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 Alison
Speaker 2: Levine and today I am with Mark Claren, the wine
Speaker 2: miggerant mcgrail vineyards in the Livermore Valley. Mark, Welcome to
Speaker 2: Wine Soundtrack and tell us a little bit about mcgrail
Speaker 2: vineyards and where we are.
Speaker 3: Well.
Speaker 4: Thank you, Hi, Allison, very nice to meet you. Mcrail
Speaker 4: vineyards were on Greenville Road in Livermore Valley, sort of
Speaker 4: up on a hill overlooking the Livermore Valley and the
Speaker 4: many vineyards. We can see all the vineyards and see
Speaker 4: Mount Diablo in the distance, and.
Speaker 3: So we're just.
Speaker 4: Been here since nineteen ninety nine the vineyard was planted.
Speaker 4: Jim and Ginger mcgrail bought the property in nineteen ninety
Speaker 4: seven planted it to Caberny Sauvignon.
Speaker 3: In ninety nine.
Speaker 4: Harvested started harvesting grapes and selling them to the many
Speaker 4: wineries here in Livermore Valley, and eventually in two thousand
Speaker 4: and five there was sort of a bumper crop year
Speaker 4: in California, and so they had some extra fruit and yeah.
Speaker 5: And that's what we're a winery now, Yeah, exactly, which
Speaker 5: is kind of classic, right.
Speaker 4: And then, but Jim mcgrail was a very competitive soul too,
Speaker 4: and many of the early plant or early production of
Speaker 4: bottles were doing very well as far as in the
Speaker 4: marketplace and gaining popularity, and Jim was a fairly competitive soul,
Speaker 4: and he figured that if somebody else could do it,
Speaker 4: that he could do it too. And so they started
Speaker 4: making wine and officially in two thousand and five Vintage.
Speaker 4: And then I met Ginger mcrail in two thousand and
Speaker 4: six and started consulting and you know, just sort of
Speaker 4: helping them. And then eventually Heather mcgrail came along and
Speaker 4: just sort of helping them, advising them topping barrels, how
Speaker 4: to do this, how to do that, and eventually.
Speaker 2: You never left.
Speaker 3: I never left. Well, it was funny.
Speaker 4: I ran into Ginger at a in a grocery store
Speaker 4: a couple of years later, and she said, you know,
Speaker 4: we're going to hire a wine maker, and I said, well,
Speaker 4: I kind of want to be that winemaker. And so
Speaker 4: we had an interview process of me coming to the
Speaker 4: house with Jim Ginger and Heather mcgrail, their daughter, and
Speaker 4: the interview kind of went like this. It was like
Speaker 4: Ginger said, well, do you know how to make chardonnay?
Speaker 4: And I said, even though this is a Cabernet savignon vineyard,
Speaker 4: you know And I said, well, yeah, I know how
Speaker 4: to make chardonnay. What kind of you know, what style
Speaker 4: chardonnay do you want to have? And she said, I'm good,
Speaker 4: what do you think, Jim?
Speaker 2: And that was it.
Speaker 3: That was it.
Speaker 2: So today, how many acres do you have? And are
Speaker 2: you all one hundred percent of state fruit? Are you
Speaker 2: purchasing fruit?
Speaker 4: We are at this point one hundred percent of state fruit.
Speaker 4: We own all our vineyards. The original planting here on
Speaker 4: the estate property where the winery is is was sixteen
Speaker 4: acres of gray of cabernet savignon, and then in two
Speaker 4: thousand and fifteen, I think it was, we purchased another
Speaker 4: thirty acre parcel with I can see it. I'm sitting
Speaker 4: here in the winery and I can see the vineyard
Speaker 4: from here. It's over there by Darcy Cannon. And then
Speaker 4: in twenty sixteen we planted another twelve acres on The
Speaker 4: existing property was thirty, but about eleven of it had
Speaker 4: grapes on it, and then we planted another twelve, So
Speaker 4: all in all we're looking at about forty acres of.
Speaker 2: Vines, and not just cabernet. Now you also do we
Speaker 2: do a.
Speaker 3: Lot of things.
Speaker 4: We planted Chardonnay, Sauvignon blanc, Cabernet franc, and more Cabernet sauvignon.
Speaker 3: And then the existing.
Speaker 4: Vineyard already had Marlow Milbeck, tigan nacionl Souzao, and then
Speaker 4: we grafted some of the vines over to petiverdeo, so
Speaker 4: we have, you know, all five of the classic Bordeaux
Speaker 4: red grape varieties at this point. And then a couple
Speaker 4: of years ago I talked Heather into letting me graft
Speaker 4: two rows to Grenache blanc, so we have we have
Speaker 4: a little Grenache bloc, which is the outlier.
Speaker 3: Chardon Ay, of course, is not a Bordeaux variety.
Speaker 2: But and then those Portuguese groups just found their way in.
Speaker 4: Here well, and you know the funny part about the Portuguese.
Speaker 4: First of all, the too regan asci now just got
Speaker 4: approved in Bordeaux.
Speaker 3: So we were like, oh, well, just wait till they do,
Speaker 3: this is out.
Speaker 4: But but the reality is that that venuard, that particular
Speaker 4: vineyard was planted in ninety eight and we are in
Speaker 4: the midst of thinking of our redevelopment plan, and part
Speaker 4: of me is like, I really like those two varieties.
Speaker 4: We don't have very much of it, and we make
Speaker 4: us a very small blend called slancha, which is Gaelic
Speaker 4: for cheers, yes, thank you, and which is completely not Portuguese.
