The Inside Winemaking Podcast With Jim Duane

This episode features Megan Brodie the Manager of Global Product Development & Winemaking for BevZero, a company that specializes in alcohol removal technologies for wine and other beverages.

This episode features Steve Matthiason, who has had an outsized role in the North Coast Californian wine industry both as a viticultural consultant and as a winemaker. This episode served as a chance to catch up since we worked together twelve years ago. We talked about Steve and his wife, Jill’s, building of Matthiasson including the wines, brand, and now a winery on the eastern edge of Napa. Of course, no conversation with Steve would be complete without discussions of technical vineyard work including Powdery Mildew spore trapping. Matthiasson - Napa Valley Root Applied Sciences - Powdery Mildew spore trapping This podcast is sponsored by Innovint. Has your winery turned into a complete Excel sheet show? Say hello to InnoVint, it’s winemaking software to get you off of spreadsheets and into the modern era. InnoVint was founded and built by winemakers, so they know where your pain points are. No matter the size of your winery, InnoVint provides you with instant access to your production records in n t

This episode features Maya Dalla Valle, who has taken over the helm of viticulture and winemaking at her family's estate in Napa and also developed a new joint venture between Dalle Valle and the Supertuscan estate, Ornellaia.

This episode was a double interview between Jim Duane from Inside Winemaking and Daniel Baron from The Winemaker’s Journey Podcast.

This episode of the Podcast features Natalie MacLean, author, wine educator, and host of the Unreserved Wine Talk Podcast. Natalie, who is based in Canada’s capital city, Ottawa, told us the story of her transition from tech to wine, she gave an in-depth portrayal of the Canadian winemaking regions, and we discussed the work that she does today including creating wine and food pairing classes, writing her third book, and the Unreserved Wine Talk Podcast. Natalie is currently seeking beta readers for her new book, a memoir, and leaves an invitation during our conversation.

This episode of the Podcast features Nick Devlin, CEO of Naked Wines. Our conversation covers Nick’s background in London, the stories of Naked wines evolution, insights from the relationships they’ve built with their customers (Angels), the different value propositions that Naked offers to winemakers and to consumers, growth during the pandemic, and my new J.M. Duane Rosé and Grenache wines. NakedWines.com J.M.Duane 2020 Coakley Vineyard, Paso Robles Grenache J.M.Duane 2020 Rosé of Pinot Noir from Monterey County Email me for access to $100 off your first order from Naked Wines This podcast is brought you by Wine Compliance Alliance Thinking of starting your own wine business? Maybe you’d like to make your own wines and sell to customers who are both inside and outside of your home state? Maybe you are already working with a winery to make the wines you’d like to sell? Your business is going to need certain licensing to be able to do that. Wine compliance alliance in Napa CA offers services to ass

This episode of the Podcast features Randy Heinzen in his return to the podcast. During a trip to Paso Robles in January 2019 Randy gave me a in-depth tour of vineyards in Paso Robles. Randy then let me know about a young planting on his family’s ranch, Coakley Vineyard, that included new, cleaned-up clones of Grenache. His excitement for the potential of this new wine was infectious and I have spent the past two years building that very wine by leveraging the opportunity to work with Naked Wines. In this episode, we talk about viticulture in Paso Robles, building the Coakley Vineyard Grenache from grapes to wine, Randy delivers with new terms such as phyllosilicates the “point of discontinuity”, and triple-trimming Grenache pre-set.

This episode of the Podcast features Joe Nielsen the winemaker from Ram’s Gate Winery in Sonoma, California. During our conversation, Joe and I discuss his path to becoming a winemaker, the Ram’s Gate wines, and the wine MBA from Sonoma State. Ram’s Gate Winery - Sonoma, California Donelan Family Wines - Sonoma, California O’Neill Vintners and Distillers - Larkspur, California Sonoma State Wine Executive MBA Program This podcast is brought you by Total Wine, a wonderland for wine, spirits, and beer lovers! No matter what’s on your holiday table, we have the wine—and the savings—to match. Here’s our recipe for a toast-worthy feast. Pop open some bubbly as guests gather ‘round. Pair baked ham with Cabernet for some tasty magic. Turkey and stuffing play nicely with Pinot Noir. Pour Riesling with apple pie for a dessert that really sings. While you’re at it, check out the Top 20 Wines of the Year and discover standout gifts for everyone on your list. Plus, there are so many new festive flavors to fall

This episode of the Podcast features Francois Margot from DIAM Bouchage, a company that designs, manufactures, and markets technological cork closures. Our conversation covers the unique qualities of natural cork and the DIAM’s innovations that were developed to address cork closures’ mechanical performance, sensorial neutrality, and Oxygen control. Francois describes in great technical detail the production and performance of DIAM’s range of cork closures. This is not a podcast sponsored by DIAM. I have been using DIAM corks in the wines I am producing for Terratorium Wines and Naked Wines. Because of those associations I have been motivated to study the DIAM technologies and felt it valuable to share with the podcast audience.

