October 8, 2025 • 45 mins
CMB Family of Wines is a family-owned and operated portfolio of premium wine brands based in California’s Russian River Valley, on the Laguna Ridge at Martin Ray, one of the state’s oldest continually operating wineries.The portfolio includes Martin Ray, Angeline, Synthesis, Courtney Benham, and the newly acquired Foppiano and Vina Robles. Known for revitalizing legacy brands, CMB Family of Wines blends tradition with modern innovation to craft wines that celebrate California’s most esteemed appellations. With a strong commitment to quality, sustainability, and a family-first philosophy, CMB Family of Wines is building a dynamic future for generations to come.
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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 Alson
Levine and today I am in the Sonoa Valley with
Courtney Benham of CMB Family of Wines. Courtney, welcome to
Wine's Soundtrack and tell us about what does that mean
CMB Family of Wines.
Speaker 3 (00:26):
The CMB Family of Wines is my initials, which you
know is represents Courtney Monroe Benham. And within the CMB
Family of Wines there are three or four wineries and brands,
one being the Martin Ray Winery, also Angeline Winery, Folpiano
(00:53):
Winery and also being a Robos out of Passer Robles.
Speaker 2 (00:57):
So a lot of these wineries are names that you
know a lot of people may be familiar with. I
mean Martin Ray, Fobiano, They're not new names, even Vigna Robliss.
When do you get involved with these wineries? Have you
been an owner for a long time? Are they your
brands are? At what point do you get involved with them?
Speaker 3 (01:13):
So at different times and first it was back in
I think nineteen ninety with the Martin Ray brand, and
I discovered Martin Ray, you know, by happenstance, you know,
a warehouse down in San Jose, and ended up buying
(01:35):
the trademark, the name, and a bunch of the old
Martin Ray inventory. But Martin Ray was a historic winery
in the Santa Cuez Mountains, started by Martin Ray in
nineteen forty three. Yeah, so he ran it for years
and years. Then he died, I think in sixty seven,
(01:57):
and then his family tried to continue on with it
and for four or five years, and then they basically
shut it down and they mothballed it in this warehouse
in San Jose, and I came across it and discovered it,
and it was a real treasure because, you know, Martin
Ray was really the first California winemaker to make true
(02:21):
varietal wines, and his really goal was to make wines
in California that rival of the great French Burgundies and Bordeaux.
And interesting enough, he charged back in the fifties and sixties,
(02:41):
he charged prices for his wine that no one else
in California was doing, with the idea that if he
did that, he would sort of elevate everything in California.
And also then he could he could say, well, you know,
my wines are as expensive and good as the great French,
you know wines, the Burgundies and Bordeaux. Sometimes he pulled
(03:03):
it off, other times he failed miserably.
Speaker 2 (03:06):
And here we are today, so you buy this inventory
of the brand. And I know we were talking earlier
and that's what you did with being a Robliss and
fo Piano. But we're here at the Martin Ray Winery.
Was this the original property?
Speaker 3 (03:22):
This was not the original property. The original property is
now the Mount Eden Winery in the Santa Cruz Mountains.
Speaker 2 (03:30):
Okay, so yeah, yes, and we're in Sonoma so there.
Speaker 3 (03:33):
Yeah, So we ended up moving the winery in the
production here to Sonoma County where we do all the
wine making and the processing in the bottling.
Speaker 2 (03:45):
And do you own any vineyards or is it all
purchase fruit across your brands?
Speaker 3 (03:50):
Both, so we have I think around twenty eight acres
of the state on wines here on the property. Peanut
and are in Chardonnay and a little Sovina block and
then the Fotiano Winery which is in Hillsburg. We own
one hundred and twenty acres of vineyards, so a fair
(04:16):
amount of fear and probably too much.
Speaker 2 (04:20):
And what creeps do you have planet up at Fopiano?
Speaker 3 (04:22):
So Fobiano is kind of an interesting mix. Fobiano is
known for petite serra and so they have some beautiful
old petits raw head head pruned, and then there's peanut noir,
and there's chardonnay and then some pretty eclectic, you know,
(04:43):
Italian reds. But that vineyard we're in the process of
of replanting. So that's you know, that's gonna be quite
a quite a froz, especially today.
Speaker 2 (04:56):
And these wines are available across the country and in
numerous markets. Are they are they nationally distributed? Are any
of them just direct consumer or in international markets?
Speaker 3 (05:07):
So we kind of do both, and we pivoted a
little bit in our business model that everything is nationally distributed,
and we you know, our philosophy kind of all along
is to build, build these wines on premise and then
take them out to retail. And that's what we've done
(05:28):
with Martin Ray, that's what we've done with Angeline, which
is a larger brand. So we have presence nationally but
also presence in kind of all distribution channels.
Speaker 2 (05:43):
And when we talk about that about bigger brands, what
is the total case production on average of each of
the brands. I mean, I guess we have to separate
them out.
