It was such a pleasure to geek out with Martha Stoumen about making wine for this epidsode. This conversation gets highly technical, and even more highly helpful for anyone, at any level, who is making wine or thinking about it. If you want to take your wine making to the next level, listen closely. I have learned multiple new things from Martha every time I’ve re-listened.

The ostensible subject of this episode is How to make Natural Wine, but of course there isn’t one way to make natural wine. Instead, Martha offers the principles and perspectives and biology and chemistry that can help you approach wine making holistically, with the goal of helping this living being – the grapevine – achieve what seems to be its ultimate destiny. And we do a case study of one of her wines, to give an intimate and detailed view of the practical application of her approach.

The one impression that I hope you’ll get, if nothing else, is just how thoughtful Martha is about every aspect of this process. She thinks carefully about everything from the macro to the micro, and asks great questions about how to use human efforts to facilitate all of the non-human elements that work for us to create, and refine, and protect a beautiful wine. We could not have asked for a better teacher.

Martha makes wine in Sebastapol, California and you can buy her wines at marthastoumen.com. And I highly recommend you do try them. We talk about how well adapted Italian varieties of grapes are to making natural wine in California, and she has several examples that show just how deliciously true that is.

Sponsor:

Centralas Wine

Stephen Hagen and Andrew Smith are my guests on this episode, and we’re talking about Antiquum Farm in Oregon. Antiquum is Stephen’s family farm where Andrew runs the cellar, and where they practice Grazing-Based Viticulture, or what Stephen calls Joy Based Agriculture, and I believe he’s doing for grape farming what Joel Salatin has done for regular farming. Antiquum is a vineyard ecosystem specifically designed to enable nearly year-round high-intensity managed grazing of kune kune pigs, sheep, geese, chickens and ducks in the vineyard, though not necessarily in that order. Stephen describes in detail the infrastructure, practical considerations, animal breeds, resources, and much much more that is necessary to make this system work and to make it possible to produce wine that is 100% true to place.

This is a must-listen for anyone considering maintaining a year-round herd and incorporating them in the vineyard, or for anyone who just wants to hear an example of some incredible, earth-first agriculture and how that impacts the wine that comes from it.

This ecosystem requires zero outside inputs for fertility. This closed loop holistic farm continually increases the distinctiveness and richness of the soil microbiome which has had dramatic effects on the grapes’ morphology, chemistry, and flavor. If you really believe in terroir, Stephen and Andrew have taken this concept to such an extreme that I think it redefines terroir. This is such a compelling perspective that I think it challenges a majority of the claims to terroir in the wine world.

If you want to be inspired by what could be possible for the future of wine, or if you want to save 15 years of trial and error in grazing-based viticulture, prepare for a 20 terabit download. And don’t be surprised if you start hearing the name Antiquum – however you pronounce it – a lot more often.

https://www.antiquumfarm.com/

Sponsor:

https://www.centralaswine.com/

My guest for this episode is Christopher Renfro of The Two Eighty Project. If you haven’t had the pleasure to learn about what he’s doing with wine in San Francisco, you’re in for a treat.

Christopher spent much of his childhood in Germany, which allows him a bit of an outsider’s perspective on the culture of the United States that is refreshing and extremely relevant. He has a big vision for the kinds of things he wants to accomplish. We jump right in to discuss the foundational characteristics of the culture of the United States in relation to his story, his work to create what I refer to as a counter-culture of compassion through wine, and his thoughts on our many deep connections to the land and disconnections from it.

But as big as these ideas are, I really appreciated how Christopher is grounded in appreciation for the magic of being alive, breathing air and eating food that we can grow from the earth. I love the inclusiveness of his vision and his desire to celebrate and embrace the many diverse people and cultures that make up our world. This excitement for the contribution that each different being can contribute to our live is what I think is the soul of biodiversity, and a key to the shift of perspective needed to heal our culture… and our climate.

@thetwoeightyproject

Sponsor:

https://www.centralaswine.com/