Speaker 1: Welcome to Wine Soundtrack USA. Listen to the passion with
Speaker 1: which producers narrate their winery and their world. Team thirty
Speaker 1: answers discover their stories, personalities, and passions.
Speaker 2: Hello, friends and listeners of Wine Soundtrack. This is Alson
Speaker 2: Levine and I'm joined today by Drew Martinez of Martinez
Speaker 2: and Martinez in the Yakima Valley in Washington State. Drew,
Speaker 2: Welcome to Wine Soundtrack and tell us a little bit
Speaker 2: about Martinez and Martinez.
Speaker 3: So my name is Drew Martinez. We're located in Prosper, Washington.
Speaker 3: It's Martinez and Martinez Winery owned by myself, my wife Monica,
Speaker 3: my dad Sergio, and my mom Christy. And we started
Speaker 3: making wine in two thousand and five and we've.
Speaker 4: Been in the same location now the whole time, in
Speaker 4: this building.
Speaker 2: And so you started making wine in two thousand and five,
Speaker 2: but you have a longer history in this area.
Speaker 4: Right right.
Speaker 3: So we initially started out as a grape grower. My parents,
Speaker 3: Sergio and Christi, planted a small three acre vineyard in
Speaker 3: the Horse Heaven Hills in nineteen eighty one, now forty
Speaker 3: two year old vineyard. It's the oldest in the top
Speaker 3: oldest three in the Horse Heaven Hills, and so that
Speaker 3: was the initial entry into the wine industry, learning about
Speaker 3: grapes my whole life. I grew up in the vineyard
Speaker 3: just a year or two younger than me and did
Speaker 3: all aspects of growing.
Speaker 4: Helping out. But my dad is the soul tender to
Speaker 4: the vineyard and.
Speaker 2: He manages other vineyards around the valley.
Speaker 3: He also helps in vineyard production at alder Ridge Vineyard,
Speaker 3: and he's been with them since they started planting the
Speaker 3: grapes in nineteen ninety six. And it was from nineteen
Speaker 3: ninety six until today they planted about fifteen hundred acres,
Speaker 3: starting out with about eight hundred I think, but then
Speaker 3: increasing over the last I mean, I can't I don't
Speaker 3: know how many years it was.
Speaker 2: So so you convinced him to start making wine, and
Speaker 2: what what what was sort of the impetus to start
Speaker 2: making wine.
Speaker 3: So where my parents planted their vineyard, we're actually on
Speaker 3: the same small micro climate within the Horse seven Hills
Speaker 3: where the first or the top five point Cabernet sauvignons
Speaker 3: have come from. And so this area is known in
Speaker 3: the industry. You know, it's just known to have great grapes.
Speaker 3: My parents they saw foresight. I guess in the eighties
Speaker 3: nobody else was planting grapes. It was all cherries and apples.
Speaker 3: There was one vineyard owner at Mercer Ranch Vineyard, that's
Speaker 3: Don and Linda Mercer and Don was he had been
Speaker 3: planting grapes. He's the first vineyard in Horse seven Hills
Speaker 3: and he had a uh, he had a nursery and
Speaker 3: he asked my dad, hey, Sergio, you want to I
Speaker 3: want to grow some grapes. And my dad, my dad
Speaker 3: actually came from Mutual com Mexico. He was raised in Modesto,
Speaker 3: which is Gallo country, so they As a kid, he
Speaker 3: worked in the vineyards and that's where he you know,
Speaker 3: he had known about it, so he came up with
Speaker 3: knowledge about grape growing here in Washington.
Speaker 4: It wasn't a mainstream thing, but he had that knowledge.
Speaker 3: So I think that's how they kind of came together.
Speaker 3: And he asked my dad, hey, you want to make
Speaker 3: some wine. And for that same reason, my dad having
Speaker 3: the background in viticulture as a young kid, that's how
Speaker 3: he ended up with the job at the adulta ridge
Speaker 3: with helping plant and raise the grapes there.
Speaker 2: So you said you have three acres planted, that's a
Speaker 2: state fruit, and then you're purchasing fruit from other places.
Speaker 2: Is that correct?
Speaker 4: Yeah, that's correct.
