California Wine Country

Cobb Wines tasted today. Ross Cobb from Cobb Wines and Ziggy the Wine Gal from The Krush join Steve Jaxon on California Wine Country. Dan Berger is away this week.  Ross Cobb first met Ziggy when he was at Williams Selyem in 1998 or 99, while he was working with Bob Cabral there. Cobb Wines is a winery inspired by creative freedom. A quote from Patti Smith provides context. Robb was always motivat...

Dan and Mark. Mark McWilliams from Arista Winery is our guest on this edition of California Wine Country with Steve Jaxon and Dan Berger. Dan’s weekly cellar dweller bottle is a 2022 Chenin Blanc from Les Atlètes du Vin in France. $15 a bottle at Bottle Barn. Chenin Blanc is coming back. You can get 7-9 tons an acre of Chenin Blanc and it makes nice wine. Mike says it’s refreshing. Mark’s pa...

Julie Pedroncelli St. John is back as a guest on California Wine Country with Steve Jaxon and Dan Berger today. Her last time on this show was this episode of April 26, 2023 . The Pedroncelli family winery began when her grandparents bought some property in Dry Creek Valley that contained a vineyard, a home and a shuttered winery. This was seven years before the repeal of Prohibition. They sold gr...

Brandi, Dan, Steve and Mike. Mike Carpenter, The Redd Collection owner is back on California Wine Country with Steve Jaxon and Dan Berger. His last time on the show was this episode on November 3, 2023 . Dan Berger has brought a magnum of a wine that he himself made 33 years ago. It is a 1991 Cabernet from the Napa Valley. Its aging was in an old French oak barrel. It was a project for his family,...

Melissa and Dan Dan Berger selections are the focus today on California Wine Country with Steve Jaxon and Dan Berger, with Melissa Galliani special guest. Melissa was also on the show on this episode just about a couple of months ago, on Nov. 1, 2024 . Joy Sterling from Iron Horse Vineyards was due to be our guest today but at the last minute she was not available. Instead, we have a table of Dan...

Dry Creek Vineyard winemaker Tim Bell is back on California Wine Country with Steve Jaxon and Dan Berger today. Tim has been on CWC a few times but the last one was this episode on August 4, 2021 . Dan Berger gives credit to Tim Bell for making wines that are interesting for their subtlety. He tells how his first exposure to wine was in retail. He went to UC Davis, worked at a custom crush facilit...

Dan Berger and Clark Smith. Clark Smith is back on California Wine Country with Steve Jaxon and Dan Berger, to discuss WineSmith unusual varietals and more. Clark Smith is an influential wine consultant, university instructor, scientist and musician. That is his website, Who Is Clark Smith? which is about wine and more. He is also one of the most frequently appearing guests in the history of Calif...

Jeff Mangahas Winemaker Jeff Mangahas from Williams Selyem Winery is back on California Wine Country with Steve Jaxon today. Jeff has been on this show a few times before, the most recent was this episode from last March . Williams Selyem produces a limited quantity of wine in the Russian River Valley, primarily Pinot Noir and Chardonnay. Most of their wines come from a single vineyard and so they...

Christian Adams from The German Wine Collection is our guest on California Wine Country with Steve Jaxon and Dan Berger. Christian has brought three different German wines, each from a different producer. The 2021 Pinot Blanc is the first wine tasted. Its name Weissburgunder is German for Pinot Blanc, literally it means ‘White Burgundian.’ You don’t see much Pinot Blanc here in C...

Doug Nalle, co-founder of Nalle Winery , is our guest today on California Wine Country with Steve Jaxon and Dan Berger. The last time Doug was on the show was this episode of April 19, 2023 . Doug Nalle and Dan Berger have been friends for fifty years. They have three Chardonnays to taste. First, a 2021 Chardonnay from Hopkins Ranch. Doug and his wife Lee founded the winery in 1984 and they just f...

Meissa and Dan. California Wine Country today features Melissa Galliani, GM of Wine Country Radio , with Steve Jaxon and Dan Berger. Melissa is a frequent guest on the show, and was with us most recently on this episode with winemaker Dennis McCarter . Dan Berger’s first wine today is a 2023 that comes from Bibiana Ravé called Shared Notes . It is 75% Sauvignon Blanc and 25% Semillon, aged on the...

Greg La Follette, Marchelle Wines founder and winemaker, is back on California Wine Country with Steve Jaxon and Dan Berger. Greg is coming from the winery, where they are busy with harvest time. He is going right back too, after the show. He was a chemist and did some work in early Aids research and then went back to school in food science and enology. Greg had the good fortune to work at Beaulie...

Taft Street Winery co-founder Mike Martini is back on California Wine Country with Steve Jaxon and Dan Berger. Mike was last on CWC on this episode of on September 15, 2023 . In 1979 there was hardly any Pinot Noir planted in the Russian River Valley. When Mike decided to open this property, it was risky because the region had not yet developed its reputation. Other better financed growers made a...

