June 11, 2025 • 46 mins
Davis California's own world class winery, Great Bear Vineyards, is a local gem. Marcus and Jenny Meadows-Smith produce award winning wines while also practicing sustainable farming. Marcus shares fascinating stories about his walk across Africa, his climate saving work with nitrogen fixing microbes, and his passion for farming, good wine, and good food -- and listening to his daughter's pivotal, motivating question!
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It's Your Voice is broadcast live Wednesdays at 8PM ET Music on W4CY Radio (www.w4cy.com) part of Talk 4 Radio (www.talk4radio.com) on the Talk 4 Media Network (www.talk4media.com). It's Your Voice is viewed on Talk 4 TV (www.talk4tv.com).
It's Your Voice Podcast is also available on Talk 4 Media (www.talk4media.com), Talk 4 Podcasting (www.talk4podcasting.com), iHeartRadio, Amazon Music, Pandora, Spotify, Audible, and over 100 other podcast outlets.
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
The topics and opinions expressed in the following show are
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We make no recommendations or endorsements for radio show programs, services,
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Y Radio or it's employees or affiliates. Any questions or
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(00:20):
for choosing W four c Y Radio.
Speaker 2 (00:26):
Logic, Let's speech, Logic, Let's speak, show in Lot, Let's
breech in lot, Let's breach, all the ill lottic, Let's
(00:47):
brich and lot Let's.
Speaker 3 (00:54):
Lot.
Speaker 4 (00:56):
Hello, and welcome to It's Your Voice, the show that
hosts enrich conversations in diversity. My name is Bihia Yaxan,
and I'm a diversity educator. I teach courses, coach and
train folks who want to learn to identify patterns of
bias that cause harm to themselves or others, cultivate new
pathways and habits and actions that are far more inclusive
(01:18):
and create more belonging, which actually makes everyone much happier
in the end.
Speaker 5 (01:23):
It's totally worth it. If you want to see some
of the courses.
Speaker 4 (01:26):
I teach, you can look at my website, which is
Know what you Want Coaching dot WordPress dot com.
Speaker 5 (01:33):
We have an amazing show tonight.
Speaker 4 (01:35):
It's packed with stories about a beautiful vineyard called the
Great fair Winery. I'll introduce our guests in just a minute,
but I want to first just use my own voice
to share I'm deeply concerned about what's happening in our country,
and for people who are listening, you can think about
if you're deeply concerned. I'm a Californian, so I just
(01:59):
want to share that doesn't feel good or right that
we have the White House administration ordering federalizing National Guard
to come to la when we have protesters protesting against
the violence of immigration raids. Actually the ice immigration rates
are quite violent, upsetting to families who were not only
(02:21):
work and contributing to our economy, but some were born here,
some children were born here. To disheartening its neighbors to
see families warn apart that aren't the criminals that the
President promised would be arrested. It's hard working people who
are contributing positively, and the disrespect not only for our
governor and our mayor, the mayor of LA but also
(02:43):
for the military. I really appreciate the LAPD, who are
super competent. I appreciate the National Guard. I appreciate the
Marines very much and respect them, and I feel bad
that they're put into these rules that might not be
comfortable for all of them. And I just had to
say that and thank the peace for protesters, majority of
peaceful bad apples, not helping anything or anyone. Thank you
(03:06):
for giving me that minute, and now onto something.
Speaker 5 (03:08):
That feels much better.
Speaker 4 (03:11):
Our guest, Marcus Meadows Smith, I'm going to read your bio,
but please come on, I'm going to start reading some
of the background you have.
Speaker 5 (03:18):
Welcome, Thank you, thank you.
Speaker 4 (03:20):
For I'm so excited. I've been wanting to have you
and your wife, and I know you'll represent both of you.
And let me just read a couple sentutes of your
bio so folks get a beginning understanding of your amazing background.
So Marcus Meadows Smith, owner of Great Bear Vineyards and
CEO of a local agricultural startup, operates the Great Bear
(03:43):
Winery with his wife, Jinny, it's family run business, it's sustainable,
it's award winning. They make world class wines and I'm
I'm not on his word of any kind, but if
I'm going to have wind, that's where I'm going. It's
so worth it in The atmosphere is so beautiful, and
they do this in harmony with nature. They grow premium
(04:05):
grapes organically, giving guests and this is true, a five
star experience with award winning wines, but in a rustic
and casual setting.
Speaker 5 (04:13):
The ambience. I love this.
Speaker 4 (04:15):
The audience is more like a friendly English pub than
an upmarket wine bar.
Speaker 5 (04:21):
That is so true.
Speaker 4 (04:22):
Let me just read a little bit more that I
want Marcus to comment on. You grew up in England,
Your wife, Jenny the winemaker, studied viticulture and anology, which
was a new word to me at UC Davis. And
that you worked in South Africa and did research in
genetics improving local food crops. The food crop becasava. So
(04:44):
let's hear some of your voice because you can tell
us all about it.
Speaker 3 (04:51):
Okay, well, thank you so much for that woman introduction. Yes,
I really should start by giving all the credit to
my wine. We actually have four children and when they
all left home, we dated for a little while at
which you don't do when you have four kids, and
we realized we had a shared passion for farming, for
(05:14):
good wine, for good food, enjoy people's company, and I
just wanted to jump in plant a vineyard. Luckily, my
wife's the smart one. As you mentioned, she actually went
and studied viticulture and in knowledge at UC Davis, so
she layered that on top of her degree in chemistry
(05:36):
and her MBA. So she's got the science background, but
she's got the passion and she's got the artistry and
then that the science that was taught by the UC
Davis professors, and she sort of evolved on what she
learned to make some really fabulous wines here in Davis.
(05:58):
And as you mentioned, the other big passion for us
is the environment. So we do grow in harmony with nature.
So that's a very key part of who we are.
So it's about world class wines. It's about growing in
harmony with nature and we are organically certified. And then
it's about creating that welcoming atmosphere for people to come
(06:21):
and enjoy a glass of wine with friends. So that's
what we're all about.
Speaker 4 (06:27):
I was there recently and I saw the lavender fields
and it's just mesmerizing even from a distance.
Speaker 3 (06:36):
Oh yeah, the time of year of the lavender it
puts on a spectacular show. Early in the spring though,
we have an abundance of wildflowers. If you sit or
stand quietly in the vineyard, you will always see a
few jack rabbits and cottontail rabbits hopping around. If you're
(06:57):
here at dusk, because we do open until late on
Thursdays and Fridays, you'll see our owls flying about. So
we have three breeding pairs of bar owls and a
great horned owl that nest here each year. So there's
always something for the nature lover as well as the
wine connoisseurant.
Speaker 5 (07:17):
It's so true.
Speaker 4 (07:17):
And you're just on the edge of Davis, not on
twenty acres, is that right, that's correct, Yeah, not far
at all from town, and it's just amazing the feeling
of being out in nature in the country.
Speaker 5 (07:33):
It's just the whole vibe relaxing once you get there.
Speaker 3 (07:38):
Yes, we're just you know, two miles from downtown from
the farmer's market. So what a lot of people do
go to the farmer's market. You know, build yourself for
picnics and you know, grate artists and breads and cheeses
and fruits and vegetables, and then they come up and
picnic at our place. It's just two miles people feels
(08:01):
like a I don't know a world away. The design
of the winery as California Mission so effectively Spanish style buildings,
but the wine tasting actually happens on a picnic lawn
in a barn that takes back to eighteen sixty. It's
there along with the original homestead from eighteen sixty. So
(08:24):
we actually bought from the family of the original European settlers.
So they'd been here for around one hundred and sixty years,
so we got some of the oral history, which was
sort of so nice to learn how they came across
on the wagon trains. They bought a little homestead from
(08:44):
the catalog and then they built it themselves along with
a great barn. And the nice connection to the family
is that two of the grandchildren of the lady we
bought from are actually wine club members. One lives in Oregon,
the other one lives in Southern Californy, Okay. But that
sort of history and connection, that feeling of family and continuities,
(09:06):
you know what we're about.
Speaker 5 (09:08):
Wow, that's that's wonderful.
Speaker 4 (09:09):
And I'm thinking for people who there are some people
who are just hearing this on the radio, so they
can't see that your website, so somebody might want to
be looking this up while we're talking. So you can
go to Great Bear Vineyards dot com. And it's a
beautiful website. And I'm thinking, what do you think, Marcus,
should we show some of the photos and talk more
(09:30):
about just.
