Welcome to Wine Soundtrack USA. Listen to the passion with which producers narrate their
winery and their worlds. In thirty answers discover their stories, personalities, and
passions. Hello, friends and listeners of Wine Soundtrack. This is Alson Levine
and today I'm in the town of Los Alamos in Saninez Valley with none other
then Sonya met Jeffsky, who is the owner, the winemaker and the all
around everything of Kassa du Metz. Sonya welcome. Tell us about kastadu Mets,
which I know includes a couple of different labels. Yeah, such a
joy to have you here. Oh my god, thank you so much.
So Kasa du Metz is where we sort of started. It was a place
that no longer exists, but that was sort of the idea. So kasadu
Metz started with a half nager of Pino noir and from that was sort of
where, you know, I don't even know if I can say a dream.
It was just an idea. It was a fun project. It was
a community kind of organized event where we would bring friends in and you know,
we're picking grapes today and we'd smash them in the garage. We were
very very very Garagist home whine makers, and we should know where was this
that you were garragi'st wine makers. Yes, this was in Malibu, Point
Dum actually, And so while while it was a really lovely, amazing,
terrific, fabulous beginning, it was the absolute, I don't want to say
worst, but maybe second worst places to grow grapes, specifically peanut noir.
Yeah, you know, I mean, right now we're sitting here looking out
the window and it's June gloom. And so where we were, it was
June gloom all summer. So we had tremendous mildew issues. We didn't have
enough heat. It was not cold enough and it wasn't warm enough, and
the soil was all dance clay and we would have secondary growth in December.
I mean, all of the things that you think, what is happening.
It was just kind of tragic and joyful at the same time. So that's
how we started, and that's how I got interested in sort of the fundamentals
of wine and literally from the ground up. So I helped to plant this
finere It was half an acre of pino and so that's where it started,
and you know, sort of who knew that you could do these things.
I didn't have a history in it. I didn't have this background with my
family of wine or any of those things. I mean, it was at
the table, but it wasn't this very sort of important sort of let me
bring you this bottle and the wines general that we did have. My whole
family is from former Yugoslavia, from now called North Macedonia, and so everybody
sort of made their own whiskey, everybody made their own wine, and so
that was sort of this very very village traditional approach to wine. Well,
before we get into sort of your introduction to wine, Kasada Metz today.
Of course, as we said, we're in Los Almas, so you're based
up here in the San Didina's valley. Do you own any grapes or not
grapes? Do you any vineyards? Are you sourcing everything? And where are
you sourcing from? What do you? What do you do here? What
grapes? Yeah, so thank you for that. I was a little bit
meandering. I get lost. So Kasadu thatts now is one pino every year
from a different vineyard in the scenery to hills, pick a different vineyard,
different clone, just to kind of keep that messaging as to why I started,
why I fell in love with wine, because we planted it to pinot
noir. So that now is one pino every year. Clementine Carter is all
of the rown varieties and that's the bulk of our production. So Kasado Metz
is about, you know, one hundred and fifty cases of pino each year.
Clementine Carter is all of the Row. So we do a number of
different vineyard designate Grenache, we do Mavedra, we do Grenache blanc Rousson,
Grenache Rose, and so those are very singular one hundred percent of what they
are. And then we do the Feminist Party, which is the only blend
that we do, and that's all of the vineyards that we work with in
a gs sembland. We say that's for radical inclusion. Everyone's invited to the
party. So we go from very singular to very plural. And there's only
one wine under the Feminist Party, only one one one under Casadumets and your
total case production of Clementine Carter and then of the Feminist Party. Yeah,
the Feminist Party is our largest sort of singular production and about five hundred,
six hundred cases a year Clementine Carter with everything involved is about twenty five hundred,
and then Casa du Mets is like a hundred. Yeah, so all
at all is still a small producer, even around three thousand cases. And
then you're sourcing from all over the area. So where can people find your
minds? Are they just available here in the valley in your tasting room or
they do you have distribution or just DTC. Yeah, so we we we're
ninety percent here through the tasting room. And we've been here in Las Almo's
not for twelve years, so we've slowly When I opened my first dasting room,
yeah, I guess the first one was down the street. When I
first opened, it was, you know, four hundred cases, very sort
of small, and so we've gradually built up. So now we're at just
Strive three thousand, twelve years later when we sort of officially committed, and
so we're about ninety percent DTC, and we do sell throughout California with regal.
We sell wholesale in Virginia, DC, Maryland, a little bit in
North and South Carolina. We're working on New York right now, a teeny
bit in Kansas. Yeah, pretty Randa, Oh and Maine too. Maine's
big too, So yeah, I mean, I'm I'm open if anybody is
interested. I'm totally open. But you know, it's it's complicated, you
know, I totally understand the challenges of sort of me being this producer of
quirky grown varieties, you know, a whole cluster stuff that's maybe not for
every buddy, but people are into it, like super into it. So
it's fun. So speaking about into it, you mentioned that you were raised
in what's now Northern Macedonia, and I'm curious, what is your first memory
relevant to wine? Oh gosh, I mean, I think just coming out
of a plastic jug, you know, like at the table. I mean,
you know, when we were in Michigan. So I was born and
raised in Michigan, and you know, my grandmother and my dad would make
wine in the garage, cold Michigan winter and had a little barrel, and
so they would go and taste it. And my first memory is we drink
in the fall and it comes closer to the winter, a drink called sheeta,
and so the wine is fermenting, but it's not fully fermented, so
it's like partially fermented. It's on its way and so it's still slightly sweet,
and so they sort of pull it off of the cask and then they
mix it with sparkling water and it's super fun, a little quirky, but
that's what they did it. And you know, then all a little whiskey
and all that stuff, a little localm Mese platter. So that is definitely
my first memory. And so it's yeah, it's gotta be both homemade too.
