My guest for this episode is the bestselling author of Drinking & Knowing Things, he's a Certified Sommelier with the Guild of Master Sommeliers, a Certified Specialist of Wine, and a Master of Wine Candidate with the Institute of Masters of Wine. His final blind tasting test is this month. He runs the wildly popular Drinking & Knowing Things wine blog which has been adapted into now 3 books. He owns the award-winning SoCal Rum company, which was recently awarded the highest point score in history for any Silver Rum. Michael was a professor at the University of CA, Irvine. And he spends his time blind tasting and doing extreme sports. And, last but not least, He is the founder of the Bhutan Wine Company, and is leading the development of the wine industry in this magical Himalayan country for its first time in history. This was why I wanted to talk to Michael. Because his journey led him to Bhutan to plant its first ever vineyards, I found out about and began looking into some of the truly unique and stunning aspects of Bhutan’s culture. That’s part of the power of wine.  If you haven’t heard about the 7 pillars of Gross National Happiness, or didn’t know that Bhutan is the only carbon negative nation in the world, or that it is on the path to be the first 100% organic nation in the world, and more… then you’re going to have as much fun with this interview as I did. https://www.drinkingandknowingthings.com/ Sponsor: https://www.centralaswine.com/

My guest for this episode is Tim Graham of Left Bank Cider in Catskill, New York on the bank of the Hudson River. Tim’s cider project is a joint effort with his wife Anna Rosencranz and partner Dave Snyder. The three of them are making local cider from local apples, both wild and cultivated, and serving them at their local bar along with other local ciders, beers, wines and liquors of NY. It was such a delight to get to know Tim and what he’s doing. He’s thoughtful and smart, ecologically minded in his approach to every aspect of what he does, and he’s curious and deeply appreciative of the beauty of his world. He drops insights and illuminating perspectives throughout. We go deep on the magic of fungus and its importance to growing and making fermented beverages. Tim takes us on a journey of discovering wild apples and makes an argument for why his local apples are the best apples in the world. And we learn from Tim how to incorporate a process of learning and expanding and growing so that we waste none of the delicious fruits of life. http://www.leftbankciders.com/ Sponsor: https://www.centralaswine.com/ Host: Adam Huss

My guest for this episode is Greg La Follette. Just when you think you know something about wine, you meet someone like Greg. Talking with him about wine is like having the sun rise suddenly while you’re walking a path at night with only a flashlight. I apologize in advance to anyone who is trying to listen to this while doing something else, because you’re going to want to take notes. Even if you haven’t heard of Greg La Follette, you’ve probably drunk wines that he helped make. He mentored at BV in the early 90s under Andre Tchelitstcheff. He has designed and redesigned fourteen wineries worldwide and was the consulting winemaker for the University of California Davis’ “teaching winery”. He has consulted for Kendall-Jackson, starting its La Crema and Hartford Court brands. He launched Flowers, turning it into a cult brand, featuring its gravity-flow “green” production facility that is still considered state of the art. He went on to manage wine operations at DeLoach, and founded Tandem Wines, and has consulted on many other projects too numerous to mention. If you’ve been following the Organic Wine Podcast at all, it won’t come as a surprise to you that with his legendary reputation as a winemaker, Greg’s gives preeminence to the winemaking that happens in the vineyard before the grapes are even picked. You may have heard the cliché that “great wine is made in the vineyard.” In this episode, Greg tells us how. He discusses the 3 most important moments in winemaking that all happen in the vineyard, and in fact as I re-listened I counted at least 2 or 3 additional moments in the vineyard that he discusses as vitally important to winemaking. And that’s before he gives a breakdown of microbial ecological succession during indigenous fermentations and how that lends more complexity to wine. If you listen closely, you’ll find moments throughout what Greg says where he seems to talk about grapevines and people comparatively and even interchangeably. I found something profoundly meaningful in this, as it makes me feel as if Greg has come to know these beings so well that he has achieved a perspective that is not from this modern world, but recalls an ancient perspective from those indigenous groups who also knew their ecosystems with equal intimacy. A perspective of identification and equality with our non-human family. A perspective of compassion and empathy. Even if you aren’t working with vineyards or making wine, this episode will give you a glimpse of how much there is to learn about wine, how deep scientific knowledge enables us to listen to and serve vines and ecosystems better, and how complex and beautiful our world can be the more we get to know it. https://www.marchellewines.com/ View or download Greg's "From Soil To Bottle" presentation here. With special thanks to Lucie Morton. Sponsor: https://www.centralaswine.com/

This episode is a bit unusual for this podcast. It’s about how to purchase real estate, and my guest is Rural Mortgage Banker for United Ag Lending, Brady Shepherd. I’m very grateful to Brady for the time he spent with me preparing for this episode, and I think you’ll find this episode packed with potentially life-changing ideas. Why “life changing?” Because, for better or for worse, the US economy is founded on real estate. The laws and economic structure that guide our society were written by and for land-owners. And behind every glass of wine is a piece of land where it was grown that somebody or some entity owns. Did you know that to buy real estate you don’t have to put 20% down? You might not have to put any cash down. Your credit doesn’t have to be perfect either. We talk about this and so much more. A final disclaimer, nothing that I or Brady say on this episode is meant to be investment advice, and please talk to an accountant about your personal situation. Actually, talking to an accountant can be just as eye-opening as talking to a mortgage banker. A big thanks to Brady, who, if you stay tuned, literally gives out his phone number for anyone who might need help getting a mortgage loan. https://unitedaglending.com/ Sponsor: https://www.centralaswine.com/

Colin Blackshear and Aaron Brown of Bardos Cider are my guests for this episode. This is their first podcast, and I’m honored to be able to spread the word about what the remarkable work they are doing. They have built Bardos Cider since 2019 to a significant production, of over 150 barrels, by gleaning fruit from abandoned, forgotten, and derelict old orchards from the late 1800s and early 1900s. These trees have learned to survive only on the winter rains and despite human neglect, and this has made their fruit all the more exciting with age. Working with them has connected Aaron and Colin to the history of this land in some very meaningful and even spiritual ways. They clearly have a humility and respect for the wisdom of these elder beings, and through cider they have begun to realize a larger responsibility they have to protect and preserve these orchards. So often wine and cider are produced from an egotistical standpoint. I decided I wanted to make a certain kind of wine or cider, so I found or planted vineyards or orchards to meet my specifications and invested my will and desires and resources into bringing my ego-vision to reality. When this is my approach, is the wine or cider that I end up with really a reflection of the terroir, or just my ego? Colin and Aaron of Bardos Cider remind me that there is another approach. I could instead look to work in service of what already is thriving without my ego, despite that it may not be what I thought I wanted or intended. I could work to highlight and preserve the beautiful work that was already being done before me, and that will continue on once I’m gone. Could this lead to a truer reflection of place? And if I applied this approach to my life more broadly, is this the kind of perspective that could lead to abundance? https://www.bardoscider.com/ Sponsor: https://www.centralaswine.com/