Speaker 5 (09:31):
Let people see and.
Speaker 4 (09:34):
Then I want to make sure we save time for
like very important climate saving work.
Speaker 5 (09:40):
That's it's huge.
Speaker 4 (09:42):
Sometimes our whole shows are dedicated to climate resilience and
climate change projects.
Speaker 3 (09:48):
That sounds sounds like a good plan to me, So yes,
bring up the pictures that what you're alluding to is yes,
I actually walk the talk. I run a science based
agricultural startup. So Monday to Thursday I'm saving the planet
through with a group of really great scientists in Davis,
(10:13):
and then Friday, Saturday Sunday I work for my wife
and with the rest of the family producing grape wine.
So all in all, we're looking to save the planet,
enjoy the planet. So yeah, I've got some pretty serious
messages to pass across. But for people who are just
(10:33):
listening rather than saying, it's a bit tough for me
to explain this picture because this is a collage of
everything that goes on there. My wife is in a
couple of the pictures. She's actually from Southern Africa, so
her mother's Swazi father Zulu, and moved to England when
(10:56):
she was in her teens, and then we moved out
as a fan number of years ago to the US.
And originally, I have to admit because you're going to
talk about the environment, so I will come clean that
I used to run a multi billion dollar specialty chemical
company and I was running Europe for an American company,
(11:21):
And what brought me over to the US originally was
I was promoted to run the global business for crop
protection for synthetic pesticides. But one day it was our daughter,
who was thirteen at the time, she was changing light
bulbs for energy efficient ones, and I made a perfectly
(11:42):
sound economic dad type comment, like why are you throwing
away a perfectly good light bulb? And she turned round
to me and said, Dad, and what are you doing?
For the environment. And it was such a simple question.
I don't know if it hit me on the right
day or the wrong day, depending on the perception. But
that's what brought us out to California for me to
(12:05):
run an architects startup, and then there's a family to
develop this organic and sustainable vineyard and winery. So, as
I mentioned, you know, here's the picture of the winery
Spanish style, California Mission style. There are some elements of
it that are actually direct copies of some of the
(12:29):
mission buildings. So I think there's a doorway that's a
replica of the mission at Carmel. So it's, you know,
a beautiful place. I grew up in England, so for me,
California is you know, it's blue skies and palm trees
(12:49):
and so there are a number of palm trees. They're
not indigenous and native to California, but they just fit
in so well. They make me happy, and I'm pleased
to say the wildlife has taken to it. So albarn
owl's nest.
Speaker 4 (13:05):
In the.
Speaker 3 (13:08):
Palm trees on the edge of the property. Oh, here's
a map of the world, so, oh gosh, how do
we do this? One on the radio, So just pointing
out that it is around eight thousand miles from Cape
Town to London. So when I was much younger, so
my first job at the university. I actually graduated from
(13:31):
university in England, but I went to South Africa, as
you mentioned, to work in research to try to develop
a more drought tolerant gasava crop. So that's one of
the staple foods of the local population. But then when
it paid time to leave, I didn't have enough money
(13:52):
for the airfare. I actually had to leave quite quickly
because it was during the apartheid era and I was
I think I was branded a terrorist or the organization
I was in was viewed that way. So I actually
walked and hitchhiked the length of Africa, so right from
(14:13):
the tip of South Africa all the way back to London.
It was quite amazing because wow, I'm passionate for the environment.
I saw gorillas in the Congo, you know, when I
was alone on foot, I saw lions and rhinoceroses. Again
while I was alone on foot in Zimbabwe and Zambia,
(14:36):
so it was really special for me to get that
close to nature. But the other thing that was so
impressive was the hospitality that I was shown. So about
the third of the time I slept rough under the stars,
but about a third of the time I was put
up by local people who you know, were living you know,
(14:58):
you're talking about subsistence armors, living in a small village
or living in the rainforests of the Congo, who really
didn't actually deal with money, and yet they opened their
cuts to me, they shared a meal with me. So
you know, I fell in love with Africa, with the continent,
with the people, and so you know, it was a
(15:22):
special journey. It did mean that when I got back
to England, had seen enough poverty that I decided not
to be a poor student and do a PhD was
my original planning, but actually went into pesticide sales, started
as a trainee and as I mentioned, ended up running
the company, which is what brought us out to the US.
Speaker 5 (15:46):
How long did that journey take?
Speaker 3 (15:48):
Will people say, you know, how do you walk across Africa?
And it's very simple. As you get up in the morning,
you walk thirty miles and then after about six months
or so, you've you know, eight thousand miles. They were
a little bits. See the Sahara desert. I had to hitchhike.
It's it's way too far between the oasis towns to walk.
(16:11):
So I was very grateful for you know, business people
and truck drivers who were happy to give me a lyft.
And then when I hit Europe, I was just it
was just about two weeks before Christmas. I really wanted
to see my family. Sorry, or so I hitchhiked Europe.
Probably not a thing that's done today, But there again,
(16:34):
probably walking across Africa wasn't a thing that was done
back then. It was a special time and it really was.
Was the beauty of the people who helped me along
the way and the beauty of the wildlife spectacle.
Speaker 5 (16:49):
Wow, sounds incomparable. That's phenomenal.
Speaker 4 (16:52):
So you did you meet Ginny in London in England?
Speaker 3 (16:56):
I did so, yes, But there was the connection there
from from Africa's because it said she grew up in
South Africa, in Durban and in Swaziland before moving to it.
Speaker 4 (17:08):
Wow, that's an amazing journey. So can you tell us
more about the Monday through Thursday work?
Speaker 5 (17:17):
And yes, that means so.
Speaker 3 (17:20):
I'll maybe take the story back a few years before that. So,
as I mentioned, I used to run a very large
specialty chemical business, the pesticides division, Croporate, so pesticides, crop protection, plastics, additives,
and consumer products divisions. I was going back to Europe,
(17:44):
to Switzerland to run another specialty chemical business. And then,
as I said, my thirteen year old daughter asked me
that vital question, what do I do for the environment?
Dad made me feel about you know, half an inch.
The only way you know it has to be a
thirteen year old daughter who really get under a dead skin.
(18:09):
And so I came out to California to run a
biopesticide startup. So it was a company that was already established,
but it was sort of in financial distress and it
was focused just on organic food production. What we did
was actually change the strategy of that company, not just
(18:32):
to deliver the benefits of the products for organic agriculture,
but also demonstrate to conventional growers and the conventional pesticide
industry how biological products could actually help grow food and
while reducing the chemical load and the unintended adverse impact
(18:56):
of some chemicals on the environment, and do things like
reduce the pesticide residues of conventional crops fruit and vegetables
when they got to the market. So we were very
successful at turning that company around and actually were acquired
by Bayer, the big German pharmaceutical chemical company after four years.
(19:21):
And now you know, they're a leader in actually offering
combined solutions of both chemicals and biologicals together, which is
much better for the environment. It reduces that chemical load,
reduces the pesticide residues. We were very successful. My share
(19:42):
of the proceeds was really quite nice, which is why
we could plant a vineyard and build a winery. And
as I said, my wife is the brains behind the
wine making. I drive the tractor. My biggest skill is
being able to drive straight lick. I have to admit
that that's my contribution. But the the rows of our
(20:06):
vines are six foot apart and the tractors five for why,
so there's a little bit of skill there.
Speaker 5 (20:13):
So you know, we.
Speaker 3 (20:16):
We planted the vineyard. Driving the tractor though, gave me
more things to think about, and I worked for some
venture capital companies came across. One of my projects was
actually to look at a company in New Zealand to
analyze was it a good investment for the venture capitalist
(20:38):
or not. I said it was amazing. It was very
different approach to microbial discovery. And they said, did you
want to run the company? And I said, you know, jokingly,
only I y good cycle to you know, to work.
And this company was based in Auckland, New Zealand. I
lived in Davis, California. I wasn't moving, but they took
(21:00):
me at my word and they relocated the company to Davis, California.
We now have a brilliant team of scientists, you know,
around fifty scientists and many of them with PhDs. And
what we've been able to do now is gone beyond biopesticide.
