Beyond Organic Wine

On June 21, 2025 I gave a talk at the Carnival Brettanomyces in Utrecht, Holland, virtually. It was 40 degrees Celsius or 104 degrees farenheit in Holland at that time. The original title of this talk was called Making Wine for My Community, and you need to know the original title – because I structured this talk as a three part breakdown of the assumptions implicit for most people when they hear it. So I reference that original title throughout. But I named this episode Vinifera Culture Is Dead because that sentiment is at the heart of this talk, and really it’s time to call it. Vinifera Culture is dead and the ecological revolution of wine has begun. If you like this podcast, please subscribe & leave a great review. You Can Support this podcast by subscribing via patreon. Or by donating or taking action at: Beyond Organic Wine or just spread the word... thanks!

My guest for this episode is Michael Marler who, with his partner Véronique Hupin, owns and farms and makes wine as Vignoble Les Pervenches in Quebec and has been doing this for 25 years. Mike has twice been selected as the best winegrower or Vigneron in Quebec, and he’s the only person to have received this honor twice. 75% of his vines are vinifera, with 25% Seyval Blanc, and he specializes in Chardonnay partly because he bought a farm that had old Chardonnay vines already growing on it. Those vines are now about 30 years old, which is pretty remarkable in Quebec, and he talks about how he farms to make this possible. He farms organically and biodynamically and has been an inspiration and mentor for quite a few winegrowers in Quebec. We talk about the benefits of the Scott Henry Trellis, and how Mike has figured out how to live with and control Japanese beetles… and if you have issues with these beetles his advice is smart and practical and comes from a holistic ecological perspective. Mike’s expertise as a winegrower results in some incredible wine. Mike allowed us to taste three of his Chardonnays from barrel, and, no exaggeration, they were the favorite three Chardonnays of my life. Seriously… if you are a Chardonnay lover, seek Mike’s out… they are globally exceptional… Holy Grail stuff. Also, he allows uninnoculated fermentations, doesn’t filter, and doesn’t add sulfites or anything else, so these were zero zero wines. This conversation ends as we head into the cellar. There is another recording in the cellar of tasting those Chardonnays and a few other wines, and how Mike makes them, and I’m going to release that on the Beyond Organic Wine patreon. Within the first minute of meeting Mike, as you’ll hear, I tell him he looks like a farmer. Just to be clear, I meant that as a big compliment. I think farmers make better wine. But also, Mike tells about how and why he started farming organically, and I’ve found once again that someone who spends their life in the landscape they make wine from has a much greater chance of wanting to farm more ecologically. A big thanks to my host on this Quebec adventure, Maxime, who was also part of this conversation, and a thanks to Mike for his time and this conversation. Enjoy! https://lespervenches.com/ If you like this podcast, please subscribe & leave a great review. You Can Support this podcast by subscribing via patreon. Or by donating or taking action at: Beyond Organic Wine or just spread the word... thanks!

I’m excited to introduce another incredible and relatively new Quebec winery, Domaine Oak Hill… and I love that it was named for a tree, and I met that tree and it is incredible… and worthy of having a winery named after it. I’ll even have a photo of Maxime and my guest and the owner of Oak Hill, Louise Macdonald, standing under and dwarfed by the oak. Louise, with her partner Sylvain Lalonde, farm Oak Hill biodynamically and make zero-zero wines from all hybrid grapes. Louise makes two versions of wine from the Petite Pearl grape that were the best that I’ve ever tasted. There’s some great extra audio that I’ll be putting on Patreon for subscribers where she talks about how she makes one of them. Enjoy this live recording of a couple of Quebecois who stir equisetum prep with a hockey stick, think holistically about their winegrowing, and make some of the finest biodynamic wine by adding nothing and taking nothing away from what their Oak Hill gives them. https://www.domaineoakhill.vin/ If you like this podcast, please subscribe & leave a great review. You Can Support this podcast by subscribing via patreon. Or by donating or taking action at: Beyond Organic Wine or just spread the word... thanks!