Speaker 3: Right.
Speaker 4: But the funny part about that, or the little funny story.
Speaker 3: About that, is that.
Speaker 4: Kind of all along, you know, Jim Irish, you know
Speaker 4: mcrail Irish, you know, family, and I used to tell Heather,
Speaker 4: you know, we should have like some kind of Irish
Speaker 4: name for one of our wines, you know, and and
Speaker 4: then we have these odd great varieties and it was
Speaker 4: like they were.
Speaker 3: Kind of outliers.
Speaker 4: And then and she said, well, the problem with you know,
Speaker 4: the Irish and the Gaelic languages, it's all you know,
Speaker 4: you know hagis, you know, or.
Speaker 3: Things like that, you know, and so you know, it's like,
Speaker 3: you know, like here trying my head.
Speaker 4: But then she she came up with Slatchat and it
Speaker 4: was like I was like, oh my god, she's brilliant,
Speaker 4: you know.
Speaker 2: And she'd have to write it phonetically for most people
Speaker 2: to know how to say it.
Speaker 4: Well, yeah, a lot of people don't. They don't get
Speaker 4: that for sure. They don't when they see it, they
Speaker 4: don't understand it, right.
Speaker 2: And what's your total case production?
Speaker 4: We're about I think we're somewhere between seventy five and
Speaker 4: eight thousand cases, seventy five hundred in.
Speaker 2: There, Okay, I was gonna say, and a seventy.
Speaker 4: Seventy five cases and eight thousand, yeah.
Speaker 2: And are your wines available across the country or in
Speaker 2: certain markets or mostly direct consumer?
Speaker 4: Here at the winery, we are definitely direct to consumer.
Speaker 4: We do have club members that are in other states,
Speaker 4: so we do ship out, you know, ship out and
Speaker 4: then we get visitors from out of state, and if
Speaker 4: it's legal to ship you know, we will.
Speaker 2: But a DTC winery. So I'm curious you grew up,
Speaker 2: you were raised in Seattle. I was born in Seattle,
Speaker 2: and you were raised.
Speaker 3: Where I was raised in Livermore, So.
Speaker 2: You kind of among these nascent finds back then. And
Speaker 2: I'm curious what is your first memory relevant to wine?
Speaker 3: Uh?
Speaker 4: You know, it's interesting because when I was a kid
Speaker 4: growing up, you know, there were vineyards in town, you know,
Speaker 4: because you know town was.
Speaker 3: Livermore was very rural, very very rural town.
Speaker 4: And on the police car there was a rodeo rid
Speaker 4: the atom and then a grape cluster and those were
Speaker 4: sort of represented the three things that Livermore was known for.
Speaker 4: The the Livermore Radiation Laboratory at the time l r L,
Speaker 4: which is now like Livermore Labs. And then and then
Speaker 4: the rodeo, which we still have, you know, the fastest rodeo,
Speaker 4: and and then the grape was representing the wine. So
Speaker 4: I knew about I knew what that was. And then
Speaker 4: my parents always drank wenty Gray Reasling, which was a white,
Speaker 4: white table wine of the day. And so I kind
Speaker 4: of grew up around that, you know. And then eventually
Speaker 4: I kind of bounced around after I got out of
Speaker 4: high school, did some different things, construction and worked at
Speaker 4: the Oakland Army Base for a while, and then I
Speaker 4: got a job at wenty and and so then I
Speaker 4: started making Yeah, making gray reasoning.
Speaker 2: I love it. I'm curious. Once you were kind of
Speaker 2: a little older and you know drinking wine. Was there
Speaker 2: a wine that was one of those aha moments for you?
Speaker 2: Was it while you were working at weenty or was
Speaker 2: it another occasion, but one of those wines that kind
Speaker 2: of stock stood out with you that either because it
Speaker 2: set you on a path or a mindset or just
Speaker 2: you know, opened up your eyes to something.
Speaker 3: You know, it's interesting.
Speaker 4: But at the time, I was in my twenties, you know,
Speaker 4: because when you first when you're in your twenties, you
Speaker 4: drink beer, you know, or whatever.
Speaker 3: And I mean I had.
Speaker 4: My experiences, you know, you know, as a youngster with
Speaker 4: wine in a negative way and.
Speaker 3: Mainly not wine but fortified wine.
Speaker 4: So the MD twenty twenty, you know, so the old
Speaker 4: mad dog as that were, But so I had some
Speaker 4: bad experiences with that. But you know, once I you know,
Speaker 4: was working for wenty and we were making primarily white wine,
Speaker 4: Gray Reasoning and Lebloc de blanc, which was a sweet
Speaker 4: Shinnon Bloc type, you know, I mean Shinnon Block was
Speaker 4: one of the great varieties, but sort of a sweet
Speaker 4: white table one. But I think it was our Petit
Speaker 4: Serrah at wenty that I really went wow, Wow, this
Speaker 4: is amazing, Like it was super dark, kind of jammy,
Speaker 4: you know, And so that was the one there that I.
Speaker 3: Was like, wow, you know, maybe I do like wine,
Speaker 3: you know.
Speaker 4: And so I just you know, kind of transferred over
Speaker 4: and started drinking wine. And then from there, you know,
Speaker 4: you at the time went he was changing over to
Speaker 4: from becoming a from being a white wine primarily producer
Speaker 4: of wines to you know, mari low Cabernet, sauvignon and chardonnay,
Speaker 4: and so you know then of course, and then I
Speaker 4: started traveling the world, you know, and then you know,
Speaker 4: all of a sudden, you know, it's like wow.
