Women Who Make Us Wine Inkandescent Radio

A Note from the Wine Guy Jim Morris and Hope Katz Gibbs, co-hosts, Women Who Make Us Wine Show — Hello and welcome to our bi-monthly podcast and video series that shines a light on the ladies who put the magic into our glasses.
We are thrilled to introduce you to today’s guest Alison Doran, a veteran of the wine industry and one of the first female winemakers in California.
Alison has decades of winemaking experience that started in 1973 when she began studying under “the dean of American winemakers,” André Tchelistcheff, who helped define the style of California‘s best wines, especially Cabernet Sauvignon.
“I was a harvest intern and cellar rat in Alsace and learned about all of the stages of the winemaking process under André,” shares Alison, who had been studying animal husbandry at the University of California, Davis before switching to fermentation science after working with her mentor.
In 1976, she landed a job as a lab technician at Firestone Vineyard and worked her way up to becoming a winemaker in 1981.
After marrying her husband Mark and having two sons, Alison moved to her family’s ranch in Alexander Valley in 2000. For the last two decades, she has consulted for many wineries in Sonoma and Napa Valley — including Romeo Vineyards and Cellars. And, she also started her own family label, Hoot Owl Creek Vineyards.
In today’s interview, you’ll learn:

About Alison’s wine journey
Her time spent training under one of the wine industry’s most popular winemakers, Andre Tchelistcheff.
The moment she knew: “I must be in the wine business.”
Her coolest memory as a winemaker
The challenges of getting into the wine business—and being successful in it
The best wine she has tasted
The one project that’s still on her bucket list
And, of course, her experience being a woman in a traditionally male-dominated business and advice she’d give to other women hoping to work in the wine industry.

Click here to check out all of our interviews on the Women Who Make Us Wine Radio Show and WomenWhoMakeUsWine.tv.

A Note from Jim Morris, co-host, Women Who Make Us Wine — We are excited to share brunch with you today our interview with today’s guest Jessyca Lewis, founder of the Savvy Social Vine and the Twitter show #Timetowine.
About Jessyca: A marketing and communications executive with 20 years of demonstrated success in advertising sales, marketing, community relations event planning, and project management, Jessyca is currently the founder of Savvy Social Vine, a wine marketing and social media agency and teaches wine and social media marketing to wineries all over the world.
Ranked #41 among top worldwide professors in social media by Social Media Magazine, Jessyca has lectured at Oregon State University and Purdue University and has also taught at the University of Oregon, the University of Iowa, and the CIMBA Study Abroad Program Italy. At the University of Oregon, she started the first Collegiate Social Media Club, one of the largest in the United States. Also, she launched a Wine Marketing program with 215 students.
Before launching her own company, she held Director-level positions in marketing and public relations for Good Neighbor Care and Northwest Christian University and worked as an advertising executive for Comcast Spotlight.
About the show: With the goal of shining a light on the truly amazing women in the wine industry, longtime wine industry expert Jim Morris invites the women he knows and loves to be featured on his bi-monthly podcast show on the Inkandescent Radio Network show WomenWhoMakeUsWine.com — produced by Jim’s co-host Hope Katz Gibbs.
Join us: Every other Sunday for brunch, 11 am PST on Facebook Live — www.Facebook.com/hopekatzgibbs
Click here to watch our video on Women Who Make Us Wine TV.

February 28, 2021: A Note from Jim Morris, the Napa Valley Wine Guy, and Hope Katz Gibbs, hosts, the Women Who Make Us Wine show — We celebrate brunch today talking with Ana Keller, owner of the Keller Estate Winery in Petaluma, CA.
Born and raised in Mexico City, where her love for plants drove her to study biopharmaceutical chemistry. In the ’80s, the family relocated to the San Francisco Bay Area and eventually purchased land in Petaluma.
True pioneers to the region, the Keller family planted the first Chardonnay vineyard in 1989.  In 1998, she joined the family vineyard and, with her father, started Keller Estate Winery in 2000.
“Growing grapes, it turns out, was a perfect fit for my love of plants,” says Ana, who shares that making wine became a second love. Since then, Keller Estate now farms sustainably 94 acres of vineyard and produces wines exclusively from the family’s property, a genuine Estate.
In 2013, Ana Joined the Petaluma Gap Winegrowers Alliance’s board and was instrumental in creating the Petaluma Gap AVA. Ana loves cooking for the family and finds that she’s always reaching out to her Mexican roots for inspiration and flavors.
On today’s show, we talk with Ana about: 

