WEBVTT 1 00:00:00.560 --> 00:00:06.040 Welcome to Wine Soundtrack USA. Listen to the passion with which producers narrate their 2 00:00:06.080 --> 00:00:11.359 winery and their world. In thirty answers discover their stories, personalities, and 3 00:00:11.439 --> 00:00:15.000 passions. Hello, friends and listeners of Wine Soundtrack. This is Alson Levine 4 00:00:15.080 --> 00:00:19.039 and today I'm sitting with Greg Morthold, the winemaker of Davis Spyinhum Winery in 5 00:00:19.079 --> 00:00:22.960 the Russian River Valley in Sonoma. Greg, welcome to Wine Soundtrack and tell 6 00:00:23.039 --> 00:00:26.359 us a little bit about Davis Binum. Yeah, it's great to be here, 7 00:00:26.399 --> 00:00:32.880 Alison. Yeah, Davis Spyinum is a historic label. Davis ended up 8 00:00:32.880 --> 00:00:37.079 making the very first single vineyard Russian River pino back in nineteen seventy three and 9 00:00:37.159 --> 00:00:41.880 so, but the storied history goes back even further back in nineteen fifty one, 10 00:00:42.640 --> 00:00:45.399 when he was all of twenty five years old. He and a friend 11 00:00:45.399 --> 00:00:48.560 who I think was also twenty five. They're up on Spring Mountain and Napa 12 00:00:48.759 --> 00:00:53.439 at his friend's little family winery, I guess, and they decided they were 13 00:00:53.439 --> 00:00:56.079 going to make wine. They wanted to go make a little garage wine. 14 00:00:56.119 --> 00:01:00.600 So they hopped in the car, drove down into the valley and just found 15 00:01:00.719 --> 00:01:04.400 the first guy that was unloading grapes off the back of a truck, a 16 00:01:04.439 --> 00:01:07.920 guy who's named Robert Mndavi. Little little would they know, right, he's 17 00:01:07.920 --> 00:01:11.120 probably all of about ten years older than they were, right, and not 18 00:01:11.159 --> 00:01:15.040 a household name at that point, and it's just some guy. And so 19 00:01:15.120 --> 00:01:18.480 they bought some petizza off of him, you know, some lugs that he 20 00:01:18.519 --> 00:01:21.439 was unloading off the back of a truck. And so they took that home. 21 00:01:21.680 --> 00:01:23.799 They bought it for a dollar eighty. He told me it was just 22 00:01:23.840 --> 00:01:27.079 like, you know, just next to nothing, especially since you have had 23 00:01:27.120 --> 00:01:30.359 a few zeros today to that. Yeah, yeah, can you imagine, 24 00:01:30.400 --> 00:01:34.519 oh my god, the steal of this century. So he said that turned 25 00:01:34.519 --> 00:01:38.760 out really well. You know, they fermented it and they enjoyed that. 26 00:01:38.879 --> 00:01:42.159 And so a couple of weeks later, they do the same thing. Get 27 00:01:42.159 --> 00:01:44.959 in the car, drive I guess further up the valley, run into a 28 00:01:44.959 --> 00:01:49.319 guy named Louis Martini, you know, because those were the days, like 29 00:01:49.359 --> 00:01:53.079 anybody you would run into would be nowadays a household name. Right, So 30 00:01:53.319 --> 00:01:56.519 bought some cabernet off of him. Fermented that that was great too, and 31 00:01:56.560 --> 00:02:00.719 so that was kind of like the start for Davis. With wine making. 32 00:02:00.799 --> 00:02:07.480 So he would do that from nineteen fifty one through when he started commercial wine 33 00:02:07.519 --> 00:02:10.319 making really, which was nineteen sixty five. So if we jump up to 34 00:02:10.360 --> 00:02:15.159 there he was. He was in the interim, by the way, he 35 00:02:15.199 --> 00:02:17.400 was a journalist, he was. Yeah, he worked for the San Francisco 36 00:02:17.520 --> 00:02:23.240 Chronicle. Wow. Interestingly. Yeah, so did you write about wine? 37 00:02:23.439 --> 00:02:25.560 You know, I don't think he did. But he told me a story 38 00:02:25.560 --> 00:02:30.360 about hanging out with Jane Mansfield once. Yeah, So she came into town 39 00:02:30.439 --> 00:02:35.360 and I think Davis was with his wife, Dorothy, and they were they 40 00:02:35.599 --> 00:02:38.199 had to take her ad right, to take Jane Mansfield out on the town, 41 00:02:38.719 --> 00:02:42.000 and for some reason he told me that she wanted to go to like 42 00:02:42.039 --> 00:02:47.360 a burlesque club. So that's what they did. Anyway, we digress. 43 00:02:47.680 --> 00:02:52.000 Yeah, I don't know what to ask to do it fine, but I 44 00:02:52.039 --> 00:02:57.039 was just painting a picture here of Davis was great. So yeah, he 45 00:02:57.080 --> 00:03:00.039 in nineteen sixty five, he retires from and a journalist. He was just 46 00:03:00.120 --> 00:03:05.439 kind of at these crossroads in his career and he starts a winery. So 47 00:03:05.520 --> 00:03:08.879 David Spineham Winery. We have an old picture. It's in Albany, California, 48 00:03:08.879 --> 00:03:13.000 which is right next to Berkeley in the East Bay. And so he 49 00:03:13.080 --> 00:03:15.879 started at this plumbing warehouse because it had floor drains and whatnot, and it 50 00:03:15.919 --> 00:03:19.479 was kind of set up for that. But yeah, then he built it 51 00:03:19.479 --> 00:03:23.159 out into a small winery. He ended up buying grapes, you know, 52 00:03:23.199 --> 00:03:27.080 from here and there, and he ended up knowing the Weenties and the Spastianies 53 00:03:27.120 --> 00:03:30.240 were friends, and you know, he was buying grapes from all over and 54 00:03:30.280 --> 00:03:35.159 all kinds of different wines too, blending him to his own tastes and bottling 55 00:03:35.159 --> 00:03:38.919 it. And so those were kind of the days. And so he bought 56 00:03:39.000 --> 00:03:44.080 a vineyard up in Napa where Whitehall Lane is now. He used to own 57 00:03:44.159 --> 00:03:46.960 that property, but things didn't work out. He wasn't able to build a 58 00:03:47.000 --> 00:03:50.680 winery there. The residents kind of came out in a tour de force and 59 00:03:50.680 --> 00:03:53.199 were like, no more wineries, like you know, nineteen seventy one or 60 00:03:53.240 --> 00:03:59.919 something like this. Right, So then he has this fateful dinner in December 61 00:04:00.120 --> 00:04:05.120 of nineteen seventy two, and it's with the Allen family that lived right next 62 00:04:05.120 --> 00:04:10.400 to the Rocchioli's on West Side Road, and so of course this plays into 63 00:04:10.800 --> 00:04:15.240 history. They had a bottle. The Rocchiolis had planted pino in nineteen sixty 64 00:04:15.280 --> 00:04:19.399 eight and very early, and so they had a bottle of that homebrew pino 65 00:04:19.480 --> 00:04:23.160 on the table. They were selling it for one hundred and fifty dollars a 66 00:04:23.199 --> 00:04:26.680 ton to Martini and pratty So winery down the road, and it was just 67 00:04:26.720 --> 00:04:30.399 going into this mixed red wine as pino noir did at that time. Yes, 68 00:04:30.600 --> 00:04:36.000 right, yeah, no, varrietal wines really are no recognition whatsoever. 69 00:04:38.160 --> 00:04:42.439 And so, yeah, they had dinner and this the wine just knocked him 70 00:04:42.439 --> 00:04:45.120 out and asked him about it, and he said it just reminded him of 71 00:04:45.160 --> 00:04:47.399 these great burgundies that he'd had, and he loved the red fruit and the 72 00:04:47.480 --> 00:04:53.319 velvety tannins, and I thought, very apt descriptors even for today's pino noirs. 