The Field Blend Project - Natural Wine with Megan Bell →

On this week’s episode of The Field Blend Project we sit down with Megan Bell of Margins Wine to discuss natural winemaking and all that those terms may encompass.  Alyssa, Megan and I discuss what it means to be a natural winemker and the defintions of a natural wine, the regulations (or lack thereof), and Megan's philosophical beliefs behind why she chooses to make wine the way she does.

Megan has her background in Viticulture and Enology from UC Davis (and she tells a funny story as to how she got there) and now sources exclusively organic and sustainable produce for her winemaking from the central California Coast.

If you've ever wondered what natural winemaking looks like, why someone may choose to make natural wine, and what you can expect from Megan in the future I think this will be a great episode for you.

We hope hope you enjoy this episode and have a great week!

Music: “Kingsfold” by Cahalen Morrison and Eli West

Please leave us a review and rate us! 

We’re honestly not super sure of what it does, but it seems to be important and we want to spread the love, so we would very much so appreciate your help in doing that!

The Field Blend Project - Enology with Abbey Chrystal →

On this week’s episode of The Field Blend Project we sit down with Abbey Chrystal and discuss the day-to-day life of an enologist. We discuss the kinds of analyses we perform as well as what those tests can and cannot tell us. In addition, we also discuss how you can transition from a traditionally lab based scientific background into the cellar. 

I met Abbey in 2013 when I was tasting around the Santa Cruz Mountains (SCM) and she helped me find my first job in the SCM. Abbey uses her graduate level scientific background to create a critical niche for herself in the Santa Cruz Mountains and as a consequence is a staple for the SCM wine industry. 

If you've ever wondered that we do every day, what our life looks like as a cycle of the year, and what the assays that we perform in the lab actually do, this will be a wonderful episode for you!

We hope hope you enjoy this episode and have a great week!

Music: “Kingsfold” by Cahalen Morrison and Eli West

Please leave us a review and rate us! 

We’re honestly not super sure of what it does, but it seems to be important and we want to spread the love, so we would very much so appreciate your help in doing that!

The Field Blend Project - Early V. vinifera Genetics →

Early V vinifera Genetics

On this week’s episode of The Field Blend Project we dissect early Vitis vinifera (V vinifera) genetics. We discuss Dr. Carole Meredith and her early pioneering work discovering the parentages of some of the most prominent grape varieties in modern viticulture and winemaking.

Dr. Carole Meredith is a graduate of UC Davis and went on to be a Professor of Viticulture and Enology at UC Davis. Her work uses a technique called “microsatellite analysis” to determine parentages via genetic analysis of specific regions of chromosomes.

Today we outline how microsatellite analysis works, what an experiment looks like, what the data can tell you, and what the data cannot tell you. We create mock data together, analyze the data, and explain how we find confidence in this data.

What can this kind of data tell us about V vinifera? Why should we care about parentages of V vinifera cultivars? Does this type of genetic analysis help us better understand what we mean when we say “genetically conserved, but not identical”?

The paper referenced in today’s podcast:

Bowers J, Boursiquot J, This P, Chu K, Johansson H, Meredith C. “Historical Genetics: The Parentage of Chardonnay, Gamay, and Other Wine Grapes of Northeastern France”. Science. 285-5433: 1562-1565 (1999).

Music: “Kingsfold” by Cahalen Morrison and Eli West

Please leave us a review and rate us!

We’re honestly not super sure of what it does, but it seems to be important and we want to spread the love, so we would very much so appreciate your help in doing that!