Speaker 3 (05:50):
But yeah, so you have you have Martin Ray, which
is probably eighty thousand cases. But what's unique about Martin
Ray is that we have core core Martinary wines which
are Charonay, Pino Cabernet, and Asvino blanc and rose. But
then we do a lot of single vineyard mountain lions
(06:12):
from Napa and from Santa Cruz mountains sort of the
keep the same heritage there. And then we do a
lot of single vinyard pinos here from from Russian River
and Sonova Coast.
Speaker 2 (06:27):
So the total case production for Martinary is it's around
eighty thousand, okay. And then Fobiano Fopion.
Speaker 3 (06:33):
Is tiny, it's around seventy five hundred cases, okay.
Speaker 2 (06:37):
And Angelique Angeline, Yeah, Angeline is.
Speaker 3 (06:43):
I hope this hasn't turned anybody off, but it's probably
around four hundred thousand cases. Yeah, and it's it's an affordable, everyday,
good drinking wine and what's interesting enough about it my
calls come through, yeah, is that a lot of people
have never heard of it. And because it's not a
(07:06):
real commercialized wine or brand, you mean, you can find
it in a lot of places. It's in a lot
of restaurants by the glass, and so we're it's a
horrible but you know, we take the wine making and
the quality very seriously. Whether it's a fifteen dollars a
(07:27):
bottle of wine or if it's one in one of
our single vineyard cabs from Napa, they.
Speaker 2 (07:32):
All get the same treatment.
Speaker 3 (07:33):
They all get the same treatment, maybe not the same
aging or barrels.
Speaker 2 (07:38):
So so now that we got that out of the way,
the basic stuff about the wine about you, what's your
first memory relevant to wine? Did you grow up in
this world, was it something that you were familiar with
at a young age, or what's your first memory.
Speaker 3 (07:54):
I think my first memory of wine was when my
mom and I grew up in Bakersfield, California, which is
not really the wine mecca at all, but she really
loved wine. And I think I was maybe seven or
eight years old or nine, I mean, and she had
a bottle of ridge at dinner and it was like, whoa,
(08:15):
that's you know, that's something different than my father, like
stirring a genatonic or whatever else, or the you know what,
you know, the Ama dinner or the you know, the
jug wines. Here was a you know, a bottle in
a ridge in a seven fifty MILLI later now I thought,
that's that's different. So yeah, and and really my sort
(08:39):
of experience with wine was not typical. I had not
planned to go in the wine business. We were a
farming family in the in baker Sield. But what happened
is I went to college, I traveled around afterwards, and
(09:02):
then I needed to get a job because I was
playing tennis professionally but having more fun.
Speaker 2 (09:08):
Than making a career.
Speaker 3 (09:11):
And so I was in debt and I had to
get a job. And so I got into the wine
business through sales and merchandising. And then sort of that
segue led the one led to you know, creating some
kind of my own labels and then buying a winery
and selling that winery and then starting starting this business. Wow.
Speaker 2 (09:35):
So it's the crudest way to get here, but you know,
it was a mess, a mess, but you found the
right place. So along that process do you have Is
there a particular wine that stands out for one of
those aw home moments that really captured your attention, because
maybe it was at the beginning of your career and wine,
maybe it was further along and it was just through
(09:57):
travels or particular experience, And I'm sure there were many,
But does one standout is one of those great aha moments?
Speaker 3 (10:04):
Yeah? I think when I was sixteen years old, my
first yeah, my first uh, you know, experience with wine
was a wine cooler.
Speaker 2 (10:13):
That's a good AHA moment, getting drunk.
Speaker 3 (10:16):
Getting drunk. Yeah, I mean that was the days of
the California Cooler and those but Bartels and James. But
I think maybe when I was in college and my
brother he went to a I think it was Belle
Traumo's down in Paliato, and he would do these tastings
(10:40):
every couple of weeks with friends and everything else, and
he got some German like weaselings and diverse demeanors and
and I had not really had those before, and that
was kind of my first time. I was like, these
are you know, these are pretty amazing wines. And that's
(11:02):
really kind of I mean, I'm sure I tried some
at home or anything else. But that's kind of the
one thing that really sticks out to me. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (11:10):
Yeah, So now if we were to come to your home,
what kind of wines would we find in there? What
do you drink? What do you collect, whether it's a
major collection or you just hide them the bed, in
the closets, in those cool areas of the house. But
are they the wines that you are making, are they
local wines or do you have particular varieties or regions
that you are driven after.
Speaker 3 (11:32):
Well, I mean so we have plenty of inventory, especially
in these days, so I dragging a lot on my
own wine. I love wine from all over the world,
and I collect Italian branch, not as much as I
used to. I used to collect California cavs, but not
anymore because I think that stylistically they're just not for
(11:56):
my pollet. And so I would say these days, I'm
drinking more whites that are not oakie, more stainless steel, dryer,
higher acidity, and my go to is pino noir.
Speaker 2 (12:15):
Any particular wine you opened up recently that drank really well,
something from your from your collection or maybe out to dinner.
