California wine country with Dan Berger. Our guest today is the Great Justin Si California he is the main wine maker at the wonderful Rodney strong vineyards, possibly, my favorite winery in Wine country. They're certainly in the top 3 for me. I'm a huge fan of Rodney strong wine. So it's great to have Justin back, good to see you, my friend. How are you? I'm good. Thanks for having me. It's always a pleasure. Dan? And I'm I'm happy to be back too. Oh, wait. You and I are happy to be anywhere as. We're still... Especially because we got air conditioning and this well. Yes. It's how nice. You know, it's dropped 11 degrees since we went on the air. Wow. Yeah. It's like cooler. The high tomorrow, 79. The high Tuesday 72. Oh, I'm ready I'm ready for the cooling. Yes. We are. I'm also very thrilled with this first line that Rodney strong fingers has selected to serve to us, and this is really very special because this is a new wine for... Well, Justin, you can explain what this is a 20 23 Sylvia log. Justin. Okay. So this is a brand new wine for us. We actually launched to June first, so it's only been out for, you know, 6 weeks or so. And it's a a pretty much a single vineyard Avi Blanc from the Alexander Valley from when it's state property we own, called Bud Ranch, which is right near the Alexander Valley Bridge for those of you who like to travel into into 1 country, and it's a unique play on Sa Blanc. I modeled it after or 1 of my favorites, which is an ob blanc, which is a bordeaux. Wine and wine from bordeaux, as really as well as a Pool may. So it's a little richer in style, then your standard Savvy Blanc, it's quite a bit made in Oak. It's about 55 percent made in Oak, but large format Oak barrel, so 400 liter barrels. And and then we blend in the balances fresh stainless steel. So it gives us some richness, very peachy qualities, and it's just a very enticing but lifting in rich wine. So it kind of checks a lot of boxes for us. Yeah. I love this wine for 1 interesting reason. And besides the fact you can drink it right away, that the way it's structured, it seems as if, and correct me if I'm wrong that this is really aimed at 2 things. Drink it now, and then put it a few bottles away because this is gonna age nicely. It's gonna... Has this this beautiful mid palette that's richer than you typically get a it's sort of like whiteboard out like you pointed out. But in a certain way, it's it's got both best of both worlds. Thank you. This is gonna age lovely. I think so. Yeah. And even tonight, though, what, 2 hours in the d cantor? I'm... It's gonna open up. I don't think Would... In my house, it wouldn't make 2 hours before it's bottles of plasma. Well, I do have bottles for both of you your take with you. So you can test that. Later bless you, sir. Yeah. He is justin si fell, senior vice president of Wine making and such at the Great Rodney street strong vineyards. This is the award winning California wine country, brought to you by, Rodney Strong and Davis Spider minds. Wrong 1 thing I'd like to say about this particular wine. This is a 23, So Bong. And, 23 was a really interesting vintage in and a lot, more personality than, some vintage we've had. It's got a little bit cool... A little cooler, quite a bit cooler. And and gives it gives it some structure without it being tart, it has AAA kind of a rich mid palette, and it finishes up with perfect balance, and the balance is the secret. So you had the acidity there, but it wasn't really high acidity just enough to keep it balance. Yeah. And to help with that balance, you know, we also blend in a small percentage of semi. It which is adds a lot of text roll components to the men palette, And for that particular component, I actually have a very cool fermentation vessel made out of ceramic, called a cl, and it's an egg shaped vessel that rotates. It's like an egg on its side. And it wrote rotates, so we do a, mixing it regularly during the fermentation process to get lease contact and that plus the fact that we are going for that fu mae style gives it we we purposely ripen the grapes up so we get that richness and balance in acidity. The and when you pointed out that it was a... That was matured in in barrels. Or you said, oak, but in this case, there's no noticeable in the aroma at all. Really? It's... It's all it is is is text. Correct. And that's why we're using the large format barrels versus a a smaller version. It's And the toast profile we're using is called a a blanc toast or it's done in a hundred and 50 degrees Celsius. So it's very, very light toast for very, very long time, and it's not meant to entice oak flavors, but really show vanilla and text that are additions to the way. Yeah. Well, there's some great vanilla elements in this. By the way, Dan, 1 of my favorite bands rotating egg shaped vessel plane tonight at top bunk in Seb basketball. I'm very pleased you said that. I thought I'd get that early and... You might as well get in early before those bands are out of say. He is justin Si fell, wine maker at Rodney strong vineyards. Wow. Give us in It's good to have you back. But give us your history again in the world of wine, man, because you've got a an amazing resume, a great career and you're... Wonderful wine maker in my opinion. Thank you. So, started in Son sonoma County at Iron horse vineyards in 2005. Working with the Great David and Monk guard there. That was actually while still going to school at Uc Davis, graduated from Davis and went on to work for Robert Mon Winery in Napa Valley, and then made my way over to Rodney strong years ago where I started as a, just an assistant wine maker and over time, worked my way the ladder to being 14 Sv of wine making and 1 growing and get the privilege to lead an incredible team of individuals or doing everything from Starting in the vineyard with the grapes till we get to the glass into the table. And, Dan, tell me why I'm... Such a fan of the wines from Rodney strong and have been for years. I think what Justin's really got a unbelievable career. And if you think back to... His beginnings and so forth. 