The Sonoma Spiel

Many people know that Sonoma Valley has had two centuries of winegrowing. But a lot of people don't know that it was also the birthplace of the modern American microbrewery: New Albion Brewing Company. The brainchild of Jack McAuliffe, New Albion was founded by  him and Jane Zimmerman and Suzy Stern in 1976, when a decision was made in the driveway of Jane's house in Sonoma. With $1000 each, Jane...

This week we have a very special guest, and this time we actually, actually mean it: Karina Garcia stops by the Sonoma Spiel podcast to talk about "The Springs," a collection of small former resort towns (Fetters Hot Springs, Aqua Caliente, Boyes Hot Springs and El Verano) with great food options and places to explore. Born in Mexico, raised in Boyes Hot Springs, Garcia details her life growing up...

Sean Gerrity with Sonoma Ballooning parked his colorful balloon right outside the KSVY studio and hopped off to talk about hot air balloons in Sonoma Valley. During the podcast we find out how to become a hot air balloon pilot, that the job has its ups and downs and landings are guaranteed. We also learn about a day in the life of a hot air balloon pilot, why the hot air balloons take off at sunri...

On the eve of the Napa to Sonoma Half Marathon, the Sonoma Spiel podcast went to the farmers market to drag two farmers into the studio: Elizabeth Stein and Tucker Stein of Cassidy Ranch farm in Sonoma. The married couple took over the farm in 2021 and grow both grapes as well as flowers and crops. Elizabeth recounts how her time working at Ridge Vineyards in Santa Cruz attracted her to the world...

We're back on the Spiel! And this week we have a VERY SPECIAL GUEST: Lisa Pidge, from the Laugh Cellar and Crushers of Comedy and now her new gig - Pickleball and comedy! A repeat offender on the podcast, Lisa comes back to talk about what's happening with her popular comedy shows at wineries like Deerfield Ranch, Cooking With Comedians, and her new Pickleball and comedy show that supports an auti...

Kelly Conrad is with Farm to Pantry ( www.farmtopantry.org ), a local organization committed to rescuing food that would otherwise go wasted and getting it to people in need. "The food is out there; all we have to do is go get it. No one should be left behind." On her turn on the Spiel she dishes about working with SingleThread Farms, how visitors to Sonoma Valley can participate in harvesting cro...

Returning Very Special Guest star Amy Miller brought fellow Buckeye Tony Gonzalez to the Spiel to preview the BRAND NEW season of Transcendence Theatre Company's summer series, and to detail how the new location - just steps from the historic Plaza - make this a truly magical moment for "Broadway in Sonoma." During a rather raucous chat we cover their journey from the shores of Lake Erie to the vi...

Safari West Foundation provides funding for programs like an "animals in hospitals" program for children who are hospital-bound, as well as a program that brings children to the Safari West, a 400-acre preserve with giraffes, gnus, lemurs and all manner of amazing African animals who are in conservation programs. The Foundation also focuses on education. Paula Johnson from the Foundation came by t...

Not many places have a professional-level, volunteer-run observatory open to the public. But not many places have the Robert Ferguson Observatory . Luckily, Sonoma Valley does. Executive Director Stephanie Derammelaere explains the mission of the observatory, how it came to be, why Sugarloaf Ridge State Park is a good place to see planets and stars and galaxies, and how visitors can come up and se...

Mustafa Tolosa always "goes to eleven" - the local restaurant reviewer started off taking photos of his steak while on a date with his wife, and from there it has grown into a Wine Country go-to spot for locals looking for the low-down on food trucks, restaurants and more. "I'm not a food critic - I'm a highlighter. I like to highlight things," says Tolosa, who gets ideas for his reviews from his...

The Sonoma Valley Author's Festival is in it's seventh year in Sonoma, and founders Ginny and David Freeman come to the Sonoma Spiel and share their passion for books and the ideas expressed within. As Ginny notes, "It's an ideas festival - it's small and curated and intimate." This year we find out that among the many author's attending includes historian Doris Kearns Goodwinn, novelist David Gra...

Caitlin Cornwall of the Sonoma Ecology Center returns to the Spiel to give her review of the eclipse (thumbs up), talk redwoods as yard trees in dry valley floors (thumbs down, usually) and encourage us to create diverse ecosystems with native plants in your front yard to get the best birds. She also details the upcoming events at Sugarloaf State Park, the Sonoma Garden Park and other places where...