73 00:04:53.439 --> 00:04:57.079 And the rest is history, right. Yeah, he bought an old 74 00:04:57.079 --> 00:05:00.319 top kiln, turned it into a winery and yeah, nineteen seventy three started 75 00:05:00.319 --> 00:05:03.639 making wine on West Side Road. And so Davis Bynum was traditionally a Peano 76 00:05:03.720 --> 00:05:08.040 no oar house or what other varieties or I should say, fast forward, 77 00:05:08.279 --> 00:05:12.319 what are the varieties that are made under Davis Binum today? It is pino 78 00:05:12.399 --> 00:05:15.600 noir centric, So yeah, we do a Russian River pino noir and then 79 00:05:15.680 --> 00:05:20.040 we do three currently three single vineyards. One's kind of a fanciful name, 80 00:05:20.079 --> 00:05:25.160 so we can we can go from this or that, but yeah, and 81 00:05:25.199 --> 00:05:29.639 there's currently a little bit extra where we bought some Bochigaloopi fruit this last year, 82 00:05:29.720 --> 00:05:32.360 so it could be a fourth wine. But we also do a River 83 00:05:32.399 --> 00:05:35.920 West Shardinay. It's a single vineyard Schardnay, as well as a little little 84 00:05:35.920 --> 00:05:40.519 dinky Chardnay, about one hundred and fifty cases called the Gravel Lens, which 85 00:05:40.560 --> 00:05:43.519 is a lot of fun. It's very floral, and then a little soft 86 00:05:43.600 --> 00:05:47.600 blanc okay, and rose. We have done a rose, yeah, because 87 00:05:47.639 --> 00:05:49.800 if you have pino noir, you have rose. Right, We do have 88 00:05:49.800 --> 00:05:53.519 a little rose, yes, although I haven't made it in the last couple 89 00:05:53.560 --> 00:05:55.920 of years, so the last finish was twenty twenty one, but yeah, 90 00:05:55.959 --> 00:05:58.279 we do still have a little bit of that available too. And what is 91 00:05:58.279 --> 00:06:01.279 the total case production of Davis Spinum. We do about thirty five thousand cases 92 00:06:01.319 --> 00:06:06.439 total out of those wines. Out of those seven wines to are are you 93 00:06:06.439 --> 00:06:11.000 know our Russian River pinots a little larger production and that river West Chartenay, 94 00:06:11.319 --> 00:06:15.000 it's it's a substantial vineyard's many blocks. We still cherry picket, but we 95 00:06:15.040 --> 00:06:18.480 have one hundred and seventy acres there. We make about fifteen thousand cases of 96 00:06:18.480 --> 00:06:21.399 that and it's just a lovely wine. But yeah, between those two wines, 97 00:06:21.399 --> 00:06:25.720 it's carrying the brunt of that, and then there's the little gravel ends, 98 00:06:25.759 --> 00:06:28.920 the little soft blanc, the three little or four little pinots, you 99 00:06:28.959 --> 00:06:32.800 know that they add in probably a total of like another fifteen hundred cases or 100 00:06:32.800 --> 00:06:36.199 something. And aside from like purchasing a little batch of galoopi, as you 101 00:06:36.240 --> 00:06:41.000 mentioned, are you all a state fruit? Let's see. No, it's 102 00:06:41.040 --> 00:06:44.439 not well in a way. Yeah, when we are contracts, we're not. 103 00:06:44.560 --> 00:06:46.079 We don't own all the vineyards. Let me put it that way. 104 00:06:46.240 --> 00:06:49.759 It's it's so it's not a state in that sense now, but there is 105 00:06:51.079 --> 00:06:55.000 you know the clauses. I think if you have contracts that are at least 106 00:06:55.079 --> 00:06:58.879 it's either two or three years running in their ongoing, you can you can 107 00:06:59.000 --> 00:07:01.240 call that a state like on your label. So tricky answer, but I 108 00:07:01.240 --> 00:07:03.920 think the reality is the question is going to No, we don't own all 109 00:07:03.959 --> 00:07:10.680 the fruit. We purchase the Dutton fruit and we're purchasing currently a little bit 110 00:07:10.720 --> 00:07:14.839 of savignon blanc from the Hall Road vineyard. But we own the River West 111 00:07:14.879 --> 00:07:17.879 vinyards, so the chardonnay is all owned and the pino from the Russian River 112 00:07:18.600 --> 00:07:24.480 pino is probably about fifty percent off that estate. So it's quite a bit 113 00:07:24.560 --> 00:07:29.759 the state. And where are Davis Bynham wines found? Are they nationally in 114 00:07:29.800 --> 00:07:33.040 all markets? Are they direct to consumer? Little of both? Yeah? 115 00:07:33.120 --> 00:07:36.480 Yeah, are Russian River pinot and that River West chardonnay. You can find 116 00:07:36.519 --> 00:07:41.199 those nationally distributed, so they'd be in fine wine shops. It's it's actually 117 00:07:41.399 --> 00:07:45.160 highly in restaurants, so it's quite a bit of a non premise brand. 118 00:07:45.199 --> 00:07:47.360 It's called. And then the little pinos, you know they're for the wine 119 00:07:47.360 --> 00:07:50.920 club, but you can also buy them online. Yeah www Davis Bynham dot 120 00:07:50.959 --> 00:07:53.879 com. Okay, I few, we got all that that out of the 121 00:07:53.879 --> 00:07:58.279 way. Now we can talk about you. So correct tell me what is 122 00:07:58.519 --> 00:08:05.240 what is like your first memory relevant to wine? Well, this is maybe 123 00:08:05.399 --> 00:08:09.279 more embarrassing. People have like these glory stories about all these fantastic wines as 124 00:08:09.319 --> 00:08:13.800 well. So I have several stories, but the people's first experiences are not 125 00:08:13.120 --> 00:08:18.680 usually with fantastic wines. The question is were you five or were you twenty 126 00:08:18.720 --> 00:08:24.800 one? It was more like I think eight, yeah, yeah, And 127 00:08:24.839 --> 00:08:31.560 so my parents really enjoyed like having sweet wines, and so they would buy 128 00:08:31.600 --> 00:08:35.519 some Mogen David or whatever. And in particular, I remember Mogen David's actually 129 00:08:35.519 --> 00:08:39.679 that sticks out in my memory, and I remember just scrambling to try to 130 00:08:39.759 --> 00:08:41.039 get them to give us a little more. I mean it was just sweet 131 00:08:41.080 --> 00:08:46.759 and syurpy and yummy, you know, just BlackBerry yum yum. So yeah, 132 00:08:46.799 --> 00:08:48.879 Thanksgiving and Christmas that's when the Mogen David came out. And I remember 133 00:08:48.879 --> 00:08:52.240 the little cups, even these little plastic cups with the little speckles on it, 134 00:08:52.320 --> 00:08:56.159 you know, and they came in four different colors. So me and 135 00:08:56.200 --> 00:08:58.320 my two sisters, you know, we just enjoyed that, but we were 136 00:08:58.360 --> 00:09:01.960 always pining for another cup of it, you know, feeling so mature, 137 00:09:01.039 --> 00:09:05.399 right yeah, right, just like sophisticated pinkies in the air. So now 138 00:09:05.480 --> 00:09:09.080 let's move forward to what is one of those memorable wines. What was an 139 00:09:09.080 --> 00:09:13.960 occasion what was the wine where you had one of those aha moments? Oh 140 00:09:15.080 --> 00:09:20.000 one. I can remember two. I can remember one specifically and the other 141 00:09:20.039 --> 00:09:22.879 one in a little more general sense. We had gone to visit a friend 142 00:09:22.000 --> 00:09:28.440 in Madrid and his father worked for the OIV in Europe, and so it 143 00:09:28.480 --> 00:09:31.639 was pretty high up the food chain there, and so they gave us a 144 00:09:31.759 --> 00:09:35.080 grand reserve Temporaneo, and I wish I remembered the brand or had kept the 145 00:09:35.200 --> 00:09:39.679 quirk and all that, and we just my wife and I had a fantastic 146 00:09:39.759 --> 00:09:41.879 time with that wine in glen Ellen, you know, at a restaurant in 147 00:09:41.919 --> 00:09:46.679 glen Ellen, and so it was a memory of course of their the family 148 00:09:46.720 --> 00:09:50.639 and who we still are in touch with. A different one. I'll give 149 00:09:50.679 --> 00:09:54.840 a shout out to a neighbor winery who does zinfandel. So Sigasio, we 150 00:09:54.879 --> 00:10:00.440 hadd this lovely cortina zen like many many years ago when I was just new 151 00:10:00.440 --> 00:10:03.960 in the industry, and that was a nice hook into wine too. Just 152 00:10:03.960 --> 00:10:09.559 how lovely that wine was. Wow. So memorable wines because of place and 153 00:10:09.600 --> 00:10:11.519 time, but also the people you drink it with. Yes, absolutely, 154 00:10:13.720 --> 00:10:16.679 And then you know there's wines like when in later years going to Europe of 155 00:10:16.679 --> 00:10:20.240 course and going through Burgundy. Oh yeah, There's been some really really great 156 00:10:20.240 --> 00:10:22.679 ones. So if we were to come to your home, now, what 157 00:10:22.759 --> 00:10:26.399 kind of wines do you have in your home? What do you and your 158 00:10:26.440 --> 00:10:30.559 wife drink? Is it a lot of your own wine or wines you've collected 159 00:10:30.559 --> 00:10:33.559 around the world, particular varieties, particular regions, A little both, Yeah, 160 00:10:33.639 --> 00:10:39.480 I mean, so I will buy worldwide wines. The whole Foods is 161 00:10:39.559 --> 00:10:41.679 close at store to us, and you know, I'll kind of chop through 162 00:10:41.679 --> 00:10:45.360 there a little bit. I mean it's amazing what you can do for fifteen 163 00:10:45.440 --> 00:10:50.159 or twenty dollars really and like Pickpool Blanc for instance, or Muska Day or 164 00:10:50.159 --> 00:10:52.919 something like that. You know, just really sailing, you know, just 165 00:10:54.120 --> 00:10:58.679 fun white wines that are I think complicated enough and just go great with certain 166 00:10:58.720 --> 00:11:03.639 food especially, and just fresh and fun. But you know, kind of 167 00:11:03.759 --> 00:11:07.360 bigger wines too, Reds from Italy and suave, you know, so whites, 168 00:11:07.399 --> 00:11:11.639 reds just from here and there and everywhere. Yeah, Garganega and just 169 00:11:11.679 --> 00:11:16.639 you know, I love exploring the world, but mostly in my cellar is 170 00:11:16.720 --> 00:11:20.879 pino noir. And so you know, I've got some neighbor wineries that I've 171 00:11:20.879 --> 00:11:24.960 traded wine with. I just traded with Kerath from Brullium. So I've got 172 00:11:24.960 --> 00:11:30.120 some of her wines back back at home to drink a rose chardonay, a 173 00:11:30.120 --> 00:11:31.919 couple of different of her pinos and I and she's got some of mine. 174 00:11:33.240 --> 00:11:35.159 And then yes, I drink my own wines too, you know, I 175 00:11:35.240 --> 00:11:39.279 always checking in and enjoying those two, so that it's mostly pino noir and 176 00:11:39.360 --> 00:11:41.200 chardonnay, and I'll dip in. I'll dip my toes into cabs in a 177 00:11:41.240 --> 00:11:46.759 little barbera from some friends or this or that. So is there anything that 178 00:11:46.799 --> 00:11:50.720 you opened recently from your cellar or maybe picked up with the market that drank 179 00:11:50.799 --> 00:11:54.120 really well? Yeah, the River West Pino. I'm really really enjoying. 