1 of the reasons these ones have been so consistent is partially a result of who he worked with. David Mu was the wine maker at Iron Horse when Justin began. But before that, David worked in New York, and heat has to be absolutely 1 of the finest examples of people who appreciate acidity and what it does for wine. It's not that there's asset in the wine. It's what it is is structure and balance, and he doesn't shy away from the acidity rather or or try to sacrifice the asset, So what Justin followed in his footsteps, And then, of course, working at Robert Mon mendoza, you get texture in and and a balance. And again, balances their secret to to the to the wine business. So working with people like that and gave him the opportunity when he got to Rodney strong to capture some of the characteristics that were necessary to make balance why, to me, it's all... Everything comes down to balance and wine, everything. I'm not I'm not a big fan of hundred point red wines And then, you know, and I'd love to give a lot of credit to Jean Of Jen at at at Robert Man dhabi And while I was there, we also had in michigan S is our consulting wine maker, so he learned lots from him, but also, Gustavo Gonzalez was a an a very important person in teaching me to Instinct think about wine, and not just always just look at the numbers, but go with your gut, what you see in the vineyard, And with their stewardship, I really became keen on understanding that the wine is made in the Vineyard. And so that's where I spend most of my time, and and that's what this wine is all about, which is the single vineyard site called Bud ranch, and we selected this vineyard for the reasons that you see in the glass. Your Rodney Strong vineyards again, founded by Rodney Strong in 19 59. Talk about some of the history of the the winery and the everything. Absolutely. So Rod strong, founded the winery. It was a thirteenth bonded winery in California. So word thirteenth thirteenth. Yeah. So we've been here for a very long time. You know, they have more of than those now. Yeah. It's little. A couple of more. So, you know, I love to say passion plus practice equals progress, and so we have quite a lot of practice, more than many. And, Rodney, like, me have the head the philosophy that wine was made in the vineyard. And so he did a lot of first, like, plant Shard and Cha hill. In 19 65 and was the first to do that. He also created the first single vineyard Cab in Alexander Valley in 19 74 with the all alexander Crown. Which we will try it in a little bit. And so as a pioneer and helping create the sonoma county we know today, he... Also helped, establish the Ab system we have being 1 of the founding members of the Russian river Valley, Chuck hill and A alexander Valley Ab. And we've, continued down that path where I was involved with establishing 1 of the most recent Ab in the Petal gap in 2007. Teen, which was the first Ab established, in, like, 5 years when we did that, and it was a a hard fought battle to get that done. Wow. My first exposure to... Riding strong came in 19 76. Literally, the first year I began writing about wine. When I was with the I was in Los Angeles and and writing for, various magazines that was with associated press, and I was working for the Herald examiner, which a newspaper that didn't exist. It doesn't exist anymore, and I wrote a column for them. And I got together with Rodney for Luncheon, and he taught me so much in in in in a 2 hour lunch, I learned a massive amount from broadening about wine? Nice man. Right? So So fast forward to 19 89 when the klein family purchased the winery, and they have owned us since then so the last 35 years. Right. And they have really ushered us into the level of success that we know today, investing in our vineyards, investing in our facility so And technology to build us to become 1 of the most iconic wine in Sonoma County. And as as many wine reside are family owned are, it is a family project, and you can't really do it with 1 individual, and you've got a lot of people involved who have opinions. Of course, there has to be a a beneficial czar at the top of this whole thing. Really But this was really wonderful project, and I I met, the, family of the client family at the very beginning of this project when they bought the property and visited their properties around and saw what was happening in at it it really comes down to what's in the vineyard. Correct? Do you have to have vineyards. And so we now own 11 our 12 vineyard sites, 1158 acres of total, acre... Vineyard acre and that culminated with our purchase last year of a 330 acre