Don Chigazola of Chigazola Merchants and Melissa Hotchkiss, sommelier at Sea Thai Bistro are today's guests who join Steve Jaxon, co-host Dan Berger and Barry Herbst of Bottle Barn.

When commenting on a Riesling, Dan Berger often says that when the flavor and acidity are just right, it would go very well with some spicy Thai food. Today we have Melissa Hotchkiss, sommelier at Sea Thai Bistro in Santa Rosa, who brought some delicious Thai food to taste with some Rieslings and other wines.

Don Chigazola is an importer of wines from Italy. He and his family travel to Italy to find great wines, which are otherwise off the radar of the average American retail buyer. He brought some wines from the Campania region near the Amalfi coast, which is near where Steve's grandparents came from. The first tasting is a Falanghina from Montemiletto, Campania south and inland from Naples. They have volcanic soil thanks to the eruption of nearby Mt. Vesuvius, which is great for growing grapes. Falanghina is one of the oldest varietals in Italy.

The Falanghina is light and delicate but also has some mid-palette flavors. It's not aged in barrels like Chardonnay, but it has a citrus flavor that goes well with the food. Melissa describes an appetizer from Sea Thai Bistro. They have more than 40 wines by the glass there. They have been open for many years and in their present location for about two years. Dan says that their food is distinctive, compared to other Thai restaurants.

Don Chigazola says that there are wildflowers in the nose of this glass of Falanghina. Dan says it’s delicate and has good flavor in the mid-palette. So it’s good with food. This Falanghina comes from a family winery in Campania called Macchi Santa Maria. They have three generations making wine and this was produced by the grandson, Oreste De Santis. They have very small production, of very high quality.

Melissa says that they started Sea Thai Bistro in Petaluma and became popular so they moved to Santa Rosa. They have grown and have a full bar, a big cocktail menu, a great wine list and beer selection.

Next they taste a Greco di Tufo which is one of the best known Italian whites. When it's produced around Tufo in the region, it gets the official DOCG designation of Greco di Tufo. (DOCG means Denominazione di Origine Controllata e Garantita.) Dan describes it as having a full body but not diminished by putting it in barrels, which would have meant losing all the dry flower aromatics. . Dan says, "this is a serious wine. (...) The richness doesn't show up as a light or heavy aftertaste, it's so delicate on the tongue. It's got some mid-palette weight." It’s like Chardonnay without the weight, but has good minerality. They taste toasted almonds and dry aromatics.

Don explains that the whites from this district are gown at an elevation of about 2000 feet, or 600 meters above sea level. So it sees some pretty wide temperature fluctuations.

Friend of the show Chris DiMatteo is listening in Los Angeles and writes in to Steve Jaxon to say that he knows there are many great varieties of Italian wine that are not well known here in the US, so today's show is "grandissimo!"

Steve asks Don Chigazola to describe his company. He and his son go to Italy to look for wine. He looks for small producers who have a deep history of winemaking. When he finds one that is exceptional he develops a relationship with them. Some of these wines have never been in the US before. Some of it is at Bottle Barn, some are distributed to restaurants and some is sold on their website to the public.

Dan describes that Dan goes to Italy and goes to the park to meet the locals and asks them what the best local wine is. On his last trip he went out this way and mentioned he would visit Macchi Santa Maria,

Today Steve Jaxon and Dan Berger welcome Najine Shariat of Goguette Bread in Santa Rosa. They are a traditional French country style bakery that specializes in levain (starter)-based, long fermented organic, French style breads.

Also in the studio today are Karissa Kruse, President of the Sonoma County Grape Growers and Erik Miller from Kokomo Winery

First, they open a Kokomo Winery 2013 Blanc de Blancs, a sparkling wine. Dan explains that this is a good example of successful “dosage” meaning how a sparkling wine producer will add sugar to control the naturally high acidity of sparkling wines. Dosage trials can be tricky because you can’t taste the results until at least six months later.