180 00:11:54.159 --> 00:11:58.759 Yeah, our own wine. Yeah, yeah, sorry, not fair enough, 181 00:11:58.879 --> 00:12:03.360 that's what you most recently drank. Yeah, I just was. I'm 182 00:12:03.360 --> 00:12:05.759 pretty happy with how that wine came out. It's a new one for us, 183 00:12:05.840 --> 00:12:09.519 and I just love it. It's made mostly from the old Wenty clone 184 00:12:09.559 --> 00:12:13.039 that we have. It just kind of grows up on the vineyard itself. 185 00:12:13.080 --> 00:12:18.080 Has two benches. There's an upper bench up by a west side road, 186 00:12:18.080 --> 00:12:20.799 and there's a lower bench that reaches all the way out to the Russian River, 187 00:12:20.360 --> 00:12:24.480 and so the drop from the upper to the lower bench is probably about 188 00:12:24.480 --> 00:12:28.120 forty to fifty feet. The old wenty Clone is a little bit on the 189 00:12:28.200 --> 00:12:31.000 upper bench and then it goes down that slope and a little bit on the 190 00:12:31.000 --> 00:12:37.759 lower bench, and it just carries this really lovely kind of red, kind 191 00:12:37.799 --> 00:12:43.519 of cureche type of cherry flavored with a little floral twist, and that carries 192 00:12:43.559 --> 00:12:46.919 the wine. And then I put in this vintage, this last finach about 193 00:12:46.919 --> 00:12:50.559 thirty percent p mar which is a little more leathery and earthy, a little 194 00:12:50.559 --> 00:12:54.480 more savory, and also a little richer and more oily. And so that 195 00:12:54.639 --> 00:12:56.639 married in and a little bit of Clone one went five from the upper bench 196 00:12:56.679 --> 00:13:01.320 too, making me thirsty. I just, you know, the balance and 197 00:13:01.360 --> 00:13:05.440 the wine, which is always with something Davis always loved is balance, and 198 00:13:05.679 --> 00:13:09.279 I think we all do, but he just really emphasized having great balance and 199 00:13:09.480 --> 00:13:13.320 meaning the acid, the tannins, the richness of the warne. You know. 200 00:13:13.799 --> 00:13:18.799 So obviously, like you work with pino noir a lot, you drink 201 00:13:18.840 --> 00:13:22.320 some other wines. But I'm curious, what is your opinion. Do you 202 00:13:22.320 --> 00:13:28.279 think there's a such thing as a perfect variety hmm. I've hmm. That's 203 00:13:28.320 --> 00:13:33.120 a good question. I think pino is as tempestuous as it is is pretty 204 00:13:33.120 --> 00:13:39.240 close, just because they come out so complicated and interesting that they can be 205 00:13:39.799 --> 00:13:45.600 mind bendingly difficult too, you know at times, and you're just like in 206 00:13:45.639 --> 00:13:48.159 the vineyard or in the winery or you know, and so part of that 207 00:13:50.120 --> 00:13:52.759 part of that, I mean, is it like a rom commerce at a 208 00:13:52.759 --> 00:13:54.879 tragedy. I don't know. Pino is just a little bit of all of 209 00:13:54.960 --> 00:13:58.639 that, and that that whole journey that you go through with it just kind 210 00:13:58.639 --> 00:14:03.559 of makes it that much sweeter when you have a good one, so perfection 211 00:14:03.960 --> 00:14:15.000 through adversary, and I think I can I can think. I guess this 212 00:14:15.080 --> 00:14:18.480 is a little you know, I'm gonna knock a variety here, but you 213 00:14:18.519 --> 00:14:22.639 know, I have a hard time with the vignes. For instance, I've 214 00:14:22.639 --> 00:14:24.000 had a few good ones, and we don't make ones. So this would 215 00:14:24.000 --> 00:14:28.000 be just you know, and a shout out to anybody who can make a 216 00:14:28.039 --> 00:14:33.000 really great vigne just to stand alone. It's just that that variety sometimes legendary 217 00:14:33.080 --> 00:14:35.720 romans, but sometimes the wine just falls a little flat in the mouth. 218 00:14:37.000 --> 00:14:39.840 And I like my whites with a little better acid, you know, a 219 00:14:39.840 --> 00:14:43.000 little higher acid. So it's perhaps it's not it's perfect for some people, 220 00:14:43.039 --> 00:14:46.919 maybe just not for me. Absolutely. Well, let's talk a little bit 221 00:14:46.960 --> 00:14:52.159 about acid texture, and you spoke a little bit about picking up some complex 222 00:14:52.240 --> 00:14:54.799 wines that are also really good with food, like Peak Pool Blanc and stuff. 223 00:14:56.039 --> 00:14:58.440 How do you approach food and wine pairing. Do you think there are 224 00:14:58.480 --> 00:15:03.960 hard and fast rules. Are there certain guidelines that you use, or you 225 00:15:03.039 --> 00:15:05.879 just set your sights on what you want to open and you don't really care. 226 00:15:07.600 --> 00:15:11.480 There's a lot of that. Actually, yeah, I'm very willing to 227 00:15:11.600 --> 00:15:16.320 try probably just about anything with anything. And some things are kind of go 228 00:15:16.480 --> 00:15:22.639 together surprisingly, but some things like cheese cheeses, there's a wide I mean, 229 00:15:22.679 --> 00:15:26.480 the world of cheese is very wide. And so if it's more a 230 00:15:26.519 --> 00:15:30.360 little more saline, really, or if it's creamier and all that stuff. 231 00:15:30.399 --> 00:15:33.080 So yeah, you kind of pair up creaminess with creaminess, and so I'm 232 00:15:33.159 --> 00:15:35.759 kind of getting away from cheese in particular, or it doesn't you know, 233 00:15:35.840 --> 00:15:39.240 cheese is a good example for food, you know, I mean, yeah, 234 00:15:39.240 --> 00:15:41.840 oh yeah, it's exture. Yeah yeah, yeah, the cream cheeses 235 00:15:41.879 --> 00:15:45.039 and all that. I mean, I love manchego. I tend to like 236 00:15:45.080 --> 00:15:48.279 the semisoft cheeses are more my favorites and things that are a little bit nutty 237 00:15:48.279 --> 00:15:52.000 but kind of like like me made, perhaps a little bit nutty, but 238 00:15:52.200 --> 00:15:56.399 like I don't know, just more more mild. I do like the stronger 239 00:15:56.440 --> 00:15:58.799 ones too, But then how do you pair wine with that, because if 240 00:15:58.840 --> 00:16:03.080 you have a strong cheese versus you know, a creamy cheese versus a semi 241 00:16:03.360 --> 00:16:07.360 soft, well, the creamy cheese is I think I think wins with some 242 00:16:07.519 --> 00:16:11.240 like Chardeny is perfect for that, but I also think Sharny and Pinoar especially, 243 00:16:11.240 --> 00:16:15.360 I think Pinoar goes with a huge range of wines of foods, but 244 00:16:15.559 --> 00:16:19.840 Chardonnay like especially like a higher acid Charnay like a River West. You know, 245 00:16:21.000 --> 00:16:23.320 I think with a with a really soft cheese goes great. And so 246 00:16:23.639 --> 00:16:26.559 you know, let's say you do the you do the green apple slice right, 247 00:16:26.639 --> 00:16:32.200 so the slab of a bris on top of the green apple slice, 248 00:16:32.279 --> 00:16:37.279 and then with Shardenay, I think that would be awesome. But like normally 249 00:16:37.200 --> 00:16:41.200 you you pare tan and so if you have a pinot or are you're drinking 250 00:16:41.240 --> 00:16:44.480 a cab or whatever it may be, and then that's why people go into 251 00:16:44.720 --> 00:16:48.440 you know, bigger meats, and that protein just seems to like help wash 252 00:16:48.559 --> 00:16:52.039 that wine or they they just play together. The wine helps get lost. 253 00:16:52.200 --> 00:16:56.240 Yeah. But and the higher acid