Speaker 2: So so if we came to your home today and
Speaker 2: went to your wine cellar or into your wine refrigerator,
Speaker 2: or into the box in the closet, whatever whatever you have,
Speaker 2: what would we find in there? Is it a lot
Speaker 2: of wines you've made? Is it wines for around the world?
Speaker 2: Is it wins from Livermore? Are there particular great varieties
Speaker 2: that you tend to purchase? Like what would we find?
Speaker 4: Well, I definitely have my share of mcgrail vineyards at home,
Speaker 4: and I do have I have two wine fridges at
Speaker 4: home and I have one here at the winery. It's
Speaker 4: obscene how much wine I have. But my latest thing, so,
Speaker 4: and I go in phases, right, So my latest kind
Speaker 4: of thing is I'm really discovering Italian wines and and
Speaker 4: you know, even though I'm a Cabernet sauvignon producer, and
Speaker 4: I love Cabernet sauvignon, I mean, and I think we're
Speaker 4: very very good at it, and I think this vineyard
Speaker 4: is world class. I do sort of enjoy the fresh
Speaker 4: and fruity white Italian grapes like a piano. And I
Speaker 4: went to Italy last year and discovered Greco to tuffo,
Speaker 4: and so now I have some greco and and I
Speaker 4: definitely have some fiano in.
Speaker 3: The in the you know, the wine fridge.
Speaker 4: And then the other thing is, for years I was
Speaker 4: a sort of kind of not really much of a
Speaker 4: Peanu the wi drinker, and so I have some some
Speaker 4: nice pianos now. And then granache is the one that
Speaker 4: I mean, a good grenache is an amazing wine to me.
Speaker 4: And the funny part about grenache is whether it's French,
Speaker 4: you know, or Spanish or whatever, is it's a very
Speaker 4: prolific grape. And so it's it's actually fairly cheap to
Speaker 4: grow compared to Cabernese, sevignon and things like that. So,
Speaker 4: you know, it's I think that it's something. And I
Speaker 4: love the spice of grenache, you know, and I you know,
Speaker 4: I just think it's a great, great.
Speaker 2: Variety of the things in your wine fridge and what
Speaker 2: you have at home. Is there something you opened up
Speaker 2: recently or this week at dinner last night, or something
Speaker 2: that drank really well?
Speaker 3: My grenache bloc?
Speaker 2: Yeah, you're a grenache block what vintage twenty twenty three?
Speaker 2: Nice and fresh? Yeah, So I'm curious. You know, you
Speaker 2: were talking about how you love grenache and that you've
Speaker 2: been introduced to these white grapes from Italy, and you know,
Speaker 2: you make world class cabernet, and you're talking about all
Speaker 2: these different grapes. Do you think there's a such thing
Speaker 2: as a perfect variety?
Speaker 3: You know? That's that's a great question. You know.
Speaker 4: I've heard it stated in a slightly different ways, like
Speaker 4: if you were stranded on a desert island, what would
Speaker 4: be the one great variety that you would want to
Speaker 4: drink the rest.
Speaker 3: Of your life?
Speaker 4: And I just don't know that I could ever answer
Speaker 4: that question only because I think time of the year,
Speaker 4: you know, like I'm talking about these white grape varieties
Speaker 4: right now, because it's summer and it's hot, you know,
Speaker 4: and it's like, but in the winter time, you know,
Speaker 4: I prefer the you know, the the boulder reds and
Speaker 4: things like that, you know, And and it also depends
Speaker 4: on what are you eating, you know.
Speaker 3: So I don't know that there's a perfect wine.
Speaker 4: There are many perfect wines, but I don't think there's
Speaker 4: one specific perfect wine.
Speaker 2: Well, speaking of many perfect wines, sometimes that's determined by
Speaker 2: your palette. Sometimes that's determined by a wine critic who
Speaker 2: has declared it. So what is your opinion on wine
Speaker 2: critics and scores.
Speaker 4: I I love it when they score.
Speaker 3: My wine, well.
Speaker 2: Say about it.
Speaker 4: Yeah, well, I mean so, I mean, at the end
Speaker 4: of the day, we are all different, and you know,
Speaker 4: and everybody has moods.
Speaker 3: For me, wine is it's a very mood, you know.
Speaker 4: It's it's if you're in a good mood, you know,
Speaker 4: maybe wine tastes better. If you're in a bad mood,
Speaker 4: maybe wine tastes worse. And you know, I remember I
Speaker 4: worked for Randall Graham for a little while, and he
Speaker 4: was very into I mean, he's a very spiritual guy,
Speaker 4: and and he was into biodynamics and and talked about
Speaker 4: root days and fruit days and and like flower days,
Speaker 4: and I can't remember there was a fourth one, but
Speaker 4: like we would taste wines on fruit days because they
Speaker 4: always tasted better on fruit days, you know, and so
Speaker 4: and I do believe that, right, So when the critic,
Speaker 4: there's two things about critics. One is, you know, was
Speaker 4: it a fruit day? And then the other one is
Speaker 4: I'm reasonably confident that I've had wines judged that I know,
Speaker 4: you know, like, as an example, got let's say gold
Speaker 4: and silver, right, So one of my cabernets.
Speaker 3: Got a gold or a double gold.
