Psychic Terroir

Hey Gang,

In honor of Summer and the latest Iruai release, we're excited to have the legendary Wolfgang Weber of En Cavale fame on the pod. We mind-meld a Summer road trip playlist for you, chat current wine trends, and solve all the world's problems. Enjoy!

Iruai Summer Release

Iruai '26 Road Trip Playlist

I wanted to add a quick note on this episode to provide some context for our conversation. Partway through the live recording, I mentioned a rumor I had heard about a vineyard manager being "disappeared" by ICE that week. It took the conversation in a very important direction, but at the time we were recording, we still didn't know much. Now we know his name: Moises Sotelo. This episode was recorded the night before the "No Kings" protests across the country, and this horrifying story is in large part exactly what those protests were all about. It's a scary and uncertain world out there. The rich (including our President and his billionaire sycophants) are hoarding abundance from The People … you and me and your friends and family and neighbors, and allowing cruel bigots like Stephen Miller to make immigrants the scapegoat and thereby execute inhumane policies that allow this kind of thing to happen. If they can "disappear" a man like Moises Sotelo, there's no telling what they will justify doing next. We need to be angry about this, and we need to be loud. The link to the Guardian article with more information is in the show notes.

I also want to give a heartfelt thank you to the guests on this panel, who were open and real throughout this conversation. To the winemakers, Evan and Hardy, it can often feel like our job is being a mascot for a good time, but I think this conversation is evidence that the "big" questions apply just as much to the wine industry as anything else. To Chaise, I'm so glad we got to have your insight from outside the industry, and thanks for going on the journey with us. Your inspired explorations of the soul of California and the consciousness-raising effects of wine on culture were the thread that wove this conversational tapestry together. Check the show notes for how you can connect with Chaise for some magic making of your own.

Also, big thanks to Emily and Nina of Big West Wine Fest for coming up with this idea in the first place, and putting on such a singular and fun festival. Thanks to DC and Lisa of The Punchdown for sharing your amazing space with us, and thank you to Offset for helping get this event off the ground.

LINKS:

The article about Moises Sotelo: The Guardian

Hardy and Kate's Winery: Wine Co Yeah!

Hardy & Kate's Podcast: The Extradimensional Life

Evan's Winery: Ruth Lewandowski Wine

Chaise's Services: ChaiseLevy

Chaise's Substack & Podcast: The Northern Spirit House

The Wine Fest: Big West

Offset: Offset Partners

The Punchdown - Sebastopol: Bottle Shop

And now for something completely different . . . today Chad's recording solo in the guise of an imaginary public access radio show where he pairs wine with music. Imagine your college radio station, late at night, when they let pretty much anyone have their own show. The wine in question: the 2025 Iruai Summer Release, paired with songs from their respective playlists (available on Spotify). Pack your bags for a Summer excursion, hop in your jalopy, and tune into Moondog FM to help you plan how to make the most of your Summer getaway. .....................

SHOW NOTES:

Stock up on the Summer Release: iruaiwine.com

.....................

Song - Jonathan Wilson: "Desert Raven" off the album Gentle Spirit - https://www.songsofjonathanwilson.com

On today's show, we have the delightful Emily Weber and Nina Kravetz of Sonoma County's Big West Wine Fest. We explore the role of the wine fair in the natural wine movement, the complex task of getting a wine fair off the ground, and the inherent psychic terroir of bringing together all the elements of community, agriculture and art paramount to a successful festival before wine even enters the chat. If you're curious what to expect regarding the weather or the crowds the weekend of the event, don't worry, we consult the tarot for a definitive forecast. Make sure to grab tickets to the event on 6/14 & 15, and make sure to arrive Friday 6/13 for the first live Psychic Terroir taping in lovely Guerneville (more info on that soon). .....................

SHOW NOTES:

Info and Tickets: Big West Wine Fest

.....................

Song - Jonathan Wilson: "Desert Raven" off the album Gentle Spirit - https://www.songsofjonathanwilson.com

I'm honored to have on the show the chief wine critic of the New York Times, Eric Asimov. Eric's writing has been a huge inspiration to me since my earliest days in the wine industry, and has been formative to how I think about and appreciate wine. Eric wrote a really great piece in the fallout of some of the splashy reporting around recent big announcements regarding health and alcohol consumption, and I couldn't think of a better person to bring on the show to parse this complex topic with. We tackle the details of the recent health reports from the WHO and NASEM, explore the meaningful role wine plays in our lives and the culture at large, and wax poetic about the beauty of unpretentious table wine. .....................

SHOW NOTES:

'Should You Change Your Wine Consumption?': Eric's recent NYT Piece Eric's IG: @ericasimov NYT Bio: Chief Wine Critic

.....................