vineyard in the heart of Russian River off west side road called the River West Ranch And that came full circle because Rodney was actually the first to plant the grapes there back in the early seventies. Wow. We ended up selling that property as part of transitions in the winery, and then now we acquired it back from the family we sold it to. So it's a it's critical to our success to have control over our sourcing. And River West was a name it was even non year label. Back many years ago and so now it's back in the family. Correct. And we do make a single vineyard River west wine from fort Davis By, our Gun focused brand. Right. Sure. I love the Sodium walk character or this wine because I me too... 12... Yeah I'm I'm a big fan of aging these... Well, you know that neat, but I love aging wine, but, this 1, in particular has a future because there's beautiful aroma. In the mid palette of in the mid nose of this is you... You're you're really smelling a beautiful, just a hint x a fresh cut new pneumonia hey kind of thing. And that's really var bridal, and that's exactly what this wine is going to use as it builds into the future. Correct. Yeah. So as of right now, is a pretty small production for us, and we're really focusing this on restaurants and and small wine shops. So you can definitely look for it throughout the United States. And our goal is not to make this huge. We're just really focused on quality and pushing the envelope of what Sa blanc can be known as in in Sonoma County in Alex alexander Valley, in particular. Justin Rodney Strong makes a lot of different wines. You guys. You all make a lot of different lines and we're gonna taste some more today on 1 country, California wine country. Talk about some of the other very popular Rodney strong lines that are out there now. Absolutely. So we're known for mainly Cab. That's probably 60 percent of what we produce, but some of the other wines are our cha hill Shard. As I said, Rodney was the first to plant. Char there in 19 65 and we now own 3 vineyard sites in Cha hill and produce an incredible barrel fermented char from great clones in great places within the Cha Ab, we also make a very good Peter noir, and it's all from Russian River Valley. And at the price point, I don't think you can find a better wine. And then when you get into the Cab world, you know, our Alexander Valley is State Cab. It's about a 20 dollar bottle of wine give or take, And for me, it hits so far above its weight class. It's not even funny, and that's because it comes from. Incredible hillside vineyards in the Alexander Valley, and then is aged in all French joke, about half new for 18 months, and The idea is that even though we're able to sell a wine at a really good price point, we don't ever cut a corner, and that has to do with the wherewithal of the klein family and the long the focus on long term thinking. So it starts in the forests of France where we literally buy our barrels as trees. Through our futures program we have with a few of our our our cooper. And that lets us still make wines at the price point, but aging an all choke with a credible vineyard sites, which we own ourselves. Yeah. It's you guys have been doing such great work for so long. Talk a bit about Tom Klein. He's a fourth generation California farmer. Correct. Yeah. So Tom and his family have been have been farming in California since 19 18 when the family bought their first acreage. Correct So when you think about, what it means to be sustainable. There's pretty much no better, result then than being around for over a hundred years in farming incredible quality grapes. Amen to that, man. And so The family is known for debt that, through the generations, Tom Klein has become the Patriarch and runs the business on behalf of the family now. And his desire to truly make wines that surprise and delight and wines that entice people to love their lives and love their cultures better has pushed us forward to making wines that stand up to the best in the world. You know well put dude, very very well. Says. 1 of the secrets to this brand in my opinion, and I've been in the business for 50 years. Is that Rodney was always very frugal about how he priced his wines, and it... And it this goes all the way back to when. He was running Ti on vineyards, and it was basic a tasting room and it was really very, very moderately priced. And he tried to make sure that his pricing didn't rise. So radically, that he would have to then have a problem in years to come when there would be. A a difficult time to sell. So he wanted to make sure his pricing was moderate enough and then kept... So that he wouldn't have to drop the price when the sales were slow. Mh. And he didn't have to increase the price when he was running out of product. So for years, the this product has always been under priced, always. And so you don't have this... You don't run the same risks of, us, of trying to over sell or under sell. Your your your price point is always based upon, the lowest possible level that makes sense for both you and the consumer. And a lot of that comes down to the longevity. So, you know, because we've owned our vineyards for so long and we fire them ourselves for so long. We're pretty insulated to some of the changes in the great market. So and that's really helped us maintain our pricing and and continue