They introduce Najine Shariat of Goguette Bread who tells about her bakery that makes traditional levain-based bread, which goes really well with fine wine.

Steve asks Najine to explain about gluten, which is a protein present in wheat that some people are allergic to. Dan says that some large corporate bakers do not leave the dough to “proof” long enough, so they may be called sourdough but they lose the flavor of sourdough. Dan notes that their breads don’t say “sourdough” but they are. Najine explains that their levain is more than 20 years old and comes from Europe. Dan thinks the secret to these breads is that they taste and smell as good as the bread in France.

Next they taste a 2014 Gewürztraminer-Schönburger from Gehringer Wines in Canada. The Gehringers are two brothers from around Vancouver, BC, Canada who both studied wine making in Germany and founded their estate winery in Canada.

This wine is mostly Gewürztraminer with a little bit of Schönburger grapes in it. It’s slightly sweet and a real crowd-pleasing popular wine. Karissa agrees that the kiss of sweetness would make it go well with Asian food. She also wants to try it with the bread! Erik says that wine is like music for him, and different genres are pleasant at different times. It could maybe use a bit more acid but that’s the way it is and it’s pleasant in and of itself.

They are tasting the Pain de Campagne and everyone is impressed with it. It is made with some whole wheat flour. Dan says that it is so good you could use it to make La Panzanella ("la pahnt-za-NELL-a") which is a southern Italian salad with fresh tomatoes, basil, other fresh ingredients, and pieces of day-old bread, which soak up the dressing made with vinegar and good olive oil.

Next they are tasting the Goguette Bread Cheese Fougasse, which is delicious. Dan thinks it would make great savory French toast.

Erik also brought his Kokomo Dry Creek Valley Grenache. Dan says it’s killer, a phenomenal wine, and that it was harvested, appropriately, for flavor and not for color. Even if Dry Creek Valley is known for Zinfandel, he likes that he’s also making great Grenache. He explains how it is different than adjacent areas and makes it a bit like Cotes du Rhone. Dan thinks that Grenache has a great future in California. Erik says that the key to Grenache is that is has to have some age on it, since the vines are young. Dan tastes pomegranite and cranberry aroma, a very silky almost Pinot-Noir-like structure in terms of tannin, but the acid is a sleeper, there’s good acidity but it doesn’t show as acid, it shows as structure. Karissa mentions that Sonoma County produces a wide variety of types of Rhone valley grapes, apart from the better known ones.

Najine talks about the baking schedule and how they have some breads for every day and others that are featured in rotation, not every day. Steve and Karissa ask how Najine and her husband started the bakery. They were both born in Tehran and raised in Europe. Her husband, who bakes the bread is also an electrical engineer and they moved to California...

Pinot Noir is the subject of the day, as this week we are live at Bottle Barn’s Pinot Noir Tasting at the Hyatt Vineyard Inn. Steve Jaxon, Dan Berger and Barry Herbst are at the California Wine Country table at the Hyatt for the show’s first remote broadcast. The guest list includes Suzanne Hagins of Horse & Plow, Maria Lentini of Brack Mountain Wine Company, Robert Mueller of Mueller Winery and Drive Hall-of-Famer Dr. Dave McCuan.

Barry tells about the first Bottle Barn event last May which was all about Rosé. They are planning to do more of these. They try to get principals and winemakers there. They have 60 Pinot Noirs to taste and plenty of people to taste it. They plan to hold another event like this one in October for Sparkling wines.

Dan explains that Pinot Noir is popular and that in the last 10 years Sonoma County has led the world in Pinot Noir. It has 5 separate appellations that make world-class Pinot Noir. Napa Valley is limited for Pinot Noir because it’s Cabernet country. Dan says the #1 reason for its popularity is that the tannins are low, and second that you can make it in different styles, light, medium, heavy, oak, no oak, beaujolais style. There’s one for everyone. Dan’s favorite open secret is that great Pinot Noir goes with fish. It is like some Italian reds in that way. Dan and Steve agree that Pinot Noir can even be chilled.