Speaker 3 (12:23):
I mean I open with friends the other night a
bottle of Pengus, which is not California, but it's just
absolutely a lovely wine. So again, I'll drink wine from
all over the world, but I would say for me,
wine is meant to go with food, and for me
(12:44):
now it seems like peanut pear is better with food
than a heavy, oaky, sweet Napa Valley cab.
Speaker 2 (12:52):
Sure, what was the one you opened the other night?
Speaker 3 (12:54):
Pingus?
Speaker 2 (12:55):
Pingus?
Speaker 3 (12:55):
And what is that? It's just an incredible you want
to want me to give you this? I don't want
to miss But where is it from?
Speaker 2 (13:05):
And what is the grepe?
Speaker 3 (13:08):
I don't want to I don't want to misspeak. So
it's of course it's Spanish, but the grape is God
my friends, whom?
Speaker 2 (13:23):
Okay, well, there you go. So you're working with a
lot of different varieties, but you're a pino noir drinker.
Do you think there's a such thing as a perfect
variety as pino noir a perfect variety?
Speaker 3 (13:37):
I think it's a perfect variety until you go to
make it, and if you talk to the winemakers, it's
incredibly challenging because it is so delicate and you have
to be very careful. But if you master it you
can really really make some beautiful wines.
Speaker 2 (13:53):
Do you think that qualifies as a perfect variety or
is there not a such thing.
Speaker 3 (13:58):
There's not not as such such a thing.
Speaker 2 (14:03):
Well, you know, but people aspire to make great wines.
They aspire a perfection, and like you said, when a
pino has made, well, it's pretty close to perfection. So
you know, I mean, I love a good pino. I
love a good wine in general, and balanced wine. And
a lot of times people, you know, use critics and
(14:24):
scores as a way to guide themselves through through how
to drink wine. And I'm curious your opinion on critics
and scores, both as a wine drinker but also as
a brand. What do you think about them?
Speaker 3 (14:35):
Well, you know, I don't want to hurt my chances of,
you know, of being too critical here, but I have
my favorite wine critics that I think actually understand the
purpose of wine readings and they're more embracing of all
(15:00):
different types of wines from all around the world at
all different price points. And one in particular is James Suckling.
I think he is by far the most enlightened wine
critic and the other wine critics are going to hear
that and they you know whatever. But in his events.
(15:21):
He does events around the world and they're really fun.
They're fun wine tastings, and it makes them where young
people you know, come and they enjoy the atmosphere and
he plays He's got DJs there, so they're playing cool music.
And he's just got a lot of different wines from
(15:42):
all of the world, and he'll take a wine when
he reviews them, and he doesn't if it's a fifteen
dollars bottle of wine, that's not going to skew his opinion.
It's not going to say, oh it's a it's a
fifteen dollars bottle of wines can only get eighty points.
What he does is he considers exactly, you know, sort
(16:07):
of the you know, the place of that wine in
the market, and who's going to drink it, And then
his reviews are are such where someone who may be
younger and not his experienced, they can read that review
and not get scared off. So I think he's really
good about kind of telling the story and communicating everything else. Unfortunately,
(16:30):
I think some of the are more important critics. I
think that they are still stuck on maybe you know,
the trophy wines and having to you know, give him
high scores because that's going to make them look better,
that's going to make their magazines look better, that's going
to sell magazines. And I don't believe that's doing anybody
(16:52):
as service, and it's not doing the wine business as service.
And I think that, you know, I've always been and
kind of a little frustrated by the coverage of the
critics because there's lots of good stories that you know,
that these critics can can tell. And there's lots of
(17:13):
cool places, lots of cool wineries, and lots of cool
brands that you'll never even know about.
Speaker 2 (17:19):
It.
Speaker 3 (17:20):
I hear about them all the time, and I think
that you know, it is it is really the purpose
of you know, the wine critics that go out and
find those and bring those to the consumer and bring
those too, you know, people maybe who are not in
the wine, who are not in the wine yet, or
(17:41):
maybe they're intimidated by the whole thing. And I think
that in that way would help I think it would
help us overall as an industry.
Speaker 2 (17:51):
So that's a lot of say no, But I mean
that's interesting because you know, it's always sort of a
people laugh at me when I ask that question, but
it's a loaded question, and everyone interprets what critics roles
are differently, and I think that was very insightful, just
about maybe they can change their role a little bit
and be more beneficial. I don't know, do you.
Speaker 3 (18:11):
See them changing their I don't see these publications. I
see there are maybe their readership, you know, dwindling a
little bit, but I don't think they're gonna I don't
know if they're gonna pivot. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (18:25):
No, I think the wine industry stays a little bit
the same and and change is hard to come by.
But you know, we as wine drinkers should share our
loves with other people, and hopefully you know, it's through
word of mouth and through passion. So for you, as
a wine drinker, red whiter Rose.
Speaker 3 (18:47):
Well, I start with.
Speaker 2 (18:52):
Okay, still there, sparkling.