(21:21):
So we do have some of those biopesticides I talked
about earlier, but I think the more important work we're
doing at the moment is we're discovering nitrogen fixing microbes
that colonize corn and wheat and potatoes, rice, tomatoes, so
many non laguminous crops. So as listeners probably know if
(21:43):
they remember back to their school biology lessons, that he's
and beans and the legume family have bacteria that live
in their root systems and convert atmospheric nitrogen into ammonia
for plant growth. So it means you don't need to
add fertilizers to bees and beams. They produce it naturally themselves.
(22:07):
What we've done is we've discovered robusts for forming microbes
that do the same things for nonlguminous crops, so the
major row crops. So this is going to reduce the
grower's reliance on applying synthetic n nitrogen fertilizers. And the
(22:30):
problem with nitrogen fertilizers, I mean, they're great, the only
way we can feed the world, but it has some
unintended consequences. So the production of synthetic nitrogen fertilizer is
very energy intensive. It is one of the biggest single
contributors of greenhouse gases, contributing they estimate somewhere between two
(22:51):
and four percent of annual production of greenhouse gases. The
other unintended consequences is that it can run off into
streams and rivers, and we have around five hundred dead
zones around the world, and so you know that's another
unintended consequence. The other one it leaches into groundwater, gets
(23:14):
into drinking water. We live off world water because we're
outside of the town. We usually get a letter around
April time that says we can no longer drink our
water because it has too many nitrates in to be
safe for human consumption. So finding alternatives such as the
microbial solutions we've discovered is going to be a benefit
(23:39):
to the grower for his profitability. It's also going to
be a benefit to the environment. They're low cost option,
so there's going to be a knock on benefit to
the consumer as well. We've just moved out of the
discovery phase. What's very nice. As I mentioned, the company
was originally founded in New Zealand, and we actually last
(24:01):
year launched our first nitrogen fixing products in New Zealand.
So we have some wild type nitrogen fixing microbes that
are being used on multiple crops there, so wheat and barley,
broccoli and several others. So it's sort of it was.
It was very nice that it came that full circle.
Speaker 4 (24:25):
That's so impressive and so encouraging, so encouraging to hear
the whole.
Speaker 5 (24:31):
Systemic, holistic approach and benefits.
Speaker 3 (24:36):
We just flashed through a few of those photos and
it did mention to me. You know, science is my
other big passion. So I talked about the environment, I
talked about food and wine, but science is another big one,
and I would have to say that our company, we've
(24:57):
brought in experts from all around the world. You gave
an introduction that you know, suggested the current administration may
not be making all the best decisions. And you know,
you know, when we see, you know, some of the
language around Harvard, I think we sort of the science
(25:18):
community have to stick together and say, no, we want
to be the best in the world. We need the
best people from around the world to contribute to the
science community. You know, That's how we're making our breakthroughs
today by a very diverse team of people. So let's
(25:42):
hope that you know that builds us through to the
rest of you know, society.
Speaker 5 (25:48):
Very much appreciate that point.
Speaker 3 (25:51):
So here now another shout out for my wife, So
for people listening on the radio, so about this. But
what's just come onto the screen is a whole lineup
of my wife's wines. She's a truly great wine maker
from you know, white wines, rosees, and red wines. Last year,
(26:12):
a rose got ninety six points, as evidenced in this photo.
This year at the California State Fair, arose got ninety
nine points. But the the red wines are absolutely exceptional
as well as are the whites. Almost all of her
wines score ninety points and above. That's ninety out of
(26:34):
one hundred. For people who aren't in the wine making
world have got gold and double gold medals, you know,
across the board. So, as I mentioned, that is the science,
the artistry, and also the support of UC Davis professors
(26:54):
and staff have also helped contribute to our success. So
I think in the wine making world, you know, you're
not an island. You are when people talk about Tehoir.
For sure, it's the great soils that we have, it's
the great climate, but it's also the people around you
who actually create that wine making skill.
Speaker 5 (27:17):
That has to be true.
Speaker 4 (27:18):
And out of all the different the variety of wines
that she's created, how many different types of grapes, like,
how many of them are blended a combination are.
Speaker 3 (27:31):
Well at the vineyard. So even though to mention that
the whole plot is twenty acres because we grow lavender,
mixed fruit trees and olive trees, but we have about
just under ten acres of vines and we grow four
white so Chardonnay, Servignon, Blanc Roussin, Albarino and we make
(27:55):
a white blend as well, and then the reds are
Cabinet Avignon, Malbec, Temporneo, Patti Serah, Pattiva Doau, Cabinet Frank Primativo,
and Tonight. And also we've just last year added a
new rattle from UC Davis that has been developed to
(28:17):
be more resistant to some diseases and also more resistant
to the climate change we're expecting in this northern part
of California with you know, more volatility in our weather,
but also hotter summers. We're not as wine grow as
we're not fearful of hot weather. What we really need
(28:39):
is hot days, cool nights, so long as the oceans
don't change the delta breeze that comes off the ocean
every night. Because you know, in the summertime we can
be ninety one hundred, but each night through the summer
we dropped to fifty five sixty degrees fahrenheit in Davis.
That is just absolutely perfect weather for growing high quality
(29:05):
wine grapes. And then we do other things to contribute
to that sort of sustainability and the quality issue. As
I said, we grow organically, but we do other things
like deficit irrigation, so we make the vines struggle for water,
partly because we want to conserve water because we are,
(29:26):
you know, semi desert in the valley in California, so
we shouldn't waste water. But the other reason is when
you make the grapes struggle for water, you have smaller berries,
which means you get more intense flavors, more intense colors
into the wine. So that's part of our success as
(29:48):
a wine is to grow really high quality grapes, and
therefore we make really high quality wines. And there's the
picture of my wife in the vineyards, so that's usually
Actually I shouldn't brag. She probably spends as much time
as I had to do in the vineyard. But then
her main kingdom is the is the winery where she does,
(30:11):
you know, the skillful stuff. And what I would say
is we're actually her winemaking style is minimal intervention. So
part of her skill is actually to walk the vineyard
almost every day at harvest time and decide row by
row which grapes are going to be picked. So if
(30:34):
you pick the grapes on the right days, all you
really need to do is add yeast and you bring
out that beautiful flavor profile, so she doesn't add you
know that the additives that are sort of maybe common
in some of the bulk wineries, you know, where they
add enzymes, they add chemicals to improve the color or
(30:56):
improve the flavor. My wife's just adding yeast and for
the red wines, a second microbe that changes malic acid
into lactic acid. And then the other only flavor that's added.
As you can see in that picture, there is the
flavor of oak from natural traditional oak barrels, and there
(31:19):
we use both French oak and American oak depending on
the flavor profile we're trying to get out.
Speaker 4 (31:26):
So yeah, well, and no wonder it tastes so clean,
It tastes so clean and pure.
Speaker 5 (31:32):
Yeah, that makes sense.
Speaker 4 (31:34):
Wow, it's wonderful to like imagine how much attention she
is paying to exactly when to just pick these grapes
in this row and just following up just having an
eye for that.
Speaker 3 (31:48):
Yes, it's an eye and it's a taste. So, as
I mentioned that the flavor is in the skin social test,
the basic test is what's the sugar content of the juice.
And once you've breached a certain level, then what you're
doing is you're tasting the skins, and for the red wines,
it's also very important to taste the seed or the
(32:10):
pip inside to make sure it has a nice nutty
flavor because in the red wine, the seeds are there
for the whole two weeks of fermentation, so they do
in part of flavor. If the seed's green, it will
leave a sort of bitter astringency in the wine. So
making sure it's fully ripe but not overripe is part
(32:33):
of that skill.
Speaker 4 (32:34):
But a balance to find in such a short time,
because I mean, how long have the vineyards been there.
