Welcome to Wine Soundtrack USA. Listen to the passion with which producers narrate their
winery and their world. In thirty answers discover their stories, personalities, and
passions. Hello, friends and listeners of Wine Soundtrack. This is Alison Levine
and today I'm in Ballard Canyon in the Sandinez Valley with Peter Stultman of Stoltman
Vineyards. Peter's the general manager second generation. Peter tell us a little bit
about Stoltman. Yeah, my dad Tom was looking for limestone throughout the Central
Coast. He knew about our outcropping in Ballard Canyon. Finally went up for
sale in nineteen eighty eight. He was able to buy it in nineteen ninety.
There were no vineyards in Ballard Canyon. In Ballard Canyon at the time,
so he took the shotgun approach planted eighteen different fridles. Wow, and
Sarah was the immediate big hit. So today we have one hundred, one
hundred and seventy five bakers planted. Half that is Surah and the other half
is our fourteen different fritals, so fifteen bridles total. A lot going on.
We make about thirty five different wines a year spread out over three different
brand Stoltman the classic wines, and then we have another brand, So Fresh
and actually bring the hat right now and So Fresh. It's all about carbonic
fermentation. So in Center Buber County we have amazing sun intensity, long growing
season, very compact winter, a lot of flavor concentration. We don't irrogate
our vineyard, especially in a vintage like twenty twenty three where we got plenty
of rain. Eighty percent of the vineyard, all the mature vines will be
dry farmed, so we have these tiny grapes packed with flavor. We figured
out that if we don't crush the fruit, we leave the grapes whole,
aka carbonic fermentation, we can make dynamic, delicious, chillible wines, fresh
wine So Fresh, so half of our production actually it's the Carbonic So Fresh
brand. And then we have a tiny little side project with a gentleman named
raj Par called Comb and those are just crazy lines like Trousseau and Chennon blanc
and Mondus. Now you said you have eighteen or seventeen different varieties or now
sorry, you're down to sixteen. But are they all roane varieties? No?
So the Rohan bridles for Sarah the Lions share rous song is our main
passion for the white. We also have a little bit of ugne and then
granache and mouvedra. At one point Dad had Kumwah and so and so we
no longer have those too. Yeah, so we we like mushroomed up to
eighteen bridles in the late nineties and then we cut it way back and focused,
and then with the comb lines like we have our first Finich of Savignan
coming out right now. Some Jurassic bridles have been added through colmb so we've
kind of kind of it's like an hour glass shape eighteen. Then we leaned
in really focused on their own frittles of course sene Vasis or Italian creative project.
And then and then with with comb the Jurassic rattles Mondus from Safwah.
We've gotten a little carried away, a little geeky there. What's your total
case production? So from the estate we average between twenty five thousand to thirty
thousand, and then my partner Ruben, our vendor manager, has planted more
Senevasi, more grenache for the So Fresh brand, So we do a little
more than just the estates, and I'm sorry that twenty five thousand includes the
so fresh, So the twenty to thirty from the estates and then so fresh
we do total like fifty five to sixty Okay, wow, wow, So
you're buying some fruit. Well, you know it's a hybrid because Rubin is
a vineyard manager partner in the Premiere Vineyard Management Company here in some Barbara County.
So depending on the particular vineyard, we might be buying Perton, or
we might have a ten year lease or a thirty year lease. But the
beauty of having Reuben as a partner is that we can plant these venears.
We can figure out the vine density, the clonal material, the row orientation,
whatever weird grape you want in right, So the only difference is we
don't actually buy the land, which is nice. When Dad bought the land
in nineteen ninety, Ballard Canyon was not wine country. Right. There are
a few cows, you know, dotted oak trees, golden brush, the
Golden state. Now, of course, centa Burbera county like we're no longer
the underdog. You know, when I travel to Europe, I think some
Buber County is the best represented American region in Europe when all the Michelin Star
restaurants of you know, Saint Maria Hill's pin and Noir, of course Sultman
Wines. That's very cool. So your wines are available around the world and
in different markets. Yeah, I counted recently, weren't about eighteen countries.
