July 16, 2025 • 37 mins
Livermore provides a phenomenal opportunity to experience wine. Ron, Janice, Marie, Tim, Chrysanne, John, Nancy, Doug, Tracey and Andrea met in Livermore over 25 years ago and started Arroyo Cellars in 2018. We welcome you to come by and experience our stellar wines in an urban setting along Livermore’s Vasco Row. An arroyo is a habitat that evolves over time and provides relief from the elements, food and drink for its inhabitants, and a place to relax, mingle, and co-exist with other species. So too is Arroyo Cellars. It has evolved over twenty years of friendship. It provides us relief from our everyday jobs, food and wine (the necessities of life), and a place for family and friends to enjoy each other’s company.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome to Wine Soundtrack USA. Listen to the passion with
which producers narrate their winery and their world team thirty
answers discover their stories, personalities and passions.
Speaker 2 (00:12):
Hello, friends and listeners of Wine Soundtrack. This is Alison
Levine and today I'm in the tasting room of Royo
Sellers in the Livermore Valley with the partner and winemaker
John chip Rich. John, welcome to Wine Soundtrack and tell
us a little bit about Arroyo Sellers.
Speaker 3 (00:28):
That's a pleasure having you here. Thank you. And Arroyo
Sellers were a small, very small winery founded by a
group of a family of friends, I think is the
best way of phrasing it. So there are actually ten
of us overall, their partners in the winery, and we
each bring something different to the operation. But we're a
(00:50):
group of people that met over twenty five years ago
and have done a lot of things together over the years.
A few years back, one of the partners decided that
it might be fun to open a winery. There was
a previous winery that we had been affiliated with. Unfortunately,
the owner of that one had passed away and so
(01:11):
it shut down, but it left an interest for all
of us. So the one gentleman Ron decided to open
up a new location here at Royal Sellers. And the
business started primarily as wine storage, but it was always
a vision to have a winery involved with it, and
we just grew from there.
Speaker 2 (01:32):
And I love this because you said it's ten friends
or ten couple in friends, ten family and friends. So
and the fact is twenty five years and you're all
still friends, you're working together. Someone has really organized very
well and delineated who does what, So there's no resentment
that I did more. But so tell me you started
Arroyo Sellers in what year.
Speaker 3 (01:52):
We started with the wine storage area in twenty eighteen.
We actually opened up the tasting room once before COVID
did wonderful.
Speaker 2 (02:02):
But you're still here. And how many cases do you make?
Speaker 3 (02:07):
We vary between five to seven hundred cases a year,
so relatively.
Speaker 2 (02:11):
Modest, modest and small. And what do you focus on
grape wise?
Speaker 3 (02:17):
We having fun with the grapes mainly. We actually do
a pretty broad range of wines. So we have several whites,
which we considered to be a heritage type for the
Livermore Valley. So Livermore was renowned for its southern hum Bloc.
(02:38):
Semion is another one that is quite good and one
day with the Chardonnay. So we have those, but we
also have another one of the heritage wines for Livermore Valley,
which is a petite row was something that was pioneered
through Concanon the Bordeaux grow here as well. And Cabernet
franc is another signature whine now for the Livermore Valley.
(02:59):
So we've been corporated dat into the portfolio as well.
Speaker 2 (03:02):
Okay, so more white wines than reds.
Speaker 3 (03:06):
No, it's actually a pretty healthy mix. So this year,
even though we only bottled seven in our cases, we
did produce sixteen different wines there, wow, four whites and
twelve rids.
Speaker 2 (03:20):
Wow.
Speaker 3 (03:21):
Wow.
Speaker 2 (03:21):
And working with a lot of Bordeaux varieties in the
classics of them.
Speaker 3 (03:26):
That is correct.
Speaker 2 (03:27):
Okay? And are you do you own any vineyards or
just sourcing fruit? And if you're sourcing fruit, is it
just from Livermore Valley or do you expand out?
Speaker 3 (03:37):
We source our fruit, so we're definitely not farmers. We
leave out to people who know what they're doing. We
buy almost exclusively from the Livermore and the majority of
the grapes actually come from within two and a half
miles of the winery. We do have one exception, and
that is that we've picked up some Torroldego just because
(03:58):
we felt like, you know, that would be a lot
of fun.
Speaker 2 (04:00):
Why not.
Speaker 3 (04:00):
Everyone knows charle to go absolutely and it's not grown
here in Livermore. So we did source it from.
Speaker 2 (04:06):
Gold from where gold golt.
Speaker 3 (04:08):
Where's that It's by Sacramento?
Speaker 2 (04:10):
Okay, not far, not terribly far. And I'm going to
make the assumption that with the amount of wine that
you produce, that you are exclusively, exclusively available here as
a direct to consumer winery. That you've got your tasting
room and your website. But are you in any markets?
Do you sell in any restaurants locally or in any
other cities?
Speaker 3 (04:31):
We are pretty much local. We do sell to a
number of restaurants. I think you're mainly here in Livermore.
We just close the deal with Costco, so we're going
to have some wine showing up there in the very
near future. Otherwise, the majority of the cell is through
the taste somewhere.
Speaker 2 (04:49):
Then this is where people have to find you, and
that's how I found you. So I'm curious. You know,
you and your friends have come to wine after other careers.
Wine is something you love, But what is your first
memory relevant to wine? How old were you and what
was that experience where you actually either tasted or found
out wine existed.
Speaker 3 (05:11):
Okay, I'm going to give you a couple ways of answering. Yet,
when I grew up in the family, we grew up
in western Pennsylvania, wine was not something that was an
everyday part of our lives, and so those consequences. My
first face the wine was BlackBerry wine.
Speaker 2 (05:34):
Made from blackberries, and that was the first experience Your
first memory relevant to wine?
Speaker 3 (05:39):
Correct?
Speaker 2 (05:39):
So then I can fast forward and say, Okay, when
you started drinking wine, do you have You may have many,
because I mean it sounds like you have had experienced
drinking wine. But is there one wine that stands out
as one of those aha moment wines, like one of
those really memorable wine experiences.
Speaker 3 (06:00):
Out? Yes, and against not the shortest answer in the world,
but with my once I graduated from college, with my job,
I had a lot of international activity associated with my job,
and so I got to travel fair amount, and of
course wine and dinner became a part of my life
(06:20):
and I got to experience a lot of absolutely wonderful
wines over the years. My wife and I went out
a cruise and the Somalie on board the cruise ship
noted that we tended to like some pretty nice wines,
and he came up to us and said, Okay, tomorrow
is your last day for dinner on the cruise ship.
(06:42):
When you come to the dining room, do not get seated.
Ask for me. And we said okay, and we came
in and there he had a separate little table set
aside with a decanter on it, and he introduced us
to Sassakaia. Okay, and that was just a lovely wine.
And we kind of still enjoy the glass of Sasakaia
(07:05):
to this state.
Speaker 2 (07:06):
With a very lovely memory associated with it. So it's
that a lot of times that aha moment with wine
is centered not just about what was in the glass,
but the whole experience exactly. So if we were to
come to your home, what kind of wines would we
find in your house? Are you a collector of wine?
Are there certain grapes you have or regions your own wines,
(07:30):
local wines? What would we find in.
Speaker 3 (07:33):
Your house, sadly, almost anything, well.
Speaker 2 (07:37):
That's not sadly, that's exciting.
Speaker 3 (07:39):
Well, it's all relative, but we have a pretty broad
range of wines because again, for us, wine is not
just something that you see. It's a mood, it's an expression,
it's the time of the day, what you're doing, who
you're with, what you're eating. And so we pretty much
(08:00):
the spectrum covered.
Speaker 2 (08:01):
And is there anything you opened up recently that drank
really well.