Speaker 3: So we purchased from we have the three acres, it's
Speaker 3: cabernet savignon only, that's the nineteen eighty one planting. Then
Speaker 3: we source Carmenier Petite Verdeaux, some more cab zinfandel and
Speaker 3: pretty much those from all the ridge, and then we
Speaker 3: get whites from the Akama Valley from Tudor Hill's vineyard,
Speaker 3: which is actually my wife's family, and she.
Speaker 4: Was raised in grapes as well.
Speaker 3: Her grandpa was one of the first wine makers and
Speaker 3: actually maybe the first winemaker, Im Prosser, one of them anyways,
Speaker 3: but he passed away unfortunately at a young age, and
Speaker 3: their legacy didn't continue on. They wanted to tree fruit
Speaker 3: and stuff, but later on came back to grapes and
Speaker 3: they're growing grapes again. So we purchased Aubregno Roussin, Bonnier,
Speaker 3: Pino Gres white wines from there in Chartnight.
Speaker 2: Since I started with that, I taste a little of that.
Speaker 2: And what's your total case production?
Speaker 4: We're no more than two thousand cases a.
Speaker 2: Year, and are you fully direct to consumer or do
Speaker 2: you have any distribution In the US.
Speaker 3: We're probably ninety five to ninety eight percent direct to
Speaker 3: consumer and with just small local distribution.
Speaker 5: Fantastic.
Speaker 2: Okay, So about you, Drew. I know that you said
Speaker 2: that you grew up here, your dad has been a
Speaker 2: grape grower your entire life. What is your first memory
Speaker 2: relevant to wine and how old were you at what
Speaker 2: point do you just kind of remember or was it
Speaker 2: just always part of your life and you don't really
Speaker 2: remember its standing out to you it as wine is
Speaker 2: a thing.
Speaker 3: I think grapes were like the first, you know, and
Speaker 3: and just working doing weeding and helping with the things
Speaker 3: where I couldn't reach the chord on with doing that
Speaker 3: kind of stuff, and then slowly growing and doing suckering,
Speaker 3: and then moving up into the court on as later
Speaker 3: in life, those those types of things.
Speaker 2: How old were you when they put you in the
Speaker 2: vineyard there?
Speaker 4: I was. I was young.
Speaker 3: The weeds were my first memory. Later on, later on
Speaker 3: the grapes came, and then and then correlating it to wine,
Speaker 3: it was it was pretty young because we tasted wine
Speaker 3: as youngsters and so and then tasting grapes. I mean really,
Speaker 3: that's that's where I see the vision of the wine,
Speaker 3: just in the taste of the grape.
Speaker 5: Wow.
Speaker 2: So, when you started actually drinking wine tasting wine, is
Speaker 2: there a particular wine that stands out as sort of
Speaker 2: an AHA wine for you? And not only what was
Speaker 2: that wine, but what was it about it that was
Speaker 2: so aha?
Speaker 4: I think.
Speaker 3: The AHA wine. I mean I just was with somebody
Speaker 3: who was telling me his AHA wine, and I was like, Wow,
Speaker 3: you got it from that? For me?
Speaker 4: I didn't, I didn't. I guess I almost didn't have
Speaker 4: an AHA wine.
Speaker 3: But I think my AHA was like Wow, this is
Speaker 3: something that we've been doing for thirty years already, and
Speaker 3: or twenty five at the time when they started getting
Speaker 3: these hundred point wines out of out of my neighbor's
Speaker 3: vineyards and stuff, and and so I was like, Aha,
Speaker 3: this is what all the hard work has been for
Speaker 3: to try to do something like that.
Speaker 5: Right.
Speaker 2: So you're working with a lot of you know, classic
Speaker 2: red varieties, Bordeaux varieties, and some Rowan varieties. If we
Speaker 2: came to your home, what would we find in there?
Speaker 2: What do you what do you and Monica like to drink?
Speaker 2: What do you sort of have in there. Is it
Speaker 2: all wines you've made? Is it from particular producers or
Speaker 2: any other regions or grapes that you like to explore
Speaker 2: and that you have at home.
Speaker 4: I enjoy the Horse Heaven Hills. It's near and dear
Speaker 4: to my heart.
Speaker 3: There is a you know, distinct flavored profile that I
Speaker 3: guess I must have house palette with.