This episode of the Podcast features Matt Dees, winemaker for the Hilt Estate and Jonata wineries in Santa Barbara County. Matt and I talked about his background, the building of the Jonata, and the new Hilt Estate in the Santa Rita Hills AVA. I had a great time talking with Matt and came away more prepared to make my own wines from Santa Barbara for the first time this 2021 harvest. LINKS AND RESOURCES MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE The Hilt Estate - Santa Rita Hills, California Jonata Winery - Santa Ynez, California

This episode of the Podcast features Danielle Cyrot, who is the winemaker for Cade Winery and 13th Vineyard on Howell Mountain in the Napa Valley. Our conversation ranges from mountain winemaking, the trials of the 2020 vintage, Cade’s growth with the acquisition of 13th Vineyard, the Plumpjack group, and LEED Certification for wineries.

This episode of the Podcast features Miguel Garcia who is the Sustainable Agriculture Program Manager for the Napa County Resource Conservation District. Miguel has been very helpful to the Seavey Vineyard team in our efforts towards soil management and carbon sequestration. I asked him to record this podcast so people would be aware of the ways in which Miguel in his position with the RCD is available to help farmers with a variety of conservation projects. We discussed Miguel’s background, his efforts to engage a Spanish-speaking audience of farmers, biochar, cultivation’s relationship with soil biology, rainfall simulators, and soil carbon sequestration.

This episode of the Podcast is a Zoom recording with Lance Vande Hoef who represents the grape machine harvest equipment for Pellenc in the US. We recorded this podcast with video in order to make it available as a Youtube video to show some of the Pellenc equipment in action. Pellenc makes tractors, harvesting machines, destemmers, sorters, and hand equipment, but much of our conversation centers around their machine harvesting capabilities and the ability to harvest and press in the field for white and rosé winemaking. We recorded this podcast in September 2020. For harvest of 2021, Lance’s son, Blake Vande Hoef, has begun offering in-field pressing services with Pellenc equipment in his new venture, Integrity Wine Company.

This episode features Peter Yeung and Robert Vernick from the X Chateau Wine Podcast. Peter and Robert collectively offer a tremendous source of insight into the wine market, winemaking trends, sales trends, finance, and customer engagement based in a shared fascination for studying and drinking wine. In 2019 Peter co-authored the book Luxury Wine Marketing. This episode is not focused on winemaking per se but presents a wealth of ideas that winemakers can consider for their own marketing strategies. Listeners can explore the topics from this episode in much more depth on the X Chateau Podcast, which is available on all podcast platforms

This episode features WSU Food Scientist Charlie Edwards. Charlie is a teacher, researcher, and expert in wine microbes. I was finally able to have the high-level conversation about Brettanomyces that I’ve been longing for on the podcast. We also talked about wine bacteria, techniques to find points of contamination in a winery, the books he has authored, and the viticulture and enology degree programs that are available at Washington State. LINKS AND RESOURCES MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE Charles Edwards Faculty Page - Washington State University Wine Microbiology: Practical Applications and Procedures 2nd Edition book by Kenneth Fugelsang and Charles Edwards published 2007 Illustrated Guide to Microbes and Sediments in Wine, Beer and Juice photobook by Charles Edwards published 2005 Washington State University - Fermentation Science   This podcast is brought you by Total Wine. There’s a sizzling lineup of cool sips at Total Wine & More. We’re talking summer’s greatest hits you’ll want to put on repeat like