wines, yeah, it's kind of mouth 254 00:16:56.279 --> 00:17:00.919 watering. They they tend to cleanse the palette a lot. But I mean 255 00:17:00.080 --> 00:17:04.240 I really go a lot of different directions. I've seen fish, you know, 256 00:17:04.359 --> 00:17:10.920 blackened cod that the whose flavors just really went you know, in a 257 00:17:11.079 --> 00:17:14.519 in a whole different direction. All it took was that little bit of caramelizing 258 00:17:15.000 --> 00:17:18.240 you know, on that layer to add those flavors that that that went well. 259 00:17:19.319 --> 00:17:22.640 Yeah, but I'm testing it from like a white wine to a red 260 00:17:22.680 --> 00:17:26.319 wine. Yeah, absolutely, Yeah, I'm drinking yeah big panot or you 261 00:17:26.359 --> 00:17:29.160 know, a zen or a cab or something like that. But I've also 262 00:17:29.400 --> 00:17:32.720 had some disastrous results too, And sometimes like you don't see it coming and 263 00:17:32.759 --> 00:17:34.400 they're like, oh, okay, well, you know, either shelve the 264 00:17:34.400 --> 00:17:37.759 food or the wine. You gotta pick which one you're doing that night and 265 00:17:37.799 --> 00:17:40.880 try something different. Absolutely well, you know that's a whole fun of it. 266 00:17:40.960 --> 00:17:42.759 Right. If it doesn't work, you learn something, Yeah, that's 267 00:17:42.839 --> 00:17:47.279 right. Yeah, And then if if they're like you're having we don't make 268 00:17:47.279 --> 00:17:48.880 any sweet wines. But if you're having something that's off dry, you know, 269 00:17:48.880 --> 00:17:52.079 it's you have to you have to watch that sugar. Sugar and food 270 00:17:52.200 --> 00:17:55.920 is a whole. You know. Usually you want to match those things up. 271 00:17:56.799 --> 00:18:02.200 I know kind of famously will people will drink things like reasling and off 272 00:18:02.279 --> 00:18:06.559 dry wine like that with some spicy foods, and that does seem to work. 273 00:18:06.720 --> 00:18:11.839 But yeah, if you're something that I've seen at many wine dinners is 274 00:18:11.160 --> 00:18:17.279 when they pair pinot or a cab or something like that dan to the dinner 275 00:18:17.680 --> 00:18:22.359 with with a dessert that just is too sweet for it and it really doesn't 276 00:18:22.400 --> 00:18:26.759 go that well. The thing that I have seen work well is really dark 277 00:18:26.839 --> 00:18:32.920 chocolate because the tannin's the bitterness that's there that seems to work that just make 278 00:18:32.960 --> 00:18:36.359 it acceptable. But I don't know what the percentage of chocolate needs to be, 279 00:18:36.400 --> 00:18:40.119 but like up there somewhere like sixty seventy percent. See, you know 280 00:18:40.200 --> 00:18:45.160 more about food and wine puring than you let onto, so I'm curious just 281 00:18:45.240 --> 00:18:48.160 this is kind of a left field question you know out there, but what 282 00:18:48.279 --> 00:18:53.480 is your opinion on wine critics and scores. Oh, sometimes it's sometimes we 283 00:18:53.599 --> 00:18:57.599 dance, sometimes we cry. Yeah, you know, we've we've interestingly, 284 00:18:57.640 --> 00:19:00.960 you know, we've sent wines back to wine critics before saying, really, 285 00:19:02.039 --> 00:19:03.960 you know, are you sure that was whatever, and all of a sudden, 286 00:19:04.079 --> 00:19:07.680 all your score is like five points higher or something like really huge. 287 00:19:07.759 --> 00:19:11.319 Like they they taste, it's God, God bless them, you know, 288 00:19:11.359 --> 00:19:15.759 they they taste all these wines and that can't be easy on their palette. 289 00:19:15.759 --> 00:19:18.319 And I'm sure you know, they they're doing everything they can to palette cleans 290 00:19:18.319 --> 00:19:22.000 and whatever. But if you happen to be kind of later in the day, 291 00:19:22.039 --> 00:19:25.240 I mean, I think these things happen where they're they're doing the best 292 00:19:25.240 --> 00:19:27.200 they can. But if they've had one hundred wines that day or yeah, 293 00:19:27.319 --> 00:19:30.240 forty five and they were kind of bigger wines, you know, it's just 294 00:19:30.599 --> 00:19:33.720 there's got to be some palette fatigue and so but yea also might be the 295 00:19:33.720 --> 00:19:37.920 one of the first flight that day and just really benefit from them being ten 296 00:19:38.000 --> 00:19:41.039 in the morning and them having a really fresh palette. But I know from 297 00:19:41.079 --> 00:19:45.440 my own experience that that can be really tough. And so they're they're doing 298 00:19:45.480 --> 00:19:48.799 a job for they're they're they're doing a service for people, you know, 299 00:19:48.880 --> 00:19:52.440 putting those scores out there in the descriptors. But I do think it's important 300 00:19:52.480 --> 00:19:56.240 that people look beyond just the number, and they should read the description of 301 00:19:56.319 --> 00:20:03.319 what they're saying, and because that's really insight and it helps explain what they're 302 00:20:03.400 --> 00:20:06.119 talking about. If they just gave you a number, it just really is 303 00:20:06.200 --> 00:20:08.759 kind of bland. Well, so a DESCRIPTI will tell a lot. And 304 00:20:08.799 --> 00:20:12.119 I want you to describe. If somebody has not had Davis Spinham wines yet, 305 00:20:12.240 --> 00:20:15.400 what are they missing out on? Oh gosh, you know, I'd 306 00:20:15.400 --> 00:20:22.240 say very food friendly and diverse, an array of pino noirs and a couple 307 00:20:22.319 --> 00:20:26.039 of chardenay's there. What they're missing out on is really a wine, I 308 00:20:26.079 --> 00:20:30.960 mean, something that will take you to what the Russian River I think does 309 00:20:30.039 --> 00:20:34.200 best, you know, which is those Burgundy varieties. And even as diverse 310 00:20:34.240 --> 00:20:37.680 as things are in the Russian River and as many varieties that are planted there, 311 00:20:37.960 --> 00:20:41.680 I mean, we're really known for pino noir and chardonay, and so 312 00:20:41.839 --> 00:20:45.279 tasting Davis Spineum wines, you get a little piece of history, but you'll 313 00:20:45.279 --> 00:20:48.960 taste something that, in my opinion, patting myself in the back a little 314 00:20:48.960 --> 00:20:53.400 bit. But you know, we strive for balance, and so our style 315 00:20:53.559 --> 00:20:57.440 isn't a super high extracted style, which is a little more popular right now. 316 00:20:57.799 --> 00:21:02.200 It's it's just a little more acid balanced, i'd say in general. 317 00:21:02.599 --> 00:21:06.160 And if space aliens were to land on your property right now, which of 318 00:21:06.200 --> 00:21:08.279 your wines would you want to welcome them with them with? Just say welcome 319 00:21:08.279 --> 00:21:12.400 to Davis bind them. I'd give them, Oh, I'd give them, 320 00:21:12.480 --> 00:21:17.519 Let's see, I'd probably I'd probably start them off with the River West Chardinay, 321 00:21:17.640 --> 00:21:19.799 you know, let that be an introduction. If they can handle they 322 00:21:19.799 --> 00:21:23.200 could handle the fresh acidity and nice creamy French oak in that wine, then 323 00:21:23.240 --> 00:21:27.400 we'd go places from there. So a question for you, is a wine 324 00:21:27.440 --> 00:21:32.880 drinker red white or rose or orange? Oh? Yeah, yeah, there's 325 00:21:32.920 --> 00:21:37.839 that. Oh I'd say red. Yeah, Okay, still are sparkling? 