Speaker 3 (32:42):
It just seems like so we planted when they were
one year old in twoenty and fourteen, so they're now
eleven twelve years old. As I said, I think we
must give credit to UC Davis and the professors. My
candice and one of the professors who ran the Oakville
(33:03):
Research Facility in Napa Valley for UC Davis for a
couple of decades helped design our vineyard. So when my
wife was studying viticulture and innology on the court, she
was the only one of the students who had actually
bought a piece of land to plant a vineyard, and
(33:24):
so they used it as a case study. So Mike
Anderson designed the vineyard with you know, input from the
students and inputs from us, so we grow the best
quality grapes given the climate and the soils that we
have in Davis. And then when it came to the
(33:44):
wine making, the professors came out and held her hand
through the process. So she got decades worth of experience
put in there and still today, you know, Andy Waterhouse,
former professor and head of viticulture and anology in the
Mondavi Center, comes out and helps her sort of tweak
(34:08):
the wines and taste them because there's a there's a
skill also in blending, so from one barrel to the
other they may be different. Or maybe you want to
put two percent Putty Videaux or Putty Sarah or ton
into the into the cabinet servigny on it. It's a
(34:29):
bit like adding's salt and pepper. It just sort of
makes the flavor pop. You're not trying to change the
flavor of cabinet serven but you're trying to just enhance it,
change its mouthfield. So there's a lot of skill that
goes on beyond that, and so yeah, that's being part
of that community has been very important. And then my
(34:52):
wife has a number of friends who are also winemakers,
I mean Rebecca why and Shana Harding to both famous
Knappa Valley wine makers, and then more locally, Luciana Turkovich
(35:13):
and Nick Nicole Solano also helped her. So I don't know,
it's like a little sisterhood of expertise with in the
wine industry who sort of got together and help one
another get better. So that's why the wines are so good.
(35:35):
I mean it's usually you go to a winery and
you think, oh, they make great white wine, but not
so sure about the reds. But my wife's wines, you know,
the white, the rose, and the reds are all exceptional,
all scoring that ninety to ninety nine points. She even
(35:57):
makes a port style wine which is also another award winner,
and then more recently has also developed a line of
natural wines, and there it's actually you need to be
even more skilled to get the wines to take credit
to the end of the process. So yeah, So maybe
(36:21):
for listeners who don't know, a natural wine is a
wine where you don't add commercial yeasts. You're just reliant
on the natural yeasts that are present. In the vineyard,
so the flavor profile can go in any direction. But
again it's picking the grapes on the right day, letting
(36:46):
them slowly do the fermentation with those wild gees, and
sort of looking after them through the process. Within that range.
She also has an orange wine. The idea introduced to
us by our daughters who live in Brooklyn. In fact,
they were probably what drove my wife to make natural
(37:10):
wines in the first place, because they take us to
these natural wine bars in Brooklyn because they're trendy. And
that's the nicest thing I could said. They shouldn't I
shouldn't disparage anyone else in the industry. But the descriptors
when you go to a natural wine bar in Brooklyn
are funky and birthy, and you know, they have these descriptors,
(37:33):
whereas my wife's normal wines are sort of elegant through forward.
You know, they they exhude, you know, a desire to
be drunk with white table cloths and you know, inelegant
surroundings or taken to a barbecue. But you know, one way,
you actually want to drink the wine rather than the beer.
(37:55):
Whereas a lot of natural wines are a lot more
you know birthy and and so my wife wanted to
see if it was actually possible to produce a high
quality natural wine that everyone would want to drink, and
she's been able to achieve that, but that goes under
the Black Bicycle Farm label. It's not as great as
(38:17):
a vineyards. So we actually now have have to two
wine brands out there.
Speaker 5 (38:22):
And what's the other one? Say the other brand.
Speaker 3 (38:25):
Black Bicycle Farm. You still buy it at our winery
and it's a bit more of a cult. You have
to ask for it, but we do sell it above
counter on the second week month. So for example, we
have a vegan cookery course this week, next week this week,
(38:50):
you know where people are cooking vegan food and then
we've paired the food with three of the natural wine.
So we do, you know, a lot of things be
yond wine making. As I mentioned, we love to be
a community winery. So we do fundraiseres for catser for
Yolo Food Bank or some of the local schools, and
(39:13):
so you know, it's a it's more than just a winery.
It's also we hope, it's a community meeting point and
it's a place that actually supports the local community. So
as I mentioned, we have about six hundred mixed fruit
trees and the production of that orchard is picked by
(39:38):
volunteers from Yolo Food Bank. So we tell them when
they're right, they come along and pick them and then
they do a wonderful job distributing the to the to
the needy and to the elderly of Yolo County. So
a shout out to the to the volunteers at Yolow
Food Bank for the great job they do as well.
Speaker 5 (39:58):
And then a shout out to do you all.
Speaker 4 (40:00):
Really that's it's a beautiful thing to help feed people,
very very appreciated compassion and the fundraising and it really
is a community atmosphere.
Speaker 5 (40:12):
And I went to just mention too again.
Speaker 4 (40:16):
People who are listening only can go to our archives
because every show is archived, can go to YouTube talk
for media because the photos are beautiful. There's pictures of
sunset and events like so many different weddings there and
different types of weddings and graduations and birthday parties that
you can see through the photographs. The beautiful long table
(40:39):
members of the Wine Club, and it isn't it does
have this good It doesn't have an elitist feeling, and
there's nothing wrong with you know, there's you know, elegance
and high quality and wine bars, but this has the products,
the high level, absolutely award winning products. You don't feel
(41:00):
like you have to dress up. You can it's fun,
but you could be casual, just connect with friends, just
off in music events. And again I really appreciate the
community mindset. Sure Sure is a good thing to help
the world. You know, before I forget, there was a
(41:21):
question from someone named Heather. I want to make sure
we do in our last We have about five minutes left.
But she asked back to the map, the photo of
the map. Thanks for your question, Heather. It asked about
the red arrow across the states.
Speaker 3 (41:38):
Oh yes, So when when we first landed, we the
world headquarters of uneral chemical Cantura, who had evolved into
was based in Connecticut. So we used to live in Middlebury, Connecticut,
and then we moved out to California. I didn't walk
that distance, No, I did a two month road trip
(42:02):
with my kids. So four kids and my wife all
in a little mini van with a tent on the roof,
and we went around the national parks and the state
parks and the forestry lands, camping for two months, and
the US is also another spectacular continent country. Yeah, we
(42:27):
had an amazing time. You know. We went to the
Rodeo in Cody, we went to the Grand Old Opry,
we went to Graceland. You know, we just saw everything.
This is when we thought we were going back to Switzerland.
Had we known we were going to end up in
California for another decade or so, we wouldn't have needed
(42:48):
to cram it all into two months. But that was
an amazing trip as well. Highly recommend it.
Speaker 4 (42:55):
That is wonderful, great to show that. I love that
you listen to your children. I know they're adults now,
but how wonderful they have her.
Speaker 3 (43:07):
They've all got their own lives. But as I mentioned,
it was a family business. So our oldest daughter works
for Google, but she does our it and our you know,
back office IT systems. Our second daughter works in PR
for Audi and she does our Instagram and Facebook posts.
(43:32):
Daughter number three is an artist in LA and she
does a lot of our work. And our thumb drives
the pod by during harvest time, so you know, everyone contributes.
Jenny's mum is here at the moment. She helps harvest
still even though she's ninety one comes over and helps,
(43:56):
and when she gets too tired to help in the vineyard,
she she comes and makes tea and breakfast for us,
you know, because as I said, we're still a little
bit English, so we do rely on you know, about
half a dozen capsity a day to keep us going.
Speaker 5 (44:12):
That's wonderful.
Speaker 4 (44:14):
Well, we have just enough time for your closing thought
and then I'll get to think everyone, do you have
any kind of final thoughts?
Speaker 3 (44:22):
Well, it's it's a wonderful country. It's a wonderful place
where we live, you know, the Davis communities there, it's
a you know, spectacular place to make really high quality wines.
And you know, my wife does it with both science
and passion and artistry. And we do it while we
(44:46):
are you know, growing in harmony with nature. You know
that the beauty and keeping the beauty and having that
biodiversity while protecting the environment. And actually I believe we're
making the environment better with things like our permanent cover
crops and our deficit irrigation and being home to you know, coyotes, foxes, owls, rabbits, gophers, squirrels.
(45:13):
You know, it's a it's a real joy to have
this land that we do in the winery and then
sharing it with the local community as well as some
pretty high powered wine connoisseurs come and seek us out
in Davis.
Speaker 4 (45:30):
So we're enjoying life wonderful and yes, thank you for
creating a space where others can come to it.
Speaker 3 (45:40):
Yeah, thank you, Chap. I mean that's you know, we
want to give a five star experience to everyone who
comes out and you know, share the space, share the beauty,
the space over a glass, good glass of great wine,
good conversation.
Speaker 4 (45:56):
Well, thank you, Marcus Meadow Smith and Jinny. I really
appreciate you're sharing all this information and it's it's so
pro earth and pro human.
