Dan and Darryl.

Darryl Miller is back on California Wine Country with Dan Berger and Daedalus Howell, with wines from two Sonoma County wineries, Dehlinger Winery in the west county and Peterson Winery in Dry Creek Valley. He has been on CWC a few times, the most recent is this episode on July 18, 2025.

Darryl Miller is retired from the wholesale wine business. He works with the Dehlinger winery, assisting and advising them with their sales and marketing. He even used to live on that property in the 1980s. Darryl also works as an advisor to the Peterson family in Dry Creek Valley.

Dan Berger and Darryl Miller met when they were judges at a wine competition about 40 years ago. They found that they appreciated the same qualities of structure and balance in wine. For Dan, there is no such thing as a great wine that does not show good balance. There are unbalanced 100 point wines that are by definition, not great.

Darryl agrees. They are either too heavy or light. They are not made well. Darryl describes the Peterson’s method as zero manipulation. They grow the right fruit the right way and then they don’t have to intervene. The wine being tasted is a 2024 “3V” made of three Italian white grapes whose names begin with V. Vernaccia 37%, with a kind of chalkiness to it. Darryl says it’s like Chablis. They also blend in some Vermentino which has some pineapple tropical fruit flavors. Then some Verdello, which has grapefruit rind flavors, similar to a Sauvignon Blanc.

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They make the three wines separately and then blend them. There is also a red blend, of Grenache, Syrah and Mourvedre. They call it GSM or GMS, in order of appearance.

Blends are becoming popular again. This is because winemakers find that if they have Grenache and some other varieties, they can end up with a better wine by blending them. That is better than making single varietals  which by themselves may not be as good as the blend.

Dan objects to blends that don’t tell you what is in the bottle. We want to know what is in it. It is not illegal to do, but does not help. The Peterson wines are very careful about telling the percentages in blends.