ISO The Good Life Show - Food, Wine, Travel & Lifestyle

Eric Sklar is an entrepreneur, Napa Valley vineyard owner and public official. He and his family have been growing grapes in Napa Valley for 40 years and he has recently planted his first licensed cannabis garden. Eric is CEO of Napa Valley Fume, LLC, a cannabis management/branding company based in St. Helena, CA. He is also the co-founder and a board member of the Napa Valley Cannabis Association. He is currently a member of the Policy Committee of the California Growers Association and Board Member of Bay Ecotarium (Bay.Org). Eric was appointed to the California Fish and Game Commission in June of 2015 by Governor Jerry Brown and confirmed by the Senate in 2016. He was elected President in 2016 and was re-appointed by Governor Brown to a full six-year term in January 2017.

Wine Access and I mentioned my cannabis client to you - Eaze, they're now operating in Napa and Sonoma so we thought it'd be perfect for your wine country radio show. Interested in having Eaze or their partner Fume (the cannabis company)

Carmel Mooney, Traveling Corespondent for "The Good Life" Show, talks to Mike about her recent visit to Sorensen's Resort in Hope Valley California... near Lake Tahoe. http://www.sorensensresort.com/

History of Missouri Wine

• Missouri was known as wine country prior to Prohibition
• Our state wine has both German and Italian influences
• We have an amazing American Story – the convergence of many cultures, the survival of vineyards during Prohibition, support of the war efforts with high quality grapes, and the revival of the winemaking industry in our state, which began with our St. James founders, Jim and Pat Hofherr.

The Senate Bill

• Peter can discuss the history of the bill, his involvement, and what it means for the industry, our great state, and St. James Winery

History of St. James Winery

• Jim wanted to make amazing wine for family and friends and Pat agreed - as long as they could make a business out of it. It was her idea to open the tasting room right along Route 66 and share their amazing products with a wider audience.
• Peter is the second generation ownership of our family company now, but in the past has also served our state as the Director of Agriculture and continues to work hand-in-hand on federal and state legislation impacting our industry
• St. James Winery now produces 500,000 gallons of wine per year

The Future at St. James Winery

• Our Vines and Wines Chambourcin is a relatively new grape — it was commercialized in 1963

Cynthiana (aka Norton): the official grape of the State of Missouri and is considered the cornerstone of the Missouri wine industry. A fruity and complex, full-bodied dry red wine with flavors of red stone fruit, raspberries

and blackberries. Smooth tannins and a terrific texture make it a perfect partner with barbecue or aromatic cheeses.

Top Awards

• 2018 Best Native American Red Wine, Platinum (94 pts) Critics Challenge International
• 2018 Gold Pacific Rim International
• 2016 Best Varietal/Best of Class/Gold New World
• 2016 Double Gold Florida State Fair International
• 2016 Gold Finger Lakes International
• 2016 Gold Mid-American

With a bachelor's degree from the University of California, Davis, in political science, six years as the director of government relations with the nation's second-largest student loan provider, and as a member of Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's senior staff and advisory team, Gorman spent almost 20 years honing his prowess as a government relations professional and political strategist before pursuing his love of the grape.

Raised in Lodi in the '80s, Gorman was not completely unfamiliar with life in a wine region, but he didn't start to find his passion for it until the mid-2000s when a co-worker introduced him to the wineries of the California foothills. At the same time, Lodi was experiencing its own wine revolution, and weekends often found him wine tasting in Lodi and across California. Gorman says that as his appointment with the Schwarzenegger administration was coming to an end, he was becoming increasingly disillusioned with the country's leaders in Washington, D.C., and he found his focus was shifting. Though he'd grown up around vineyards, he hadn't really known or cared much about wine until he started hearing stories about the people who made it.

"All of my extra time was being spent on wine," he says. "I was really excited about California wines."

In 2012, Gorman and his then-fiancé (now husband) Kyle Peppers moved to Maryland so Peppers could attend graduate school. Unenthused about the potential professional options for Gorman in D.C., the couple agreed it was time for Gorman to follow his new passion for wine full time, starting with a $10-per-hour job at a wine retail shop, so he could start learning everything he could about the industry from the ground up.

"It wasn't exactly a midlife crisis," Gorman says with a wry smile, "but I did make a total career change in my 40s."

One of the two brands of Amador County-made wines represented at the wine shop where he worked in Baltimore was Scott Harvey Wines. So when a tasting room manager position opened up at the actual winery in 2014, Gorman knew it was his opportunity to officially get his foot in the door of the California wine industry. Out of more than 90 applicants, Gorman was selected for the position and almost overnight became an Amador County resident.