Speaker 5 (46:06):
I wanted to have you on the show for more
people to learn about it.
Speaker 4 (46:10):
And I want to thank our engineer Rebel and our
producer Dean Piper and all the listeners and viewers and
be sure to tune in next Wednesday at a pm
Eastern time at talk for TV or W four c
Y dot com and maybe all have enriching conversations and
diversity every day.
Speaker 5 (46:28):
Thank you, Thank you.
Speaker 2 (46:31):
Chic Let's Beach loic, Let's Beak show, the in Lot,
Let's Beach in Lot let's breach all the inch. Let's
(46:51):
break a lot, Let's breach
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(00:20):
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Speaker 2 (00:26):
Logic, Let's speech, Logic, Let's speak, show in Lot, Let's
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brich and lot Let's.
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Lot.
Speaker 4 (00:56):
Hello, and welcome to It's Your Voice, the show that
hosts enrich conversations in diversity. My name is Bihia Yaxan,
and I'm a diversity educator. I teach courses, coach and
train folks who want to learn to identify patterns of
bias that cause harm to themselves or others, cultivate new
pathways and habits and actions that are far more inclusive
(01:18):
and create more belonging, which actually makes everyone much happier
in the end.
Speaker 5 (01:23):
It's totally worth it. If you want to see some
of the courses.
Speaker 4 (01:26):
I teach, you can look at my website, which is
Know what you Want Coaching dot WordPress dot com.
Speaker 5 (01:33):
We have an amazing show tonight.
Speaker 4 (01:35):
It's packed with stories about a beautiful vineyard called the
Great fair Winery. I'll introduce our guests in just a minute,
but I want to first just use my own voice
to share I'm deeply concerned about what's happening in our country,
and for people who are listening, you can think about
if you're deeply concerned. I'm a Californian, so I just
(01:59):
want to share that doesn't feel good or right that
we have the White House administration ordering federalizing National Guard
to come to la when we have protesters protesting against
the violence of immigration raids. Actually the ice immigration rates
are quite violent, upsetting to families who were not only
(02:21):
work and contributing to our economy, but some were born here,
some children were born here. To disheartening its neighbors to
see families warn apart that aren't the criminals that the
President promised would be arrested. It's hard working people who
are contributing positively, and the disrespect not only for our
governor and our mayor, the mayor of LA but also
(02:43):
for the military. I really appreciate the LAPD, who are
super competent. I appreciate the National Guard. I appreciate the
Marines very much and respect them, and I feel bad
that they're put into these rules that might not be
comfortable for all of them. And I just had to
say that and thank the peace for protesters, majority of
peaceful bad apples, not helping anything or anyone. Thank you
(03:06):
for giving me that minute, and now onto something.
Speaker 5 (03:08):
That feels much better.
Speaker 4 (03:11):
Our guest, Marcus Meadows Smith, I'm going to read your bio,
but please come on, I'm going to start reading some
of the background you have.
Speaker 5 (03:18):
Welcome, Thank you, thank you.
Speaker 4 (03:20):
For I'm so excited. I've been wanting to have you
and your wife, and I know you'll represent both of you.
And let me just read a couple sentutes of your
bio so folks get a beginning understanding of your amazing background.
So Marcus Meadows Smith, owner of Great Bear Vineyards and
CEO of a local agricultural startup, operates the Great Bear
(03:43):
Winery with his wife, Jinny, it's family run business, it's sustainable,
it's award winning. They make world class wines and I'm
I'm not on his word of any kind, but if
I'm going to have wind, that's where I'm going. It's
so worth it in The atmosphere is so beautiful, and
they do this in harmony with nature. They grow premium
(04:05):
grapes organically, giving guests and this is true, a five
star experience with award winning wines, but in a rustic
and casual setting.
Speaker 5 (04:13):
The ambience. I love this.
Speaker 4 (04:15):
The audience is more like a friendly English pub than
an upmarket wine bar.
Speaker 5 (04:21):
That is so true.
Speaker 4 (04:22):
Let me just read a little bit more that I
want Marcus to comment on. You grew up in England,
Your wife, Jenny the winemaker, studied viticulture and anology, which
was a new word to me at UC Davis. And
that you worked in South Africa and did research in
genetics improving local food crops. The food crop becasava. So
(04:44):
let's hear some of your voice because you can tell
us all about it.
Speaker 3 (04:51):
Okay, well, thank you so much for that woman introduction. Yes,
I really should start by giving all the credit to
my wine. We actually have four children and when they
all left home, we dated for a little while at
which you don't do when you have four kids, and
we realized we had a shared passion for farming, for
(05:14):
good wine, for good food, enjoy people's company, and I
just wanted to jump in plant a vineyard. Luckily, my
wife's the smart one. As you mentioned, she actually went
and studied viticulture and in knowledge at UC Davis, so
she layered that on top of her degree in chemistry
(05:36):
and her MBA. So she's got the science background, but
she's got the passion and she's got the artistry and
then that the science that was taught by the UC
Davis professors, and she sort of evolved on what she
learned to make some really fabulous wines here in Davis.
(05:58):
And as you mentioned, the other big passion for us
is the environment. So we do grow in harmony with nature.
So that's a very key part of who we are.
So it's about world class wines. It's about growing in
harmony with nature and we are organically certified. And then
it's about creating that welcoming atmosphere for people to come
(06:21):
and enjoy a glass of wine with friends. So that's
what we're all about.
Speaker 4 (06:27):
I was there recently and I saw the lavender fields
and it's just mesmerizing even from a distance.
Speaker 3 (06:36):
Oh yeah, the time of year of the lavender it
puts on a spectacular show. Early in the spring though,
we have an abundance of wildflowers. If you sit or
stand quietly in the vineyard, you will always see a
few jack rabbits and cottontail rabbits hopping around. If you're
(06:57):
here at dusk, because we do open until late on
Thursdays and Fridays, you'll see our owls flying about. So
we have three breeding pairs of bar owls and a
great horned owl that nest here each year. So there's
always something for the nature lover as well as the
wine connoisseurant.
Speaker 5 (07:17):
It's so true.
Speaker 4 (07:17):
And you're just on the edge of Davis, not on
twenty acres, is that right, that's correct, Yeah, not far
at all from town, and it's just amazing the feeling
of being out in nature in the country.
Speaker 5 (07:33):
It's just the whole vibe relaxing once you get there.
Speaker 3 (07:38):
Yes, we're just you know, two miles from downtown from
the farmer's market. So what a lot of people do
go to the farmer's market. You know, build yourself for
picnics and you know, grate artists and breads and cheeses
and fruits and vegetables, and then they come up and
picnic at our place. It's just two miles people feels
(08:01):
like a I don't know a world away. The design
of the winery as California Mission so effectively Spanish style buildings,
but the wine tasting actually happens on a picnic lawn
in a barn that takes back to eighteen sixty. It's
there along with the original homestead from eighteen sixty. So
(08:24):
we actually bought from the family of the original European settlers.
So they'd been here for around one hundred and sixty years,
so we got some of the oral history, which was
sort of so nice to learn how they came across
on the wagon trains. They bought a little homestead from
(08:44):
the catalog and then they built it themselves along with
a great barn. And the nice connection to the family
is that two of the grandchildren of the lady we
bought from are actually wine club members. One lives in Oregon,
the other one lives in Southern Californy, Okay. But that
sort of history and connection, that feeling of family and continuities,
(09:06):
you know what we're about.
Speaker 5 (09:08):
Wow, that's that's wonderful.
Speaker 4 (09:09):
And I'm thinking for people who there are some people
who are just hearing this on the radio, so they
can't see that your website, so somebody might want to
be looking this up while we're talking. So you can
go to Great Bear Vineyards dot com. And it's a
beautiful website. And I'm thinking, what do you think, Marcus,
should we show some of the photos and talk more
(09:30):
about just.
Speaker 5 (09:31):
Let people see and.
Speaker 4 (09:34):
Then I want to make sure we save time for
like very important climate saving work.
Speaker 5 (09:40):
That's it's huge.
Speaker 4 (09:42):
Sometimes our whole shows are dedicated to climate resilience and
climate change projects.
Speaker 3 (09:48):
That sounds sounds like a good plan to me, So yes,
bring up the pictures that what you're alluding to is yes,
I actually walk the talk. I run a science based
agricultural startup. So Monday to Thursday I'm saving the planet
through with a group of really great scientists in Davis,
(10:13):
and then Friday, Saturday Sunday I work for my wife
and with the rest of the family producing grape wine.