Many local Sonoma County wineries have brought wines to this tasting, and Barry also tells about wineries from Oregon and other parts of California. Dan says he likes that about half the producers here are small local ones who are not well known. Barry says that it’s a nice way to make the event unique, that they have not only the big producers.

Dan says that the Oregon styles have a little more tannins but they go into a depression sooner than California wines, so that in 2 years they display very well.

Steve talks about the California Wine Country logo sign, with the state of California as a corkscrew, with the names of the major wine regions. Dan explains that Monterey is coming back as a Pinot Noir producer and the Central Coast vineyards are big producers all planted to Pinot Noir and Chardonnay, doing a fabulous job. Dan says that Santa Cruz is a very strange area, it’s variegated and tricky, so some of them have had a hard time understanding their own fruit. Santa Barbara is really a hotbed and Sideways really focussed our attention. There is a region in Santa Barbara county called Santa Rita Hills, which will eventually be known as one of the top Pinot Noir areas in the country. Dan says Sonoma makes more high quality Pinot Noir but that Monterey is very good too, only they make less of it.

Dan points out that the room is gorgeous but there is also an outside room with tables, which is great at the end of the day as it cools off, and so people can sit down between tastings.

Barry introduces the next guest Suzanne Hagins of Horse and Plow dot com. Her current label is called The Gardner. They make a few different brands of wine, they also make cider. She explains that they are sister brands but make Pinot Noir and Chardonnay under the Gardner label. Dan says he’s tried their ciders and they are really exciting. They also had some of their wines in Dan’s competition last May. They have a very small production and limited distribution all sold locally. They have a tasting room in Sebastopol and they are at Bottle Barn. They make a lot of different white varieties, Chardonnay, Pinot Gris, Pinot Blanc, Sauvignon Blanc, Riesling and a lot of different reds, under the Gardner label, Pinot Noir, Grenache, Petite Syrah, Cabernet Franc and Carignan. They do work exclusively in the North Coast appellation, so Sonoma, Napa and Mendocino, and all organic.

Dan says their 2014 The Gardner Pinot Noir is a bargain and he’s tasting it and ...

Megan Schofield, winemaker for Robert Mondavi Winery, joins Tom Simoneau, Dan Berger and Steve Jaxon, who are all excited to have a 2014 Robert Mondavi To Kalon I-Block Fumé Blanc to taste, which is a rare treat.

Steve asks Tom to tell about Mondavi and how Robert Mondavi had a falling out with a brother about the direction of the family winery. He started it in 1966. He brought Napa Valley into the forefront, was the master marketer. Tom considered Robert Mondovi to be a mentor in the business. He brought a class to the vineyard.

The To Kalon I-Block is the particular parcel that produces an astounding Sauvignon Blanc. Dan says it needs a lot of time in the bottle and is similar to the greatest wines of the eastern Loire Valley in France. Most people just don’t put it away long enough, it needs 7 to 10 years. It can only be purchased at the winery, not at retail. Dan says this particular wine is worth the trip over the hill.

Megan tells that she has been at Mondavi for about two and a half years and she is one of three winemakers there. She handles the Burgundian reds and this year the Sauvignon Blanc. They have another Bordeaux red winemaker and their director is Geneviève Janssens. She grew up in Canada in the Niagra region and saw a career path with her college, Brock University, had opened to train Canadian winemakers. She has worked as a winemaker for many years at different wineries including Simi Winery.

Steve tells how Mondavi is known for both technical winemaking and marketing. He promoted labeling wines varietally rather than generically.

