There are only a handful of incredible photographers in the California wine industry that I consider to be top notch, and Heather is one of them. She’s going to give us some very useful strategies and tactics when it comes to visually telling our stories in an authentic manner, how to take your own gorgeous photos when you can’t hire pros like her, and some fantastic resources to use as a constant reference.

Kathryn & Tug Coker run Esters Wine Shop & Bar in Santa Monica, California and produce The Long Finish wine podcast. We put together a collaborative, co-published podcast episode chatting about chillable red wine and drinking 2019 Las Jaras Glou Glou.

Rachel Martin is the owner and founder and Marbue Mark is the winemaker of Oceano Wines, producing cool climate Pinot Noir & Chardonnay from the Spanish Springs Vineyard in San Luis Obisbo, California.

Winc is a unique winery in that they make over 100 individual SKUs of wine from around the country at a range of price points. On top of that, their direct-to-consumer first model and mass utilization of Digital marketing mixed with a heavy dose of customer feedback has enabled them to continue to craft wines that their audience is looking for.

This is a bonus episode of sorts. Recently I sat down with Carey Vanderborg @careydrewsomm on Instagram Live to turn the tables and interview me, Chappy! For those who don't know Carey he is a sommelier at Press Restaurant in St. Helena, California. In this down time he's started interviewing some of the top talent in Napa Valley Kellie White, Chris Phelps, Carlton McCoy, and many more. He's going live at 5pm each week day on Instagram.

In 2014, Natalie joined the Winemaking team fulltime as a cellar hand at Rudd Estate and became the oenologist in 2016. An opportunity of a lifetime presented itself, allowing Natalie to travel overseas to work harvest at Château Pétrus in 2016. Coming back from her travels refreshed and rejuvenated, Natalie became the Assistant Winemaker in 2017 at Rudd Estate, and the following year the lead Winemaker for Crossroads.

Guy Eshel is the winemaker of Dalton Winery in the Galilee Mountains in Israel. Born in Tel Aviv, Guy grew up between California and Israel, building a strong bond with both lands. Most recently, before moving back to Israel to join Dalton Winery as head winemaker in 2015, Guy worked at Broc Cellars in Berkeley, one of California’s preeminent urban wineries.

I sat down with 9 incredible professionals from Sonoma and Napa Counties to enjoy a quarantini, but more importantly to have a real conversation of the trials and tribulations we’re going through. These amazing folks provide a lot of insight and new perspective along with actionable tactics, strategies, tools to apply to any kind of wine business you’re running or working in. We also discuss the programs and resources that have been setup.

When you discuss wine, context is everything. Whether the topic of conversation is a specific region, grape varietal, producer, the context in which that topic is discussed leads the participants and audience to understand what the story and purpose is. In order to tell a story, how do you create that context? Insert Matt Morris. For over a decade Matt has been working with some of the top wine and food producers and brands in northern California.

Alex Pitts and Marty Winters of Maître de Chai are focused on showcasing old-vine, organically farmed classic varietal vineyards. With experiences on the floor of The French Laundry and The Restaurant at Meadowood and in the cellar of Abe Schoener’s Scholium Project, Marty and Alex had a tri-fold education with focus on classic cooking and wine producers while experimenting in the cellar with varietals and winemaking techniques.

Since 2012 he has travelled to McLaren Vale numerous times per year to oversee the winemaking for the Bordeaux varieties at Hickinbotham Clarendon Vineyard, covers a steep cut of country from the ridgetops above the village of Clarendon to the Onkaparinga River in the gorge below. Since its establishment in 1971, the Hickinbotham vineyard has become a part of Australia’s wine heritage, supplying fruit to produce many of Australia’s greatest wines.

Helena Price Hambrecht is a Silicon Valley photographer & creative who married Woody Hambrecht, a 3rd generation winemaker & farmer based in Dry Creek Valley, and together they started Haus, a low-alcohol apéritif for today’s generation.

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 Matthiasson is the owner, farmer, and winemaker of Matthiasson Wines based in the Oak Knoll District AVA of Napa Valley. 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.

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.

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.

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.

Esther Mobley is the wine critic for the San Francisco Chronicle. She writes primarily about California wine, though her beat also includes beer, spirits, drinking culture, cults and, occasionally, doughnuts.

Josh Phelps is the founder and winemaker of Grounded Wine Co. making delicious, all-American, and approachable wines across the west coast while based in St. Helena, California.

Valley Bar & Bottle is a neighborhood restaurant, wine bar, and wine retail establishment that simultaneously reveres and revitalizes Sonoma cuisine and hospitality. Launching as a dinnertime restaurant, Valley will gradually incorporate daytime services.

Jeff Meisel is the Vice President of Brand Development for Long Meadow Ranch based in St. Helena, California. Jeff oversees all things marketing and development across Long Meadow Ranch, Farmstead Restaurant, Hunt & Harvest, and Stony Hill. We chat how the Long Meadow Ranch umbrella brand works to engage with customers across marketing channels, platforms, and in real life, along with the specific strategies and tools that they implement do grow the brand across its many product offerings.

Wine Access has evolved into the robust direct to consumer wine retailer that it is today, with a carefully vetted selection of both ephemeral daily offers and a more permanent inventory of wines from the industry’s top regions and producers. They sell their wines by telling the stories around each of the producers and wineries they work with. They are a leader in direct to consumer wine sales; an area of tremendous growth in the wine industry.