Wow, Wow, go go Ballard Canyon, Barbara. The coolest. My
favorite market is France. You know, it's cool. It's cool to start
exporting into the UK and Germany and then of course Scandinavia. But when our
wines landed in Paris, you know, we had an expression. And growing
up in southern California, why would you take your girlfriend into Vegas? That's
like bringing sand to the beach. You know, they're already beautiful women there
very shop in as to we're teenagers, but I mean talk about bringing sand
to the beach, like selling California wine to the French. That was just
like a great pat on the back. And they like it. Yeah,
and they keep reordering. It's amazing. So and how many acres total do
you own? So the ranch is two hundred eighteen acres and we have one
hundred and seventy five planted Okay, so fair amount, Fairmount. So you
were obviously younger when your dad bought the property. I'm wondering even prior to
that, or how younger were what's your first your first memory relevant to wine?
Just having my dad always loved the big like Barolo bulbs, and just
having those big crystal glasses on the dinner table, especially if we had company
over. There'd be two or three for every adult. And I just remember
a little dining room growing up and just you know, a lot of suware,
and of course sticking my little head pretty much in that in that big
bulb, and you know, everything smelled like white wine or red wine.
And then as a teenager, I started really picking up nuance and yeah,
get getting more and more into it. So as you got more and more
into it, is there one wine that stands out as one of those aha
moment wines and the beginning of a career or maybe more recently, I don't
know an aha moment wine. You know, my biggest Aha moment? I
had a few a teenager, but I'd gotten back from making wine abroad and
I'd gone a job at Henry Wine Group and disturb here in California and met
my wife there, and I would go do my laundry on Tuesday nights so
at mom and dads and have family dinner. And on one such night just
tagged along. I don't think I brought my dirty laundry at that time.
And so jess Jessica my girlfriend at the time, and all my wife and
dad would always let me pick out bottles from his cellar. And you know,
we're you know, she had never been in the cellars. We're going
around and showing showing her, and she, Oh my god, look at
all this sin Equinon and sin Quenton. Of course it's this amazing cold,
like big rich, hedonistic uh son of Barbara, really the only true cold
winery and son of Barbara. And I said, oh yeah, back when
dad sold grapes to Manford Crankle, the owner had a deal that for every
time he sold, he'd get a six pack of wine. And we're talking
like these bottles worth thousands of dollars of that coint and and you know,
I hadn't been that into him. I was more on like a old world
kick, you know, really working to refine my palate. We were representing
Kermit Lynch and all these amazing portfolios and like, yeah, we should try
one, like I don't think she'd ever had one, and we picked up.
So it's that it was the nineteen ninety seven white wine called Twisted and
Bent, I believe, and it was Ruesong dominated with like forty percent chardinay
and it was just about ten years old, and it blew my mind.
I'd never had a white wine that rich, that intense, that coding and
the irony is. I don't think it was like a direct catalyst for now
making a seventy thirty percent chart from the state. We call it Uni after
our local delicacy or a delicacy urgin. But I put that together like well
maybe like in the back of my mind, it has to be in the
very very back recesses in your subconscious right, And it's really just, you
know, we in the following year, I think my dad had like nine
or ten of them. We drank then all of them, and I've never
had that vintage again. But then my buddy Clark, he he owns a
restaurant called Full of Life Flatbread Manfred, and it sort of laying frequent the
restaurant, and Manfred gave Clark a bottle of his current release of white,
and he shared it with us and it was not quite the humum, and
I didn't have the bottle age, but it just goes to show like very
low yielding Rohan white. You know, it's particularly roots on then with the
cidity of chardonnay, it's a magical thing. So obviously, you live in
wine country, you work in wine, you make wine, you get to
drink a lot of good wine. Clearly, is you just expressed wines that
most people don't get. But I'm curious in your home, in your wine
cellar, in your office, on the floor, under a desk, in
a wine refrigerator, what kind of wines do we find in your home?
