An interview with winemaker Ryan Stirm on old vines, pruning for disease mitigation, and working with the Cabernet Pfeffer grape. Lots in here, and it gets a bit technical.
An interview with winemaker Ryan Stirm on old vines, pruning for disease mitigation, and working with the Cabernet Pfeffer grape. Lots in here, and it gets a bit technical.
Ryan Stirm is an amazing dude who makes amazing wines. I’m never disappointed when I get a bottle. Super down to earth too from prior meetings
blkwrxwgn
Cool article, need to check out the wines.
I cringe a bit though when talking sustainability and then saying they use fruit from irrigated vineyards. CA is always in droughts and they shouldn’t be supporting people who have planted vineyards in an area that requires them to be irritated, even a little bit.
Steven1789
I had the great pleasure of spending 90 minutes tasting with Ryan by myself in Watsonville last March. We had gone to Maître de Chai in Berkeley, and Marty Winters recommended Stirm, so I made a trip to the winery.
What a great guy making amazing wines. I drink a lot of Finger Lakes Riesling, so it was a treat to taste old-vine California Riesling, along with the excellent Pinot Noir, Zinfandel, and more.
Ryan was pulling stuff right out of the barrels. (Edit: That’s Ryan climbing on barrels in one of the pix.) What an experience. Generous guy who’s doing something special .
I needed some time before I head back to Palo Alto where were visiting my daughter, so I stopped at a great Mexican food truck and hung out with the semi drivers and downed 3 tacos (tongue, birria, and chicken) and a Mexican Coke.
4 Comments
Great article.
Ryan Stirm is an amazing dude who makes amazing wines. I’m never disappointed when I get a bottle. Super down to earth too from prior meetings
Cool article, need to check out the wines.
I cringe a bit though when talking sustainability and then saying they use fruit from irrigated vineyards. CA is always in droughts and they shouldn’t be supporting people who have planted vineyards in an area that requires them to be irritated, even a little bit.
I had the great pleasure of spending 90 minutes tasting with Ryan by myself in Watsonville last March. We had gone to Maître de Chai in Berkeley, and Marty Winters recommended Stirm, so I made a trip to the winery.
What a great guy making amazing wines. I drink a lot of Finger Lakes Riesling, so it was a treat to taste old-vine California Riesling, along with the excellent Pinot Noir, Zinfandel, and more.
Ryan was pulling stuff right out of the barrels. (Edit: That’s Ryan climbing on barrels in one of the pix.) What an experience. Generous guy who’s doing something special .
I needed some time before I head back to Palo Alto where were visiting my daughter, so I stopped at a great Mexican food truck and hung out with the semi drivers and downed 3 tacos (tongue, birria, and chicken) and a Mexican Coke.
Some photos.
https://imgur.com/gallery/hi1ldlf