So it's you know, I mean for us, you know, when
you when you bring out the whiskey, when you bring out the wine,
it is because you have people over. You know, people are coming over.
You want to serve them something, and so it really is all about
the community and sharing that with them. You know. That's that's really it,
and that's so beautiful and I feel that way today. I mean,
we don't make wine into vacuum. And you know, you have to make
what pleases you and what gives you joy and what you want to talk about
and philosophically drives you, and ultimately you have to share it with others.
So then has no fun, right know. So you you know, you
had this dream, you started, you planted pinot noir, and obviously something
triggered you to plant this vineyard and start making wine. So was there a
particular wine one of those aha moments? Was it prior to making wine or
has it been since that that sort of set you on a path or changed
your mind view or has just sat with you as like just a super memorable
wine you drink. I have to say it happens all the time. I
mean, I would figure like daily, you know, we know, we
do staff trainings twice a month here with our team, and sometimes when we'll
be going through something and I'll just be so granular and I'll say, stop,
this is like it's too much. I don't want you to I don't
want you to get overwhelmed. And I would say, there's the world of
wine is so vast. There's so much to learn. I learn every single
day, even though I've been doing this for twenty years, right, it's
NonStop and it's so beautiful, and so like daily, I'm just shocked and
surprised. And you know, there's obviously some super interesting moments. You know,
again, when you look back on them, you're like, WHOA,
you are a dummy. But when you don't know, you know, you're
like, WHOA that was so cool. Oh so is there a particular one,
And we won't judge you if it was, Like I just I remember
after we finished. I don't even remember the producer. I have no idea.
I just remember when we finished planting. You know, for two days
we planted this vineyard, and you know, afterward, we sort of sat
down and we had a bottle of curtitite fur dough. I don't remember where
or who or where it came from or where where we bought it, and
I just remember, but it was just the result of this effort and this
work and the possibility of, oh, someone else could be sitting here like
us after a very accomplished afternoon and feel great and it be enjoying this lovely
bottle of wine. And so that memory for me is more of a feeling
in a mood. And then maybe a couple of years later, it was
my first trip to Paris as an adult, and you know, we were
at this bistro and we ordered a whole group of us ordered up bunch of
food and we asked the the Sammoier, you know, please, this is
what we're eating. Please bring us a bottle of wine. Choose for us,
you know, we don't, we don't, we know, we're clueless.
I ask of this list, and they brought us a bottle of Sabilis
and that was the first time. Again, I don't remember the producer,
that was just the first time. One My assumption was that he was going
to bring us a red wine, right, I assume, like, of
course, you're going to bring a red wine. And then he brings us
this gorgeous bottle of Shabli, And so that was one a surprise for me.
And then you know too, just sort of again being in that bistro
on a warm summer evening with a group of friends and sort of enjoying this
wine. The whole experience was unexpected, right, And so it's like punctuating
these moments of Wow, this is this is the community that you can be
a part of when you do this right, you know. So, so
obviously you've had a lot of experiences. You get to drink a lot of
wine, you drink your own, you're married to a my maker, you
focus on your own grapes. He tends to focus on Burgundy grapes. There's
a little crossover. So I'm curious, if we were to come to your
home, what would we find in your home? What do you guys have
in your cellar? What do you drink a lot of or just store a
lot of? Well, our house poor is probably Brander Savignon blanc oh natural
hell is our favorite. It's a beautiful wife, yes, and Fred Brander
is just a delight and such a joy. And so that's probably sort of
overall. But I mean Alberino Assertico, lots of pino, lots of shard,
lots of different grenache from all over the world, from from mostly we
drink mostly California. I have to say, we're both huge fans of our
area, of our colleagues here, of our colleagues up north, you know,
in Paso and in up in Sonoma. And so that's primarily what we're
drinking. You know, obviously these certicos from not from you know, and
that there is a little crown here I know, I know, and there
you know, that was a gift from a dear friend to friends who again
they went to Centurini last year and they brought us back this bottle. And
we were so stunned. We're like, we don't bring wine back for us
when we traveled, like and you brought this for us. So it was
such a gift and we fell in love with it and then we found it
and we buy it all the time now, so you know it's those are
the things we're really equal opportunity. We drink everything. One of the things
that we probably drink less of, and we can't quite figure out why is
cabernet. We're not sure. Like board varieties, we're really not We're not
stocked with that. And yet every time we opened a bottle, we think
this is so lovely, Like why don't we enjoy this? Mos is you're
busy with you know, you're so is there a wine you drink recently?
Not your natural ye Savinia blon, because I know that's good, but that
really stood out to you, something that was memorable dinner last night or last
week actually, So we opened a bottle again our dear friend Dave Potter Potech
Winery. It was a twenty eighteen Kimsey Sura and we opened it on Wednesday
night and then Greg went on it. We had a couple of battles open.
