Ornella Molon and Loris Traverso are in with Don Chigazola today on California Wine Country with Steve Jaxon and Dan Berger. Ornella Molon and her son Loris Traverso produce wine at their family's two wineries, in the Veneto and Friuli regions of Italy. (In a couple of places, Ornella speaks in Italian, then her son translates for her. For anyone interested in her comments in Italian, there is a transcript and translation of her words, at the bottom of this page.)

Loris explains how his parents started in the wine business in 1982. Neither his father nor his mother had a background in wine. When his grandparents gave them a vineyard when they were married in 1977, they started making wine, first for friends and then professionally. When they registered the winery as a business in 1982 at the Chamber of Commerce in Treviso, it was the first time that a woman was put in charge of the company. People were skeptical of a woman in that role, but Ornella has had great succeess and in Loris’ words, “My mom would say that she had to prove herself at the winery.” She says it was hard but it was good because she had to prove herself to everyone. Her advice to other women in the wine business is, “keep fighting, show who you are, and show everyone your value.”

They are located in Treviso, a small city about 30 minutes from the city of Venice, in the Veneto region. Their villa and cantina, centuries ago, was the summer home of the Doge of Venice (English pronunciation is “dodj” and the Italian pronunciation is “DO-jeh”).

Don Chigazola tells how he got started as a wine importer. He is retired from the tech industry and he has followed his passion for Italian wine since founding Chigazola Merchants with his son. They travel the back roads of Italy and look for small family producers who are making excellent wine. Don also speaks Italian, which is important for his business.

Don and Dan agree that it is the small producers in Italy make these very fine wines. The larger producers in Italy are the ones who supply American supermarkets and those wines are nothing like these. Dan Berger explains that American supermarkets do not stock the kinds of wine that Don Chigazola imports. Don’s wines are in some local restaurants (he mentions Riviera and Ca’ Bianca) and at Oliver’s Markets. They are also at Bottle Barn.

They taste a Rosato, which is Italian for Rosé. It is a 2017 and has light bubbles. This Rosato is made from Cabernet Franc, which is a very common varietal in northeastern Italy. They make it as a red and a rosato. It is very dry and has very thin bubbles. Dan explains that you can taste the wine with the bubbles, then wait a while and the bubbles will go away, the wine is equally interesting but different.

The next wine is their newest release, a 2017 Pinot Grigio from their second label and cantina, Vigna Traverso in Friuli (in northeast Italy next to Slovenia). Steve asks Dan how this Italian Pinot Grigio differs from the ones from California. Dan says that here, we start with much riper grapes, so we get more florality and are more alluring in the aroma department. However they have less acidity. Then there are two Italian styles, mass production and also cold climate small production. This is one of those cold climate wines that would go well with food.

Loris tells about the vineyard. Ponca is the name of the kind of soil, called marn in English. They do not use any barrels here. They only use French oak for their red wines. Loris also tells that his mother and father each have a vineyard and winery. His father found and acquired a winery in the Friuli region in the early 1990s. They produce about 8000 cases per year, which is a fairly small production.

The next wine is a Raboso which is a unique variety indiginous to the Veneto in the area around the Piave River,

David Lattin, winemaker at Emeritus Vineyards, joins Steve Jaxon and Dan Berger on California Wine Country. Barry Herbst from Bottle Barn is also in.

Emeritus Vineyards specializes in Russian River Valley estate-grown Pinot Noir. Dan Berger says that this wine is exemplary of Russian River Valley. With all the fog, the land is a little cooler than the rest of the county. Emeritus has made careful selections of which clones are planed in exactly which vineyards.

David Lattin says he got into the wine business by being exposed to wine as a child, including when his family lived in Germany for a while. He had a science degree and applied to the UC Davis program for a master's in enology.