Is it a lot of domestic wine? Is it international? Are there particular
grapes that you team tend to drink more of? Personally, we are on
a big white burgundy kick, and no, no appellation in particular more so,
you know, anything blanc, but especially in the summertime, Like I
just love white burgundy and it's just you know, before dinner while we're cooking
and I'm actually overdue for a place in a couple of disorder from the source
we wiped out and you know, I only have I think red bottles right
now. Oh wow. And so like all my drinking wine, it's in
my home office. And then I keep all my collector wine up at dad
and cellar up on top of the hill and vineyard. And what's in your
collections? What kind of one is? So typically all Northern Rhon. But
then I've went deeper and deeper into Brollout because I figured out I can collect
my favorite Northern Arown wines to the quantity I want to for my So Augie
was born in twenty seventeen and Otto was born in twenty nineteen. I loved
the nineteen vine inch worldwide. Seventeen was a little more challenging, but I
figured out there are great values still, not just like Nebulo Dalba, but
Brollo. Yeah. So you know what I'll do. I'll go through and
buy max case, figure out what I love, and then buy by the
case and hopefully you know, I love Brolo twenty years old, so twenty
five years old. So hopefully both my boys will appreciate what I'm doing for
them. If not, you will, So those you're laying down for time,
But is there anything you drink recently that drink really well. I mean,
my favorite producer probably across the board is going on from Saint Chosuf twenty
thirteen and sixteen right now are both both stellar. I just had the breathtaking
morseau from a producer brought into California by Ted Vans of the Source Photo.
I'm drama, but yeah, that was stuff for the weekend. So you're
working with a lot of different grapes and obviously have fallen in love with a
lot of different varieties. Do you think there's a such thing as a perfect
variety? No? And I mean there's no such thing as a perfect one.
You know. I like to talk about like chasing dragons like if like
for me, like with our Russom program, I'll always be chasing the dragon
of not sin Quinon, but John Mishov Mtugeblanc, you know, just and
I still won't like I'll never forget having it out of Magnum at about twenty
two years of age, and it was like amber in color and but still
had freshness and just so coding and just the texture was just addicting. But
I wouldn't call it one perfect like it was just so delicious and wonderful and
perplexing and thought provoke. But to me, like perfection, that's not part
of wine, like right, like, because I think I'm trying to perfect
something and that to me like takes you down the rabbit hole of manipulation.
And I think the beauty of wine is that every vintage just be different.
You know, fines are gonna get older, hopefully the wines are better in
bottle, are more captivating, right But yeah, to me, like the
word perfect that's part of the fun of our artisanal industry. Like, you
know, is there perfect painting? You know, no, but because there's
there's there's beauty in it all. But but this idea of chasing the dragon,
I mean, obviously, you know there are brands out there who will
chase scores. I know that's that's not how you guys make wine, but
a lot of people do follow scores and and try to seek out wines that
are these, you know, high scoring wines. What's your opinion on wine
critics and scores and how they play a role for you. I think I
remember the wine advocate arriving at our house. You know, I forget if
it came out like bi monthly or whenever. And my dad would you know
read through it? And that was pre internet, right, and in the
beginning, Parker, my dad felt like his palette aligned with them, and
he trusted him. Parker then evolved and got Richard and Richard and okier and
higher octane, and my dad realized, Okay, I don't like the wine,
so if he likes it anymore, but if you do find someone that
you align with, that's great. There are a few critics that are reporting
that riper high octane style'll still and I've asked them, you know about it,
and you know their based Suggists is like, listen, like I've like
defined my palette what I'm giving ninety nine hundred points, and my readership now
knows that, and if they're on board, they're going to buy. Would
I give those huge writings to And I said, okay, like I'm just
in a cruise in that ninety five point realm and know that I'm really not
going to break out of that. And you know, it's just fun for
me to get reviewed and just to you know, everybody in the game,
they're they're sharp, and it's just interested to sit down with Galoony in particular,
it's always a fascinating, said. He said some things that have stuck
with me, others that I joke about, Like he told me once,
why do you take up your beautiful sarrah twar with sench fasi, why do
you waste it? And note to self, I'm never showing galoony sentha based
again, but I'll never forget like he I showed him a barrel sample of
why we call the great places Ruben Solarzano after my partner Ruben and he said,
when are you bottling this? So no, like after harvest? And
he said what. I'm like, Well, you know, we want to
give it plenty of ocage, plenty of integration. What will get better by
waiting? Like because you love the wine? Yeah, you know you're right,
Like where are we waiting? And it's so funny. I heard myself
said the same thing to yam Monier and Saint just stuff. We were trying
the eighteen vintage in twenty nineteen. I'm like, when are you gonna bottle
it? So we always fuddle after harvest. I'm like, what dat gloy
You're rubbing off on me? Yeah? I mean, and I don't buy
wine end points, right, But you know, like it's fun to get
a huge review, and it's fun to like break out of that ninety five
point threshold and be like wow, okay, like you thought that finash just
like it, like you get it, like you know, like a vintage
like the twenty twenty vintage where we had a record breaking heatwave on Labor Day.