Recorded on, and released in honor of, Caesar Chavez Day. My guest for this episode is Gabriela Fontanesi. Gabriela has one of the most unusual and unique paths into wine that I’ve ever encountered. Because of that, she brought questions and perspectives that have incredible power to transform the way you see and think about this industry and that led her on a journey of being a vineyard worker, and to Mexico where she recorded this interview, so that she could improve her Spanish and one day conduct wine tastings for Spanish-speaking farm workers here in California. Some of the points she brings up include: the laws that surprisingly don’t apply to farm workers, and why that is; How our separation from farming is what allows for the exploitation of the people who do the farm work; the euro-centric nature of formal wine education; the troubling idea of objectivity in wine tasting and if it accounts for the treatment of those who grow the wine; and the opportunity that wine has to bring change because of the narratives it tells. And so much more. Gabriela is a non-stop force of insight and this interview is packed with some of the most important ideas we can grapple with as an industry. If you get nothing else out of it, I hope you’ll be inspired by Gabriela to ask better, harder questions and to keep asking them regardless of where they take you. Gabriela would like to give a shout out to two great organizations that she supports. The first is AHIVOY which provides mentoring & scholarships for vineyard stewards in Oregon. You can learn more at ahivoyoregon.org or @ahivoyoregon. And the second organization is The Botanical Bus – a bilingual mobile herb clinic. You can find more at TheBotanicalBus.com or @botanical.bus Gabriela can be contacted through her Instagram @gpfontanesi   Sponsor: https://www.centralaswine.com/

It’s time for an end of the imperialistic colonial culture that we’ve all had plenty of by now. It’s time to recognize that there are indigenous grapes that grow best in every location on the lands of this earth, and they don’t need chemistry to survive because they evolved in those lands. And beyond that, great wine doesn’t have to be only about grapes. There are amazing fermented beverages from whatever is locally available in every corner of the globe, even those corners where grapes can’t grow. In other words, free your palate and your mind will follow. And you know what, say what you will about Natural Wine… it has freed an entire generation’s palate. Sponsor: https://www.centralaswine.com/

Jack Sporer is the owner of Fres.co Wine and Magnolia Wine Services. This interview is a great episode for a beginning winemaker thinking of starting their own brand and considering how to make that dream a reality. Because Jack is the owner of a custom crush winery facility. Unless you are independently wealthy or inherited a vineyard, you are likely going to start your winery in some sort of a co-op or shared winery space, and since that’s how I make our wine for my brand Centralas (whose wines, btw, are available for sale at CentralasWine.com the purchase of which supports this wonderful podcast) and since Jack owns one of these facilities, we dig into the pros and cons, the whys and the hows, and the hard questions you need to ask before choosing a facility. No, you don’t want to start making a wine at the nearest crush pad, unless it also stands up to some thorough evaluation. Jack’s custom crush facility in Sonoma is also the home of his winery Fres.co, which he named Fresh Wine Company in an attempt to cause us to think about wine the way we think about produce, as a product that is grown. Jack is deeply involved in regenerative agriculture, through both Fres.com and Magnolia, and he makes an incredibly important point about it. Basically, true regenerative agriculture implies working with degraded or poorly managed land, NOT pristine organically farmed vineyards. And that means that regenerative agriculture is about building bridges between farmers & winemakers with different and even opposing philosophies. I love that Jake embodies true regenerative agriculture with both Fres.co and Magnolia, and I think he does that with very smart, empathetic, and trust-building interactions that set an amazing example that we can all learn from. https://fresh.wine/ Sponsor: https://www.centralaswine.com/

My guest for this episode is Darek Trowbridge. Darek is the mind and body behind Old World Winery. He refers to himself as a soil farmer rather than a grape farmer, and this earth-first approach had led him to coin the term “Pastoral Winemaker” … because Darek has been making Natural Wine since before anyone called it natural wine. That’s right, Darek is a pioneer in the natural wine movement, and a true OG who started his winery in the 90’s and was farming vineyards before that. He has a wealth of information to share from well over 25 years of regenerating vineyard ecosystems and shepherding wine. We talk about exactly how he does this, bringing vineyards planted in the 1800’s back to vibrant vitality by building soil carbon. We talk about how he uses sesame oil as his only fungicide, his farming of the only Abouriou vineyard in the New World, and how he is helping Sonoma County reduce wildfire risk while regenerating soil health with proprietary woodchip compost through his Soil Carbon Management Company. Darek is someone who has ignored the trends and just continued to make farming-first wine for decades. And because of that he probably hasn’t gotten the attention he deserves. So I’m thrilled to be able to share the beautiful work he’s been doing. https://www.oldworldwinery.com/ Sponsor: https://www.centralaswine.com/

Hidalgo, Wetumka, Norton, Cloeta. If you haven’t heard these names before, they are American heritage or American native wine grape varieties. And they are just a few of the dozens of native grape varieties being grown at TerraVox or Vox Vineyards, just outside of Kansas City, Missouri. Missouri is the site of America’s first and oldest AVA, by the way, so it has a long and fascinating wine history, which we get into in this interview. In the current American wine industry, built as it is on imported European varieties, these American native varieties haven’t had much of a voice. But Jerry Eisterhold and Jean-Louis Horvilleur are helping to change that. Jerry is the founder and proprietor of TerraVox, and Jean is the winemaker and vineyard manager. TerraVox means Voice of the Land. TerraVox is a living museum of the diversity of American native wine grapes. But more than that, it is an example of viticulture as a dynamic process. And while this interview is chock-full of amazing insights and information, these are the two points that I hope you’ll hear most clearly: That fostering, preserving, and celebrating diversity is the key to creativity, innovation, and resilience, and that the best viticulture is a dynamic process, built on the ability to continually adapt and incorporate diversity. Celebrating diversity and process-centered rather than varietal-centered viticulture are the keys to eliminating short-sighted decision making and to building adaptability and resilience into the American wine industry. I want to thank Jerry and Jean for giving us a great example of how this can be done through TerraVox. https://www.voxvineyards.com/ Sponsor: https://www.centralaswine.com/

Ian Thorsen-McCarthy is my guest for this episode, and he has made wine on both coasts… first in California and now in New York. His project is Artemis Botanical, and you can probably tell from the name that he doesn’t just make wine. Vermouth and now cider are part of his repertoire, and he is equally thoughtful about them all. Ian is deeply rooted in natural winemaking. So much so that if you tested him on how to add sulfur to wine, he might fail. In this conversation we talk about why he decided to move his winemaking to New York, why he decided to work with grapes that were not organically grown for the first time and the importance of this to actually making a difference with his winemaking. Ian asked me some great questions too, and this conversation ranged into new territory that I think is very helpful in grappling with some complex issues. I’m really grateful Ian was willing to explore these things with me, and I can’t wait to see what this new chapter of his wine life will bring. https://www.artemisbotanical.com/ Sponsor: https://www.centralaswine.com/