What her dad said to inspire her to start her family winery
What it takes to keep a winery going year after year
How almost everyone in her family has a role — including her sister who has created one of the beautiful wine labels
How the 2020 fires in California have impacted her business
What’s on the horizon for 2021 and beyond!

Learn more:

Check out our video interview on Women Who Make Us Wine TV
Click here to watch Ana in action at Keller Estate Wine in Petaluma, CA
Learn more about Ana’s wines at kellerestate.com

Welcome to the Women Who Make Us Wine Radio Show: A note from co-hosts Hope Katz Gibbs — Australian entrepreneur Robin Shaw is on a mission to help wineries sell more wine to more people, more often, for more profit. With that goal in mind, she founded Wine Tourism Australia (WTA) in 2012.
“We help regions maximize their tourism potential through the development of effective direct sales strategies, world-class cellar door venues, and innovative visitor experiences,” explains Robin, who has developed tailored workshop and enterprise programs for Australian wine.
Tonight on the Women Who Make Us Wine radio show Napa Valley wine guy Jim Morris will talk with Robin about:

How, since 2005, Robin and her industry colleagues have worked with almost every wine region in Australia and hundreds of small wineries.
WTA focuses on developing and maintaining ongoing relationships with industry associations and individual businesses that actively seek advice and practical solutions
Some of Robin’s favorite Australian wineries, including Ladies Who Shoot Their Lunch
How WTA partners with other consultants to deliver a suite of services for industry organizations, regional associations, government departments, and individual enterprises covering branding and storytelling, strategic planning, cellar door benchmarking and mystery, and more!

Jim and I know you’ll be as impressed as we are with Robin, who in 2004 received a prestigious Winston Churchill Fellowship to undertake a world study tour of wine regions, investigating innovative wine tourism operations that could be applied to Australian wineries.
“The information gained informed the content of several industry resources and programs, including The Australian Wine Tourism Toolkit, and a series of Wine Skills & Wine Tourism Workshops across the country,” shares the woman who is responsible for producing the National Wine & Food Tourism strategic framework titled: Harnessing the tourism potential of wine and food in Australia, 2020.”
Plus, we learn about Robin’s work as a passionate amateur hockey player and coach!
Click here to watch our video on Women Who Make Us Wine TV!
 

A Note from Jim Morris and Hope Katz Gibbs, hosts, Women Who Make Us Wine Radio Show — We were thrilled to launch our new show by interviewing two women who are taking the wine industry by storm — Sharon Cohn, who with her sisters own Breathless Wines, and their masterful winemaker Penelope Gadd-Coster.
“We started this winery to honor our mother, Martha, who taught us to live large and dream big,” explains Sharon.
We know you’ll be inspired!

Watch our interview on Women Who Make Us Wine TV.
Click here to learn more about Breathless Wines.
Learn more about What’s Next for Sharon Cohn here.
Check out our Q&A with Winemaker of the Year Penny Gadd-Coster.