326 00:21:38.480 --> 00:21:42.240 Still? Okay? See easy questions. I can all a few at you. 327 00:21:44.680 --> 00:21:51.200 So you know we're we drink a lot, We enjoy wine. We 328 00:21:51.680 --> 00:21:55.799 attend wine festivals like World of Poenair. I'm curious if you have any tips 329 00:21:55.839 --> 00:21:59.720 or trip tricks for dealing with when you drink a little too much. I 330 00:21:59.759 --> 00:22:03.000 mean, yeah, well I always keep the tile in all handy. Yeah, 331 00:22:03.000 --> 00:22:07.720 and this does happen in the industry especially this is this event runs on 332 00:22:07.839 --> 00:22:10.759 for you know, I came down for the Texan Buzzion before Whoopin, so 333 00:22:10.799 --> 00:22:15.799 I've been down here since Tuesday. Really yeah, a lot of yeah, 334 00:22:15.839 --> 00:22:19.279 a little bit of all but that before that. Mostly it's just about when 335 00:22:19.279 --> 00:22:23.039 you're at a wine event, making sure that you just you have SIPs of 336 00:22:23.079 --> 00:22:27.000 water and all you have to do. You go around and don't drink the 337 00:22:27.039 --> 00:22:30.759 wine. Like try if you're really gonna go in for the long haul. 338 00:22:32.119 --> 00:22:36.519 Make sure that you you expectorate. It's the point where of saying spit so 339 00:22:37.000 --> 00:22:38.920 you get the full flavors of the wine, and you put it in your 340 00:22:38.920 --> 00:22:42.720 mouth, you roll it around, you get the full flavors, but spit 341 00:22:42.799 --> 00:22:45.640 it out and then take a little sip of wine. Because I guarantee you 342 00:22:45.799 --> 00:22:48.920 I at work, you know, when we're tasting thirty pinos and we're going 343 00:22:48.920 --> 00:22:52.480 through a blending process and we're doing this for hours, you can feel it 344 00:22:52.559 --> 00:22:56.160 after a while. Wine water wine water, yeah yeah, or wine wine 345 00:22:56.200 --> 00:23:00.119 water, wine wine wine water, something like that. Yeah, just little 346 00:23:00.160 --> 00:23:03.279 SIPs, little SIPs will take you through the day. So how many harvests 347 00:23:03.279 --> 00:23:07.640 have you worked? Oh, I've been so. Rodney Strong bought David Spinham 348 00:23:08.279 --> 00:23:12.359 in two thousand and seven. I've been at Rodney Strong since since two thousand 349 00:23:12.359 --> 00:23:15.920 and five, so for eighteen years of Rodney Strong. Prior to that, 350 00:23:15.960 --> 00:23:18.599 I was at Chalkhill Winery for two years, and then prior to that, 351 00:23:18.680 --> 00:23:23.759 I was a lab tech at a company called Vinquarry. So I've worked harvests 352 00:23:23.799 --> 00:23:29.400 since nineteen ninety nine. So it's been twenty four Yeah, well and all 353 00:23:29.440 --> 00:23:32.359 in the Sonoma area, all in the Sonoma area, all in the Russian 354 00:23:32.440 --> 00:23:37.119 River. So we know that every vintage tells a different story. But in 355 00:23:37.160 --> 00:23:41.119 your experience of twenty four years, you know in the valley, how much 356 00:23:41.279 --> 00:23:45.640 vintage variation do we see from year to year? Is it? You know, 357 00:23:45.680 --> 00:23:51.480 are the wines so different or is there more commonality that you find or 358 00:23:51.519 --> 00:23:55.319 have things changed over twenty four years. I think if you if you take 359 00:23:55.359 --> 00:23:59.200 it as a circle and then you carve out, like some pizza slice, 360 00:23:59.400 --> 00:24:03.920 spectrums within there looking at like the little the little air that that range. 361 00:24:04.039 --> 00:24:10.519 There's a range. So certain blocks of pino they're they're in that range. 362 00:24:10.559 --> 00:24:12.839 And so now I've seen you know, hot years, I've seen very cool 363 00:24:12.920 --> 00:24:17.400 years or wet years, or you know, I've seen all all kinds of 364 00:24:17.480 --> 00:24:19.599 you know, drought years and all kinds of stuff, and some of these 365 00:24:19.599 --> 00:24:22.319 things, you know, I'm not I'm still not sure on what the effect 366 00:24:22.440 --> 00:24:25.799 is. You know, like a drought year. Of course, you know 367 00:24:25.920 --> 00:24:29.839 there's there's gonna be a lot less groundwater for those fines, so we'll start 368 00:24:29.920 --> 00:24:33.680 dripper derrigating a little earlier. So does that I don't know, but that 369 00:24:33.839 --> 00:24:37.400 tends to be I think that you'd get smaller berries those years, and then 370 00:24:37.440 --> 00:24:41.279 you'd have more concentration. At least that's something that I would expect. But 371 00:24:41.359 --> 00:24:45.880 yeah, you kind of find those wines to be floating around somewhere in this 372 00:24:47.119 --> 00:24:52.720 sector or that sector or whatever. So Pino Noirs from the center of the 373 00:24:52.799 --> 00:24:56.200 Russian River so an area called the center Rosa Plains. They it's growing on 374 00:24:57.160 --> 00:25:00.599 more clay based soil. There's a soil out there called wa Chica clay loam, 375 00:25:02.119 --> 00:25:04.680 and it's got a little layer of volcanic ash that's down there, a 376 00:25:04.680 --> 00:25:08.559 hard pan that's really tough to dig through. But yeah, it's this clay 377 00:25:08.599 --> 00:25:15.680 loam, and the wines that come from that center area tend to be a 378 00:25:15.680 --> 00:25:18.400 little more savory, i'd say, and a little more yeah, a little 379 00:25:18.480 --> 00:25:22.599 more generous in the mouth, a little richer, but definitely more savory versus 380 00:25:22.880 --> 00:25:27.880 the wines from the Green Valley, which is a nested appellation within the Russian 381 00:25:27.960 --> 00:25:32.799 River, a much cooler area. The berry fruit tones in those wines are 382 00:25:32.880 --> 00:25:37.799 just amazing, and so just a really nice bouquet of fruit and higher acidities. 383 00:25:37.880 --> 00:25:40.960 So not as I mean, vined variation plays apart, but it's really 384 00:25:40.960 --> 00:25:47.359 more specific to where it's grown. Yes, So the very specific like what 385 00:25:47.400 --> 00:25:52.200 you'd call the meso climate. Actually, so the we have it's a misnomer 386 00:25:52.200 --> 00:25:56.160 to say micro climate. So the vineyard people always like smack wine makers around 387 00:25:56.160 --> 00:25:59.480 for saying this microclimate, this micro climate that. Yeah, the microclimate would 388 00:25:59.480 --> 00:26:03.400 be literally like the climate like right there or in that vine you know, 389 00:26:03.559 --> 00:26:07.240 So the mesle climate basically, just to get a little geeky for a sec 390 00:26:07.359 --> 00:26:11.640 is is the vineyard itself? The climate at that vineyard so teary? Yeah, 391 00:26:11.680 --> 00:26:15.279 and so yeah, it's it's the climate that allows us. This is 392 00:26:15.279 --> 00:26:18.480 a good thing to point out. So the climate that allows us to grow 393 00:26:18.079 --> 00:26:21.960 world class grapes there, and then the soils come after that, Like, 394 00:26:22.240 --> 00:26:26.000 doesn't matter what the soils are. If the climate wasn't conducive, then we 395 00:26:26.039 --> 00:26:29.279 wouldn't be growing pino noir there, no matter what the soils are. Now 396 00:26:29.279 --> 00:26:32.039 we do like to talk about the soils because they do make a difference, 397 00:26:32.119 --> 00:26:38.200 but it comes after the climate. Climate and are there any signs or predictors 398 00:26:38.200 --> 00:26:41.079 that you look for that are going to tell you what a vintage is going 399 00:26:41.119 --> 00:26:45.799 to give you? I look, well, so heat spikes, you know, 400 00:26:45.960 --> 00:26:49.960 I start thinking that the wines will that vintage in particularly the reds. 401 00:26:51.039 --> 00:26:53.119 You're gonna ferment on the skins, we'll have more tanins in a warmer year 402 00:26:53.319 --> 00:26:59.119 generally, and then depending on things, yeah, I mean that might that 403 00:26:59.240 --> 00:27:04.039 might influence like how much oak we use and how much time we leave them 404 00:27:04.039 --> 00:27:08.119 on the skins, which is called couvason, So you know those kinds of 405 00:27:08.119 --> 00:27:11.359 things, like how much tannins are you going to extract? You're gonna get 406 00:27:11.400 --> 00:27:12.400 them out of the seeds in the skins. The longer you leave them on, 407 00:27:12.440 --> 00:27:15.720 the more tannins they'll pick up. If you had a warm year where 408 00:27:15.759 --> 00:27:19.960 there's more tannins and the berries to begin with, which tends to happen with 409 00:27:21.559 --> 00:27:26.240 light exposure and temperature, then that might influence. So it gets the gears 410 00:27:26.279 --> 00:27:30.240 turning in your head and you start thinking about these things. Of course, 411 00:27:30.319 --> 00:27:33.400 before you're picking, you know, through harvest, you're out there eating fruit, 412 00:27:33.440 --> 00:27:38.440 tasting fruit, and so I, regardless of what I thought of the 413 00:27:38.519 --> 00:27:44.359 vintage at that point, I'm dialing in what I'm gonna do based on what 414 00:27:44.440 --> 00:27:47.519 I'm sensing going up and down those roads and tasting the fruit. But I've 415 00:27:47.519 --> 00:27:51.720 already kind of got that mindset in place from you ever talk to the vines. 