Speaker 3 (08:06):
Well, there are a few. So again we a friend
of ours just had a birthday, so we bought a
bottle of the Sassakaya for that. We also enjoyed a
beautiful worn Alia just recently had a favely Jevre Chambertine
which was just exquisite.
Speaker 2 (08:23):
But do you know, do you know what vintage that
family was.
Speaker 3 (08:27):
The family that we just had was a twenty nineteen.
The Saskai was also in nineteen, The Ornelli was in eighteen.
But the other thing is we opened up one of
ours just recently with a group of friends, and which
one was beautiful? It was our Dorado. It's a twenty
(08:51):
twenty three Bordeaux blend, so it's fifty six percent. Is
a field blend of petite Serah, I'm sorry I missed
bo petite for dough cab franc and a mile back.
Thirty percent is Caverny Sevignon, and then the remaining fourteen
percent is Marlowe.
Speaker 2 (09:10):
Wow, you drink a lot. I like that. I like that.
So as someone who drinks a lot a broad diverse
selection of wines from all over the world, as well
as making what sixteen different wines here, do you think
there's a such thing as a perfect variety?
Speaker 3 (09:32):
I don't. Again, to me, it really ties into the
moment man, who you're with, the foods, et cetera.
Speaker 2 (09:42):
And so as a wine drinker, I mean, you know
you did talk Sasa Kay and Ornelia, But as a
wine drinker, red whiteter Rose.
Speaker 3 (09:54):
Slight bias towards the reds, but again equal opportunity. There
are certain days where a Rose said, no, this is
what you're going to drink today. Yeah, the white said no,
this is this will be perfect. And what we're sipping
right now.
Speaker 2 (10:11):
Is a white because it's middle of the day, it's
warm out. What more do you want? Absolutely, you're right,
it's about place and time and space still are.
Speaker 3 (10:22):
Sparkling, sparkling goes with everything, and it's always a great,
great thing to have. But I more steel than sparkling.
Speaker 2 (10:34):
Well, speaking about going with everything and about moods and times,
a lot has to do with what you're eating. So
how do you approach food and wine pairing? Do you
follow rules? Do you think the old adage of white
wine and fish, red wine and meat, or is there
something else you look for in making the choices.
Speaker 3 (10:52):
I look more at the flavors and the flavor profiles.
I look at the acid levels and the way I
look at Christmas, take a look at the fattiness in
the foods, what spices go with the foods, and then
I go from there.
Speaker 2 (11:07):
So do you pick your food and then choose the
wine or do you pick your wine and then decide
the dish?
Speaker 3 (11:14):
Normally I picked the food first and then I'll choose
a wine that I think goes best with it. There
are exceptions where I said this is the one I read,
But as a role, it's the food.
Speaker 2 (11:26):
First, okay. And can you offer an example. Let's say
that you have, as you said, some spice in your dish.
What would you be looking for in a wine as
a compliment to that?
Speaker 3 (11:40):
Well, if it was a very spicy as in hot
spice dish. There, I would look for something that's a
little cool er, a little crisper, so slightly higher acid
just to help work with the spices. If it's a
rounder spice there, I would look for a wine it
would be able to stand up to the spice so
(12:01):
that it wouldn't be overpowered by the dish. So, for instance,
we make a zinfandel here that I call a Lasagna
wine because lasagna is an old, rich food and this
wine is not a whimpy wine. It'll stand up and
hold its own with the wine, and the two work together.
Speaker 2 (12:22):
In more of a compliment to each other as opposed
to a contrast to each other.
Speaker 3 (12:30):
That is correct. Yeah, for me, the perfect pairing is
when both the food and the wine are enhanced by
the other's presence.
Speaker 2 (12:38):
We all try to achieve that. That's what we work for.
That's what we work for. So for somebody who hasn't
had the pleasure to taste of royal sellers yet, what
do you think they're missing out on?
Speaker 3 (12:50):
What they're missing out on is the beauty of the
little more fruit the first. First off, The second thing
is that we don't overwork. The wine. Fruit tells us
what to do, and we want fruit to be the showcase,
the centerpiece of the wine. So what you're getting here
is you're getting a nice, clean wine, not overly oaked,
(13:13):
not overly worked, but something that is just a real
beautiful representation of what that grape wants to be.
Speaker 2 (13:21):
So when we talk about what a grape wants to be,
and you were mentioning that you don't think there's a
such thing as a perfect variety. But as a wine maker,
are you aspiring to achieve some level of perfection or scores?
I mean, do wine critics and scores play a big
role in what you do? Do you find them to
be useful or what's your opinion?
Speaker 3 (13:42):
That's another good question. What I tell people about wine
critics is if you can find one that aligns with
your taste, that's great because then you can use them
to go out there and source a lot of different things.
But you need to trial things. For me, the most
important person and their opinion of the wine is the
(14:06):
person sitting across from me as I'm pouring the glass
for them. That that's probably the shortest answer I can
But yeah, as far as again, not having a specific
(14:26):
variety in mind, is we're doing things. The short answer
there is yes, I'm trying to achieve perfection for every
wine that we make. What we do when we work
on the blending, so we do a lot of blends.
There's the occasion where you'll taste something by itself and
you'll say, Okay, I'm not gonna mess with this. It's
(14:48):
just exactly what it needs to be. But the majority
of what we do are blends, and well, we're tasting
the wine. We're we're not tasting the wine as a
regular taste. We're looking for the holes, the gaps. Okay,
I like it, but it would be even better. And
that's why we have a range of wines that we
play with, because then we'll say, Okay, maybe a little
(15:11):
bit of this will help to plug that hole. And
to me, that's the best part of being a wine
maker is having that opportunity and seeing how the grapes
want to play together.
Speaker 2 (15:25):
Yeah, well that's the beauty of what a blend is.
You know, varieties are beautiful on their own, and like
you said, when one is great, they're great, but there
is something really beautiful about finding how they can work
with each other. So, if space aliens were to land
in your parking lot out there and come knock on
your door, which of your wines, of all your sixteen wines,
(15:47):
would you say, Welcome to royal sellers.
Speaker 3 (15:50):
I would start them with the white blend, the liver More.
Speaker 2 (15:54):
It's aptly named too.
Speaker 3 (15:56):
Yeah, it's well, it's a wine helped to put Livermore
on the map. I was back and the eighteen eighties,
a blend of Savinium bulk and semon was actually entered
into the Paras Exhibition and it did quite well. It
won best of class, okay, and.
Speaker 2 (16:18):
Against a classic four Jeau white, which is a blend
of Samnil blanc and semione. Right, okay, So yeah, we've
got that here. So I guess I'm a space alien.
I got welcomed with and you call it the Livermore White.
I call it Livermore Livermore. So welcome to Livermore with
a glass of Livermore. It's perfect. I love it. I
love it. So you're sourcing fruit from lots of different vineyards,
(16:40):
do you spend a lot of time in the vineyards.
Speaker 3 (16:43):
We have developed relationships with the growers over the years. Yes,
we've had the opportunity to walk the vineyards discuss them.
There's a level of trust also that that's been established.
So when the growers say, you know, it would be
a good time to pick around now, we tend to
(17:04):
believe them. That doesn't mean that we won't go and
walk them in your your sample and taste. But it's
really more of, let's say, a cooperation of partnership with
the growers than one telling the other one to do and.
Speaker 2 (17:20):
With your you said you started this. You started making
a royal seller's wines in twenty eighteen, or you had
the storage and then the wine came a little later.
Speaker 3 (17:33):
Twenty eighteen was about right, twenty eighteen.
Speaker 2 (17:35):
But you were a partner in another winery you using
livermore fruit, and were you the wine maker for that
winery as well.