“The blood of the land” is how Jason Kesselring refers to wine. Jason grows grapes and makes wine in a place that sounds like it’s from Game of Thrones, where winter temperatures drop below 30 degrees … below zero, and summer temps can get over 100, where wind blows viciously year round, and tornados are common in the summer, and where last year at the end of May the temperature dropped to minus 23 degrees. Welcome to North Dakota, one of the most extreme climates in the Americas. Kesselring Vineyards is America’s only vitis riparia vineyard, and it’s been around for over a decade. Jason started the vineyard by observing and tagging wild vines, taking cuttings in the winter, and propagating them a few feet away in his vineyard, then created additional blocks via massale selection. When I say propagate, I mean he literally just stuck the cuttings in the ground. And Jason says he actually had to spray them, once, in the last fifteen years, because of a crown gall issue. What Jason is doing is revolutionary, but at the same time it’s the most natural thing that humans have been doing for thousands of years. The question it begs is, Why isn’t this the basis of American viticulture and wine? As you hear Jason’s incredible story, in his understated way that seems characteristic of this place in the world, that question becomes more and more poignant. As I talked to Jason I became overwhelmed, not by what he was doing, but by how surreal and absurd the imported, Eurocentric wine world is that I generally inhabit and that dominates the wine industry. I cannot thank Jason enough for bringing somewhat of an outsider’s perspective to hold up a mirror to my way of thinking, and for introducing me to a new world of extreme beauty. @kesselringvineyards Sponsor: https://www.centralaswine.com/ And: The Ecological Wine Score

It was such a pleasure to geek out with Martha Stoumen about making wine for this epidsode. This conversation gets highly technical, and even more highly helpful for anyone, at any level, who is making wine or thinking about it. If you want to take your wine making to the next level, listen closely. I have learned multiple new things from Martha every time I’ve re-listened. The ostensible subject of this episode is How to make Natural Wine, but of course there isn’t one way to make natural wine. Instead, Martha offers the principles and perspectives and biology and chemistry that can help you approach wine making holistically, with the goal of helping this living being – the grapevine – achieve what seems to be its ultimate destiny. And we do a case study of one of her wines, to give an intimate and detailed view of the practical application of her approach. The one impression that I hope you’ll get, if nothing else, is just how thoughtful Martha is about every aspect of this process. She thinks carefully about everything from the macro to the micro, and asks great questions about how to use human efforts to facilitate all of the non-human elements that work for us to create, and refine, and protect a beautiful wine. We could not have asked for a better teacher. Martha makes wine in Sebastapol, California and you can buy her wines at marthastoumen.com. And I highly recommend you do try them. We talk about how well adapted Italian varieties of grapes are to making natural wine in California, and she has several examples that show just how deliciously true that is. Sponsor: Centralas Wine

Stephen Hagen and Andrew Smith are my guests on this episode, and we’re talking about Antiquum Farm in Oregon. Antiquum is Stephen’s family farm where Andrew runs the cellar, and where they practice Grazing-Based Viticulture, or what Stephen calls Joy Based Agriculture, and I believe he’s doing for grape farming what Joel Salatin has done for regular farming. Antiquum is a vineyard ecosystem specifically designed to enable nearly year-round high-intensity managed grazing of kune kune pigs, sheep, geese, chickens and ducks in the vineyard, though not necessarily in that order. Stephen describes in detail the infrastructure, practical considerations, animal breeds, resources, and much much more that is necessary to make this system work and to make it possible to produce wine that is 100% true to place. This is a must-listen for anyone considering maintaining a year-round herd and incorporating them in the vineyard, or for anyone who just wants to hear an example of some incredible, earth-first agriculture and how that impacts the wine that comes from it. This ecosystem requires zero outside inputs for fertility. This closed loop holistic farm continually increases the distinctiveness and richness of the soil microbiome which has had dramatic effects on the grapes’ morphology, chemistry, and flavor. If you really believe in terroir, Stephen and Andrew have taken this concept to such an extreme that I think it redefines terroir. This is such a compelling perspective that I think it challenges a majority of the claims to terroir in the wine world. If you want to be inspired by what could be possible for the future of wine, or if you want to save 15 years of trial and error in grazing-based viticulture, prepare for a 20 terabit download. And don’t be surprised if you start hearing the name Antiquum – however you pronounce it – a lot more often. https://www.antiquumfarm.com/ Sponsor: https://www.centralaswine.com/

My guest for this episode is Christopher Renfro of The Two Eighty Project. If you haven’t had the pleasure to learn about what he’s doing with wine in San Francisco, you’re in for a treat. Christopher spent much of his childhood in Germany, which allows him a bit of an outsider’s perspective on the culture of the United States that is refreshing and extremely relevant. He has a big vision for the kinds of things he wants to accomplish. We jump right in to discuss the foundational characteristics of the culture of the United States in relation to his story, his work to create what I refer to as a counter-culture of compassion through wine, and his thoughts on our many deep connections to the land and disconnections from it. But as big as these ideas are, I really appreciated how Christopher is grounded in appreciation for the magic of being alive, breathing air and eating food that we can grow from the earth. I love the inclusiveness of his vision and his desire to celebrate and embrace the many diverse people and cultures that make up our world. This excitement for the contribution that each different being can contribute to our live is what I think is the soul of biodiversity, and a key to the shift of perspective needed to heal our culture… and our climate. @thetwoeightyproject Sponsor: https://www.centralaswine.com/

In this special episode I’m going to clear up a far to common misunderstanding about how much it costs to get certified organic or biodynamic (Spoiler alert: it doesn't cost a lot to get certified.) But I’ll also raise some of the complicated but important questions about whether it’s worth getting certified. I give an in-depth look at the actual fees and costs of the three year transition period for becoming certified Organic and Biodynamic, using a 20 acre vineyard as an example, as well as the on-going annual costs of being certified.  Also, I explain the complicated way that certification applies to what you can and can't say on your wine's label, and why there are actually two certifications required to be able to state "Made With Organic Grapes" or "Organic Wine" or "Biodynamic Wine" on your wine labels.  A special thanks to Gina of Lady of the Sunshine for providing some great data from her own Biodynamic certification process, which was a big help in my research for this piece.  Sponsor: https://www.centralaswine.com/

My guest for this episode is Martin Bernal-Hafner. Martin is doing some beautiful and hard work in Mendocino County for Alta-Orsa on a vineyard that is as difficult to farm as it is magical. Martin may be the perfect guy for such a difficult job. He’s humble and unassuming, thorough and careful, with kindness and patience to boot. And maybe that’s why you haven’t heard of him or Alta Orsa, but that, and the kind of farming he’s doing despite herculean challenges, are exactly why I wanted to talk to him for the podcast. But even more than that, the Alta Orsa estate vineyard is something special. Halfway up a mountain at the end of what looks and drives like a dirt fire service road you come upon what could be an old Italian wine villa if it was set in Middle Earth. When the gate opens and you pass through the weathered stone entry, it’s like going through a faery door into another realm. Vineyard rows that have never been tilled in 30 years twist and turn over the steep contours of the mountainside, so closely planted that they must be tended entirely by hand…  and the wine that flows from them is dusky, rich, and complex. https://www.orsawines.com/ Sponsor: https://www.centralaswine.com/