We had we had we had a pink ranch shard, actually we had
pink rat shard. We had the we had a Marjor and Pino, and
we had the Potech Sera. So because we had opened the other ones sort
of the couple of days earlier, so we really liked to sort of open
bottles, let them see how they evolved, and then we kind of,
you know, keep sort of doing that dance. And so then we opened
this this sura and so we had a little bit each in the glass and
then you know, but and it was done. And so then Greg went
on a trip, and I packed up the bottle and put it back in
the fridge. And then every night over the last few nights, I'll come
home from work and I'll pull it all the fridge. I like a little
chill on all the lines. And then I have been enjoying it and I
just have loved the evolution of how it's just kept evolving in such a gorgeous,
beautiful way. There's a new experience every time that bottle is open.
And so I finished the bottle last night. Yeah, and so that is
on my mind, right, And so again it goes to all these things
people are like, oh, well, I can't open that bottle because I
can't check about myself like you can. It's not going to go bad tomorrow,
you know. And so again, just those are the things. So
that was the one thing that's very memorable because I woke up this morning and
I was taking out the recycling. I was like, oh, yeah,
that bottle, really good bottle. Yeah. So you work with a lot
of different grapes. Do you think there's a such thing as a perfect variety
Sarah? Yeah, I would say Sarah and I make Sara and it only
we don't make a singular version of Surat only goes into the feminist party.
I think Sura is perfect for a number of reasons. I think that whatever
you're looking for in a wine, particularly a red wine, you can find
it in Surah. Right. Color, if you're looking for color density and
extraction, like, you can get that, right. If you're looking for
textual components, you can get that. If you're looking for fruit, you
get that. If you're looking for meaty, sort of dense, sort of
burdensome, it can be there, right. And it's just again, I
just think in the winery growing it, it's a joy. In the winery,
it's an absolute joy. Like when Sarah comes in, it's like your
old friend. You think, oh, welcome, we've missed you you know,
or garnache. It's just it's just I think it's just a pleasure all
the way around. It's pleasurable. I think in every aspect of of the
wine process, growing through production, through tasting, through enjoying, and so
people I was like, oh, you can't sell straw, and I think,
well, that's nonsense. It's you know, if someone said to me,
you know, here's a glass of red wine, they didn't tell me
what it was and it was a suraw, I think that would be the
perfect you know, I don't know. I just I'm a fan. I
love it. I'm a huge So I think that's the perfect wine on the
red family. In the white there's it's a little more complicated. I think.
You know, you're you're making a lot of different wines. You're a
small producer, but obviously getting the word out people come to your taste room,
but a lot of people turn to wine critics to find out things.
So I'm curious what your opinion is on wine critics and scores, and both
as a wine drinker but also as a producer. Yeah, gosh, it's
evolved a lot. I used to be terrified. In truth, I was
like, I don't go, I don't want to submit. No, no,
no. And then I thought, well, if you're in the industry,
you need to be in the industry. Like you're either in the business
or you're not in the business, and so choose what you want to be,
right. And so you know, over the last number of years,
you know, we submit, we connect, we taste, and it's been
I think, such a beautiful understanding of that role. Right. And it's
like any other criticism, right, you either understand and appreciate that person and
sort of their leanings and their tendencies and their interests, or it's not for
you. It doesn't mean that it's not valid. It's like you're not quite
in alignment, which is great, that's totally fine. It's like with anything.
And the one thing that I think is extraordinarily valuable about wine criticism is
when they're tasting a wine, it's not just oh, this is Roussan from
Zaka from Santa Barbara, and how does this rate? How does this feel?
What's the emotion, what's the texture, what's the flavor? Like,
what's happening in this bottle? It's they're tasting that against all of the wines
they've tasted through their career from all over the world, right, And so
that value is I think tremendous. And for anyone who thinks, like,
oh, tasting wine, like, how hard of a job is it?
Like it's brutal. I mean, it's super brutal to taste all of these
lines day after day, dozens and hundreds of bottles, Like it's not easy
work. And I do not envy that job. I do not want that
job. You do enough tasting, I'm sure when you're doing blending trials and
throughout the season, and that's exhausting, you know, So again I definitely
honor it. I think it's very very valuable. That said, the scores
that we get in the way that we use them, I really use it
for a personal understanding of where we're fitting and what it means and how it
feels, and a personal connection to sort of the industry. We don't plaster
scores. One thing is that I just I want each consumer. Our goal
is I want each consumer to feel that they personally can make their own decision
on how they feel about these wines. And one I also don't you know,
I don't want them to be clouded by oh, this must be better
because a it's more expensive, or be it got a better score, because
then that suddenly means, oh, the other one is not good and it's
not a less for them. Yeah, and so that I just don't want
to. I don't want to sort of add more stress to the messaging.
There's plenty. Yeah. So, well, for some reason, just are
still so intimidated with wine, and it's you know, it's sort of unfortunate.
I don't know why people are like, well, it is intimidating.
I think, well, you know, our goal is we spend every waking
moment thinking about the vineyards we're working with and how we're farming and what we're
doing, and when is this sun going to come out? And you know,
all of these things, how is this season progressing, and connecting with
our growers and visiting vineyards and sort of navigating experiments and then sort of in
the winery and you know, what are we going to do, how we're
going to approach it. But all of that stuff, you know, I
hope it's just all of that hard work I hope is just evident in the
bottle. So if you want to know about anything, we're happy to sort
of give you all the information. We also don't want to lead with we
did this and this was happening, and we pulled, you know, leaves
on x y Z like I just you know, Wally, it's in the
bottle? Do you like it? Do you not like it? So that
leads me to my very quick question, still are sparkling sparkling? Yeah?
