Indie Wine podcast

IWP Ep86 Unfiltered Panel 1 - Adaptation. Today and the next couple episodes we’ll be presenting the recorded panels from “Unfiltered - Conversations about wine”  It took place on July 26th at Donkey at Goat. Jared Brandt has always been passionate about wine education and together with Andrew Sullivan they put on the first annual version of this festival.   Their aim is to elevate the status and...

IWP Ep85 S.O.R.B.E.T. Discussion with Sam from Winery Sixteen 600 , Chris from Bedrock / Under the Wire and Mireia from Enterprise Vineyards .  We have a couple folks who got the day off from podcast hosting and are on the other side of the mic and we’re talking about the Sorbet tasting- How it came about, who is putting it on, who is pouring wine and what the acronym stands for - Sonoma Organic R...

The Dionysian Manifesto of Châteauneuf du Fargosonini - (Work in Progress) - Alejandro has been reading excerpts of Châteauneuf du Fargosonini 's Dionysian manifesto at tastings around California.  We originally recorded it at the wonderful Studio Aurora in San Francisco where he was followed by Sophia Lemaire, wine buyer at Studio Aurora performing a Gregorian chant.  We unfortunately had some so...

Historical Episode IWP Ep83 Antoine and Delphin Delmas - Pioneer Winegrowers of Santa Clara Valley. Today we are going to hear about Antoine and Delphin Delmas.  They were father and son.  Antoine was a pioneer grape importer and grower in the Santa Clara Valley.  Bringing some of the first importations of varieties to the US or California.  Delphin was his son and more focussed on winemaking.   W...

IWP Ep82 Bradford Taylor - Ordinaire and Diversey Wine. Today I’m talking with Bradford Taylor of Ordinaire and Diversey Wines.  We discuss how Ordinaire came to be, it’s early days, some of the challenges that made it double down on natural wine, where the shop fits into the natural wines scene and much more. It’s always a vibrant place with it’s own personality.  Producers tend to congregate the...

IWP Ep81 Alex Pomerantz and David Rothschild - Subject to Change and Las Vivas. Today I’m talking with Alex Pomerantz from Subject to Change Wines and David Rothschild of Las Vivas.  2 great projects.  We discuss how the natural wine movement has changed since Alex started, some of David’s farming practices, making and farming natural wines at scale and those economies of scale, what Alex has plan...

IWP Ep80 Whitney Nell Stewart - Director of Collections and Education at Coastal Georgia Historical Society on St. Simons Island. Today I’m talking with Whitney Nell Stewart PHD.   Whitney is a historian and Director of Collections and Education at Coastal Georgia Historical Society on St. Simons Island   She also wrote the book,  This Is Our Home: Slavery and Struggle on Southern Plantations .  W...

IWP Ep79 Tony Coturri and Noel Diaz - A conversation. Today’s episode is a little different.  A conversation between Noel Diaz of Purity Wine, the Study wine bar and the Richmond Wine Collective, he was also my very first interview for the podcast, way back on episode 2 and Tony Coturri of the Coturri winery, who has been making natural wines longer than anyone in California. Noel came up with the...

IWP Ep78 Christopher Renfro - The Two Eighty Project and Friend of a Friend SF. Today I’m talking with Christopher Renfro of the 280 Project and Friend of a Friend Wine shop.  This conversation has been a long time coming but we finally made it happen and had a great discussion and the history of the 280 project and where it’s going, about San Francisco, the Bay Area and vineyards in Napa and Sono...

IWP Ep77 Alejandro Fargosonini- Châteauneuf du Fargosonini. Today were hearing from Alejandro of Châteauneuf du Fargosonini.  We discuss his really exciting and cool new project focussed on wines from the vineyard he lives on as well upcycling other fruits that would otherwise go to waste.  Alejandro was working his way around the Bay Area to taste different shops on the wines when he stopped by. ...

Historical Episode IWP Ep76 George and John Jarvis - Vine Hill Santa Cruz Pioneer Winegrowers Today we’re talking about George and John Jarvis.  Pioneer winegrowers in the Vine Hill area of the Santa Cruz Mountains.  Their story is a good one and because we haven’t been in the Santa Cruz Mountains much for the historical episodes, there is some background info and other fun details, like 2 Charlie...

Today we’re hearing from Shane Hunt, Wine Buyer at Piazzas fine foods.  Upon starting at Piazzas, Shane did a complete overhaul of the wine section, putting the focus on smaller, local, low intervention wines.  We discuss what it takes to sell these types of wines in a grocery environment.  How it feels to hook someone up with a zero/zero wine from Sonoma instead of a generic blend from a large br...

Today I’m talking with Pietro Buttitta from Prima Materia and Local Vines.  After a career in food service Pietro has spent the last decade or so farming in Lake County at about 1400 feet elevation, focusing mostly on Italian varieties.  He has also done some consulting and so we also discuss his fun new project in the Lamorinada area of Contra Costa County. The Lamorinda is a fascinating area, th...

IWP Ep73 Diego Perez - Zumo I recently had a great chat with Diego Perez of Zumo wines.  Diego has worked with some of the most well known natural wine shops and bars, including Oaklands own Ordinaire.  Zumo started in 2018 making strictly zero/zero wines.  When possible Diego farms the sites himself and we discuss his farming and wine making in his new home in Yuba County and why you should suppo...

Historical Episode IWP Ep72 Kanaye Nagasawa - The Japanese Wine Barron of Fountaingrove. Today we’ll be talking about the life of Kanaye Nagasawa.  There is more than the usual backstory today but I think it’s important. At least half a dozen other characters in our story have lives that folks spend their own lives studying.  Those around Sonoma County might know the beats of the story, if you are...

IWP Ep71 Amanda and Sam Buckingham - Spur Road Wines. Today I’m talking with Amanda and Sam from Spur Road wines.  After rehabilitating a Sebastopol Hills area Pinot Noir vineyard by clearing blackberries and giving it some love with organic farming, they decided to start producing wine in 2021.  Their lineup now includes lovely Pinot Noir, in both a red and an earlier picked white version and sta...

Historical Episode IWP Ep70 Charbono in California. Today we’ll be discussing the Charbono grape.  It was planted early in California’s viticultural history and abundantly.  It’s worth mentioning that soon after, plantings were being tried of every grape any grower could lay their hands on.  We’re kind of picking up the story once people started studying a wide range of the plantings and finding h...

IWP Ep69 Tom Sherwood - BXT Wines. I sat down recently with Tom Sherwood of BXT wines to talk about his sparkling wine project. Tom is doing some really great things with small production, hand made and lower intervention California sparkling wine.  He’s based in the grower Champagne model and farms some of his own fruit in Sonoma and works with other great growers up and down the state.  The wine...

IWP Ep68 Bryan Green - Fontaine Glassware. I recently spoke with Bryan Green of Fontaine.  Fontaine is a newish glassware line designed by Brian with help from winemakers, sommeliers and enthusiasts.  We discuss their first product - a stemmed spirits glass and the design process for a universal wine glass.  It was all super interesting.  I’ve been really enjoying the glass, with a variety of wine...

IWP Ep67 Caleb Leisure - Caleb Leisure Wines. Today I’m talking with Caleb Leisure.  He’s a super thoughtful winemaker and we had a great conversation about how he started, working with Tony Coturri, the intricacies of working with Georgian Qvevri and his farming. He’s been working with Qvevri as long as anyone in California and the skins fermented whites are pretty amazing. You can find his wines...

IWP Ep66 Rose and Greg Nemet - Kareen Wine. Today we’re hearing from Greg and Rose Nemet from Kareen wines.  They’ve been making wine professionally since 2016 working mostly with Lodi and Clarksburg fruit and more recently from their estate vineyard in the Shenandoah Valley.  We talk about how their Armenian heritage has inspired their winemaking, working in Lodi and some new varieties for their...

Historical Episode IWP Ep65 Short Stories on California Wine 2. This is the 2nd episode of shorter stories that I find interesting but might not be fit for a full episode. A couple are histories like usual and a couple are articles from older newspapers or trade magazines I might just read. There are 6 today -  Hotaling - A Riddle in Whiskey Stocktons 700 foot Grape Vine The people vs Chuck Lee Ba...

IWP Ep64 Brad Kurtz - Vine Farm Ridge and Gloria Ferrer. Vine Farm Ridge is Brad and his families new project in the Livermore Valley, he has lots of great info and insight into the area from his previous work with Wente.  He’s also the director of Vineyards for Gloria Ferrer and can tell us all about farming in Carneros for sparkling and some still wines. The first wines from the old vineyard are...

Historical Episode IWP Ep63 The California Wine Association (CWA) - Part 7 - The Wine Men - Today is part 7 and the conclusion of my series on the California Wine Association. This episode is titled “The Wine Men” If you’ve stuck around this long, I hope you enjoyed it.  Today we’ll discuss some of the winemakers, blenders and tasters of the CWA.  Those responsible for what was actually in the con...

Historical Episode IWP Ep62 The California Wine Association (CWA) - Part 6 - The Dark Days. This is part 6 of my series on the California Wine Association.  Last time we saw the CWA rebuild post earthquake and fire as they constructed the largest winery in the world, Winehaven, on the shores of San Francisco Bay.  Despite that, they still gorged themselves on wineries and vineyards until it was to...