"The plan was for it to be a stepping stone to Napa or Sonoma," Gorman says. "Bay Area was the goal."

After only a few short weeks, though, Amador began to work its magic on the couple, especially Gorman.

"I didn't just get excited about the wine," he says. "I got excited about the people and the passion that drives this small community."

Diane Lang has dedicated her career to helping people turn their lives around and is now on a mission to help them develop a sustainable positive attitude that can actually turn one into an optimist, literally. A therapist and educator/coach of Positive Psychology, she has seen that it can provide a strong foundation for finding great happiness and is gratified that it is becoming a mainstream method of treatment.

A parent herself, Lang has taught Positive Parenting to parents and written extensively on the benefits of using it with even the youngest children. She has also spoken or conducted seminars on postpartum depression, striving for balance versus having it all and practical tips on interviewing, networking and dressing for success and is the author of "Baby Steps: the Path from Motherhood to Career."

Diane is a Therapist and Life coach in NJ. Her clinical experience includes treating patients with different forms of mental illness, physical and emotional abuse and relationship issues. Lang is also an Adjunct in Psychology at Montclair State University, her college work includes mentoring students for individual career counseling and personal issue advisement.

As an expert in her fields of therapy, Lang has been featured in the Daily Record, Family Circle, Family Magazine, Working Mother Magazine and Cookie Magazine, seen on NJ 12 TV, Good day CT, CBS TV, Style CT, The Veira network and the national television program "Fox & Friends". She has also participated in a reality based Internet show, ourprisoner.com, hosted Generation X-tinet and appeared in various educational videos including Columbia books.

Lang has an M.A. in Counseling and a B.A. in Liberal Arts from the New York Institute of Technology. Diane has her Positive Psychology coaching certificate from Wholebeing Institute. Diane's latest book is: Creating balance & finding happiness.

Chris Specialises in FAST THERAPY a unique blend of therapy for Phobia Removal, Decreasing Fear and Anxiety and Boosting Self Esteem and Confidence.

Over the past 10 years, Chris has built up a reputation as a highly motivational coach, helping clients to overcome their fears and to achieve their goals. Chris creates individual client focus sessions and works with clients from all walks of life from Company Directors to Parents and Teenagers.

Chris created Fast Therapy. He have took the best from a range of therapy disciplines including NLP, Hypnotherapy, Solution Focus, Positive Psychology and Life Coaching and made it relevant to overcoming Phobias and Fears, Increasing Confidence and Reducing Anxiety.

The days of having hundreds of hours of therapy to overcome one issues are gone. Behavioral Neuroscience Studies and advancements in therapy disciplines have empowered Fast Therapy Therapist, to get quick long-lasting results.

Are you ready to overcome your issue? How does your current situation make you feel? What part of your life is really frustrating you? Are you determined to make a change?

If yes, then Fast Therapy is for you.

Christopher Sawyer is an internationally-renowned sommelier, wine educator, journalist, consultant, critic and public speaker. He travels the world following trends in wine and participating as a VIP judge in the world's top wine competitions, and has been featured in a wide range of national media, including USAToday, MSN, NBC, ABC, CBS, Redbook, The Hollywood Reporter, Maxim, National Geographic Traveler, CNN and Esquire.

Already legendary in the industry for his encyclopedic wine knowledge and rich wine industry relationships around the globe, Sawyer has been a personal sommelier for an array of luminaries and aficionados. Christopher has also become renowned for his unusual and entertaining ability to pair wines with just about any pop cultural experience. His wine pairings for movies are already celebrated, and have been featured in major national media.

Less well known to the public, but famous among wine world insiders, are his wine and music pairings. A popular college radio DJ while at UC Davis, he partnered with DJ Shadow and others to create some of the most buzzed-about music sets for his listeners during those years. Now, he's become legendary for secret midnight sessions held in the cellar of his 19th Century Sonoma County farmhouse, where star winemakers, celebrity chefs, restaurateurs and lucky friends taste pairings from his extensive international wine collection matched to selections from his incredible stash of rare and cutting edge vinyl.

Kalā Wines is a Certified Craft Winery in Sonoma County, California and owners Santosh and Cynthia Alexander have a specific mission: to produce wines that pair well with diverse world cuisines. Ultimately, they want to bring more people together around the dinner table to share stories, talk philosophy, and focus on the important things in life. "We need to foster real human connections and conviviality in our increasingly virtual social environment by re-emphasizing the age-old tradition of friends and family gathering around food and drink", says Santosh.

