Ventura Smalley, Harry Duke, Cathy Ratto and Dan Berger.
Dan Berger and Harry Duke are in the studio together on California Wine Country today on the Italian holiday of Ferragosto. Our expected guest was not available.
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Ferragosto is the Italian holiday celebrated on August 15th. It is the middle of summer vacation season in Italy. It is also a religious holiday, the Catholic Feast of the Assumption. Dan describes the rich history of Ferragosto and how a holiday with ancient roots is still an annual occurrence.
Dan Berger has brought a bottle of his Bahl Fratty Riesling, and several other wines. The Bahl Fratty is probably the driest Riesling ever made anywhere. There are also some red wines to taste.
Bahl Fratty
Bahl Fratty is Boontling for good wine. There is a typewriter on the label, which reminds us of Dan Berger's illustrious career as a print journalist.
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The next among the wines that Dan Berger has brought today is a 2024 Chateau Montelena Riesling. They have been making this exact same wine for a long time. It has aromas of tropical fruit, pineapple, a spice component, it's not entirely dry, but it's not sweet, just barely off-dry. It would go well with Thai or Chinese food.
Riesling is a grape variety that requires a cooler climate, or if not cool, it needs high winds to cool it off. There is only a little Riesling left in Russian River Valley, and some in Carneros and Petaluma Gap.
Harry asks Dan to tell about how Steve Jaxon introduced himself and invited Dan to join the show. They met for coffee and did a show that day, and have done it weekly since 2017, eight years ago. "It's been an absolute blast," says Dan. Dan mentions a lot of our regular guests, people with a great story to tell, like Don Chigazola from Chigazola Merchants, Alan Baker from Cartograph Wines, Darryl Miller from Delingher Wines. People travel long distances sometimes, to be on the show. Carol Shelton is another favorite, and Harry agrees.
Ferragosto
Dan describes the Italian holiday of Ferragosto, pronouncing it almost correctly, so Chris DiMatteo in Los Angeles calls in with the right sound and little more about the story of this important Italian holiday. This gives Chris the chance to raise a glass of Dan Berger's Bahl Fratty Riesling and to toast Steve Jaxon, who has been a friend and mentor to Chris. Cin-cin, maestro!
Dan's next tasting is a 2018 Syrah from Carneros. Syrah is considered a warm climate variety and Carneros is a cool region. So Dan decided to give it a few years to test it and it turned out to be "really really good." It's not a dark red but has a white pepper character. It was released probably is 2021 and the white pepper component has developed. It also has some dried violet character, which Harry can't confirm. Cuvaison has been in business for close to 50 years and has owned that vineyard for about that long. This wine produces "an explosion of flavors" says Harry.