Emeritus Vineyards only produces Pinot Noir. It's all 100% estate grown. They only harvest at night. Vin Gris literally "gray wine" is a term that means you can get white juice from fresh red grapes, but it will not have color if the skins are not broken into the crush.  It's called Halberg Blanc. Halberg is a 110 acre vineyard of theirs. The aroma is minerally and has flavor of faint dried apples. It is sort of a white wine without anything distinctive. It is nice, clean and fresh but not flowery. The finish too is more minerally. It is not austere but it is dry, so it would go well with shellfish.

Dan has brought a 2012 Gewürtztraminer from Cathy Corison. The wine label is called Córazon. She gets fruit from Anderson Valley and makes the wine in St. Helena. It is not sweet like some of this varietal.

Bryce Jones and Kirk Lokka, his vineyard manager, saw the property in the center of the Russian River AVA "like a flying carpet of Pinot Noir." They decided to apply dry farming which means it is not irrigated. If you water, the roots stay shallow and when you don't, the vines will send roots down to follow the water. He says he has found roots as deep as 18 feet down, in test pits. It takes time to establish and reduces yield, but it is good for the wine.

Next they taste a wine called "Don's Block" named after their late winemaker Don Blackburn It is a 2015, called La Combette. Dan Berger says it has strong aromatics and subtle in mid-palette fruit, a great wine. They pick their grapes 3 weeks earlier than anyone else, to get better acid. Dan says this will give the wine great structure. This is $110 here but if this were coming from France it would sell for at least $300.  Dan says it will reach an early peak after 10 years.

Dan Berger explains that Russian River Valley Pinot Noir wines tend to have a fairly narrow flavor profile. These wines however have a little more substance in the mid-palette. This next tasting is denser but without strong tannins. It has the structure to go well with strong flavored foods like roasts or lamb.

Next is the 2013 Pinot Noir from the Halberg Ranch. This is a little more aged than the others. When Pinot Noir gets about 4 to 6 years after the vintage, you begin to see what Pinot Noir will show. It's the best of all the aging wines because you don't have to wait forever. With Cabernet, it can take 10 years before you see it. Pinot Noir has more aromatic diversity. The previous wines tasted were only two years older, but this one has much more than they to. Dan says the limit is about 10 to 12 years. After that, the wine may not get any better. Dan describes it as rich and flavorful. David also notes that this is only from two years' worth of full dry farming. Each subsequent vintage gets more concentrated. The Halberg Ranch is one of Dan's top five vineyards for Pinot Noir in the country.

Bryce Jones knew he was making a gamble when he planted Pinot Noir in these vineyards. Many wines by other top winemakers have Halberg Vineyard on the label.

BOTTLE BARN is running a flash sale every other Friday and today Barry Herbst  has brought a Kuleto Cabernet.

Robert Larsen is back with Steve Jaxon and Dan Berger on California Wine Country today. He has brought the Grenache and Grenache Rosé from his personal label, The Larsen Projekt. Robert Larsen is also a publicist with many years experience in the wine business.

The 2018 Rosés are coming out now and Robert has brought his entry. Dan Berger starts with a big compliment to Robert's wines. "The most important thing is, it's dry!" says Dan. It sells for only $20. Dan says that with the Rosé boom, some are pricing above $20 which Dan says you can get if it is dry.

Robert Larsen was at Rodney Strong Vineyards for many years and now he does marketing and public relations representation for many other wineries.

The Larsen Projekt is his personal production. He likes Grenache in all its blends and forms. They are tasting his 2018 Grenache Rosé from Dry Creek Valley. Dan says that Grenache gives you a red wine floral as opposed to a white wine floral. It is dry, with more than 7g of acid, it goes great with seafood.

The fruit comes from Mike Saini Vineyard in Dry Creek Valley, for the Grenache Rosé and red. He has a team of winemakers who are former colleagues. He uses the Healdsburg custom crush facility.

Dan says the Saini family knows something about Grenache. They grow aggressively and the vines must be pruned well. "It is luxurious and beautiful," says Steve. Robert Larsen Projekt wines are available at the Larsen Projekt website. Previous vintages are mostly at restaurants. Wilabee's and Oliver's carry them retail, and the restaurants Franchetti's,  Jackson's, The Pullman Kitchen and Bistro 29 also do.

