The Inside Winemaking Podcast With Jim Duane

This episode features Patrick Rue, founder of Erosion Wine Co, who I first met when he was part of the Deep Winemaking course in August, 2019. Prior to Patrick’s winemaking venture he was the founder and brewer at The Bruery in Orange County. Our conversation covers Patrick’s founding and growth of The Bruery, their numerous products, blurring the lines between beer and wine, flavor additive management, his winemaking vision for flavor targets, aluminum crowlers, key kegs, and the two taprooms that Erosion is now opening in Napa. LINKS AND RESOURCES MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE Erosion Wine co - Napa Valley The Bruery - Orange County, CA Offshoot Beer Co Berkeley Fermentation Science Pulse Air Wine Cap Management Key Keg - PET wine dispensing keg   This podcast is brought you by the love of the good lord and my wife reading the intro. Please consider donating to the podcast using the Paypal link at the bottom of the Homepage. Questions?  Comments?  Let me know what you think: jim@insidewinemaking.c

This episode features Jasper Riddle, proprietor and winemaker for Noisy Water Winery in Ruidoso, New Mexico. I was able to meet Jasper when he was in town for the Unified Symposium trade show in February 2020. After being founded in 2009 Noisy Water is a winery that Jasper took from his parents’ early venture and built into a medium-sized winery that now has five tasting rooms in New Mexico. During our conversation, Jasper mentions some of the challenges in growing grapes in New Mexico but spends most of his energy describing the opportunities that he sees in his area and around the state.

This episode features Tim Colla, Winemaker for Saintsbury, in Carneros, Napa. Tim and I had the chance to talk about Chardonnay and Pinot Noir production as told through the history of Saintsbury’s presence and experimentation in the Carneros in south Napa Valley. LINKS AND RESOURCES MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE Saintsbury, Napa Valley Chappellet, Napa Valley Seavey Vineyard, Napa Valley This podcast is brought you by Fruition Sciences. At the start of 2020 we know what is on your mind. As winemakers and winegrowers we are thinking about keeping our vines healthy while producing consistent quality yields year in and year out. However, we know that you are also considering the effects of climate change on our vineyards and wines and the improved management of our natural resources like water. We have great news. Now, we, winegrowers and winemakers, can use a compelling method that allows us to keep our vines healthy and improve yield and grape quality while also saving water and reducing costs. We are hap

This episode’s guest is Adam Casto from Gandona Winery in Napa. We had a great conversation ranging on topics from winemaking philosophy, the Antipodes (I had to google it too), and the new ways Adam would like to gather and organize both vineyard and winemaking observational data with analytical tracking. LINKS AND RESOURCES MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE Gandona Winery, Napa Valley Dana Estates, Napa Valley Laing Limit, work by Australian psychologist David Laing reporting that people can only pick out by smell four or less distinct smells from a complex mixture. The book The Nose Knows by Avery Gilbert covers this is more depth. This podcast is brought you by Wine Compliance Alliance. Ann Reynolds, who runs Wine Compliance Alliance has been on the podcast twice before. In Ep. 45 we discuss common compliance issues that wineries deal with and in Ep. 61 she has a solo episode where she covers the compliance items for starting a new winery. Winery compliance. Bring it up to winery owners or their staff and

This episode features Frederick Ammons, Winegrower for Rudd Estate in the Napa Valley. Our conversation covers Frederick’s education in Bordeaux, his early jobs in California, his stint at Seavey Vineyard, the building of The Napa Valley Reserve where he made wine for nine years, and his current position at Rudd Wines. We spend the majority of our time discussing philosophical and practical viticulture touching upon organic and biodynamic practices. The central role of robust ecology and biological diversity both in vineyard soils and wine fermentation is a core theme that weaves throughout all of Frederick’s work in the vineyard and in the winery. LINKS AND RESOURCES MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE Rudd Estate, Napa Valley Dry Creek Vineyard, Sonoma Valley Seavey Vineyard, Napa Valley The Napa Valley Reserve Plumpjack Winery, Napa Valley Kelli White’s, Guild Somm article on biodynamic farming. Photo of the weed crimping roller used at Hanzell Vineyard Wine yeast DNA Fingerprinting analysis from ETS L