Speaker 3 (17:43):
The other wine maker. There's two of us as part
the wine maker team here. So Tim Sauer was the
primary wine maker at the other place, and I helped
him out. That's actually how I got involved in the
wine industry in the first place, was through a friendship
with Tim. So I've been playing with making wines now
for twenty five some odd years. Kim's got over thirty
(18:06):
some odd years.
Speaker 2 (18:07):
Okay, so for twenty five years, even though you're not
in the vineyard every single day, you know, you've been
making wine twenty five vintages. And I'm curious, in a
place like Livermore Value, do you see a lot of
consistency from year to year? Do you see a lot
of vintage variation? I mean, we know every vintage sells
a different story, but are the differences from one year
to another more similar or more different?
Speaker 3 (18:30):
It's recently consistent. I mean, there are obviously big differences
in the weather every once in a while, so some
vintages will just absolutely stand out, and then others they
get impacted by other environmental aspects. We had a lot
of wildfires in a twenty twenty time frame, and so
(18:52):
there were concerns over what was going on in that
time frame, and you know, passion follow on that year.
We were a little more selecting what we bought, and
we had to modify the winemaking process to try to
minimize the influence of smoke tank on the lines. But
(19:13):
you take those anomalies out of the situation and the
living more fruits are reasonably consistent. At least that's our experience.
Speaker 2 (19:23):
And as a team because you are a group of
ten friends. Do you guys have any sort of traditions
that you do each year at the start of harvest
or during harvest, that's you know, any sort of annual
toasts or random funny things we do.
Speaker 3 (19:42):
Actually, we do a lot during the course of the
year as grips. For instance, we do a lot of
holidays together and one family will pretty much do the Easter.
Some of you will get Fourth of July someone, or
do Christmas someone, or do Thanksgiving, and we rotate around
(20:03):
for that. Bottling is another opportunity where we all just
get together and enjoy the day. It's a very active day.
Speaker 2 (20:13):
But any good luck rituals not really. No no toes, noah,
lucky socks, noo.
Speaker 3 (20:21):
There's always toast. But there's more humor than anything else.
Speaker 2 (20:26):
You got to keep laughing. It's a lot of work,
so you got to laugh through it, absolutely. And I
like to hear that because with ten personalities, you know
that could be a challenge and it's better to laugh
than to yell.
Speaker 3 (20:38):
That is correct.
Speaker 2 (20:40):
So once the wines come into your cellar, that's when
they're in your domain. Now these are your babies. You
may not be as intimately familiar with the vines on
a personal basis, but you are intimately familiar with every
single barrel intaate. What is that kind of relationship with
Do you talk to them? Do you yell at the gwind?
You coax it along? Does it talk to you?
Speaker 3 (21:04):
I never yell at goin, That would be bad. But yes,
we will chat, we'll talk, will happen. Music playing often
in the background, and yes, the wine does talk to
us on a constant basis. We tend not to disturb
(21:25):
the wine a lot, but we will of course be
checking it on a rinking basis, and it lets us
know what it wants to do.
Speaker 2 (21:36):
And you don't yell it because you don't want it
to be temperamental and misbehave. But do you find that
playing music alters the wine at all? Does it affect
the wine or is that more for your own moods?
Speaker 3 (21:49):
I think it affects us more than it does the wine.
But as I said earlier in the discussion, when I
taste the wine, it's more the mood the day, the
time was going on around, And as a consequence, I
think that it actually helps us in our approach in
working with the wine.
Speaker 2 (22:10):
So when you were a little boy, what did you
want to be when you grew up? Was winemaker always
a dream in the back of your mind or did
you have other fantasies?
Speaker 3 (22:20):
Wine making was nowhere at all in the thought process
for well easily the first thirty plus years of my life.
Wine drinking, yes, that was definitely involved, but no, my
career choice. I'm an engineer, and that was what I
(22:44):
really wanted to be.
Speaker 2 (22:46):
The scientific mind, yeah, sadly, well, there's some there's a
lot of science and wine. So that's probably what draws
you even more into it.
Speaker 3 (22:55):
And that will could be although I would say that
what I bring to the party here with my partner Tim,
is more of the art side, the blending part of it.
Tim is much more knowledgeable on the science of winemaking,
(23:15):
and so I think as a consequence, I think we
can actually compliment each other very well. Our tastes are
very similar.
Speaker 2 (23:23):
I love that. That's wonderful. So when you're not working,
you have your friends that you do dinner parties with,
and you sounds like you socialize with them a lot.
But what else do you like to do in your
free time?
Speaker 3 (23:36):
We we love to travel, and my wife and I
have been pretty much all around the world and we
do it on a routine basis. The other thing that
we spend a lot of time at is Disneyland. I
really love to do that.
Speaker 2 (23:50):
Yeah, you and your wife or do you have kids
with you? Grandkids or it's just you and your wife.
Speaker 3 (23:56):
Mainly it's my wife and I. Yes, the grandchildren on
occasion if they're lucky, but no, it's just a great,
great thing to do, how fun.
Speaker 2 (24:05):
I love that it is the happiest place on earth. So, indeed,
who's your favorite Disney character?
Speaker 3 (24:13):
I really don't have a favorite. I'll just enjoy the moment.
Speaker 2 (24:17):
If you can meet Mickey Mouse, the real Mickey Mouse. No,
but if you could beat Maxims, which of your wines
would you want to give to him?
Speaker 3 (24:27):
I would probably give him a Merlow. At the moment,
we have a we have an absolutely beautiful Merlou that
surprises you, just as Mickey would surprise you with a
lot of the the uh, the layers of his of
his personality. This Burleau has a richness and layers and
(24:49):
depth to it that I think would be kind of
kind of cool.
Speaker 2 (24:51):
A little Mickey and Merlou, I love it. I love it.
So when you're planning a romantic evening for you and
your wife, I mean it sounds like if you're drinking
Sasa kay.
Speaker 3 (25:00):
And are in Alaya.
Speaker 2 (25:01):
Life is good and you know you travel around the world.
But are there certain wines or wine styles that will
say that it's not just a normal dinner but a
romantic evening. Are there certain wines that you know that
make her especially happy to have?
Speaker 3 (25:16):
Well two of them are they weren't allying. There are
also a couple of peanut and Mars that we really
really like and they tend to bump it up a bit.
And for a romantic evening, we will always start with
the glass of champagne guarantee.
Speaker 2 (25:37):
In fact, it may not have intended to be a
romantic but the bubbles come out and it changes everything.
I say, that's what bubbles do. So you've had a
career in other areas. Now you're in wine for twenty
five years. But you know along the years, you know,
we have teachers, and we have parents, we have mentors,
(25:57):
we have bosses. Is there a piece of advice someone
gave you at any point in your life that is
something you try to live or.
Speaker 3 (26:05):
Work by One of my bosses early in my career
told me that in life, there's not a lot that
you're really in control of. The One thing that you
can control is how you react to situations. So don't
(26:25):
let other people dictate how you react, because then you
control nothing and you become a victim. Don't ever allow
yourself to become a victim.
Speaker 2 (26:33):
I like that. That is really sound advice. And if
you could give our listeners a piece of advice, what
would you want to share beyond control your life? Don't
become a victim. Is there anything else maybe about wine?
Speaker 3 (26:46):
Yes, be open to trying. There is no such thing
as a mistake. It's more what your choice is and
what your individual preferences are. So try experiment. You don't
have to follow a rule. Find something that you like,
(27:08):
remember it so that you can order it again. And
in my book, you're now a connoisseur perfect.
Speaker 2 (27:14):
Perfect. So when you look back at your career, your
entire career, all your different careers, is there, you know,
what would you say is one of your proudest achievements
so far?