Dan Berger is in the studio today with Sonoma County Harvest Fair Winners on California Wine Country with Steve Jaxon. Dan Berger had decades of experience as a wine judge and he was a judge in this year’s Sonoma County Harvest Fair competition . He describes the new organization this year, where the judges only had 25 or 30 of one type of wine, instead of 55 or 60 of the same type. Dan likes this...

Barry Herbst is back on California Wine Country with Steve Jaxon and Dan Berger to talk about Harvest Fair Winners available at Bottle Barn. Barry is a frequent guest and his last time on the show was this episode last December to talk about sparkling wines . He has brought some winning wines from this year’s Harvest Fair. This year there were two little late heat waves and harvest was hecti...

Dan and Tom. Tom Birdsall, owner of Black Kite Cellars , is our guest on California Wine Country with Steve Jaxon and Dan Berger. This is Tom’s first time on the show however their winemaker Jeff Gaffner was on the show on this episode of March 11, 2020 . Black Kite Cellars began when Tom and his wife Rebecca went on a cycling tour through Burgundy. They were just consumers of wine at that t...

Oded Shakked, owner of Longboard Vineyards , is back on California Wine Country with Steve Jaxon and Dan Berger. He has been on the show before. His last appearance was this episode on November 17, 2023 . He has a long history of making high quality wines from his small properties. He grew up surfing in Israel and then, looking for good waves, he went to surf the Atlantic beaches. In France, he di...

Steve Jaxon and Dan Berger. Dan Berger is back on California Wine Country after some vacation travel and today he joins Steve Jaxon with some thoughts about harvest time and some wines to taste. Dan Berger and Steve Jaxon will talk about harvest time today and taste some wines that Dan has brought.  We were going to have Deborah Del Fiorentino on to talk about her organization of wine competitions...

Dennis McCarter, owner and winemaker of McCarter Cellars , is back on California Wine Country with Steve Jaxon and Dan Berger. This is his second time as a guest on CWC, the last time was this episode back in January of this year. Dan Berger is away again this week and Melissa Galliani joins us in the studio. Dennis tells about having taken a course at SRJC about pairing wine and food, which left...

Dan, Janice and Jamie. Janis McDonald and Jamie Peters are here to talk about Winesong! 2024 on California Wine Country with Steve Jaxon and Dan Berger. Winesong! takes place Sept. 6-7, 2024 at the Little River Inn . It is the annual fund raiser for the Mendocino Coast Healthcare Foundation . First, Dan Berger has brought a cellar wine, as he usually does. This is a 2007 St. Supery Sauvignon Blanc...

Winemaker Carol Shelton is back on California Wine Country with Steve Jaxon and Dan Berger. CWC co-host Dan Berger is away this week. Carol is one of our most distinguished winemakers and a regular on this show. Her last time here was last January, in this episode with Dan Berger and with Harry Duke sitting in for Steve Jaxon. Carol Shelton graduated from UC Davis in 1978. This year will be her 48...

Winemaker Dan Barwick with Melissa Galliani. Winemaker Dan Barwick is back on California Wine Country with Steve Jaxon and Dan Berger. Dan is the winemaker at Trecini Winery . He has been on CWC before, the most recent was this other episode recorded on Aug. 25, 2023 . Our regular co-host Dan Berger is on vacation this week. Right away Steve Jaxon is loving Dan Barwick’s Sauvignon Blanc. It&...

Williams Selyem winemaker Jeff Mangahas is back on California Wine Country with Steve Jaxon and Dan Berger. Jeff has been on CWC as recently as last February on this episode , and previously here in 2021 and before that, on this episode from 2018 . Wine Country Radio GM Melissa Galliani has brought a bottle of Dry Creek Chenin Blanc. Dry Creek is a sponsor of the KRSH Backyard Concert Series and t...

Kevin Bersofsky from Montagne Russe Wines joins Steve Jaxon and Dan Berger on California Wine Country. He has been on CWC before, most recently on this episode of August 3, 2022 . On Saturday August 10, the Wind to Wine festival is at the Gambonini Family Ranch in Petaluma. They start by tasting a sparkling wine that Kevin Bersofsky has made. Dan calls it “a very serious bubbly.” It&#8...

Melissa Galliani, Dan Berger & Justin Seidenfeld. Justin Seidenfeld, Rodney Strong head winemaker, joins Steve Jaxon and Dan Berger on California Wine Country. Justin Seidenfeld has been on CWC a few times, most recently on this episode of April 27, 2022 . They begin tasting a brand new wine that they just launched on June 1st. It is a single vineyard 2023 Sauvignon Blanc from one of their est...