I’m so excited to bring you this special series on Quebec wine over the next few weeks, and I think you’ll soon realize why. Quebec might be 25 years ahead of most of the wine world. The innovation, adaptative strategies, and ecological approach to expressing something unique about their land, sets an example of the path forward for dominant wine culture. But the one thing you can’t hear on a podcast is the quality of the wine. So let me tell you: It’s fantastic. I had multiple best-I’ve-ever-had versions of several grape varieties, and tasted incredible renditions of classic styles with new cultivars as well as mouth-watering brand new styles of wine born of the unique qualities of the grapes that the Quebecois have embraced to be able to grow beyond organically in their climate. So let’s start the way we should start any momentous occasion… with bubbles! The first stop on my first day in Canada was Domaine Bergeville where I got to talk with Marc Théberge, the co-owner and winemaker. Marc was sun-kissed with a bright farmers tan peeking out from under his t-shirt as he greeted us in front of his tasting room. This is not someone who farms or makes wine by work, but a true vigneron with hands-on at every step in the process who, with his partner Eve, started saving in their youth to be able to finally establish Domaine Bergeville with a goal to make the best sparkling wine in Quebec. I think they might be doing it, and they’re doing it using organic and biodynamically certified farming with hybrid grapes. https://domainebergeville.ca/en/ If you like this podcast, please subscribe & leave a great review. You Can Support this podcast by subscribing via patreon. Or by donating or taking action at: Beyond Organic Wine or just spread the word... thanks!

My guest is Laura Barrett, and she’s been the winemaker at Clif Family winery in Napa for over 10 years. I met Laura when she was on a panel I moderated for Napa Green earlier this year. She’s got some really great things to say about working for a B corp and the farming they do at Clif Family… which has been organic from the beginning and is now introducing regenerative practices. None of that is out of the ordinary for me, but then… the majority of the interview is a technical, step-by-step discussion of the process of making a top tier Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon. If you haven’t been listening to the podcast you might not know that Cabernet has been my primary example of global monoculture run amok, and that Napa Valley represents the epicenter of a problematic dominant vinifera-culture in the Americas to me. Having said all that, there are a few other perspectives that I’d like to acknowledge. First, Cabernet Sauvignon is just a grape variety. It’s not its fault that some humans have fetishized it and planted it everywhere. And, to be honest, it’s a pretty sturdy grape as far as vinifera goes. It’s not too disease prone, not too finicky, and can take some weather extremes and still produce tasty grapes. And dammit, it can make some pretty delicious wine too. I mean there’s a reason it’s the second most planted grape on earth. What it represents doesn’t mean I can’t appreciate its positive qualities. The same is true of the idyllic Napa Valley region. It’s beauty and desirability are why it has become such an unaffordable place to grow and make wine for most people besides the very wealthiest. Also, this episode is not about natural winemaking. Instead, we explore what I would consider to be the epitome of spare-no-expense technical winemaking today in 2025. We’re talking optical sorters, glycol jacketed temperature controlled tanks, programmed pump-overs, ML inoculations, and the whole shebang… including Jesus juice. Though I might not opt to make my wine this way, the process fascinates me in both a journalistic and historic way. And Laura readily admits that this is just one of many ways to make a wine… it just happens to be the current industry standard for some of the highest priced wines in the world. And Laura shares some really practical technical winemaking knowledge and tools that could help or inspire you no matter how you make your wine. The truth is that I care very little about how someone makes their wine. What you do in the cellar is a personal and philosophical choice, or sometimes a logistical or economic choice, but it doesn’t really impact me. I can choose to drink your wine or not. This is why I don’t often record winemaking episodes. On the other hand, I care very deeply about how you grow your wine. What you do in the vineyard is an environmental choice with global impacts, and I can’t opt out of your treatment of the earth. We’re all on the same space-boat. So I’m really glad to feature wineries like Clif Family, who are farming in a way that protects and enhances the health of the earth, while also taking care of their employees and community. https://www.cliffamily.com/ If you like this podcast, please subscribe & leave a great review. You Can Support this podcast by subscribing via patreon. Or by donating or taking action at: Beyond Organic Wine or just spread the word... thanks!