We didn't have fires down here, but we had that same heatwave that
was driving those fires out of control. And I mean, first hear of
COVID trying to figure out how we're gonna make wine in the era of COVID,
and then we get this enormous heat wave where at the very least when
it was it was going to compact our harvests, like everything was dotting,
accelerated in redness. All the wines turned out breadthinking I love them, even
though they're a little riper, a little richer than than normal. But it
was just it was kind of it was reassuring about the credits to see everything
getting bumped like two or three points, like like okay, yeah, they
like the richer repristel. Are they going to get that in nineteen or twenty
one? No, So, like I know, like okay, where you
know, we hit it out of the park and yeah, sure, like
you know our somewhere collectors to pay attention, bought the wine. A few
retail shops, you know, beg for allegations and you know, and okay,
that was fun. Let's move on to the next year. So if
you okay, you know, if you were to we don't go on scores.
And you were talking about a couple great wines you had that were white
wines. But as a consumer, if you had to choose red, white
or Rose, I want to stay white, but I have to stick to
red, like like white today. But I'm overall red. And it's really
funy that you Branda like I'm I haven't been drinking much hirts day, probably
for the past decade, but I've I have a very serious addiction to children.
And again that's goes about so fresh brand. I mean carbonic reds.
You can drink cold, just like a Rose. They have more type,
Sure, they have more dynamic flavor. So as far as like getting high
on my own supply, I have Childred. I do a lot of childread,
whether it's Granache, Gamy Trousseau or Colm Trousseau or like all all the
different wines, so we're making that. That is what I gravitate too,
and it's what we cook too. Well. Speaking of cooking, how do
you approach food and wine pairing. Is it just about a really fun fresh
red wine and it goes with anything, or do you follow any rules or
guidelines? You're right, the fresh wine is to go with everything, whether
it's tie typing, meats, latin. You know, we all think that
only reasling for spice, but I love childread with spice. So yeah,
the fresh wine sort of no brainer, of course. Like you know,
I have a guilty pleasure that I love caviar and having some like rich deck
and white wine. I don't really do champagne and cavir, but I mean
I will. I won't say no if you offer it to me, but
at home, like I'd rather do a rich or more tactile white with than
that salty, rich caviar. But yeah, there's a to me, there's
a progression, like if you're really going to eat and drink, well,
like you know, it starts for me usually starts to fight. It goes
to childred and then if we are doing red meat, then you're doing real
red wine. So yeah, I'd love to be a vegetarian. I don't
know if it's going to be in the cards. We don't need a lot
of red meat, and it's like we never cook red meat at home unless
wrapping people over right. But yeah, I mean I know one straw wine
maker it's a vegetarian. I'm like, wow. And you do wind Inn
a lot of Portobella mushrooms right right, So for someone who hasn't had the
pleasure to taste Doltman wines yet, and obviously you're making a couple of different
style wines, but what do you think they're missing out on? The beauty
of what my dad was sneaking out and what he found. Limestone shells,
right, shelled sea creatures, aquatic creatures. You know, over a million
years, million years, between two and three million years ago, we were
a freshwater estuary. The shells piled up. Now we're you know, seven
hundred to eleven hundred feet above sea level. Shells don't have acidity, so
anything you grow on shells will be the opposite. And that's so important for
California and in particular particular, it's a great privilege. In Santa Barbara,
California. We get plenty of sunshine, that long growing season. So classically
what we aim to deliver is delicious coding textures, but then with freshness,
with liveliness, and not just for so fresh but for all of our wines,
like the I think that's my number one session. I want like the
profile of a taut, perfectly ripe grape, not a baggy, drooping,
sagging, overly ripe grape. Right, and the limestone really that that acidity
that enabled that the limestone enables really helps us to deliver that. So again
like coding hedonism, but freshman live. So if space aliens were to land
on your property right now, which of your wines would you welcome them with?