This episode features Chris Tynan, who is the winemaker at Cliff Lede Vineyards in Napa. Chris also has his own small brand, Christopher Tynan Wines. Our conversation covers Chris’ background, high-end Cabernet production, and a couple of varietals that haven’t had much attention to date on the podcast, Sauvignon vert, and Semillon LINKS AND RESOURCES MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE Cliff Lede Vineyards - Napa Valley Christopher Tynan Wines - Napa Valley Colgin Cellars - Napa Valley Blankiet Estate - Napa Valley Cain Vineyard and Winery - Napa Valley Youtube Video interview with Henri Jayer This podcast is brought you by 360viti, powered by Fruition Sciences -- You may already know them as the pioneer in sap flow sensors and vineyard monitoring. In Episode 72 of podcast Thibaut Scholasch from Fruition Sciences talked in-depth about sap flow monitoring and the viticultural services that he and his team have developed. Now, based on 10 years of vineyard measurements and data science expertise, Fruition

This episode’s guest is Chris Carpenter, who is making wines in Napa for Jackson Family Wines and is overseeing Cabernet and Bordelais varietals grown on several of Napa’s mountain AVA’s such that he has become known as a mountain winemaker. Our conversation covers the mountain wines being produced from Mount Veeder, Spring Mountain, Howell Mountain, and Diamond Mountain AVA’s, but also Cardinale, the flagship Cabernet that is a blend from throughout Napa including the valley floor. Chris describes his roots in Chicago, the path to becoming a winemaker, his site-specific approaches for tannin management and his involvement in a winemaking project in McLaren Vale, Australia. LINKS AND RESOURCES MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE Brands that Chris makes for Jackson Family wines Cardinale Napa Valley Lokoya Napa Valley La Jota Vineyard Co - Howell Mountain Mt Brave - Mt Veeder Hickinbotham Vineyard - McLaren Vale, South Austrailia This podcast is brought you by Wine Compliance Alliance. Ann Reynolds, who

If it were possible to have a riveting conversation about filtering wine, there are very few people I’d consider. Scott labs has such an enigmatic guru. Maria Peterson is a filtration specialist, one who has the uncommon ability to translate technical expertise into practical winery practice. This is a sponsored episode—something I arranged with Scott Labs in order to support the podcast and extend that as a technical resource for filtration, one of the most difficult aspects of commercial winemaking. My conversation with Maria covers the wine filtration technology available today with a focus on small winery production. We get out into the technical weeds discussing enzyme usage, temperature influences, filter regeneration, NTU vs. filterability, surface area calculations and basic equipment evaluations. Make sure and check out the resources; videos and articles that Scott Labs has available on their website. LINKS AND RESOURCES MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE Filtration Articles and Protocols from Scott Labs

Straying from the usual focus on grapes, this episode dips into cider and the opportunities to be explored from fermenting apples. Andrew Byers is the Head Cidermaker at Finnriver Farm in Chimacum, Washington (on the Olympic Penninsula, west of Seattle). I met Andrew while moderating the Creativity in Fermentation panel during the Scott Lab’s Ferment event. Even for those who might not have a specific interest in cider making, the parallels with winemaking, especially marketing, present a new perspective for winemakers and wineries seeking to tell the stories of their brands and production methods. This conversation between and myself covers all of the basics of cider production and gets deep into technical territory including phenology, chemical analysis, production logistics, physical stability, microbiological stability, and a thorough description of the process for crafting a keeved cider. LINKS AND RESOURCES MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE Finnriver Farm and Cidery - Chimacum, Washington Eve’s Cidery - Van

This episode features the first Oregon winemaker on the podcast. Anthony King is currently making wine for a number of small brands under as part of King Wine Consulting, he is the general manager at Carlton Winemakers Studio in Carlton, Oregon where he also produces his own brand, Ratio Wines. Anthony and I spent most of our time talking about Pinot Noir and Chardonnay, as he has spent his winemaking career with those varietals starting at Acacia Vineyard in Napa and Lemelson Vineyards in the Williamette Valley. Our conversation gets into the weeds on topics such as Oregon’s grapegrowing, wine acidity, and managing reduction in barrel.

