Indie Wine podcast

Historical Episode IWP Ep61 The California Wine Association (CWA) - Part 5 - Winehaven. This is part 5 in my series on the California Wine Association. “WineHaven”  Last time we saw the CWA battle against the “Calamity” as the 1906 San Francisco Earthquake and Fire were called.  Much of San Francisco was destroyed and the CWA suffered huge losses of wine, over 10 million gallons plus offices, coop...

We’re going to take a quick break from the California Wine Association series to talk with the Perlegos Brothers, Jeff and John about Perlegos Family wines.  You’ve probably had wines made from their grapes by Maître De Chai, Fields Family, Bedrock, Haarmeyer, Sandlands and Sabelli Frish.  Since 2020 they have been producing their own wines.  Most from fruit they farm and others from some of the b...

Historical Episode IWP Ep59 The California Wine Association (CWA) - Part 4 - The Calamity Edition. Today is part 4 in my series on the California Wine Association.  “The Calamity Edition”  Last time we saw the CWA gobble up their competitors after the end of the wine wars.  They absorbed wineries, vineyards and wine houses.   When they couldn’t purchase the entire company, they would get half.  Al...

Historical Episode IWP Ep58 The California Wine Association (CWA) - Part 3 - Shopping Spree. This is part 3 of my series on the California Wine Association.  Last episode we saw them battle the California Wine Makers Corporation in the so called “Wine Wars”  The CWA was able to come out on top, as the winemakers Corporation was never able to truly work as 1 entity.  The CWA was also able to hang o...

Historical Episode IWP Ep57 The California Wine Association (CWA) - Part 2 - The Wine Wars. This is the 2nd part of my series on the California Wine Association or CWA.  Last time we focussed on why and how the CWA came to be and some of the key players behind it including Percy Morgan, Charles Carpy, Samual Lachman and Kohler and Frohling.  Incorporation was finished in August of 1894, just in ti...

Historical Episode IWP Ep56 The California Wine Association (CWA) - Part 1 - Wine is too Cheap. Today we start something a little different for harvest time.  I have a series on the history of the California Wine Association or CWA.  The largest and most dominant Pre Prohibition wine firm in the US.  I hope you come along on the journey with me.  This episode and the ones that follow in the series...

IWP Ep55 Monica and Beno - Catch and Release Wines - Today we’re with Monica and Beno from Catch and Release Wines.  We discuss how they got started and selling your first vintage during the pandemic, how their wines styles have changed and evolved over the years, what farming and sourcing of fruit means to them and some 2024 harvest. They have a wine for every occasion from really dialed in and s...

IWP Ep54 Josh Hammerling - Hammerling Wines Today we’re hearing from Josh Hammerling of Hammerling wines in Berkeley.  Josh and his team are making great traditional method sparkling wines in a variety of styles.  We talk about how Hammerling got started, Some of the techniques they use when crafting their wines and a lot of the unique aspects of sparkling production. The hammerling wines are real...

IWP Ep53 Kenny, Lynn, Kelsey and Stefan - Hobo Wine Company - Today I’m with Kenny, Lynn, Kelsey and Stefan of Hobo Wine Company.  Hobo started about 20 years ago with a couple barrels of Zin and although they’ve grown, it’s still a family environment.  They work in a low intervention way, farming and making wine responsibly while helping to ensure others can do the same. We discuss the start of H...

IWP Ep52 Marty Winters and Alex Pitts - Maître de Chai - Today we’re hearing from Marty and Alex from Maître de Chai.  They have a great story about their transition from cooking in Michelin starred restaurants to apprenticing with some of Californias great winemakers.  They make great site based wines from their winery in Berkeley. We discuss how they made the transition from kitchens to wine, ho...

IWP Ep51 Brent Mayeaux - Stagiaire Wine -Today I’m talking with Brent Mayeaux of Stagiaire. Brent’s making some of the best natural zero/zero wines around. He works with mostly with coastal sites and like the name implies, he’s always learning. He also runs the “Wine From Here” festival with Subject to change winery. We discuss his start, harvest hopping in France and Australia, the vineyards and...

IWP Ep50 Matt Niess - North American Press -Today I’m talking with Matt Niess of North American Press. Matt’s making wonderful and expressive wines from native and hybrid grapes and some apples. His winemaking is top notch and low intervention.  We discuss his introduction to hybrids, the characteristics of some that he’s working with, how to ethically forage and how these grapes fit in with clima...

IWP Ep49 Samantha, Michael, John - Viano Vineyards -  Today I’m talking with Samantha, Michael and John who make up the 5th generation of the Viano wine growing family. This generation has been taking over more and more of the running of the family winery from their parents, like they did before. Viano vineyards has been producing estate wines since the 40’s from their dry farmed and head trained...