So all in all, we're looking to save the planet,
enjoy the planet. So yeah, I've got some pretty serious
messages to pass across. But for people who are just
(10:33):
listening rather than saying, it's a bit tough for me
to explain this picture because this is a collage of
everything that goes on there. My wife is in a
couple of the pictures. She's actually from Southern Africa, so
her mother's Swazi father Zulu, and moved to England when
(10:56):
she was in her teens, and then we moved out
as a fan number of years ago to the US.
And originally, I have to admit because you're going to
talk about the environment, so I will come clean that
I used to run a multi billion dollar specialty chemical
company and I was running Europe for an American company,
(11:21):
And what brought me over to the US originally was
I was promoted to run the global business for crop
protection for synthetic pesticides. But one day it was our daughter,
who was thirteen at the time, she was changing light
bulbs for energy efficient ones, and I made a perfectly
(11:42):
sound economic dad type comment, like why are you throwing
away a perfectly good light bulb? And she turned round
to me and said, Dad, and what are you doing?
For the environment. And it was such a simple question.
I don't know if it hit me on the right
day or the wrong day, depending on the perception. But
that's what brought us out to California for me to
(12:05):
run an architects startup, and then there's a family to
develop this organic and sustainable vineyard and winery. So, as
I mentioned, you know, here's the picture of the winery
Spanish style, California Mission style. There are some elements of
it that are actually direct copies of some of the
(12:29):
mission buildings. So I think there's a doorway that's a
replica of the mission at Carmel. So it's, you know,
a beautiful place. I grew up in England, so for me,
California is you know, it's blue skies and palm trees
(12:49):
and so there are a number of palm trees. They're
not indigenous and native to California, but they just fit
in so well. They make me happy, and I'm pleased
to say the wildlife has taken to it. So albarn
owl's nest.
Speaker 4 (13:05):
In the.
Speaker 3 (13:08):
Palm trees on the edge of the property. Oh, here's
a map of the world, so, oh gosh, how do
we do this? One on the radio, So just pointing
out that it is around eight thousand miles from Cape
Town to London. So when I was much younger, so
my first job at the university. I actually graduated from
(13:31):
university in England, but I went to South Africa, as
you mentioned, to work in research to try to develop
a more drought tolerant gasava crop. So that's one of
the staple foods of the local population. But then when
it paid time to leave, I didn't have enough money
(13:52):
for the airfare. I actually had to leave quite quickly
because it was during the apartheid era and I was
I think I was branded a terrorist or the organization
I was in was viewed that way. So I actually
walked and hitchhiked the length of Africa, so right from
(14:13):
the tip of South Africa all the way back to London.
It was quite amazing because wow, I'm passionate for the environment.
I saw gorillas in the Congo, you know, when I
was alone on foot, I saw lions and rhinoceroses. Again
while I was alone on foot in Zimbabwe and Zambia,
(14:36):
so it was really special for me to get that
close to nature. But the other thing that was so
impressive was the hospitality that I was shown. So about
the third of the time I slept rough under the stars,
but about a third of the time I was put
up by local people who you know, were living you know,
(14:58):
you're talking about subsistence armors, living in a small village
or living in the rainforests of the Congo, who really
didn't actually deal with money, and yet they opened their
cuts to me, they shared a meal with me. So
you know, I fell in love with Africa, with the continent,
with the people, and so you know, it was a
(15:22):
special journey. It did mean that when I got back
to England, had seen enough poverty that I decided not
to be a poor student and do a PhD was
my original planning, but actually went into pesticide sales, started
as a trainee and as I mentioned, ended up running
the company, which is what brought us out to the US.
Speaker 5 (15:46):
How long did that journey take?
Speaker 3 (15:48):
Will people say, you know, how do you walk across Africa?
And it's very simple. As you get up in the morning,
you walk thirty miles and then after about six months
or so, you've you know, eight thousand miles. They were
a little bits. See the Sahara desert. I had to hitchhike.
It's it's way too far between the oasis towns to walk.
(16:11):
So I was very grateful for you know, business people
and truck drivers who were happy to give me a lyft.
And then when I hit Europe, I was just it
was just about two weeks before Christmas. I really wanted
to see my family. Sorry, or so I hitchhiked Europe.
Probably not a thing that's done today, But there again,
(16:34):
probably walking across Africa wasn't a thing that was done
back then. It was a special time and it really was.
Was the beauty of the people who helped me along
the way and the beauty of the wildlife spectacle.
Speaker 5 (16:49):
Wow, sounds incomparable. That's phenomenal.
Speaker 4 (16:52):
So you did you meet Ginny in London in England?
Speaker 3 (16:56):
I did so, yes, But there was the connection there
from from Africa's because it said she grew up in
South Africa, in Durban and in Swaziland before moving to it.
Speaker 4 (17:08):
Wow, that's an amazing journey. So can you tell us
more about the Monday through Thursday work?
Speaker 5 (17:17):
And yes, that means so.
Speaker 3 (17:20):
I'll maybe take the story back a few years before that. So,
as I mentioned, I used to run a very large
specialty chemical business, the pesticides division, Croporate, so pesticides, crop protection, plastics, additives,
and consumer products divisions. I was going back to Europe,
(17:44):
to Switzerland to run another specialty chemical business. And then,
as I said, my thirteen year old daughter asked me
that vital question, what do I do for the environment?
Dad made me feel about you know, half an inch.
The only way you know it has to be a
thirteen year old daughter who really get under a dead skin.
(18:09):
And so I came out to California to run a
biopesticide startup. So it was a company that was already established,
but it was sort of in financial distress and it
was focused just on organic food production. What we did
was actually change the strategy of that company, not just
(18:32):
to deliver the benefits of the products for organic agriculture,
but also demonstrate to conventional growers and the conventional pesticide
industry how biological products could actually help grow food and
while reducing the chemical load and the unintended adverse impact
(18:56):
of some chemicals on the environment, and do things like
reduce the pesticide residues of conventional crops fruit and vegetables
when they got to the market. So we were very
successful at turning that company around and actually were acquired
by Bayer, the big German pharmaceutical chemical company after four years.
(19:21):
And now you know, they're a leader in actually offering
combined solutions of both chemicals and biologicals together, which is
much better for the environment. It reduces that chemical load,
reduces the pesticide residues. We were very successful. My share
(19:42):
of the proceeds was really quite nice, which is why
we could plant a vineyard and build a winery. And
as I said, my wife is the brains behind the
wine making. I drive the tractor. My biggest skill is
being able to drive straight lick. I have to admit
that that's my contribution. But the the rows of our
(20:06):
vines are six foot apart and the tractors five for why,
so there's a little bit of skill there.
Speaker 5 (20:13):
So you know, we.
Speaker 3 (20:16):
We planted the vineyard. Driving the tractor though, gave me
more things to think about, and I worked for some
venture capital companies came across. One of my projects was
actually to look at a company in New Zealand to
analyze was it a good investment for the venture capitalist
(20:38):
or not. I said it was amazing. It was very
different approach to microbial discovery. And they said, did you
want to run the company? And I said, you know, jokingly,
only I y good cycle to you know, to work.
And this company was based in Auckland, New Zealand. I
lived in Davis, California. I wasn't moving, but they took
(21:00):
me at my word and they relocated the company to Davis, California.
We now have a brilliant team of scientists, you know,
around fifty scientists and many of them with PhDs. And
what we've been able to do now is gone beyond biopesticide.
(21:21):
So we do have some of those biopesticides I talked
about earlier, but I think the more important work we're
doing at the moment is we're discovering nitrogen fixing microbes
that colonize corn and wheat and potatoes, rice, tomatoes, so
many non laguminous crops. So as listeners probably know if
(21:43):
they remember back to their school biology lessons, that he's
and beans and the legume family have bacteria that live
in their root systems and convert atmospheric nitrogen into ammonia
for plant growth. So it means you don't need to
add fertilizers to bees and beams. They produce it naturally themselves.