Robert Larsen started at Sonoma State University but before their wine business program was developed. He took an internship at Glen Ellen Winery. He still works with some people he met there. He was at Buena Vista, and also in Monterey County and Mendocino, but always came back to Sonoma County.

Dan says Grenache has lower tanins and therefore more approachable wines. Demand for it is increasing and more growers are planting it. It was originally called Bonarda and was made as a blender to cut the tannins in the Malbecs in Argentina. The Bonarda is related to an Italian grape, originally. The Grenache is an offshoot variety grown in the Rhone Valley. It is the dominant grape variety in the Southern Rhone Valley and an important component in Chateauneuf du Pape.

Most of the Grenache around now was planted from 1994 to 1998 or younger. They grow very tall fronds early in the growth season and you have to cut it way back. Too much fruit makes flavorless wine.

The 2018 Grenache Rosé will be released in the next two weeks, on the website.

The 2017 Grenache is blended with a little bit of Syrah, about 13%. Dan says this is Grenache as it wants to be, when it is a varietal. This one, from California, has lower tannins than a European variety. There are 13 legal varieties used in southern Rhone wines, which make up Chateauneuf du Pape. There are people who can not abide Cabernet Sauvignon because the tannins are too strong, so they drink Merlot instead. If you don't like bitterness in your wine, this is the wine to buy.

Robert Larsen's production is small, only 250 cases of the Grenache Rosé. But he only made 75 cases of the Red Grenache.

Nova Perrill is our guest today on California Wine Country with Steve Jaxon and Dan Berger. He is the winemaker at Foppiano Vineyards. (The owner and CEO of Foppiano Vineyards were on CWC last August, here is the podcast page of that episode.)

Nova Perrill tells how he took a Crop Science degree at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo then he got hired at Mount Eden, where he learned winemaking and viticulture and where he was as likely to be on a tractor as making wine. It was in the Santa Clara Valley. Dan says that Santa Clara Valley had some vineyards back then but today it is mostly homes.

Paul Masson played a critical role in California viticulture. For one thing, he hired Martin Ray. He was instrumental in label laws. We had adopted French names but they didn’t apply to us, as our appellations and micro-climates are different. He thought that they needed their own names. Dan Berger says the first wineries in Sonoma County were in the early 1970s. In the ‘90s when Nova got to Sonoma, they were still stuck on five varietals and since then a lot has happened.

Nova Perrill's first vintage was 2004. He was part of a class of winemakers that were in the middle of the second Renaissance, as Dan described it. In the 80s and 90s, winemaking skills were rare and winemakers would find work as consultants in a lot of places. Nova describes the location of the vineyard, in Sonoma County. They are the oldest Sauvignon Blanc vines in Sonoma County. He has the option of finding fruit that favors each of the two main flavor profiles of SV, grassy or tropical flavors.

Foppiano Vineyards was founded in 1896 by Giovanni Foppiano. It’s one of Sonoma County’s longest continuously operating vineyards. Every winery is assigned a bonded winery number. They are bonded winery 312, the 312th one opened in California.

Next they taste a 2017 Chardonnay. It’s from the Russian River, right off the estate. He describes the location. They are planting Barbera there. This is the last vintage of Chardonnay from there. Dan finds lime flavors and traces of new oak in it. They only made 49 cases of it and it is available at the tasting room. Nova learned not to be afraid of barrel fermentation and ML, and not to overdo it; “balance is everything.”

They taste a Cabernet that Dan says this is more like the ones of the 1960s. It is a 1981 so will have some brown color, and more after an hour.

They have a new mural out in front, to commemorate the original storefront that they had there. There is an avocado tree that is famous throughout Sonoma County. It produces thousands of avocados. There is a 100-year-old barn and much more. They are open seven days a week and Nova describes it as a diamond in the rough. They don’t to a lot of advertising.