Speaker 4: And then another wine, same vintage, got a silver. And
Speaker 4: I'm reasonably confident that the silver metal had some kind
Speaker 4: of cork related problem and they didn't necessarily pick up
Speaker 4: on it. And I may not have either, because you know,
Speaker 4: TCA cork taint is when it's obvious, it's obvious, but
Speaker 4: when it's at a super micro level, it just sort
Speaker 4: of robs.
Speaker 3: The fruit out of the wine.
Speaker 4: But you don't you don't go, oh, this is corked,
Speaker 4: you know, Yeah, it's just this wine doesn't have any fruit.
Speaker 2: Or on a panel. Like you said, it's subjective. Maybe
Speaker 2: one wine went to one panel and one went to
Speaker 2: another and they had different palettes.
Speaker 4: Yeah, that's true too. Well yeah panels. Yeah, that's you're
Speaker 4: right about that. But anyway, at the end of the day,
Speaker 4: I'm fortunate enough to well, I have this wine making philosophy.
Speaker 4: It's very simple. I make wine I want to drink,
Speaker 4: and then I hope you like it too. And it's
Speaker 4: working out because we're getting pretty good scores.
Speaker 2: Good so wine you like to drink, red, white or rose? Yes,
Speaker 2: still are sparkling.
Speaker 4: Yes, we do make a We do make a sparkling
Speaker 4: wine now. So we have a Chardonnay vineyard we plan
Speaker 4: in twenty sixteen, I mentioned earlier, and so I wanted
Speaker 4: to make a little sparkling wine. And so now we
Speaker 4: have two vintages now of this Chardonnay. You know, we
Speaker 4: pick it a little early like you're supposed to do,
Speaker 4: and ferment it and then referment it and all that,
Speaker 4: and we're just getting ready to release our very first vintage.
Speaker 2: That's exciting. So you mentioned just a few minutes ago,
Speaker 2: you know, food and wine pairing. You know, when I
Speaker 2: first asked you about the critics and scores, you kind
Speaker 2: of alluded there's a lot more. There's about perfect variety,
Speaker 2: about how there's a time and a place in what
Speaker 2: you're eating. So when it comes to pairing food and wine,
Speaker 2: do you follow rules? Do you think there are certain
Speaker 2: rules to follow? Are there guidelines you follow that you
Speaker 2: can share or do you not take it as seriously?
Speaker 4: I'm no expert. Okay, I'm not an expert at it,
Speaker 4: but I am I'm very appreciative of those who are
Speaker 4: good at it. And probably one of the sort of
Speaker 4: the epiphany for me actually happened like thirty years ago
Speaker 4: or so when I was still working at WENTI and
Speaker 4: we had a winemaker dinner with oh God, Cloda Wah
Speaker 4: and went he had a restaurant and and so I
Speaker 4: went to this Cloda Wow winemaker dinner and I was
Speaker 4: blown away at how good the wine tasted with the
Speaker 4: food and vice versa, you know, and how and that
Speaker 4: was my eye opening moment to be open to the idea,
Speaker 4: because before that I was like, mister, like, you know,
Speaker 4: just go ahead and eat your peanut butter and jelly.
Speaker 3: And you know, petita or whatever, yeah, but.
Speaker 2: That might actually work.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I kind of think it does.
Speaker 4: But but but you know, but I mean, just in
Speaker 4: all seriousness, I do think.
Speaker 3: That I do.
Speaker 4: I do think about it, like if I'm having a
Speaker 4: chicken dish at home, what wine I should be drinking
Speaker 4: with that? And you know, rather than you know, if
Speaker 4: I'm eating a steak, you.
Speaker 3: Know, like I don't.
Speaker 4: I don't drink you know, I don't eat a steak
Speaker 4: with my sobnim blanc, you know, and I don't, you know,
Speaker 4: and I don't drink a cab with my chicken necessarily,
Speaker 4: although that one can be but fish, let's say a
Speaker 4: white fish, right, a light white fish, or oysters or
Speaker 4: something like that, oysters and subnium blanc, you know. And
Speaker 4: then in general I really like my subnium blanc in
Speaker 4: my grenaches blanc in my rose with spicier foods like
Speaker 4: you can go the Asian spice or the Mexican spice
Speaker 4: or what have you. And I mean, I love those combinations.
Speaker 4: And we don't make reasling, but Reaeseling can do that too.
Speaker 3: Right, absolutely so.
Speaker 2: For somebody who hasn't had the pleasure to taste mcgrail
Speaker 2: Vineyards wines yet what do you think they're missing out on?
Speaker 4: Well, I think that they're missing out on a delicious
Speaker 4: bottle of wine, no matter which one you pick.
Speaker 2: Okay, well I'm gonna make you pick a wine now,
Speaker 2: because the question is this space aliens land on your property.
Speaker 2: They come knocking at the door, which wine of yours
Speaker 2: are you going to welcome them with? And say, this
Speaker 2: is mcgrail Vineyards.
Speaker 4: Cabernet Sauvignon Reserve. For sure, hands down. It's the genesis
Speaker 4: of the brand. It's what we're best at, is what
Speaker 4: we're most known for, and it's why people come back.
Speaker 2: I love it. So you've been in the Livermore Valley
Speaker 2: most of your life. Obviously you have worked elsewhere when
Speaker 2: you were with Bonnie Dune, but you spent a lot
Speaker 2: of time here in your experience. And what do you
Speaker 2: see vintage telling you here in the Livermore Valley? Do
Speaker 2: you see a lot of consistency? Do you see variation
Speaker 2: from year to year? And you know, do you see
Speaker 2: more consistency or more variation especially of late.