Speaker 3 (18:55):
Yeah, you know, I like I like everything. I mean,
i'd like a real well, I've gotten into Vermontino recently.
And then you know our loves, some of them walking.
Then we do Martin Ray, we do a we call
it as it's concrete Charnay and it's made in concrete eggs,
(19:16):
which that was in one of the warehouses I showed you.
We have these concrete eggs which are really cool, and
so it sees no oak. And I just love that wine.
It's a concrete Chardinay. It just drinks so well. It's
it's you know, it's basically an unoaked wine.
Speaker 2 (19:35):
So you mentioned at the very beginning that or just
a little while ago, that food is meant to go
with wine, and you talk about how you like Vermentino
and Sharenay and that Pino is such a food friendly wine.
So I'm curious how you approach food and wine pairing.
Do you just get pino and come what may? Or
do you have certain rules you follow?
Speaker 3 (19:56):
No, I'm not I'm not that I'm not crazy about it.
I mean, al drink all drink red with red wine
with sushi.
Speaker 2 (20:06):
Right, you break rules.
Speaker 3 (20:07):
I break the rules, but you know, and I mean
I think the way, especially with Kino, the way that
it's kind of made these days, it can go with sushi.
I mean it's obviously, you know, lighter than a cavernet.
But I've also had cabinets with sushi. But they have
to be a certain style as far as at home
and pairing wines and with the food. I'm just not
(20:31):
I'm not that fanicky about it.
Speaker 2 (20:33):
Are there certain things you'll look forward to make that
decision of what you're gonna pair? Are you looking for acidity?
Are you looking for texture? Are you looking for body
to contrast to compliment?
Speaker 3 (20:44):
Yeah, I think I'm looking for acidity first not I mean,
body is okay, but you know, too much body or
too much whatever's in that body is can just overwhelm
the food. So I mean the flavors for me have
to be a lot more subtle and integrate it, as
do the tannins and the and the oak. But certainly
(21:06):
not a big you know, hokey you know, cabernet to
go with oysters exactly.
Speaker 2 (21:14):
So for someone who hasn't had the pleasure to taste
your wines yet, let's say Martin Ray wines, what do
you think they're missing out on?
Speaker 3 (21:21):
I think they're missing out on great wines at an
incredibly affordable prices. And that is really our mantra around here,
and whether it's under the Venu Rogos label, under Martin
Ray or Angeline We I mean, for instance, we do
a Diamond Mountain cab under Martin Ray. And if you
(21:42):
if you compare our price to other diamond mountains in
uh in the market, you'll see that we're you know,
half as less, maybe even more.
Speaker 2 (21:55):
So.
Speaker 3 (21:55):
We really try to give the consumer value. And that's
really our secret in trying to penetrate the market, because
we can't do it with a bunch of advertising. We
can't do it with a munch of marketing. We are
pretty stealth around here. I don't have a big sales force,
so it's really we have to get people's attention, and
(22:17):
that's our book.
Speaker 2 (22:20):
So if space aliens were to land on your property
right now, come walking up to the tasting room door,
which of your wines would you want to welcome them with?
To say welcome to Martin Ray, I would say.
Speaker 3 (22:37):
What would be the wine. One of my favorite wines
and we don't go to the grapes here, but we
buy them every year is Harvard Pinot. And Harvard's a
Russian river, a vineyard about five miles from here, and
to me, it's so great and so typical of Russian river.
(22:58):
And I love the you know, the company, they're a
great company, Emeritis, and I love the people who grow
who are the vineyard managers, and they're just really great people. So,
I mean it's just overall, it's got a great vibe
for me.
Speaker 2 (23:18):
So, so you own a number of vineyards, acres of vineyards,
i'd say, and also with the with the banks, but
even here on your property where the winery is, you
have vineyards. And we know that every vintage tells a
different story in the years that you've been in a
region like Sonoma, and I won't even talk about Passo
(23:41):
because you're newer to that area, but in the region here,
in a place like this, how much variation do you
see year to year? Do you see more commonality? Do
you see big variations? Do you see consistency?
Speaker 3 (23:53):
You know? I think you know. I mean this climate
change obviously is something, but I think there's a us
variation than there used to be. That doesn't necessarily mean
that every growing season is the same, but I'm seeing
less variation just because I think the wine making has
evolved such where if you do get kind of vintages
(24:18):
that are lacking something or not as good, or maybe
they're not as you know, the grapes came off and
bricks were lowest, whatever, the winemakers are talented enough and
they have the tools to be able to I mean,
I don't you know, adjust. I was going to say fix,
but adjust is a good word. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (24:38):
Well, if it's a hotter year, they pick earlier. It's
a colder year, they wait longer. Yeah, I mean it's
not necessarily manipulation in the winery. It can be just
I mean, are you looking for wines that tell a
story of vintage or are you looking for consistency?
Speaker 3 (24:57):
We both, but I think it's more consistency that we're
looking for, so, you know, and then there's there's you
can control so little when it's you know, when it's
out there in the vineyard. But you know, it's it's
more consistency for us rather than I mean it's not.