Speaker 4: But so those types.
Speaker 3: A lot of different wines from there, and then all
Speaker 3: across Washington State you'll see very few of our own wines,
Speaker 3: mostly other peoples. And whenever we go, we you know,
Speaker 3: taste wine, purchase and have it around the house, not
Speaker 3: only so that we have it to drink, but to
Speaker 3: share when people come, because we like to promote other
Speaker 3: people's stuff.
Speaker 4: One of the you know, so when we were younger.
Speaker 3: Monica and I have been together since our senior year
Speaker 3: in high school, and so through the years, she started
Speaker 3: drinking wine before myself.
Speaker 4: And I think one of her possible AHAs was actually.
Speaker 3: My neighbor here at Thurston Wolf Winery, and I think
Speaker 3: it was like it was a red red wine and
Speaker 3: it was kind of like, you know, she really enjoyed it.
Speaker 3: I can't remember if it was like a mile Becker something,
Speaker 3: but it was it was a red briding and it.
Speaker 2: Kind of pushed her. So is there anything you opened
Speaker 2: up recently that drank really well?
Speaker 4: Of our owner of what did you.
Speaker 2: Drink recently that drank really well? Was it your own
Speaker 2: or someone else's?
Speaker 4: For the older older stuff, we.
Speaker 3: Did a Petite for Dove vertical with from twenty ten
Speaker 3: to twenty twenty one, and there was some fantastic vintages
Speaker 3: all the way through, but some really stellars like twenty sixteen,
Speaker 3: twenty twenty twelve, and you know, there was a couple
Speaker 3: others that were just like from your own, from your own,
Speaker 3: from our own actually.
Speaker 2: Yeah, so something you can look back and see what
Speaker 2: you've done.
Speaker 3: Yes, And we hadn't done it until this last year,
Speaker 3: like a full vertical before of our own wine. We've
Speaker 3: done verticals with other like cabs, but one was ours,
Speaker 3: one was somebody else's so on, but never like our
Speaker 3: whole vertical.
Speaker 2: So you work with a number of different grapes. Do
Speaker 2: you think there's a such thing as a perfect variety?
Speaker 5: Uh?
Speaker 4: I'd say, you know that cab is pretty pretty perfect
Speaker 4: in ways, especially from Horse Hills. Yeah, Horse Heaven Hills.
Speaker 2: Of course, now you were talking about these one hundred
Speaker 2: point wines that come out of course Heaven Hills.
Speaker 5: What is it?
Speaker 2: What is you know? It opened up your eyes. You said,
Speaker 2: that was kind of an aha moment for you to
Speaker 2: see that all the hard work gets paid off in
Speaker 2: these scores. So to you, what is your opinion on
Speaker 2: wine critics and scores? What is what is the value
Speaker 2: the challenge or the benefit to you and of getting
Speaker 2: a score or looking at what a wine critic offers.
Speaker 4: It's it's tough, especially being a small micro winery.
Speaker 3: Uh, there's always room for the for bigger, larger wineries
Speaker 3: to have the array of grapes and and all that stuff,
Speaker 3: and it seems like they get the they get the
Speaker 3: most benefit out of it.
Speaker 4: For us, you know, really, we're only we're here to
Speaker 4: make wine that our family likes.
Speaker 3: And uh and then if if we like it, we
Speaker 3: we have some following that enjoys it as well. And
Speaker 3: so critics, you know, I'm I'm kind of over them.
Speaker 3: But it's always nice to get a great right.
Speaker 2: Now, of course, of course, I mean, I mean, who
Speaker 2: wouldn't want it? So I'm curious for you as a
Speaker 2: wine drinker, red, white or rose.
Speaker 4: Bread. I'd say red still are.
Speaker 2: Sparkling still, see, I like I have to pause and
Speaker 2: think just a little bit about that. So maybe you're
Speaker 2: just like it all.
Speaker 4: Yeah, pretty much.
Speaker 2: You know, we just enjoyed some of your wines while
Speaker 2: we were eating lunch before we sat down to talk here,
Speaker 2: and obviously just had fun kind of tasting wine and eating.
Speaker 2: But on a on a more you know, planned out
Speaker 2: dinner or meal, how do you approach food and wine pairing?
