California Wine Country

Marchelle Wines founder Greg La Follette is back on California Wine Country with Dan Berger and Daedalus Howell. Greg has been on the show before, the last time was this episode of Oct. 25, 2024, but this is his first time with Daedalus hosting. They begin by tasting a Vermentino that Greg La Follette has produced. His label, Marchelle Wines, has just opened a new tasting room in Healdsburg. It is a big step for a small winery. They only produce 1100 cases per year and Greg things that direct-to-consumers sales are best for small wineries like his. Dan remembers touring a vineyard to inspect some Riesling and they stumbled upon a beautiful Vermentino vineyard. So Greg and Dan had to get some to make. Daedalus describes it having a light effervescence, a kiss or honeydew melon, but bone dry. Dan tastes Golden Delicious apples on the nose but with a note of lemon at the end and a bit of spice. This is a Bahl Fratty Vermentino. Dan has some space for his wines in Greg’s new tasting room. This is Greg’s 70th harvest. He could get three harvests in a calendar year on all continents. An Indirect Path to Winemaking Greg La Follette decided he wanted to be a winemaker by the time he ws 17 years old. He liked the people in the vineyards as well as the science. Then he lived in the San Fernando Valley in LA, for a while. He worked as the ship’s piper on the Queen Mary, playing bagpipes. After degrees in biology and chemistry he worked in early Aids research, then transfered into the UC Davis Enology department. He taught labs there, as a staffer and a grad student. His thesis was on how Burgundian winemaking techniques affect mouth feel. Greg is grateful for the coverage that Dan has given him over the years, a wine writer. He remembers working with André Tchelistcheff, the legendary winemaker. He says the stories that people tell do not begin to convey what a force he was. They taste a Colombard that Greg has made, in a dry style. His friend brought him to see some Colombard vines that had been planted in 1902. The vines needed a lot of work. At first he used it for Single Thread for their house wine. Then when Covid hit the demand dropped and he got control of the stock. That became the first wine under the Marchelle label, which is a fusion of the names of his wife and his friend’s wife. They opened the tasting room a couple of weeks ago. Dan’s Riesling and Vermentino are there, along with Greg’s wines for Marchelle Wines. Dan says that these wines are as good as anything he has ever done. 

Prema Kerollis, co-founder and general manager of Three Sticks Wines, joins Dan Berger and Daedalus Howell on California Wine Country. This is her first time on California Wine Country, although others from Three Sticks have been on before, including this episode on Oct. 13, 2021. Prema has worked alongside Three Sticks founder Bill Price, since they founded the winery in 2002. They produce Chardonnay and Pinot Noir from the Gap’s Crown vineyard in the Petaluma Gap. Dan calls the vineyard site “spectacular” and “really gorgeous.” They start with the 2024 Gap’s Crown Chardonnay. The place is famous for Pinot Noir. When they got the vineyard, there was a block of Dijon clone Chardonnay that thrives in the Petaluma Gap. It produced this wine which is only slightly sparkling. The Wind in the Petaluma Gap Dan explains that grapes don’t want to be producing lots of leaves, which happens in fertile soil. In less fertile soil, you get a better balance of fruit and concentration, not too much of either. Gap’s Crown delivers this because if its position and climate “This vineyard is easy to farm… as long as you are there every day of the year.” The Dijon clone, aka the Wente clone, is lighter, which they carry through in the winemaking. It is aged on the lees slowly. There is a balance of steel and oak. Dan suggests this wine is made well enough that it will age very well. If you leave it for 4 years it will take on characteristics that you would not imagine possible from Chardonnay. These wines could support 10 years or more. Next there are two Pinot Noirs from 2023, Gap’s Crown Vineyard and Gap’s Pinnacle. Dan explains how the wind shuts down the stomates on the underside of the leaves. When the wind comes, the stomates close to protect the vine from losing moisture. That shuts down photosynthesis as the vines are protecting themselves. This way, the grapes develop later, which allows more fruit flavors to develop. 2023 was an easy year, without great heat. 2010, 2011, 2023 and 2025 are the classic cool vintages here. Dan has a lot of old Pinot Noir. Some of it is 20 years old and can last still longer. Magnum bottles are best for long aging, provided that the cork is good. 