Christian Cain does contract grazing for vineyards and orchards in Northern California with sheep and goats with his company Perennial Grazing. “We are members of natural communities: what we do to them, we do to ourselves. Only by nurturing them can we nurture ourselves. Palates link cultures with landscapes and moderating the impacts of palates on human and environmental health will require changes in the kinds of foods [and wines!] we produce and consume…” That’s Fred Provenza and others from the article titled “Is Grassfed Meat and Dairy Better for Human and Environmental Health?” I love that statement that “palates link cultures with landscapes” In this episode I speak with contract grazer Christian Cain about the work that he does with his company Perennial Grazing in Northern California. You’ll discover, as I did, that Christian is a very thoughtful person who was inspired by Masanobu Fukuoka and Alan Savory, among others. So we discuss not only the practical considerations that will be very valuable everyone who is planning or considering working with a contract grazer, but also we dig into how regeneration of a landscape with well managed animals actually works. What should you expect when working with a contract grazer? How much does it cost? Will my vineyard benefit from grazing? Christian answers these questions and more. This is packed with juicy insights and important information for anyone who wants to integrate grazing animals in their vineyard or orchard, or for anyone who wants to learn about soil health and how beyond organic, regenerative viticulture translates into more delicious wine. Reid Griggs et al: Sources and Assembly of Microbial Communities in Vineyards as a Functional Component of Winegrowing ”The microbial ecosystems within vineyards exert critical influences on grapevine health and wine quality.” Here's the completely useless French study on drought tolerance of various varieties of grapevines, used erroneously to suggest hybrids have poor drought tolerance: Quantifying the grapevine xylem embolism resistance spectrum to identify varieties and regions at risk in a future dry climate

This is part 2 of my interview the Dan Rinke of Art + Science. We get into even more specifics of how he makes his holistic farm of vines and trees and animals work with very little inputs, his lessons and insights from multiple years of running both egg and meat chickens through his vineyard, his experience as an organic transition advisor, and much more. At one point Dan mentions how his orchard planting was influenced by Michael Phillips, and I didn’t want to interrupt the flow during the conversation, but I should mention now that there is a fantastic interview with Michael Phillips in the Beyond Organic Wine library, which I feel very fortunate to have recorded in the year before he died. Check it out if you haven’t, and check out part 1 with Dan Rinke if you haven’t. https://www.artandsciencenw.com/ If you like this podcast, please subscribe & leave a great review. You Can Support this podcast by subscribing via patreon. Or by donating or taking action at: Beyond Organic Wine or just spread the word... thanks!

This episode is part 1 of a two part episode with Dan Rinke of Art + Science Cidery and Winery in Oregon. The conversation was interrupted by technical difficulties after about 45 minutes, which was plenty of time to get to hear about Dan’s ecological journey with wine, and how his love of winemaking turned him into a crazy beyond organic wine and cider grower and maker. Dan has had a pretty serious career in organic and biodynamic vineyards and cellars in California and Oregon, and he and Kim Hamblin started Art + Science together in 2011. Kim is a fabulous artist, and you’ll see her artwork on their website and labels. The first wine of Dan’s that I tasted was a slightly fizzy, zero-zero, carbonically feremented in amphora field blend of hybrid and vinifera grapes… at a tasting that was otherwise almost entirely Oregon Pinot Noir… so it kinda stood out to me. Talking to him has been the same kind of experience. https://www.artandsciencenw.com/ If you like this podcast, please subscribe & leave a great review. You Can Support this podcast by subscribing via patreon. Or by donating or taking action at: Beyond Organic Wine or just spread the word... thanks!

