Victor Schoenfeld

Each week, as our regular readers know, we pose a series of questions to a winemaker. This week, we are featuring Victor Schoenfeld, the winemaker at Golan Heights Winery in Israel.

Golan’s vineyards were planted in 1976. The winery itself was established in 1982 by four kibbutzim and four moshavim. Decades later, Golan now leads the movement of increasingly higher-quality Israeli wines.

Victor is a California native. After graduating from UC Davis with an enology degree, he worked in the California wine industry for some years, and then worked in Champagne for a few years. In 1992, Victor became the head winemaker at Golan Heights Winery.

Check out the interview below the fold! It contains a candidate for best answer to our question about beer and wine.

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Maryann Houde

Each week, as our regular readers know, we pose a series of questions to a winemaker. This week, we’re featuring Maryann Houde, the winemaker at Gouveia Vineyards.

We normally feature winemakers from regions that are internationally renowned to be winemaking regions. A lot of great wine comes from those regions after all. But this week, our interview series take us to a place that few would know to produce wine. Gouveia Vineyards is located in Wallingford, Connecticut, just 15 miles north of New Haven.

Wine-lovers often say that they love wine because wine is infinitely diverse. But just as we marvel at the diversity of wine, perhaps we fail to appreciate that behind those diverse wines are diverse winemakers from a striking range of backgrounds. Maryann’s voice is a welcome addition to the chorus of winemakers who studied winemaking in school before they began their careers.

Check out the interview below the fold!

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Robbie Meyer

Each week, as our regular readers know, we pose a series of questions to a winemaker. This week, we are featuring Robbie Meyer, the winemaker at Murrieta’s Well, a winery in Livermore Valley, California.

The vineyards of Murrieta’s Well are old; they have been producing grapes since the 1800s, when Louis Mel planted them with cuttings from Chateaux d’Yquem and Margaux. In 1933, Louis Mel sold the property to Earnest Wente, and the estate has been in the Wente family since then. Philip Wente and Sergio Traverso opened the new chapter of the estate in 1990, when they began producing wine under the current label, Murrieta’s Well.

Robbie Meyer joined Murrieta’s Well in 2015. Besides working at Murrieta’s Well, Robbie also makes wine at several other places.

Check out the interview below the fold!

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Christian Moreau

Each week, as our regular readers know, we pose a series of questions to a winemaker. This week, we are featuring Christian Moreau of Domaine Christian Moreau Père et fils.

As you’ll read below, Christian spend eleven years in Canada before returning to his family estate in Chablis.

After forty vintages in Chablis, he has much to say about the uniqueness of Chablis, the value of Chablis, and the pleasures of Chablis. Nowadays, his son Fabien is in charge of winemaking at the family estate, and he has some words to share about Fabien, too. In these last weeks of summer, this may be the perfect time to reach for some Chablis Villages.

Check out the interview below the fold!

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Bob Turner

Each week, as our regular readers know, we pose a series of questions to a winemaker. After an extended break, due in part to a long trip to Bordeaux, we’re back! This week, we’re featuring Bob Turner, the winemaker at Robert Turner Wines. Dave Earnest, the assistant winemaker, also makes a cameo appearance.

Bob Turner enjoyed a full career as a dentist — in private practice and in the Navy — before turning to wine. He is now making some Cabernet Sauvignon, Chardonnay, Cabernet Franc, and Sangiovese that he sources from various sites.

Check out the interview below the fold!

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Steve Lutz

Each week, as our regular readers know, we pose a series of questions to a winemaker. This week, we are featuring Steve Lutz, the winemaker at Lenné Estate in Willamette Valley.

After graduating from college, Steve started several careers before finding his current career in wine. He spent two years in the corporate world; he worked at Napa producers in the cellars and at the tasting room; he started a pizza business in Santa Rosa, California; and then he moved to Oregon, where he had attended college, to return to the wine industry.

In 2000, Steve and his wife Karen bought some land in the Willamette Valley and planted 15 acres of Pinot Noir in 2001 — and that was the beginning of Lenné Estate. Steve’s first vintage at Lenné Estate was 2004. He opened a tasting room in 2007. And Lenné Estate continues to grow.

Check out the interview below the fold!

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Jim Close

Every week, as our regular readers know, we pose a series of questions to a winemaker. This week, we are featuring Jim Close, the winemaker at Gamble Family Vineyards.

Gamble Family Vineyards was founded in Tom Gamble, a third-generation Napa native. Tom proudly calls himself owner/farmer: one gets the sense that Tom is deeply committed to the land that he works.

Jim joined Gamble Family Vineyards in 2003, after spending a year in Languedoc. Before that, as you’ll read, Jim studied winemaking in the UK, where he grew up in a wine-appreciating family.

Check out the interview below the fold!

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Guillaume Michel

Each week, as our regular readers know, we pose a series of questions to a winemaker. This week, we are featuring Guillaume Michel, the winemaker at Louis Michel & Fils.

The Michel family has been growing grapes in Chablis for six generations– since 1850.  They now manage 25 hectares of vineyards and make about 150,000 bottles of wine every year.

Enormous thanks to VinConnect — the U.S. company that enables U.S. consumers to order wines directly from Louis Michel & Fils — for facilitating this interview with Guillaume. Check out the interview below the fold!

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Megan Bell

Each week, as our regular readers know, we pose a series of questions to a winemaker. This week, we are featuring Megan Bell, who is currently running a Kickstarter campaign to launch her personal wine project, Margins Wine.

Megan graduated from U.C. Davis with a degree in Viticulture and Enology. She decided on that degree without a grand plan. But, as it so often does to those around it, wine found its way into the core of Megan’s life. Slowly but surely, as Megan traveled from one internship to another, and from one winemaking region to another, wine shaped Megan’s career.

Megan is now the Assistant Winemaker at Beauregard Vineyards. Her person wine project, Margins Wine, aims to give voice to “as many underrepresented regions and varietals as possible.”

Check out the interview below the fold!

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Jan Holtermann

Each week, as our regular readers know, we pose a series of questions to a winemaker. This week, we are featuring Jan Holtermann, the proprietor and winemaker at Alma Fria.

Jan grew up in the wine business. After completing his studies, Jan joined his family wine-importing business in Costa Rica. But after two decades of importing wine, Jan was ready to make his own. He moved with his family to Sonoma County. Within a year, he found the vineyard that he liked. And so began Alma Fria.

If there can be said to be different “types” of individuals in the wine business, one “type” is undoubtedly the intellectual — someone who lives deliberately, with careful thought and reflection, and with some struggle for correctness. From the interview, Jan strikes us as such an intellectual. And as expected, his thoughts on wine and winemaking are a joy to read.

Check out the interview below the fold!

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