Oh my god, people make fun of me. So we you know,
next door we have the beer room and it's it's a it's we do wine
retail. We do beer retail, and I have pretty okay for our size.
I have a pretty decent sparkling section. And people were like, really,
you know it make sparkling on, Like yeah, but I love it.
So I stock it on the shelves and I think I will only stock
what I love and if no one buys it, I take it home.
So there you go. Pretty nice sparkling over sparkling over. Still but for
still a red white or rose white white? Yeah? Yeah, de way.
So now you make, you know, a variety of wines. You
were talking about the style of of wines that you make, and I'm curious
how you approach paring these wines with food. They are food friendly wines.
I've had the pleasure of tasting many of them. But do you think that
there are rules to follow? Are there rules you follow or guidelines that you
can suggest, or you just have wines open in the fridge and you take
them out, and that's what it is. Yeah, I don't follow any
rules, and I'm sure people who know me will not be surprised by that.
Also, I really and I appreciate the rules that are followed, right,
So I'm not here to sort of say yes or no again. I
also I feel like it is part of that one intimidation factor, well,
how should I do this? When should I open it? Why should I
do this? What should I pair with with? How long should I hold
it? You know, and that that answer is totally subjective. Right.
So I'm a vegetarian. I love cheese, I love eggs, I love
fresh vegetables, I love green herbs, I love fannel, I love art
choke. I think like, oh, you can't hear it, when sure
you can, you know blue cheese, right, I mean, all of
these things that we think is pretty are pretty complicated to pair with. And
I just think if there's join volved in the dish, there's going to be
joint volved in the beverage and so, yeah, I don't have any hard
and fast rules, and I appreciate them. Right if if if suddenly,
like you know, you're coming over and we're making steak, right because that's
your favorite thing, I'm definitely not gonna like, I don't know, for
you g virch demeanor. Right, Let's see deep down there are some rules
involved. There were guidelines, guidelines, guidelines also because you know, I
want everything to feel good to you and I want it to make sense a
synergy in it. Yeah. So for someone who hasn't had the pleasure to
taste your wines yet, what do you think they're missing out on? Oh
gosh, that's a fun question. I think the lightness of being. You
know, our goal is always aromatics, lift texture. I think they're sort
of defy what you would see on the page versus what's in the glass,
like an initial perception versus what actually appears. Again, those are real goals,
and we want it to sort of. I love. Our whole goal
is purity of flavor. That's why we do all of our sort of single
varieties. I want I want to know what a Russan taste like. I
don't want to know what a Russon blend taste like, right, So I
think just the purity of flavor from a place, from this place, from
you know, Santa Barbara is sort of what I think people are missing.
So when I walked in here, you welcome to meet with a glass of
your Russon, which is quite delicious. But I'm curious if space aliens were
to land here and walk in, which of your wines would you want to
say? Welcome to Casa du Mets. Oh gosh, people, I was
like, what's your favorite? And then we say, well, if it's
in bottle, it's my favorite. Right, I'm not going to put garbage
in a bottle and be like I don't like it, but I hope you
like it, you know. So it's it's been. It's become picking your
favorite wine that's here, probably just like what do you think? Maybe show?
Yeah? Yeah, I would probably say, of who we can I
pick two? Sure? Okay, we're going to be thirsty. Yeah,
I would say. I would say I would say the Russon and I would
say the West End Grenache. Yeah, those are two wines that right now.
If I was saying if this is this is this is who we are,
this is where we're going. This is what it means. Right,
the west End is biodemically farm from Christine Wise Spanish clone. It's one hundred
percent hold cluster, all neutral barrel and it all just has again that sort
of textual lift with that, with that mid palette and that range that takes
you on such an interesting journey from a place the Grenache are saying, the
grenash the west End. Yeah, and so that's coming also from a cooler
climate, so very very cool climate, so cool that we planted or Brook.
The owner planted Medvedera a few years ago and on the very west end
of the Santory to Hills. And last year it was first week in November
and it was at nineteen bricks, so it was pretty cold. So we're
all going up for a better mavedra. That went into some rose and some
cider because it really didn't make the cut for red. But I mean it's
it's a cool spot and the fruit coming from there is really spectacular. And
again it's it's one of those places that sort of defies understanding, but it
just has beautiful energy and the fruit coming out of there is amazing. So
you talk about purity of fruit as something you want to express, and we
know every vintage tells a different story. So I'm curious how much variation you
have noticed from vintage to vintage or do you see more commonality? What has
your experience shown you your gear as you make these wines. Yeah, I
think that I have noticed one. I will answer the question one, how
resilient our area is, because the last few vintages in particular have been quite
challenging. And when I say that, I say in a way I don't
want me say, like with an wink, because we're so spoiled. We
have an epic growing season, right. The thing that challenge us are laughable
in other parts in the world, right, right, But because we're so
used to sort of honestly perfection, but kind of close to perfection. We
know we lack water, that's definitely not a perfect scenario. But in terms
of any kind of sort of weather incident, you know, hail, frost,
I mean those things, you know, particularly during the harvest season,
we don't have to face generally, So the last few years have been challenging,
and so I have been quite nervous, you know, I'm always like,
oh gosh, roans and Santa Rita. We get most of our fruit
comes from Santa Rita Hills, and so I think, oh, this is
epic, Like I'm all in, one hundred percent, like let's do it.