to improve our quality, and it's allowed us to evolve. So we've just finished completing. A massive redevelopment of our vineyards, again, embracing sustainability in the forefront and quality. So we have just laid the foundation for the next 65 years of our of our company's excellence, so we can continue to grow great grapes at a reasonable price while keeping sustainability in the of fact that we are guests of our vineyard sites, not owners at the forefront of of what we believe in. He is justin Cy fell, Senior Vice president of wine making and wine growing at Rodney Strong Vineyards. What is this read the the Dan Port? Yeah. So 1 of the some of the wines that I brought, have to do with an event that we have coming up at the Winery in August, August 20 fourth. And I'll give you guys all the details. But this event is called the single vineyard dinner, and it's when we release the new vintage of all of our top wines, So our top lines are 3 single vineyard cab, starting with the 1, I just poured you, which is called the Alexander's Crown Cab, which is the... First single vineyard Cab Made in Sonoma County in 19 74. It's a little vineyard. It's about, 6 acres, the section that we're using on the top of a, the crown of a hill in the southern part of the Valley, all hundred percent cab, And what these 3 wine showcase is the true definition of T. And so you hear that we're thrown around by a lot of wine makers and a lot of wine growers, and in a simple way, it just means place. And how places change what you have in the glass. And so what you'll see when we taste 3 straight lines starting with the crown is 300 percent cavity wines, all from the Islands in Valley, all made in the exact same style, which is we do nothing. It's all native, We just looked the grapes do their things. Right And you're gonna 3 see 3 very distinctly different wines. And it's very, very cool to try them side by side. Well, this particular cab is making me hungry. Especially the finish... Oh, the finish is Amazing. Now I'm really hungry Well, the the balance in this wine is really what captures captures my attention because it's not a big giant, huge wine. It's plenty of... Huge flavors, but structured it beautifully so that you have lots of pellet complexity, and then the after taste is such beautiful balance you want to eat something with it, and that's exactly what this 1 was made to do. It's intended for food. It I I don't know how many people can drink cab by themselves. There's a lot of wine out there that's being made to to drink by themselves, but that doesn't excite me. I like. A good cab day like this makes me. Think food, man. Yeah. When I took over the wine making in 20 17, 1 of the things that I wanted to do and I got buying from ownership to do was to take these 3 single vineyard wines and really help help try to make them transcend what's in the glass. So we reduced our production by 75 percent from what we used to make. I brought in a an amazing vi named, Daniel Roberts to help us farm the vineyards. To a higher degree of of excellence. We bought optical sort to make sure that only the best berries make it into of the tank and what we're trying to do is not give us any excuse not to make wine that is truly special and truly surprises and delight. And that's the ultimate philosophy that we believe in at Rodney strong and how we make our wines is the concept that every human being, whether they realize it or not is in search of this thought of surprise and delight. It has to do with creating an essence of a memory, is it And as Queen Elizabeth the second would say, everybody's second chance happiness as memories. And so if we can craft that memory through our wines. Every time somebody in class of Rodney strong, they will give them that second chance of happiness. Beautiful. He's good. He's. He's not just a great wine maker, but he's good on the radio and Poet. That's that's important to me. He is senior vice president of Wine making and wine growing at Rodney Strong, vineyards, justin Si. And what year is this came? This is a 20 19. President Beautiful. Dan, I love this. But 19 is a very, very good vintage because they had plenty of facility to to play with, but you don't have too much asset in this wine. You've got to perfect balance and structure. What I really like about is that in the aroma, it smells like Ga. Yeah. K. That's the secret. And. 1 of the other things the family gave me the economy do is not force it out. So we released the wines when we're ready to release. And so a lot of wires might feel the need just to release on a certain schedule, Sure, and I don't... I feel like we taste. As a team, and we make a group decision of when the line showing properly and release it at that point. So we may be a vintage integer you behind others, but we did that on purpose to make sure our customers get that surprise and delight experience. Let's talk briefly about visiting Rodney strong. Do you guys are, basically doing Thursday through Monday? Correct. And it's You gotta make reservations. Yep. Right. You can go to website around dot com to do that. Yeah. The other thing I wanted to emphasize and talk about was that, event that... Gonna be holding at the Winery. I just wanna make sure I get all the facts. Right. So let me just pull up my little cheat sheet. So the event is on August 20 fourth. It's a