Kalā was inspired by a passion for the vast cultural diversity of cuisines around the globe, and the desire to create wines that pay tribute to them. There's a reason we've named ourselves after the ancient Sanskrit word for art. Just as "Kalā" is a primal term for the craft of expression, Kalā Wines is dedicated to the purest possible expression of the grape.

Santosh developed his winemaking philosophy while traveling the globe working in tech. Along the way, he met winemakers who loved to sit down, discuss wines, and get to know you. He met chefs who wanted to introduce themselves to you and learn about your mood and what your favorite flavors are before cooking a meal for you. In these situations, it wasn't all about business. It was about finding a way to connect as humans and share experiences. As a result, Kalā Wines tries to capture the feeling and soulfulness of great winemaking for its customers. It only produces around 350 cases of wine a year, including a rosé, a malbec, a merlot, an old-vine grenache, and an old-vine zinfandel. In 2018, Santosh will also make an old-vine carignane and pinot noir. Every wine comes from a single vineyard, and Santosh says it's all about sourcing grapes from really special, sustainably farmed, small, family-owned vineyards. Craft wines from craft vineyards.

Ron Williams, a veteran of the Walla Walla tourism, arts, and wine industries, has been hired as the new Executive Director of Visit Walla Walla. "Ron's broad-based experience with the key industries that drive tourism in Walla Walla made him a natural fit to take the reigns of Visit Walla Walla.

Since 2013, he has served as the Executive Director of Shakespeare Walla Walla. As Executive Director, he helped create the successful Dia de Los Muertos street festival, forged partnerships with a wide range of local and regional arts organizations, and oversaw explosive growth in the performing arts organization. Williams has also acted as the Managing Director of the Gesa Power House Theatre in Walla Walla, which hosts theater, music, dance, public and private events, meetings, parties, weddings, and festivals.

A proven collaborator, Williams has been involved in various projects with the Walla Walla Valley Wine Alliance, the Walla Walla Valley Chamber of Commerce, the Downtown Walla Walla Foundation, and throughout the education community.

"Walla Walla has done an extraordinary job in building its brand and growing into a world-class travel destination, and I believe my background will help build on that momentum," Williams said. "I am thrilled to take this next step, and I look forward to continuing the great work Visit Walla Walla has done in promoting this region."

A Theater Arts graduate of Occidental College in Los Angeles, Williams started his career in the film industry as a project manager and executive producer. Williams replaces Ron Peck, who served as Executive Director for Visit Walla Walla for more than three years.

Danni Lin (B.S., M.S.), CEO of GREAT WINE, Inc., would like to share her entrepreneurial journey. Under her leadership, GREAT WINE now has an online store, and understands that technology does not only make a product; it also creates an environment in which symbiotic parts of the wine world will thrive together to create higher product demand and supply.

Besides adopting groundbreaking technology in winemaking, GREAT WINE also collaborates with myVinotype – a smart wine recommendation platform for wine-related businesses and connoisseurs to learn more about clients' wine preferences.

Launched in 2011, myVinotype first started as a website widget and a consumer survey. By 2016, the platform has launched an iOS app, and has become available in eight languages worldwide. All these features are supported by data analytics in order to be more client-oriented.

GREAT WINE is a huge success in the USA. In 2016, GREAT WINE opened its first tasting room in the Seattle Metro Area to offer wine tasting and vinotyping experiences to clients. It is ready to accept future challenges it may encounter during the expansion phase.

Our CEO Danni Lin is devoted to inspire more clients to engage in the global cultural exchanges of wine, with the opening of the first international satellite tasting room in China in September 2017.

Before becoming the CEO of GREAT WINE, Lin was a Data Scientist at Microsoft. Like many, Lin had experiences of going into a supermarket, and got lost in massive product lists and ads. She thought her likes and dislikes were related to how knowledgeable she was in wine – until she had a conversation with Tim Hanni.

Hanni is one of the first Americans to become Master of Wine, and introduced Lin to the scientific concept of "vinotype," i.e. wine preferences and sensory abilities of people. Lin then transformed from a wine novice to a wine educator who encouraged consumers to speak their mind – what they really enjoy drinking and experiencing.

In 2016, GREAT WINE opened its first tasting room in the Seattle Metro Area to offer wine tasting and vinotyping experiences to clients. Lin did not let tasting and learning end in a brick-and-mortar store; she started a wine club for her clients so they can enjoy "vinotyped" selection of wines at home.