Say, welcome to Stoltman. I have to impress them right so you
know, to me, our most collectible wine is the Great Places August James
Stoltman, named after my elder son, who in turn is named after August
Clop of Cornas. It's just two acre block twelve thousand vines, and those
two acres a really tight together. It takes ten vines to make one bottle
of one. The preclonal cerameterial was so low it is today, so low
yielding. We had barely any fruit, tiny clusters, but just amazing depth.
And that block includes the mother vine program. It's the only mother vine
that we know of in the world where we took one special preclonal cutting and
rather than by the way, the majority of our vineyard is own rooted and
this particular block is too, so we own rooted this special cutting. And
then rather than cutting the growth again and replanting adjacent, we trenched the growth
underground and pointing back up. So we kept the three daughters in the next
generation connected. And then we did that again nine granddaughters and then eighteen great
granddaughters. So we're up to nine hundred and fifty interconnected vine heads, all
one vine. So if aliens come in like fifteen years, I'll be able
to give them a bottle of the mother vine. So the goal is to
make a few hundred bottles from one vine. How cool one vine being with
lots of daughters, Yeah, and out in and out of the ground and
yeah. Like apparently Domain Normany County was only like Romain come run Domain Romeny
County. The actual parcel was only like four or five interconnected vines. Through
some of the nineteen forty five vintage and it finally is to come to old
age or flocks, and they ripped it out and replanted on rootstock, and
apparently the wine was never the same. So there is a benchmark for this.
Wow. Wow. Well, so you've how old were you when you
came up to this area when your dad bought the property. So the journey
began when I was four or five, when my dad was up here looking
for vineyard land. He bought in nineteen eighty seven red cheep Cherokee, saving
four by four out on different you know, parcels to check it out,
dig holes, lick for white rock. And so there's a big adventure growing
up in southern California to be bouncing around the hillsides of dad meeting cowboys.
I love it. You've really been here from the start. You've been here
from the very beginning. You've watched it grow up at grow the vineyard along
side of you. And I'm curious you mentioned earlier. You know we have
some vinted variation. How much do you see varying year to year? How
much commonality do you see it? Or have you seen in your vineyards?
We certainly every year we have like the Stultman Tawar stamp where you know,
you know, it's a stoleman mind, just like everything else talking about what
limestone does, the freshness with the richness. But I do take great pride
in vinted variation because it's proof that we are picking at you know, the
appropriate rightness. Now, if you're waiting to pick raisins every year, you
lose that that vintage variation, you know, and you can do that in
Santa Barbara. In most places in California, you can get the fruit that
ripe without mold or mildew, but then you lose that year to year variation,
that that stamp of the of the vintage. But I would say that
we don't have as much vintage variation as still find in almost any region in
Europe, where you know, you just have more kind of swings in different
directions and you know what, you're a drought here. Our only variation with
rain is how much we get during the winter, because we never get it
during the grownation. It's true, It's true. So when I worked in
Italy like it rained a couple of days every week, I'm like, come,
I got the one vintage I'm working in Italy. It's getting rained out
is you know, I'm never gonna turn and then yeah, there there's a
stellar and I'm like, oh okay, yeah, we're just spoiled in California.
Well, so are there any signs or predictors you look for that are
going to tell you what a vintage will be? I mean they're every every
step the way. So how much train are we getting? Wind? We
get our first warm days, when when there too is bed break? If
it's really early, are we going to have frosts? So one step leads
to another, but you can't jump four steps ahead. And then and then
as to get into you know, June in July, then you start looking
at the long term forecast the Pacific ocean, how mature, how how much
heat are we going to get? How intense will it be? And then
are we going to have time then for everything to even out to happen even
March to ripeness, and you know, and then who knows what nature throughout
us? Yeah? So so no real predictors there, I mean guides,
but nothing, no guarantees in June or July. Like now, the question
is are we to have heat or not? Right? And then the other
variable if we don't get the heat. Okay, are we going to have
a very late year? Are the vines going to have the energy to continue
to ripe in into well into November? And that's a big you know,
like twenty twenty one was a very late vintage without any significant heat waves,
and so then that became concernedly. All right, come on, guys,
just a little more little if you ever go into the into the vineyard and
talk to your vines to courage them along or reprimand them. We don't.
