Winemaker Dan Petroski made news when he sold his boutique California white wine brand Massican to Gallo late last year. But that was just the latest step on a wine journey that started ignominiously as a Columbia University football player and began in earnest a decade later after an eye-opening dinner at Le Bernardin in New York. Petroski went on to become cellarmaster at Larkmead, where he worked until 2021 while also building his own brand. "I started Massican because my mother couldn't afford Larkmead," Petroski tells host James Molesworth in the newest episode of Wine Spectator's Straight Talk podcast. "I wanted to do something that would bring more people great wine."

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A podcast from Wine Spectator

Marvin R. Shanken, Editor and Publisher

Host: James Molesworth

Director: Robert Taylor

Producer: Gabriela Saldivia

Guests: Dan Petroski, MaryAnn Worobiec

Assistant producer, Napa: Elizabeth Redmayne-Titley

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