By looking at wine from a different perspective, I think we can gain a greater appreciation and understanding of it, and also get some inspiration about how we could think completely differently about it, and how that might make it something less exclusive, more sustainable, and more fun. My guest for this episode is Sandor Katz. Sandor is the author of the books Wild Fermentation as well as The Art of Fermentation – which could be considered the fermentation Bible, and for which he received a James Beard Award – and his most recent book is Fermentation Journeys. The information Sandor gives in this episode could change not only the way you think, but also the way you eat and drink. I’ve actually been inspired to incorporate new ideas and ingredients into my winemaking and food-making because of this conversation. Sandor explains how the context of human life, and all life, is biodiversity. The human body is host to over a trillion bacteria, and countless other microorganisms. Rather than eliminate this microbiome, we need this community to be robust to maintain our health. Fermentation, in the context of a global pandemic, is a profound shift in thinking – away from sterility and toward diversity and resilience. And fermentation is a natural result of the abundance of life. Fermentation explodes categories and defies labels. It prevents waste and reuses byproducts. Sandor’s mission is to revive our connection to these ancient processes, and after this conversation I hope you feel as reconnected as I did. https://www.wildfermentation.com/ Sponsor: https://www.centralaswine.com/

Olivia Maki and Mike Reis are my guests on this episode, and they are the owners of Redfield Cider Bar in Oakland, California! Redfield is one of just a handful of bars anywhere dedicated to Cider, as well as natural wine, and Olivia and Mike give us an in-depth exploration of what it takes to open and run such a bar… during a pandemic, no less. If you’ve ever dreamed of opening your own bar, this episode will give you the nitty gritty of what goes into it… and you may want to change your dream. Or you may get the vital info you need to make your dream a reality. And even if you don’t want to open a bar, Olivia and Mike will give you a vital perspective on what goes into you being able to casually sit down and enjoy a glass of wine or cider at your local wine bar. You may end up enjoying that glass a whole lot more. https://www.redfieldcider.com/ Sponsor: https://www.centralaswine.com/  

Ellen Cavalli is the co-apple grower, gleaner, forager, cidermaker and owner of Tilted Shed Cider Works, in Sonoma, California. She has a past career in publishing and continues to have a hand in the zine called Malus. I just discovered Malus thanks to Ellen, and I love it and highly recommend checking it out. At only 10 years in business, Tilted Shed has achieved serious notoriety in the west coast new wave of cider, and this conversation with Ellen is about to show you why. Ellen is as entertaining as she is insightful, and the laughs and pearls of wisdom continue in rapid fire throughout this entirely uncensored and unedited conversation.  https://www.tiltedshed.com/ https://www.maluszine.com/ Sponsor: https://www.centralaswine.com/

Mimi Casteel started her journey by going to the forest. She found she could not save the forest from within, so she went to the farm. But she found she could not save the farm from within either, so she has recently taken the next step in her journey, and that was why I wanted to have this conversation with her… to ask her what that next step is, and why she’s taking it. But more than offering just the answers to these questions, Mimi offers us an urgent call to make big changes. She offers us hope in the resilience of the natural world. And she describes the vital need that we all have of getting and giving support to each other. We skip introductions in this interview, so if you don’t know who Mimi Casteel is, I urge you to search out her other interviews and talks. Mimi is my first repeat guest, so you can also find another great interview with her in the Organic Wine Podcast episode library. The context of this conversation is wine, of course. But wine has led us to ask some really big questions, questions about the sanity of our current economic model, questions about the sustainability of our global food system, questions about survival. Mimi’s perspectives are at once radical and compassionate. Revolutionary and life-affirming. You are in for a treat.

Todd Cavallo is the vingneron, with his partner Crystal Cornish, of Wild Arc Farm in the Hudson Valley of New York. This is a dense, practical and at times technical interview about being a thoughtful ecological producer of natural wine in the Northeast US. I I was taking notes. Among so many other helpful nuggets in this interview, you’re going to get some amazing tips about how to produce a natural piquette from the guy who started the piquette revolution. I love that this conversation started with bees, chickens, deer, eagles, beetles, grubs, composted chicken manure, and gardens. Once we begin to understand that the best wine grows from a diverse and vibrant ecosystem, the more we see that these seemingly tertiary topics are actually central to understanding and producing wine. I love that Todd and Crystal are thinking about NOT planting more grapes, but rather helping established grape producers switch to organic practices. I love that Todd is extremely thoughtful not just about what kind of sprays hes using in his vineyards, but who produces them, how often they must be applied and what that means for his carbon footprint, and how to spray more effectively. I love Todd’s emphasis on using local ingredients, including promoting the use of local materials for fermentation vessels… which involved a discussion about the American Chestnut, which, if you don’t know about, will be a great intro to what has been called the greatest ecological disaster in history. Wild Arc Farms was recently selected to produce a wine for Patagonia's new line of natural wines.  https://www.wildarcfarm.com/ Sponsor: https://www.centralaswine.com/

Gary Paul Nabhan is an Agricultural Ecologist, Ethnobotanist, Ecumenical Franciscan Brother, and author of over 30 books. His work has focused primarily on the interaction of biodiversity and cultural diversity of the arid binational Southwest. He is considered a pioneer in the local food movement and the heirloom seed saving movement. A first-generation Lebanese American, Nabhan was raised in Gary, Indiana. He worked at the headquarters for the first Earth Day in Washington DC Gary has achieved several degrees, including a Ph.D. in the interdisciplinary arid lands resource sciences also at the University of Arizona, and he has received numerous awards including a Macarthur Fellowship.  He co-founded Native Seeds/SEARCH  a non-profit conservation organization which works to preserve place-based Southwestern agricultural plants as well as knowledge of their uses, and he did the research to help Secretary Bruce Babbitt create Ironwood Forest National Monument. He now serves as the Kellogg Endowed Chair in Southwestern Borderlands Food and Water Security. At the University of Arizona, where he founded the Center for Regional Food Studies and catalyzed the initiative to have UNESCO designate Tucson as the first City of Gastronomy in the U.S. Despite all this, I only came to hear about Gary when Ricky Taylor of Alta Marfa forwarded me an article about Gary’s intra-institutional work to catalog and preserve the rich diversity of Mexico’s traditional fermented beverages. Maybe this shows my need to broaden my scope, or maybe it shows the power of these fermented beverages to capture attention… I’ll let you decide. Regardless, I’m so grateful to have discovered the wealth of wisdom and knowledge that is Gary Paul Nabhan, and I’m thrilled to be able to share him with you. https://www.garynabhan.com/ Colonche, Tepache, Tesguino, Pulque, Mesquite, Mescal Sponsor: https://www.centralaswine.com/

Quinn Hobbs, the founder and owner of Hollow Wines, is my guest for this episode. Quinn is based here in the Los Angeles area, but makes wine in the Central Coast. I don’t think it’s inaccurate to call Quinn a maverick. He wants to build Hollow Wines to be the Gallo of sustainable, environmentally positive wine, and shake up the wine industry. Hes going big, and thinking big. Quinn takes a holistic perspective on what it means to farm responsibly, wants to make it more acceptable to buy wine in cans to reduce wine’s carbon footprint, and he’s followed the lead of his own health to embrace natural, minimal intervention winemaking. In addition to being a disrupter of the wine world with big plans, he’s a father, he’s studying for a phd, and He’s never more than a short drive from the ocean  so that he can get some surfing in with all his free time. That’s a joke. Quinn has no free time. But he does love to surf. Enjoy! https://hollowwines.com/ Sponsor: https://www.centralaswine.com/

