From Hollywood to Sonoma wine country, Molly and Charlie Meeker have continued to grow their family as well as their family of wines. They are a small winery but it’s all about the passion and quality for Molly. And now the second generation, their son Lucas, is taking the family business into the future. Molly visited the home studio of Life Between the Vines last week where we enjoyed many laughs discussing grapes, falling down and living in the best place possible.

Learn more by visiting www.meekerwine.com

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Everybody in the wine business came from a different background. The diversity is amazing. Scott Sampler was a writer and director working in Hollywood. Now he is a winemaker. Imagine that!  We spoke with Scott by phone about his winery called the Central Coast Group Project. Scott’s passion is all about food, art and wine.

Learn more by visiting www.ccgpwines.com

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Have you ever been at a wine tasting and heard a term that you had no idea what it meant? Then you get nervous to ask what the word means? You’re afraid to look uninformed. We’ve all been there. There are hundreds of wine terms that confuse and allude us when it comes to our own personal glossary of words. MOG. FYB. Vine Anatomy. Future Unicorn? What the heck!? How will you ever learn them all? For the longest time the Vino Lingo section of our podcast has been a fan favorite to learn and laugh at the crazy words found in the wine world. Here, we have over 70 winemakers from around the country and around the world giving us there personal definitions. Some words are common and some, proprietary. Either way, informative and unvarnished, here is the complete Vino Lingo. Enjoy!