Dan knew Bob Mondavi well and says he was dedicated to the overall quality of wines especially from Napa Valley. He encouraged quality above all else. The feud he had with his brother in the mid-60s caused a separation. Part of the reason was that Bob wanted to focus on quality. They were both reared in Charles Krug winery. Bob wanted to emphasize the greatness of the different varieties. He changed the name of his Sauvignon Blanc to Fumé Blanc, which is the name they have always used. He was also into comparisons with the best European wines. He said, “We belong at the table with the best wines.” From 1966 to 1970 they were on the road 300 days a year for four years, selling aggressively.

Tom tells the legend that there was a train that passed by a vineyard leaving a trail of smoke and dust and that inspired the name. Pouilly Fumé and Sancerre are the French names.

Now they taste the To Kalon I-block wine. To Kalon is a very special piece of soil that Robert Mondavi discovered to produce some of the finest wines he was making. Megan explains that it is Greek and roughly means “highest beauty” and the name came from the vineyard owner in 1800s and that Robert Mondavi used the name.

Dan says that it gets less total sun because it is shaded by a hearby hill. Megan says it is only about 5 acres and produces only 250-300 cases per year.

Dan, of course, suggests that this wine needs 6-10 years in the cellar. He tells that it is made with great care. There is a little hazelnut flavor in the wine. Megan says it does get lies contact, so it has more body than other Sauvignon Blancs. This bottle is sold only at the winery and goes for $90. They believe the vines were planted in 1945 and they think they may be the oldest Sauvignon Blanc grapes in America.

Next they taste a Chardonnay. Tom says he told Megan that Steve likes Chardonnay so she brought a special Reserve Mondavi 2014 Carneros Chardonnay. Steve is in love! Dan suggests this would go with seafood, such as fresh Halibut. Tom describes this Chardonnay as creamy, with good acidity, a little bit of lemon, complexity as the finish comes on is mouth-watering. It has just the right amount of toasty oak. Dan says that oak taste is revolutionary.

We have two guests today:

Miro Tcholoakov of Miro Cellars http://mirocellars.com/

Jim Morris from Flanagan Wines http://www.flanaganwines.com/

We begin by tasting a German Rosé, from Pffefingin, a Blanc de Noirs, which Dan calls basically a Pinot Noir with virtually no color. It has a copper color, or almost tan. Bone dry, lots of acidity, silky smooth, says Steve.

Steve introduces today’s first guest, Miro Tcholakov, owner and winemaker of Miro Cellars who has brought some of his wines for tasting. (He is also the VP of Winemaking Operations for Trentadue.)

Back to that German rosé, it is a bit sweet and the sugar is to cut through the acid. Without that sugar, it would be undrinkable. If you chill it down it gets even drier. Dan mentions that Pinot Noir is now growing in Germany and Barry mentions that the demand for German wines is strong.

Miro tells his story in the wine business. He came 27 years ago as an intern who worked at Dry Creek Vineyards of July of 1990, left in July 1999 as an assistant winemaker, then moved to Trentadue. He started Miro cellars with the vintage of 2001 with Petite Syrah, then expanded to Zinfandel.

He is on the board of directors of ZAP, Zinfandel Advocates & Producers, https://zinfandel.org/.

He is also one of the founders of the PS I Love You organization, a Petite Syrah advocacy organization, http://www.psiloveyou.org/.

Miro believes these two varieties are the claim to fame of the California winemakers. “This is something that we ban brag about, that nobody else grows it that well or that much.”

Steve asks Miro about Trentadue. They started in 1956 then started the label in 1969 with a Petite Syrah. It won a Gold Medal at a wine competition in England. He started there in 1999 and modernized the operation. They hav beautiful grounds and host many weddings.

Dan says that things at Trentadue settled down when Miro got there and made the red wines really fabulous. Dan says that Alexander Valley got famous by focussing on the reds. This Petite Syrah is the best example of that. Dan explains that it comes from the “deep end” is the northwestern edge of the Alexander Valley but doesn’t get the mid-afternoon heat waves. Dan tastes black cherries, rasberry and chocolate, great acidity.