It's more touchy feely, you know, just seeing how how dry the leaves
are. And you know, of course, you know, shoot inning and
shoot positioning. I'll never forget Ruben. The funniest thing he's ever saided on
that side of things is when his son Omar was a baby. You know,
it had been we hadn't gotten much winter rain. And he told me
one morning, you know, because Reuben lives surrounded by all the vines and
then beautiful little hamlet within the vineyard, and you know, all the vines
are screaming at me. Luckily Omar screams louder. We'll see the vineyard manager
does talk to the vines. See the vines talk to him. Apparently that's
true. But if he's listening, he responds, right, have you established
any sort of good luck rituals or traditions with the wine or you need to
kick off harvest or at any point during harvest? Just making sure we drink
a lot of good wine. We do, We do every day, right,
Well, we do have a tradition we blind taste one bottle at lunch
throughout the vintage. It's fun, you're drinking wine, but it really like
it gets us to actually think and talk about the wine, and it limits
the conception because sudden we have to go back to work and we don't want
injury. So just one little blind tasting. We usually have twelve people there,
so one bottle. You're like, yeah, it's just a taste.
But that would be our one tradition. But I've never thought of it in
terms of bringing good luck. But I think we would be afraid to halt
it because then what would happen? Right, Yeah, I don't jinx it.
I mean it may it is good. It's something. It's like the
same you know, not shaving or wearing a same T shirt or something during
harvest. You know, you started out in wine growing up around it at
a young age. And it sounds like you worked harvest other places and you
worked for an importer and selling wine. Was wine something you decided at a
young age you wanted to get into or or was there something else you wanted
to do. I fell in love with it, just coming up and falling
in love with the beauty and just the rolling hills and the freedom writing the
ATV around when I was far too young and driving the cheap around and I
was far too young. But my dad always like, you know, kind
of didn't He never pushed me into it. And then he also, you
know, like you don't get into wines, like make real living, Like
if you want to make money, you need to go out and you know,
do something else. And so that, you know, so my dad
encouraged me to keep my options, to get a good grades, to go
to a good college, someone back east to Georgetown. Actually came back to
LA for my real job where I was going to make money. But I
hated it. And what industry was it. I was a sales manager at
an industrial supply company. Okay, not very captiv but it's so cool.
I had to grow up real quick, you know. I was managing people,
you know, and it was very very good for me, but I
was bored. I didn't want to be my boss in twenty years, so
I didn't want to go get an MBA. And in the meantime, my
dad really needed someone to run the company. And I told me that I
hate like, yeah, you know, I know you wanted me to go
off and make a lot of money and you know, be prosperous. But
he also harped on like you need to do something that you're passionate about it.
You need to be fulfilled. And I think I'd be fulfilled, you
know, being a steward of this beautiful place and making sure that I can
carry it on for you. And it worked out. That's awesome. So
when you're not working, how do you spend your free time? What do
you like to do? I have it run right after two little boys.
Yeah, I have a frightful lack of fun hobbyists right now. The mountain
bike has been hanging in the garage for months without being used. I'm passionate
above surfing, but I'd love to travel to surf, and that's a great
excuse to get on the plane and go some place tropical and beautiful and my
little boys are getting too surfing too. Yeah, like any free moment,
it's just family time and die time, and it's just so much fun to
see the joy and the new things in their eyes, and to actually took
them to Italy last year and they're such good little travelers. They love it.
We don't have any big trips this year, and they're starting to ask
when are we going on an airplane again? It's good. You just teach
them they're going to surf the mountain bike and travel with you. Perfect not
a bad bike, not a bad light. Lucky little kids. So when
you put them to bed and you're planning a room to givening for you and
your wife, since you're both from the wine industry and you both know a
lot about wines, what kind of wine set a romantic tone? Romantic tone?
I think that's high end champagne to me, Like there's something you know.