Garry Brooks, from Brooks Note Winery in the Petaluma Gap, joins Dan Berger and Daedalus Howell on California Wine Country. This is Garry’s third time on the show, after being on twice in 2025, first in February and then in December. In his two previous appearances, Garry and Dan discuss the characteristics of the Petaluma Gap in great detail. They also tell the story of how it became an official AVA. Brooks Note Winery is in the Petaluma Gap, where the Wine to Wine Festival is coming soon. It is a great public tasting to help raise awareness of this sub-region of the Sonoma Coast. The united winemakers of the Petaluma Gap have i it an official AVA. Brooks Note makes cold climate Pinot Noir and Chardonnay, but also Riesling and Albariño. The Brooks Note vineyard is near the Sonoma Raceway. Garry has brought an Albariño. The varietal grows in Portugal and Spain. It has has a lemon peel, honey and spice components, and a trace of muscat. It also has good acidity. The vines get blasted from the wind coming off the Pacific Ocean. As the air inland heats up, it pulls wind in that crosses Hwy 1 and blows toward Petaluma. The wind slows down photosynthesis so the vines take longer to ripen. Azaya Ranch Garry has also brought a Pinot Noir from Azaya Ranch. It is just across the Marin – Sonoma border, on the Marin side. It gets cold fog. Another vineyard is southwest of Sebastopol, which also gets a little bit of fog. Brooks Note also makes a GSM – Grenache, Syrah and Mourvedre – from the Sebastopol Hills. Then they taste some Pinot Noir. First is a 2024 Petaluma Gap Pinot Noir. It comes from three vineyards. Taylor’s Crown, in the northeast corner of the Petaluma Gap, has compressed volcanic ash. Panther Ridge is a biodynamic vineyard at about 1000 feet of elevation. It has big red chunks of pumice and basalt throughout the vineyard. The third is Sweet Family Vineyard, at about 750 feet elevation. It also has volcanic soil. The vines struggle and the soil is well drained. Garry used about 20% new oak, and about 15% whole cluster. Dan and Garry agree that this is what Petaluma Gap is supposed to taste like. 

Jonathan Darrow, director of the 2026 edition of Winesong, joins Dan Berger and Daedalus Howell on Calfornia Wine Country. This is his first time on the show, but his predecessor Jamie Peters was here last year before Winesong, on this episode. KSXY15 is the Winesong discount code for listeners to California Wine Country and The Drive, to recieve a 15% discount on tickets here at the Winesong site.  Jonathan Darrow is the coordinator of the event, auction and tasting for Winesong. It takes place the weekend of September 11 and 12. It’s a beautiful drive past the redwoods and through Anderson Valley. The event is at the Mendocino Coast Botanical Gardens, right off Hwy 20. Winesong is the primary fundraiser for the Mendocino Coast Healthcare Foundation. It was founded in 1985 to benefit Mendocino Hospital and evolved into its present status in 2019. Now their contributions can benefit the entire district. Whatever equipment they donate, belongs to the community. They provide benefits to the hospital and also to the Mendocino Coast Clinics.  Jon has brought four different wines which pertain to Winesong. First is Husch, which started in 1979 in Anderson Valley. This is the Husch 2024 Mendocino Sauvignon Blanc. Winesong Live Music As the name Winesong implies, there is live music at the event. There are six stages with performances of all kinds. You wander through a 20-acre park, where there are little hubs or stations here and there along the way. There is a Harvest Market with food, and the Dahlia Market. There will be 20,000 blooming Dahlias. Friday is dedicated to Pinot Noir. Saturday is the Grand Tasting at the Botanical Gardens. They have deflated the admission price to the 2016 cost.  Dan says the Pinot Noir tasting is not to be missed. There is an unbelievable number of great Pinot Noirs. They taste a Fathers and Daughters Pinot Noir from Anderson Valley. Anderson Valley is also becoming a hub for sparkling wines. There are wineries at Winesong from not only Mendocino County but also Napa, Sonoma and Lake as well as importers from Europe. Mendocino Ridge AVA The Mendocino Ridge AVA is the only one with non-contiguous borders. It includes any wineries in the area that are above 1200 feet above sea level. The next tasting is a 2016 Chardonnay from Napa. Someone will win a case of this wine at Winesong. They will celebrate their Legacy Vintners of the Year, including Golden Eye and Duckhorn. Winemaker Greg Graziano will also be represented with the St. Gregory Sparkling Wine at the beginning of the auction. Jonathan has covered lots of different roles at Winesong and this year he has stepped into the director’s role. He started college as a theater major, then got a degree in Beverage Management at UNLV. His first job was working for a bar with 3300 beers and 1800 whiskies. He likes to see “the lightbulb go off” when people start to understand something. The more you know about things, the more you can appreciate it. Dan points out that in the US we start our wine education after age 21 which is late. 