Barry says Trentadue old vine red is maybe the best selling red under $20, and the other wines are hard to keep on the shelves because they sell so well.

Dan says that these grapes can’t grow any farther west from there. Any further west and the grapes won’t ripen. It’s 3 miles from the redwoods. There is a minty quality in it and Miro says one of the clones are still getting established. It’s a rugged area and the vines can be minty from stress, such as obstructed photosynthesis.

Miro talks about when he started Miro Cellars, on a small scale, and he and his wife decided to remain small and independent. He does about 2500 cases at the most, total of all the varieties, which are none more than about 400 cases. Miro says he is thinking of starting to make Rosé.

Trentadue does Sauvignon Blanc and Chardonnay.

After the mid-show break, Steve talks to Jim Morris, who is also there from Flannagan Wineries. It’s his fifth winery tasting room startup.

Jim Morris talks about how they purchased the land where the old Everett Ridge Winery was on and rebuilt everything. They have replanted their vineyards and they aren’t producing yet.

For the tasting room, they have a different approach, they are by appointment only, high end individual one-on-one tastings. He only uses word of mouth advertising. There are 460+ wineries in Sonoma County and he doesn’t need to compete with all of them for traffic. He has a “killer” winemaking team and says,

Today’s pre-show guest is Rex Pickett, author of Sideways. The main show guest is Trevor Durling, Winemaker from BV, 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 is playing soon at the Left Edge Theater in Santa Rosa at the LBC (Luther Burbank Center).

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 which will be on stage in Santa Rosa from September 8 through October 1 (2017).

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. The flagship is still the BV Private Reserve.

Trevor tells that was born and raised in Santa Rosa and had wine at the dinner table from a young age.

Bob Lindquist, Qupé Winery's winemaker, is today's main guest. First, Steve Jaxon welcomes Tim McDonald to the studio with Barry Herbst and co-host Dan Berger. At the start of the hour they are waiting for the arrival of Bob Lindquist of Qupé Winery, who is, “...one of the great winemakers in America,” says Dan Berger, right off the bat. (Bob is driving up to Santa Rosa from Santa Barbara, and will arrive during the show.)

Dan explains that Bob is an expert in cool climate red wine making. He explains that, “...in warmer climates you get sugar faster which means you make fruitier wines and they tend to be slightly simpler. They’re more complicated when they come from cooler climates and Bob has been growing this stuff for over thirty years trying to delve into the question of how is it possible to ripen red grapes in a cool climate. And he’s done a brilliant job and some of his wines are some of the best in America. They go under the radar because they’re not as explosive as some other wines but boy, they sure have flavor and they are long lasting. You talk about me cellaring them, people that are in the know put his wines away for 15 years without even a blink.”

He makes whites and reds as well. A couple of weeks ago they tasted his 2013 Chardonnay.

Steve asks Tim McDonald to talk about his business and website “Wine Spoken Here dot com” www.winespokenhere.com which is a public relations and reputation management firm that he established in 2006 after a long career in marketing for various important wine companies. He represents a broad range of wineries including Qupé. He also runs some important wine competitions.

Dan tells about Qupé. Bob Lindquist was partners with Jim Glendennon who was known in the Central Coast area for his fabulous Pinot Noirs and Chardonnays. Then Bob started growing Rhone Valley grapes in Santa Barbara County. He pioneered the cool climate wines coming from that region. Qupé is very successful already in Southern California and is just getting known up north now. Bottle Barn does carry some Qupé wines.

There is a group that promotes these Rhone Valley grapes in California. The Rhone Rangers used to be called The Viognier Guild. It was a statewide group and the guy who popularized it was the colorful Randall Graham of Bonny Doon. “It helps to have a personality as a front man for your association and Randall was perfect,” says Tim.