Appelation-Charlie Meeker of The Meeker Vineyard, Sonoma

Biodynamic-Lynn Grace of Wise Acre Vineyard, Napa Valley

Bloom-Phil Steinschriber of Diamond Creek Vineyards, Napa Valley

Bici-Laura Barrett of Clif Family Vineyards, Napa Valley

Breakneck Red-Alwyn “Fitz” Fitzgerald of Fisher King Winery, Verona, Wisconsin

Brettanomyces-Brette Bartolucci of Madonna Estate, Napa Valley

Brettanomyces-Kathleen Inman of Inman Family Wines, Sonoma

Cellar Master-Ian McClellan of Anaba Winery, Sonoma

Champagne-Jean-Charles Boisset of the Boisset Collection, Napa Valley

Clone-Sara Fowler of Peju Winery, Napa Valley

Clone-Michael Scholz of St. Supery Vineyards, Napa Valley

Concrete Egg-David Bos of Bos Wines, Napa Valley

Continuum-Carissa Mondavi of Continuum, Napa Valley

Cordon-Steve Tonella of SR Tonella Wines, Napa Valley

Cuvaison-Steven Rogstad of Cuvaison Winery, Napa Valley

Delestage-Brian Kays of Trefethen Family Vineyards, Napa Valley

Dry Farming-Marcus Goodfellow of Matello Wines, Willamette Valley

Dundee Hills-Susan Sokol-Blosser of Sokol-Blosser Winery, Willamette Valley

Feral-Casey Stringer of Stringer Cellars, Wisconsin

Field Blend-Katie Bundschu of Gundlach-Bundschu, Sonoma

Flavor Ripeness-Tim Duval of John Duval Winery, Barossa Valley, Australia

Free Run Juice-Michael Zardo of Ten Acre Vineyard, Sonoma

Fruit Forward-Steve Johnson of Parallel 44 Winery, Kewaunee, Wisconsin

Future Unicorn-Cushing Donelan of Donelan Family Winery, Sonoma

FYB-David Nemarnik of Alloro Vineyards, Willamette Valley

Gaglioppo Grape-Vincenzo Ippolito of Ippolito 1845, Italy

Generational Farming-Randy Lange of Lange Twins Winery, Lodi

Gravity Flow Winery-Matt Murphy of Presqu’ile Winery, Santa Maria

Green Thinning-Doug Shafer of Shafer Vineyards, Napa Valley

Hillside Select-Elias Fernandez of Shafer Vineyards, Napa Valley

Ice Wine-Tony Kosicek of Kosicek Vineyards, Geneva, Ohio

Maceration-Claire Weinkauf of Picayune Cellars, Napa Valley

Merlot-Paul Leary of Blackbird Vineyard, Napa Valley

MOG-Steven Rogstad of Cuvaison Winery, Napa Valley

No Wimpy Wines-Chris Kenefick of Kenefick Ranch, Napa Valley

Oak and Toast Levels-Kelly Woods of Burgess Vineyards, Napa Valley

Optimal Ripeness-Tor Kenward of TOR Wines, Napa Valley

Oregon Wine-Chris Williams of Brooks Winery, Willamette Valley

Organic-Julie Johnson of Tres Sabores, Napa Valley

Overcropping-Richie Allen of Roumbauer Vineyards, Napa Valley

Overextracted-Steve Burgess of Burgess Cellars, Napa Valley

Pigage-Greg Morthole of Davis Bynum Winery, Sonoma

Pinot Meunier-Joe Wright of Left Coast Cellars, Willamette Valley

Prosecco-Enrico Valleferro of Adami, Italy

Propagation-Buck Bartolucci of Madonna Estate, Napa Valley

Proprietary Blend-Jennifer Roberts of Picayune Cellars, Napa Valley

Soil Profiling-Pam Starr of Crocker & Starr, Napa Valley

Racking-Mark Donati of Donati Family Vineyard, Templetom, California

Stress-Pam Starr of Crocker & Starr Winery, Napa Valley

Sur Lie-Brooks Painter of Castello di’Amorosa, Napa Valley

Stinky Wine-Melissa Burr of Stoller Family Estate, Willamette Valley

Sweaty Saddle-Erika Almeida Mooney of Lagnaippe Peak, Napa Valley

Tannin-Yannick Rousseau of Y. Rousseau Wines, Napa Valley

TCA-Daryl Eklund of Parramon USA

Topping-Nick Bleecher of Jericho Canyon Vineyard, Napa Valley

Valpolicella-Armando Castagnedi of Tenuta Sant-Antonio, Italy

Vanbonics-Colleen Seps-Williams of Storybook Mountain Vineyards, Napa Valley

Varietal-Jeran Hoefliger of Alpha Omega, Napa Valley

Vignerons-Kim Longbottom of Henry’s Drive, Padthaway, South Australia

Vine Anatomy-Tom Gamble of Gamble Family Vineyards, Napa Valley

Vinefra-Steve Fennell of Sanford Winery, Santa Rita Hills

Vineyard Designate-George Martinelli of Martinelli Winery, Sonoma

Weasel Piss-Alex Sokol-Blosser of Sokol-Blossor, Willamette Valley

Weight, Texture & Density-Aron Weinkauf of Spottswoode Vineyards, Napa Valley

Wente Clone-Molly Hill of Sequoia Grove Winery, Napa Valley

White Rock-Christopher Vandendriessche of White Rock Vineyards, Napa Valley

Whores Wine-Aaron Pott of Pott Wine, Napa Valley

Wine Consultant-Rolando Herrera of Mi Sueno Winery, Napa Valley

Wine Tourism-Alex Ryan of Duckhorn Wines, Napa Valley

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Change is almost always good. In the case of Wisconsin’s Fisher King Winery, moving from Mount Horeb to Verona, just outside of Madison, the change was welcome. We last interviewed Fisher King owner Fitz Fitzgerald six years ago and this time we catch up with him in the cozy but bigger confines of the almost brand new winery. There is always something going on at Fisher King and the new winery makes change, well worth it.

You can also hear Fitz on our Vino Lingo page defining the wine term “Breakback Red”

Learn more by visiting www.fisherkingwinery.com

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We return from a three week vacation, refreshed and ready for the next round of winemaker interviews.  A reminder to our listeners to please send us a note with your opinions, critiques, thoughts and suggestions in regard to our program. We want to hear from you! Write to: ray@lifebetweenthevines.com.

Labor is not only a big issue with the wine business but also in the country and world in general. Where is your future labor force coming from? How do you hire quality workers? Where will they live? For this program we again visit this concern and talk with five winemakers from Napa Valley and the Willamette Valley and get their thoughts on the problem. We welcome your comments on this issue as well!

Featured winemakers:

1-Chris Kenefick of Kenefick Ranch, Calistoga, Napa Valley

2-David Nemarnick of Alloro Vineyard, Willamette Valley, Oregon

3-Julie Johnson of Tres Sabores, Napa Valley

4-Steven Rogstad of Cuvaison Winery, Carneros, Napa Valley

5-Alex Sokol-Blosser of Sokol-Blosser Winery, Willamette Valley, Oregon

Learn more at:

www.kenefickranch.com

www.allorovineyard.com

www.tressabores.com

www.cuvaison.com

www.sokolblosser.com

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