Speaker 3 (27:29):
My proudest achievement is actually convincing this young lady that
I was someone that she would be willing to go
out with.
Speaker 2 (27:41):
I said, in your career, you're not allowed to say
I love that, I love it. It's your wife, but
it's not supposed to be your wife for children, because
of course those are your proudest achievements. Well not, of course,
I should hope. But in your career, is there something
that stands out aside from your wife accepting a date.
Speaker 3 (28:03):
There were a lot of things that I succeeded in
doing through my career. I worked in the petrochemical industry.
I worked on development of rotating equipment and gas turbines,
and then I worked in the defense industry, and there
were a number of projects that I got to work
(28:27):
on with a really great group of people that I'm
really proud of. No one item it jumps out at
the moment someone like, I'm just not gonna talk about it.
Speaker 2 (28:38):
You can't tell me secret government stuff. We'll move on, okay,
So complete this sentence through me. A table without wine
is like.
Speaker 3 (28:54):
A day without sunshine. I mean, there's lots of cliches
that come to mind, but you can.
Speaker 2 (28:58):
Throw some others out. Come on a day without sunshine.
Speaker 3 (29:03):
Yeah, peanut, But without jelly A good one.
Speaker 2 (29:07):
I haven't heard that one before you go see asked
that enough times and you get a different answer almost
every time, almost every time. So we're sitting at a
table right now. There's an empty chair or two at
the table we're at, and we've got bottles of your
wine on the table that you've made. Who from any
walk of life, living or deceased, do you wish you
(29:30):
could have filling one of those chairs to drink wine
your wine with you.
Speaker 3 (29:35):
I would love for my dad to be here. He
passed away years ago, and I would just really really
like the sharing glass.
Speaker 2 (29:44):
Was he a wine drinker?
Speaker 3 (29:45):
He was not, but I think he would really enjoy this.
Speaker 2 (29:48):
I might become a wine drinker after that. So you're
a drinker and a collector of wine. If you were
off to a deserted island and can only take three
wines with you, what three wines would those be?
Speaker 3 (30:06):
I would definitely do a Champagne and it would most
likely be a Laurent Perier Rose.
Speaker 2 (30:15):
I like where you're going.
Speaker 3 (30:16):
I would do our Livermore because I really like our livermore.
And the third would be to Sassa.
Speaker 2 (30:26):
That was easy.
Speaker 3 (30:29):
Fifteen or twenty sixteen.
Speaker 2 (30:30):
Vantage you still have any of those.
Speaker 3 (30:34):
Ninymore drink a ball, They're all gone.
Speaker 2 (30:39):
Well, we have come to that time where we play
our little game. The one thing you're warned about about
pairing way with music. You know, we spoke a few
minutes ago about you know, kind of maybe the science
and art of wine being melded. But I think there's
also a connection between wine and music because both make
us feel a certain way. They boost our energy or
(30:59):
they calm us down. And I want you to pair
some of your wines with music, a genre, a singer
specific song, whatever you want that sort of expresses how
that wine expresses to you. So, since I've been sipping
on the Livermore Savino von Seo, let's start.
Speaker 3 (31:17):
With that wine. Absolutely so again, this is one of
our blends, and this wine as well as a couple
of our red blends, like the Dorado for instance, to me,
they are a perfect example of harmony, how things blend together.
So for me, this is something more along the lines
of like a Crosby Stills, a Nash song, or maybe
(31:40):
something by Pentatonics, where all the voices all blend together
and create something that is just even better than all
of the individual elements going into it.
Speaker 2 (31:50):
M Okay, so let's see we have the liver more,
where are you sourcing your pan and are from.
Speaker 3 (32:00):
The piano and a war actually comes from a small
vineyard just outside of Snow. It's again part of the
living rapilation. The vineyard is called Nellita and they are
for people who are familiar with the Bay area. They
are on the it's east side of six point eighty,
so it's about maybe seven miles from the.
Speaker 2 (32:25):
Winery and cool enough for peano and noir.
Speaker 3 (32:28):
It's actually down in in a nice little valley, and
so it is one of the few places in this
area that is good for a peanut and noir.
Speaker 2 (32:38):
Okay, so what about your peano noir?
Speaker 3 (32:40):
So our pianoalire tends to be a surprise for people
because I tell people, if you're a huge fan of
that old, bright, fruity California or Oregon style peana noir,
this isn't it. This is much more of an old
world style. It has a little more of a body,
(33:02):
a little more minerality to it, a little more of
an earthiness. I compare it to force floor. Okay, if
you've ever walked through the woods after a rain and
you can smell that that sweet smell coming up from
the ground. Not that the wine is sweet, but that
smell that that to me is a hint of what's
(33:23):
going on with the piano.
Speaker 2 (33:24):
Okay, and a song or an artist or a genre.
Speaker 3 (33:28):
So for something like that, and I wasn't expecting that one, yeah,
already coming from but I would do something like a
James Taylor Okay, see see coming through like that.
Speaker 2 (33:42):
See it's not that hard to do this. You know.
You mentioned with the Royo Dorado that it would be
sort of the blend and the harmony. So I'm going
to assume that's a little more. Still in the pen
attacks and Crosby sells Nash, what about your petite serad?
That is the great that was born here in Livermore.
So tell me about the petizzaa.
Speaker 3 (34:03):
Yeah, so the petitza ra it's it's a bolder one.
It's not overlitanic. It doesn't absolutely demand that you have
to have food with it. But it's got some body,
it's got some substance, and it comes across with a
nice BlackBerry excuse me, in blueberry flavor that comes through.
(34:27):
It'll stand up to almost anything. So for that one,
I would do something like Black Magic Woman from Santana.
Speaker 2 (34:35):
Okay, And I want to do one morning. I want
to stump you here, and I'm trying to think about
what you talked about. You said, Okay, the Merleau that
you would give Mickey Mouse.
Speaker 3 (34:49):
Yeah, so that Merleau Fantasia comes to mind immediately. And
I mean, there are a number of great songs, but
I'm desperate the name of the oneslaw right now and
I can't. But it's it's a symphony.
Speaker 2 (35:11):
Okay, there you go. See I picked wines you weren't
prepared for. Well, John, it's been great talking with you.
You are almost finished. We've gotten through many of my questions.
But I do have one last question, and that is
you've traveled around the world. You've had the privilege to
travel around the world and see many places. Is there
(35:32):
one wine region that's at the top of your bucket
list that you'd like to explore deeper or have never
been to that you'd really want to get to.
Speaker 3 (35:43):
We've been to, as you said, a lot, but what
I've never gone to are any of the regions in
South America. And I'm intrigued. So I would just like
to explore that. Yeah, and the other silly part of
the answers they like Livermore. In my mind, we actually
(36:06):
live in a vacation resort and this is just a
very welcoming valley and when I taste the wines here,
to me, it's wine as it's supposed to be.
Speaker 2 (36:16):
So do you go around and taste a lot of wines?
Do you get out and explore the Livermore?
Speaker 3 (36:21):
Absolutely every chance we can.
Speaker 2 (36:23):
And if people wanted to come here and explore Livermore
and come to Royal Sellers, where will they find you?
When you open? What will they find?
Speaker 3 (36:32):
So we are open right now on Saturdays and Sundays
from noon to five. The partners all rotate in working
in the tasting room. So when you come to our place,
you're going to meet an owner, You're going to meet
a wine maker, You're going to meet someone who is
intimately involved in the entire process, and you will be
(36:54):
welcomed as a friend.
Speaker 2 (36:56):
That's great, that's true. Ten when you're ten friends, there's
you got a good team of employees.
Speaker 3 (37:03):
Absolutely works out well.
Speaker 2 (37:06):
Well, John, thank you so much for joining us today
on Wine Soundtrack. I hope you had fun and didn't
feel too much pressure.
