The Vine Guy

Loveblock wines is founded by Erica Crawford, and her husband, Kim Crawford, renowned veterans of the New Zealand wine industry. Erica started her career as an aspirational medical scientist, progressing into the pharmaceutical industry. Her career in the wine industry was quite by accident, when she met Kim Crawford. Erica and Kim began making wine under their own label in 1996 and later sold tha...

Caren Hatton, and her partner Fritz, started Arietta in 1996, in partnership with famed Napa winemaker John Kongsgaard. Their focus is, and has always been, ultra-premium Bordeaux-inspired blends from the Napa Valley. As classical music enthusiasts, Arietta takes its name from Beethoven’s Arietta movement of his last piano sonata, Opus 111. Today, Arietta wines are made by Andy Erickson, one of th...

Vince Anter is a certified sommelier and founder of “V is for Vino.” While pursuing a rock ‘n’ roll career as a guitarist and vocalist, he fell in love with wine while working at the bars and upscale restaurants that paid the bills. As he pursued further wine knowledge, he realized there was no place for the “average Joe” to learn about wine casually; and thus, V is for Vino was born, providing wi...

David Ramey revolutionized modern-day winemaking and helped to elevate California to the forefront of the international wine community. Hailed as “Professor Chardonnay” by Wine Spectator, David’s groundbreaking work with indigenous yeasts, whole-cluster pressing, sur lies aging and malolactic and barrel fermentation yielded a new California Chardonnay style that was richer and more complex. A stin...

In the final installment from the Healdsburg Wine and Food Experience, Justin Seidenfeld shares his passion for winemaker and sustainability. Justin is the senior vice president of winemaking and winegrowing for Rodney Strong Vineyards, the iconic Sonoma County Winery founded in 1959 by namesake Rodney Strong. Justin’s winemaking career began in Sebastopol, California, where he was an intern at Ir...

Steve Sangiacomo is a third-generation partner at Sangiacomo Family Vineyards, located in Sonoma, California where his family has farmed since 1927. He grew up on the ranch and began learning the ropes from his father and extended family at a young age. In his early 20s, Steve began learning the family business from the ground up, and in his 30s he and his brother Mike took over the reins of the f...

In this third installment of the Healdsburg Wine and Food Experience, I had the pleasure of sitting down with wine grower, Duff Bevill. Duff originally intended to specialize in fruit and nut production, but a summer job in Dry Creek Valley in 1973 transformed his career dreams. Working for a local vineyard management company, Duff became acquainted with many older farmers in Dry Creek Valley. “It...

Originally from Spain, Alberto Solis developed his love for food and respect for high quality ingredients from his summers spent in Andalucia, a region known for Iberico. When Alberto came to the U.S., he followed his passion into the specialty food business, introducing many Spanish products, including olive oil, cheeses, vinegars, tuna, and of course, jamon Iberico to U.S. consumers. Over his 30...

Celebrity chef Maneet Chauhan was seemingly born with a ladle in her hand. She started her culinary journey in her homeland of India and eventually landed in Chicago where she became the executive chef of Vermilion, earning multiple accolades, including Chicago magazine's Best New Restaurant, Esquire's Restaurant of the Month and Wine Enthusiast's Best New Restaurant in the U.S. She eventually lan...

Just in time for International Sherry Week, Chantal Tseng – a true student of all things liquid - joins the podcast to discuss the versatility of various types of sherry – both paired with food and in cocktails - and to debunk a few old myths. Tseng was the original bar manager and senior bartender of the country’s first ever sherry bar, Mockingbird Hill, where she created and managed the wine lis...

Ben Jordan oversees all aspects of winemaking, vineyards and production at Early Mountain Vineyards near the Shenandoah in Virginia. While his background is in fine arts, Ben has been able to put together an impressive winemaking resume with positions at popular wineries in Sonoma County, as well as the general manager and winemaker with Michael Shaps Wineworks in Virginia. Ben brings to Early Mou...

There’s a big gap in Erica Stancliff’s winemaking career… the Petaluma Gap to be accurate. Erica’s path to winemaking started at the tender age of 10 when one evening, respected winemaker and family friend Paul Hobbs, whom she calls “Uncle Paul”, came to her parent’s home for dinner with a bottle of 1997 Michael Black Vineyard Merlot tucked under his arm. Hobbs asked her to stick her nose in the g...