Speaker 3: Great great question, I see. I mean, I personally think
Speaker 3: there's a lot of consistency. Although weather has been.
Speaker 4: A little crazier in the last ten years, let's say.
Speaker 4: But interesting, we do a lot of vertical tastings of
Speaker 4: our cabernets. We have James Vincent Cabernety Savignon, which is
Speaker 4: aged in one hundred percent French joke, and then we
Speaker 4: have our reserve Cabernety savignon that's aged in you know
Speaker 4: must you know, Hungarian, French and American, et cetera. I
Speaker 4: mean and experienced open all that, but completely from this vineyard.
Speaker 4: Aged our aging regime for those wines are thirty months
Speaker 4: in oak and so then we do a vertical tasting
Speaker 4: every year. Those are usually in the winter because you know,
Speaker 4: what else do you do in the winter but drink, right,
Speaker 4: I don't.
Speaker 2: Know, harbust is over and now you're sitting around you
Speaker 2: gotta do something.
Speaker 4: So just based on that you can taste vintage variation,
Speaker 4: of course, and some of it is just you know,
Speaker 4: a twenty twelve cab doesn't taste like a twenty twenty cab, you.
Speaker 3: Know, I mean, you know, period.
Speaker 4: But I do feel like the consistency, at least here
Speaker 4: at mcgrail is very good and I'm pretty sure that
Speaker 4: most of the people that attend would.
Speaker 3: Say the same.
Speaker 4: But that being said, I've been watching the weather for
Speaker 4: forty something years now because of the business I'm in,
Speaker 4: and and I feel like in general our winters are
Speaker 4: a little warmer, and then our summers are wackier.
Speaker 2: And what I mean as time has gone on.
Speaker 4: Yeah, and what I mean by whack here is like
Speaker 4: this year we just got through like a heat spell
Speaker 4: of about a week and a half, give or take.
Speaker 4: Last summer we had basically no serious heat spells ever
Speaker 4: through the whole summer. And I would say normal in Livermore.
Speaker 4: We usually get a couple of really hot days into May,
Speaker 4: early June kind of thing.
Speaker 3: July is usually hot, but not necessarily in the hundreds.
Speaker 4: But we'll get We'll get a couple of days in July,
Speaker 4: we'll get a couple of days in August, and then.
Speaker 3: We'll get a couple of days in September.
Speaker 4: That's that's what I call a normal Livermore summer. But
Speaker 4: this year is clearly different than that. Last year was
Speaker 4: clearly different than that in a different way. Right, And
Speaker 4: so now the older, of course, the older, I get
Speaker 4: them more. I think there's no such thing as normal,
Speaker 4: which is thankful. I'm thankful because that means I'm normal.
Speaker 2: So are there any sort of signs or predictors that
Speaker 2: you look for that'll tell you what a harvest is
Speaker 2: going to be?
Speaker 4: Like, Well, at this point, we are hanging a beautiful crop.
Speaker 4: I think it's well balanced, and we'll never know until,
Speaker 4: of course, we harvest it. Like last year was very
Speaker 4: unusual because it was so cool all year.
Speaker 3: And it was a pretty big crop.
Speaker 4: So it's it's harder to ripe on a big crop,
Speaker 4: and so we harvested the latest I've ever harvested here.
Speaker 2: But and you're pretty happy with what you're seeing.
Speaker 4: I'm very happy with the end result. So you know,
Speaker 4: of course people talk about hang time of course, right,
Speaker 4: So my favorite thing about the wine business is every
Speaker 4: vintage is stellar. I just know how to spin it.
Speaker 2: Well, I guess you know. You can look for signs,
Speaker 2: but you just don't know until you know.
Speaker 4: Right, Yeah, I mean, right now we're looking. It's a
Speaker 4: little later than last than normal, if there's such a thing,
Speaker 4: but that heat spike that comes in September could speed
Speaker 4: everything up, and we still don't know what August is
Speaker 4: going to be.
Speaker 3: Like my suspicion is and.
Speaker 5: This is just based on forty years of experience exactly,
Speaker 5: is that we're going to continue to have some warm,
Speaker 5: warm summer and we're going to continue to progress, and
Speaker 5: harvest is going to come in pretty much on time.
Speaker 4: You know, think about Labor Day weekend as being sort
Speaker 4: of the beginning of serious crush and in Halloween being
Speaker 4: the end of it. And so I feel like we're
Speaker 4: going to be right there. And you know, the good
Speaker 4: news is, like I said, in our case, and I
Speaker 4: think California in general, but in our case, we have
Speaker 4: a very balanced crop and it's a little less than
Speaker 4: last year. So I think, you know, I'm bullish. I
Speaker 4: think it's going to be good.
Speaker 2: Any good luck rituals you have at the start of harvest.
Speaker 3: I usually like to go swimming.
Speaker 2: Okay where just in any body of water.
Speaker 4: Well for sure, but in my I have a swimming
Speaker 4: pool in my backyard, and so we usually like to
Speaker 4: have a little pool party or something.
Speaker 2: Like that after the first day. Yeah, okay, I'm curious.
Speaker 2: You have these vines here that we're surrounded by, that
Speaker 2: it's the original estate. You've been here a long time,
Speaker 2: you know, these vines you were saying that they're you know, behaving.
Speaker 2: They're they're they're pretty they're pretty good. Right now, I'm
Speaker 2: curious how much time you spend in the vineyards and
Speaker 2: what kind of communication you have with the vines.