Speaker 3 (37:13):
No, this was great. Thank you appreciate.
Speaker 2 (37:15):
It well do you do.
Speaker 1 (37:18):
Thanks for listening to a new episode of Wine Soundtrack USA.
For details and updates, visit our website windsoundtrack dot com.
Welcome to Wine Soundtrack USA. Listen to the passion with
which producers narrate their winery and their world team thirty
answers discover their stories, personalities and passions.
Speaker 2 (00:12):
Hello, friends and listeners of Wine Soundtrack. This is Alison
Levine and today I'm in the tasting room of Royo
Sellers in the Livermore Valley with the partner and winemaker
John chip Rich. John, welcome to Wine Soundtrack and tell
us a little bit about Arroyo Sellers.
Speaker 3 (00:28):
That's a pleasure having you here. Thank you. And Arroyo
Sellers were a small, very small winery founded by a
group of a family of friends, I think is the
best way of phrasing it. So there are actually ten
of us overall, their partners in the winery, and we
each bring something different to the operation. But we're a
(00:50):
group of people that met over twenty five years ago
and have done a lot of things together over the years.
A few years back, one of the partners decided that
it might be fun to open a winery. There was
a previous winery that we had been affiliated with. Unfortunately,
the owner of that one had passed away and so
(01:11):
it shut down, but it left an interest for all
of us. So the one gentleman Ron decided to open
up a new location here at Royal Sellers. And the
business started primarily as wine storage, but it was always
a vision to have a winery involved with it, and
we just grew from there.
Speaker 2 (01:32):
And I love this because you said it's ten friends
or ten couple in friends, ten family and friends. So
and the fact is twenty five years and you're all
still friends, you're working together. Someone has really organized very
well and delineated who does what, So there's no resentment
that I did more. But so tell me you started
Arroyo Sellers in what year.
Speaker 3 (01:52):
We started with the wine storage area in twenty eighteen.
We actually opened up the tasting room once before COVID
did wonderful.
Speaker 2 (02:02):
But you're still here. And how many cases do you make?
Speaker 3 (02:07):
We vary between five to seven hundred cases a year,
so relatively.
Speaker 2 (02:11):
Modest, modest and small. And what do you focus on
grape wise?
Speaker 3 (02:17):
We having fun with the grapes mainly. We actually do
a pretty broad range of wines. So we have several whites,
which we considered to be a heritage type for the
Livermore Valley. So Livermore was renowned for its southern hum Bloc.
(02:38):
Semion is another one that is quite good and one
day with the Chardonnay. So we have those, but we
also have another one of the heritage wines for Livermore Valley,
which is a petite row was something that was pioneered
through Concanon the Bordeaux grow here as well. And Cabernet
franc is another signature whine now for the Livermore Valley.
(02:59):
So we've been corporated dat into the portfolio as well.
Speaker 2 (03:02):
Okay, so more white wines than reds.
Speaker 3 (03:06):
No, it's actually a pretty healthy mix. So this year,
even though we only bottled seven in our cases, we
did produce sixteen different wines there, wow, four whites and
twelve rids.
Speaker 2 (03:20):
Wow.
Speaker 3 (03:21):
Wow.
Speaker 2 (03:21):
And working with a lot of Bordeaux varieties in the
classics of them.
Speaker 3 (03:26):
That is correct.
Speaker 2 (03:27):
Okay? And are you do you own any vineyards or
just sourcing fruit? And if you're sourcing fruit, is it
just from Livermore Valley or do you expand out?
Speaker 3 (03:37):
We source our fruit, so we're definitely not farmers. We
leave out to people who know what they're doing. We
buy almost exclusively from the Livermore and the majority of
the grapes actually come from within two and a half
miles of the winery. We do have one exception, and
that is that we've picked up some Torroldego just because
(03:58):
we felt like, you know, that would be a lot
of fun.
Speaker 2 (04:00):
Why not.
Speaker 3 (04:00):
Everyone knows charle to go absolutely and it's not grown
here in Livermore. So we did source it from.
Speaker 2 (04:06):
Gold from where gold golt.
Speaker 3 (04:08):
Where's that It's by Sacramento?
Speaker 2 (04:10):
Okay, not far, not terribly far. And I'm going to
make the assumption that with the amount of wine that
you produce, that you are exclusively, exclusively available here as
a direct to consumer winery. That you've got your tasting
room and your website. But are you in any markets?
Do you sell in any restaurants locally or in any
other cities?
Speaker 3 (04:31):
We are pretty much local. We do sell to a
number of restaurants. I think you're mainly here in Livermore.
We just close the deal with Costco, so we're going
to have some wine showing up there in the very
near future. Otherwise, the majority of the cell is through
the taste somewhere.
Speaker 2 (04:49):
Then this is where people have to find you, and
that's how I found you. So I'm curious. You know,
you and your friends have come to wine after other careers.
Wine is something you love, But what is your first
memory relevant to wine? How old were you and what
was that experience where you actually either tasted or found
out wine existed.
Speaker 3 (05:11):
Okay, I'm going to give you a couple ways of answering. Yet,
when I grew up in the family, we grew up
in western Pennsylvania, wine was not something that was an
everyday part of our lives, and so those consequences. My
first face the wine was BlackBerry wine.
Speaker 2 (05:34):
Made from blackberries, and that was the first experience Your
first memory relevant to wine?
Speaker 3 (05:39):
Correct?
Speaker 2 (05:39):
So then I can fast forward and say, Okay, when
you started drinking wine, do you have You may have many,
because I mean it sounds like you have had experienced
drinking wine. But is there one wine that stands out
as one of those aha moment wines, like one of
those really memorable wine experiences.
Speaker 3 (06:00):
Out? Yes, and against not the shortest answer in the world,
but with my once I graduated from college, with my job,
I had a lot of international activity associated with my job,
and so I got to travel fair amount, and of
course wine and dinner became a part of my life
(06:20):
and I got to experience a lot of absolutely wonderful
wines over the years. My wife and I went out
a cruise and the Somalie on board the cruise ship
noted that we tended to like some pretty nice wines,
and he came up to us and said, Okay, tomorrow
is your last day for dinner on the cruise ship.
(06:42):
When you come to the dining room, do not get seated.
Ask for me. And we said okay, and we came
in and there he had a separate little table set
aside with a decanter on it, and he introduced us
to Sassakaia. Okay, and that was just a lovely wine.
And we kind of still enjoy the glass of Sasakaia
(07:05):
to this state.
Speaker 2 (07:06):
With a very lovely memory associated with it. So it's
that a lot of times that aha moment with wine
is centered not just about what was in the glass,
but the whole experience exactly. So if we were to
come to your home, what kind of wines would we
find in your house? Are you a collector of wine?
Are there certain grapes you have or regions your own wines,
(07:30):
local wines? What would we find in.
Speaker 3 (07:33):
Your house, sadly, almost anything, well.
Speaker 2 (07:37):
That's not sadly, that's exciting.
Speaker 3 (07:39):
Well, it's all relative, but we have a pretty broad
range of wines because again, for us, wine is not
just something that you see. It's a mood, it's an expression,
it's the time of the day, what you're doing, who
you're with, what you're eating. And so we pretty much
(08:00):
the spectrum covered.
Speaker 2 (08:01):
And is there anything you opened up recently that drank
really well.
Speaker 3 (08:06):
Well, there are a few. So again we a friend
of ours just had a birthday, so we bought a
bottle of the Sassakaya for that. We also enjoyed a
beautiful worn Alia just recently had a favely Jevre Chambertine
which was just exquisite.
Speaker 2 (08:23):
But do you know, do you know what vintage that
family was.