416 00:27:51.839 --> 00:27:55.079 Oh yeah, yeah, yeah. In fact, I had a like 417 00:27:55.160 --> 00:27:57.759 kind of a bit of an emotional reaction actually after seeing one of our old 418 00:27:57.799 --> 00:28:02.960 vineyards. We sold it and then after a walk the vineyard many many years, 419 00:28:03.000 --> 00:28:06.440 it's called Jane's, and so we sold it back in twenty twenty one, 420 00:28:06.720 --> 00:28:08.160 right before we bought the River West Vineyard, which is, you know, 421 00:28:08.200 --> 00:28:11.480 our new home there on the West Side Road. But then they bulled 422 00:28:11.480 --> 00:28:15.279 those those vines and I went over there and saw that. I was, 423 00:28:15.640 --> 00:28:18.319 you know, really had a moment because those you know, they are living 424 00:28:18.359 --> 00:28:22.160 things. Not get too hippy dippy here, but their plants, they can't 425 00:28:22.240 --> 00:28:26.240 move a tumbleweeds, can't apologize to them. You said, I'm so sorry 426 00:28:26.240 --> 00:28:29.319 this is happening to you. I had a little moment, it was I 427 00:28:29.359 --> 00:28:33.400 was in church out there for a sec. Yeah. In all the years 428 00:28:33.440 --> 00:28:37.200 that you've been doing harvest, have you established any sort of pre harvest traditions, 429 00:28:37.240 --> 00:28:42.480 any champagne bottles, any no shaving, any, any sort of traditions 430 00:28:42.480 --> 00:28:48.000 for yourself or for your team? Yeah? Sent, Well, you know 431 00:28:48.079 --> 00:28:51.519 the crush brush as they call the beards that winemakers grow, the male winemakers 432 00:28:51.559 --> 00:28:55.599 grow. Yeah, I mean I tend to grow beard, you know, 433 00:28:55.720 --> 00:28:57.359 at that point in time, and I have a real stubbly short one right 434 00:28:57.400 --> 00:29:00.720 now. But I also tend to do that periodically over the year anyway. 435 00:29:00.880 --> 00:29:04.079 So I guess I don't really have any hard and fast traditions. No, 436 00:29:04.279 --> 00:29:07.559 I just we meet as a team and we kind of get a game plan 437 00:29:07.640 --> 00:29:11.839 together, and I don't know, we get out there and go do it. 438 00:29:11.880 --> 00:29:14.519 But yeah, you kind of get into this mindset. And for me, 439 00:29:15.200 --> 00:29:18.559 I'm I'm always one that is kind of taking baby steps up to the 440 00:29:18.640 --> 00:29:22.519 point, like I don't feel like just launching off into crush. I feel 441 00:29:22.559 --> 00:29:26.240 like kind of lining up my ducks. I'm a little more My desk wouldn't 442 00:29:26.240 --> 00:29:30.519 show you that I'm more organized as but I am, you know in my 443 00:29:30.160 --> 00:29:33.160 mind and how I like to get one thing done before the next and for 444 00:29:33.279 --> 00:29:37.480 the next. I'm methodical in that way. So when you were a little 445 00:29:37.519 --> 00:29:38.880 boy, what did you want to be when you grew up? A pilot? 446 00:29:40.240 --> 00:29:41.759 Yeah? Yeah, I wanted to be a pilot. How far did 447 00:29:41.759 --> 00:29:45.559 you get into that? Well, I was let's see, my dad was 448 00:29:45.599 --> 00:29:49.200 in the Air Force, so there was that. He was in B fifty 449 00:29:49.200 --> 00:29:52.279 two, so he was, you know, and we traveled around. I 450 00:29:52.400 --> 00:29:57.000 to this day love planes, you know, I've always loved planes, being 451 00:29:57.039 --> 00:30:00.960 at the airports, flying unless it's really like really rocky. You know. 452 00:30:00.000 --> 00:30:03.960 It's a couple of memorable ones, including one not too long ago where everybody 453 00:30:04.000 --> 00:30:07.200 clapped as soon as we got down, you know, it was a clapper. 454 00:30:07.559 --> 00:30:10.559 Yeah, those those are a little tense. But no, I wanted 455 00:30:10.559 --> 00:30:11.960 to be a pilot and in the Air Force, and so I was thinking 456 00:30:11.960 --> 00:30:15.880 about going to the Air Force Academy while applying anyway, and uh, and 457 00:30:15.920 --> 00:30:19.799 then at a certain point I was thinking about going to like an aeronautical university 458 00:30:19.960 --> 00:30:22.599 really and studying that. So I guess that would have been more like a 459 00:30:23.160 --> 00:30:29.640 like an engineering you know, like a design engineering aeronautical engineering kind of degree. 460 00:30:29.640 --> 00:30:32.359 But that was that was it early on. Yeah, and you ended 461 00:30:32.400 --> 00:30:33.680 up in wine and I ended up in wine. Well, and that's the 462 00:30:33.720 --> 00:30:37.960 next thing actually in college. So I ended up loving science. I went 463 00:30:37.000 --> 00:30:41.880 to the University of Wyoming, a little unusual. My parents are from Wyoming, 464 00:30:41.920 --> 00:30:48.119 so that's where we went. And so I I didn't go there to 465 00:30:48.160 --> 00:30:49.640 study wine. I didn't go there. There's a few wineries out there, 466 00:30:49.680 --> 00:30:52.839 surprisingly, but yeah, I didn't go there to study wine. No. 467 00:30:53.039 --> 00:30:59.319 But I at one point, with loving biology and chemistry, I thought that 468 00:30:59.440 --> 00:31:02.160 I wanted to be a dentist. And my friends were like, you want 469 00:31:02.200 --> 00:31:03.319 to stick your hands in other people's mouths all day? I said, you 470 00:31:03.359 --> 00:31:06.200 know, they work four days a week, they make good money, and 471 00:31:06.240 --> 00:31:08.079 I think I could probably do that. Yeah, But I just kind of 472 00:31:08.160 --> 00:31:11.319 liked the I like the science that was part of that was part of that 473 00:31:11.440 --> 00:31:15.240 whole degree in that field, and I was starting to kind of go in 474 00:31:15.240 --> 00:31:19.480 that direction, just barely. And then I went through college, just at 475 00:31:19.480 --> 00:31:25.079 the natural sciences degree as kind of a foundation for doing that, but the 476 00:31:25.119 --> 00:31:27.759 reality was that wasn't going to happen, and I quickly just turned my back 477 00:31:27.799 --> 00:31:30.160 on that. Well, instead of putting your hands in people's mouths, you 478 00:31:30.160 --> 00:31:33.640 put wine in people's mouths. See, it all works out, little twist. 479 00:31:34.440 --> 00:31:37.559 So when you're not making wine, how do you what do you like 480 00:31:37.599 --> 00:31:41.240 to do in your free time? How do you spend What kind of activities 481 00:31:41.319 --> 00:31:45.680 or things do you do or like? Oh, I like other than airplanes? 482 00:31:45.759 --> 00:31:49.079 Yeah, other than Yeah, I think it would be fun to get 483 00:31:49.079 --> 00:31:52.960 a pilot's license. Actually I do a little private pilot's licenes, so maybe 484 00:31:52.960 --> 00:31:56.200 someday there. But yeah, I like to hike, especially I'm I'm an 485 00:31:56.200 --> 00:31:59.319 Eagle Scout, you know, so we did a lot of time up in 486 00:31:59.319 --> 00:32:01.400 the woods. We were very active troops. So you know, that was 487 00:32:01.440 --> 00:32:05.920 a long time ago I was in boy Scouts, but I still have that 488 00:32:06.039 --> 00:32:09.359 in mind and just you know, going camping and backpacking. So we as 489 00:32:09.400 --> 00:32:13.680 a family, we haven't been backpacking in a couple of years now, but 490 00:32:14.319 --> 00:32:15.799 that's a lot of fun and I look forward to getting back out time to 491 00:32:15.799 --> 00:32:19.079 get on the road. Yeah, that's right. Oh. In road trips. 492 00:32:19.160 --> 00:32:21.920 Yeah, I love road trips. So I want to go to the 493 00:32:21.960 --> 00:32:27.160 Southwest actually get my family down to go see the Grand Canyon and do Zion 494 00:32:27.240 --> 00:32:30.160 and stuff like that. It's worth it. Yeah, yeah, absolutely. 495 00:32:30.559 --> 00:32:32.039 And I like to read, so I'll throw that out there too. You 496 00:32:32.079 --> 00:32:36.400 know, books are I just it's fun. Any favorite books are authors? 