Saturday, and it's an amazing dinner that we're gonna put on on our green, so outdoor and the vineyard are near vineyard with incredible food, a some great music from the Steve Kyle band, and you'll get to try all 3 single vineyard Ga plus a few extra surprises, some and I'll be there to speak to everything, so you can quiz me and, challenge me to surprise and delight you while we're there, and we welcome you all to come for for, non club members, it's a hundred and 35 dollars per person. And if you come and join the club in advance it's 145 dollars. So we would welcome you to come. Rodney strong dot com. Check them out and check out all our great wine, Dan. Well, especially because this property is gorgeous. If you haven't been out to running strong and they were out in Windsor, it's a beautiful property. It's architectural it's classic. But also got a beautiful view, lot and lots of greenery around. It's just a beautiful property, and I love to visit. Yeah. The Rodney Strong green there. It's and where they do the dinners and all the other things that are going on there are... It's just amazing. It's an amazing spread completely as you just pointed out, Dan. Yeah. A little earlier this year, we had King fish there, which is ones of the rest concerts we've in a very long time. That was actually in conjunction with the Hi food and wine experience and raised a whole lot of money for the, had for the, worker worker relief program. So when there is unexpected events in in the vineyards are in the community, and we need to support our our farm workers, we raised of about half a million dollars because support that fund through that concert. That's nice. And that's through the foundation with the Cinema sonoma County Wine growers. So it was a great experience, but also was for a great cause. And we have more of that coming in 20 25. He is senior vice president of Wine making and wine growing Justin Si fell from Rodney strong vineyards. What is? This that we just got bored. Yeah. So the first 1 in the Alexander crown, which we just finished, that's grown in a vineyard on the very southern part of the Alexander Valley, an area called Gym town. This And so now we're going north in in the valley towards Ge, and we're going up in elevation. So we're about... 600 feet in elevation approximately at this point. And with that comes a different exposure. So we have more wind in this vineyard, we have a little bit warmer growing environment, about 92 degree fit 2 degrees fahrenheit during the ripen season. And we have different soil structures at this point are more sands stone. And so what you get because of that is an entirely different line. You get more red fruits in this than blue fruits in the previous wine. You're gonna get more bra and black olive and little dusty qualities in the wine, and it's gonna be much more complex, and more what you would typically expect at California style cabinet versus what I would call the previous wine, which is much more bird bordeaux s. This is it's an amazing cab. Well, and it's complex. He's a little bit more complex. I, if if both of these wines are... Gonna be served young. And unfortunately, we would try to keep them a little bit in the bottle. Maybe another 2 years at the very... Or least about 2 years before they develop. But if you open them now, put them into can, and they will go in slightly different directions, this 1 would benefit as as much any of the ones here because this 1 is really closed up. This is concentrated. It's got cassettes, and it's got black cherry, and it's got some some almost pomegranate kinda notes in the after taste. What I really like about this wine is what its future looks like. This is just built for the future. Yeah. I I agree. And I'm not a big wine seller layer downer, like you are. What But, yeah. I mean, at the a short time and a the cantor tonight we'll sure me a happy man. I would say at least 2 hours beyond beyond Stuff Really is concentrated, but it's not it's not heavy. What it is it's got a lot of depth and and and intensity, but the intensity is all also in complexity is just exist. So this is what this really needs some more. And and all the alcohols on all these wines are really, really moderate. They're below 14 and a half percent. Thucydides are not overly elevated, but they're not fl, You know, the ph are about 3.7. So both from a chemistry perspective as well as, enjoyment factor, they really do a good job. And then the other really cool character about these wines that I have implemented is all of our red wines are now amin free, And what that means is, there are compounds and wine that people usually attribute to sulfur, which would cause some people to have headaches or get flushed cheeks or sweats. And those reactions are actually due to compounds in wine called bio means and show through the development during the secondary fermentation. We use very specific bacteria, which do not produce amin. And so these wines will unless you get drunk, and I can't control that. Won't give you those types of reactions. And we get probably 3 to 14 us a week for through our a customer portal asking. Or why I can drink, you know, 2 glasses are rodney strong every night and not have any problem, but I go to Friend's house, and I drink somebody else's wine, I wake up by the headache, and I don't understand, and that's