(22:07):
What we've done is we've discovered robusts for forming microbes
that do the same things for nonlguminous crops, so the
major row crops. So this is going to reduce the
grower's reliance on applying synthetic n nitrogen fertilizers. And the
(22:30):
problem with nitrogen fertilizers, I mean, they're great, the only
way we can feed the world, but it has some
unintended consequences. So the production of synthetic nitrogen fertilizer is
very energy intensive. It is one of the biggest single
contributors of greenhouse gases, contributing they estimate somewhere between two
(22:51):
and four percent of annual production of greenhouse gases. The
other unintended consequences is that it can run off into
streams and rivers, and we have around five hundred dead
zones around the world, and so you know that's another
unintended consequence. The other one it leaches into groundwater, gets
(23:14):
into drinking water. We live off world water because we're
outside of the town. We usually get a letter around
April time that says we can no longer drink our
water because it has too many nitrates in to be
safe for human consumption. So finding alternatives such as the
microbial solutions we've discovered is going to be a benefit
(23:39):
to the grower for his profitability. It's also going to
be a benefit to the environment. They're low cost option,
so there's going to be a knock on benefit to
the consumer as well. We've just moved out of the
discovery phase. What's very nice. As I mentioned, the company
was originally founded in New Zealand, and we actually last
(24:01):
year launched our first nitrogen fixing products in New Zealand.
So we have some wild type nitrogen fixing microbes that
are being used on multiple crops there, so wheat and barley,
broccoli and several others. So it's sort of it was.
It was very nice that it came that full circle.
Speaker 4 (24:25):
That's so impressive and so encouraging, so encouraging to hear
the whole.
Speaker 5 (24:31):
Systemic, holistic approach and benefits.
Speaker 3 (24:36):
We just flashed through a few of those photos and
it did mention to me. You know, science is my
other big passion. So I talked about the environment, I
talked about food and wine, but science is another big one,
and I would have to say that our company, we've
(24:57):
brought in experts from all around the world. You gave
an introduction that you know, suggested the current administration may
not be making all the best decisions. And you know,
you know, when we see, you know, some of the
language around Harvard, I think we sort of the science
(25:18):
community have to stick together and say, no, we want
to be the best in the world. We need the
best people from around the world to contribute to the
science community. You know, That's how we're making our breakthroughs
today by a very diverse team of people. So let's
(25:42):
hope that you know that builds us through to the
rest of you know, society.
Speaker 5 (25:48):
Very much appreciate that point.
Speaker 3 (25:51):
So here now another shout out for my wife, So
for people listening on the radio, so about this. But
what's just come onto the screen is a whole lineup
of my wife's wines. She's a truly great wine maker
from you know, white wines, rosees, and red wines. Last year,
(26:12):
a rose got ninety six points, as evidenced in this photo.
This year at the California State Fair, arose got ninety
nine points. But the the red wines are absolutely exceptional
as well as are the whites. Almost all of her
wines score ninety points and above. That's ninety out of
(26:34):
one hundred. For people who aren't in the wine making
world have got gold and double gold medals, you know,
across the board. So, as I mentioned, that is the science,
the artistry, and also the support of UC Davis professors
(26:54):
and staff have also helped contribute to our success. So
I think in the wine making world, you know, you're
not an island. You are when people talk about Tehoir.
For sure, it's the great soils that we have, it's
the great climate, but it's also the people around you
who actually create that wine making skill.
Speaker 5 (27:17):
That has to be true.
Speaker 4 (27:18):
And out of all the different the variety of wines
that she's created, how many different types of grapes, like,
how many of them are blended a combination are.
Speaker 3 (27:31):
Well at the vineyard. So even though to mention that
the whole plot is twenty acres because we grow lavender,
mixed fruit trees and olive trees, but we have about
just under ten acres of vines and we grow four
white so Chardonnay, Servignon, Blanc Roussin, Albarino and we make
(27:55):
a white blend as well, and then the reds are
Cabinet Avignon, Malbec, Temporneo, Patti Serah, Pattiva Doau, Cabinet Frank Primativo,
and Tonight. And also we've just last year added a
new rattle from UC Davis that has been developed to
(28:17):
be more resistant to some diseases and also more resistant
to the climate change we're expecting in this northern part
of California with you know, more volatility in our weather,
but also hotter summers. We're not as wine grow as
we're not fearful of hot weather. What we really need
(28:39):
is hot days, cool nights, so long as the oceans
don't change the delta breeze that comes off the ocean
every night. Because you know, in the summertime we can
be ninety one hundred, but each night through the summer
we dropped to fifty five sixty degrees fahrenheit in Davis.
That is just absolutely perfect weather for growing high quality
(29:05):
wine grapes. And then we do other things to contribute
to that sort of sustainability and the quality issue. As
I said, we grow organically, but we do other things
like deficit irrigation, so we make the vines struggle for water,
partly because we want to conserve water because we are,
(29:26):
you know, semi desert in the valley in California, so
we shouldn't waste water. But the other reason is when
you make the grapes struggle for water, you have smaller berries,
which means you get more intense flavors, more intense colors
into the wine. So that's part of our success as
(29:48):
a wine is to grow really high quality grapes, and
therefore we make really high quality wines. And there's the
picture of my wife in the vineyards, so that's usually
Actually I shouldn't brag. She probably spends as much time
as I had to do in the vineyard. But then
her main kingdom is the is the winery where she does,
(30:11):
you know, the skillful stuff. And what I would say
is we're actually her winemaking style is minimal intervention. So
part of her skill is actually to walk the vineyard
almost every day at harvest time and decide row by
row which grapes are going to be picked. So if
(30:34):
you pick the grapes on the right days, all you
really need to do is add yeast and you bring
out that beautiful flavor profile, so she doesn't add you
know that the additives that are sort of maybe common
in some of the bulk wineries, you know, where they
add enzymes, they add chemicals to improve the color or
(30:56):
improve the flavor. My wife's just adding yeast and for
the red wines, a second microbe that changes malic acid
into lactic acid. And then the other only flavor that's added.
As you can see in that picture, there is the
flavor of oak from natural traditional oak barrels, and there
(31:19):
we use both French oak and American oak depending on
the flavor profile we're trying to get out.
Speaker 4 (31:26):
So yeah, well, and no wonder it tastes so clean,
It tastes so clean and pure.
Speaker 5 (31:32):
Yeah, that makes sense.
Speaker 4 (31:34):
Wow, it's wonderful to like imagine how much attention she
is paying to exactly when to just pick these grapes
in this row and just following up just having an
eye for that.
Speaker 3 (31:48):
Yes, it's an eye and it's a taste. So, as
I mentioned that the flavor is in the skin social test,
the basic test is what's the sugar content of the juice.
And once you've breached a certain level, then what you're
doing is you're tasting the skins, and for the red wines,
it's also very important to taste the seed or the
(32:10):
pip inside to make sure it has a nice nutty
flavor because in the red wine, the seeds are there
for the whole two weeks of fermentation, so they do
in part of flavor. If the seed's green, it will
leave a sort of bitter astringency in the wine. So
making sure it's fully ripe but not overripe is part
(32:33):
of that skill.
Speaker 4 (32:34):
But a balance to find in such a short time,
because I mean, how long have the vineyards been there.
Speaker 3 (32:42):
It just seems like so we planted when they were
one year old in twoenty and fourteen, so they're now
eleven twelve years old. As I said, I think we
must give credit to UC Davis and the professors. My
candice and one of the professors who ran the Oakville
(33:03):
Research Facility in Napa Valley for UC Davis for a
couple of decades helped design our vineyard. So when my
wife was studying viticulture and innology on the court, she
was the only one of the students who had actually
bought a piece of land to plant a vineyard, and
(33:24):
so they used it as a case study. So Mike
Anderson designed the vineyard with you know, input from the
students and inputs from us, so we grow the best
quality grapes given the climate and the soils that we
have in Davis. And then when it came to the
(33:44):
wine making, the professors came out and held her hand
through the process. So she got decades worth of experience
put in there and still today, you know, Andy Waterhouse,
former professor and head of viticulture and anology in the
Mondavi Center, comes out and helps her sort of tweak
(34:08):
the wines and taste them because there's a there's a
skill also in blending, so from one barrel to the
other they may be different. Or maybe you want to
put two percent Putty Videaux or Putty Sarah or ton
into the into the cabinet servigny on it. It's a
(34:29):
bit like adding's salt and pepper. It just sort of
makes the flavor pop. You're not trying to change the
flavor of cabinet serven but you're trying to just enhance it,
change its mouthfield. So there's a lot of skill that
goes on beyond that, and so yeah, that's being part
of that community has been very important. And then my
(34:52):
wife has a number of friends who are also winemakers,
I mean Rebecca why and Shana Harding to both famous
Knappa Valley wine makers, and then more locally, Luciana Turkovich
(35:13):
and Nick Nicole Solano also helped her. So I don't know,
it's like a little sisterhood of expertise with in the
wine industry who sort of got together and help one
another get better. So that's why the wines are so good.