Tony Biagi - Patria Wines This episode features Tony Biagi a winemaker who has a tremendous resume of winemaking in Napa Valley. Our conversation covered Tony’s background, the role of a winemaking consultant, Tony’s demand for “a pound of flesh” during harvest, his wines from Paso Robles and other regions in California. Tony was incredibly candid about the development and operations of Patria Wines, his personal wine project. LINKS AND RESOURCES MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE Patria Wines - Napa Valley Amici Cellars - Napa Valley Lasseter Family Winery - Sonoma Valley Hourglass Winery - Napa Valley The Vineyardist - Napa Valley Caliza Winery - Paso Robles Jada Vineyard - Paso Robles Alma Rosa Winery - Santa Barbara County   This podcast is brought you by Total Wine. There’s a sizzling lineup of cool sips at Total Wine & More. We’re talking summer’s greatest hits you’ll want to put on repeat like our top twelve wines under fifteen dollars. And you can raise a glass to America with a star-spangled selection of

Frank Renaldi - WinemakingInstructions.com This episode features Frank Renaldi who is a winemaker and winemaking instructor. In a joint venture with Musto Wine Grape Company in Hartford, Connecticut Frank has created a comprehensive set of tutorial videos that are geared towards home winemakers, yet contain a high level of technical enology so as to be useful for commercial wineries as well. Our conversation covered Frank’s compulsive winemaking at home, the paths that he took to learn enology, how he geared his video courses to address the early difficulties that winemakers encounter, and the in-person courses he teaches in Hartford. His catalog of videos, some of which are free, are affordable and broken down by topic. My introduction to Frank came from Christina Musto, a previous guest on the podcast. LINKS AND RESOURCES MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE WinemakingInstructions.com - video catalog Musto Wine Grape Company - Hartford, CT - Source for grapes, equipment, supplies, and many winemaking resources Enology

This episode features winemaker Michael Terrien. Michael is on a roadshow to promote the new Adventures excursion opportunities from Obsidian Wine Co. Michael has his hands in many projects from California Pinot noir to Maine wild blueberry sparkling wine and the portfolio of estate wines from Obsidian Ridge in Lake County, CA. I had a great conversation with Michael ranging from the details of making blueberry wine, the partnership that is Obsidian, dynamic pricing for his brand, Becheur, and his uncanny faith in a wine’s capacity to take care of itself. LINKS AND RESOURCES MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE Obsidian Wine Co Rosé for the Bay Terrien Wines Kadar Cooperage Bluet - Maine wild blueberry sparkling wine Becheur - Wines with Dynamic Pricing US Grant - Santa Cruz Pinot noir Hanzell Vineyards This podcast is brought you by Wine Compliance Alliance. Winery compliance. Bring it up to winery owners or their staff and you get either a completely blank look or a grimace of some sort. In other wor

This episode features Ehlers Estate Winemaker, Laura Diaz Munoz. Laura and I talk about her winemaking roots in Spain, her work around the globe, the singular focus of estate winemaking, organic farming, and growing the Bordelais varietals up-valley in Napa. LINKS AND RESOURCES MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE Ehlers Estate - Napa, CA Terrratorium Wines Send me an email if you want to join the Zoom meeting about building Terratorium on 4/16/2021 jim@insidewinemaking.com This podcast is brought to you by Bucher Vaslin North America. At Bucher Vaslin North America, we offer the highest quality equipment and winemaking supplies to assist you throughout your entire process.  Bucher Vaslin North America is the exclusive supplier of Bucher Vaslin and Sutter Presses, Delta Reception Equipment, Cazaux Pumps, Costral Bottling Lines, Lamothe-Abiet Winemaking Products and ALIEN Robotic Optical Sorter.  Our service team and technicians are professionally trained and certified to provide you parts, maintenance, and field

This episode features Jeff Murrell and the smoke-taint removal technology that he has developed. Jeff is a chemist, who works at StaVin and also runs a wine analytical lab, VinSci. It is within VinSci that Jeff is offering the rental of his equipment, SRx, to process smoke-tainted wines. As of March 2021, this is a very new tool for winemakers. Jeff and I talk about his technical background, the way he thinks about the compounds causing the negative aftertastes of tainted wines, the development of the SRx column, and his thoughts on the abilities and limits of the current technology. At this point in time, Jeff is having interested winemakers bring their wines in for an on-the-spot trial and tasting. LINKS AND RESOURCES MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE VinSci Analytical Laboratory StaVin    Questions?  Comments?  Let me know what you think: jim@insidewinemaking.com if you learn something from the collection of podcasts at Inside Winemaking, please considering donating to support the show.  Paypal links at the