Speaker 2: Do you follow rules? Do you think that it's red
Speaker 2: wine and steak, you know, meat, and you know it's
Speaker 2: white wine and fish, or are there other guidelines that
Speaker 2: you look for that's going to help you decide what
Speaker 2: wine to order with a meal or vice versa. I
Speaker 2: don't know what you pick first, the wine or the food.
Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, I think it probably is the food, and
Speaker 3: then the wine comes kind of with it. And and yeah,
Speaker 3: I think we do kind of stick to the the
Speaker 3: lighter wines with the lighter kind of dishes, and then
Speaker 3: the heavier with the heavy.
Speaker 2: Stuff, and so it's more on texture and weight than
Speaker 2: it is specifically white or red.
Speaker 4: Yeah, yeah, kind of kind of that.
Speaker 3: And then we're also uh in a little difference where
Speaker 3: I'm looking at like white wines with with white wines
Speaker 3: with the camaron is that I would camarona is in Awa,
Speaker 3: Chile and stuff like that, really light dishes where the
Speaker 3: fishes cooked in the acidity, stuff like that.
Speaker 4: And then for our reds, I'm.
Speaker 3: Looking at carmoner with like the cot or or aas
Speaker 3: or cottnitas and stuff like that.
Speaker 2: You're making me hungry. Make me hungry. So for somebody
Speaker 2: who hasn't had the pleasure to taste Martinez and Martinez
Speaker 2: wines yet, what do you think they're missing out on?
Speaker 3: H there, I think they're probably missing out on a
Speaker 3: on a small view of of what wines should be.
Speaker 5: And our.
Speaker 3: Starting out, we started with like fifty cases and people
Speaker 3: just really.
Speaker 4: Took to us and enjoyed the wines.
Speaker 3: So I feel like there is benefit to try and
Speaker 3: smaller wines and hopefully we don't displease anybody.
Speaker 2: And also we should note that you were saying that
Speaker 2: you were the first Hispanic second Hispanic owned winery in
Speaker 2: Washington State.
Speaker 4: Yeah, I think about there.
Speaker 3: I don't want to say it too like that's set
Speaker 3: in stone, but at the time we came in in
Speaker 3: two thousand and five. There was one other Latuna wine
Speaker 3: maker and we came in, and we had been the
Speaker 3: only ones for quite a while. But now we're seeing
Speaker 3: a little bit more. And I'm very ecstatic because I
Speaker 3: feel like the Mexican I don't say just Mexican, because
Speaker 3: now it's pseudomatic cardinals.
Speaker 4: Everything there's there's a little so.
Speaker 3: I generalized with Latino and UH and basically we're our
Speaker 3: communities are the ones doing the actual work in the field,
Speaker 3: and so to get to that next level where you're
Speaker 3: making your own wine any of those things is awesome.
Speaker 2: So absolutely so, if space aliens were to land here
Speaker 2: at your property, at your tasting room, you know, park
Speaker 2: their spaceship in the first spot out here, and knock
Speaker 2: on the door, which of your wines would you want
Speaker 2: to say, Welcome to Martinez and Martinez.
Speaker 4: I'd have to say our Rose. Yeah.
Speaker 3: Interestingly enough, the Rose just came about Uh in Uh
Speaker 3: in the time crunch. In the crunch where we needed
Speaker 3: a light colored wine. We had no no white grapes
Speaker 3: at the time, and we decided to take this Cabernet
Speaker 3: sauvignon that everybody told us. We were nuts for making
Speaker 3: it into rose, and we made that rose and it's
Speaker 3: been one of our top selling wines.
Speaker 4: People love it.
Speaker 3: Clean, crisp, light, acidic, a little hint the sweetness, and
Speaker 3: it's great for all summer long.
Speaker 2: Well perfect and you know it's really pretty to look
Speaker 2: at too. So you know, welcome to Martinez and Martinez.
Speaker 2: So you grew up in the vines, and you know,
Speaker 2: I know that you're not managing the vines. That's your
Speaker 2: dad's job. And the Martinez and Martinez you have your
Speaker 2: job to make the wine. He has his job to
Speaker 2: grow the grapes. But I know you spend time out
Speaker 2: there and have spent time out there and growing up
Speaker 2: in an area like this. Every vintage tells a different
Speaker 2: story in your experience. What do you see? Is there
Speaker 2: a pattern, is there a sort of commonality, or is
Speaker 2: there a lot of variation from year to year.
