The Wine Makers on Radio Misfits The Wine Makers

Kia Behnia is changing the wine industry one hexagonal wine bottle at a time. The wine-loving tech entrepreneur always dreamed of owning a piece of wine country. A flat tire led him to what became the Kiatra Estate Vineyard. The fires of 2017 galvanized his ambition to create Neotempo Wines. However, he’s never been satisfied with doing things the way they’ve always been done and questions everything from clones and root-stock to wine shipping. The guys sit down with Kia for a wide-ranging and inspirational  conversation that didn’t come close to covering all the innovations Kia has fermenting. Stay tuned for part 2 coming soon! [Ep325]

This week we welcome Devyani Gupta to Sonoma for an in depth conversation about working for an internationally owned winery in Walla Walla. Devyani worked for some of the legendary leaders in the Washington wine industry before settling in to the Winemaker position at Valdemar Estates. The Syrah stopped the conversation as we simply stared at each other and smiled. Everything she is doing right now is inspiring on every level. Welcome the incomparable Devyani Gupta. Enjoy this one. [Ep324]

Valdemarestates.com
@valdemarestates

This week we welcome Alex Mitchell from MUST Machining & Fabrication to the podcast. MUST grew out of two different Napa Valley winery supplier/fabrication institutions York Machine Works and Burgstahler Machine Works, which had 70 years of experience innovating, leading, and servicing the wine industry. Alex, a former York employee began working with him in 2006, with the intent to purchase the business when York retired. In 2010, Alex and his wife, Michelle, assumed ownership. The Mitchells also met Wayne Burgstahler and told him that when he was ready to retire they were interested in purchasing his company, which came to fruition in late January 2020. The Mitchells combined the two shops and created MUST. Alex grew up in Napa Valley with his family growing grapes and making wine. Check out the show to hear the entire story.

instagram.com/mustfabricate

Matt Reid started his career making wine at his house in San Francisco. He fell in love with the process and enrolled at UC-Davis Viticulture Program. He then worked at Seavey, Quixote and Failla. Matt is now the winemaker at Benessere, working with obscure Italian varietals, as well as launching his own brand, Peoples Wine Revolution, bringing affordable wines to daily drinkers.

Benesserevineyards.com
Pwrwines.com

Todd Alexander has started a new life in Washington. Former winemaker at Grace Family in Napa, he looked at NASA weather models through 2050 and noticed Napa and Sonoma were all in “the red”. He jumped at an opportunity to move north and is now the wine maker at Force Majeure and some other side projects that we discuss on the show. BeatsVinesAndLife Podcast host M.J. Towler joins us on the show, recorded in Walla Walla, and do his hilarious impression of Christophe Baron. [Ep321]

@forcemajeurevineyards
@beatsvinesandlife

This week we are joined by winemaker Danielle Langlois of Lasseter Family Winery and wine director Christophe Tassan MOF, of Moon Hollow ahead of the second edition of the immersive Reach for the Moon wine event, June 1st at Monte Rosso. They provide expert opinions on the wines and vineyards of one of our favorite AVAs and share some of the great new wines they've made from the very different Moon Mountain District estates they represent. We even busted out a 2013 as a sneak peek into the highlight of the event–the Antonio Galloni-led master class, a celebration of the 10 vintage anniversary of the appellation's approval. We even get a cameo by the winegrower who has become synonymous with Moon Mountain District. Care to guess who? [Ep320]

For more information about the event and to buy tickets visit: https://moonmountaindistrict.org/

And try these wines!:

https://www.moonhollow.com/
https://www.lasseterfamilywinery.com/
https://www.jambedeboiswines.com/