We're planting, We're doing all these things in the last couple of years
to sort of challenge that notion of oh, well, if the rest of
the world's getting warmer and we're getting colder here, maybe this is not the
right right system. And yet it's challenged, particularly my perception in terms of
what is ripeness right, What can you achieve when you have challenges right,
when everything is not perfect. And so the resiliency of our area and the
quality of reforming has really been extraordinary. So that's been beautiful. And so
in that I would say that vintage variation, at least in the last three
years, when they could have been tremendous variation, has not been as evident
as I as if it was as is evident on paper, I guess in
the glass is not as it's not. The effect isn't as intense as you
would imagine just reading the vintage. If that makes sense, No, that
makes perfect sense. So that we do get a level of consistency, even
though the standards are it should take. Consistency also comes through in the glass
very much so year after year after year. So are there any sort of
signs or predictors or omens that you look for that are going to tell you
what a vintage will be? No, because last year. You know,
again I don't want to have to rehash the trauma of last year, but
you know, we it was. It was challenging, right, and so
you know, coming up into the vintage, it was a freezing vintage,
and so we were like, okay, we're going to ripen anything, and
then we had this crazy heat dome and things got ripe, but in a
kind of an odd way. And yet the vintage was really beautiful. Yeah,
like really beautiful and I and I personally was very surprised at how lovely
the wines turned out. And that has nothing to do with me. It'
I'm like, oh God, I made these right decisions. I'm not saying
that I had anything to do with it, but you know, just sort
of again the resiliency of the area and what it can do. So again
that marker, I would have been like, oh, this is going to
be no marker, and it was really lovely. And so this year,
right, we've it's been very cold again and lots of rain, lots of
rain, which has been wonderful. But now we have all this growth and
we need some heat to sort of boost it forward get some nice fruit sets.
So I know you don't own your own vineyards, but you visit the
vineyards that you source from. And I'm curious if you ever talked to the
vines, especially now with everything, are you telling them to kind of do
you encourage them along? Do you speak to them or or maybe when they're
in barrel cocks them along? No? And yes, I think I think
no and yes, right, like when it's just that idea of you know,
paying attention and being present and being really mindful. You know, one
of the things that I always look for one in working with growers, which
is why I work with the growers that I work with, is the overall
system. Right, So how are we treating the overall system? Our goal,
My goal is always to do the least amount of work and get the
most amount out right. You know, I'm not looking for one ton breaker,
you know, I'm looking for a very balanced system all the way around.
And that means for the whole team, you know, vineyard, manager,
crew, everything. I want everyone and be like, oh, we
made these decisions, so when we go in to do the next thing,
we feel good about it and it's easier for us to move in this task,
right. And so that to me is sort of brings good energy,
right. And so if you're approaching that with sort of positivity and progressive actions,
I think that that's the most important thing. So you're not you when
you go and you're like, oh man, this is a jungle, Like
what am I going to do now? Like right away, you're depressed.
Right right away, you're like, oh gosh, it's gonna take me so
long, and your head's in the wrong place. But if we can move
things proactively. We were just at Robert Ray and we were talking about a
section of Sara and it was really lovely because we were thinking, well,
if we shoot then now, you know, is that going to affect the
vine? And we were talking about it emotionally and I said, well,
let's do a happiness trial. I said, let's pick one row at the
end of our section of Sarah. Let's shoot then now, or we'll shoot
then after fruit set because we were like, Okay, if the vine is
giving all this energy and giving all this growth and nourishing the clusters, are
we interrupting it by making little mindy tears, right? And so I don't
know. So we thought, Okay, that's gonna be our happiness trial again
for something might be like rolling their eyes and then that's such bullshit. But
I don't know. That's what we think about, right. Well, you
know, you said you'd like to put good energy in, so I'm wondering,
are there any sort of good luck rituals that you have at the start
of harvest for yourself or your team? No? No, you're sort of
always prepared, you know, you're just sort of always sort of ready and
on board and it's always a surprise, but you're sort of always ready for
Like if harvest said our tomorrow, I'd be Okay, this is what we're
doing. We're in you know again, because we're just we're always thinking about
it, you know, and so we don't have any ceremonies or champagne at
the first No, nah, nah, it's always good luck. I think.
So before you were talking to vines and you know, making wine and
doing all these things. I mean, what did you when you were a
little girl, what did you want to be when you grew up? And
I know you had another career. You were a journalist, right, yeah,
No, And I still love I still love journalism. I mean one
of the main things, maybe to the shagrin of many people who hung out
with me, is I'm extraordinarily curious, almost too curious. And so if
I get you in a corner, like I'm gonna ask you a million questions
and you can't escape, and I don't mean to trap you. I'm just
so curious that I just want to know. So journalism is still, you
know, very very very very very valuable to me. And so when I
first opened the tasting room twelve years ago, I thought, oh, I'll
never and writing. I don't have time. And so now you know,
I've been doing projects with Enable Santa Barbara, and I do some writing on
my own again, because it's such a such a personal fulfillment, as you
know, as you understand, right, that's sort of that thing. You're
writing an article and you're talking to people and they're answering your questions and you
just it's synapses are moving and it's it feeds me in such a different way.
And also, you know, people I say like, well, how
can you go from journalism to wine, And I say, it's the same
thing, right, We're just working in a different medium, and you should
be able to read the vintage in the bottle based on what happened and where
we worked and who was who's hands touched it and decisions that we made,
like it should all be evident there. We can tell you the story and
it should be obvious. So that's sort of that's sort of our way,
you know. But yeah, I mean those two are very much in alignment.
The one thing about journalism is you know, you write a story,
you put it out there, and then you have no idea who saw it,
what happened, did it touch anybody, did it not? Did it
just get tossed or deleted or whatever. And with wine, I get to
see people consume it, we get to engage with it together. That's a
whole different pleasure and a huge like I don't know, that's that's that's that's
the high, you know, that's the hit where you're like, oh,
now I'm connected, you know, yeah, that's that's that's also the trouble
because you think, Oh, I'm just gonna keep me coming back more and
again and again and again. You need that high again, you know.
So when you're not working, how do you like to spend your free time?
Ah? That's I do you have free time? You know. It's
not that I don't have free time. I'm not that good at taking it
and enjoying it. You know. It's a so funded self proprietor. You
know, it's challenging for me to just say, you know, for these
three days, I'm just gonna go hiking, you know, and it's extraordinarily
important for you to do that, right, it's just me that has the
challenge. I mean, like, you know, I just take it off
and don't open the email and don't One of the things that I've been doing
lately that has been kind of emotionally positive is I'll get up. I always
have work out in the morning. That's like my mental health check. And
so instead of going right to the computer and checking emails and doing all of
that, I start to cook. I'll make something my cookies, or I'll
make lunch, or I'll make something pre planned for dinner. And that's been
sort of a gentler way to kind of enter and then I'm like okay,
and then I can go to the office, you know, and a little
me time. Yeah, definitely, I'm trying to do it. I'm trying
to take it in micro doses, you know, but it won't last very
long. It's a phase, I'm sure. So when you're not planning me
time, I know you plan romantic time. So I'm curious with sort of
you guys said this. You guys like to taste lots of different wines.
You like to enjoy wine. You obviously make very different wines in terms of
great varieties. So what sort of wines do you open to set a romantic
mood? Sparkling of course. Yeah, whatever's left in the store. Yeah,
No, we buy a bunch too, and I'll bring it a new
ship and I'm like, i gotta bring it home. It's definitely definitely sparkling.
You know. One of the things that you know, regardless of how
hectic and busy that we are, the thing that we always do is we
come home and we you know, we sit, we make dinner, and
we open a glass of wine and we just spend time together. There's no
TV, there's no pot. It's just us and a little music, you
know, and so we get to download and share and people say that you
talk about wine all the time. I'm like, yeah, we do.
But it's not like, oh, what was the pH and what was the
whatever? You know, what was the team? Yeah, it is how
it feels. Like you said at the very beginning, it's about a time
and a place, not so much about the produce, sir. Yeah,
because we're in it all the time, and if you don't talk about it,
then that's how you spent your day, you know. So it's you
know, it's super hard, you know, to not talk about it.
You know, I love you absolutely, but yeah, that's sparkling is definitely
the way to set the mood. And so now when you look back at
your career, I mean, we're getting or in your life and we're given
advice all the time from different people, teachers and parents and colleagues and mentors.
I'm curious, is there a piece of advice someone gave you. It's
somewhere along the way that you your work ethic, you're carry through life,
how you live. Two very very prominent things that I always sort of reference.
One my dad who was just here and was saying advice walked up.
Yes, my dear, he should he should have stayed to hear this.
I know he knows that. I've told them many times. I work with
my family. They helped me all the time. They're amazing. My brother's
my right hand and my dad is now our dishwasher since he's retired can't stay
at home, and our gardener. It's such a delight. But when I
was, you know, we growing up, we had a basketbrab with ice
cream store, you know, for thirty years. And you know, being
a kid, you want to go to work with your parents. And I
remember maybe being like five or six jests head over the counter and it was
in the evening and I was with my dad and a gentleman came in and
ordered a Sunday or whatever, and I was just watching and my dad was
giving back the change and he said, do you want to do it?
And I said yeah, and so I put the change in my hand.
The man, I'll stretch his arm and I dropped the change and he said
thank you, looking at me and you know, down and I looked at
him and I said, you're welcome, and my dad shot me a look
piercing look again I'm tiny, and he said not, you're welcome, thank
you, and it just hit me. I was like, oh, yeah,
that's right. You can go anywhere to get ice cream, but you
came here to get ice cream, so thank you for coming in. And
that has been I always say, everybody that walks in the door is a
miracle. They can go anywhere, and if they're walking in this door,
it's a miracle. But they took the time, they parked, they chose
to walk in, whether they came in on their own volition or someone recommended
them. We need to honor that gift. So that's the first one I
love. Yeah, I mean it's true, you know. But for me
when I go walking somewhere and no one can even say hello, that drives
me bananas, Like, oh my god, I have money in my pocket,
I'm going to buy something, but now I'm not, you know,
because you don't appreciate me. Yeah, like I made a huge effort to
me here. But yeah, no, hospitality is very, very very valuable
and very important to us, and too. When I was first opening the
tasting room back in twenty eleven, and I was getting it ready, and
I took out a small loan from my parents, and I was sort of,
you know, doing all this stuff, and I was working. It
was a Sunday night, I remember in October, and my dear friend David
and Brian were fro Melli. They were taking a motorcycle trip and they had
not seen the space. We'd come to Las almost together a lot as a
as a friend group. We'd go to Flatbread, we'd sort of, you
know, spend the afternoon and go home. But they knew that I had
rented this space, but they had never seen it. So they drove up.
They're taking my cycle trip. They came and stopped in to see me.
I was like covered in dust and doing all this stuff. And they
walked in and they were first mortified. They thought, oh my god,
this is where you're opening your tasting room. I think this is where you've
decided to invest. And I love them because they were so honest. They
weren't thinking, oh my god, it'll be great. They're like, oh,
man, are you sure, And I was like, yeah, I
paid, I signed, this is it. And they they were lovely and
David said, okay, you're gonna do this, and we'd just put the
bar and he came behind the bar and he put his hands on the bar
and he said, look at me, and I said, yeah, this
is your stage. You run the room. And I thought wow, And
I'd never thought about that before. And those two things I stay with me
forever. I love it. Yeah. So when you look back at your
career, yeah, and even before wine, what would you say is one
of your proudest achievements to date? Lots of things, I think, you
know, I mean, I think ultimately I have to say. You know,
we're sitting here in this tasting room, right and this is against all
odds. I mean honestly, Like I look back and I think, oh
my gosh, Like you can pay this rent. You have employees that you
work with that you pay. If they want healthcare, like they get healthcare,
you do four one K. We can do that, you know.
And those things feel very adult. And it takes a while to get there,
right because owning your own business and starting with you know, nothing,
is a challenge, and so you scrape it by and you figure it out.
And so the fact that one that we've made it, the fact that
we've survived this long, the fact that we have a team that we work
with and that people walk in the door. I think that has to be
the greatest accomplishments of it. Yeah, I love that. And how many
years has it been now? Making wine almost twenty with the tasting room over
twelve. Yeah, and you've got a long long way to go. So
there are many more, many more achievements to accomplish it. I mean,
you know that is I still feel in the one hand. I mean,
look in the mirror, you're like, oh no, you're not twelve anymore,
and yet inside you feel I feel like I'm fourteen, you know,
like the energy is just bursting, and yet you think, okay, well
you gotta keep moving, you know, one day, let's go, let's
go. So maybe that's why I have trouble sort of just not doing something
because I think, well, time it keeps ticking, you know, when
am I going to do this? There's just so much to do. There's
so much to do. I used the thing that we could do it all.
Now I know that we can't do it all, but we can try,
you know. So imagine that we're sitting here at a table. We've
got your wines on the table, but there's an empty seat next to you.
So who from any walk of life. Would you love to be drinking
a bottle of Clementine Carter or the Feminist Party or Casadu mats with you right
now? It would love it for to be my grandmother Bobby Linka. So
we named the tasting room after her. She's probably the reason why I know
it's called Bobby. Yeah. So, she again was the woman who kept
the family together. She was the glue. She invited everybody to her table.
She forgave everybody when she probably shouldn't have, but she everybody was forgiven
in her life. And she was just an absolute light and joy. And
so she passed away in summer of twenty eleven and her sort of funeral.
I was working and I took two weeks off and I went back to Michigan.
I was with family, and you know, because she was a huge
part of my life, and that sort of severance from your everyday life to
sort of a different reality. Suddenly I realized, well, what are you?
What are you doing right? What are you? You're waiting table as
you're making wine, you're writing, you're kind of running all over the place,
but like, where's your focus? And that's when I decided, Okay,
you need to open the stationing room. You need to commit to something,
you need to not be afraid, and you need to do it.
So she never saw any of this right, and I think that she would
be just in absolute bliss if she did. And she loved a party,
so she would she will hang out with anybody. Well, then complete this
sentence. For me, a table without wine is like, oh my gosh.
A table without wine is like a flower without any petals. Yeah,
yeah, very sad. I'm sad. They're like, wait, where is
the petals? Definitely? Well, we're we're almost finished. We've been talking.
I've been so enjoying listen to you and talking. We're not finished yet.
So I'm curious if you you know, silly question in a way,
if you were being sent to a deserted island, what three wines would you
take with you? But I'm curious what three wines would you take with you?
I would take Larmonde sparkling, okay, I would take a bottle of
Brow Clifton, Machado, Chardonnay, any vintage, I do not care.
And I would take a bottle of West and Granche one of your own.
Yeah, yeah, I love it. So I know that you have listened
to this podcast, but a little little preparation is worth. At the very
end, we play a little game at the end, just to have a
little fun, to get to know some of your wines and put them into
a context. It's wine soundtrack, so we pair it with music. So
you know, they caught wine conjures up emotions in US and music does.
So I'm going to just call out a couple of your wines and I want
you to tell me what song or genre or musician. You can get as
specific or general as you want, but you welcome me with your brusson,
which is let's see, it's you told me that it is partial concrete and
partial stainless teal and ardons. Okay, what would I pair with? Oh,
it's got texture, it's duran, duran, Yeah for sure, hungry
like the little it makes you hungry? Yeah, well it makes you just
like put some pep in your step and you want to get going. Yeah.
Okay, you've talked a lot about your west End, the Clementine Carter
west End, Grinnosh coming from the Sanary to Hills. Yeah. Beyonce,
Oh yeah, anything, yeah, anything, you know, She's just a
delight, you know, yeah, and she just gets you in the groove.
You know, you're just in it whether you want to be or not.
