Dan and Theresa

Theresa Heredia, winemaker, Gary Farrell Winery is back on California Wine Country with Steve Jaxon and Dan Berger, with two Chardonnays and a Pinot Noir to taste and discuss. She has been on the show a few times and the last time was this episode from May 19, 2021.

Dan’s cellar wine is a German Pinot Gris that he has just bought, a 2020 Kracher Pinot Gris. He expected it to taste like Pinot Gris but it reminds everyone more of an unoaked Chardonnay. It’s a surprising wine, rich and oily in the mid-palette, but finishes dry. It has no oak either.

Theresa has been at Gary Farrell winery for almost 12 years now. Gary Farrell started the winery in 1982 with a Pinot Noir made of fruit from Rocchioli vineyard. It was one of the first great Russian River Valley Pinot Noirs. He sold the winery in 2004 and retired.

Gary Farrell did not study winemaking. Instead, he got a job as a handyman at Davis Bynum and learned about wine there. He became the assistant winemaker to Hampton Bynum and in 1978, Davis offered Gary to make a small batch of Pinot Noir. Dan says that it was exactly what Davis had always wanted to do. Theresa had a 1988 Gary Farrell Pinot Noir that was still lively.

Theresa has brought three wines today, the current selections which are available at the tasting room. There are two opposite types of Chardonnay, and one Pinot Noir.