Speaker 3: It's a decent amount of variation, more than we'd think,
Speaker 3: even though we go through the years and it seems like, oh, yeah,
Speaker 3: it's hot this summer. You don't you take that into consideration.
Speaker 3: But the spring may have been cooler, it may have
Speaker 3: been warmer, it may have been and just wet, it
Speaker 3: may have been dry. So there's all these factors. Each
Speaker 3: year is just seems to be totally different to me.
Speaker 3: But that's that's the way I feel.
Speaker 2: And are there sort of any signs or predictors that
Speaker 2: you look for when you're out in the vineyard that
Speaker 2: are going to tell you what you're going to get
Speaker 2: for the year, what kind of a harvest it's going
Speaker 2: to be, or what kind of a vintage.
Speaker 3: Uh, just how fruit's ripening when rasion happens, both in
Speaker 3: whites or reds. I've looked towards reds and more when
Speaker 3: very when that is happening. How how how the cluster
Speaker 3: settings look after in the spring, you know, when when
Speaker 3: things start to develop and in those types.
Speaker 2: So when you're walking out in the vineyard, because I'm
Speaker 2: sure you spend time out there, and you have spent
Speaker 2: lots of time visiting your old friends the weeds. When
Speaker 2: you're out there, do you talk to the vines? Have
Speaker 2: you talked to the vines? I mean, if they were
Speaker 2: your first friends, I'm sure you did. But do you
Speaker 2: still talk to the vines?
Speaker 4: Yeah? Tell them, tell him what callouses they've got me?
Speaker 4: And yeah, we Uh, my dad is he's very romantified
Speaker 4: in the vineyard.
Speaker 3: He's very in tune with with that and uh and for.
Speaker 4: Me growing up, it was it was a lot of
Speaker 4: work with but it's not.
Speaker 2: A little more cursing at the vines.
Speaker 3: There's a little more of that, but at the same time,
Speaker 3: I definitely am seeing more of what he sees and
Speaker 3: and it's uh, it's a super rigorously tough job in
Speaker 3: the vineyard.
Speaker 4: Wineery.
Speaker 3: You know it can be also, but vineyard is definitely
Speaker 3: next level stuff for that. So uh just uh yeah,
Speaker 3: keeping keeping thanks in there to continue producing and and
Speaker 3: uh and we'll try not to give us too hard
Speaker 3: up a time.
Speaker 2: Yeah, so you keep them at bay. So once they
Speaker 2: come in here and you make the wine, do you
Speaker 2: have a little more tendency to talk to it?
Speaker 5: Then?
Speaker 2: Do you have to encourage it or ever reprimand it?
Speaker 2: Do you play music to your wine or do you
Speaker 2: not believe in any of that stuff?
Speaker 4: Definitely serenade it with wine with music, with music you
Speaker 4: personally sing, no, but I'll dance for it like crazy.
Speaker 2: Yeah, you give performances, I see, Okay, that's right. So
Speaker 2: having grown up in this, is this something you always
Speaker 2: knew you wanted to do or when you were a
Speaker 2: little boy, what did you want to be when you
Speaker 2: grew up.
Speaker 3: I did not see myself in there, did not want
Speaker 3: to be doing that. You know, That's basically what shows
Speaker 3: you that you need to get out and do something
Speaker 3: different is when you're doing farm labor. You know, anytime,
Speaker 3: it doesn't matter if you're a little kid or you're
Speaker 3: an adult, that's usually the time when you're like, oh,
Speaker 3: it's either this or I'm gonna do something different.
Speaker 4: I gotta go and grind to do that.
Speaker 3: And so that's basically what I felt like as a youngster.
Speaker 4: I was ready to get out. I Uh I did uh.
Speaker 4: I did scuba. I was a scuba instructor for a bit.