Ana Keller of Keller Estate and Ricky Stancliffe of Trombetta Wines are our in-studio guests on California Wine Country with Dan Berger and Daedalus Howell. As Petaluma Gap wineries, they are participating in the Wind to Wine festival on Saturday, October 17, 2026, at Gambonini Family Ranch in Petaluma. If you want to get to know the wines of the Petaluma Gap, this is the place to go. There is a discount code KRSH for listeners at the Wind to Wine festival site. Ana Keller has brought their 2025 Pétillant Naturel of Pinot Noir, which has a crown cap on the bottle. This is a rare wine. It has a silvery-pinkish color. Known by the French abbreviation “pet nat” they have light bubbles. They are less effervescent than champagne and stronger fruit flavors. Ana explains they did an early pick and cold fermentation. This is clone 667 which is fruit forward. It is a dry Rosé with a little bit of effervescence. It ls like a vin gris which is usually bone dry, although this has a little bit of residual sugar. Dan says the cool night time temperatures in the Petaluma Gap help maintain good acidity. It has a crisp aftertaste and comes in at 11% Abv. Everyone agrees that this would go well with oysters. Ricky tells about a cruise they took down the Rhone River in 2017 on Ama. They are planning another one next May from the 14th to the 21st, on the Duoro River in Portugal. These are all-included on a boat that holds only 150 passengers. Anyone interested can look on the Petaluma Gap website. The Douro River is in the north near the city of Porto. It is home of many long standing port producers. Trombetta Chardonnay & Pinot Noir They are tasting a 2021 Trombetta Wines Chardonnay and Dan reminds us of his adage that Chardonnay is like a red wine with no color, while Pinot Noir is a white wine with color. A zen koan for your tasting. Dan calls this a concentrated version of California Chardonnay. If you like Chard you’ll like this. It has “all the bells and whistles…” the character, citrus fruit, acidity, richness in the mid palette and a strong finish. It is rich without being heavy. At this temperature, which is cool, it would work with a lot of food. They used about 33% French oak and sur-lies battonage which enhances the flavors and also acts as a natural clarifying agent. Trombetta winemaker Erica Stancliffe is also making wines at Deodora Estate Vineyards. They also taste a 2021 Trombetta Pinot Noir from the Gap’s Crown Vineyard. The clones are 667 and 115. Ricky calls it the nosebleed section because it’s at the top of the vineyard. All of the grapes are picked at night to keep them cold when they come into the winery. Erica likes to sneak some whole cluster into the maceration. Her wines are delicious when they are young, but they age well. They are a small winery, making less than 1000 cases per year. With Gaps Crown Vineyard wines, the longer you hold them, the more the aromatics and flavors will develop. Dan detects a trace of nutmeg which is not a spice normally associated with Pinot Noir. But in this case, it comes through in the aroma and the aftertaste. That indicates the wine is going to get better and better. 

