#12 – Michael Frey is the co-founder of DIRT Wine and second-generation steward of Mariah Vineyards, producer of the world's first Land to Market Verified wines. Located on a remote ridge 2,400 feet above sea level in Mendocino County, California, Michael and his wife Nicole have transformed her family’s vineyard into a thriving model of regenerative viticulture—farming without irrigation or synthetic chemicals, integrating livestock via Holistic Management, and using real ecological monitoring to drive land management decisions.

In this episode, we explore:

– how Michael and Nicole convinced the older generation to embrace a new regenerative path

– the specific vineyard practices they’ve adopted—from diverse cover crops and contract grazing to sap analysis and pollinator trials

– the disconnect between terroir and soil health in mainstream wine culture

– and why transparency, not just flavor, might be the most radical thing you can put on a wine label.

We also dig into the challenges of regenerative farming in a dry-farmed vineyard at elevation, the aesthetic tensions between “clean” and “complex” landscapes, and how Michael is thinking about measuring nutrient density and flavor outcomes at a deeper level.

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00:00 Intro

01:56 Welcome Michael Frey

03:06 Regenerative viticulture

07:41 Michael & Nicole's journey to regenerative

22:29 1st steps of their transition

36:37 Trade-offs & considerations of regenerative viticulture

43:59 The importance of data

45:30 Terroir

47:16 Conventional vs. Regenerative viticulture

52:15 Transparency (or lack thereof) for additives

55:10 Introducing DIRT Wine

59:54 The Future of Regenerative Viticulture

01:06:59 Advice for consumers & wine growers

01:12:24 Favorite failures

01:17:25 Looking ahead

01:26:50 Closing thoughts

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MENTIONED IN THE EPISODE:

– https://www.dirt-wine.com/

– https://mariahvineyards.com/

– https://savory.global/eov/

– https://savory.global/land-to-market/

– https://sonomawinegrape.org/paul-dolans-deep-sonoma-county-roots/

– https://www.stephanvanvliet.com/

– https://www.bionutrient.org/

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This episode is brought to you by Savory’s Regenerating Members, a global community restoring over 100 million acres through Holistic Management. For less than $1 per day, you can help regenerate 400+ acres every year:

Want to sponsor an episode? 👉 https://savory.global/podcast

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We’d love to hear your thoughts:

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Music written & performed by https://www.youtube.com/@travismcnamara9313