Steve tastes a Semillon, which is often blended with Sauvignon Blanc, to add acidity. Steve likes it and thought it was a Chard at first. It comes from Hart’s Desire, in Dry Creek Valley, Sonoma County. It has 14.2% alcohol. It’s heavy, says Steve. Dan agrees, saying if this were from Australia, it would never be more than 11.2, 11.5%. Dan says this is from a warmer climate, so it has more alcohol.

Cold climate does not necessarily mean it’s always cold but it does mean you get cold nights. With warm nights, the acidity starts to fade out of your grapes.

Dan says this wine is beautifully balanced. It has good acidity but he thinks that was adjusted by the winemaker. With 14% alcohol it would be soft without adjustment.

Steve again asks Dan to explain why acidity is important. He says that without the acidity you get soft wine and that doesn’t go with food. The acidity helps balance out the flavors of the food.

Steve asks Barry about Rosé explosion currently going on in the wine retail business. Barry says everyone’s making it now and he actually has to hold suppliers at bay because everyone’s making Rosé now. He tastes every one that gets into Bottle Barn. They have put a “Rosé Garden” in the front of the store with Rosé from Spain, Italy, France, Germany, Portugal, South Africa and of course, the US.

Barry says that they expect Rosé sales to remain steady all year,

Without their expected guest today, Steve Jaxon, Dan Berger and Barry Herbst taste and discuss Chardonnay and Burgundy, and also discuss the value of acidity in wine and how the wine market changes from year to year especially when a great vintage like 2015 is about to hit the stores.

The CEO of Kendall-Jackson, Rick Tigner, was supposed to be coming in to explain the Wine Country Tour de Fox Ride, on Saturday, August 26, a bike ride to raise funds to fight Parkinson’s disease. There will be lots of food and wine and they aim to raise $500K this year. There will be bike rides of all distances, for riders of any and all abilities.

First they taste a 2016 Freemark Abbey Cardonnay from Coombsville, on the eastern side of Napa, a very cool region that produces high acid Chard grapes. Dan calls it one of the best non-Malolactic acid Chards around. Citrusy, lemon curd, oak notes. Dan thinks it will expand in 5 years but needs cellar time to expand its aroma. Right now it’s all fruit. Barry reminds us that there are Napa Chards that bear 20 years of cellaring.

The opposite side of the coin is the next wine, a Chardonnay from Qupe Vineyards in Santa Barbara, whose winemaker will be in next week. It is done with Malolactic fermentation, 100% barrell fermented, lots of oak. Qupe is a Chumash word for a California Poppy. This is a “big chewy” wine that could even go with light roast beef dishes. It has some power but also good acidity.

The next tasting is a Sicilian Planeta Chardonnay, from Planeta, an innovative winery that planted some grapes that weren’t local. Visit their website here: http://planeta.it/en/

Barry says it’s a rich style, butterscotch flavors, challenging aromatics, perhaps aged in walnut and oak. Barry says he has seen walunt and cherry wood used in barrels in Italy. It’s unusual and not like the California style. Dan says this kind of wine requires small crops, so it is an expensive wine to make. It sells for $32.50 at Bottle Barn.

Dan says, “We have started to make Chardonnay in California slightly differently over the last few years. We’ve had really good vintages from 2010, 11, 12, 13, a number of good vintages for acid, especially 10 and 11.” The more acidic style of Chard is selling well, too.

Steve invites Dan to explain acidity. Commonly, that could be a negative, but Dan explains they are made to go with food. These wines are aimed for food, and without the acidity, they won’t go with food. If it’s too soft, it won’t go with food. We need saliva to appreciate the food, and higher acidity produces that. Barry also says it keeps the wine lively and fresh tasting. The really ripe over-the-top creamy Chards would get cloying and clumsy and not age very well. Since 2010, that has changed.