Fred Peterson, owner of Peterson Winery, joins Dan Berger and Daedalus Howell on California Wine Country today. This is Fred’s first time on the show, but Peterson wines were a big part of this episode with Darryl Miller, on March 27 this year. Daedalus mentions the birds on the labels of the Peterson wines that Fred has brought. There are other labels with a mountain lion, a bear, a fox and a deer. They find old prints that are in public domain that they can use with no royalties. Fred Peterson calls his winemaking style “zero manipulation” which they have trademarked. He uses the jackalope on the label, but he can’t trademark that mythical animal which is in the public domain. They begin by tasting a 2003 Cabernet Sauvignon from Dry Creek Valley. This is what happens when you have the proper fruit, the proper region and the proper technique of making the wine, says Dan. It is a great example of what it can do when it is properly aged. A Cab needs about 12 years to reach its fully mature complexity. This one is 23 years old now and has flavors of dry herbs and bay leaf. This is a mountain cabernet from Bradford Mountain where Fred lives, at about 1100 feet elevation. If a Cabernet is just big, oaky, alcoholic and tannic, it can’t also carry terroir. Mountain Cabs have an edginess that other Cabs just don’t have. -•• • --- -•• ••• •-• •-California Wine Country is brought to you by Deodora Estate Vineyards. Visit Deodora to discover 72 acres in the Petaluma Gap that are producing exceptional Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and Riesling. Sip the difference! -•• • --- -•• ••• •-• •- Bitterness is a good thing. Dan reminds us that bitterness is a good thing. We like it in dark chocolate and in coffee. For example, bitters are appropriate in a mixed drink. They are part of the overall complexity and diversity of flavors. This wine is a perfect example. It delivers all its high-altitude character. Fred says, “If we don’t make wines that taste of the vineyard, there’s no reason for a small winery to exist, in my opinion.” He calls his winemaking process “zero manipulation” so that his wines taste like the vineyard. Their current release Cab is the 2022. So, it is young, for a Cabernet. The 2022 is also a very good wine, and Dan thinks that Fred harvested it at the right time. Both Cabs are blends. The 2003 is 83% Cabernet Sauvignon and 17% Merlot. The 2022 has the same 83% Cab, 11% Merlot and 6% Cabernet Franc. After time in the Navy, Fred enrolled at UC Santa Cruz. He took time off for a road trip, to bring a motorcycle to a friend’s farm in Iowa. He took an interest in agriculture when he was there. He took some Agriculture classes at the JC then finished at UC Davis. His mom’s side of the family is Sicilian and Calabrese, so he grew up around wine. Dan sees this as a typical pattern for winemakers, to start in another field before settling on winemaking. Gravity Flow Block He calls the vineyard Gravity Flow block. It is an acre and a half of vineyard with over a mile of deer fencing. When he planted this block, he planted about 7% Viogner which he co-ferments with the Syrah. He and his son don’t like very tannic wines and the Viogner helps temper the Syrah. Co-fermentation is also called co-pigmentation.  The grapes ferment together. If you put 5% Viognier you get darker wine, aromatic improvement and a lighter texture. It has a paradoxical flavor. It has personality and maturity, but it feels young. The 2005 just needs ten more years in the bottle. The Syrah from 2018 is “stunning” says Dan, and was just released. It is available at the winery. Peterson Winery has a mailing list that we can all join. His son does blending seminars occasionally and he does vineyard tours. 

Shane Finley, winemaker and Lisa Brayton co-owner of Thirty-Seven Wines join Dan Berger and Daedalus Howell on California Wine Country. This episode of August 10, 2022 featured Lisa along with her husband Al, who is holding down the fort today. This is Shane’s first time on the show. Thirty-Seven Wines is named after the highway. Dan describes the Thirty-Seven Wines vineyard. There are varieties there that don’t grow in warmer areas. One example of that is Albariño. They have cooler days and warmer nights, near San Pablo Bay, across the street from the Sonoma Raceway. It is at a high enough elevation to have a 180-degree view of the bay. On a clear day they can see Coit Tower in San Francisco. The vineyard lies within the Petaluma Gap AVA. They get winds from both the Petaluma Gap and from the south, off the bay. This keeps the temperatures down and controls the acid levels in all the varietals. -.. . --- -.. --- .. .-DEODORA ESTATE VINEYARDSCalifornia Wine Country is brought to you by Deodora Estate Vineyards. Visit Deodora to discover 72 acres in the Petaluma Gap that produce exceptional Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and Riesling. Sip the difference! -.. . --- -.. --- .. .- Russian River vs. Petaluma Gap Russian River wines have more of a bright juicy red character, while this vineyard produces darker blue fruit, “kind of plummy,” with tangerine skin and spicy flavors. They have a very long growing season, and their harvest goes from late August sometimes into November. Some grapes need more time on the vines. Shane names Albariño, Blau Frankisch, Pinot Noir, Chardonnay, Syrah, Grenache, Cabernet Franc, Petit Verdot, Malbec and Merlot, which they have all on the same property. He credits Al and Lisa for being crazy enough and intuitive enough to put so many varieties together like that. Thirty-Seven Wines produces all their wine from their own estate grown grapes. Shane describes their approach to making wine. To keep it fresh and vibrant, they don’t do any lees stirring, they only do partial ML, mainly fermented in concrete. They use their oldest barrels, from 2010 and 2011. These barrels are “really neutral.” Dan detects a faint tropical note in the Albariño they are tasting. It gets intense morning sun but long cool afternoons. Lisa is in charge of managing the canopy to keep space between the clusters and maintain acidity.