Speaker 3 (08:27):
The family that we just had was a twenty nineteen.
The Saskai was also in nineteen, The Ornelli was in eighteen.
But the other thing is we opened up one of
ours just recently with a group of friends, and which
one was beautiful? It was our Dorado. It's a twenty
(08:51):
twenty three Bordeaux blend, so it's fifty six percent. Is
a field blend of petite Serah, I'm sorry I missed
bo petite for dough cab franc and a mile back.
Thirty percent is Caverny Sevignon, and then the remaining fourteen
percent is Marlowe.
Speaker 2 (09:10):
Wow, you drink a lot. I like that. I like that.
So as someone who drinks a lot a broad diverse
selection of wines from all over the world, as well
as making what sixteen different wines here, do you think
there's a such thing as a perfect variety?
Speaker 3 (09:32):
I don't. Again, to me, it really ties into the
moment man, who you're with, the foods, et cetera.
Speaker 2 (09:42):
And so as a wine drinker, I mean, you know
you did talk Sasa Kay and Ornelia, But as a
wine drinker, red whiteter Rose.
Speaker 3 (09:54):
Slight bias towards the reds, but again equal opportunity. There
are certain days where a Rose said, no, this is
what you're going to drink today. Yeah, the white said no,
this is this will be perfect. And what we're sipping
right now.
Speaker 2 (10:11):
Is a white because it's middle of the day, it's
warm out. What more do you want? Absolutely, you're right,
it's about place and time and space still are.
Speaker 3 (10:22):
Sparkling, sparkling goes with everything, and it's always a great,
great thing to have. But I more steel than sparkling.
Speaker 2 (10:34):
Well, speaking about going with everything and about moods and times,
a lot has to do with what you're eating. So
how do you approach food and wine pairing? Do you
follow rules? Do you think the old adage of white
wine and fish, red wine and meat, or is there
something else you look for in making the choices.
Speaker 3 (10:52):
I look more at the flavors and the flavor profiles.
I look at the acid levels and the way I
look at Christmas, take a look at the fattiness in
the foods, what spices go with the foods, and then
I go from there.
Speaker 2 (11:07):
So do you pick your food and then choose the
wine or do you pick your wine and then decide
the dish?
Speaker 3 (11:14):
Normally I picked the food first and then I'll choose
a wine that I think goes best with it. There
are exceptions where I said this is the one I read,
But as a role, it's the food.
Speaker 2 (11:26):
First, okay. And can you offer an example. Let's say
that you have, as you said, some spice in your dish.
What would you be looking for in a wine as
a compliment to that?
Speaker 3 (11:40):
Well, if it was a very spicy as in hot
spice dish. There, I would look for something that's a
little cool er, a little crisper, so slightly higher acid
just to help work with the spices. If it's a
rounder spice there, I would look for a wine it
would be able to stand up to the spice so
(12:01):
that it wouldn't be overpowered by the dish. So, for instance,
we make a zinfandel here that I call a Lasagna
wine because lasagna is an old, rich food and this
wine is not a whimpy wine. It'll stand up and
hold its own with the wine, and the two work together.
Speaker 2 (12:22):
In more of a compliment to each other as opposed
to a contrast to each other.
Speaker 3 (12:30):
That is correct. Yeah, for me, the perfect pairing is
when both the food and the wine are enhanced by
the other's presence.
Speaker 2 (12:38):
We all try to achieve that. That's what we work for.
That's what we work for. So for somebody who hasn't
had the pleasure to taste of royal sellers yet, what
do you think they're missing out on?
Speaker 3 (12:50):
What they're missing out on is the beauty of the
little more fruit the first. First off, The second thing
is that we don't overwork. The wine. Fruit tells us
what to do, and we want fruit to be the showcase,
the centerpiece of the wine. So what you're getting here
is you're getting a nice, clean wine, not overly oaked,
(13:13):
not overly worked, but something that is just a real
beautiful representation of what that grape wants to be.
Speaker 2 (13:21):
So when we talk about what a grape wants to be,
and you were mentioning that you don't think there's a
such thing as a perfect variety. But as a wine maker,
are you aspiring to achieve some level of perfection or scores?
I mean, do wine critics and scores play a big
role in what you do? Do you find them to
be useful or what's your opinion?
Speaker 3 (13:42):
That's another good question. What I tell people about wine
critics is if you can find one that aligns with
your taste, that's great because then you can use them
to go out there and source a lot of different things.
But you need to trial things. For me, the most
important person and their opinion of the wine is the
(14:06):
person sitting across from me as I'm pouring the glass
for them. That that's probably the shortest answer I can
But yeah, as far as again, not having a specific
(14:26):
variety in mind, is we're doing things. The short answer
there is yes, I'm trying to achieve perfection for every
wine that we make. What we do when we work
on the blending, so we do a lot of blends.
There's the occasion where you'll taste something by itself and
you'll say, Okay, I'm not gonna mess with this. It's
(14:48):
just exactly what it needs to be. But the majority
of what we do are blends, and well, we're tasting
the wine. We're we're not tasting the wine as a
regular taste. We're looking for the holes, the gaps. Okay,
I like it, but it would be even better. And
that's why we have a range of wines that we
play with, because then we'll say, Okay, maybe a little
(15:11):
bit of this will help to plug that hole. And
to me, that's the best part of being a wine
maker is having that opportunity and seeing how the grapes
want to play together.
Speaker 2 (15:25):
Yeah, well that's the beauty of what a blend is.
You know, varieties are beautiful on their own, and like
you said, when one is great, they're great, but there
is something really beautiful about finding how they can work
with each other. So, if space aliens were to land
in your parking lot out there and come knock on
your door, which of your wines, of all your sixteen wines,
(15:47):
would you say, Welcome to royal sellers.
Speaker 3 (15:50):
I would start them with the white blend, the liver More.
Speaker 2 (15:54):
It's aptly named too.
Speaker 3 (15:56):
Yeah, it's well, it's a wine helped to put Livermore
on the map. I was back and the eighteen eighties,
a blend of Savinium bulk and semon was actually entered
into the Paras Exhibition and it did quite well. It
won best of class, okay, and.
Speaker 2 (16:18):
Against a classic four Jeau white, which is a blend
of Samnil blanc and semione. Right, okay, So yeah, we've
got that here. So I guess I'm a space alien.
I got welcomed with and you call it the Livermore White.
I call it Livermore Livermore. So welcome to Livermore with
a glass of Livermore. It's perfect. I love it. I
love it. So you're sourcing fruit from lots of different vineyards,
(16:40):
do you spend a lot of time in the vineyards.
Speaker 3 (16:43):
We have developed relationships with the growers over the years. Yes,
we've had the opportunity to walk the vineyards discuss them.
There's a level of trust also that that's been established.
So when the growers say, you know, it would be
a good time to pick around now, we tend to
(17:04):
believe them. That doesn't mean that we won't go and
walk them in your your sample and taste. But it's
really more of, let's say, a cooperation of partnership with
the growers than one telling the other one to do and.
Speaker 2 (17:20):
With your you said you started this. You started making
a royal seller's wines in twenty eighteen, or you had
the storage and then the wine came a little later.
Speaker 3 (17:33):
Twenty eighteen was about right, twenty eighteen.
Speaker 2 (17:35):
But you were a partner in another winery you using
livermore fruit, and were you the wine maker for that
winery as well.
Speaker 3 (17:43):
The other wine maker. There's two of us as part
the wine maker team here. So Tim Sauer was the
primary wine maker at the other place, and I helped
him out. That's actually how I got involved in the
wine industry in the first place, was through a friendship
with Tim. So I've been playing with making wines now
for twenty five some odd years. Kim's got over thirty
(18:06):
some odd years.