My guest for this episode is Fritz Westover. Fritz, like me, is originally a fellow Pennsylvanian, and he’s going on 3 decades of learning about, working with, and teaching about viticulture. He runs a viticulture consulting business, focused primarily in Texas, Georgia and the US South, and he reaches an international audience through his Virtual Viticulture Academy. And he’s also a fellow podcaster with The Vineyard Underground – a fantastic resource for technical viticulture knowledge presented in an accessible and even entertaining way. And I’ll be a guest on his podcast soon too! The emphasis in this conversation is what to consider when planting a vineyard. Fritz has seen many many vineyard implementations and speaks to the most common mistakes, and the questions you should ask to avoid them. Choosing to grow what’s right for your land as opposed to growing your favorite thing turns out to be really helpful, and of course this leads us to discuss hybrid grapes… which in many places allow for much easier winegrowing with fewer inputs. We discuss several varieties of hybrids common to the southern US because of their tolerance of the fungal and other pressures there, including Pierces Disease. Pierce’s Disease, or Xylella fastidiosa, is in California too, and heading north, so getting to know these varieties of grapes is becoming vitally important for most of the US wine industry.And there’s so much more to this conversation. Fritz is a wealth of knowledge and shares a ton of insights and practical tips for winegrowing. https://www.vineyardundergroundpodcast.com/ https://www.virtualviticultureacademy.com/ If you like this podcast, please subscribe & leave a great review. You Can Support this podcast by subscribing via patreon. Or by donating or taking action at: Beyond Organic Wine or just spread the word... thanks!

My guest for this episode is Rob Schultz. Rob is the vineyard manager for Lemelson Vineyards in Oregon, and farms 130 acres of organic vineyards in the Willamette Valley. Lemelson Vineyards has been certified organic for over 25 years, and has been one of my favorites since I started in wine over 2 decades ago. Rob also happens to be one of the main people responsible for the Organic Winegrowers Network there in Oregon, which led to the historic Organic Winegrowers Conference this spring of 2025. Rob has a droll, straightforward manner that I think belies a passionately thoughtful approach to his relationship with the vineyard ecosystem. Throughout this conversation we’ll be bantering along and then he’ll drop an insight bomb out of the blue that I’m still thinking about now having re-listened to this several times. Some topics that come up include: Spanish language skills should be a requirement for work in wine in the US at least, vine sentience and the domestication of humans, breeding a better baby doll sheep, why Oregon makes the best pinot noir in the world, and much more. https://www.lemelsonvineyards.com/ If you like this podcast, please leave a great review. You Can Support this podcast by subscribing via patreon. Or by donating or taking action at: Beyond Organic Wine or just spread the word... thanks!

My guest for this episode is Elaine Chukan Brown. Elaine is a writer, speaker, wine educator, and now author of the book The Wines of California. Elaine has been a contributor, columnist, editor, and/or wine reviewer for nearly every wine publication out there, and they co-founded the Diversity in Wine Leadership Forum, and have advised diversity initiatives in multiple countries. In 2019, the Wine Industry Network named Elaine one of the Most Inspiring People in Wine. In 2020, they were awarded Wine Communicator of the Year in the world by IWSC and VinItaly, and they were named a Wine Industry Leader in the North American wine industry by Wine Business Monthly. In 2021, The Hue Society created the Elaine Chukan Brown Award in Wine Education, awarded annually and named for Elaine in recognition of their work in education and their effort to help open the way for others’ success. In 2022, Elaine was nominated for a James Beard Award in Journalism. And this is just a short list of Elaine’s work, honors, and awards. So it should be no surprise that their new book, The Wines of California, is a worthwhile read. But more than that, it presents an overlooked history of wine in the US, and makes it clear how deeply indebted those of us working in wine today are to innumerable unsung people… both past and present. In some structural ways Elaine’s book gives you what you might expect from a book titled The Wines of California – a history of the wine industry here, regions and producers and grape varieties, and the current challenges we’re facing – but Elaine presents the substance that fills in that structure in such a holistic way, contextualizing each event within global and national currents, and telling this story from a perspective that includes all the participants in all of their complexities…so that I found fresh insights, deeper understanding of my own participation in this history, inspiration for action, and even, believe it or not, hope. Don’t be fooled by the title. This is not a ponderous exercise in academic wine writing… this reads like a hot take, as well as helpful reference with up to the minute relevance. You might think of it as a People’s History of the Wines of California crossed with a progressive California wine travel guide. In our conversation we talk about the book of course, but it leads to some really important questions that transcend not only the book, but also wine. Elaine talks about how we are in the midst of a revolution, and I’m finding it really exciting to take this perspective into everything I’m doing with wine. I hope you do too. A big thanks to Napa Green for sponsoring this episode. Don't miss their RISE Climate & Wine Symposium. Get Elaine's book: The Wine's of California Learn about Hildegard of Bingen Your support is greatly needed and appreciated: You Can Support this podcast by subscribing via patreon. Or by donating or taking action at: Beyond Organic Wine or just spread the word... thanks!

