Through The Grapevine | Culture + Hospitality

Sarah Niles is a partner and the active Sommelier/Service manager at Range Life, one of Livermore Valley’s most interesting and promising restaurants. Her Husband Bill is Chef, and their partners Wayne (the drinks Guru) and Lauren Longwell (the savvy social media mama) opened the doors a few years ago and have taken the Valley by storm. The restaurant is set up like a neighborhood restaurant like...

John Ernst is the “In house guy” at Altamont Beer Works handling digital media, design and working with Steve on the company’s marketing goals. John tells us how he cracked the industry, ultimately teamed up with Steve Sartori at Altamont and created the visual framework for the company to take off. What started as side work quickly became a passion, and it wasn’t long before the ABW crew brought...

We couldn’t be more excited than to sit down with Chuck McKahn, partner and winemaker at a McKahn Family Cellars here in the Livermore Valley. Chuck’s career as a winemaker is in the Napa Valley. His career began with an epic opportunity to work harvest at Chappellet on Pritchard Hill under the mentorship of the one and only Philip Titus. It was here that Chuck got hands on experience crafting som...

Michael Vanderveen is a Pleasanton born photographer and videographer. He has seen much of the world but remains drawn to his backyard in the Livermore Valley Wine Country. We are excited to have him as we share what makes this valley so great through his unique vantage point. We dive into the importance of tying captivating visual and graphic elements to your products and brands. And most importa...

TTG Podcast couldn’t be more excited than to continue the conversation with Livermore Valley’s own, Heather McGrail. Heather is a self taught winemaker (she won’t admit to this - but she did a great job on her own) /winery owner who has turned her family’s small, hillside vineyard and winery into one of Livermore Valley’s most bustling tasting rooms and respected producers of Cabernet Sauvignon. H...

We couldn’t be more thrilled than to continue the conversation with with local talent Matt Greco, Executive Chef and Owner of Salt Craft restaurant in downtown Pleasanton. Matt like a lot of successful chefs knew his calling at a very young age. He put in hard work in many jobs that had little glamour before taking an opportunity to work with the Wente family in Livermore Valley. He has since move...

We couldn’t be more excited than to sit down with Niki Wente, Sr. Viticulturist and 5th Generation winegrower for the Wente family. Niki is the point person for folks looking to buy fruit from Wente and also works extensively with her winemaking and vit team in both Livermore Valley and Arroyo Seco to ensure quality fruit is grown each year. We have a great conversation about the issues at hand in...

Two weeks ago the TTG crew had the opportunity to invade Napa for one of the most prestigious tastings of the year. This event is put on once a year by Joyce Stavert, Executive Director of the Oakville Growers Association. This tasting is a grand reminder that it is important to take advantage of both the perks, but more importantly the community that our industry commands. This event reminded us...

We apologize listeners that this episode was behind. We experienced a bit of technical difficulties with the platform.  Nevertheless, we are happy to introduce Alex Wolfe of Nottingham Cellars. Since coming to the west coast Alex has climbed the ranks very quickly becoming a pivotal contributor to the future of our valley. Like Craig Ploof he is originally from the East Coast, but got a taste...

We couldn’t be more excited to bring in Nottingham Cellars Director of Winemaking, Craig Ploof. We created this show to highlight the many talented people in the Livermore Valley, but we didn’t want it all about NC. The show wouldn’t be complete if we didn’t give Craig a listen. Craig cut his teeth in the LV wine industry as a part time tasting room associate at Steven Kent Winery. This is where h...

This episode has been a long time coming. Over the past couple of months we have talked about many of the people, wines, and food that inspire us to thrive in this amazing industry. Without this man the Livermore Valley would not be what it is today...fact. Julio Covarrubias is a second generation Mexican immigrant who's family name has a long history of hard-work here in the Bay Area and have ear...

We are back in the restaurant game, this time with none other than Alexis Posada, aka Lexo, aka Sexy Lexi.  Alexis and his family pursued their passion in food and dropped everything to launch Posada - a restaurant here in the Livermore Valley featuring a unique play on South Western cuisine.  We hate to use the word 'fusion' because it so often gets overplayed.  But when the creati...

TTG is back featuring Livermore Valley winery owner Denise McKahn of McKahn Family Cellars.  Denise has been in the industry since 1992 when she took a job in the accounting department at Wente Vineyards in the Livermore Valley.  She held a few roles at Wente before taking time off to be a mother.  She returned to the Livermore Valley to work in hospitality at some of the Valley's s...

Jeremy, Jason and Collin are back in studio, this time with 1/3 of the 3 Steve's, Steve Burman. Jeremy leads the charge getting down to the gritty details of what makes 3 Steve's a success. Steve Burman, like a lot of folks here in LV, started with a successful career in tech, but was intrigued by the regions growth and camaraderie among local winemakers.  This led him to plant a small vineya...

TTG is back with episode 5.  Now that we have laid down the foundation of the show, shared our perspectives on the region and what our goals are as individuals, its time we here from the people. Francis Hogan is the Executive Chef and Partner at Sabio on Main in Downtown Pleasanton.  When Sabio opened in 2015 it was ahead of its time, bringing cuisine, service and style not yet known to the Tri-Va...

Jeremy takes the reins on this episode and helps us explore the way we continuously push the boundaries of the Livermore Valley wine and hospitality scene. Not only do we discuss how we utilize technology in our respective fields, but how we stay motivated and work together to encourage progressive thinking as a catalyst to the renaissance of the new generation. We briefly discuss the local ideolo...

Jason takes the lead in episode 3 and gets right to a phone call with local wine shop owner, Jim Denham.  Jim is the man behind The Wine Steward in downtown Pleasanton, CA.  Jim is a Livermore Valley advocate who believes the region is starting to hit a stride, but just scratching the surface on its potential.  He provides his perspective of what can grow well here and have a home i...

Join Jeremy, Jason and Collin for the second installment of the Through the Grapevine.  We get a little tease of the show's new theme song (more to come on that!) before the guys get right to it. The People.  That's what drives any movement, region, business, whatever.  We are extremely fortunate to have a Valley full of hard working, dedicated, but most importantly TALENTED people...

Collin Cranor, Jeremy Troupe-Masi and Jason Montero all work in different sectors of the wine and hospitality industry in the Livermore Valley wine country.  We created this podcast to discuss the good, the bad, and the ugly and how we feel obligated to grow our presence. The Livermore Valley is one of California's oldest, most historic wine growing regions and the conditions to grow exceptio...