About your host, Jim Morris: Since 2000, Jim’s focus has been on the Northern California wine scene (Sonoma, Napa, Mendocino). From his home in Healdsburg, CA, this native has been through wildfires, surges in wine sales, and the pandemic. Through it all, his sense of humor and good nature have remained in good form. It’s no surprise then that Jim is known as the Chief Evangelist as a senior-level adult beverage professional — a gent who dives into whatever he is doing with gusto and enthusiasm. Case in point — his current job as Vice President of Guest Relations for Charles Krug Winery, Napa Valley’s oldest winery. “My goal is to create a memorable wine experience for everyone who visits us,” shares Jim. “At Charles Krug, we have an obligation to share our remarkable legacy and lead the way for Napa to become a cultural hub through wine, art, food, and history.”
And Jim insists that it is his mission to remove the pretension of the wine business. “Wine is complex enough. When you are starting as a student of this industry, there are really only two wines made in the world — yummy and yucky.”
That is why we are putting Jim’s expertise to work with the January 2021 launch of the Women Who Make Us Wine podcast show on the Inkandescent Radio network.
In the coming year, our guests include women who are rocking the wine business as winemakers (there are so many!), sommeliers, winery owners, and other influencers and experts who will teach us each week about the gifts of the grape.

About the Breathless Team
About Penny: A highly acclaimed winemaker who has worked with Rebecca Faust at Rack & Riddle since 2007, brings her nearly 35 years of sought-after experience to Breathless Wines.
Most recently, Penny earned 90 Points in Wine Enthusiast for the Breathless Brut; Gold Medal in the 2015 San Francisco Chronicle Wine Competition and Gold/Best of Class in the 2014 Grand Harvest Awards for Blanc de Noirs; and Gold/92 Points for Brut Rosé in the 2014 Pinot Noir Shootout.
Penny was named winner of the prestigious 2013 “Winemaker of the Year” award for the entire Sonoma, Napa, Mendocino, and greater Bay Area by the North Bay Business Journal.
About Sharon Cohn: The “glitz, glamour and panache” behind the bubbles of Breathless. Sharon is the “feet on the street” of Breathless, traveling with the bubbly far and wide to meet with restaurants and retailers to share the passion behind Breathless.
Sharon’s love of travel grew after four years in the US Air Force and she has enjoyed traveling to places far and wide: Canadian Rockies, Greece, Italy, Calgary, and places that take her wherever there are mountains—her favorite!

January 2021: A Note from Hope Katz Gibbs, founder, Inkandescent Radio Network — It is with great pleasure that I introduce you to Jim Morris — my co-host on the “Women Who Make Us Wine Radio Show.” Known by thousands who have met or follow him on social media, “the wine guy” has spent the past 20 years mastered just about every facet of the wine business.
Starting this month, we’ll be hosting regular shows starring women winemakers, winery owners, sommeliers, wine influencers, and others in the know about the delicious juice in the bottle. Stay tuned for more!
About Jim: Since 2000, his focus has been on the Northern California wine scene (Sonoma, Napa, Mendocino). From his home in Healdsburg, CA, this native has been through wildfires, surges in wine sales, and pandemics. Yet, through it all, his sense of humor and good nature have remained in good form.
It’s no surprise then that Jim is known as the Chief Evangelist as a senior-level adult beverage professional — a gent who dives into whatever he is doing with gusto and enthusiasm. Case in point — his current job as Vice President of Guest Relations for Charles Krug Winery, Napa Valley’s oldest winery.
“My goal is to create a memorable wine experience for everyone who visits us,” shares Jim. “At Charles Krug, we have an obligation to share our remarkable legacy and lead the way for Napa to become a cultural hub through wine, art, food, and history.”
And Jim insists that it is his mission to remove the pretension of the wine business. “Wine is complex enough. When you are starting as a student of this industry, there are really only two wines made in the world — yummy and yucky.”
That is why we are putting Jim’s expertise to work with the January 2021 launch of the Women Who Make Us Wine podcast show on the Inkandescent Radio network.
In the coming year, our guests include women who are rocking the wine business as winemakers (there are so many!), sommeliers, winery owners, and other influencers and experts who will teach us each week about the gifts of the grape.
If you or someone you know should be a guest, let us know.

Download our first interview about the show now!
Connect with Jim in his many social media circles on Instagram/Twitter/Facebook
Please send Hope a note and learn more about our work with the country’s truly amazing women in our monthly magazine, InkandescentWomen.com.