John Boich thought he was happy with his successful career as a fund manager until a serendipitous purchase of raw land high in Napa’s Mt. Veeder set him on a life-changing path that he never would had imagined. He eventually traded in his suit for a shovel, planting a vineyard by hand one Saturday at a time for eight years. His goal was to produce wines worthy of a world stage. He assembled a col...

Daniel Shanks' road to the White House began as a fledgling college student in Richmond, Virginia. Following graduation, Daniel made his way out to Napa Valley, where he started working in restaurants and developed growing appreciation for the passion for the sounds, smells and taste of grapes while living on a vineyard in Rutherford. In 1977, he was hired to be the maitre’d at Chandon, Domaine Ch...

Jean Hoefliger is a man with a quixotic mission: He is inspired and driven by the quest for creative perfection while knowing full well that it can never be achieved. An artisan who has always been motivated to push the envelope, he relies on a commitment to constant scientific research matched by an open-minded, entrepreneurial creativity. His background in winemaking has included stints at Miche...

Hailing from a large family in Ireland, David O’Reilly has been working with wine for over thirty years. In addition to making Pinot Noir in the Willamette Valley of Oregon, David is also passionate about winemaking in the Yakima Valley of Eastern Washington State. For O’Reilly, this region presents the new world with an outstanding opportunity to create wines that show old world expression. His O...

Ian Cauble, MS was featured in the original SOMM documentary as an intense and focused wine professional pursing the coveted Master Sommelier certification. In actuality, this Southern California former surfer is laid back and charming. He has been named “Best Young Sommelier in the World” and TOPSOMM. His thirst for knowledge – and successfully acquiring the Master Sommelier title – has led him t...

Lisa Mattson, Jordan Vineyard’s director of marketing & communications, has worked in the wine industry for more than twenty years, honing her skills in writing, event planning, public relations, marketing, blogging, social media and creative strategy. She created Jordan Winery’s award-winning videos and dynamic blogs, The Journey of Jordan and Wine Country Table . She is passionate about all-...

Mendocino County, located on the coast of Northern California, approximately equidistant from the San Francisco Bay Area and the California/Oregon border, was originally coined “the emerald triangle.” Today, thanks to Bernadette Byrne, the executive director of the Mendocino Winegrowers Association, Mendocino is now known for producing quality wines, including Pinot Noir, Chardonnay, Gewurztramine...

Consulting winemaker Aaron Pott learned from an early age from a French waiter that “milk ees for baybees.” From that time on, Aaron knew he wanted to make world-class wines. With the help of legendary mentors such as John Kongsgaard and Michel Roland, Pott crafts wines that exude finesse and charm. Moreover, he loves “the intellectual challenge and the satisfaction of crafting something beautiful...

The Heart’s Delight Wine Tasting and Auction is one of the largest multi-day charity wine events in the country. To date, it has raised over $20 million to help battle heart disease and stroke. And even though the pandemic has prevented in-person participation, it has not dismissed the spirit of the event! Please drink in this special episode with past Heart’s Delight Chairman Brian Kearney, as he...

Well, it’s that time of year again. The Girl Scouts of America are on the cookie-march and never has mixing your support of a worthy cause and indulging in a guilty pleasure ever felt so right! In today’s grown-up world, where pairing wine with just about anything that can find its way onto a plate, the notion of including good ol’ Girl Scout cookies in the game has been elevated to an adult-orien...

As just one of a handful of weekly newspaper wine columnists in the country, Dave McIntyre is passionate about wine, climate change and local wines! We talk about why the world smells like wine, heavy bottle blues, Colorado Nebbiolo, and why it’s important to just “pay attention” when you drink wine. Drink in this delightful episode with the one-and-only Dave McIntyre and find out how you can be a...

Not many daughters would say this about working with their dad every day; “We have so much respect and love for each other and it’s so much fun to work together that it just works.” But that is exactly how Helene Seillan describes her relationship with her father, famed vigneron Pierre Seillan. Together, they craft some of the most award-winning wines in Sonoma County. Drink in this lovely episode...

Mark Pisoni works in the vineyards while his brother, Jeff, is responsible for making the wines from their three different sites in the Santa Lucia Highlands in California’s Central Coast. This unique brother team is rare in the wine industry, but their two-heads-are-better-than-one approach results in some world class Pinot Noir! Drink in this episode with Mark and Jeff and see how their differen...