It’s a pleasure to introduce you to Rob Durham of Durham Cider and Wine Company in this episode. Rob is rocking the California Central Coast Cider scene, but also makes cider that represents the entire west coast of the US. Rob’s journey to start Durham Cider and Wine didn’t follow a straight path, so this conversation rambles around a bit uncovering fascinating and really admirable insights into his knowledge and experience at every turn. Rob has crossed North America on a bike, owned an edible landscaping company, worked on an organic potato farm in Idaho, gotten fired from his first brewery job, and now makes close to 20 ciders and wines each year (though he hope to make less varieties), with names like Everything Is Mood and Space Parade. I hope that, like me, this conversation will cause you to want to get to know him and his ciders better. Enjoy! https://www.durhamciderandwine.com/ Sponsor: https://www.centralaswine.com/

As we continually strive to move our winery, Centralas, in the direction of becoming a more ecologically thoughtful and environmentally beneficial winery, I became convinced that prickly pears need to be an important part of what we do and what we promote as Los Angeles based winery. Prickly pears are native to Los Angeles and other parts of the South West, and have been tended and used here for thousands of years. The entire cactus is useful and edible. I foraged and picked them this year from natural areas all around LA, including some within walking distance of my home in South LA. Prickly pears thrive in marginal land without irrigation or chemical inputs of any kind. These are the kinds of fruits that we can build an environmentally positive and ecologically integrated local beverage culture on. A culture that isn’t imported, but that represents the unique local flavor of this land. As you can tell, I couldn’t be more excited about the potential of incorporating prickly pears into wine.  Austin Glasscock, our guest for this episode, shares my enthusiasm. He’s making wine from prickly pears, and other wild fruit, in Sonora, Texas with his brand new winery called Wild Texas Wines. Austin is a marine who got into winemaking as a hobby after his military service, and found not only a love of fermentation, but a great excuse to get out into the natural world. I was delighted to hear Austin talk about how he gathers fruit by hand, without equipment, with some serious risk, so as to move through the landscape as an animal would and leave a light footprint. I was inspired by his vision of staying small – wanting only to make a living and maintain a lifestyle that allows him to interact with nature daily. The most amazing part is how much the wines Austin makes embodies his love of nature in every aspect of his process. The contrast to how we tend to make wines here in California is stark, and makes me thrilled to be able to share this unassuming and understated winemaker’s perspective. We get into some pretty detailed technical specifics about making wine from prickly pears, which I hope will be part of a growing body of shared knowledge that others can learn from and add too. I hope that Austin and I and a few others are just the early adopters of what will become a much more popular kind of thinking about making wine ecologically from locally available wild fruit here in the South West where the summers are long, the sun is hot, and the water is more precious than gold. In truth we aren’t early adopters at all. We’re the rediscoverers and revivers of a very old tradition. https://www.wildtexaswines.com/ Sponsor: https://www.centralaswine.com/

On this episode we get a comprehensive step-by-step how to make sparkling cider from Autumn Stoscheck and Ezra Sherman of Eve’s Cidery. This is Cider Making 101, from the folks who have achieved OG status in the New York cider world because they’ve been at this for over 20 years and have mentored and collaborated with many of the folks who now have successful cideries of their own. I don’t want to over-hype them, but learning cider making from Autumn and Ezra is the equivalent of learning winemaking from Paul Draper, or Bernard Noblet, or Lalou Bize-Leroy. I don’t think it’s an exaggeration to say that Autumn and Ezra make some of the best ciders in the world. They are farmers and foragers who turn nature’s bounty into some of the most true-to-place and also refined ciders you can drink. From sparkling ciders made from pears foraged from the Fingerlakes National Forest, to site-specific apple ciders from their own certified organic single orchard, Eve’s Cidery produces uniquely high quality ciders that are some of the best I’ve personally ever had, and that have at times moved me to my core and haunted my dreams. Okay maybe I do want to over-hype them. Because I think the quality that is exhibited in their ciders comes from their deeply thoughtful approach to farming and living in the land. In addition to teaching us how to make cider, some of the highlights of this episode are learning about Autumn’s conversion to organic farming, how foraging can reconnect us to the land, our community, and our dependence on nature, as well as inform the potential for reparations to those who were removed from the land. And we even get a glimpse of how to move into the future of growing fruit organically, even on the east coast where the fungal and pest pressures are extreme and complex. https://www.evescidery.com/ Bibliography: The Finger Lakes Region: It's Origin and Nature by O. D. Von Engeln - Cornell University Press 1961 Sponsor: https://www.centralaswine.com/ Thanks: Smithsonian Folkways Recordings

Steve Selin is the proprietor of South Hill Cidery in Ithaca New York, where he farms apples organically and makes beautiful cider and music. Wendy and I stumbled upon South Hill Cider on a recent visit to the Fingerlakes region, and I was just so impressed by the quality of the ciders that I returned to get a chance to chat with the person who was responsible. After a brief 5 minute conversation with Steve, I knew I wanted to interview him, and I think you’ll see why. As I was getting to know Steve via this interview, I was delightfully surprised by the many unexpected and fascinating turns that this conversation took. It’s always a strange and special experience to find that someone far away living a different life is thinking about many of the same ideas that you’re contemplating. One of the topics we cover is how “local” is as important as “organic” when looking at the big picture of our ecological footprint. Yes, this presents some immediate compromises to my values, but I think it is the long term way to have the greatest positive impact. At this point in American history I think one of the most important things we can do is cultivate friendships with people with whom we disagree. https://www.southhillcider.com/ Sponsor: https://www.centralaswine.com/

How does the way we grow and make and drink wine fit into a historical and ecological perspective? What is the importance of organic or biodynamic or regenerative ways of farming grapes? How are we related to grapes, and what does that mean for our relationship with all of nature? Is the climate crisis really a cultural crisis? And what are the solutions to the cultural climate crisis that now threatens both our wines and our lives? These and many other questions are addressed in this special anniversary episode in which host and creator Adam Huss gives a retrospective and introspective review of the things we learned in the last year on the Organic Wine Podcast. Books referenced include: The Unsettling of America, by Wendell Berry The Overstory, by Richard Powers The Half Has Never Been Told, by Edward E. Baptist Dirt: The Erosion of Civilizations, by David Montgomery Tending The Wild, by M. Kat Anderson Braiding Sweetgrass, by Robin Wall Kimmerer   Sponsor: Centralas Wine https://www.centralaswine.com/