So that's kind of what I appear. What about your moved Shakakan,
Yeah, ain't nobody. I do like your eighties references here, Yeah,
and I appreciate it greatly. And then okay, so those were all Clementine
Carter wines. So what about your Pino No War from Costadu mats, which
I know the twenty twenty is half good because you said you change vintage vineyards
every year. Yeah. Marvin Gay, Oh yeah, it's just very very
joyful, very soulful, very sultry, just very Yeah, definitely, and
it feels very home. So it feels very Detroit, right, it feels
very grounding. Peano always feels very grounding to me. So I would definitely
do Marvin Gay last, but not least the feminist part of your one blend
God everything, everything, everything mixed together. It would be a little George
Michael, I'll be a little led Zeppelin. Yeah, it would be sort
of the whole gamut. So the random mix, the random mix. If
you saw my my my music sort of playlists, you'd be like, what
even Greg is like, what do you have on here? It's just a
little bit of everything, you know, and probably some you know, traditional
Macedonian music in there as well, which is an awesome, awesome, you
know gift. Very cool. Well, sonya, it's been so much fun
chatting with you. My last question for you as a two parter, that
is the first part is what wine region in the world is at the top
of your bucket list to visit? God, there's so many. Well,
you know, this is a great question, and I guess I don't know
if this is not right. I mean, when I was we used to
go to Macedonia every summer as a kid, right, and the last time
I was there was an O nine And at that time, Macedonia is a
huge agricultural component. Industry is bag industry is a big part of their economy.
And you know, since sort of became its own country, the whole
structure of wine has shifted, so it was less about sort of bulk selling
out of country and a lot of now sort of homegrown vintners, tasting rooms,
experiences, hotels, all of that. So I it's a it's on
the list, on the immediate list to go back with the new frame of
reference and understand what's happening here and taste the wines and talk to talk to
wine makers and walk the rows because it didn't happen. I did that a
little bit on my last trip, but not really sort of as immersive as
I would have liked. So that that for sure. And then Champagne,
I've never been yeah, for as much as my love. But you know,
there's also like I'd love the good centorinia, I'd love the goat.
I mean, everyone dya like, I'm just I'm just enamored with wine.
I'm enamored with the sense of place, right. I love. I love
that we taste the landscape, right, That's the most important to me.
Like when you're opening a bottle of wine, you're tasting the landscape in a
moment in time that will never be recreated, right, and that magic to
me. I love. That's why I just I love being transported. I
want to go like, oh, that feels like that place. I understand
what that means, which is why you know, I'm even though I make
a blend, it's not my favorite, you know, as soon as I
hear like, oh, a blend of and I'm like, no, I
wanted something else. Again, that's my own thing, but I just I
love understanding what that place tastes like. So for somebody who wants to come
experience this place and taste what this place is like, how can they find
you? I know you're in the town of Los Alamos, this charming little
two three block town, one horse town. Yeah, where in Los Alamos
we have the right amount of right and the right amount of rung. We're
right next to the flagpole. When people come into town and they'll call the
book, where are you, I'm like, are your eyes closed? Because
I don't know how you missed it. Yeah, so we're hearing Los Alamos.
You know. That's the that's the most direct way. We do sell
online through our website obviously constomtswines dot com. We have an Instagram, and
you know, we do sell wine and other other parts. But this is
kind of the best way, and I would recommend joining us for a vineo
tour. That's it's everyone that goes on that is they're just blown away,
you know. And then here in the tasting room. It's not just a
tasting room because you have the tasting room, you have the retail shop,
beer bar next door with an outdoor area, and then you also do some
fun nights here. Yeah, we used to. We used to get pretty
well all they get like DJ's and then COVID kind of arrested that for a
little bit, but we we do. So we have the wine tasting room
and then next door I run a beer room called Bobby's Beer and Poium and
we have beers on tap and in cans and they wrote it all the time.
And then we sell other wines, and then we have every weekend we
work with dim Summa, so they have we have a restaurant on site and
so we do Bow and dim sum and there were Delight, so we do
that Friday, Saturday and Sunday. And then the patio. The patios are
where you can do everything. You can do beer, wine, food,
whatever you want. And then we have segregated like this is the wine room
and then that's everything else. I needed some little sanctuary, so this is
our little spot. And so one thing we have consistently maintained through this whole
period of time even with COVID is on Friday, as we do Words to
Live by Speaker series and so we've been doing it now for gosh. Since
since twenty twelve, it's almost every Friday and we talk about every topic.
You know. This last Friday we talked about trauma and healing. The friday
before we're talking about mindfulness. There friday before we talked, we had our
local friends. We just opened their distillery and they brought samples and talked and
cookie company came the other day. I mean, we talk about everything,
and it's a really informal way. Anybody can come get a glass or not,
and it's just people just talk about their loves and it's very engaged.
We ask questions and so we've done falconry, hat making, immigration, red
fermentation, cider, like, we've done it all and we have many more.
We have a good list coming up. So it's fun. So I
mean, it's not just wine, it's beer yea. And it's conversation.
Yeah, it's it's about community, so important. Definitely come on up to
SANDINAZ check out Los Alamos, great little town you cannot miss. Kastadu,
Mets and Sonya, thank you so much for joining us today and starch a
delight. Thank you for making the effort after everything you did this weekend.
Thank you, thank you, thank you guys awesome, really appreciate it.
Let's go take some wine. Let's do it. Thanks for listening to a
new episode of Wind Soundtrack USSAY. For details and updates, visit our website
wind soundtracks dot com.