Speaker 3: I did some land development stuff, scooba instructor, school instructor,
Speaker 3: all these all these things helped me because with uh,
Speaker 3: with the math that is in wine making, I'm not
Speaker 3: formally trained. So these uh, these jobs that I have
Speaker 3: that uh utilized equations and stuff like that helped me
Speaker 3: to really get my math better, UH the science revolving
Speaker 3: around it. After that, I did go to school, got
Speaker 3: a science degree, just basic. I was going to become
Speaker 3: a nurse at the same time I didn't get accepted
Speaker 3: into nursing or because then I ended up actually becoming
Speaker 3: a dental hygienist.
Speaker 4: But the nursing didn't happen, So I was going to
Speaker 4: wait a year.
Speaker 3: I was just gonna do full on chemistry BAUH with
Speaker 3: with micro as.
Speaker 4: A kind of a background.
Speaker 3: But then I got accepted to the dental hygiene program.
Speaker 3: Did that, and that's basically what helped us get started
Speaker 3: with the winery because I could work about two to
Speaker 3: three days a week at the dental office, and then
Speaker 3: I can the rest of the seven days a week,
Speaker 3: I can work wine and vineyard.
Speaker 2: So on your weekends you're a dental hygienist and then
Speaker 2: your day job is a winemaker.
Speaker 4: Actually opposite.
Speaker 3: I'm Monday through Wednesday half day at the dental office
Speaker 3: and then seven days a week here.
Speaker 2: So when you have free time, how do you like
Speaker 2: to spend your free time? Do you still go scuba diving?
Speaker 4: No?
Speaker 3: No, scuba diving, it's too cold up here. Monica was
Speaker 3: going to WSU and that's basically what brought me back
Speaker 3: from scuba, started the science stuff and started dental hygiene.
Speaker 3: The reason why we started the winery is the building
Speaker 3: that we're sitting in here. It's called the Winemaker's Loft
Speaker 3: Improsser and the initial owner he created this as an
Speaker 3: incubation facility. So there's seven different tasty room spots that
Speaker 3: you could have been in and you can make from
Speaker 3: you know, twenty five cases to about I think at
Speaker 3: the time they said like three thousand. You know, they
Speaker 3: would have been able to do three thousand.
Speaker 4: So we came in.
Speaker 3: We started with fifty cases. And that's probably the only
Speaker 3: reason why we're in the wine business right now because
Speaker 3: he gave us, but with his business plan, gave us
Speaker 3: the opportunity to do this without overhead because we were.
Speaker 4: You know, we're we're coming from no money.
Speaker 2: Yeah, we ever had his what will get you every time.
Speaker 2: But so when you're not working, what do you like
Speaker 2: to do?
Speaker 4: Right now?
Speaker 3: Kids, my kids doing all their sports and you know,
Speaker 3: doing stuff with them, and if we can get away,
Speaker 3: you know.
Speaker 4: Going to to dinner and.
Speaker 3: Relaxing and hanging with our friends, you know, back backyard barbecues,
Speaker 3: hanging with friends and family, you know, just doing a
Speaker 3: doing a you know, that's.
Speaker 2: Not when you're planning a romantic evening for you and
Speaker 2: Monica that has the kids going to bed early, or
Speaker 2: maybe they're over at Grandma at Grandpa Martinez. What kind
Speaker 2: of wines do you open that say this is a
Speaker 2: romantic evening and just not an average night. Hmm.
Speaker 4: I guess probably some bubbly.
Speaker 2: What does Monica like?
Speaker 4: She likes it all bubbly, white red.
Speaker 2: So is there a piece of advice somebody gave you
Speaker 2: along the way that you do you find that you
Speaker 2: guide your life with. Maybe it was your dad, maybe
Speaker 2: it was a teacher, a colleague, a friend. Is there
Speaker 2: something someone told you along the way that you know
Speaker 2: you you really feels how you live or work by.
Speaker 4: Yeah.
Speaker 3: So my dad, since we were little kids, he has
Speaker 3: this little saying when he leaves, and he tells my
Speaker 3: kids nowadays it's it's h be good, be nice.
Speaker 4: And work hard.
Speaker 2: That's a mantra of life.
Speaker 4: That's a montreal life.
Speaker 2: So you're good, you work hard, and I'm nice.
Speaker 4: Yeah, try to be nice.
Speaker 2: You see pretty nice. So when you look back at
Speaker 2: your career, what would you say, is one of your
Speaker 2: proudest achievements to date?