Dan notes that sparkling red wine is really hard to make.

Barbara Lindblom visits with Steve Jaxon and Dan Berger today, to remember Mary Ann Graf, a pioneering, iconic local winemaker who passed away recently. Barbara Lindblom also worked at Simi Winery (as laboratory director) then as a winemaker in some other places. She is now retired.

Mary Ann Graf studied at UC Davis and was the first woman in the US to graduate with a degree in Oenology. She was the winemaker at Simi Winery, the first in a series of notable women winemakers there. Then, she ran a successful laboratory testing company called Vinquiry, which performed testing services for wineries. She was the first woman on the board of directors of the American Society for Enology and Viticulture

Mary Ann Graf worked with André Tchelistcheff. They will taste a non-vintage Simi North Coast Burgundy, which Dan can see is from 1973, from the code printed at the bottom of the bottle. This was Mary Ann’s first year at Simi. Dan bought these wines at Trader Joe’s for $1.99 per bottleMost of the major wineries in those days made a generic so-called Burgundy and most of them were blends.

Mary Ann Graf started Vinquiry at about that time. Dan knows it as one of the most professional wine analysis laboratories at the time. She had a lot of clients in Alexander Valley.

Barbara Lindblom started working at a harvest at Mondavi with Zelma Long. When Zelma got the job as Simi, she asked Barbara to join her, and she worked there for 10 years. Dan Berger says that Zelma Long and André Tchelistcheff were a strong team, since André was more inclinded to understanding wine from its sensory perception and Zelma understood it more from the technical standpoint.

Barbara remembers Mary Ann was so generous with her time and her thoughts, and a steadfast friend. Her consulting business grew and grew because she and her partner were so smart and patient with their clients.

Dan remembers when he and Mary Ann were judges in a competition in the midwest where the wine was really bad. Dan remembers she was so kind and quiet. A winemaker from Illinois asked her, “Did you like my wine?” She replied kindly, “We can talk about this, you’ve got potential.” She could not say anything negative about it. As a consultant, she would tell her clients what’s there and what can make it better. She was always looking out for the best long-term solution, not a quick fix.

They taste a 2000 Old Vine Zinfandel from Fanucci vineyards and a 2016 Stonestreet Estate Chardonnay that is a good example of Alexander Valley fruit having enough acidity to age well.

Barbara Lindblom spent some time in France and Spain as well as working as a winemaker in California.

Dan brought in a Simi North Coast Burgundy from 1973. This was Mary Ann Graf’s first year at Simi. It is only 12% alcohol, mostly Carignane and a bit of Zinfandel. Dan says that wineries had their blends with all kinds of different varietals that they all called Burgundy. They were the varietals that were in their high end portfolios, but the leftover wines were also good.

Dan Berger tasted wine with Joe Coulombe at Trader Joes in the 1970s and remembers tasting these wines.

Giuseppe and Pietro Simi selected their location, five years before Italian Swiss Colony was founded.

They used to call a generic red wine “Mountain Burgundy” often based on Carignane which was a workhorse variety that was never intended to be aged. Dan discovered some old bottles of it in the back of his cellar and they were fine. There was a little oxidation. There was some fruit flavor, but dried fruit, being 40 years old. Zinfandel doesn’t age as well as Carignane, but it does live long. Dan says the smell this 1973 wine has is a precursor of oxidation.

Dan and his wife were in Madrid at the Sporting restaurant in Madrid.

(This week CWC is off due to a live Golden State Warriors basketball game on our home station KSRO in Santa Rosa. For the podcast, here is a reprise of our  Aug. 9, 2017 show featuring Rex Pickett, author of Sideways, and Trevor Durling, winemaker at Beaulieu Vineyard.)

Today’s pre-show guest is Rex Pickett, author of Sideways. The main show guest is Trevor Durling, Winemaker at Beaulieu Vineyard.