(35:35):
I mean it's usually you go to a winery and
you think, oh, they make great white wine, but not
so sure about the reds. But my wife's wines, you know,
the white, the rose, and the reds are all exceptional,
all scoring that ninety to ninety nine points. She even
(35:57):
makes a port style wine which is also another award winner,
and then more recently has also developed a line of
natural wines, and there it's actually you need to be
even more skilled to get the wines to take credit
to the end of the process. So yeah, So maybe
(36:21):
for listeners who don't know, a natural wine is a
wine where you don't add commercial yeasts. You're just reliant
on the natural yeasts that are present. In the vineyard,
so the flavor profile can go in any direction. But
again it's picking the grapes on the right day, letting
(36:46):
them slowly do the fermentation with those wild gees, and
sort of looking after them through the process. Within that range.
She also has an orange wine. The idea introduced to
us by our daughters who live in Brooklyn. In fact,
they were probably what drove my wife to make natural
(37:10):
wines in the first place, because they take us to
these natural wine bars in Brooklyn because they're trendy. And
that's the nicest thing I could said. They shouldn't I
shouldn't disparage anyone else in the industry. But the descriptors
when you go to a natural wine bar in Brooklyn
are funky and birthy, and you know, they have these descriptors,
(37:33):
whereas my wife's normal wines are sort of elegant through forward.
You know, they they exhude, you know, a desire to
be drunk with white table cloths and you know, inelegant
surroundings or taken to a barbecue. But you know, one way,
you actually want to drink the wine rather than the beer.
(37:55):
Whereas a lot of natural wines are a lot more
you know birthy and and so my wife wanted to
see if it was actually possible to produce a high
quality natural wine that everyone would want to drink, and
she's been able to achieve that, but that goes under
the Black Bicycle Farm label. It's not as great as
(38:17):
a vineyards. So we actually now have have to two
wine brands out there.
Speaker 5 (38:22):
And what's the other one? Say the other brand.
Speaker 3 (38:25):
Black Bicycle Farm. You still buy it at our winery
and it's a bit more of a cult. You have
to ask for it, but we do sell it above
counter on the second week month. So for example, we
have a vegan cookery course this week, next week this week,
(38:50):
you know where people are cooking vegan food and then
we've paired the food with three of the natural wine.
So we do, you know, a lot of things be
yond wine making. As I mentioned, we love to be
a community winery. So we do fundraiseres for catser for
Yolo Food Bank or some of the local schools, and
(39:13):
so you know, it's a it's more than just a winery.
It's also we hope, it's a community meeting point and
it's a place that actually supports the local community. So
as I mentioned, we have about six hundred mixed fruit
trees and the production of that orchard is picked by
(39:38):
volunteers from Yolo Food Bank. So we tell them when
they're right, they come along and pick them and then
they do a wonderful job distributing the to the to
the needy and to the elderly of Yolo County. So
a shout out to the to the volunteers at Yolow
Food Bank for the great job they do as well.
Speaker 5 (39:58):
And then a shout out to do you all.
Speaker 4 (40:00):
Really that's it's a beautiful thing to help feed people,
very very appreciated compassion and the fundraising and it really
is a community atmosphere.
Speaker 5 (40:12):
And I went to just mention too again.
Speaker 4 (40:16):
People who are listening only can go to our archives
because every show is archived, can go to YouTube talk
for media because the photos are beautiful. There's pictures of
sunset and events like so many different weddings there and
different types of weddings and graduations and birthday parties that
you can see through the photographs. The beautiful long table
(40:39):
members of the Wine Club, and it isn't it does
have this good It doesn't have an elitist feeling, and
there's nothing wrong with you know, there's you know, elegance
and high quality and wine bars, but this has the products,
the high level, absolutely award winning products. You don't feel
(41:00):
like you have to dress up. You can it's fun,
but you could be casual, just connect with friends, just
off in music events. And again I really appreciate the
community mindset. Sure Sure is a good thing to help
the world. You know, before I forget, there was a
(41:21):
question from someone named Heather. I want to make sure
we do in our last We have about five minutes left.
But she asked back to the map, the photo of
the map. Thanks for your question, Heather. It asked about
the red arrow across the states.
Speaker 3 (41:38):
Oh yes, So when when we first landed, we the
world headquarters of uneral chemical Cantura, who had evolved into
was based in Connecticut. So we used to live in Middlebury, Connecticut,
and then we moved out to California. I didn't walk
that distance, No, I did a two month road trip
(42:02):
with my kids. So four kids and my wife all
in a little mini van with a tent on the roof,
and we went around the national parks and the state
parks and the forestry lands, camping for two months, and
the US is also another spectacular continent country. Yeah, we
(42:27):
had an amazing time. You know. We went to the
Rodeo in Cody, we went to the Grand Old Opry,
we went to Graceland. You know, we just saw everything.
This is when we thought we were going back to Switzerland.
Had we known we were going to end up in
California for another decade or so, we wouldn't have needed
(42:48):
to cram it all into two months. But that was
an amazing trip as well. Highly recommend it.
Speaker 4 (42:55):
That is wonderful, great to show that. I love that
you listen to your children. I know they're adults now,
but how wonderful they have her.
Speaker 3 (43:07):
They've all got their own lives. But as I mentioned,
it was a family business. So our oldest daughter works
for Google, but she does our it and our you know,
back office IT systems. Our second daughter works in PR
for Audi and she does our Instagram and Facebook posts.
(43:32):
Daughter number three is an artist in LA and she
does a lot of our work. And our thumb drives
the pod by during harvest time, so you know, everyone contributes.
Jenny's mum is here at the moment. She helps harvest
still even though she's ninety one comes over and helps,
(43:56):
and when she gets too tired to help in the vineyard,
she she comes and makes tea and breakfast for us,
you know, because as I said, we're still a little
bit English, so we do rely on you know, about
half a dozen capsity a day to keep us going.
Speaker 5 (44:12):
That's wonderful.
Speaker 4 (44:14):
Well, we have just enough time for your closing thought
and then I'll get to think everyone, do you have
any kind of final thoughts?
Speaker 3 (44:22):
Well, it's it's a wonderful country. It's a wonderful place
where we live, you know, the Davis communities there, it's
a you know, spectacular place to make really high quality wines.
And you know, my wife does it with both science
and passion and artistry. And we do it while we
(44:46):
are you know, growing in harmony with nature. You know
that the beauty and keeping the beauty and having that
biodiversity while protecting the environment. And actually I believe we're
making the environment better with things like our permanent cover
crops and our deficit irrigation and being home to you know, coyotes, foxes, owls, rabbits, gophers, squirrels.
(45:13):
You know, it's a it's a real joy to have
this land that we do in the winery and then
sharing it with the local community as well as some
pretty high powered wine connoisseurs come and seek us out
in Davis.
Speaker 4 (45:30):
So we're enjoying life wonderful and yes, thank you for
creating a space where others can come to it.
Speaker 3 (45:40):
Yeah, thank you, Chap. I mean that's you know, we
want to give a five star experience to everyone who
comes out and you know, share the space, share the beauty,
the space over a glass, good glass of great wine,
good conversation.
Speaker 4 (45:56):
Well, thank you, Marcus Meadow Smith and Jinny. I really
appreciate you're sharing all this information and it's it's so
pro earth and pro human.
Speaker 5 (46:06):
I wanted to have you on the show for more
people to learn about it.
Speaker 4 (46:10):
And I want to thank our engineer Rebel and our
producer Dean Piper and all the listeners and viewers and
be sure to tune in next Wednesday at a pm
Eastern time at talk for TV or W four c
Y dot com and maybe all have enriching conversations and
diversity every day.
Speaker 5 (46:28):
Thank you, Thank you.
Speaker 2 (46:31):
Chic Let's Beach loic, Let's Beak show, the in Lot,
Let's Beach in Lot let's breach all the inch. Let's
(46:51):
break a lot, Let's breach
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