Garret Miller is one of the people responsible for Finger Lakes Cider House just a few minutes outside of Ithaca, New York. Nestled in the narrow strip of land between the two largest finger lakes, Finger Lakes Cider House is at the epicenter of the new cider renaissance in the North East US. Garret’s farm is using regenerative organic polyculture to produce organic fruit and veggies, and making some of the tastiest ciders and local farm to table food you can find. I’ve wanted to talk to Garret for a while. Not just because of the beautiful farming he’s doing, but because Finger Lakes Cider House is responsible for blowing my mind. I stumbled on them on a visit to the Finger Lakes to taste wine. All I can say is that after trying their ciders I forgot all about fermented grapes and began seeking out the elixir that is possible when apples and pears are given the quality of attention they deserve. It was some of Garret’s work that convinced me that Cider, good cider, is America’s champagne. Garret dropped out of high school to start farming, and he’s been learning ever since. We leave dogma behind in this interview and really dig into some of the nuances and compromises and complications that are a reality in the world of agriculture. I’m very grateful to Garret for his candid answers to some difficult questions. If there’s a theme to this episode, I’d sum it up as “We have a lot to learn from farmers.” We talk a lot about the understanding gap between those who are doing the farming and those who are consuming farm products… that is, everyone who isn’t a farmer. http://www.fingerlakesciderhouse.com/ Sponsor: https://www.centralaswine.com/

Deanna and Alfie Alcantara don’t like to see wasted potential. And they see lots of potential in the wealth of America’s endemic grape species. Not only potential for new vines that are adapted for the climate in which they’re grown, don’t need to be sprayed with chemicals, and make wines that truly reflect their land, but also potential for engaging and involving all kinds of people, especially those who might feel excluded or marginalized by the dominant Euro-centered wine culture. So Deanna & Alfie have started a project to revive, refine and re-define the native grape and wine cultures of America. They found a piece of property in the Catskill Mountains of New York, and they’ve begun planting vines from grape species that contain native DNA – some new varieties that aren’t even named yet, and others with names like Black Eagle and America, and still others that they found growing wild on their property. They are at the beginning of a project that can take many, many years to begin to see the impact of their efforts. I think there’s something brave and hopeful about starting something that can take longer than the years you’ve been given on this earth. And I think these are the kinds of projects we need desperately now, so I hope Deanna & Alfie will inspire us to think about what is important enough for us to give our lives to even if we know we won’t see the results. Oh, and I forgot to mention, their name for this project is “Dear Native Grapes.” Maybe that’s where they get their inspiration. Because what they’ve started is something much more meaningful than a business plan. They’ve started writing a love letter. @dear.native.grapes Sponsor: https://www.centralaswine.com/

Chiara Rose Shannon is a California-based advanced sommelier, certified yoga instructor and mindfulness practitioner, and she’s also known as The Yogi Sommelier. Her unique approach to Mindful Wine™ tasting and combining the principles and practice of yoga with wine have been featured in The Wall Street Journal. Chiara believes in wine as part of a healthy, balanced and meaningful lifestyle. Her wellness-informed approach to wine education integrates principles of yoga, mindfulness and traditional sommelier training on top of a deep, working knowledge informed by many years in the industry. An advocate for environmental sustainability, Chiara has niche expertise in organic, Biodynamic and natural wines and sourcing sustainable alternatives within the three-tier system. What is the connection between yoga and wine, you may ask? Well, the word ‘connection’ is actually the key to answering that question. As we talk, I think you’ll find that the way Chiara approaches this question provides a perspective that is much broader and deeper than either yoga or wine. https://www.theyogisommelier.com/ Sponsor: https://www.centralaswine.com/

Zaitouna Kusto is the Managing Sommelier at Esters wine shop in Santa Monica, CA. Zaitouna exemplifies what I think are some of the best qualities in wine sales – someone who listens carefully and doesn’t impose their own preferences and judgements on what others want. This has led Zaitouna to have some unique and interesting perspectives and observations on wine, and I think this conversation will give everyone something to think about, react against, and be both challenged and entertained by. I always enjoy talking with Zaitouna, which should also be apparent from this interview, and I hope you’ll be as charmed and delighted as I clearly was. Sponsor: https://www.centralaswine.com/

I'm delighted to share this conversation with two of the most lovely winemakers and winery owners in California. Based in the Central Coast, Gina & Mikey Giugni are the owners of Lady of the Sunshine and Scar of the Sea - two wineries that share the same winegrowing philosophies and the same space, but which reflect their two different personalities and winemaking choices.  The Giugnis are committed to growing grapes organically or better, and have certified the Chene Vineyard, which they lease and farm for Lady of the Sunshine, as biodynamic. They see the best viticulture as integrating vineyards into the natural landscape, and they approach wine from a minimal intervention, natural style, that sees wine as a living thing with annual variations that reflect the land it came from.  This interview covers a lot of ground, including: - The challenges of farming a small vineyard - Mikey's homestead cider making in the central coast including cider co-ferments with mondeuse, and another with gruner veltliner & lime leaves - Why lees are your friend in natural winemaking - Why new oak can sometimes be necessary in natural winemaking - Why farming your own grapes changes the way you think about winemaking - What a healthy vineyard should look like - The importance of biodynamic and organic certification - Wine packaging & ingredients labeling - How to handle problem wines using the limited tools of natural winemaking ...and so much more. Enjoy! https://www.ladyofthesunshinewines.com/ https://www.scaroftheseawines.com/ Sponsor: https://www.centralaswine.com/

Allow me to introduce you to Supergay Spirits! This episode features Tom Jackson, one of the co-founders of Supergay. We have a fun conversation about the premium vodka made from organic corn that is Supergay’s first spirit, and the dedication to excellence that is masked by their playful branding.  Supergay is a great example that we don’t have to take ourselves too seriously to cause seriously good changes in the world. It’s a pleasure to highlight people that are having fun doing something they enjoy that is also positive and uplifting. Tom lifted my spirits, and I wasn’t even drinking his vodka. His brand seems like just the thing we need as we head into this post-pandemic summer of 2021. We’ve grown, we’ve changed, we’re maybe a little wiser, maybe a little more awake. But there is hope. We need to smile. We need to spread some joy. We need a little Supergay! https://www.supergayspirits.com/ Sponsor: https://www.centralaswine.com/

Our guest for this episode is Elizabeth Whitlow – Executive Director of the Regenerative Organic Alliance. The Regenerative Organic Alliance is the non-profit that administers Regenerative Organic Certification. And if you haven’t heard of Regenerative Organic Certification, then it’s my great pleasure to introduce you to what I hope will become the new global standard for viticulture and agriculture. Elizabeth walks us through how ROC – Regenerative Organic Certification – was created to address some of the lacks for the current national Organic certification, by creating standards for soil health, animal welfare, and social equity. It’s that last part that we focus on in this interview. Labor and worker treatment specifically. ROC combines standards from Fair Trade certifications and other respectful labor practices, to build one of its three pillars on one of the most overlooked aspects of wine – the people who grow it. It goes without saying that the first step in treating vineyard workers well is to not have them work in an environment polluted with poisonous pesticides and herbicides, but the need for honoring these workers goes far beyond this. And the issues around agricultural labor are extremely complicated and global. Elizabeth digs into some of these and presents the solutions that the Regenerative Organic Certification is aiming to achieve. But at the end of the day, our attitudes and choices as consumers may have the most power of all. Each one of us has incredible power to change the way our food and wine is grown. We vote for the way we want our fellow humans – the farm workers - to be treated multiple times per day – with every bite of food or sip of wine we take. If we feel entitled to cheap wine and food, well… we may get it. But someone is paying for it. Farming is hard and risky work. With climate change it’s getting harder and riskier. And it creates not only our personal health and well being, but the health and well being of the entire global ecosystem. Maybe it’s time we start considering what that is actually worth. https://regenorganic.org/ Sponsor: https://www.centralaswine.com/  