Speaker 4: Yes, I well, I've actually named all the vines.
Speaker 2: One by one.
Speaker 3: No, but I do. I do talk to them.
Speaker 4: But I spend It depends on the time of the year,
Speaker 4: of course, but like this time of the year, I
Speaker 4: spend a lot more time in the vineyard because you know,
Speaker 4: you're watching the ripening of the fruit and all that stuff.
Speaker 4: But but I'm popping in and out of the vineyard
Speaker 4: pretty much a couple of times a week, and this
Speaker 4: time of the year more so, you know. Just and
Speaker 4: then I have so I have here, I have an
Speaker 4: assistant why maker, c. J. Molski, and then I have
Speaker 4: a viticulturist.
Speaker 3: Rolando Medina. And so Rolando and I talk because he's
Speaker 3: really my eyes.
Speaker 2: And he's the one who talks to the vines.
Speaker 4: Yeah, no, for sure, he actually probably didn't name him,
Speaker 4: but he knows the vineyard better than I do, for
Speaker 4: sure by far. But he and I, you know, we
Speaker 4: get together and we look at different things and we
Speaker 4: talk about you know, pruning and different sections, and you know,
Speaker 4: each variety you want to handle differently, and how are
Speaker 4: we gonna you know, the challenges of grape growing is
Speaker 4: really the most important thing with wine making, no matter
Speaker 4: what anybody else says. And I know it's cliche to say,
Speaker 4: you know, but it's really the most important thing. And
Speaker 4: so we're talking about how are we gonna change something
Speaker 4: in the vineyards so that this section of the vineyard,
Speaker 4: because the soils are different in different sections of the vineyard,
Speaker 4: and you know, and how do we how can we
Speaker 4: manage fertilization in different sections of the vineyard, you know,
Speaker 4: and things like that, and you want to you know,
Speaker 4: ideally you want to irrigate your chardinay differently than you
Speaker 4: do your cabernet.
Speaker 2: And that's a discussion among two people. You don't have
Speaker 2: to tell the vines that, right, that's true. They have
Speaker 2: to just behave no they tell.
Speaker 3: They actually tell us. Ah, they talk to you, well
Speaker 3: they do.
Speaker 4: Because they you know, you go out there and they're like,
Speaker 4: I need more water.
Speaker 2: The soil took it all. So when you were a
Speaker 2: little boy, what did you want to be when you
Speaker 2: grew up? I mean you said you've done you did
Speaker 2: a few jobs before you ended up working in one.
Speaker 2: But I mean, did you have aspirations for something else?
Speaker 3: You know?
Speaker 4: It's funny. I never really knew for sure what I
Speaker 4: wanted to be when I grew up, nor do I now,
Speaker 4: But there was a time in my life when I was,
Speaker 4: like I would say, between twelve and fifteen years old,
Speaker 4: that I wanted to be a deep sea diver. I
Speaker 4: wanted to be like an an underwater welder guy or
Speaker 4: something like that, because I heard they made good money.
Speaker 2: But instead you became a winemaker and a musician. I'm curious.
Speaker 2: I know you're into music. Do you have a favorite
Speaker 2: singer group?
Speaker 4: No, I mean I like a lot of you know,
Speaker 4: I just went to New Orleans and saw Cyril Neville,
Speaker 4: so I mean, I love and I just recently saw
Speaker 4: John Cleary, who's also from New Orleans here in Livermore.
Speaker 1: Uh.
Speaker 4: But I like a lot of different styles of music.
Speaker 4: But I would say it's got to be kind of funky, bluesy,
Speaker 4: you know, classic rock.
Speaker 3: Is you know what I grew up with.
Speaker 4: So you know, I grew up my father played the banjo,
Speaker 4: the five string banjo, so I grew up with bluegrass
Speaker 4: and then in high school, I played in uh, you know,
Speaker 4: classic rock cover bands, and we played the Eagles and
Speaker 4: the Doobie Brothers and the Beatles and the Rolling Stones,
Speaker 4: and I kind of still do that.
Speaker 3: You know.
Speaker 2: That's awesome. Yeah, So, if you were planning a romantic
Speaker 2: evening for yourself, what sort of wines get opened for
Speaker 2: a romantic evening? What sets a different tone than just
Speaker 2: a regular night.
Speaker 3: Well, you start with bubbles, Okay, you gotta.
Speaker 2: Start with bubbles, and soon it'll be your own bubbles.
Speaker 3: Yes for sure.
Speaker 4: Well yeah, actually we've done that, but because I mean
Speaker 4: I get the pre release.
Speaker 2: Stuff right early access.
Speaker 4: Yeah, it's I call it quality control. But definitely starts
Speaker 4: with that, and then you know, and then you move
Speaker 4: on to a white or a rose type thing, you know, appetizers,
Speaker 4: and then finish out, Well, the lady I'm seeing loves
Speaker 4: peen and noar, so you know, maybe a grenage, maybe
Speaker 4: a pean and noir.
Speaker 2: So you got to keep her happy.
Speaker 4: We if you want it to be truly romantic, you
Speaker 4: got to keep her happy.
Speaker 2: So you've worked in the line industry for forty years
Speaker 2: and you've worked with a lot of different people and
Speaker 2: met people along the way. Is there a piece of
Speaker 2: advice and maybe it came from your parents, and maybe
Speaker 2: it came from one of these people along the way,
Speaker 2: that someone gave you that you try to live or
Speaker 2: work by.
