Bianka Schmitt

For the 15th installment of Own-Rooted, we spent some time talking with Oregonian winemaker Joe Swick. Joe is a prolific and distinctive winemaker with a house-style that is recognizable and dynamic. Although his high vitality wines share similarities with Californian naturalists, Joe is located in a much more conservative wine region.   He stands apart not only in location but in history, having begun his journey firmly entrenched in the high octane, Parker-approved power wines of the early aughts. His pathway to low-intervention wine was slow and circuitous, imparting on Joe an invaluable sense of context. The conversation begins with a discussion of organics in farming and comes to center on the definition and perils of natural wine before ending up somewhere unexpected!

Our guest is Bianka Schmitt and with her husband Daniel she runs Weingut Schmitt in Rheinhessen and theirs are some of my all time favorite wines. For me, the most important prerequisite for greatness is a sense of life force.  The wine must possess an animated quality and the Schmitt wines are positively teaming with life.  I met Bianka in a dingy wineshop basement years ago and instantly her presence  lit the place up and I understood where all that energy had come fromFor more content follow us on Instragram @olmstead wine and check out olmsteadwine.com for articles, producer write ups and our monthly newsletter.

Hey all and welcome to own rooted brought to you by Olmstead Wine co.  I’m your host Max and our guests today are Danielle Shehab and Matthew Rorick of Forlorn Hope located in the Sierra foothills.  We started by talking about glass bottle pricing and packaging.  It really doesn’t really sound like the world’s most thrilling topic but these two are such frank and hilarious people that a heroically boring subject turned out to be a really good time.  It was a conversation full of real-talk and I’ve never ever ever laughed so hard when recording this show before.For more content you can follow us on instragram @olmstead wine and check out olmsteadwine.com for articles, producer write ups and our monthly newsletter.

 Our guest is Annamária Réka Koncz, located in Barabás, North Eastern Hungary.  Although Annamária is producing some astounding wines, she’s relatively unknown.  I first tasted her Blaufrankisch ‘A Change of Heart’ when I was visiting friends and I was so deeply affected I fell entirely out of the conversation.  When I came back to my senses I had to know more about what she was doing but I couldn’t find much information and I thought ‘I can do something about that!’For more content you can follow us on Instragram @olmstead wine and check out olmsteadwine.com for articles, producer write ups and our monthly newsletter.  Till next time!  

Our guest is Andres Carull (Finca Casa Balaguer) from Alicante Spain.   Winemaking isn’t the kind of gig you can pursue casually, it’s a holistic enterprise and the enormity of the thing can be both hypnotic and thrilling.  For Andres and his wife Marta, wine is more than a career it is a sacred calling around which their whole world revolves and after talking with Andres, my mind was lit up and my hopes rekindled.For more content you can follow us on Instragram @olmstead wine and check out olmsteadwine.com for articles, producer write ups and our monthly newsletter.  Till next time!  

Our guest today is Aaron Mockrish of Frenchtown Farms in North Yuba, California.  I’ve always found winemaking to be a blend of mysticism and engineering and I can think of few producers that so perfectly embody this idea.  He’s always seemed to inhabit this compelling netherspace between  stillness and restlessness.  Aaron and his wife Cara have been steadily developing their ideas and after half a decade, the promise we tasted in their early wines is being fulfilled.For more content you can follow us on instragram @olmstead wine and check out olmsteadwine.com for articles, producer write ups and our monthly newsletter.  Till next time!  

We’re living in a golden age of natural wine with a dozen novel producers to try every day.  Though many of these budding winemakers are kicking out great stuff, only a very few producers are so excellent they become timeless.  Filippo Rizzo of Lamoresca is one such artisan.  Located in the remote hinterlands of Sicily, Filippo has never sought the limelight, focusing instead on a heady brew of modesty and dedication that has made Lamoresca a neotraditional icon.You can follow us on instagram @olmsteadwine and sign up for our monthly newsletter at Olmsteadwine.com.  

If you already caught the first part you’ll have a sense for the transparency Faith brings to the table so we wanted to use this episode as an opportunity to introduce something new to the show.  These conversations are winemaker to winemaker and sometimes the jargon can be distracting so we’re gonna try dropping in asides to help illuminate the subjects.Let us know whatcha think!Thanks for listening everyone and thanks to Faith for being so generous with her time.    you can follow us on instragram @olmsteadwine and check out olmsteadwine.com for articles, producer write ups and our monthly newsletter.  Till next time!

This episode will be the first of a two part interview with Faith Armstrong-Foster of Onward Wines.    I often hear producers say logistics make the wine and it’s true but what’s left out is how critical a winemaker’s skill as navigator allows them to make the right piloting choices along the way.  Faith is an oenological realist and her balance of concept and practicality results in unfailingly pure wines.  We talked about the nuts and bolts of the craft and I think it’s a must listen for anyone trying to figure out how the handwork translates to the sublime.We’ll be back with the second part of this interview soon.  In the meantime you can follow us on instragram @olmsteadwine and check out olmsteadwine.com for articles, producer write ups and our monthly newsletter.