A Classic Episode with Paula Kornell — Fourth Gen Vintner with a Family Story Spanning Two Continents, One War, and More than 60 Years

In this classic episode, Paula Kornell takes us on an exceptional journey spanning two continents, one war, and more than 60 years of Napa Valley winemaking.Her father, Hanns Kornell, a third-generation winemaker in Germany, managed to escape a Nazi concentration camp, make his way to America, and found a winery near Calistoga specializing in sparkling wine.Paula was born the year after the winery launched and grew up in the Napa Valley of the ’60s and ’70s. She later worked with top wineries such as Robert Mondavi and Joseph Phelps. When we first posted this episode in 2019, she had come full circle, debuting her own sparkling wine brand — which is going stronger than ever today.Learn more: paulakornell.com

In this classic episode, Robin Lail of Lail Vineyards takes us on an unbelievable family journey.Her roots in Napa Valley span nearly all of winemaking history here – from her great-grand-uncle, Gustave Niebaum, establishing Inglenook in 1879, through her father, John Daniel, rebuilding the winery after Prohibition in the 1930s, to the birth and boom of Napa's current era, working with names like Robert Mondavi and Bill Harlan.Her story is one of success and stunning setbacks, heartbreak and resilience, and of finding the courage to start over – more than once. Today, Robin's winery, Lail Vineyards, produces wines of outstanding deliciousness and distinction. You won't want to miss this captivating episode told my a master storyteller.For more, visit: www.lailvineyards.com

Markus Bokisch has spent his life savoring the best of two worlds. As a kid in Los Angeles, he spent his summers in a small village on Spain’s Mediterranean coast, where his family’s roots run deep. Later, after studying winemaking and viticulture at UC Davis and then working with the vineyard team at Joseph Phelps, Markus and his wife, Liz, set off on an adventure across Spain—living out of a 1967 VW bus and moving from vineyard job to vineyard job. Along the way, they immersed themselves in Spanish wine, culture, and community.Markus wanted to bring the best of Spain to his life in the U.S.—and a big part of that was wine. After living and working throughout the United States, he discovered that the wine region of Lodi, California, most closely reflected the self-reliant culture and sense of work and family they loved in Spain.Today, through Bokisch Vineyards, they champion Spanish varieties grown in California soils. In this episode, we learn about Markus’s favorite varieties, including Xarel·lo, Albariño, Graciano, Macabeo, and, of course, Tempranillo. For more, visit bokischvineyards.com.

Jeff Smith grew up in Napa Valley where his dad, Ned Smith, sold real estate in the 1960s. In the early '70s, Ned moved into the hotel business building Napa's first luxury hotel, Wine Country Inn, and simultaneously planted six acres of grapes. Like many kids who grow up here, a future in the wine industry wasn't Jeff's first dream – his was music. He pursued a successful career centered in the Bay Area, performing with the indie rock group, Noonday Underground.At the age of 26 when his father passed away, Jeff took a hiatus from music to focus on helping his mom back in St. Helena. One thing they had to deal with was his dad's six-acre "hobby vineyard," which needed to be replanted if it was going to survive. His mom wanted to sell the property but Jeff – who knew next to nothing about growing grapes and making wine – proposed that he would oversee replanting to Cabernet and starting a wine label. To which his mom said, you have to choose music or wine. You can't do both. You have be to 200%.Jeff agreed to go the wine route and eventually launched an incredibly success winery called Hourglass.Our hour with Jeff was a fantastic time – hearing behind the scenes stories of Napa from the '60s to today including the wild inside story of launching Hourglass. For more on Jeff and his outstanding wines visit: https://www.hourglasswines.com/

Russ Weis grew up in California's Central Valley surrounded by his family's 200 acres of grapes, a background that would eventually lead him to a career in wine. His story runs through early adventures in France and Japan and then to Christian Brothers – where he started as a tour guide – Robert Mondavi Winery, Opus One, Silverado Vineyards, and today with Walsh Vineyard Management.He's seen every part of the wine business since his arrival in Napa Valley in the early 1980s. Russ and Doug became friends during Russ's long tenure as president of Silverado Vineyards, with the winery located across the road from Shafer Vineyards.We had a great time catching up with Russ and hearing his behind-the-scenes stories of a long and innovative career among some of the most fascinating people and properties in Napa.For more on where Russ is today, visit Walsh Vineyard Management: https://wvmgmt.com/

Kim Stare Wallace tells the audacious story of her father, Dave Stare, a wine-loving MIT graduate, who moved to California in a station wagon. He built a winery and carved out brand new vineyards near Healdsburg, California, in Dry Creek Valley in 1972. Dry Creek Vineyard made a name pioneering both Sauvignon Blanc and Chenin Blanc in an era that favored red varieties.Kim grew up helping out on the bottling line, answering the phone, and myriad other glamor-less winery jobs. Initially she couldn't wait to go to college, escape wine country, and pursue a degree in fashion design. Ultimately she didn't fall in love with the garment business. Instead in late 1980s her father talked her into coming back to work at the winery, which is when she feel in love again. This time with the wine business.Kim is a dynamic storyteller and our hour with her felt like 10 minutes, hearing her story and doing a deep dive into the winery, both where it was in the past and where it is today. For more visit: https://www.drycreekvineyard.com/

Robert Fiore's path to winemaking took a remarkable trek through archeology and geophysics. Long before he was tasting grapes in the lead-up to harvest he was poring over data from ground-penetrating radar in the search for petroleum. But it turns out that knowing rocks and soil is a solid foundation for a deep understanding of great vineyards.Today Robert is winemaker at the long-celebrated Peter Michael Winery, producing wines of elegance and grace from diverse vineyards in both Napa and Sonoma.We had a great time hearing Robert's story from passionate wine-lover to world-class winemaker. He even brought rock samples to discuss wine country geology. For more visit: https://petermichaelwinery.com/

In this classic episode, we revisit a memorable 2019 podcast with Tim Mondavi, whose family played such a legendary role in launching and defining Napa Valley's current era. Tim spent more than 30 years working with his father at Robert Mondavi Winery until the family lost control of winery in 2004. Undaunted, he started over with a new winery aptly named Continuum. Today Tim and his extended family are celebrating more than 100 years in the wine industry and he is more passionate than ever about producing world-class wine. Enjoy!For more visit: ContinuumEstate.com

This week's episode is a medley, a grab bag, a breakfast scramble of your questions for Doug -- covering everything from "when should I drink my 2018" to when your wine needs to make some noise to his picks for Napa Valley's unsung heroes. (Also, one of us may have admitted to once using a blender to decant a wine.) We invited our long-time friend, John Skupny, of Lang & Reed to join us for this great, wide-ranging conversation.If this episode inspires you, please send your questions and wine stories to [email protected]. We will definitely record another episode like this one in the future.And, if hearing from John Skupny reminds you that Cabernet Franc is something you need more of in your life, learn more about Land & Reed here: https://langandreed.com/

Heidi Barrett has produced extraordinary wines for clients including Screaming Eagle, Paradigm, Dalle Valle, and many more. One of her Cabernets holds the record as the most ever paid for a single bottle of wine -- $500,000 at Auction Napa Valley. Today she has her own wine brand, La Sirena, and another with her husband, Bo Barrett of Chateau Montelena, called Barrett & Barrett.On this classic episode of the podcast first posted in 2018, Heidi takes Doug through one of the most fascinating careers and life stories in the Valley. Enjoy! For more visit: lasirenawine.com or barrettwines.com.