Historical Episode IWP Ep48 Matthew Keller - Don Mateo Matthew Keller or Don Mateo as he was sometimes known, was one of the pioneering winegrowers of Los Angeles, moving there when it was still barely more than a dusty pueblo.  He wasn’t the first but was among them, we’ll get to his contemporaries in time.  We’re going to hear a lot of quotes in the episode today, because Keller was a very proli...

IWP Ep47 James Jelks - Florez Wines. James is a super thoughtful winemaker.  His wines are full of uniqueness and personality.  Most are made in a zero zero fashion from the converted apple warehouse he shares with Margins wines in Watsonville.  He works with mostly Santa Cruz Mountains fruit as well as some from neighboring San Benito and Santa Clara counties. We discuss his start, the vineyrd he...

IWP Ep46 Axel Borg - Distinguished Wine and Food Science Bibliographer Emeritus, University Library UC Davis. Axel worked for the library for 33 years, helping to build the food and wine library into the greatest of its type, before retiring in 2020, though he still volunteers his time and knowledge to the food and wine community. We discuss his work with Maynard Amerine and other food and wine lu...

IWP Ep45 Maryam Hariri - Azizam Wines I was able to speak with Maryam Hariri in San Francisco during her tour releasing the Azizam wines.  Maryam was a climate change policy maker before being a climate adaptive winemaker and we talk about both lives.  She also works with Bichi wines, both based in Baja California.  Working mostly with small vineyards and old vines. Palomino, Mission, Rosa Del Per...

Historical Episode IWP Ep44 Kate Field - Eccentric In Her Genius. Today we’ll be talking about Kate Field.  She was an author, playwright, actress and more.  Her involvement in the wine industry was brief but she’s worth knowing about, wine connection or not. She helped in the fight to hold off prohibition.  Prohibition wasn’t an overnight change, it was threatened for years and decades even.  Cou...

IWP Ep43 William Allen and Karen Daenen - Two Shepherds I recently sat down with William Allen and Karen Daenen of Two Shepherds Wine at their home and vineyard in Fulton. The vineyard is unique with tight 3x3 spacing which we discuss and the farm is also filled with an ever expanding array of animals including Goat’s, Donkey’s, Dogs, Cats, Chickens and the newest addition’s 2 baby Kunekune Pigs. ...

Historical Episode IWP Ep42 Christopher Buckley - Ravenswood, The Blind Boss of San Francisco and Lord of Livermore. Today we are looking at Christopher Buckley and his historic Ravenswood estate.  Buckley was a blind Political boss in San Francisco during the latter part of the 19th century.  Ravenswood was his 100 plus acre country estate in the upcoming wine producing region of the Livermore Va...

IWP Ep41 Cary Quintana - Cary Q Wines. Cary Quintana is our guest today.  She’s making really vibrant and food friendly wines from great vineyards sites.  We hear about her journey from owning a wine shop in Miami, how she keeps a hands on approach with all her wines and what she looks to bring out in each grape variety. you can find her wines at caryqwines.com and follow what shes up to on instag...

Historical Episode IWP Ep40 The 2 Natoma Vineyards with Kevin Knauss - The American River, Bugbey and Gold.  Today we're discussing the 2 Natoma vineyards, they were close to each other in both time and distance, enough so that they have fooled wine historians much smarter than myself.  They fooled me too.  I have Kevin Knauss helping me today, he was the one to set me straight, he’s spent yea...

IWP Ep39 Evan Lewandowski - Ruth Lewandowski Wines I recently spoke with Evan Lewandowski of Ruth Lewandowski wines.  Evan started the winery over 10 years ago and since then has been making some amazing natural wines.  We run through many of his current releases, getting fun back stories and history of the vineyards and blends while also hearing how he got his start, some of his influences, poten...

IWP Ep38 Thomas DeBiase - Jupiter Wine Co. Today I’m speaking with Thomas DeBiase of Jupiter Wine Company.  We sat down on rainy day at the beautiful Idlewild tasting room in Healdsburg.  Thomas and his business partner Michael Richardson started Jupiter in 2020 to not only produce low intervention wines but to give back to the community.  They work with a fun variety of Italian varieties includin...

I recently spoke with Chris Brockway of Broc Cellars in Berkeley.   Chris has been making Natural Wine for over 20 years, starting Broc with a single Barrel in 2002 and continuing to grow since then, working with a large variety of grapes and regions.  In 2023 they purchased Fox Hill vineyard after 10 years of working together and have now taken over the farming.  We discuss how Chris got started,...