Every once in a while, if we’re paying attention, the stars align and we find ourselves presented with an opportunity to use all of our being – our passions and skills and entire life experience – to build something beautiful that transcends the limitations of our finite personality. My guest for this episode is Andrew Beckham of Beckham Estate Vineyard in Oregon. Andrew makes his wine in amphora. That in itself isn’t unique these days, but what is unique is that Andrew makes the amphorae  – which he calls Novum – and he is the only commercial amphora maker in North America. Chances are, if you’re making wine in amphorae in the US, Andrew made them. Yes, this episode is deeply helpful for anyone considering making any alcoholic beverage in amphora, or just wondering why anyone would use amphorae. But it’s also the story of a guy who found himself using all of his being to create a piece of culture that will live for generations. https://www.beckhamestatevineyard.com/ Sponsor: https://www.centralaswine.com/

Wendy and I recently took a trip to look at a vineyard in the town of Hemet, California, and the phone call that you’re about to hear is the result of that adventure. What we discovered on this trip was a biodynamic oasis with as much history and lore as you could hope to find anywhere. The historic property had been known for years as the Haunted Hilltop Manor and was one of the most famously supposedly haunted mansions in southern California. But when I stepped out of the car after the 2 hour drive from LA, what we found was anything but scary. A pair of hawks cried out overhead, playing in the breeze. The snow capped San Jacinto mountains loomed large to the east, and a terraced landscape of organically and biodynamically farmed vines followed the contours of the earth away to the west.   And then we met Bill Shinkle. Bill might be on the short list of candidates for the Most Interesting Man In the World. He’s also a born storyteller, and he has some entertaining stories to tell. When he led us into his house, it was like stepping back in time. I don’t want to spoil the conversation, so I won’t say any more. But I think you too will soon want to visit Bill and try his wines, if you live anywhere nearby. So grab a glass and let me introduce you to Bill Shinkle of Tranquil Heart Vineyards & Winery. https://tranquilheartvineyard.com/ Sponsor: https://www.centralaswine.com/

I’ve had some really interesting conversations with wine shop managers and owners who interface with the natural wine drinking public. And some common and troubling themes have emerged. So this episode is an attempt to address the alarming trends I’ve become aware of in natural wine… and if you hang in there you’ll hopefully see that it actually fits with the overall theme of the Organic Wine Podcast. The fad of natural wine has some serious problems. Here are the top 4. 

Anna and David Delaski are my guests for this episode, and they are the owners of Solminer in Los Olivos, California. These guys are doing SO MUCH COOL STUFF, we barely covered half of it in this interview. Anna and David are making natural wines with Austrian grapes in Santa Barbara county, and they’re doing it with amazing farming that is certified biodynamic and organic and will soon be Regenerative Organic Certified. They are growing the first biodynamic & organic certified Sankt Laurent in the US. I love Anna’s insight into terroir and growing Austrian grapes in California that comes from being a person who was also originally from Austria and is now a Californian. And I love that these guys are very conscious about giving back and using their business to promote diversity and equity in the wine industry by partnering with and supporting great organizations like Natural Action and 1% for the planet. https://www.solminer.com/ Sponsor: https://www.centralaswine.com/

On this episode of the Organic Wine Podcast we take a journey to far north New Hampshire to talk to Michael Phillips. Michael Phillips is a farmer – or a cultivator of fungal ecosystems, as he might put it - and he’s the author of the books The Apple Grower, The Holistic Orchard, and most recently, Mycorrhizal Planet. If you’re an orchardist or vineyardist all three books are must reads. But Mycorrhizal Planet is a must read even if you’re just a human with no interest in growing apples or grapes. On the surface, Mycorrhizal Planet is about Regenerative practices for the farm, garden, orchard, forest, and landscape, but as you listen to Michael describe the principles it covers you begin to see that it is a cornerstone in the literal foundation of our future. Michael is laying out some of the groundwork – pun intended – of that regenerative renaissance. He promotes “outrageous diversity” and “collaboration” as some of the ways that we can “do fungal things.” When we begin to apply the principles he promotes to the world, we stop planting vineyards and orchards and we start launching deeply interconnected ecosystems. This really is a magical journey. You can’t take a fungal trip without a little magic. But it’s also extremely practical. Michael describes his vision for a connected landscape by explaining the science and the steps we can take to help cultivate it. The end result is, of course, a healthier orchard or vineyard and more delicious bottle of cider or wine. But is that really the end of the process, or the tantalizing lure that the earth uses to draw us into the fruit and then the trees and vines and then down into the soil from where we all awaken? http://groworganicapples.com/ Sponsor: https://www.centralaswine.com/

On this episode we’re going to talk about some of the problems with organic viticulture. And I know this may be shocking coming from me, but yes, organic has issues. That doesn’t mean organic viticulture is bad, that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t do it, and that doesn’t mean it’s pointless. On the contrary, I’ve never been more committed to organic viticulture as the best form of viticulture, and I believe literally every vineyard should be farmed organically. But there will be no green-washing in this episode. To make the organic future of wine a reality we have some problems to solve. And we’ll never solve them by pretending they don’t exist. We need to honestly and openly discuss our own failings so that we can learn how to improve and find solutions. So I’m incredibly grateful to my guest for this episode, Leigh Bartholomew, for being willing to openly discuss some of these issues with me. Leigh has an incredible resume that includes work at some of the most revered and renowned wineries around the world. She’s a leader in the Oregon wine industry, and She’s been a viticulturalist for decades, with an enormous amount of experience working in vines around the world. Leigh openly and intelligently articulates many of the less than perfect realities and compromises of organic and biodynamic viticulture, while at the same time aspiring to continue to farm organically. She simultaneously acknowledges the challenges and points the way toward solving many of the problems she brings up. Leigh is my hero. It takes courage to come on the Organic Wine Podcast and talk about the problems with organic. So many great questions still remain for us to answer, and this conversation with Leigh Bartholomew provides the foundation for beginning to answer them. https://dominiowines.com/ https://www.resultspartners.com/ Sponsor: https://www.centralaswine.com/

Professor Maggie Delmas refers to most of us as “convenient environmentalists” – that is, our self-interest is still the number one priority when making environmentally positive consumption decisions. In other words we buy wine because it tastes good to us primarily, and it’s a great bonus if it was also grown and distributed in a way that benefits the environment. Professor Delmas’s book is called The Green Bundle, Pairing the Market With The Planet, and it’s a must read for anyone trying to sell any environmentally friendly products, including wine. It’s as much a book about human psychology, as it is a deep study of marketing, branding, and consumer motivation in relation to green products. But that’s not all. Professor Delmas has just written a paper on multiple studies she conducted comparing the scores – by the most prominent critics in France and California – of over 200,000 wines over a 20 year period. The results? Certified Biodynamic and Organic Wine tastes better.  That’s right – Biodynamic and Organically grown wines have received statistically significantly higher scores than conventionally grown wine across the last two decades. And this is the most comprehensive and conclusive study of its kind that I’m aware of. I hope you enjoy this interview with Professor Maggie Delmas, Professor of Management at the Institute of Environment and Sustainability at UCLA and the Anderson School of Management. Here is a link to her study of critical scores showing that certified Biodynamic and Organic wine tastes better: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0921800921000112?dgcid=author

