Gerald Casale is best known as co-founder and bass player of the ‘80s band Devo – a group with a style all their own with hits like “Whip It.” As the band became successful and toured the world, Gerald fell in love with great food and wine. Recently this composer and performer became a Napa Valley vintner. His Fifty By Fifty is one of Napa’s newest wineries. Enjoy! For more visit: TheFiftyByFifty.com
This episode with Robin Lail covers nearly all of Napa Valley’s winemaking history – from her great-grand-uncle, Gustave Niebaum establishing Inglenook in 1879, through the rebuilding years after Prohibition, to the birth and boom of Napa’s modern era. Her story is one of success and heartbreak and of finding the strength to start over – more than once. Today Robin’s winery Lail Vineyards produces wines of outstanding distinction and deliciousness. For more visit: LailVineyards.com
Spencer Christian is recognized as Good Morning America’s former weatherman but is less known as a wine pioneer. He created the first national wine show in the 1990s on HGTV – and he’s still sharing his love of wine on a show called Sips with Spencer. In this episode he talks about growing up in the segregated South, his television career, gambling addiction, and tips to surviving a hurricane while on live TV. Enjoy! For more watch the episode of “Sips With Spencer,” which featured Shafer Vineyards last year.
Brother and sister, Lorenzo and Hailey Trefethen, are the third generation of their family involved in the wine business in Napa Valley. They look back at more than a century of their historic winery and vineyard property, reflecting on the challenges of the past and present, while looking forward to carrying the winery into a successful future with heart, energy, and style! For more visit: trefethen.com
Ray Isle grew up in Houston, Texas, thinking he’d be in a band or write novels. Along the way he fell in love with the world of wine and found a way to turn that enthusiasm and excitement into a career working as an editor in wine magazines, such as Food & Wine, where he is executive wine editor, and on television, in countless appearances on NBC’s The Today Show. Enjoy! For more visit: foodandwine.com
The enterprising mother/daughter team at the heart of Staglin Family Vineyard talks about Napa in the ‘60s, the challenges and joys of establishing a winery in the 1980s, Hollywood showing up in the 1990s, and how when son and brother, Brandon, was diagnosed with schizophrenia, the family responded by creating an annual music festival that has raised $400 million for brain health research. Enjoy! For more visit: staglinfamily.com
Zelma Long is known for her pioneering work at Robert Mondavi Winery in the early 1970s, at Simi Winery for 20 years, and for mentoring young winemakers including Paul Hobbs, Dave Ramey, Geneviève Janssens, and others. She entered the U.C. Davis winemaking program in the late 1960s, established Long Vineyards, and has done groundbreaking work in South African wine. Enjoy! For more visit: vilafonte.com and cape-ardor.com
Randy Lewis grew up in Atlanta, Georgia with such a love for fast cars that the local police got to know him on a first name basis. After college he turned his need for speed into a career, first racing Formula 3 in Europe and later tearing up the oval at the Indianapolis 500. In the late-1980s when he helped a friend start a Napa Valley winery, Randy discovered a new passion – growing grapes and making wine. By the early 1990s he and his wife Debbie had launched Lewis Cellars, one of Napa’s most beloved wineries. Enjoy! For more visit: lewiscellars.com
In 1972 Bo Barrett was a surfer in Southern California when his father bought an old winery in Napa Valley called Chateau Montelena. After finishing college Bo started working at the winery full-time and in this episode he talks about what he’s learned about winemaking, vineyards, economic cycles, parenthood, and how movies, such as Bottle Shock, are made. Today Bo oversees one of the most venerated wineries in the U.S. Enjoy! For more visit: montelena.com
In college Dave Ramey initially pursued an interest in literature before realizing his passion for wine. He earned a degree in enology in the late 1970s and sought out jobs in France and Australia. Back in the U.S. he worked at Simi, then Matanzas Creek, and later at Dominus before creating his own brand, Ramey Wine Cellars., one of California’s most respected wineries. Enjoy! For more visit: RameyWine.com
