“Almost all the wines I really love started with outstanding fruit and actually required very little input on my part. … The wines I'm proudest of are the ones that you run into a fur ball halfway through fermentation.”
Where Wine Takes You - A Paso Wine Podcast · Food & Beverage · November 2026
Context
Asked about the difference between a wine he loves and one he's proud of, the winemaker says pride comes from rescuing a wine that went wrong.
Transcript
…what your style of wine is, there's someone out there that probably is going to like it if it's well made. And there's such a large cadre of very talented people here. You may not, there have been times when I'm not sure I liked wine, but I respect it. Yeah. Sure. I really do respect it. Isn't
…a wine? I asked this to Sterling the other day, and I just loved his answer. And I think it's an answer that could really vary from person to person. Like making a wine that you really love versus making a wine that you're really proud of. Because they don't always have to be the same, do they?
No, almost all the wines I really love started with outstanding fruit and actually required very little input on my part. To quote a friend of mine, why are you wasting your time with this fruit? Why don't you get some good fruit? It'll be a lot easier. And when you start with great fruit, those are the wines I tend to enjoy. The wines I'm proudest of are the ones that you run into a fur ball halfway through fermentation. You're like, oh my God.
Right.
I'm going, how am I going to explain the fact that there's $50,000 worth of fruit in that tank that the owner's not going to like?
Yeah.
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