This episode features Amanda McCrossin who is a sommelier, wine director, and the creator of @sommvivant. As the Wine Director for Press Restaurant in St Helena, Amanda oversees a tremendous list of Napa Valley wines and serves as an ambassador for the wines on offer and the stories of their producers. On top of Amanda’s work at Press she has leveraged her access to the valley’s wineries in order to create one of contemporary wine’s most prominent Youtube channels covering wine basics, in-depth video profiles of wineries, and her professional experiences as a sommelier. My interview with Amanda set out to understand what issues wine consumers are concerned with and the best practices for winemakers to build relationships with sommeliers and wine buyers. Make sure and check out Amanda’s library of work on both her Youtube and Instagram channels. LINKS AND RESOURCES MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE Press Restaurant, St Helena, Napa Valley @sommvivant Youtube channel @sommvivant Instagram Food & Wine’s Liqu

This episode features Leigh Meyering the proprietor of MyEnologist, a small commercial enological laboratory that she runs as a family business in Napa. Our conversation covers Leigh’s winemaking background, the harvest experience in France that seeded the idea for a small, independent enology lab, and the development of the business, which also provides consulting services and a winery supply shop. I was attracted to MyEnologists service packages because all samples receive a full panel of analysis at low costs. I’ve outsourced nearly all of my own winemaking labs to MyEnologist and believe it might be a great resource for the portion of the podcast audience that is looking for reliable analyses. LINKS AND RESOURCES MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE MyEnologist Spring Mountain Vineyard, Napa Valley Charles Krug Winery, Napa Valley WineScan from Foss Analytics vinoBRETT by Invisible Sentinel Laffort Enological supplier Ideology Cellars, Napa Valley Golden State Overnight, Claifornia shipping   Quest

This episode features Dr. David R Montgomery, professor from the University of Washington and author of three books that shine a light on the often-overlooked role of biology underground and the connections and influence these microbia have with plants. David is a professor of geomorphology at the UW and together with his wife, Anne Bicklé, has ventured beyond the inorganic confines of soil science in authoring books and speaking to a wide range of agricultural industries regarding the value of conservation agriculture. i heard David speak at a Napa Valley Grapegrowers seminar earlier this year and wanted to share his research and experience with the Inside Winemaking listeners. LINKS AND RESOURCES MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE Dig2Grow.com David Montgomery and Anne Bicklé’s website Microbial Terrior for Winegrapes journal article from Gilbert et. al. From Tree to Shining Tree podcast from RadioLab This podcast is brought you by 360viti, powered by Fruition Sciences -- You may already know them as the pio

This episode features Brett Weis, who is the Associate Winemaker for ElevenEleven Wines in Napa. Beyond making the full portfolio of wine for ElevenEleven Brett is managing the custom crush clients that have their wines produced at ElevenEleven. Our conversation covers his background, the ElevenEleven vineyards and wines, the ar throughout the winery, tips for working in as a custom crush client, and the aromatherapy room at ElevenEleven. LINKS AND RESOURCES MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE Eleven Eleven Wines, Napa Valley Antica Napa Valley Groth Vineyards and Winery, Napa Valley Mountain Tides Wine Innovint cloud based winemaking software   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 bottom of the Inside Winemaking homepage.  Every small donation is helpful.   The Inside Winemaking Podcast on iTunes And Stitcher Radio Too