Speaker 2 (18:07):
Okay, so for twenty five years, even though you're not
in the vineyard every single day, you know, you've been
making wine twenty five vintages. And I'm curious, in a
place like Livermore Value, do you see a lot of
consistency from year to year? Do you see a lot
of vintage variation? I mean, we know every vintage sells
a different story, but are the differences from one year
to another more similar or more different?
Speaker 3 (18:30):
It's recently consistent. I mean, there are obviously big differences
in the weather every once in a while, so some
vintages will just absolutely stand out, and then others they
get impacted by other environmental aspects. We had a lot
of wildfires in a twenty twenty time frame, and so
(18:52):
there were concerns over what was going on in that
time frame, and you know, passion follow on that year.
We were a little more selecting what we bought, and
we had to modify the winemaking process to try to
minimize the influence of smoke tank on the lines. But
(19:13):
you take those anomalies out of the situation and the
living more fruits are reasonably consistent. At least that's our experience.
Speaker 2 (19:23):
And as a team because you are a group of
ten friends. Do you guys have any sort of traditions
that you do each year at the start of harvest
or during harvest, that's you know, any sort of annual
toasts or random funny things we do.
Speaker 3 (19:42):
Actually, we do a lot during the course of the
year as grips. For instance, we do a lot of
holidays together and one family will pretty much do the Easter.
Some of you will get Fourth of July someone, or
do Christmas someone, or do Thanksgiving, and we rotate around
(20:03):
for that. Bottling is another opportunity where we all just
get together and enjoy the day. It's a very active day.
Speaker 2 (20:13):
But any good luck rituals not really. No no toes, noah,
lucky socks, noo.
Speaker 3 (20:21):
There's always toast. But there's more humor than anything else.
Speaker 2 (20:26):
You got to keep laughing. It's a lot of work,
so you got to laugh through it, absolutely. And I
like to hear that because with ten personalities, you know
that could be a challenge and it's better to laugh
than to yell.
Speaker 3 (20:38):
That is correct.
Speaker 2 (20:40):
So once the wines come into your cellar, that's when
they're in your domain. Now these are your babies. You
may not be as intimately familiar with the vines on
a personal basis, but you are intimately familiar with every
single barrel intaate. What is that kind of relationship with
Do you talk to them? Do you yell at the gwind?
You coax it along? Does it talk to you?
Speaker 3 (21:04):
I never yell at goin, That would be bad. But yes,
we will chat, we'll talk, will happen. Music playing often
in the background, and yes, the wine does talk to
us on a constant basis. We tend not to disturb
(21:25):
the wine a lot, but we will of course be
checking it on a rinking basis, and it lets us
know what it wants to do.
Speaker 2 (21:36):
And you don't yell it because you don't want it
to be temperamental and misbehave. But do you find that
playing music alters the wine at all? Does it affect
the wine or is that more for your own moods?
Speaker 3 (21:49):
I think it affects us more than it does the wine.
But as I said earlier in the discussion, when I
taste the wine, it's more the mood the day, the
time was going on around, And as a consequence, I
think that it actually helps us in our approach in
working with the wine.
Speaker 2 (22:10):
So when you were a little boy, what did you
want to be when you grew up? Was winemaker always
a dream in the back of your mind or did
you have other fantasies?
Speaker 3 (22:20):
Wine making was nowhere at all in the thought process
for well easily the first thirty plus years of my life.
Wine drinking, yes, that was definitely involved, but no, my
career choice. I'm an engineer, and that was what I
(22:44):
really wanted to be.
Speaker 2 (22:46):
The scientific mind, yeah, sadly, well, there's some there's a
lot of science and wine. So that's probably what draws
you even more into it.
Speaker 3 (22:55):
And that will could be although I would say that
what I bring to the party here with my partner Tim,
is more of the art side, the blending part of it.
Tim is much more knowledgeable on the science of winemaking,
(23:15):
and so I think as a consequence, I think we
can actually compliment each other very well. Our tastes are
very similar.
Speaker 2 (23:23):
I love that. That's wonderful. So when you're not working,
you have your friends that you do dinner parties with,
and you sounds like you socialize with them a lot.
But what else do you like to do in your
free time?
Speaker 3 (23:36):
We we love to travel, and my wife and I
have been pretty much all around the world and we
do it on a routine basis. The other thing that
we spend a lot of time at is Disneyland. I
really love to do that.
Speaker 2 (23:50):
Yeah, you and your wife or do you have kids
with you? Grandkids or it's just you and your wife.
Speaker 3 (23:56):
Mainly it's my wife and I. Yes, the grandchildren on
occasion if they're lucky, but no, it's just a great,
great thing to do, how fun.
Speaker 2 (24:05):
I love that it is the happiest place on earth. So, indeed,
who's your favorite Disney character?
Speaker 3 (24:13):
I really don't have a favorite. I'll just enjoy the moment.
Speaker 2 (24:17):
If you can meet Mickey Mouse, the real Mickey Mouse. No,
but if you could beat Maxims, which of your wines
would you want to give to him?
Speaker 3 (24:27):
I would probably give him a Merlow. At the moment,
we have a we have an absolutely beautiful Merlou that
surprises you, just as Mickey would surprise you with a
lot of the the uh, the layers of his of
his personality. This Burleau has a richness and layers and
(24:49):
depth to it that I think would be kind of
kind of cool.
Speaker 2 (24:51):
A little Mickey and Merlou, I love it. I love it.
So when you're planning a romantic evening for you and
your wife, I mean it sounds like if you're drinking
Sasa kay.
Speaker 3 (25:00):
And are in Alaya.
Speaker 2 (25:01):
Life is good and you know you travel around the world.
But are there certain wines or wine styles that will
say that it's not just a normal dinner but a
romantic evening. Are there certain wines that you know that
make her especially happy to have?
Speaker 3 (25:16):
Well two of them are they weren't allying. There are
also a couple of peanut and Mars that we really
really like and they tend to bump it up a bit.
And for a romantic evening, we will always start with
the glass of champagne guarantee.
Speaker 2 (25:37):
In fact, it may not have intended to be a
romantic but the bubbles come out and it changes everything.
I say, that's what bubbles do. So you've had a
career in other areas. Now you're in wine for twenty
five years. But you know along the years, you know,
we have teachers, and we have parents, we have mentors,
(25:57):
we have bosses. Is there a piece of advice someone
gave you at any point in your life that is
something you try to live or.
Speaker 3 (26:05):
Work by One of my bosses early in my career
told me that in life, there's not a lot that
you're really in control of. The One thing that you
can control is how you react to situations. So don't
(26:25):
let other people dictate how you react, because then you
control nothing and you become a victim. Don't ever allow
yourself to become a victim.
Speaker 2 (26:33):
I like that. That is really sound advice. And if
you could give our listeners a piece of advice, what
would you want to share beyond control your life? Don't
become a victim. Is there anything else maybe about wine?
Speaker 3 (26:46):
Yes, be open to trying. There is no such thing
as a mistake. It's more what your choice is and
what your individual preferences are. So try experiment. You don't
have to follow a rule. Find something that you like,
(27:08):
remember it so that you can order it again. And
in my book, you're now a connoisseur perfect.
Speaker 2 (27:14):
Perfect. So when you look back at your career, your
entire career, all your different careers, is there, you know,
what would you say is one of your proudest achievements
so far?
Speaker 3 (27:29):
My proudest achievement is actually convincing this young lady that
I was someone that she would be willing to go
out with.
Speaker 2 (27:41):
I said, in your career, you're not allowed to say
I love that, I love it. It's your wife, but
it's not supposed to be your wife for children, because
of course those are your proudest achievements. Well not, of course,
I should hope. But in your career, is there something
that stands out aside from your wife accepting a date.