In the live segment before CWC begins at the top of the hour, Steve and Dan visit with Rex Pickett, author of Sideways, the book, movie and now stage play. Then after the main show, we will hear more of Steve’s interview with Rex Pickett.

First, Dan tells that somebody called him on the telephone way back in the ‘90s when he was writing at the LA Times, to ask him about Pinot Noir, Santa Barbara and Santa Ynez, the area where the book is set. Dan never got his name, and after the movie came out, Dan always assumed the call had come from Rex, but Rex says he wasn’t the caller.

(The stage adaptation played at the Left Edge Theater in Santa Rosa at the Luther Burbank Center in Aug. 2017.)

The movie Sideways was not really about Merlot, it was more about Pinot Noir, or people, really. The situation of the market for Merlot changed as a consequence of the movie. The book was about Pinot Noir, not about Merlot. Dan says that Rex put his finger on the pulse of the industry at the time, what people were talking about in the industry then, which was that Pinot Noir was starting to take off in the US and particularly in cooler regions, Santa Barbara and Sonoma Counties in particular. But it was a book about personalities and people, and only incidentally about wine. In Dan’s opinion, it was a great book and movie but it really tapped into something that was more wine-related than what Rex was hoping for.

Rex tells that he was starting to go to wine tastings and loved the lyricism and poetry about describing wine, (apart from some pretentiousness). Rex didn’t know that the wine tasting scene would become so important in the movie.

Merlot had been “overcropped” at the time and the movie thinned out the herd, as a lot of poor Merlot producers no longer make it. They agree that the movie did a lot for Pinot Noir and at that time we were starting to get away from the routine Cabernet-Chardonnay and into other wines and Pinot Noir was the one that first broke through, and that the movie picked up on that momentary market trend. Dan points out that in 1992 California had 8,000 acres of Merlot. In 1995, there were 58,000 acres of Merlot. Rex says they were mechanized-farming it and Steve says it just wasn’t that good. Dan says there is good Merlot all over the place now but you have to be very careful what you buy because we’re down to about 29,000 arcres now, which is way too much, and planted in the wrong places.

Steve tells that his friend Jim from BV is there and he talks about when they were in DC, in April. Jim was there, he started singing and Steve was playing piano. Later we will hear a musical excerpt.

At the intro to the main show, Steve re-introduces Rex Pickett, author of the book, screenplay and the new stage adaptation of Sideways).

Dan introduces Trevor Durling, winemaker at BV, which has been around since 1900. It was the home of the great André Tchelistcheff, starting in the 1930s up to around 1973. The BV style of the wines had been formed and it’s not easy to shift. It’s like turning an ocean liner. The problem always had been to use French oak versus American oak. BV started using American oak, for Cabernet. The fact is that BV didn’t make certain grapes that had become popular, such as Zinfandel. Dan talked to André about that and André said he would not know how to make Zinfandel, as he didn’t know it.

BV is a historic property and makes more varieties now.

We welcome Pierre and Monique Seillan from Verité Wines today. Tom Simoneau, Dan Berger and Barry Herbst are all in today with Steve Jaxon. Pierre is a Vigneron, a winemaker and vineyard master. Tom has watched him take great care with his vines, separating the clusters by hand to get them perfect sun exposure.

Pierre and Monique met Barbara and Jess Jackson 25 years ago in Bordeaux. Pierre makes wine in France, Italy and Sonoma County. He is a 9th generation winemaker. One of his ancestors in 1879 brought American rootstocks to France to rescue the vineyards.

Today’s big news in the wine business is that Gallo is paying 1.7 billion dollars for 30 brands from Constellation, including Clos di Bois. Dan Berger says that the news is not unexpected. Constellation had spread itself thin in marketing and could stand to pare down. Gallo has very sophisticated marketing and they will do well. The wines that are in that purchase will be happy to be working with Gallo, says Tom. Dan agrees they are one of the best companies in the world at marketing wine ever since the old days when Julio Gallo made the wine and Ernest Gallo did the marketing.