In this episode I interview Wendy McNabb, the current owner with her husband, of Carolina Heritage Vineyards, one of only four certified organic wineries on the entire East Coast of the United States. They use paper bottles, so we talk about the pros and cons of this alternative packaging. And we talk about some of the really interesting wines they make at Carolina Heritage, including dry Muscadines. Now, Muscadines have come up on Beyond Organic Wine before, including last week’s episode, but Wendy and I really dig into them. The oldest vine in north America is a Muscadine, growing in North Carolina (over 400 years old). Muscadines aren’t hybrids. They are a species of grape native to North Carolina and the South-eastern and southern US. Some even argue that they should be classified as a different genus of Vitis, as they are unlike every other Vitis species in that they have 40 chromosomes instead of 38. There are over 150 individual improved cultivars of Muscadines with a variety of colors and flavors much too diverse to generalize about. Muscadines are resistant to pierce’s disease, downy and powdery mildew, phylloxera, and more. They are highly prized for these resistances in grape breeding programs despite the difficulty of crossing them with other vitis species due to that chromosomal uniqueness. What I’m trying to say here is that Muscadines are pretty special grapes, not just in the US, but globally. If we Americans were smart, we stop trying to imitate someone else’s culture and start building a viticultural legacy from this truly American native grape that is unlike any other grape on earth, and that can be grown virtually no-spray under some of the most intense fungal pressures and weather extremes on the planet. That is a foundation on which to build a legacy, and I’m really happy to introduce you to Caroline Heritage because they are building their legacy on that foundation. Enjoy! https://www.carolinaheritagevineyards.com/ Your support is greatly needed and appreciated: You Can Support this podcast by subscribing via patreon. Or by donating or taking action at: Beyond Organic Wine or just spread the word... thanks!

I’ve known about Botanist & Barrel and DeFi Wines for a couple years, and even visited them in Asheville, North Carolina. They introduced me to both Muscadine grapes and Paw-paws through their wines. And they have a wine named Grapes Have Feelings, made with apples and muscadine grapes, that is both a delicious wine and one of my favorite names for a wine. I talk to Lyndon Smith, one of the founders and winemakers for Botanist & Barrel and DeFi Wines. We discuss true regionality in wine, the many benefits of co-ferments, whether muscadines express terroir, connecting with deep sense-memories in wine, using wine to stop food waste, trialing new species to both see what works and help plants adjust to climate change, the amazing array of uncommon fruit that Botanist & Barrel uses to make wine, and at the end Lyndon shares about the emotional and physical aftermath of Hurricane Helene and how Asheville is recovering. Welcome to the rainbow of diverse colors and flavors that is possible for Southern Wine and Ciders. https://www.botanistandbarrel.com/ Your support is greatly needed and appreciated: You Can Support this podcast by subscribing via patreon. Or by donating or taking action at: Beyond Organic Wine or just spread the word... thanks!