497 00:32:36.680 --> 00:32:43.799 Oh, let's see I they're one of my all time favorite books is called 498 00:32:43.880 --> 00:32:47.599 bo Jest and it's an old one. I'm forgetting the author's name. Oh, 499 00:32:47.640 --> 00:32:52.039 I think it's Perceval Christopher Wren. I think is his name. So 500 00:32:52.039 --> 00:32:55.359 this is just a fantastic story, not a long read, you know, 501 00:32:55.440 --> 00:33:00.039 it's I don't think it's two hundred pages. It's a it's a great story 502 00:33:00.079 --> 00:33:06.440 about the French Foreign Legion and some boys who are growing up in a wealthy 503 00:33:07.920 --> 00:33:14.519 I think almost like a castle really in England, and a gem, a 504 00:33:14.599 --> 00:33:19.000 jewel is stolen, this priceless gem, and then the boys, one by 505 00:33:19.079 --> 00:33:22.799 one go off to the French Foreign Legion to draw suspicion away from the rest 506 00:33:22.839 --> 00:33:25.839 of the family. As it turns out, I mean, it's one of 507 00:33:25.839 --> 00:33:30.240 those things where the lights flicked off and then they came back on a minute 508 00:33:30.279 --> 00:33:32.039 later. Everybody's screaming, and then but then the gem was gone. That 509 00:33:32.119 --> 00:33:35.880 kind of thing. I just you know, it's a look that stuck with 510 00:33:35.920 --> 00:33:37.480 you. Oh yeah, yeah, yeah, both just and I think they 511 00:33:37.480 --> 00:33:40.720 made a movie out of it too. It's really awesome. Yeah. And 512 00:33:40.799 --> 00:33:45.000 if you're planning a romantic evening for you and your wife, what kind of 513 00:33:45.039 --> 00:33:47.480 wines do you open up to set the mood or set the tone? Oh 514 00:33:47.559 --> 00:33:51.759 well, what makes for a romantic evening? Wine? Wife? Yeah? 515 00:33:51.799 --> 00:33:53.519 Well, see I always go to Penonora, but I would love to give 516 00:33:53.559 --> 00:33:58.440 something else here, because how about just to just to get out of like 517 00:33:58.519 --> 00:34:02.359 the world that I love the most, But because I do love all these 518 00:34:02.400 --> 00:34:07.880 other wines, I would say, I would say it would end up with 519 00:34:07.920 --> 00:34:09.840 a Barbera that would be a lot of fun. Yeah, some one of 520 00:34:09.880 --> 00:34:14.280 our neighbor wineries. Barbaros would be a lot of fun domestic ones. And 521 00:34:14.280 --> 00:34:19.559 then how about like starting the evening off with an Assertico from Greece. It's 522 00:34:19.559 --> 00:34:23.159 a really fun, lively, crisp white wine. Oh that's fun. So 523 00:34:23.679 --> 00:34:28.239 when you look back at your career, is there a piece of advice or 524 00:34:28.559 --> 00:34:30.360 in your life? Is there a piece of advice that someone once gave you 525 00:34:31.159 --> 00:34:35.280 that you carry with you and how you approach life or work. It could 526 00:34:35.280 --> 00:34:39.519 be a mentor a family member, or a teacher, a friend. Oh 527 00:34:39.639 --> 00:34:44.280 my Grammy, you know, before she passed away some a few years back, 528 00:34:44.400 --> 00:34:47.719 she told me to enjoy life. And you know, that is just 529 00:34:47.840 --> 00:34:52.480 one of the and she she just you know, we were in her kitchen 530 00:34:52.719 --> 00:34:55.320 and we were getting ready, getting breakfast ready, and we're just having a 531 00:34:55.360 --> 00:35:00.519 deeper conversation and she, you know, she knew she isn't going to be 532 00:35:00.599 --> 00:35:04.039 around too much longer. She was in her nineties, passed away at the 533 00:35:04.039 --> 00:35:07.199 age of ninety five. So and she, you know, she just told 534 00:35:07.239 --> 00:35:10.719 me to enjoy life and that those were kind of and she lived for another 535 00:35:10.840 --> 00:35:15.199 year or two, but she those were kind of her parting words to me 536 00:35:15.320 --> 00:35:19.199 is to make sure that whatever you do when you're out there, if it 537 00:35:19.199 --> 00:35:22.320 doesn't feel right, then something's not right. And we all go through times 538 00:35:22.320 --> 00:35:25.039 when a few things are uncomfortable in life, of course, but like if 539 00:35:25.559 --> 00:35:28.840 you can feel if you're on the right track. And boy, when I 540 00:35:28.840 --> 00:35:34.280 got into wine making, it just was really something that that sunk in and 541 00:35:34.440 --> 00:35:37.920 I you know you just you just really love it. You know, all 542 00:35:37.920 --> 00:35:39.880 the winemakers that I know just really love it as I do. I love 543 00:35:39.880 --> 00:35:44.119 that. So when you look back at your career, what would you say 544 00:35:44.199 --> 00:35:46.840 is one of your proudest achievements to date? Oh, well, there's a 545 00:35:46.880 --> 00:35:50.920 particular wine I can think of it I'm super proud of. Yeah, there's 546 00:35:51.000 --> 00:35:52.679 there's none left, So please don't call the winery asking for it. I'm 547 00:35:52.719 --> 00:35:57.320 just gone, right, geo, any gone there. I don't have any, 548 00:35:57.400 --> 00:36:00.960 and I'm the winery doesn't either. But let me throw a little shout 549 00:36:00.960 --> 00:36:04.199 out to the gravel end Shardenay that we make from the River West. So 550 00:36:04.239 --> 00:36:07.920 we make a River West Shardnay and then there's this little sub block. Very 551 00:36:07.920 --> 00:36:10.039 proud of that little that little block and the wines that it makes. And 552 00:36:10.039 --> 00:36:15.000 I'm you know, it's very floral. So it's planted to a selection of 553 00:36:15.000 --> 00:36:21.119 Shardnay called the Spring Mountain Clone or selection, and and it just makes a 554 00:36:21.199 --> 00:36:24.119 wine that has lovely balance. But we make it. We pick it early, 555 00:36:24.199 --> 00:36:28.960 so it's got brightest city that just kind of cuts through that the richness 556 00:36:28.960 --> 00:36:32.000 that the wine has. In twenty eighteen, this is the wine it's talking 557 00:36:32.000 --> 00:36:37.960 about twenty eighteen. That vintage was the best shardonnay that I've ever made, 558 00:36:38.159 --> 00:36:43.840 and I think that our wineries made, or at least in a long time, 559 00:36:44.039 --> 00:36:46.800 because I couldn't say, you know, going back prior to my tenure. 560 00:36:47.599 --> 00:36:52.079 But I think it's the best shardinay we've made in eighteen years, really, 561 00:36:52.719 --> 00:36:57.440 and it it When people got a hold of that, it blew out 562 00:36:57.559 --> 00:37:00.440 the doors. And of course now you have to live up to that. 563 00:37:00.480 --> 00:37:04.679 Can you do it again? Can you meet it again? See? It 564 00:37:04.760 --> 00:37:07.480 ruins you in a way, right because now you set the bar and that 565 00:37:07.639 --> 00:37:10.000 you know, there's pinots like that have done that for me too, and 566 00:37:10.079 --> 00:37:14.480 the soft blanc as well. That the twenty seventeen sod Blanc, you know, 567 00:37:14.559 --> 00:37:17.199 Virginia's Block suab Blanc. It was amazing, you know, and you 568 00:37:17.199 --> 00:37:22.760 always strive to get. But I'm so appreciative of having those vintages because then 569 00:37:22.880 --> 00:37:27.440 you know how good it can be. Like something just extra happened that year, 570 00:37:27.559 --> 00:37:30.679 you know, and it might have been mother nature really providing you know, 571 00:37:30.760 --> 00:37:34.280 the different compounds that ended up in the wine. But in all likelihood, 572 00:37:34.320 --> 00:37:36.880 you know, the little dance that we do making these wines. There's 573 00:37:37.079 --> 00:37:39.000 we just we made all the right moves. That's perfect harmony. Yeah, 574 00:37:39.159 --> 00:37:43.599 perfect harmony. Didn't step on her toes or anything, and it just all 575 00:37:43.639 --> 00:37:45.800 worked out. I love it so complete. The sentence for me, a 576 00:37:45.840 --> 00:37:53.280 table without wine is like, oh gosh, the table without wine is a 577 00:37:53.320 --> 00:38:00.400 desert island. We're going to come back to that one. So I've got 578 00:38:00.400 --> 00:38:04.079 to. Now we're at a point where I'm just gonna ask you some silly 579 00:38:04.159 --> 00:38:07.960 questions, but they're a little thought provoking. So we're sitting at a table, 580 00:38:07.119 --> 00:38:09.679 there's an empty seat next to your wines around the table, Who from 581 00:38:09.719 --> 00:38:14.000 any walk of life, living, deceased, famous, not famous, personal? 582 00:38:14.159 --> 00:38:16.480 Would you want to be sitting there sharing a bottle of Davis Binham wine. 583 00:38:16.800 --> 00:38:21.119 Oh, I'd love to share a bottle with my grandpa. Yeah, 584 00:38:21.280 --> 00:38:23.079 who's gone now too, but I would love to. He was a cowboy, 585 00:38:23.280 --> 00:38:28.199 you know, literally out in Wyoming, and I think I know he'd 586 00:38:28.280 --> 00:38:30.159 be so proud of, you know, what I'm doing nowadays, which I 587 00:38:30.239 --> 00:38:34.400 wasn't doing when he'd passed away by you know, he passed away back in 588 00:38:34.440 --> 00:38:39.559 the early nineties. But just to kind of see what I'm doing and how 589 00:38:39.960 --> 00:38:44.880 it's made. I mean, he would be really intrigued by kind of the 590 00:38:45.039 --> 00:38:49.760 nuts and bolts of the process of growing grapes, because that would be something 591 00:38:49.800 --> 00:38:52.239 he would be a little more tuned into. But then the wine making itself, 592 00:38:52.280 --> 00:38:57.679 and I think he'd just be really, really amazed by the process. 