Krista Scruggs has a simple story. She followed her passion for winegrowing and winemaking to learn as much as she could. But like the best stories it’s only simple on the surface. Beneath the surface, her life is connected to ancient lands and ancient seas that traveled and flowed around the world to become fertile islands of wild grapevines, and her life is connected to ancient people who were enslaved and taken around the world to build the history that she is now regenerating with counter-spells. Krista has had the challenge and the opportunity of navigating the wine industry without many, if any, role models who share a similar story. When Krista acquired her property on Isle La Motte, Vermont, she became the 18th Black farmer in the entire state of Vermont, and is one of the rare 1.4% of Black Americans who own land. Because of this, she has been able to write a story that is unique, and uniquely beautiful, with new perspectives and deep connections.  Enjoy! https://zafawines.com/ Sponsor: https://www.centralaswine.com/

It is my honor to have Steve Matthiasson as my guest for this episode… and what I have recorded for you is a comprehensive instructional on how to farm grapes organically. Steve uses his over 25 years of professional experience as a viticulturalist to take us through an entire year of farming a vineyard. This episode is not so much an interview as a master class. Steve Matthiasson is a 6 time James Beard Award Nominee for his winemaking. He has been named Winemaker of the Year twice, by two different publications.  Steve literally wrote the manual on sustainable winegrowing in California. And Steve is a farmer first. He built a wine business in Napa as a punk rock farmer outsider who believes in farming organically to make wine as a fresh, expressive, and food friendly agricultural product. He makes Napa Cab that is 13% alcohol, and whole-cluster fermented Ribolla Gialla, and many other wines that stand in contrast to most of what you expect from Napa Valley wines. His accolades as a winemaker belie the fact that his wines simply capture the enormous amount of time and attention and care that he gives to the vineyards he farms.  We go deep, and it gets technical. So if you aren’t that interested in the real, detailed, how-to of farming grapes, you may be a bit overwhelmed. But if you have any interest in learning the how’s, when’s, and what’s of winegrowing, this is an amazing and invaluable episode. Get out some paper. You will want to take notes. And if you want to learn more about this amazing guy and his organic approach to wine, please check out the other great interviews with him on the podcasts “I’ll Drink To That” with Levi Dalton, or “The Grape Nation” – Steve Matthiasson’s knowledge about and passion for wine is as immense as his generosity of spirit, and your life will only be improved by knowing him and his wines better.

Thanks for listening to this episode of the Organic Wine Podcast featuring James Endicott of Vinocity Selections. I’m your host and creator, coming to you from Los Angeles, Adam Huss. James created Vinocity Selections with his partners to leverage wine to tackle climate change by revolutionizing the supply chain. Vinocity Selections is a wine importing, distribution, and retail hub all in one. The Vinocity Selections website – vinocityselections.com – makes it clear that this company begins with agriculture, specifically viticulture that is “beyond organic.” It makes the bold claim that: “Agriculture is the climate solution. Wine is our first step.”  And James accomplishes this by curating and promoting a client list of wine producers who make wine from regeneratively farmed vineyards as a first step. The big problems he is trying to solve, and that are relevant to everyone in wine, is how to create a supply chain that protects and enhances the good work these producers are doing in the vineyard. I think you’ll really enjoy this conversation because James cares so deeply about the problems he’s trying to solve, and we went deep into some of the big questions facing the wine industry.   Also, I want to give a special thanks to Lisa Bauer of Yamakiri wines. She introduced me to James, and this episode wouldn’t have been possible without her generous spirit. You can hear my interview with Lisa on episode 24. https://www.vinocityselections.com/ Sponsor: https://centralaswine.com/

My guest for this episode is Nathan Stuart, and he’s got one of the rarest and coolest jobs in wine. He’s the in house shepherd for Tablas Creek Winery. If you don’t know Tablas Creek, suffice it to say that if you had to pick the greatest wineries in the US, by almost any measure Tablas Creek would be in top 5 on that list. Tablas Creek introduced many of the Rhone varieties of grapes to the US, and were among the first to popularize them. They are the only winery to have imported and cultivated all of the grape varieties of Châteauneuf-du-Pape. And in addition to that, Tablas Creek has been biodynamic for years and recently became the first winery in the world to become Regenerative Organic Certified. They are like an incubator winery for holistic ideas about how farming can be improved to create healthier vines that are more integrated into the natural landscape so that the wine is as good as it possibly can be. Nathan’s role as the shepherd is integral to this vision. More than that, he helps explain why animals are essential to not only regenerating vineyard soil health, but if properly managed they can be the key to saving the health of the planet. Nathan takes us back in time to when the buffalo roamed in immense herds, to understand how plants, soil, and animals all evolved symbiotically together. He tells about how we’ve now begun to integrate these principles into the best farming practices today to reduce carbon emissions, improve soil health, and save money, and he gives us a vision of the future in which vineyards are actually built to accommodate and maximize the presence and influence of animals. https://tablascreek.com/ Sponsor: https://centralaswine.com/

Ann Thomas is the cofounder of Wester Reserve Distillers, a craft distillery located just outside of Cleveland and Ohio’s only certified organic distillery. With her husband and son, Ann makes a full array of award winning spirits from all organic ingredients, including local organic non-GMO, heritage seed stock grains for their whiskies, gins, and vodka, organic Louisiana molasses for their rum, and organic agave for their tequila which they can’t call tequila because it isn’t made in Mexico. No, this episode isn't about wine, but the reason I wanted to highlight what Ann and her family are doing with Western Reserve Distillers is because I think it’s extremely important to get across a simple idea about organic agriculture: I’ve found that People often don’t care whether their spirits are made with organic ingredients. I think that’s because we tend to think about everything as it relates to us personally. So we think about organic concerns from a standpoint of what we put into our body, rather than what organic means for the world. But the simple idea that I want to get across with this episode is this, and really it’s the mission for this podcast: Organic is not as much about what we put into our bodies as it is about what we put into the world. Your purchase of your favorite bourbon or vodka supports an entire agricultural system and supply chain that involves millions of acres of land and waterways. Take corn for example, which is used in bourbon and other whiskies. It  accounts for over 91 million acres of farmland in the US, most of which is grown conventionally with chemical herbicides and pesticides and fertilizers. Corn alone accounts for millions of tons of hazardous chemicals being dumped into our environment. If you are not buying organic spirits, you are helping to create and support that system. So I wanted to introduce you to one of a handful of spirits companies that is giving you an option to defund the destruction of our environment, including a bourbon that beat Pappy Van Winkle as best bourbon in the world. Ultimately, of course, it will be healthier for you too because you’ll get to live in a cleaner world. I know you’ll enjoy meeting Ann Thomas as much as I did, and I hope the great work she and her family are doing with Western Reserve Distillers makes you think twice the next time you reach for your favorite spirit. https://www.westernreservedistillers.com/ Sponsor: https://centralaswine.com/