This is a brief discussion that occurred between Steve Matthiasson and myself before we started recording for the podcast episode published previous to this publishing.
In this conversation, Steve and I discuss the human element in wine in regards to terroir. This subject came up after myself speaking to comparative tastings of white Burgundy and California Chardonnay, the differences between the two in terms of minerality and richness, followed by the stylistic differences. Steve argues that the primary difference is the human element and style, which more often that not is left out of the conversation of terroir.
Steve dreamt of farming his entire life. He became an obsessed gardener and cook while studying philosophy in college. In 1994, while back in grad school for horticulture after three years as a bike messenger/wannabe farmer, he found a job in vineyards and orchards working for a small sustainable agriculture consulting firm. In 1999 he co-authored the California manual on sustainable vineyard practices. In 2002 he started consulting on vineyard practices in Napa. He still loves the challenge of solving vineyard problems for others, but since 2003 the primary focus has been on his own family farming and winemaking with his wife Jill. Steve is a life-long student of the craft of viticulture.
Eric Asimov has said of Steve’s wines, “Matthiasson wines bear an agricultural stamp, as fresh, lively and alive as the best produce from a farmers’ market.” Steve is a James Beard Award Finalist in 2018 & 2019, and has been named Winemaker of the Year by both the San Francisco Chronicle and Food & Wine Magazine.
Learn more about Steve with the show notes here.
In this episode we mention…
Native Seeds Search Organization
Gary Nabhan, author on native foods
Anson Mills, heritage rices
Chef Frank Stitt of Highlands Bar
Chef Rodney Scott, James Beard Award
Brownen Percival & Steve Matthiasson Sustainability Talks in London on Wine & Cheese
Premier Viticulture, Steves Vineyard Company
Tenets of Integrated Pest Management
• Monitoring
• Establishing an Economic Threshold
• Cultural Controls
2012 Limerick Lane Pinot Noir
14 Inkas Vodka
High Wire Distillery in Charleston, South Carolina
Follow Steve On…
INSTAGRAM
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WEBSITE
William Whelan is the Vice President of Wine for Winestyr, an online and physical retail space operating on a direct-to-consumer and wine club model.
Winestyr gives you unprecedented access to a curated collection of wines from the over 7,000 wineries in the United States. Most of these producers are actually too small to warrant the attention of retailers so they are genuinely hard to find. Until now. They’ve combed the country for the best producers, met with hundreds of winemakers, and tasted thousands of wines. Producers that they work with include Matthiasson, Drake Whitcraft, Katie Wilson, Blair Guthrie, Sandhi, Halcyon, Martha Stoumen, and Julien Fayard.
As the Vice President of Wine, Will is responsible for the continual growth of the Winestyr portfolio of incredible producers from around the country, educating staff weekly on wine, and curating the educational materials for each wine that go out Winestyr members.
Learn more about Will and WInestyr with the show notes here.
Mike and Cory Waller are brothers raised running around the hills of Hollister, California. After years of work, travel, and discovery, they find themselves crafting wines a mile away from each other in the Cienega Valley with Mike the winemaker of Calera Wines and Cory the winemaker for Eden Rift Vineyards.
Cory grew up exploring the forests, canyons and river beds of the Cienega Valley. To this day, he knows the back roads of this remote appellation like few others. He counts local farmers, ranchers and fisherman in nearby Monterey Bay among his cadre of friends and colleagues. To describe him as non-interventionist winemaker would be an overstatement, for Cory possesses a strong point-of-view. While vine health is crucial, Cory favors the fruit of vines that struggle profoundly to produce smaller, yet clearly delineated yields. In the cellar, neutral vessels, native yeasts and varying degrees of stem inclusion, play a strong role in a wine’s elévage, as he prefers to transmit the voice of a site, over a heavily stylized approach. His mentors in wine include Tony Soter, Josh Bergstrom and Jim Prosser, of Oregon. He performed stages at New Zealand’s Neudorf and Martinborough Vineyards, and was Assistant Winemaker at the neighboring, iconic estate, Calera.
A master of Pinot Noir, known for his terroir-driven approach to winemaking, Mike Waller has worked alongside legendary vintner Josh Jensen for more than a decade, helping to guide winemaking at Calera. Mike’s winemaking style honors the character and complexity of Calera’s six renowned sites on Mt. Harlan, which are the source for some of the New World’s most revered wines. In the winery, Mike captures the nuance of these grand cru-caliber vineyards to create sophisticated wines renowned for their layered elegance and aging potential. Mike cut his teeth at Saintsbury in Napa, Chalone in the Central Coast as the assistant winemaker, finally coming to Calera to work with Josh.
Learn more with the show notes here.
Bertus and Alli are the owners and winemakers of Belong Wine Co. based in Napa Valley making Rhône and fringe varietals from the El Dorado Foothills.
With 1 ton of fruit and a whole lot of gumption, started Belong Wine Co. in 2017 to celebrate everything they hold dear: love, adventure, and a sense of exploration. They grew up on opposite ends of the globe - Bertus in Cape Town, South Africa and Alli in the Bay Area sugar hamlet of Crockett.
Bertus knew he wanted to be a winemaker at the age of 15. He went on to study Viticulture and Enology at the University of Stellenbosch. He has worked in the cellar at Deetlefs Estate, Rupert & Rothschild Vignerons, Glen Carlou, Hess Collection, Chappellet, and Regusci and has been in his current position as the winemaker for James Cole, Tank Garage, and T-Vine wineries since 2012. His happy place has always been out in the vineyards, where he can be found in short shorts.
Alli still doesn’t know what she wants to be when she grows up. She has always found great joy in the creative process and is a Jill of many trades. She went to the Harvard of the west, Chico State, where she studied Sociology and learned the beauty of work/life balance. Alli moved to Napa in 2010 with her sister, Holly, who was already working in the wine industry. After managing a wine bar downtown for four years she transitioned to her current role at Whetstone Wine Cellars where she gets to wear many hats, including graphic design, hospitality, events, and marketing.