Beyond Organic Wine

Beyond Organic Wine

Lost Ranch - Temecula and the New Wave of California Wine

1 h 9 min · 5. maj 2026
Kom i gang
episode Lost Ranch - Temecula and the New Wave of California Wine cover

Beskrivelse

My guest for this episode is Joseph Wiens. With his wife, Jasmine, Joseph founded and makes wine for Lost Ranch Winery [https://www.lostranchwinery.com/] in Temecula Valley California. If you aren’t from Southern California, you might not have heard of Temecula. There are many reasons for this, some we discuss, some historical, some justifiable, and some not. Whatever the reasons, Joseph and Jasmine are giving everyone a reason to take notice, to reconsider this historic wine region, and to discover the next generation of Temecula wine and the new wave of California wine. As a second-generation winemaker, Joseph was steeped in vineyard and cellar approaches that were considered to be best practices. But he didn’t see his values represented in the status quo conventional approach and began planning Lost Ranch. He and Jasmine think ecologically and guide their farming and winemaking by regenerative, organic values, while practicing very low-intervention yet non-dogmatic winemaking. The results are wines of outstanding quality that reflect their region beautifully and uniquely. Some highlights from this include how they use prickly pears in their winemaking to make a stunning wine called Les Cactus. How they incorporate a diversity of genetics in their vineyard, including Italian, Greek, and American genetics, to deal with the climatic and insect-spread disease factors of their region. How they make wine by listening and letting the land and their community determine wine style, resulting in a very delicious and bee-friendly rosé. How they make a wine from 100-year-old grapes, some of which might be hybrids misnamed as Mataro. How they used their sheep’s wool to insulate their chicken mansion. And much more. Temecula Valley is a hot climate wine region that is one of California’s oldest, with records of vineyards from the early 1800’s. It is named for one of the original peoples who made it their home before the arrival of Europeans. Their name meant “Where the sun breaks through the white mist.” Some of these original people still live there, and there are ancient grapevines growing on the nearby Pechanga reservation. Temecula Valley is 22 miles from the Pacific Ocean, around 1500 feet in elevation and at the base of mountains that rise up to 11,000 feet. As the afternoon sun hits those mountains and heats them, the valley gets cooled as ocean breeze gets pulled through the Rainbow Gap in the coastal hills. By night the air on the high mountain peaks spills down to cool the valley further. For these reasons, Temecula has a climate similar to regions several hundreds of miles further north in California, like Calistoga and Lake County. Unlike those regions it brings in over a billion dollars in wine tourism revenue each year…. So yeah, maybe it’s time we give it some much deserved attention. Lost Ranch is giving us some incredibly delicious reasons to take this region seriously. This is the new California wine. Enjoy! This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit beyondorganicwine.substack.com/subscribe [https://beyondorganicwine.substack.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_2]

Kommentarer

0

Vær den første til at kommentere

Tilmeld dig nu og bliv en del af Beyond Organic Wine-fællesskabet!

Kom i gang

1 måned kun 9 kr.

Derefter 99 kr. / måned · Opsig når som helst.

  • Podcasts kun på Podimo
  • 20 lydbogstimer pr. måned
  • Gratis podcasts
Kom i gang

Alle episoder

254 episoder

episode The Most Difficult Place To Grow Wine On Earth cover

The Most Difficult Place To Grow Wine On Earth

A big thanks to our special sponsor for this episode: Shifting Gears Travel [https://www.sgtrips.com/] My guest for this episode is Tim Jordan, who is a co-founder of and winemaker and consultant for Common Wealth Crush [https://commonwealthcrush.com/]. From overseeing winegrowing brands Star Party and Midland [https://www.midland.wine/] in Augusta County, to his winemaking and vineyard responsibilities at Common Wealth Crush, Tim has his finger on the dynamic pulse of Virginia wine. Born and raised in the Shenandoah Valley, he holds a PhD in entomology from Virginia Tech, with a focus on grapevine insects. This specialized knowledge and passion for Virginia winegrowing has propelled him through numerous roles in the industry over the years, including as vineyard manager for Michael Shaps Wineworks, winemaker at Barren Ridge Vineyards, consultant with Shenandoah Vineyard Services, and now co-founder of Common Wealth Crush. Tim is also part of the grape breeding program in Virginia, in collaboration with the USDA, that is developing new grape varieties that can successfully produce delicious wine within the unique regional limitations and challenges that grapes face in Virginia. I wish every state had one of these programs. I have a special relationship with Virginia in a way. Virginia is the setting for the first episode of the Beyond Organic Wine podcast [https://beyondorganicwine.substack.com/p/karl-hambsch-owner-of-virginias-only-bfe] (which I highly recommend listening to if you haven’t), and it’s the setting for Chapter 1 of my book, Wine Liberated. That’s because Virginia is one of the oldest wine regions in the US, and it’s simultaneously one of the most difficult places to grow wine on earth. So the lessons we learn from the folks growing wine there organically, ecologically, or regeneratively – and there is a growing group of winemakers who are – these are lessons that can be applied broadly across most of the winegrowing world. But Virginia is also a place where Vinifera Culture has been, and continues to be, heavily invested in. Enormous amounts of resources are given every year to trying to produce wine from Vitis vinifera in Virginia. This is a product of a colonized wine culture that defines wine as the fermented juice of varieties of Vitis vinifera only, and it’s time we call this what it is… utter and unsustainable folly. Yet, as you’ll hear, this is what most people learn as we begin our journey with wine. And so Tim’s journey began by planting and growing vinifera in Virginia. But twenty years on, Tim has learned too much to go back. He won’t plant vinifera again for his wine, and he’s setting an example that I hope more and more growers in Virginia, and around the world, follow. This theme is merely background, however, for an in-depth look at a thoughtful, community focused, ecologically informed journey to grow wine in one of the most challenging wine regions on earth. Enjoy! This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit beyondorganicwine.substack.com/subscribe [https://beyondorganicwine.substack.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_2]

25. maj 20262 h 9 min
episode The Quest for the Wild Vine – Patrick Pierquet cover

The Quest for the Wild Vine – Patrick Pierquet

As a younger man, Patrick Pierquet found the wild grape that became the Frontenac grapes (noir, gris, and blanc). He tells about his experiences discovering the wild parents of several of the North America’s most popular, commercially used wine grapes, as well as the practical aspects of what it takes to breed new varieties of grapes. He also tells stories of Elmer Swenson, with whom he got to work. I recorded an entire episode while picking one of Patrick’s grapes: Fearless Wine [https://beyondorganicwine.substack.com/p/fearless-wine-picking-frontenac-gris-acd?utm_source=publication-search] Patrick also mentions Tom Plocher, who was also influenced by Elmer Swenson, and you can hear Tom’s episode here: Tom Plocher [https://beyondorganicwine.substack.com/p/tom-plocher-how-to-breed-grapevines-ee5?utm_source=publication-search] And if you want to learn more about how important grape breeding is to the present and future of wine, check out my episode with the most famous European grape breeder: Valentin Blattner [https://beyondorganicwine.substack.com/p/earth-day-special-valentin-blattner?utm_source=publication-search] This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit beyondorganicwine.substack.com/subscribe [https://beyondorganicwine.substack.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_2]

11. maj 202656 min