It's so funny. Like one downside of blind tasting is like I actually
get upset when I realized that there was a really expensive bottle that we're blind
tasting, Like I want to like okay, like wow, that's one hundred
dollars bottle, Like I wanted to actually just enjoy the pleasure of that.
And so it's really interesting, like that association of like how dear the wine
is it's first to monetary versus how much enjoyment. But there is something you
know, even though like just doesn't care about you know, fancy things,
but there's something really special about popping open a salos with just you and you
and your partner and like, okay, this is a really started. We
can only have ORed a couple of these a year, and then to do
that one on one, you know, we don't want to share this with
our other friends. That's just for this is a moment for you and I.
That makes perfect sense. So when you look back at your achievements to
date in work, not because your family of course, is going to be
your first answer to this, but what would you say is one of your
proudest achievements to date? You know, when when I took over, it
was in the middle of the two thousand nine recession. Our bank had opted
not to renew our credit lines were there too. We're in default for a
year and a half and just now that we are healthy, that that you
know, we've we've done so much work in the vineyard certified organic. This
year was certified. We finally got certified to meet our dynamic. But you
know, we were talking about how much wine we make, and we're not
a tiny operation. But the really cool scale that we've reached is that we
are small enough to do everything by hand, to control everything. I'm small,
formends, touch our minds fourteen times a year, employee, thirty four
full time workers in the vineyard. But then we're big enough where we can
have red wines that are twenty four twenty five bucks, where say it's a
little more affordable, not every bottle out the door and needs to be fifty
dollars one hundred dollars. And it's just really cool to watch her wines sell.
You know, I don't have to travel anymore for promotion. I need
to stay home with the family. And you know, we're no longer worried
every pay roll like a weed. Are are the check's gonna bounce? And
it's just beautiful that, like, you know, we're always worried about the
economy, and you know, but you know, we have an amazing group
of collectors or wine club, and you know, it's really cool to sit
back with my dad and and look at you know, how far we've come,
and to feel confident that one day I'll be able to hand over the
reins to perhaps one of my sons. Not obligatory though, right, I
learned that from Dad. Yet that's awesome, That's really beautiful. So is
there a piece of advice that someone gave you, maybe it was your dad
or maybe a teacher, mentor friend, that you try to live by or
work by, something that you've always kind of carried with you. I think
it wasn't per se advice, but I think just knowing Ruben my whole life,
I learned early on that he only respected people once he saw like how
willing they were to work hard and not necessarily how hard they worked like you
know, and I think he's always appreciated work life balance and family time.
But you know, seeing how hard Ruben worked, and you know he's first
general, you know, he's an immic, and he is the American dream
in one generation. His willingness to get it done, and you know,
you know he was ambitious, but he you know, he worked its way
up from field hand to now like the grape whisper, you know, known
worldwide for being a vineyar On. You know, I think that really,
like, you know, it feels really good to Yeah, I'm an entitled
second generation wine brat, but Ruben respects me because he saw how hard I
worked and how willing I was to do what it takes to you know,
get the winery successful and make sure that we do everything right, that we
don't cut corners. So when I figured out that I'd earned Ruben's respect,
I'm like, okay, so like a silent advice work hard. Yeah,
I like that. So imagine a scenario. We're sitting at a table.
There are bottles of stolen wine on the table, and there's an empty seat
next to you. So who from any walk of life, living or deceased,
imaginary or real, would you want to share a bottle of Stoeman wine
with? Bill Murray? I like, how hip that was? Wow?
Okay, why Bill Murray? I mean I just love everything about it.
I mean it just seems like one of the most fun humans on the planet.
You know, just I'm sure we would have We would be cracking up
the entire evening and you know, just having a blast. Yeah, making
Caddyshack references or something. You know, Like, I think I've watched documentaries
about him and just like you know him and showing up to house parties and
just you know, being enjoy and yeah, obviously it's hilarious. So how
fun? Okay complete this sentence? For me, A table without wine is
like boring. Yes, of course you use it. There's no dnswer,
there's no wrong answer. I should say. Okay, I have a we
play a little game. This is a great way to talk about your wines.
Since we haven't, we've spoken a little bit about them, and I
just you know, wine soundtrack, we pair wine with music, have a
little fun. Can be a genre, it can be a song, can
be an artist. Don't stress. But based on some of the wines you've
spoken about, and then also you know some of the other wines you make.