Again Steve mentions that the CEO of Kendall-Jackson, Rick Tigner, was supposed to be coming in to talk about the Wine Country Tour de Fox Ride, on Saturday, August 26, a bike ride to raise funds to fight Parkinson’s disease. Dan says that KJ has been dedicated to making quality wine with a purpose, which can be enjoyed with food, and they also do a lot of charity work in Sonoma County.

The day of Chardonnay and Burgundy now switches to France, as next they open the first of two Burgundy wines. The Vintage of the Century is 2015, and is now coming in, so vintners are trying to sell off the 2014s. This is a 2014 Chambolle-Musigny from Frederic Musigny. It is a Pinot Noir that Dan says is a great example of a wine you can cellar for 15-20 years before you ever drink it.

Dan says it is just a shadow of what it will be. Barry says it will be $45 a bottle, which is half the MSRP. Dan says you never get Burgundy of this quality for that price. It has plenty of acid to go the distance, at least 10 years in the bottle. Dan would decant it for a few hours before serving.

William Knuttel, winemaker of William Knuttle Winery and partner in Ottimino Wines, Square Peg and other labels as well. (We thought we were featuring Ron Rubin Vineyards but Ron was a late scratch.)

Bill has also just launched Knuttle Family with his son and daughter. He also recently started Square Peg Winery, with his partner, who needed his own brand and had Pinot Noir growing by his house near Occidental. Ottimino is a Zin from Sonoma Coast.

Dan knew Bill when he was at Dry Creek Vineyard. Bill didn’t have any Pinot Noir there, he was making really good Chenin Blanc. They open a 2015 Knuttle Family Cardonnay, Russian River Valley, Kate’s Pas de Deux, and Steve asks Bill about his career.

Bill started in Napa, at Saintsbury, 1993-1996, made Sonoma side and Napa side Carneros Chardonnay and Pinot. His winery was instrumental in bringing Burgundian style Pinot to California. He may have done the first unfiltered Chardonnay in 1986 before anyone else. Later on he was winemaker 1993-2003 at Chalk Hill Estate, with all estate fruit.

Then he went to Dry Creek Vineyard as a winemaking consultant and turned their program around with Chardnnay, Cab, Zin, and saw lots of varieties over the years.

Steve asked Bill how he got started in the wine business. He explains that he was trained as a Chemical Engineer and was 5 minutes from a plant explosion and traumatized, decided to change his line of work. He was lucky because it was when UC Davis was bringing on new faculty to hire chemical engineers instead of faculty from farming backgrounds. He has been making wine since 1983.

Next is a Knuttel Family Russian River Valley Chardonnay. It's an $18 RRV Chardonnay in full Burgundian style, done in French oak. Dan thinks it should lay down for 6 months to one year. Steve tastes pistachio fresh nuttiness and the others agree.

Dan says Chardonnay is red wine with no color. The secret to this wine is treat it a little like red, decant it, for an hour or two. Maybe an extra year or year and a half in the cellar. Dan says it’s gorgeous now but a little awkward, and would be perfect with a little more time. Dan says, this Chard would go well with scallops prepared with vanilla, which he had once. Steve is getting pistachio flavors. Would that change with time?. Dan says no, it’s complex. Aromatics now are youthful, you want to broaden and soften it, so they will come out more. Nuttiness comes from broken down yeast. Steve thinks it might work with raw oysters.

Ottimino, all Zinfandel, is an Italian name. The label is named after a gentleman who lived on the property who lived to be 104 years old. His name is a play on the Italian word for “best” so his name means “best little guy” instead of the usual name “Ottaviano.”

Bill says that the vineyard is located in what he calls the “Banana Belt” of the Green Valley section of Russian River, on a peninsula where the Harrison Grade is, where it catches the fog and Zinfandel grows very well.

Dan talks about the heritage of Zinfandel vines being part of the culture of the Italian families who first planted vines in Sonoma County. Bill says it’s cooler there so it’s always ripe by the end of September. Dan mentions, ripe in the traditional sense, not the present-day practice.