(25:18):
It's not great for anybody growers or wineries or the
market if you have one great vintage and then you
have five bad vintages. So it's better for us. It's
better for our business model too, if we have consistency.
Speaker 2 (25:30):
Yeah, it's a business model.
Speaker 3 (25:31):
It's a business model, and it's I don't know if
it's a good.
Speaker 2 (25:35):
One, but it's business business being Yeah, I mean that's that's.
Speaker 3 (25:39):
Well, that's what this is. That's what it's about, and
what you're seeing these days, especially when business is so difficult,
as you've seen a lot of the hobby wineries, those
who got into it because they thought it was you know,
romantic or whatever else. It ain't so romantic now and
they're having some I mean, there's a real I don't
(26:01):
want to say upheaval in the business, but there's a
there's a cleansing going on, yes, And I don't know
how long that's gonna that's going to take, and I
hope we're not. That's the question is.
Speaker 2 (26:17):
We don't know how long it's going to take, and
we don't know who's going to be affected by it.
Can you survive? So, you know, as a as a
brand and having these different brands, do you establish any
sort of rituals at the start of harvest for team
building or for is there any sort of tradition that
(26:37):
you have here?
Speaker 3 (26:41):
Well, you know, we have. The great thing about this
place is we have employees that have been with us
for thirty and forty years and they have they have
their things they do as you know as a group
as seller workers and the winemakers, and they.
Speaker 2 (27:02):
Don't invite you to these things. No.
Speaker 3 (27:05):
I mean, so when we do a silver free harvest thing,
and then we do a post harvest thing and and
it's just great for me to see the same faces
every year, and they make this place happen. I mean,
we won't get into politics or any of that, and
I certainly don't want to bring too much attention to
(27:25):
the issue. But they are a family and without them
we would not exist. And that goes back to my
experiences too in this in the Central Valley, when you're
growing up, growing up, and if it wasn't for the
migrant workers, you wouldn't have you wouldn't have bag in
the Central Valley. I mean it's that simple. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (27:46):
So obviously your job is the business side of it.
You're the owner of the winery. You are not spending
your days in the vineyards or in the winery on
a daily basis as much as your crew does, as
your winemaker does, your vineyard manager and everyone else. But
do you spend a little time walking through the winery
and the vineyards.
Speaker 3 (28:06):
Yeah, I mean I spent less time here and more
time at Focyono now because we're doing so much work there.
And I really love the business. So I love still
having my hands and you know, a lot of different
parts of it, but I'm more involved in the sales
and marketing side of it, and you know, working with
(28:27):
my team to manage the national market and the distribution
channel and network and it's you know, again, we have
a very small team. We have seven salespeople and then
myself and I sort of look over them. But they
have a lot of autonomy, so I mean, they are
basically their own bosses, but you know they are the
(28:53):
goal is high for them. I mean, they really have
to manage your business.
Speaker 2 (28:57):
Yeah, but I'm asking more. Okay, so you're out in
and marketing, but do you spend what you do? You
feel that you have a connection back to the wines.
Have you ever had to talk Do you talk to
your wines and ever remind them what they need to
do so that you can sell them or do you
talk to the vines and tell them what they need
to do or do you leave that to the others
to have the discussions.
Speaker 3 (29:16):
I pray, okay if that's and I meditate over you know,
the everything, But I really I talk with the winemakers
and I give them feedback, but I also listen to
them because they are incredibly insightful and you know, I
think it's important that, you know, you let your wine
(29:36):
makers kind of do what they do best.
Speaker 2 (29:39):
Yeah, so the winemakers at least talk back to you.
I'm not sure if the wines talk back.
Speaker 3 (29:43):
The wines, Yeah, they talk back to me. When I
go in the warehouse and I see inventory that's not moving,
that's talking back.
Speaker 2 (29:51):
Well, that's when you have to yell at them a
little bit.
Speaker 3 (29:54):
I'm not I'm not I'm not a I'm not a yeller.
Speaker 2 (30:00):
I don't yell at the wide Well, happy wine is
good wine. So when you grew up in the agworld
and you said that wine was something that you came
to in a very secuitous, circuitous way and was not
your plan when you were little, what did you want
to be when you grew up.
Speaker 3 (30:16):
I didn't really know what I wanted to be. At
a certain point I wanted to I think I wanted
to be a professional athlete, and tennis was that. But
then I got into that and that was that was
not going to happen long term, and I'm glad it didn't.
So it was there was no real path there was
(30:40):
you know, it wasn't a child prodigy or was it?
Speaker 2 (30:44):
You know, do you have a favorite tennis player today, I.
Speaker 3 (30:52):
Would say I like a lot of the tennis players,
but I think my favor players Party Center, just because
I think he's such a beautiful athlete and he's moved
so well, and he's to watch him in person, he's
(31:13):
just incredible.
Speaker 2 (31:15):
So if he were to win Wimbledon this year, which
of your wines would you want to present him with?