593 00:38:57.719 --> 00:39:00.239 I'd love to explain that to him, yeah, and taste him through it 594 00:39:00.239 --> 00:39:01.440 it. Okay, now we're going to get back to the deserted island. 595 00:39:01.519 --> 00:39:06.800 Okay, So if you were going to a deserted island, what three wines 596 00:39:06.840 --> 00:39:07.639 would you want to take with you? And they don't have to be your 597 00:39:07.679 --> 00:39:09.960 own, they can be your own. They could be anything you want. 598 00:39:10.519 --> 00:39:14.519 There's refrigeration if you want, their ice cubes if you want. I get 599 00:39:14.519 --> 00:39:16.199 those questions all the time. So just what three wines would you want to 600 00:39:16.239 --> 00:39:22.480 have if they were the three last wines you could have on Earth? I 601 00:39:22.559 --> 00:39:30.760 think I would I would definitely want like a Shassania Montrachet. It would definitely 602 00:39:30.840 --> 00:39:35.679 like a white Burgundy, like a really nice, crisp, lovely white burgundy. 603 00:39:37.559 --> 00:39:40.119 I would love to I think going back to Spain, you know, 604 00:39:40.320 --> 00:39:46.079 having just a grand reserve like a Rioha, you know, really high shelf 605 00:39:46.760 --> 00:39:53.760 and a third one. Oh gosh, oh something, you know, I 606 00:39:53.840 --> 00:39:58.880 maybe a Nebiolo. It's just to get out of even a a wall. 607 00:39:59.519 --> 00:40:02.440 I'm for sing myself. I'm forcing myself to do that because I love Pino 608 00:40:02.519 --> 00:40:07.079 noir. So yeah, if we went back to yeah, I would. 609 00:40:07.559 --> 00:40:09.599 I would love to have some pino, but forcing myself off that. Yeah, 610 00:40:09.719 --> 00:40:15.239 and nebuola, and probably after drinking nebiola, probably live a long time 611 00:40:15.280 --> 00:40:17.480 on that desert island, just like Italians live forever, right from all the 612 00:40:17.519 --> 00:40:22.679 tannems and those wines they drink. Though, you'd probably be that that desert 613 00:40:22.719 --> 00:40:24.280 island for a long time. Well, you'd have a lot of nebuola to 614 00:40:24.360 --> 00:40:30.239 drink. Yeah, little little bit that's good for you. Okay, So 615 00:40:30.320 --> 00:40:31.760 you've been talking about a lot of the wines you make, and you've given 616 00:40:31.800 --> 00:40:39.679 these beautiful descriptors about these wines from the Gravel Gravel and Shardonay and the River 617 00:40:39.760 --> 00:40:44.559 West Pino Noir and the Chardenay. And I'm curious. Now we're gonna play 618 00:40:44.559 --> 00:40:51.960 a little game where we pair it with music. What kind of song genre, 619 00:40:52.159 --> 00:40:55.119 singer, particular song you can be as generic or a specific you want. 620 00:40:55.679 --> 00:41:00.920 Makes you think is a good sound for the description of the wine. 621 00:41:00.960 --> 00:41:05.119 So let's talk about the gravel in Chardonay, the one that nobody can can 622 00:41:05.679 --> 00:41:10.280 have because it's all sold out. But yeah, maybe I'll that one. 623 00:41:12.280 --> 00:41:15.639 I would say. Nina Simone, Yeah, I love Nina Simone just you 624 00:41:15.639 --> 00:41:20.519 know, some her music. She has I think the best voice or as 625 00:41:20.599 --> 00:41:24.880 an amazing voice, as amazing as anybody I've ever heard, just you know, 626 00:41:25.079 --> 00:41:29.360 and and the way she plays the piano and sings. I mean it's 627 00:41:29.559 --> 00:41:36.079 yeah, the river West pinoore m. Pearl Jam. Yeah, I like 628 00:41:36.119 --> 00:41:38.559 to rock well with some pearl Jam. Yeah, I bet, especially from 629 00:41:38.599 --> 00:41:42.639 the album ten, you know, going back to like high school. Yeah 630 00:41:42.800 --> 00:41:52.119 that that'll that'll take me there. Your Sauvignon blanc. Mm's a couple of 631 00:41:52.159 --> 00:41:54.760 things, well, I kind of classic rock. I love classic rock. 632 00:41:54.840 --> 00:41:59.199 Foreigner comes to mind. I don't know, there's there's I like a wide 633 00:41:59.280 --> 00:42:00.760 range of music, but yeah, Foreigners, a lot of fun. Or 634 00:42:02.639 --> 00:42:07.760 Neil Young. I love love Neil Young. Okay, and last but not 635 00:42:07.840 --> 00:42:14.679 least, you're a state peano oar. How about like it's almost like if 636 00:42:14.719 --> 00:42:20.280 we get a little more contemplative about it. Uh, you know, I 637 00:42:20.480 --> 00:42:23.719 like Simon and Garfunkel. So there's a song called El condor pasa, you 638 00:42:23.760 --> 00:42:28.760 know, and if you sat there, it's just a really lovely kind of 639 00:42:29.800 --> 00:42:32.679 song that whistles along. And you know, I could I could sit there 640 00:42:32.719 --> 00:42:37.960 and drink my peanot with that in the background. We could keep killing. 641 00:42:37.559 --> 00:42:40.360 But I've taken up too much of your time, So I'm going to ask 642 00:42:40.400 --> 00:42:45.079 you one more, two part question. The first is what wine region in 643 00:42:45.119 --> 00:42:51.719 the world is at the top of your bucket list to explore. I I 644 00:42:51.800 --> 00:42:54.079 really would like to go to Italy. I've never been, Yeah, So 645 00:42:54.119 --> 00:43:00.760 I'd like to go to Tuscany, yeah, and and really explore area. 646 00:43:00.800 --> 00:43:04.280 And I've had friends come back and said it's just really the deep end of 647 00:43:04.360 --> 00:43:06.800 the pool. So I've been Don't you want to go to Piedmont and drink 648 00:43:06.800 --> 00:43:08.920 Nebiola? Well I would. I would probably wonder up that way too. 649 00:43:09.079 --> 00:43:14.000 Yeah, But you know, just I think that all the sandroo VESI is, 650 00:43:14.280 --> 00:43:15.000 you know, I think that would be a lot of fun. I've 651 00:43:15.000 --> 00:43:20.440 heard the regions just beautiful. But I've been to Burgundy three times, I've 652 00:43:20.440 --> 00:43:22.199 been to Bordeaux once, and I've been through Champagne. You know, briefly 653 00:43:22.320 --> 00:43:27.199 once, so I'm kind of steering away from there. But there's a lot 654 00:43:27.199 --> 00:43:29.719 of other areas in the world too that would be great to go to. 655 00:43:29.880 --> 00:43:35.159 But absolutely Well, my last question, Greg is if people want to visit 656 00:43:35.440 --> 00:43:38.719 you and Davis Binham, where can they find you, what can they experience? 657 00:43:38.719 --> 00:43:44.039 Where do they go? They would go to Rodney Strong, Rodney Strong 658 00:43:44.079 --> 00:43:47.280 Winery which is in Hildsburg. So yeah, you can actually fly into the 659 00:43:47.280 --> 00:43:51.599 Snowma County Airport. You can fly into San Francisco. It's a bit of 660 00:43:51.599 --> 00:43:53.039 a drive up, but not too far. It might take you about an 661 00:43:53.039 --> 00:43:58.199 hour and a half, probably a little more with traffic, especially maybe two 662 00:43:58.320 --> 00:44:00.679 two and a half. But yeah, I've bet Rodney Strong since we bought 663 00:44:00.719 --> 00:44:05.039 Davis spinem back in two thousand and seven. And of course you can go 664 00:44:05.320 --> 00:44:08.480 online www. Davispyinehem dot com and get the wines. It's like the little 665 00:44:08.800 --> 00:44:13.840 w and yeah, come visit us at the winery. We would love to 666 00:44:13.840 --> 00:44:20.199 see you. We have beautiful flights for that and a terrace actually, so 667 00:44:20.320 --> 00:44:22.920 especially in the nice warm months, you can sit outside in the shade of 668 00:44:22.920 --> 00:44:27.840 the trees. There's a fountain in the background and it's full service down there. 669 00:44:27.920 --> 00:44:30.000 Yeah, be a lot of fun and then maybe you'll put on a 670 00:44:30.000 --> 00:44:32.639 little Simon and Garfunkle and people could be contemplated while they supurr sty. You 671 00:44:32.639 --> 00:44:37.039 don't know our Yeah, I love signing a guncle. Yeah. See it's 672 00:44:37.039 --> 00:44:38.920 a range. You've got Pearl jam and Simon, Garfunkle, Nina Simone. 673 00:44:38.960 --> 00:44:43.039 That's just but yeah, I like all of it. Yeah, thank you 674 00:44:43.119 --> 00:44:45.800 so much for joining us on Wine Soundtrack. Go check out Davis Binham in 675 00:44:45.800 --> 00:44:50.320 the Russian River Valley and let's go drink some pino. Yeah. Absolutely, 676 00:44:50.320 --> 00:44:53.039 thank you, Alison, thanks for listening to a new episode of Wine Soundtrack 677 00:44:53.199 --> 00:45:00.199 USA. For details and updates, visit our website windsoundtrack dot com.