Ricardo Perez Co-Founder of VINTAE & Rising Star Winemaker Raul Acha

Catch this interview with Ricardo Perez, co-founder of VINTAE Wines and his rising star winemaker Raul Acha. We had a challenging start to our interview when we couldn’t establish a connection, but after a few adjustments and about ten minutes into the show, we connected and had a great interview in spite of the language barrier.

VINTAE Wines is a young wine company producing some exceptional Spanish wines from six different regions in Spain.  They currently have seven wine projects they are working on including the renowned MATSU, Winery Arts, and Maetierra DominVm. They are firm believers in preserving terroir and practice sustainable, biodynamic viticulture.

Ricardo Arambarri Pérez, Richi, as his friends call him, is manager and co-founder of Vintae. Passionate and a wine lover, he travels all over the world to expand the VINTAE dream that the whole team is creating. Entrepreneur by family inheritance, his main wish is create and boost projects. Ricardo holds a Bachelor and MBA in Business Administration by ESADE Business School.

Raul Acha is the Technical manager and Winemaker of Vintae. The seven oenologic projects of Vintae

in six regions of Spain were born due to his great team of oenologist and the enormous quantity of kilometers that he drives every year along the different wine making areas in Spain. He was born in Cárdena, a small village in La Rioja in 1976. He grew up in a family of viticulturist from which he learned all the wine making tradition of Rioja. He holds an engineering degree in Agronomy, bachelor in Oenology and Diploma of Advances Studies of Oenology.

Join me as I interview each of these remarkable young men and learn more about their vision. Also try their delicious Tempranillo, “El Picaro”, from the MATSU collection.

White Cottage Ranch 2009 Napa Valley Sauvignon Blanc

Another winner white I tired this week. A great winery with a great story practicing sustainable viticulture. PURCHASE HERE

Grapes: 100% Sauvignon Blanc

Dennis and Adele Johns grew up together as high school sweethearts in St. Helena, the heart of Napa Valley. As the winemaker at St. Clement Vineyards for twenty years, Dennis established his reputation as an innovative and highly respected winemaker.

In the search to begin their own vineyard and winery, Dennis and Adele discovered that the last 65 acres of White Cottage Ranch, a historic 5000 acre cattle ranch dating from the 1800′s, was for sale.

The most outstanding factor of the property was that this land was on Howell Mountain, an area recognized for growing exceptional red wine varietals for over 100 years. Dennis and Adele’s firm belief that fine wines are ‘grown’ and not just vinted, coupled with plans to produce high quality red wines, forged the 1989 purchase of White Cottage Ranch.

In 1990, five different variations of resistant rootstock were planted based on the soil profiles. Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon and Cabernet Franc were budded in 1991. The first crop was in 1993. Subsequently, they have added Sangiovese, Zinfandel and Syrah. A new winery was finished in the summer of 2005 and is now open by appointment to taste. The family produces small amounts of artisan crafted wines: Cabernet Sauvignon, Sauvignon Blanc, Chardonnay, Merlot, Cabernet Franc, Sangiovese, Zinfandel and a Sangiovese-Zinfandel blend they call “Ezivese”.

Winemaking and Fermentation: The fruit is whole cluster pressed to tank then cold settled for 3 days. Clean juice is inoculated in tank but finishes the reaction in barrels. The fermentation lees are stirred for 6-8 weeks in barrel. The wine is transferred to tank for
fining, filtering then bottling.

Thomas Houseman On Sustainable Viticulture from Anne Amie Vineyards

Listen to this interview with Thomas Houseman, head winemaker, from Anne Amie Vineyards. The winery is named after Dr. Robert Pamplin’s, the owner of Anne Amie Vineyards, two daughters. Even though you want to pronounce it as it sounds, the name is pronounced Anna-me. Located in Oregon this family owned, low production winery practices sustainable viticulture (Salmon Safe and LIVE certified) and makes some fantastic Pinot’s as a result. They have many award winning wines in their portfolio including 92 pts and BEST BUY award from Wine & Spirits for my favorite 2007 Anne Amie Pinot Noir. These wines are very versatile and can be purchased to drink now or cellered for 5 to 10 years. Meet Thomas and learn more about this awesome Oregon winery that is protecting the environment and making fabulous wine, one grape, one bottle at a time!

Listen to Thomas Housman’s interview.