Speaker 3 (31:24):
Primary champagne, I can't say champagne. Sparkling wine, but I
don't think he drinks well if he dranks.
Speaker 2 (31:31):
What is your sparkling wine?
Speaker 3 (31:34):
We make two and we just started making sparkling wine
I think four years ago, and traditional method, traditional method,
and it's probably something we shouldn't have gotten into because
it's I mean, I say that because I'm kind of
looking at the business side of it. But the winemakers
(31:57):
and winemaker in particular Rayby Patterson, who makes that's her baby,
and she oversees it. She had no experience previous and
she got into it and she got some training and
she's making some fabulous sparkling wine. So it's that's one
of my favorite lines we do here.
Speaker 2 (32:17):
Yeah, see it may not fit the bottom line, but
it tastes it.
Speaker 3 (32:20):
No, No, I mean you have to age it. It's
basically a for your you know, proscess before you can
release your first advantage.
Speaker 2 (32:31):
It doesn't make the guy with the checkbook happy, No,
it doesn't.
Speaker 3 (32:35):
It doesn't.
Speaker 2 (32:37):
So when you look back at your career or your life,
I mean people give us advice all the time. Is
there a piece of advice someone gave you, you know,
at school, childhood, or and work, a parent, a teacher,
a mentor that you try to carry live your life by,
or how you approach your business.
Speaker 3 (32:56):
I think it's I mean, a couple of things stick out.
I mean, my father always told us not to get
into agriculture, and so for a long time I took
that advice, and now I seem to be back in agriculture.
So I missed that one. But I think for me,
what's important, and maybe this was part of just growing up,
(33:20):
is that you have to have respect for people and
you have to treat them well. And whether it's people
you work with, the people that work for you, you
have to treat them fairly and treat them like they're
(33:42):
what they do is valuable. And I think that's just
really important. I think that's what's lost today. I see
just so much hatred and bigotry, and it goes against
how I was raised. And so you know, it's important
(34:02):
for me to really live by that and my kids
and my family, and and I think hopefully it will leak.
Speaker 2 (34:13):
Out and you know it's you know, well, people just
need to drink wine because wine brings people together.
Speaker 3 (34:20):
Yeah, I think I think you're exactly right.
Speaker 2 (34:23):
Wine makes people happy, Wine sparks conversations and wine wine
wine is community. And speaking of community, or sitting at
a table, your wine's are on the table. Who from
any walk of life? You have an empty seat next
to you? Who from any walk of life do you
wish you could share a bottle of the wine that
(34:45):
you produced?
Speaker 3 (34:47):
Someone famous or.
Speaker 2 (34:49):
Famous, infamous, unknown, living, deceased.
Speaker 3 (34:55):
I mean, I think some of the old you know,
maybe the Martin Rays of the world, that would be great,
just to sort of see what he was like, because
he had a he was in famous. I mean he
was he was liked and disliked, but he had real
(35:16):
influence over And then you know some famous musician that's
kind of anyone in particular, so Beethoven, okay, very key,
I mean yeah, I mean I can go you know,
(35:37):
Miles Davis, anybody.
Speaker 2 (35:39):
Like I just I mean, we have a lot of
seats at the table, so you know, you can just
fill it with an eclectic group of people. So when
you look back at your career, what would you say
is one of your proudest achievements to date?
Speaker 3 (35:57):
I think, you know, it's hard to look back at
a career and say I've had, you know, something that
it really sticks out. I mean, there's been some events
that have been incredibly good for my life and my family.
One was selling one of my businesses years ago, which
(36:20):
allowed for this and lifestyle. But I try to try
to live fairly kind of understated, and I don't like
to get too kind of proud of anything or like
something like that. You know, I don't know, there's been
(36:42):
nothing really that's been life changing or anything.
Speaker 2 (36:46):
To be more subtle, how about the fact that, I mean,
I'm not going to put words in your mouth, but no,
you have people that have worked for you for thirty
forty years. I mean that's a pretty good achievement.
Speaker 3 (36:58):
Yeah, I mean, to me, it's about providing an opportunity
for people to work in a good environment, which I
think is incredibly important. You can't have a toxic work
environment or home environment or anything like that. So I'm
I'm very proud of that. And if I can, you know,
if I can continue on with that, that's great.
Speaker 2 (37:21):
I mean, that's an achievement.
Speaker 3 (37:22):
So it's there you go.
Speaker 2 (37:24):
You achievements don't have to be trophies or big prizes.
They can be subtle.
Speaker 3 (37:31):
Well. The thing is, we have achievements, and you know,
in the past, there was achievements on you know, on
the say the sales side of the business where we
got over a certain case number or we got great
reviews or whatever, and then but it always comes back
to bite you in the ass. And so we try
(37:53):
it down at least I try to downplay everything and
not like group rest on the past or laurels or
anything else.
Speaker 2 (38:02):
Fair enough, not putting that dead glean carrot. Do you
know there's a point to that. I get it. But again,
you know, you can have pride in the fact that
you don't make it something that's so you know, up
and down, and that it has to be that there's
a gold ring that people are reaching for, but that
they're just enjoying themselves in the process.
