Barry, Moret & Dan.

Moret Brealynn from Morét-Brealynn Wines is our guest on California Wine Country with Steve Jaxon and Dan Berger. Barry Herbst is also in today from Bottle Barn, to describe their current Rosé promotion.

Moret started working in a tasting room and noticed that there was more to wine than just that. So she started taking classes in winemaking, first at Santa Rosa Junior College. She interned at the SF Chronicle wine competition. She went from Silver Oak to Kosta Browne working on promotions, tastings and shipping wine. This was her first exposure to production. At Silver Oak everyone is a specialist but at KB people wear different hats so she learned a lot of different jobs. See this page of the Morét-Brealynn website for her whole story.

The winery also supports animal shelters. In her career before wine Moret was Teen Center director for the city of Davis, in charge of park activities for teens, which is the job that later brought her to Sonoma County.

Dan’s cellar wine of the week, Baileyana 2013 Chardonnay.

Dan Berger’s cellar wine this week is a 2013 Baileyana Chardonnay that was made to have good acidity. It has been in a good cellar at a steady 55 degrees too, so it is in great condition.

They taste the Morét-Brealynn 100% Muscadelle called Stray Cats. The fruit comes from the Sonoma Valley. There is a case on sale at Bottle Barn now. Dan mentions that Muscadelle is usually blended with Sauvignon Blanc and Semillon to make a white Bordeaux blend. Dan has never seen it before all alone, as a varietal. The orange kitty on the label is her cat Simba.

Next they taste two Rosés, a 2021 and 2022, and she describes her process of making each one. Moret compares them to sisters. They were both bottled in December in neutral barrels, but they come from different vineyards.

Barry Herbst describes how Bottle Barn’s Rosé season is starting now, at the store.

Click the logo to visit our sponsor Bottle Barn online for the coolest bargains on wine, beer and spirits.

The last two tastings are her two Pinot Noirs. They are made with 60% new French oak, 30% whole cluster. It has got some pretty high ratings. All of the Morét-Brealynn wines have screw caps, which everyone agrees is more and more popular. Dan mentions that we only have about a 10-year history of aging big red wines with screw caps, and it will take 10 or 20 more years to reach the 30-year threshold.