Speaker 3: I think just taking that step to try to make
Speaker 3: wine in the first place. Uh, we didn't know how
Speaker 3: to make wine. You know, we just had the background
Speaker 3: of the grapes. Uh, slowly learned and and just you know,
Speaker 3: took the chance. And and that's kind of back to
Speaker 3: my original thing about you know, you you learned that
Speaker 3: doing farm work from a young age that you're gonna
Speaker 3: have to do something different. You got to take these
Speaker 3: risks and and do stuff to to try to elevate
Speaker 3: out of that.
Speaker 2: So great, so complete this sentence. For me, A table
Speaker 2: without wine is like.
Speaker 3: Mmmm, it's like, uh, like a full dinner table with
Speaker 3: wine and food without anybody to share it with.
Speaker 5: Oh.
Speaker 2: I thought you were gonna say, like a scuba tank
Speaker 2: without air.
Speaker 5: That's pretty good.
Speaker 4: You got that.
Speaker 2: I was just gonna I don't know, care to mind
Speaker 2: down underwater. So we're sitting at a big table here,
Speaker 2: and we've got your bottles of wine on the table,
Speaker 2: and there's a couple empty seats. If there was anyone
Speaker 2: from any walk of life, living or deceased, famous, infamous, whatever,
Speaker 2: who do you wish you could share a bottle of
Speaker 2: Martinez and Martinez Wine's with.
Speaker 4: H one.
Speaker 3: Two, I'd say, uh, Charlie, No Sanchez and Bob Marley. Okay,
Speaker 3: and then if without any famous people, just my family.
Speaker 2: Yeah, but you already share one family, that's true. Yeah,
Speaker 2: we're not talking about the people you do drink with.
Speaker 2: I'm talking about the people you wish you could drink with.
Speaker 3: They're both passed and there's no possible way we could
Speaker 3: do it now, so yeah, they would be the ones.
Speaker 2: So it's aspirational. Absolutely. So Now I have another question
Speaker 2: for you about drinking wine. If you were being sent
Speaker 2: off to a deserted island and could only take three
Speaker 2: wines with you, what three wines would you take with you?
Speaker 2: And if they're specific wines, great, But if you're just
Speaker 2: gonna give me a variety, just tell me what region
Speaker 2: it's going to come from, you know, as specific wine.
Speaker 1: Go for it.
Speaker 3: I'd say cab from the Horse seven Hills.
Speaker 2: Three bottles.
Speaker 4: Uh No, so they're the.
Speaker 3: Cab uh And yeah, the cab Horse seven Hills, three
Speaker 3: different producers.
Speaker 2: You do like your Cabernet, Well, Drew, it's time now
Speaker 2: to play our little game at the end as a
Speaker 2: way to learn a little bit more about your specific
Speaker 2: wines and pair them with music. It's all about emotion.
Speaker 2: Wine makes us feel a certain way, as does music.
Speaker 2: So let's talk about a couple of your wines, and
Speaker 2: you tell me a song a musician that you think
Speaker 2: represents it or you'd want to be listening to while
Speaker 2: you drink this wine. So you started me today with
Speaker 2: your chardonnay, So let's start with your chardonay.
Speaker 4: Are we going to do all of them?
Speaker 2: No?
Speaker 4: I won't make you do all okay? Uh, We're going
Speaker 4: to do three, three of them?
Speaker 5: Yeah, all right.
Speaker 3: So I would say white wine chardonnay. I would say
Speaker 3: Michael Salgado, palomito blanco.
Speaker 2: Okay. And the chardonay is a nice you know, it's
Speaker 2: like a crisper style chardonnay.
Speaker 3: It's not naked, Yeah, it's naked naked Chardonnay stainless steel.
Speaker 4: Yeah, like crisp.
Speaker 2: Okay. Let's do your rose of Cabernet savignon.
Speaker 5: So what's uh? What's the uh? Oh? Put me on
Speaker 5: the spot with these.
Speaker 4: Hopefully you can edit out my my lengthy.
Speaker 5: Uh.
Speaker 4: I can't remember the song, but it's uh, it's basically
Speaker 4: about rose. It's uh it's popping bottles, Uh, something like that.
Speaker 4: Nicki Minaj and uh Trey songs.