Speaker 3 (38:22):
Exactly, you know.
Speaker 2 (38:24):
Yeah, So I'm curious if you you talked a little
bit about climate change when we talked about vintage variation
and that we know climate change is going on. Do
you think we'll be drinking wine in five hundred years?
Speaker 3 (38:41):
I think so. Yeah. I don't know if it's going
to be grown in the same areas, but I think
we're going to be. I think we'll be drinking wine.
Speaker 2 (38:50):
We just don't know where it's from.
Speaker 3 (38:51):
Yeah, I think that the gen zers are going to
I think gen zers are drinking wine. But I think
you hit upon something that's really important gen zers, and
that's the experience, that's the community around it. And I
think that's what the wine I think we as wine
owners and the wine business is starting to recognize. Yeah.
(39:11):
And it's not it's not them going to a restaurant
and buying a really expensive wine, because that's not going
to happen. It's more about them getting into a comfortable
environment with their friends where they can have their own
experience with it. Absolutely. I think that's I mean, that's
(39:32):
what I'm hearing from my kids and their friends, and
I'm starting to you know, read that and hear that.
So I think, and to me, that's what it's about anyway.
I don't care if you're a gen z or or
you know whatever. That's what it's about, right, Absolutely, it's
all about being social.
Speaker 2 (39:52):
But if you were sent off to a deserted island
and couldn't be social with people, but you could be
social with three bottles of wine. What three wines would
you want to take?
Speaker 3 (40:00):
Any?
Speaker 2 (40:00):
Three wines?
Speaker 3 (40:01):
Okay? Uh? Type rivals or you can go specific.
Speaker 2 (40:07):
You can give me a brand name.
Speaker 3 (40:10):
Let's see. Well, how about I'll start with a rose
a bandle.
Speaker 2 (40:24):
Going dark and whatever? Uh?
Speaker 3 (40:27):
And I so I, you know, love rosees from that region,
and then I love pinos from Russian river. So I'll
take our Martin Ray synthesis pino okay, and then a
great dessert wine. I get a shote you can.
Speaker 2 (40:45):
Oh that's an interesting anyway, interesting trio.
Speaker 3 (40:48):
I like that.
Speaker 2 (40:50):
So you talk about how wine is community and wine
is social and wine is something that you know, we
it makes us feel a certain way when we can
share a bottle with people and have a great conversation.
So that means it's time that I get to ask
you play our little game with wine and music because
we We've been talking for a while now and we're
coming to the end of this. I'm going to wrap
(41:11):
it up. So my iTunes, well, you know, wine conjures
up an emotion and music does the same, and I
don't want to complicate it. You can give me a genre.
You already told me you want to share your bottles
of wine with musicians, and you went from Beethoven to
Mick Jagger. So I think you're going to be just
fine in this. But but I want to start with
(41:32):
the sparkling wine that you're making here at Martin Ray,
the Champagne style, traditional methods, sparkling wine.
Speaker 3 (41:41):
So I would say that would for me would be
maybe a Sunday brunch listening to maybe Vivaldi's Four Seasons.
I mean, I don't know, I'm that works.
Speaker 2 (42:01):
You mentioned that you would take the pino noir. Would
you say symmetry synthesis, sorry, synthesis to your dessert island?
Speaker 3 (42:11):
So what about that one?
Speaker 2 (42:11):
What is is that a specific vineyard designate?
Speaker 3 (42:14):
It is a combination of grapes from our estate vinyards. Okay, yeah,
and so.
Speaker 2 (42:21):
What about that one?
Speaker 3 (42:23):
I would say maybe a chick corea god what some
time ago is one of with I think her name
was Flora Krem who was the singer or La Fiesta,
another song by him. So chick as the jazz. Yeah, yes,
(42:47):
I don't think he's alive anymore, but I just love
his his stuff, Okay.
Speaker 2 (42:52):
And what about your Diamond Mountain cabernet, the one that's
better value than the neighbors leads.
Speaker 3 (42:59):
Up stairway to Heaven. That was easy.
Speaker 2 (43:04):
Sometimes it's so easy to think of what emotion it
makes you feel it.
Speaker 3 (43:09):
No, and there's nothing better than drinking uh. And I'm
solo at home now because my wife is on the
East Coast and the kids are They're out of the house,
but they come back quite often. But there's nothing better
than drinking wine and blasting the stereo.
Speaker 2 (43:25):
See, and it makes you feel it can enhance the
flavor of the wine and change the flavor of the wine.
Speaker 3 (43:33):
Certainly does. Okay.
Speaker 2 (43:34):
So I think I'm going to leave it on that
Diamond Mountain cabernet from Martin Ray with Leadepelin led Zeppelin.
Speaker 3 (43:40):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (43:43):
Well, Courtney, I have one final question for you. What
It's a two parter, and that is what wine region
in the world is At the top of your bucket
list that you would love to go explore.