Pierre has brought a selection Verité wines today:

2016 Sauvignon Blanc, a yet-unlabeled R&D project

2012 Arcanum Super-Tuscan

2011 St. Emillion Chateau Lassègue

2013 Anakota Knights Valley Cabernet Sauvignon

2008 Vérité Le Désir, Sonoma County

The Arcanum Super Tuscan is from their property Tenuta di Arceno in Tuscany.

2019 will be the 53rd harvest in Pierre’s career. Monique says that 22 years ago when they came here, they didn’t know what would happen. Both of their children work in the winery now.

First they taste the Sauvignon Blanc, a 2016. Dan finds it has a stony character with a bit of acidic lemon peel. He thinks it is too young still. Like the great white wine of Bordeaux, these whites can age 20 or 30 years. They have not yet made a label for this wine. There are only about 600 cases of this wine. They sell it at their tasting room.

Pierre tells how Jess Jackson came up with the name Vérité, for a special wine he was planning to make. It means "the truth" in French. For Jess, his philosophy was to make wine "without compromise" with dominance of terroir and the signature style of the vigneron. When Jess invited Pierre and Barbara in 1996, they put this into practice.

The next tasting is the Super-Tuscan, Arcanum, which comes from a property Tenuta di Arceno in Tuscany, that the Jackson family owns. Pierre says that the topography of this Tuscan winery is similar to that of Sonoma County. It’s a Super-Tuscan, 65% Cabernet Franc. It’s a 2012. Tom Simoneau describes it as medium-bodied and elegant, as a Cabernet Franc can be. Dan says that it has great acidity and needs more time in the bottle. It has the Cabernet Franc aromatics of iron filings and green and black olives. These are the savory flavors of the Bordeaux family. Instead of explosive fruit, it has savory fruit. You can get it at their tasting room in Healdsburg.

They taste the 2011 St. Emillion Chateau Lassègue. Tom says that it sells for $60 but could be twice that, easily. They all agree that Cabernet Franc is great alone or in a blend. Compared to Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc is lighter, more violet and its body is not as tannic. It's spicy and is a wine "singing in the glass" as Pierre says.

Then they taste the Anakota which is 100% Cabernet Sauvignon. They planted the vineyard in 1996 and 1997. They are at about 900 feet of elevation, facing south west, on a gentle slope. He considers it one of the best places in the world to grow Cabernet Sauvignon.  It sells for $120.

The next one tasted is a Vérité that sells for $420. Monique tells how they started the Vérité program 22 years ago...

(Due to NBA basketball on home station KSRO, there is no new CWC show today. For this week's podcast here is a reprise of this June 2017 show.) Bob Cabral is here to taste and talk about the three wines that comprise the launch of his own new winery, Bob Cabral Wines. He has worked at De Loach and Kunde and others, was winemaker at Williams Selyem (from 1998-2014) and is now at Three Sticks Winery.

Tom Simoneau introduces Bob Cabral who is is introducing his first line of wines under his own name. Tom says these wines are spectacular. All the wines have proprietary names because none of them have a single vineyard. They are:

• 2015 Troubadour Russian River Valley Pinot Noir,

• 2015 Cuvée Anne Rose Sonoma Coast Chardonnay,

• 2016 American Girl Russian River Valley Rosé of Pinot Noir.

He describes how they made the Rosé, using the saigner, or bleeding process, which uses CO2 to keep the oxygen out and natural yeast. He put the juice in a once used French Oak barrel. Dan says you run risk of volatility but he has none. He insists that he has to work clean. He insists on a clean cellar. He got the gorgeous color that he wanted. He back blended some red into it to adjust the color. Dan and Bob both think it will be better in about two years. Dan calls it “rosé with a purpose” meaning it is close to a red wine style. Bob remembers a label called Garnet, which was like a light Pinot or a dark Rosé.