Bettina Sichel got her start with Blue Nun, one of the most famous wines of the past 100 years and the one that put German wine on the map (and which her great grandfather started) and is now with Laurel Glen Vineyards in Glen Ellen. Specializing in (and famous for) cabernet sauvignon, the winery is now branching out to rose and sauvignon blanc. Wait - did we mention Blue Nun? The special Liebfrau...

Maeve Smith is the director of Sonoma Arts Live's latest musical, "The Hello Girls," which details the story of American women who answered the call to be switchboard operators for the US Army Signal Corps during World War I. They had to speak French, know how to operate specialized communications equipment and serve near the front lines - and yet when they returned, their time in the service was...

They grew up on a dairy farm in West Marin, where the fog rolls in and grassy hills meet the rugged beaches of the Pacific Ocean, and now they are the force behind the California Cheese Trail . Vivian and Michael Straus left Marin for Portland (Vivian) and an ashram in India (Michael) but then came back to help save the family ranch and raise the profile of the cheese trail. Now the California Che...

From Kenwood to Carneros, to Santa Rosa and Petaluma and Napa and more - coming to you LIVE and IN YOUR HEAD at THOUSANDS OF WATTS of RADIO POWER - it's KSVY-FM!  Bob Taylor and James Marshall Berry talk two decades of Sonoma radio and reminisce about how it connects community, provides a crucial link during times of duress and is a true taste of Sonoma wine country for visitors and locals. Did yo...

Ginny Krieger from the Sonoma International Film Festival is back on the Sonoma Spiel podcast to talk all things film, food and wine. But this time, she's brought Carl Spence, artistic director and film fan, who gives the rundown on some of the major U.S. premiers of films at one of the best film festivals in the country. As always our guests answer YOUR Sonoma Valley questions, and this week they...

Van Solkov of Happy Traveler's Tours came by the Sonoma Spiel podcast to talk cannabis growing in Sonoma Valley, how tours of farms and dispensaries serve to educate and dispel myths as well as update older traveler's about changes in the scene since the 70s and 80s. During a wide-ranging interview he also covers how he was one of the first cannabis tours in wine country and how we got into the bu...

Jeannie Perales, new director of the Sonoma Botanical Garden , put down her pruning shears and stopped by the Sonoma Spiel to talk about their new upcoming summer program of concerts and the Ribbit Exhibit that will bring whimsical frog statues to the garden.  Perales talks about how she ended up leading botanical gardens from Florida to California, and her belief that there are four "natural ther...

San Francisco is an hour from Sonoma Valley and the majority of visitors to Sonoma Valley usually make a stop in "The City" before heading up to wine country. This week, Lynn Bruni-Perkins of SF Travel talks what makes San Francisco special, from the culture of social movements, Burning Man, and the technology that brought us the iPhone, to the next phase of technology like AI and self-driving car...

Molly Spencer is with the Sonoma Community Center, a school building turned arts and culinary center complete with galleries and theater programs. She hops on the Sonoma Spiel podcast to talk ceramics, chili recipes, fiber arts happy hour, ballet and a secret garden that isn't that secret because we are talking about it. She then says that yes, the movie "Scream" was filmed at the Sonoma Community...

He was inspired to start cooking because his great aunt's awful Thanksgiving dinner spurned him to action, his first restaurant job was with three Lebanese brothers in Pennsylvania, and he left Manhattan for the excitement of Sonoma Valley: Ari Weiswasser of Glen Ellen Star talks his journey to having two restaurants and a catering company in California's wine country. And like all guests on the S...

Heidi Geffen founded Tiddle E. Winks just off the Sonoma Plaza as a place to find items of whimsy, fun and happiness. She stops by the Spiel to talk her journey from a rubber stamp saleswoman in LA to a sticker designer in Petaluma to the bringer of happiness to Sonoma.  She also talks a bit about wellness and how being happy is part of the experience, and even brought in some home-made kale chips...

Lauren Feldman (Valley Bar + Bottle and Valley Swim Club) joins us in the new year to talk all things food, wine, wellness and how she ended up leaving fashion for running front of the house at her restaurant, that she started with her husband Tanner and two friends. In between running a new restaurant, Valley Swim Club which is a west coast take (vegan tartar sauce!) on an east coast clam shack,...

Lisa Carlsson with Euphoria Retreats brings people around the world to find wellness- and she even made us take some calming breaths before we started the podcast. Then she tells us about how she approaches wellness and health and brings wellness and adventure to travelers in Sonoma Valley and beyond. She also spends time answering YOUR questions during WE GET QUESTIONS where she helps us with: He...