Speaker 2: Okay, okay, and your horse heaven Hill's Cabernet.
Speaker 3: So uh hm hmmmm.
Speaker 2: I mean, just you know, kind of talk me through.
Speaker 2: What does the wine taste like?
Speaker 5: Is it big?
Speaker 2: Is it smooth? Is it tannicky?
Speaker 5: Is it?
Speaker 4: What is it?
Speaker 3: It's it's a it's a bigger wine without the over abrasive.
Speaker 4: Tannin.
Speaker 3: Uh there's more silky uh dusty kind of tanning with that,
Speaker 3: and but volumptuous fruit, great, great balance and you know,
Speaker 3: nice acidity and all those things. For the I'd say
Speaker 3: Latona from Lost Kindness the do you wanna?
Speaker 2: Okay, when you kind of describe the wine, it kind
Speaker 2: of comes out that way. So that's perfect. You survived
Speaker 2: three wines, three songs. You did it.
Speaker 4: You did it.
Speaker 2: There you go, Well, Drew, it's been wonderful chatting with you.
Speaker 2: And I have one more question with the two parter,
Speaker 2: and the first is what wine region in the world,
Speaker 2: anywhere in the world, is at the top of your
Speaker 2: bucket list that you wish you or you hope to
Speaker 2: go to in the near future.
Speaker 3: I'd say Spain, Okay, now Mexico, Now, Mexico, Mexico.
Speaker 2: Yeah, they got some good one going there, right.
Speaker 5: Yeah.
Speaker 2: Watch how the food's really good there.
Speaker 4: Right, I'll be I'll be immune to those. Yeah, in
Speaker 4: tune intune with them.
Speaker 5: I'm good.
Speaker 2: And the other part of that question, and just to
Speaker 2: complete it is people want to come here and visit you.
Speaker 2: Where can they find Martinez? And Martinez you've talked a
Speaker 2: little bit about him where you are. But when they
Speaker 2: get here, what can they experience? What will they find
Speaker 2: here at at your tasting room?
Speaker 3: The tasting room, Uh, we we're here to treat everybody
Speaker 3: like family, introduce our wines and hope that people can enjoy.
Speaker 4: The facility has decor like Dia.
Speaker 3: Delosrtos and other Latino heritage items on the walls, and
Speaker 3: the ambiance and the music and and so you can
Speaker 3: get away even you know you're in the heart of
Speaker 3: the Lower Valley in Yakimo or Yakima Valley in Washington State,
Speaker 3: you can it'll seem like you're somewhere else in.
Speaker 4: The in the world.
Speaker 5: That's wonderful.
Speaker 2: And so you can do a flight or you can
Speaker 2: do a glass when you're here.
Speaker 4: Yep, flight glass.
Speaker 3: We we actually about fifteen years ago we started not
Speaker 3: under the recommendation of everybody else. They thought it was nuts. Again,
Speaker 3: we started making slushies with our rose and with our
Speaker 3: Albergo and and so you can get a mango and
Speaker 3: YadA with tahina chamoy and you know.
Speaker 4: That kind of thing.
Speaker 3: Or you can do the Rose rita classic style margarita
Speaker 3: but made with rose and enjoy that.
Speaker 4: And that's another thing that I'm not like.
Speaker 3: To too worried about what people think the norms of
Speaker 3: the wine society is, because basically, the way I see
Speaker 3: it is wine drinking is dropping, and we've all seen
Speaker 3: it seventeen percent in the last however many years. So
Speaker 3: we got to stop being that that uh you know
Speaker 3: whatever people think. Yeah, that particular way that people assume wine.
Speaker 4: We got to get out of that or we're all going.
Speaker 5: To go down.
Speaker 2: Well, you know, it's something for everyone. You got rose
Speaker 2: white red slushies exactly. Hey, when it's ninety eight degrees outside,
Speaker 2: I think a slushy sounds great.
Speaker 4: It is fabulous.
Speaker 2: Well, dude, thank you so much for joining us on
Speaker 2: Wine Soundtrack, and I will raise a glass to you
Speaker 2: and say cheers.
Speaker 1: Salu, Salu, thanks for listening to a new episode of
Speaker 1: Wine Soundtrack USA. For details and updates, visit our website.
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