Tommy Fenster is a scientist who studies agroecological systems, but specifically for the last few years he’s been focused on gathering data from dozens of vineyards around California and studying the practices and impacts of regenerative viticulture. Tommy gathers data across something like 49 vineyards. In a sense, the largest regenerative viticulture trial is the one being conducted across all vineyards in the world right now as more and more farmers embrace more and more regenerative practices we begin to deepen our understand of how the impacts of regenerative farming compare against the impacts of conventional farming… and Tommy is collecting the data to be able to understand this. Grazing is a big part of this conversation, and we get into the weeds about how, when, the impacts in different contexts and season, alternatives to sheep and some of the limitations of sheep, as well as some of the creative ways to incorporate sheep and other animals. There’s some really helpful info here that you might not have considered, as well as some important considerations about the potential issues that can arise. We talk a lot about contract grazing and why you shouldn't make assumptions about contract grazing as an easy way to incorporate animals into your winegrowing… you may need to be more creative. We also dig into tillage and ask some hard questions about where and when and how and if it is ever a good practice. As California attempts to define regenerative agriculture, I think everyone should learn from the system that Tommy and his team uses to parse what it means across an array of best practices and a variety of contexts. Link to grazing in vineyards field day 2024 Grant Progress Report with research highlights from first two years of data on grazing in vineyards and regenerative managementResources from CAFF on integrating regenerative management practicesEcdysis 2024 Annual Report. Page 10 has the vineyards highlightedEcdysis websiteGaudin Lab websiteTommy's Website Your support is greatly needed and appreciated: You Can Support this podcast by subscribing via patreon. Or by donating or taking action at: Beyond Organic Wine or just spread the word... thanks!

Gideon Beinstock started Clos Saron with Saron Rice in 1999 as an attempt to purely and distinctively express the terroir of their home in the Sierra Foothill outside of Oregon House, California. Over the years they've developed and refined both their winegrowing and winemaking with an eye always toward a more pure expression, less about them and any input, and more about finding what the land has to say through grapes. This objective has led them to some fascinating techniques and approaches to making wine, always thoughtful, and always guided by an attempt to meet authentic needs rather than trendy or contrived philosophies. The result is a kind of integrated farming and wine flavors that you don't find in the rest of California. This is a journey out of time into the world of timeless wine. https://clossaron.com/ Your support is greatly needed and appreciated: You Can Support this podcast by subscribing via patreon. Or by donating or taking action at: Beyond Organic Wine or just spread the word... thanks!

This fun episode is a conversation with Domenico Musumeci, co-owner of Ca’Musu and Wine Pirati, with his wife Elise. They live and farm wine in Michigan, and Mimmo talks us through their unique approach to viticulture… which involves working with a draft horse named Buster. I’m a lover of horses, myself, and worked as a horseback trail guide in Colorado at one time in my life, and had the great fortune of getting to know and have a relationship with a horse named Vinegar. Vinegar was named for her personality, but over the course of getting to know her and paying attention to her needs and wants, and learning about how I needed to change to be a trustworthy partner and leader for Vinegar, I found her to be one of the sweetest beings I’ve ever encountered. Mimmo and I talk about some of these considerations that may not be top of mind when thinking of working with horses, or other animals. They are individuals, just like us. And we also get into some of the really practical and economic calculations to factor into your plan of farming with horses. Like… do you prefer the smell of horse farts or diesel exhaust? And what does it mean to be a good leader? In relation to this, Mimmo observes at one point how much we ask of the land, the animals, and the plants we work with and live from, but how seldom do we ask what we need to give of ourselves in return? Mimmo asks us to consider our viticulture as a multidirectional exchange, rather than a one way sense of expectation and even entitlement. We even talk about a kind of vite maritata, or married vine viticulture they started as a way to work with an ecological legacy they found on part of their land. The way that Mimmo and Elise farm is not common, and it allows us to get some incredible insights from their perspectives on their relationship to their land… we pack a lot into this conversation, but we may need a part 2 because there’s so much more to explore. https://www.camusu.com/ Your support is greatly needed and appreciated: You Can Support this podcast by subscribing via patreon. Or by donating or taking action at: Beyond Organic Wine or just spread the word... thanks!