why. This is a relatively recent, when Discovery by scientists, about amin, development, it... 1 of the reasons it came about, it that there was a thesis that said years ago that if you took a histamine or and is an anti pill before you drank is you wouldn't get a red wine headache. Well, they actually found that there were people who, in fact, did not get headaches if they took... Anti. And, before drinking red wine at. It was not universal. It didn't... It didn't universally work. Mh. It worked for some people, so that's what they ended up discovering. Correct. Yeah. It came out of Uc Davis. The research was first published in 20 16. And I started working with a manufacturer of the bacteria we use, which is a company in, Austria, to develop the strains that we use today. California Wine country. Our guest today is Senior vice President of wine making and wine growing the Great Justin sight filled. I'm Steve Jackson. You're rotating egg shaped vessel, egg shaped vessel, I'm gonna keep using that. I like that. You're rotating egg shaped vessel on the drive. Justin what... You brought another cabin. So we can't finish the single vineyard cab discussion without the final single vineyard cabin portfolio. There you go. The last wine is called brothers. It's a vineyard up near Clover ale, and it's highest in elevation that we have in Alexander Valley at about a thousand feet it's the hottest environment we grow in. Wow. So the structural characters are very powerful and very dense. But with that comes a much more simple wine. It's full of black fruits and and licorice, and so it really, is the most Napa s style wine that we make. And because of that, it's a great finish to the l evolution of cavern grown at 3 single vineyard sites at 3 different elevations with 3 different growing temperatures in each climate. But yet all made natively. All aged and 100 percent new french joke, all opt to sorted, and so the philosophy on making the wine stays the same. And when you try them all like we just did, it tells you a story that truly surprises delight. I think the most amazing part about this wine is that it's denser and richer than... The the the second 1. The second 1, the they call it what, Rock. That's the 1. Rock has some... Some presence of brat character. This 1 is about 2 years away from really displaying that same component. But because of the way it's made, it's more concentrated more elegant and is after taste, it... So it's really... It's Napa in 1 respect at Sonoma in a different respect. This is my favorite of the 3 cab that we have safely so far. I mean, it... There's a lot going on, but it's so smooth. Thank you. Yeah. So I I... My favorite is personally the crown cab, although I I shift. Off on every vintage, but in this particular vintage. And when I describe them to people, I usually say that the crown is the mama bear, the brothers is the daddy bear and the rock away is sort of the baby bear right in the middle. Is kind of a good way to to describe them in a simple way that a lot of people understand. And that's really has to do with the complexity involved in the rock away and how kids can be very complex, creatures. The density in the power coming from the brothers is very masculine and the crown is elegant and very sensual and and soft, and so that's very mama bear es. Wow. Nicely put. And and I like all 3. My preference also is for the Alexander underground. I think that's AAA fabulous example of how that wine has evolved. The other 2 lines tend to be more oriented toward their place, and I think that the are out l elevation of the brothers really has put this wine back into a set or a slight holding pattern in a certain way needs a little more time. If if... Well, since these wires is already open, I think they'll all benefit from time and and the D indicator. But I think that in the third 1, the brothers really needs a lot of time in you can. And how how much time in the seller would you say? I think all these will go 28 years for sure. Whoa and maybe a little bit longer. Too bad. We're not going to. We're away well, I'll be somewhere else. Mh. Keep mind. I'll meet you up there I'll call you. Yeah. No It's just... I was talking to Dan on the break about, the vertical of Alexander's Crown has in a seller. I'll And so this year, 20 24 will actually be the fiftieth anniversary of us making this single vineyard cab. And so that's just a test of it. To the pe of the place, and how well and how how long lived these wines can be. Fiftieth anniversary of crown. That's amazing. Yeah. It is amazing. And so what I would recommend to our 2 of the listeners is for you guys to come by the tasting room and pick up a bottle of all 3 or maybe 2 or 3 bottles of all 3. And then do a dinner with a bunch of friends and pick a cuisine, whether it be pork belly or some sort of preparation of beef, and do 3 different versions of that dish, and then try the 3 different versions of that dish, with the 3 different cavern. You know That's that's a brilliant Very fun way to enjoy Alexander Valley from the South to north, all through Abe, but all through distinct just... You know, it's also showcasing the the Uniqueness of food and cuisine, you know, all beef, but I'll prepare differently and all tasting totally differently. And I think. That works best with all 3 of these ones, if you're gonna do 1 day. I