Song - Jonathan Wilson: "Desert Raven" off the album Gentle Spirit - https://www.songsofjonathanwilson.com

On today's show, we expand on our conversation about the state of natural wine and the discourse around it with Joseph Shaughnessy. Joseph is sommelier at the legendary MÄS restaurant in Ashland, OR, as well as a winemaker with his own label: Cru Siskiyou. Joseph graciously brings some counterpoints to our last episode's conversation with Alice Feiring and makes the case for more traditional wine expressions. Joseph and I dive into a dialectic debate ranging from the virtues of typicity, the difficulty of defining "natural wine" satisfactorily, left brain terroir vs. right brain terroir, and the "reverse Parkerization" that can be found in the natural wine movement. Joseph and I both love philosophical thought experiments, and it was such a blast going down the rabbit hole and stress testing some of our preconceived notions about wine and what we love about it. Needless to say, we gracefully settle the debate once and for all and heal all discord in the wider wine industry. You're welcome! This was also our first in-person episode, which allowed us to share a few bottles and chat about the experiential differences in an excellent French natural wine as compared to a delicious and well aged more traditional California Cab. .....................

SHOW NOTES:

Joseph's Insta: southern_oregon_somm

Joseph's Wine: Cru Siskiyou

MÄS: https://masashland.com/

.....................

Song - Jonathan Wilson: "Desert Raven" off the album Gentle Spirit - https://www.songsofjonathanwilson.com

I'm thrilled to have Alice Feiring on the show: a prolific writer and natural wine advocate, as well as a profound influence on my own burgeoning journey in the wine world. We chat about the interesting moment natural wine finds itself in, framed from the timeline of her first book when the term "natural wine" was obscure, to its unprecedented rise to a level worthy of co-opting and commodification, to our present day and the backlash the nebulous term "natural wine" is currently facing during these difficult economic times. We also chat about the controversial health reports that have emerged in relation to alcohol consumption, and of course I make this lauded wine writer tell me a personal ghost story. .....................

SHOW NOTES:

Alice's Site: https://thefeiringline.com

Alice's Substack: https://feiring.substack.com/about

NYT "Is Natural Wine Dead?" Article: NYT

Alice's Latest Book: To Fall in Love, Drink This

.....................

Song - Jonathan Wilson: "Desert Raven" off the album Gentle Spirit - https://www.songsofjonathanwilson.com

Today on the show I'm excited to bring on Patrick Cappiello of Monte Rio Cellars. We talk about navigating the choppy waters of the difficult wine economy since his call to action this Spring to drink more domestic wine. We explore the unhelpful infighting going on in the progressive wine world over dogmatic use or disuse of sulfur and filtration. Patrick tells us about some of the producers he fell in love with as a young sommelier whose wines transcend traditional notions of terroir for him. I also give Patrick his first tarot reading to help him find a missing ID card, and I'm happy to report he texted me after the recording session to let me know that I nailed it.

.....................

Beaming to you live from the beautiful city of Telos, below the majestic Mount Shasta, behold the fifth episode of Psychic Terroir . . . a wine podcast about the mystery of wine, and all of its wondrous and strange qualities that can't be deduced on an Advanced Sommelier Exam, or quantified into a magazine's number score.

.....................

SHOW NOTES:

Patrick's Site: https://patrickcappiello.com/

Monte Rio Cellars: https://www.monteriocellars.com/

The '76 Redo: https://www.the76redo.com/

Song - Jonathan Wilson: "Desert Raven" off the album Gentle Spirit - https://www.songsofjonathanwilson.com

Summer Break is over, and the time has come for more podcasts. I had a blast catching up with my friend Daniel Souder of Iris Read — the coolest spot in Cincinnati after Skyline Chili. Daniel is a talented restaurateur and wine curator, who has exhibited thoughtful versatility navigating the chaotic food and wine world, and always in pursuit of celebrating quality and authenticity. We talk about the strange moment we're all adapting too in the wine industry, the mysterious fingerprint a winemaker's vibe leaves on their wines, haunted basements, and Dan's unequivocal psychic powers.

.....................

Beaming to you live from the beautiful city of Telos, below the majestic Mount Shasta, behold the fifth episode of Psychic Terroir . . . a wine podcast about the mystery of wine, and all of its wondrous and strange qualities that can't be deduced on an Advanced Sommelier Exam, or quantified into a magazine's number score.

Iris Read natural wine shop + bar - https://www.irisread.wine/

Song - Jonathan Wilson: "Desert Raven" off the album Gentle Spirit - https://www.songsofjonathanwilson.com

In case you were confused by the title, Sara literally is recording this podcast on horseback. We also go deep on this precarious moment in the California wine industry, we talk about how our mentors wines carve their way into our souls, Evan regales us with his Dad's close encounter with GOAT MAN, and we let the Tarot decide the direction of H2 for Ruth Lewandowski Wines.

.....................

Beaming to you live from the beautiful city of Telos, below the majestic Mount Shasta, behold the fifth episode of Psychic Terroir . . . a wine podcast about the mystery of wine, and all of its wondrous and strange qualities that can't be deduced on an Advanced Sommelier Exam, or quantified into a magazine's number score.

Ruth Lewandowski Wines - https://www.ruthlewandowskiwines.com/

Little Trouble Wine Co. - https://www.littletroublewines.com/

Song - Jonathan Wilson: "Desert Raven" off the album Gentle Spirit - https://www.songsofjonathanwilson.com