My guest for this episode is Caine Thompson, head of sustainability for O’Neill Vintners. Caine has initiated and oversees the largest side-by-side trial of regenerative organic viticulture in the world at Robert Hall Winery, one of O’Neill Vintners flagship brands in Paso Robles. Going into it’s 5th year in 2025, this regenerative organic viticulture trial is already providing data that show that regenerative organic viticulture, in Paso Robles, provides, at minimum, economic & wine quality parity with conventional agriculture while improving soil and vine health, carbon and water storage, and benefitting multiple other elements of the ecosystem and socio-cultural context of the winery. O’Neill has already converted the rest of Robert Hall’s estate vineyards to regenerative organic viticulture after seeing the results from just the first years of the trial. I often use this podcast to bring attention to smaller producers doing great work who might otherwise not get the same media coverage that large brands get. And I do think that’s important. But an ecological approach to wine is not a niche obsession. It’s what needs to become the dominant culture. So I think it is also important to applaud the genuine commitments to ecological alignment by larger companies. With many other beverage brands under its control, O’Neill is the kind of company that can begin to set a larger trend and cause real change to happen. There is a lot of heart behind this story, thanks to Caine and the others he works with. Prepare yourself to hear something both inspiring and hopeful for a change. https://oneillwine.com/ Your support is greatly needed and appreciated: You Can Support this podcast by subscribing via patreon. Or by donating or taking action at: Beyond Organic Wine or just spread the word... thanks!

My guest for this episode makes wine from flowers. Her name is Aaliyah Nitoto and her winery is called Free Range Flower Winery. She’s based out of Oakland, California, so she could use grapes. But her first attempts at infiltrating the grape wine hegemony we’re overly welcoming. As she assessed and regrouped, her studies led her to a different calling. Her story is inspiring and her fermentations are both refreshingly novel and at the same time steeped in historical tradition. At every step she has had to confront and overcome the Grape supremacy of the dominant wine culture, and a few other obstacles as well. But she has created a beautiful, and ecological approach to wine, and I’m grateful to get to share her story with you. https://www.freerangeflowerwinery.com/ Your support is greatly needed and appreciated: You Can Support this podcast by subscribing via patreon. Or by donating or taking action at: Beyond Organic Wine or just spread the word... thanks!

This episode digs into several varieties of hybrid grapes being grown in New Hampshire by the team that makes up NOK Vino. I speak with Nico Kimberly, the founder of NOK Vino, about the challenging viticulture of New Hampshire, what its like to be making wine in a new, young wine region, the importance of community to these efforts, and the diversity of grapes that are making it possible to do what he’s doing. Nico has a refreshingly non-dogmatic perspective, that approaches each site and each vintage as having unique needs that must be carefully observed and thoughtfully and individually managed, and each plant and life in and around his vineyards as individuals to learn from, care for, and live symbiotically with. https://nokvino.com/ Your support is greatly needed and appreciated: You Can Support this podcast by subscribing via patreon. Or by donating or taking action at: Beyond Organic Wine

Maybe you took a break from alcohol this January and you don't want to go back to drinking wines made within the dominant paradigm. Maybe you'd like to try something truly extraordinary, rare, unique, ecological, and excellent. If so... this episode offers some suggestions. For this episode I assembled a gathering of Los Angeles wine professionals to taste through a handful of wines that represent winemakers who are among some of the most groundbreaking... and the most unacknowledged for the amazing work they do. Tasters (besides me): Elodie Oliver- wine educator, sales with Nomadic Chiara Shannon - regenerative farmer/owner Ampelos Vineyards (Sta. Rita Hills), The Yogi Sommelier Teron Stevenson - partner at Offhand Wine Bar, one of the Westside Winos Wines Tasted (in order of tasting): "Random Apples" by Raging Cider & Mead - found, foraged seedling & uncultivated apples from Southern California "Sparkling Prickly Pear" by Wild Texas Wine - foraged uncultivated 100% prickly pear brut sparkling wine, traditional method "Okneski Vineyard" by Herrmann York - backyard vineyard Zinfandel from Redlands, CA (Contributed by Teron Stevenson) "In A Dark Country Sky" by La Garagista - whole cluster Vermont Marquette "The Pariah" by North American Press - sparkling Catawba revival, first in California in 60 years To highlight a few incredible wine producers, I necessarily must leave out others. So, like any spotlight of this kind, please know that my intention was not to be comprehensive. Most of these producers do stand out, though, for doing wine in a way that very few, if any, are doing it, and with exemplary and even uncommon quality and craft.