Then they taste the Pinot Noir. All of his Pinot Noir wines are 100% Pinot Noir. Dan says the Pinot Noir is a good example of western Russian River Valley, with a great mid-palette. Most of these wines are available at Bottle Barn. It is as natural a wine as you can get, no filtration.

Now they taste the Ottimino Zinfandel. They are true Sonoma Coast Zinfandels. The western Russian River gets just warm enough for the grapes to ripen an extra couple of weeks. It makes a balanced wine with limited alcohol. Some growers will change Zin fields to Pinot Noir ...

Jamie Peters is today’s guest, here to talk about WineSong, which holds its 33rd annual fund raiser next August. We hear all about WineSong from Jamie and Dan, including food, wine, music all at the Mendocino botanical gardens. Then we taste a couple of Chards, a unique Zin and more.

Wine Song is an annual event in Mendocino Coast Botanical Gardens about 2 miles south of Ft. Bragg. September 8 and 9, Friday and Saturday. The local wineries will be open on the Sunday. To learn everything about WineSong, visit their website, http://winesong.org/.

Jamie describes WineSong: as you wander through a garden path, there are different musicians who play for you while you enjoy the food and wine. She tells how they raise money for the Mendocino Coast District Hospital Foundation. It serves a 600 square mile area. Dan is also involved and has been going for 25 years with his wife Julie. They haven’t missed it in years. There are a lot of regulars, you make friends, you look forward to seeing them, it’s like a family reunion. The second half of the event is a live auction. Jamie says they come from 25+ states, year after year after year. Dan donates a lot of his well-cellared wine to the auction. WineSong will feature wines from all over the world, although a lot of it comes from Mendocino and Sonoma Counties.

There will be a Pinot Noir Celebration, which is already fully booked, there are 30 or 32 wineries. This is a Friday afternoon, 1-4pm event. Dan says this is a good place to taste previews of the upcoming vintage.

Dan brought wines today, starting with a Chardonnay, a 2009 Marimar Estate from near Green Valley. Most peolple don’t age Chard, but this has plenty of acidity and captures fruit component. Cellared, it’s great after five years. Steve might not have called it Chard on a blind taste. Dan says age has helped, but 2009 is not really old for a Chard yet, just getting to its peak. Dan said its acid needed to be tamed a bit. He said he thought Steve would like it and he was right.

WineSong is a good place to see new releases. The Pinot Noir tasting on Friday does that. We are starting to see lots of 2016 Rosés. There will be 50 different restaurants, exec chefs, chocolatiers, (nice for cab or port). Dan says a problem is getting lodging up there, it’s very hard to get so you need to book your lodging ASAP. That’s why they booked Jamie early enough to make a decision to go and be able to find lodging. She says there is something for all price ranges. There is even Glamping, which means glamorous camping.

After the break, Steve invites Dan to open the next tasting, a 2012 Inman Family Chardonnay. They were in on the show before. Dan says Kathleen Inman knows how to keep the acid down, so 3 years tamed it a bit. Dan says it should be decanted and it calls for some seafood, sturgeon, poached or lightly sautéed. Steve says clams, yes, steamed, but not tuna or salmon, which is richer, this wine is not heavy enough for that.

Coro is a group of wineries that are making Zinfandel blends from Mendocino County fruit, can’t be less than 40% or more than 70% Zin. Graziano’s 2013 vintage is 64% Zinfandel, 11% Barbera, 10% Petite Syrah, 5% Dolcetto and 5% Montepulciano. Aged in oak, it has beautiful aromatics that smell like Zinfandel but then it has all these other flavors, like black pepper, forest floor, violets.

Steve asks Dan to explain forest floor. Dan says it’s like dried leaves, rustic. It’s a fun wine to drink that could go with a pepperoni pizza.

The Coro consortium has agreed that the labels all look alike for all the different Coro participants. (The word “Coro” means “chorus” or “choir” in Italian.)