine Country several times, most recently on this episode of February 15, 2023. Dan Berger introduces Carol Shelton by saying that every time she enters a competition she wins gold medals. She just entered the North of the Gate competition and won 6 double golds and best of classes, best of show red and Carol was named winemaker of the competition. Every grape entered has to have been grown north of the Golden Gate. Dan likes the competition because it’s a smaller more local competition and the judges all know each other. What is Wild Thing? They are tasting Carol’s 2022 Wild Thing Chardonnay. Wild Thing was originally the name of her Zinfandel, because she adds no yeast to what is there naturally. Dan says that it has good structure due to its acidity. It has tropical fruit in the aroma, but it is tart and will go with food. Carol says that the fruit profile comes from some Viognier and some Roussanne which she blended in. Next tasting is another gold medal, her signature wine called Wild Thing Zinfandel. Mendocino has some of the oldest Zinfandel in California. In the Ukiah area, it is warm but not too hot. This wine has explosive blackberry fruit. It is blended with some Carignane and Petit Syrah that is also grown on the property. Click the logo to visit our sponsor Bottle Barn online for the coolest bargains on wine, beer and spirits. Carol came to California in high school and attended UC Davis. Her mother encouraged her to follow her interest in sciences and to look into food sciences. She took the Introduction to Wine class and found the connections to history, culture, food, sensory data, chemistry, microbiology were everything she loved. Eventually she got her degree in Fermentation Science in 1978. (The degree is called Enology today.) Their tasting room is at 3354 Coffee Lane, they are in the back behind a few others, in the same business park with Moonlight Brewing. They are open daily from 11 am to 4 pm. Mention California Wine Country on The Drive to get a free tasting in Santa Rosa. Barbera d'Oakley They make Barbera d'Alba or Barbera d'Asti, different blends made in different towns in Piedmont. Barbera is a dry red wine popular in northern Italy. The vineyard is in Oakley, California, it is at the edge of the delta, at the San Joaquin River. The vines are over 100 years old. 75% Barbera, 10% Zin, 10% Merlot, and 5% Carignanne. It won a slew of medals. It has a dark color and vibrant aroma. The next tasting is Coquille Rouge, which is all red Rhone varieties, grown at Oakley. Mourvedre, Grenache Noir and Petit Syrah, Carignane and Alicante Bouchet.

Foppiano GM Rob McNeill and winemaker Nova Perrill, are both guests on California Wine Country with Steve Jaxon and Dan Berger. Rob was on this CWC episode on August 29, 2018 and Nova has been on the show three other times, the most recent was this episode of October 26, 2022. Nova became the Foppiano Vineyards winemaker in 2014 and Rob became GM in 2017. Rob had made sparkling wine and he wanted to make some at Foppiano, so he introduced Nova to it. Pinot Noir and Chardonnay have taken over a lot of acreage, and Napa Valley wineries are buying Sonoma County Pinot Noir fruit. Since most of Russian River Valley is Pinot Noir, what is left of the Cabernet growing in Sonoma is very distinctive in Cab character. Growing it in warm climates sacrifices the aromatics that you get from cooler Napa valley. So these Cabs from Russian River have full Cabernet character. The average consumer has not tasted these aromatics in 20 years, because of the way Napa makes Cabernet today.  This Russian River Cabernet has all the flavors of dried grass, green pepper and red pepper that Cab should always have. Wine is beautifully simple. Wine will essentially make itself, under certain parameters. Sparkling winemaking is taking those parameters and making them as complicated as possible ... and the product makes it worthwhile. -Nova Perrill. Nova says that the varietal and the region are a team. Foppiano is located in northern tip of Russian River, near Alexander Valley and Dry Creek Valley, which give a warmer influence. Click the logo to visit our sponsor Bottle Barn online for the coolest bargains on wine, beer and spirits. Petit Syrah Dan Berger says that Foppiano is most famous for Petit Syrah, which is their flagship wine. They are committed to consistency in its production. It is tannic but moderated by its fruity flavors. Dan has some Petit Syrahs that are 35 or 40 years old. Clark Smith did a survey of the oxygen appetite of all the grape varieties. He discovered that the grape variety with the greatest capacity for absorbing oxygen is Petit Syrah.