Speaker 3 (28:03):
There were a lot of things that I succeeded in
doing through my career. I worked in the petrochemical industry.
I worked on development of rotating equipment and gas turbines,
and then I worked in the defense industry, and there
were a number of projects that I got to work
(28:27):
on with a really great group of people that I'm
really proud of. No one item it jumps out at
the moment someone like, I'm just not gonna talk about it.
Speaker 2 (28:38):
You can't tell me secret government stuff. We'll move on, okay,
So complete this sentence through me. A table without wine
is like.
Speaker 3 (28:54):
A day without sunshine. I mean, there's lots of cliches
that come to mind, but you can.
Speaker 2 (28:58):
Throw some others out. Come on a day without sunshine.
Speaker 3 (29:03):
Yeah, peanut, But without jelly A good one.
Speaker 2 (29:07):
I haven't heard that one before you go see asked
that enough times and you get a different answer almost
every time, almost every time. So we're sitting at a
table right now. There's an empty chair or two at
the table we're at, and we've got bottles of your
wine on the table that you've made. Who from any
walk of life, living or deceased, do you wish you
(29:30):
could have filling one of those chairs to drink wine
your wine with you.
Speaker 3 (29:35):
I would love for my dad to be here. He
passed away years ago, and I would just really really
like the sharing glass.
Speaker 2 (29:44):
Was he a wine drinker?
Speaker 3 (29:45):
He was not, but I think he would really enjoy this.
Speaker 2 (29:48):
I might become a wine drinker after that. So you're
a drinker and a collector of wine. If you were
off to a deserted island and can only take three
wines with you, what three wines would those be?
Speaker 3 (30:06):
I would definitely do a Champagne and it would most
likely be a Laurent Perier Rose.
Speaker 2 (30:15):
I like where you're going.
Speaker 3 (30:16):
I would do our Livermore because I really like our livermore.
And the third would be to Sassa.
Speaker 2 (30:26):
That was easy.
Speaker 3 (30:29):
Fifteen or twenty sixteen.
Speaker 2 (30:30):
Vantage you still have any of those.
Speaker 3 (30:34):
Ninymore drink a ball, They're all gone.
Speaker 2 (30:39):
Well, we have come to that time where we play
our little game. The one thing you're warned about about
pairing way with music. You know, we spoke a few
minutes ago about you know, kind of maybe the science
and art of wine being melded. But I think there's
also a connection between wine and music because both make
us feel a certain way. They boost our energy or
(30:59):
they calm us down. And I want you to pair
some of your wines with music, a genre, a singer
specific song, whatever you want that sort of expresses how
that wine expresses to you. So, since I've been sipping
on the Livermore Savino von Seo, let's start.
Speaker 3 (31:17):
With that wine. Absolutely so again, this is one of
our blends, and this wine as well as a couple
of our red blends, like the Dorado for instance, to me,
they are a perfect example of harmony, how things blend together.
So for me, this is something more along the lines
of like a Crosby Stills, a Nash song, or maybe
(31:40):
something by Pentatonics, where all the voices all blend together
and create something that is just even better than all
of the individual elements going into it.
Speaker 2 (31:50):
M Okay, so let's see we have the liver more,
where are you sourcing your pan and are from.
Speaker 3 (32:00):
The piano and a war actually comes from a small
vineyard just outside of Snow. It's again part of the
living rapilation. The vineyard is called Nellita and they are
for people who are familiar with the Bay area. They
are on the it's east side of six point eighty,
so it's about maybe seven miles from the.
Speaker 2 (32:25):
Winery and cool enough for peano and noir.
Speaker 3 (32:28):
It's actually down in in a nice little valley, and
so it is one of the few places in this
area that is good for a peanut and noir.
Speaker 2 (32:38):
Okay, so what about your peano noir?
Speaker 3 (32:40):
So our pianoalire tends to be a surprise for people
because I tell people, if you're a huge fan of
that old, bright, fruity California or Oregon style peana noir,
this isn't it. This is much more of an old
world style. It has a little more of a body,
(33:02):
a little more minerality to it, a little more of
an earthiness. I compare it to force floor. Okay, if
you've ever walked through the woods after a rain and
you can smell that that sweet smell coming up from
the ground. Not that the wine is sweet, but that
smell that that to me is a hint of what's
(33:23):
going on with the piano.
Speaker 2 (33:24):
Okay, and a song or an artist or a genre.
Speaker 3 (33:28):
So for something like that, and I wasn't expecting that one, yeah,
already coming from but I would do something like a
James Taylor Okay, see see coming through like that.
Speaker 2 (33:42):
See it's not that hard to do this. You know.
You mentioned with the Royo Dorado that it would be
sort of the blend and the harmony. So I'm going
to assume that's a little more. Still in the pen
attacks and Crosby sells Nash, what about your petite serad?
That is the great that was born here in Livermore.
So tell me about the petizzaa.
Speaker 3 (34:03):
Yeah, so the petitza ra it's it's a bolder one.
It's not overlitanic. It doesn't absolutely demand that you have
to have food with it. But it's got some body,
it's got some substance, and it comes across with a
nice BlackBerry excuse me, in blueberry flavor that comes through.
(34:27):
It'll stand up to almost anything. So for that one,
I would do something like Black Magic Woman from Santana.
Speaker 2 (34:35):
Okay, And I want to do one morning. I want
to stump you here, and I'm trying to think about
what you talked about. You said, Okay, the Merleau that
you would give Mickey Mouse.
Speaker 3 (34:49):
Yeah, so that Merleau Fantasia comes to mind immediately. And
I mean, there are a number of great songs, but
I'm desperate the name of the oneslaw right now and
I can't. But it's it's a symphony.
Speaker 2 (35:11):
Okay, there you go. See I picked wines you weren't
prepared for. Well, John, it's been great talking with you.
You are almost finished. We've gotten through many of my questions.
But I do have one last question, and that is
you've traveled around the world. You've had the privilege to
travel around the world and see many places. Is there
(35:32):
one wine region that's at the top of your bucket
list that you'd like to explore deeper or have never
been to that you'd really want to get to.
Speaker 3 (35:43):
We've been to, as you said, a lot, but what
I've never gone to are any of the regions in
South America. And I'm intrigued. So I would just like
to explore that. Yeah, and the other silly part of
the answers they like Livermore. In my mind, we actually
(36:06):
live in a vacation resort and this is just a
very welcoming valley and when I taste the wines here,
to me, it's wine as it's supposed to be.
Speaker 2 (36:16):
So do you go around and taste a lot of wines?
Do you get out and explore the Livermore?
Speaker 3 (36:21):
Absolutely every chance we can.
Speaker 2 (36:23):
And if people wanted to come here and explore Livermore
and come to Royal Sellers, where will they find you?
When you open? What will they find?
Speaker 3 (36:32):
So we are open right now on Saturdays and Sundays
from noon to five. The partners all rotate in working
in the tasting room. So when you come to our place,
you're going to meet an owner, You're going to meet
a wine maker, You're going to meet someone who is
intimately involved in the entire process, and you will be
(36:54):
welcomed as a friend.
Speaker 2 (36:56):
That's great, that's true. Ten when you're ten friends, there's
you got a good team of employees.
Speaker 3 (37:03):
Absolutely works out well.
Speaker 2 (37:06):
Well, John, thank you so much for joining us today
on Wine Soundtrack. I hope you had fun and didn't
feel too much pressure.
Speaker 3 (37:13):
No, this was great. Thank you appreciate.
Speaker 2 (37:15):
It well do you do.
Speaker 1 (37:18):
Thanks for listening to a new episode of Wine Soundtrack USA.
For details and updates, visit our website windsoundtrack dot com.
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