Bob wants to combine the four things most important to him, which are family, music, wine and philanthropy. Read the section “why now?” on his website. Steve asks Bob to tell his background. He grew up near Modesto, where his family grew grapes and almonds. He went to school at Fresno State. He worked for some large producers and later he wanted to do small batches of wine. So he moved to Sonoma 1986, and became assistant winemaker for De Loach under Randy Ullom, who is now in charge of Kendall-Jackson. He taught him that you had to do the best no matter the price point, and the importance of a clean cellar.

He sells wine to musicians and bands such as Sammy Hagar. Steve at first didn't remember the name, but they had Les Claypool, the bassist of Primus, on California Wine Country last year. He produces Pinot Noir on his own property.

Barry Herbst is back from a trip to Europe, where he went to France and Italy, touring wine country in the Loire Valley, then through Piedmont and Tuscany in Italy. He brought two wines from Italy, one from Liguria that is called Pigato, which is very popular in Italy.

(A listener texted in with the information that it was Les Claypool.)

Bob describes some of his interactions with famous musicians who are also wine lovers.

The second wine that Barry brought from Italy is a light rosé. Dan calls it a light, quaffy wine. It’s a nice refreshing wine, not very serious, nor does it have to be. Steve toasts to the first day of summer.

Bob describes the Anne Rose Cuvée Chardonnay, which he calls almost Chablis-like. It’s named after his wife’s and daughter’s middle names. It is whole cluster pressed, with nice acidity, good verve. It had a 100% malolactic fermentation and still came out with a pH of only 3.32.

At that, Steve calls a GEEK ALERT and asks for an explanation of that. He says a lot of California Chards run about 3.45 to 3.65, which Dan says means they are softer and Bob calls rounder, more approachable. It should be superb in 10 years, but Steve says only Dan can lay it down for that long. They all agree it has a strong, persistent finish. Dan says it will be sublime in five years.

Bob says that he knows Bottle Barn for being good at bringing in obscure and hard-to-find wines.

Bob has a song list for each of his wines on his website and he thinks the music is as individual as the wines.

Tom Simoneau has brought David Ramey and the Ramey family in to join Steve Jaxon and Dan Berger today on California Wine Country. Barry Herbst is back from a trip to France where he visited all of the Boisset family properties. Boisset wines were mentioned on Tom Simoneau's 2018 Wines of the Year show last December.)

David's wife Carla, their elder daughter Claire, who has worked in the family business for six years and her brother Alan who also works at the winery. David Ramey got a MS in Oenology from UC Davis in 1979 and then worked at Pomerol in France, then he worked in Australia. The had his first harvest job in Sonoma County in 1978. In Spring 1980 he became assistant winemaker to Zelma Long at Simi Winery. A lot of his fellow students got winemaking jobs straight out of college but David was happy to learn as an assistant from a great master. His career continued through several great wineries. They stated their own winery when he went to Dominus to run everything. He started making Chardonnay in 1996. He got some grapes from Larry Hyde, and he still makes Hyde Vineyard Chardonnay. David remembers being chosen as Tom Simoneau's Wine of the Year several years ago when his daughter was a young child. David was also on California Wine Country on this show from  February 28, 2018.

They taste a 2016 Russian River Chardonnay. It is the largest production wine that they make. This is a blend, they also make single-vineyard productions, which they will also taste. This comes from several great vineyards in Sonoma County. David Ramey explains that the story of his wine is native yeast, native bacteria from malolactic fermentation and no filtering. They do not own a filter.  There are two types of acid in grape juice, tartaric acid and malic acid. After alcoholic fermentation, there is a class of bacteria that is similar to the ones in yoghurt look for the malic acid which they turn into lactic acid, hence the name "malolactic fermentation" or ML for short.

All wines would undergo this unless the winemaker intervenes. This is what he calls Neo-Traditional or Neo-Burgundian. This is the way wine has been made in Burgundy for hundreds of years. They usually don't bottle one year until after the harvest of the next year. They spend a year on the lees, which are the spent yeast cells. When you short-circuit the time on the lees, you lose the texture and delicacy that otherwise it might have.

