Episode 155: Dan Petroski: Massican Winery

In Episode 155 of the Mr. Wine Guy Podcast I had the privilege of sitting down with Dan Petroski, Owner and Winemaker of Massican Winery out of St. Helena, CA.

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In this episode Dan talks about his life growing up in Brooklyn, NY, his time in Manhattan in High School, and eventually his time at Columbia University playing football.

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Dan's introduction to wine came at the unfortunate season opening loss to Harvard University his Freshman year.  The team spent the evening at a Chinese restaurant where he had a little too much white wine to drink, but the wine itself would somehow find it's way back to him a few years later.

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Dan talks about his time working in publishing for Time Inc. from 1996-2005 for editorials such as Sports Illustrated which was a huge advantage for him in the business world of winemaking because it allowed him to have a road map to dissect problems for example and indirectly helped him build his personal brand Massican.

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During his time with Time Inc. Dan talks about a sabbatical he took to Italy to work for a family owned winery and what it was like going from football at Columbia, working 10 hour days in NYC, to vineyard work, harvest, and spending time with the owners learning about the land, viticulture, farming practices, and how to ultimately appreciate wine.

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Dan talks about his time at DuMOL Winery and Estate in the Russian River Valley and his time at Larkmead Vineyards in Calistoga and how all that wouldn't have even been possible had it not been for Andy Smith.

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Dan talks about the creation of Massican with his first vintage in 2009, the inspiration behind the name being associated to the Massican Hills in Italy as an homage to his family, and how his whole experience during his sabbatical had everything to do with the inspiration for Massican because of the love and appreciate he had for Meditteranean lifestyle and culture.

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Dan talks about the inspiration he had to create Massican Magazine thanks to his time in publishing and growing up reading magazines as a kid, his knowledge in the Metaverse and blockchains, and what inspired him to create an NFT project which allows anyone an opportunity to get their very own Massican NFT with every purchase of Massican wine!

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Dan also talks about climate change and what he's doing to help lessen his carbon footprint, what it meant to receive San Francisco Chronicle's Winemaker of the Year in 2017, and what it meant for his to join up with E&J Gallo and how amazing it is to have their support and resources.

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This podcast is top to bottom one of the coolest conversations I've had on this show and it means to much to get to share it with each and every one of you today!

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Cheers 🍷

To watch on YouTube:

https://bit.ly/4caqeZ2

To follow Dan on Instagram and TikTok:

https://www.instagram.com/danpetroski/

https://www.instagram.com/massicanwinery/

https://www.tiktok.com/@massicanwinery?lang=en

To sign up for Dan's mailing list, receive allocation opportunities, or to purchase wines:

https://www.massican.com/shop/

https://www.massican.com/profile/create-account/

To learn more about the Massican Muses:

https://www.massican.com/muses/

To get access to your very own Massican NFT:

https://opensea.io/Massican

https://www.massican.com/muses/your-digital-collectible/

To follow Michael Gallagher on TikTok, Instagram, YouTube, and Linkedin: