The Taste with Doug Shafer – a Podcast About Wine, Food, and Friends

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 (https://www.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 (http://lasirenawine.com/) or barrettwines.com (http://www.barrettwines.com/).

It's harvest here on the West Coast and this week we're letting our winemaking friends focus on picking their grapes.We thought this would be the perfect moment to rerelease a classic 'Taste' episode that we recorded with our friend, the great actor and vintner, Kyle MacLachlan.Since we recorded this episode in October, 2018, Kyle has continued to produce outstanding wines with his Pursued by Bear label -- a winery name he took from an inspired moment in a play by Shakespeare. His acting career has absolutely flourished, he's become a phenomenon on social media, and most recently he launched a podcast of his own, What Are We Even Doing?We loved hearing Kyle's story of falling in love with wine and acting and how the two have intersected over the years. Learn more about Kyle's wines by visiting: www.pursuedbybearwine.com