Let's see I want to start with let's see Carbonic, with one of
your so fresh wines. Let's see Carbonic. Did you say you have a
trousseau? Yeah? Yeah, so Beyonce all the way? Wow? And
why is that? It's just happy, dancy, great rhythm. Just you
know, you want to stand up and you know, maybe not you don't
have to dance like you know, kind of move into the beat, it's
just like a happy, joyful one. What about the Stoptman Russon. That's
right, it's serious but beautiful. You know what, I'm gonna go mhm
Stumper the Russan. Think that's because my mind is going in. It's just
you know, like let's say like Ryan being out like just really cool but
yet like deep and soulful and just tell us an amazing story like that's like
Russan just like goes on and on, like there's so many layers so nothing.
And the Surrah because like I feel like the Srah like I have to
be mature about this and like talk about like a timeless artists not a guilty
pleasure? Why not a guilty because it isn't a guilty pleasure, Like you
really have to work for it. You have to like and learn to appreciate
it. But I don't really listen to music like that. That could be
like Mozart or something, but that would be like I'd be a fraud.
If the Serrah you'll edit out the sounds, sir god. I'm thinking like
British sophistication going down that pan mm hmmm, sophistication really yeah, so complex,
Yeah, okay I just have to like it's so timeless and age worthy
but beautiful. I mean, I just stuff like Default of the Beatles.
Why not timeless, age worthy? I like that. I like that.
So I have another question for you. You talked about a lot of delicious
wines that you've drunk, and I'm wondering if you had to go to a
deserted island, what three wines you would have to will you you would pick
to take with you? Of all these wines that you've had. Okay,
so we've we've talked about quite a few of them. I think Jacques Solos
in Nichelle Champagne. Nothing not the fancy one of you go on old old
like, let's go with like nineteen ninety Jean Misha Mtajwog probably, but on
an island you don't need redline, right, I assume it's a tropical Ada,
it's any anywhere. And then let's do like the perfect Terry alamand shioh
or love it love it? So last part you're almost Oh, I just
told the wine perfect like a stillar vintage lambassad associating perfection with wine, or
here I am calling Terry Alaman perfect but stunning. It's perfect for a deserted
island time and place. So last question. This has been so much fun
listening to you and hearing all your stories. But my last question is you
took your boys to Italy last year, and I'm wondering whether you take them
or not. What wine region in the world is at the top of your
bucket list? You know, I really want to take the boys to South
Africa and you know, yeah, flying to Cape Town and just venture out
and you know, enjoy like I was. I went to South Africa when
I was about twenty, backpacked for a month and just the stunning, raw
beauty is really what's like calling me back there? Plus some really good wine,
yeah, some good shut and Block. And last part is if people
want to come visit, you come taste Doltman wines. Where can they find
Stoltman? What can they experience here in the Sandy Has Valley. Yeah,
so we have a beautiful little tasting room in the town of Los Alvos,
which is just the most becolic, little pleasant town with the flagpole in the
middle. We have the classic patio for just you know, the traditional surah
rous song Sanji Basi, and then next door we have the fresh garage,
so all the carbonic wines, different soundtrack, really fun, more Beyonce vibe,
then a little bit more you know. Well it's still laid back,
but little fancy your classic patio. So there right in downtown Los Libos.
And we have amazing restaurants in Los Livos and throughout the valley. The great
hotels were like all of a sudden, we're like, I think the like
restaurant and hotel culture has caught up to the wine culture. So yeah,
I mean, to me, it's just the perfect spot to come visit on
a wine and food trip. And of course the raw beauty a little different
than South Africa. But right, yes, but one bucket list is someone
else's, you know, regular this could be someone's bucket list. They should.
I mean, Sandy Inez Valley is an amazing place to discover and Losolivas
is such a charming town. So you get to taste the state fruit,
you get the so fresh I mean, you just get a whole selection of
wines from Storltman. So, Peter, thank you for joining us today.
It's been really fun chatting with you. And let's go taste some wine.
All right, I'm ready. Thanks for listening. To a new episode of
Wine sound Track USA. For details and updates, visit our website windsoundtrack dot com.