Speaker 4: Yeah, well that's an easy one. Is My father told me,
Speaker 4: whatever you do, be good at it, you know whatever.
Speaker 4: He said, I don't care if you're a garbage man
Speaker 4: or if you're you know, you know whatever in life
Speaker 4: as a as a career, be good at it. Be
Speaker 4: the best garbage man you could be, Be the best
Speaker 4: you know, guitar player, be the best wine maker whatever.
Speaker 4: So that that I mean, I still take that. And
Speaker 4: then the other one would be my boss. At wenty,
Speaker 4: he told me that once you learn something, it's your
Speaker 4: to keep and nobody can take it away.
Speaker 3: You know.
Speaker 4: It's like you can buy that chair and take it
Speaker 4: home and somebody could steal it, you know, but knowledge,
Speaker 4: you know, And I really really appreciated that.
Speaker 2: So when you know you have a hopefully and most
Speaker 2: likely mastered being a winemaker and being the best you
Speaker 2: can be, I'm curious when you look back at your career,
Speaker 2: what would you say is one of your proudest achievements
Speaker 2: to date?
Speaker 3: Last vintage.
Speaker 2: And next sure it'll be the last vintage.
Speaker 4: That's a great question. Well, I think actually being a
Speaker 4: part of mcgrail, you know, I was I've done a lot.
Speaker 4: I mean I've worked in a few different places, not
Speaker 4: a lot. And you know, I know there are people
Speaker 4: that bounce around a lot. I don't bounce around a lot.
Speaker 4: But but I think I the timing of my meeting
Speaker 4: the mcgrail family and what they were trying to do
Speaker 4: and where I was with my career really matched up perfectly.
Speaker 4: And and so I'm super happy to be a part
Speaker 4: of this project, is what I call it, you know.
Speaker 4: I mean we're just we're just trying to be a
Speaker 4: successful wine brand that can support some some folks and
Speaker 4: make a living. And you know, we're not I don't
Speaker 4: think we have visions of being the next Gallo or
Speaker 4: anything like that, you know, but we're trying to make
Speaker 4: a living and we're trying to make great wine. And
Speaker 4: the thing I love the most about the family is
Speaker 4: is that is.
Speaker 3: They really want to make great wine.
Speaker 4: And we don't shortcut the important and I mean I
Speaker 4: know that you can see the case goods behind us,
Speaker 4: but you know, even just the property itself. You know,
Speaker 4: it's a beautiful place, and they've done a great job
Speaker 4: of establishing this whole thing.
Speaker 2: So complete this sentence. For me, a table without wine
Speaker 2: is like.
Speaker 3: A day without sunshine.
Speaker 2: A lyricist, you are another question for you. We're sitting
Speaker 2: at a long table. There are a lot of chairs
Speaker 2: on the table. We've got some bottles of your wine
Speaker 2: on the table. You've made them. Who from any walk
Speaker 2: of life, living or deceased, would you wish you could
Speaker 2: share a bottle of wine you made of mcgrel vineyards,
Speaker 2: wine made by your hand?
Speaker 3: Oh? Man?
Speaker 4: Uh wow, Well I always think of you know, you
Speaker 4: said living or deceased, So I always go to deceased
Speaker 4: for some reason.
Speaker 2: But well, because that would be more of a fantasy,
Speaker 2: right right right?
Speaker 4: John Lennon, Yeah, but or George Harrison, either one of
Speaker 4: those two gether only because they're dead beatles. But uh
Speaker 4: but I mean, seriously, oh, you know, I would really
Speaker 4: appreciate it if Robert Parker would taste my one.
Speaker 2: Coming back to the critics.
Speaker 4: Well why not? I mean, you know, I mean, I'm
Speaker 4: in the biz. I've been in the biz for all
Speaker 4: these years, and he's I'm sure he's never tasted my wine,
Speaker 4: probably doesn't even want to, and I totally respect that.
Speaker 3: But yeah, Robert.
Speaker 2: Parker, Okay, okay, So you mentioned at the beginning when
Speaker 2: I asked you one of those aha moment wines, you said, oh,
Speaker 2: you know that question when they ask you, what is
Speaker 2: that wine? You'd the grape you'd want to have on
Speaker 2: a deserted island. I'm gonna make it a little different.
Speaker 2: What three wines would you want to take if you
Speaker 2: were sent off to a deserted island?
Speaker 4: Any three wines, Any three wines, well, Caebernie Savignon would
Speaker 4: definitely be top of.
Speaker 2: The list, particularly what you've made or from somewhere else.
Speaker 4: Something in the quality level of my Cab, But you know,
Speaker 4: it could be. I mean, I don't want to say,
Speaker 4: you know, there's some great Sonoma, some great Napa wines,
Speaker 4: but I tend to like my my Cab. But I
Speaker 4: know that that's a house palette.
Speaker 3: So that's one.
Speaker 4: Definitely Champagne and like true Champagne from Champagne and then
Speaker 4: man I am in love with Fiano Dave Lena, so
Speaker 4: that would.
Speaker 3: Be the other one.
Speaker 2: I think that's a good trio. Yeah, there you go. Well,
Speaker 2: I have a question for you now, because you know
Speaker 2: we talk about wine puts us in moods, and you
Speaker 2: know you've talked a little bit about how you know
Speaker 2: working with different grapes and how you love these wines,
Speaker 2: and I want you to put them to music. And
Speaker 2: I know that you have a musical background, as you said,
Speaker 2: your dad played the five string banjo. You have been
Speaker 2: in bands, classic rock is your thing. But wine. As
Speaker 2: much as music gives us an emotion, wine gives us
Speaker 2: an emotion too, And so I want you to pair
Speaker 2: a genre, a song, a musician with you know your wines,
Speaker 2: and I want to start with the wine I've been
Speaker 2: sipping on while you've been talking, which is your Sauvignon blanc.