The guest for this episode is one of the most industrious and deep-thinking winemakers for whom I’ve had the opportunity to sit down and explore their winemaking brain. Tim Milos is a winemaking consultant and through his various projects is all over California, Oregon, and has experience with more varietals than anyone on the podcast to date. Our conversation gets into the weeds on technical aspects of extended maceration, ideal varietals for natural winemaking, the merits of racking, Tim’s organizational strategy, and problem-fermentation management. LINKS AND RESOURCES MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE Tank Garage Winery, Calistoga, CA Immortal Estate, Sonoma, CA Bounty Hunter Rare Wine and Spirits T-Vine Winery, Napa, CA Esther Mobley’s mentioned article from The San Francisco Chronicle 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 guest for this episode is Jenny Heinzen, who runs a real estate business in Paso Robles, California, focused on vineyard and winery sales. Jenny’s real estate services span both residential and commercial properties. I wanted to talk with Jenny about issues buyers and sellers should be prepared for when buying or selling vineyards and/or wineries. Jenny works with her husband, Randy Heinzen from Ep. 86, to help clients maneuver through the technical aspects of vineyard due diligence. Randy makes a cameo in this episode when we wade into those technical land and viticultural issues. LINKS AND RESOURCES MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE Jenny Heinzen Real Estate One of Jenny’s listings - 320 acres with 74 acres of planted grapes in Paso Vineyard Professional Services, Paso Robles, California 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

This episode features Matt Iaconis of the husband and wife team that is Brick and Mortar Wines. Our conversation covers the development of Brick and Mortar, the winemaking decisions that accompany its stylistics goals, and then focuses on the process and equipment involved in packaging wine into aluminum cans. Matt is also a winemaker with Naked Wines. His description of working with Naked Wines is a great accompaniment to my earlier podcast with the folks from Naked (Ep. 65). Matt and his wife, Alexis, are currently developing Delta Wines, which is a brand dedicated to supporting the environmental organizations they care about. Each purchased bottle of Delta Wines will have $1 donated to those environmental organizations. LINKS AND RESOURCES MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE Brick and Mortar Wines Matt’s Instagram video of canning Brick and Mortar Wines Antica Napa Valley Joullian Vineyards and Winery - Carmel, California The Restaurant at Meadowood - Napa, CA Cape Mentelle, Margaret River, Australia B

This podcast is the third installment where I answer winemaking and vineyard questions that have been submitted by email. If you would like to submit a question, please send them to jim@insidewinemaking.com. Sign-ups for Deep Winemaking are now open. If you are interested in coming to Napa to learn technical winemaking for three days in August, please check out further details here. These events are a lot of fun for beginners and competent winemakers alike.   This podcast is brought you by TheOakLab.com, a new division of Scott Laboratories dedicated to oak infusion products. The Oak Lab™ was founded with the vision of changing the perspective of the oak infusion market by developing and embracing new technologies, and re-imagining the process of product trials, selection, and application. Their line of premium quality oak infusion products is paired with a revolutionary process for bench trials and the ability to create unique, customized blends based on your wines.    Questions?  Comments?  Let me know what

This episode features Randy Heinzen, who is the owner and president of Vineyard Professional Services (VPS), which is a vineyard farming and consulting company based in Paso Robles, California. VPS currently manages over 2,400 acres in Monterey, Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo Counties and has designed and developed over fifty properties in the last twenty years. I met Randy years ago when we working working with a shared vineyard in Napa. Our conversation covers Randy’s full professional background, including his time managing To Kalon, Dr Crane and the other northern Napa properties for Beckstoffer Vineyards. We also spent time discussing compost tea brewing and use in grapegrowing and Randy’s experience in sourcing the healthiest possible grapevines from commercial nurseries. LINKS AND RESOURCES MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE Vineyard Professional Services, Paso Robles Beckstoffer Vineyards Saintsbury, Napa Valley

Every day I drive by Shafer Vineyards (twice) and never fail to slow down in order peer into that special sloping set of vineyards within the Stags Leap District where the hillsides graduate from difficult-to-grow-grapes to upright cliffs. In 2018 Doug and his team at Shafer began producing “The Taste with Doug Shafer” podcast and that presented the opportunity for me to connect with him and explore this small part of Napa Valley. In preparing for this podcast I found and read Doug’s book, A Vineyard in Napa, which was published in 2012 and captures the first forty years of Shafer Vineyards’ History. Our conversation weaves through Doug’s experiences in making wine, running Shafer Vineyards, writing his book, hosting his podcast, and includes very helpful advice for winemakers on marketing trips. LINKS AND RESOURCES MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE Shafer Vineyards, Napa Valley The Taste with Doug Shafer Podcast … iTunes linked here A Vineyard in Napa book by Doug Shafer with Andy Demsky published 2012 From