would do short ribs. Yeah. Because they're short ribs. You know, these 3 cab make me think lamb chops, but I am such a lamb chops sky, and I have not had decent lamb chops since the democratic party in Dc bought me lunch in 20 16. Should go back. Well, you know there's a place in windsor called Ken that has great lamp. Yes. I know. I've heard that. Yeah. I haven't made it there. But, yeah. So you could do short ribs maybe for the... For the for rock way. You could do beef in the form of, fillet for crown, and then you could do beef in a different pepper for the for brothers. Tri tip, maybe. Yeah. Or or rib eye or something a little more fatty, and you can experience a you know, the immense exposure to their to your senses through the 3 wine. Amen to that. He is a senior vice president of Wine making and wine growing at Rodney strong vineyards, Justin Seinfeld. Justin, give a shout out to your other wine makers because you've got, a great crew there. Absolutely. So I will start with a an amazing woman named Olivia? Yeah. Olivia is my right hand person and she handles a lot of the day to day operations is and is right just a rising star, amongst our team and in the wine community. She's an M student, and, just you know, if god bless us, she will have passed her second level exam that she just took in June. We also have an amazing gentleman named Greg Moore, who's been at the winery for a very long time. Greg Mu, he is amazing and a great guy and he's been on the show before. Yep. And he is our wine maker for Davis Minds? Right. And lives and breathes, everything Burg, pin and Char, and Brooks Hand in hand with our vineyard cruise at our River West ranch to grow amazing grapes for those particular wines, as well as working with some of the Du and family, to acquire grapes from a couple of their ranches that go into the Davis Spine and Pin noir. And talk about the wine making Am who actually joined Rodney strong at the winery in 19 79. I've met this man. He is amazing. Yeah. So Rick Say, who is by predecessor, worked for the winery for 40 years and Made wine for 50 years when he finally retired. And really was an incredible leader because he allowed us to fail, and he just coached us through picking ourselves back up, learning from what we just experienced and getting better at what we did. He never took the approach that well, I did that before, so don't do it because I already know the result. Right. He let us see the result ourselves. And to be honest, sometimes it was a different result, which is a testament to the improvement in the technological advancement that California 1 country has gone over the last 50 years, and he was open to learning throughout his whole entire career till the day he retired. And and because of that till this day through he is still somebody a go to for advice on a regular basis. Yeah. I'm sure. When it comes down to making a hard decision. Rick Rick is a fabulous guy. And wow 1 of his secrets is... And he's very, very humble. Unfortunately, he doesn't really talk about this background, but he worked with Andre C chef, and brought with him a lot of those philosophical approaches that are necessary to make balanced and structured line without balance without structure I don't think you've got a future in the wine business because that's where it comes down to. Big concentrated wine. Cells. We know that, but those lines don't stay around very long. They're flash the pan. To me, the best strategy is to take the message from the elders, like Andre C chef and Rick does that with a great degree of some sensitivity. I couldn't I couldn't say it better myself. Rodney strong dot com is the website. They're available throughout the United States and throughout the world, and we're in 35 different countries. Yeah. And that's again, a testament to how long we've been around, and and the far shy stretches that people like Dan Wool, who's been head of our global sales for a very long time and Rodney strong and many other people who put their blood sweat and tears and helping build this great family owned winery for the last, 5 decades. We would love to welcome all of you to the winery on August 20 fourth for our single vin cap dinner to experience these 3 wines. We just had. Plus it's a great great night, and I hope to see you there. And explain a little... Get get a little deeper in... Explaining what that is going to to... What's going to occur? Yeah. So we're we're gonna set up a beautiful table, long table on our green where we'll have family style dinner. We will have great music from Steve Pile. I will get up and give you guys a a in family discussion about the 3 wines as we enjoy them. And normally, it expands into pretty interesting conversation about our guest experience with these wines, but also others, I'm a pretty big geek. So a lot of people like to have me get into the oak into, you know, granular detail, sometimes it'll even sneak them off to the seller and we'll we'll taste some unique things, In addition, we'll have this Hours under Valley Sa Blanc and other big surprises and on top of those 3 cab, and you'll have an opportunity. To leave with a really cool gift and, buy some great great wines with that are only available at the Winery itself. Again, go to rodney strong dot com, get your tickets and make your plans. Rodney Strong vineyards family owned, Sonoma