052: Remi Cohen - Cliff Lede Family Wines

As Vice President and General Manager at Cliff Lede Family Wines Remi Cohen oversees the grapegrowing and winemaking for the Cliff Lede wines in Napa and the FEL wines from Anderson Valley.  In this episode Remi tells of her job in entomology that led to enrollment to study viticulture at UCDavis.  From there she quickly rose through the vineyard ranks at Napa wineries and farming companies, such as Saintsbury and Bouchaine.  With her technical background and MBA from Berkeley she was well suited to take on the operations of two wineries in two distinct parts of northern California.  

Our conversation covers lots of cool vineyard topics such as: 

• The differences between organic and sustainable farming practices
• The ways that sustainable operations look at the bigger picture, including workshops available through the Napa Valley Grapegrowers Association and The Wine Institute
• The various challenges of farming vineyards on hillsides v. the valley floor.  
• How important private tasting groups can be in developing winemaking knowledge
• The addition of Chardonnay and Pinot noir with FEL Wines (formerly Breggo) to Cliff Family Wines and the subsequent purchase of the famed Savoy Vineyard in Anderson Valley

LINKS AND RESOURCES MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE

• Cliff Lede Vineyards, Napa Valley
• FEL Wines, Anderson Valley, California
• Saintsbury, Napa Valley
• Bouchaine,Vineyards, Napa Valley
• Walsh Vineyard Management, Napa Valley
• Merryvale, Napa Valley
• Starmont Winery, Napa Valley
• Dirty Jobs and Mike Rowe visit Starmont Winery
• Napa Valley Grapegrowers
• The Wine Institute's Sustainable Winegrowing
• Savoy Vineyard, Anderson Valley
• Cliff Lede Vineyard's Platinum Playlist

Deep Winemaking 2017 is scheduled for August 10-12th in Napa.  Come spend three days immersed in technical visits with winemakers, viticulturists, barrel cooperages, and wine laboratories with other like-minded aspiring winemakers.   Please email me with any questions or comments about winemaking or this podcast    [email protected]

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