Dan says that David makes wines that have unbelievable acidity and good terroir characteristics and they deserve time in the bottle. Dan goes on to say that Chardonnay is like red wine without color and Pinot Noir is like white wine but with color, because of its feeble phenolic constitution, with weak tannins.

Ramey Wine Cellars makes seven different Chardonnays. Tom SImoneau notes that all of their Chardonnay wines have unique character.

Barry Herbst says that Bottle Barn has lots of Ramey Wine Cellars wines and that they are easy to sell. David Ramey says that Bottle Barn is one of the best places to buy wine in the whole country.

David Ramey talks about their plans for a new winery in the heart of Sonoma County Pinot Noir country. He hopes will be ready for the 2021 harvest. There are two now historic hop kilns and a bailing barn on the property. They currently have two long-term leased buildings in Healdsburg by appointment at 10 am or 2pm.

The Pinot Noir is smooth and elegant, says Tom Simoneau. Dan Berger says it's perfectly balanced and the acidity is perfectly balanced with the fruit flavors. As they pour a taste of a Syrah, Dan Berger makes a prediction that in 100 years, David will be more famous for Syrah than for anything else.

Erik Miller from Kokomo Winery visits Steve Jaxon and Dan Berger on California Wine Country today.

Kokomo Winery is named after Erik's hometown in Indiana. Kokomo started in 2004 and Erik was working at a winery in Dry Creek. He is now up to his 17th harvest. He got a business degree from Purdue University in Indiana. He learned winemaking in the cellar, with some classes at UC Davis (but not a winemaking degree). He also works with an assistant winemaker, Jeremy Parsons. He has a chemistry degree and is "a perfect balance for my artistic ADD."

Dan discovered Kokomo when he tasted a Kokomo Rosé in 2008. It was his first Rosé, from a vineyard where he grows Grenache. His Rosé is "bone dry, or close to bone dry." Erik likes the color of his Rosé, it is a very pale salmon-like color. It got people to realize it is dry, just by the color. They are growing the grapes intentionally to make Rosé and as soon as they pick the grapes, the key decisions start. Dan says that this grape makes the best Rosés. Most of the great French Rosés are make of Grenache at least in part.

They taste a Sauvignon Blanc, held in Acacia barrels. Erik says they are good for texture, not for aromatics. Dan says this one is not soft, but crisp and dry. He has seen a lot of sweet SVs but you taste the fact that this is a dry wine. It would go very well with fish. They pick the grapes in two halves. The first harvest is more acidic and the second is fuller, richer with more tropical flavors. This is what Dan means by the strategy that begins at the harvest. Since they manage about 260 acres, they have a full time crew, which makes it easier to plan this kind of harvest.

Next they taste a Muscat. They have 3/4 acre of this grape. He designed it for a late harvest. in 2017 they bottled it as a dry Muscat Blanc, which is rare. The four noble Alsatian varieties, Gewürtz, Riesling, Pinot Blanc and Muscat and Erik thinks they are great with spicy foods. Dan suggests it would be good for mild Indian curries, but a hotter curry needs a sweeter wine.

Erik also brought a sparkling wine. Steve says it has a strong bouquet. Dan says it has a delicate and subtle yeast component. It is not overpowering, as it often can be. It would benefit from 2-3 years in the cellar. Dan says that sparkling wine would lose its bubbles if decanted.

Erik remembers having fried chicken at a gas station which they enjoyed with a sparkling wine. It made such an impression on him that they started a regular event in July and August called "Birds and Bubbles" which is an intimate event with sparkling wine and fried chicken.

Erik talks about Hoosier Hospitality and Ross James, their tasting room manager and he encourages anyone to visit the winery and experience their hospitality. He talks about the Timber Crest Collective vineyard. Dan says that Kokomo makes the best Rosé he has ever tasted, better even than his other favorite French one, year after year.