Grown cultivating communities. Since 19 59. Tickets He is justin Si, from Rodney strong. Amazing wines that you are involved with, but also the rest of your crew, and it's amazing. Yeah. We've spent a lot of time energy to build our team over the last. 18 plus years. And we've stayed together, which is pretty unique. We, have, most of our our team members have been with the Winery for a decade or more. And with that, we've grown together, we've learned together. We've been around the world together and that all helps us make collect collaborative collective decisions, as we challenge each other, to get better each and every day, which in my opinion, is the definition of of innovation. And so I'll leave it with a a final quote, and this is from Pablo Pagan picasso. He would say that Learn rules like a pro so you can break him like an artist and that's our goal. Hey, man, man. So cool. Rodney strong dot com. Him Last thoughts Dan Berger. Well, 1 thing we never talked about and it's necessary to say is that Ronnie strong is not a... Cab house. Without, other intentions. Their intentions include the loads of otherwise. Lots of otherwise and adjustments responsibilities are endless. The Char are terrific. You make very, very new many out their different products. We have 19 different varieties. Yeah. And and this is a... What's really amazing is consistency. These wines really represent their fabulous grape growing, bringing Daniel Roberts on onboard is a brilliant move. I mean, Daniel Roberts is a great bit of culture. And we need to have people like that, highlighted when he he he involved himself in a way that so few bit of cultural ever get credit for it. Mean, these people don't get credit. These these these people are dedicated. They hardworking, and they simply don't get the credit, and you wanna say something about Daniel's involvement. I I mean, Daniel was Qui quintessential, But, I mean, his biggest impact was training, Allison Rico, and Jason Sailing, who are my, core team members in our vi trip department, and Daniel's ability to mentor and and spread his knowledge, has really let Allison and and Jason take the take the reins and, implement both his philosophies but also expand on them to embrace technology, irrigation philosophies and how we t us and how we fur, to grow some of the best grapes. I've ever seen us grow, at Rodney strong. Wow, Justin talked a bit about Davis buying him, Wines. I was a great friend, in the eighties mostly with hampton Bin. But Davis Bin has has a great story and they've been doing it a long time, and they make fine wines. Yeah. Well, thank you. Yeah. So Davis is similar in a lot of respects to Rad with his impact on Cinema sonoma County and the wines we have today. So his winery dates back almost as far back as Rodney does. He's credited with making. You know, Said Rodney strongly different single vineyard Cab and in Alexander Valley. Well, Davis made the first single vineyard wine period with the 19 73 Ro vineyard P r, which except sc, we just made the fiftieth anniversary of that wine, very cool from Ro, this past vintage. When he decided to retire, he talked with Hampton and his daughter Susie about what to do with the brand and and Susie has her own brand and doing Great with that and Hampton didn't really wanna take on the the Davis Biden brand. So he came to us because of our involvement, with the establishment of the Russian River Valley and Davis and Rodney work together on that with a few other people. And said I don't want my brand to go to a corporation, but I really want to stay in family owner shipping So he acquired Davis By him in 2007 and install Greg Morph as the wine maker in 2010, and has been he's been the wine maker ever since. Sure and we rein the brand with new sourcing, better winery, technology, updating, packaging, and really investing in the legacy of a great burgundy gun style wine made traditionally in a balanced way, and I'm probably not doing justice as well as Greg would do, but it's it's key to our success to make very high end Burgundy gun style peanut noir Char, alongside Rodney strong, which is sort of makes a little bit of everything and then another brand we have called Roman Wine company, which is a little bit of a passion project for me. Right. Which is focused on high elevation, bordeaux style Wines grown at the Cool ranch, which is at about 2000 feet in elevation. And so those 3 brands make up our wine making journey, which is ultimately meant to give surprise and delight to all of our customers, so they always have a second chance that had Dan Berger final thoughts on Rodney strong, Davis Biden. Some of my favorite wines and Sun Academy, no question that they're, leaders in the industry, so many different ways, not only with their charitable causes and all the work they've done for the community, all of the great wines that are being made by these 2 gentlemen plus outreach from their entire staff. It's just been a delight to have association with them because they really have the community at heart. I was about to say that. What they've done for the community is amazing over all these years, and they continue to do it. Rodney str dot com, senior Vice President of wine making and wine growing, Justin Side fell, Justin great to see you again. Thanks for having me on everybody. Thanks for coming in, dude.