Speaker 3: Okay, Savignon blanc. This this wine, I would I would
Speaker 3: pair this with.
Speaker 4: I think, you know, I think of Joni Mitchell. There's
Speaker 4: a couple of songs like one is uh is called
Speaker 4: help Me Uh, and then the other one is in France.
Speaker 3: They Kiss on Main Street.
Speaker 4: Both those songs they're kind of very similar, but there's
Speaker 4: just something kind of cool.
Speaker 3: It is kind of rock.
Speaker 4: But it's kind of jazzy kind of and so and
Speaker 4: I think Sognon blanc is kind.
Speaker 3: Of jazzy, you know, like.
Speaker 2: When you first ran into Missus mcgrail and she asked
Speaker 2: you at your interview if you could make shardonay, and
Speaker 2: you make shardonay, So tell me what would you pair
Speaker 2: with your shortenay and what style of shardinay did you
Speaker 2: end up making?
Speaker 4: Okay, shardonnay, we barrow ferment or shardenay, and we we
Speaker 4: put it through malalactic fermentation. So she likes the oaky,
Speaker 4: buttery style of shardonnay, which, by the way, I mean
Speaker 4: I have a lot of experience with and I do
Speaker 4: happen to like that, which is good because as I mentioned,
Speaker 4: I like I make wines. I want to drink absolutely,
Speaker 4: So with that one, what would I do? Shardonay? I
Speaker 4: almost want to go country genre for some reason, and
Speaker 4: maybe it's because Ginger likes country also, and uh so
Speaker 4: I'm just trying to think of maybe even like something
Speaker 4: Dolly Parton, uh you know, a Dolly Parton classic country song,
Speaker 4: and I can't name a single one.
Speaker 2: That's okay, we don't part and conjures up an image
Speaker 2: in a sound, Yeah, okay, And then the last one
Speaker 2: you're Cabernet sauvignon, the one that you would give to
Speaker 2: the space Aliens, the one that is growing right outside
Speaker 2: the door here.
Speaker 3: Home at Last by Steely Dan.
Speaker 2: Very definitive on that one. I like it. That's fantastic.
Speaker 2: Well Mark, we've come to the end. You've made it through.
Speaker 2: It's been lovely chatting with you. And I have a
Speaker 2: two part question to end it with. You said, you're
Speaker 2: really into Italian wines right now, and I am curious.
Speaker 2: Maybe it's Italy, but is there one wine region in
Speaker 2: the world that's at the top of your bucket list
Speaker 2: to explore that you have yet to explore?
Speaker 3: Well?
Speaker 4: There, I mean, I've been to France, I've been to Portugal,
Speaker 4: I've been to Italy, but I really want to explore Spain.
Speaker 2: Okay, okay. And the second part is for people who
Speaker 2: would like to come out explore the Livermore Valley. How
Speaker 2: can they find mcgrill Vineyards And when they get here,
Speaker 2: what will they find? What can they experience here? What
Speaker 2: does this property offer?
Speaker 4: Well, we are we're on Greenville Road, which is an
Speaker 4: exit off the I five eighty feet freeway.
Speaker 3: So and the good news is if you if you
Speaker 3: take it.
Speaker 4: And you go the wrong way, you'll know right away.
Speaker 4: But so we're I don't know, a mile and a
Speaker 4: half off the freeway and then we're near Poppy Ridge
Speaker 4: golf Course. If you're a golfer, you know by the way.
Speaker 4: And then I think, if you know, once you get
Speaker 4: here and it's it's like I said, it's pretty easy
Speaker 4: to get here. You will find some great views. I
Speaker 4: think the wines are excellent, and over and above that,
Speaker 4: the hospitality.
Speaker 3: Is really good here.
Speaker 4: We have a great staff and you will be welcomed
Speaker 4: and you will be you know, I think, enjoy yourself.
Speaker 4: We do a lot of different things. If you come
Speaker 4: on a Friday night, we have Friday night music, we
Speaker 4: have you know, you know, the other day we had
Speaker 4: yoga on the lawn.
Speaker 3: We had pilates on the lawn.
Speaker 4: We have all kinds of things going on because it's
Speaker 4: really important to you know, exercise.
Speaker 3: But it's even more important to enjoy wine while you
Speaker 3: do that.
Speaker 2: Absolutely absolutely, So that's fantastic. So come on out to
Speaker 2: mcgrail Vineyards. The views are pretty spectacular. You can sit
Speaker 2: out on the deck and look out across the valley
Speaker 2: with these rolling hills spotted with vineyards. It's it's pretty beautiful.
Speaker 2: It looks like a postcard, I have to say, so,
Speaker 2: come check out this postcard for yourself. Come taste the
Speaker 2: lines and I'm ready to come go taste a little
Speaker 2: more wine. And Mark, thank you so much for joining
Speaker 2: us today.
Speaker 3: Thank you, Alison, it's a pleasure to meet you.
Speaker 1: You too, Thanks for listening to a new episode of
Speaker 1: Wind Soundtrack USA. For details and updates, visit our website
Speaker 1: windsoundtracks dot com.