Speaker 3 (43:53):
I think probably New Zealand. Okay, not just for the
wine region, but just I think what I hear is
such a beautiful place, and so I'd love to go
to New Zealand and business from friends that have wineries there,
and then just kind of, you know, experience the country
(44:13):
and the people.
Speaker 2 (44:14):
Absolutely, And for our listeners who might want to come
explore Sonoma County, where can they find you and what
what can they find when they're here?
Speaker 3 (44:24):
What kind of experiences they can find us at Martin
Ray in the Russian River, and we are open five
days a week and it is a completely kicked back
place and it's relaxed. We want people to come here
and stay, enjoy the food on the weekends. We do
(44:44):
pizzas on the weekends, and we don't want it to
be a rushed experience. You know, this is not Napa
Valley where we charge a whole bunch of money. But
a lot of a lot of people haven't heard of this,
so you know, we, you know, would love people to
come here and tell their friends.
Speaker 2 (45:03):
So check out Martin Ray Winery. Come on a weekend
where you can get pizza.
Speaker 3 (45:08):
But or Opiano or near Heilsburg, which is a really
hot area.
Speaker 2 (45:14):
So two wineries to visit when you're on your trip,
and they're only probably about twenty minutes apart from each other,
so come on up to Sonma. It's beautiful. Courtney, thank
you so much for joining us on Wine Soundtrack today.
I hope that wasn't too painful for you. You got
through the music part.
Speaker 3 (45:33):
That's awesome. No, that was a pleasure. Thank you for
the opportunity.
Speaker 2 (45:37):
Really cares.
Speaker 1 (45:39):
Thanks for listening to a new episode of Wine Soundtrack USA.
For details and updates, visit our website windsoundtracks 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 Alson
Levine and today I am in the Sonoa Valley with
Courtney Benham of CMB Family of Wines. Courtney, welcome to
Wine's Soundtrack and tell us about what does that mean
CMB Family of Wines.
Speaker 3 (00:26):
The CMB Family of Wines is my initials, which you
know is represents Courtney Monroe Benham. And within the CMB
Family of Wines there are three or four wineries and brands,
one being the Martin Ray Winery, also Angeline Winery, Folpiano
(00:53):
Winery and also being a Robos out of Passer Robles.
Speaker 2 (00:57):
So a lot of these wineries are names that you
know a lot of people may be familiar with. I
mean Martin Ray, Fobiano, They're not new names, even Vigna Robliss.
When do you get involved with these wineries? Have you
been an owner for a long time? Are they your
brands are? At what point do you get involved with them?
Speaker 3 (01:13):
So at different times and first it was back in
I think nineteen ninety with the Martin Ray brand, and
I discovered Martin Ray, you know, by happenstance, you know,
a warehouse down in San Jose, and ended up buying
(01:35):
the trademark, the name, and a bunch of the old
Martin Ray inventory. But Martin Ray was a historic winery
in the Santa Cuez Mountains, started by Martin Ray in
nineteen forty three. Yeah, so he ran it for years
and years. Then he died, I think in sixty seven,
(01:57):
and then his family tried to continue on with it
and for four or five years, and then they basically
shut it down and they mothballed it in this warehouse
in San Jose, and I came across it and discovered it,
and it was a real treasure because, you know, Martin
Ray was really the first California winemaker to make true
(02:21):
varietal wines, and his really goal was to make wines
in California that rival of the great French Burgundies and Bordeaux.
And interesting enough, he charged back in the fifties and sixties,
(02:41):
he charged prices for his wine that no one else
in California was doing, with the idea that if he
did that, he would sort of elevate everything in California.
And also then he could he could say, well, you know,
my wines are as expensive and good as the great French,
you know wines, the Burgundies and Bordeaux. Sometimes he pulled
(03:03):
it off, other times he failed miserably.
Speaker 2 (03:06):
And here we are today, so you buy this inventory
of the brand. And I know we were talking earlier
and that's what you did with being a Robliss and
fo Piano. But we're here at the Martin Ray Winery.
Was this the original property?
Speaker 3 (03:22):
This was not the original property. The original property is
now the Mount Eden Winery in the Santa Cruz Mountains.
Speaker 2 (03:30):
Okay, so yeah, yes, and we're in Sonoma so there.
Speaker 3 (03:33):
Yeah, So we ended up moving the winery in the
production here to Sonoma County where we do all the
wine making and the processing in the bottling.
Speaker 2 (03:45):
And do you own any vineyards or is it all
purchase fruit across your brands?
Speaker 3 (03:50):
Both, so we have I think around twenty eight acres
of the state on wines here on the property. Peanut
and are in Chardonnay and a little Sovina block and
then the Fotiano Winery which is in Hillsburg. We own
one hundred and twenty acres of vineyards, so a fair
(04:16):
amount of fear and probably too much.
Speaker 2 (04:20):
And what creeps do you have planet up at Fopiano?
Speaker 3 (04:22):
So Fobiano is kind of an interesting mix. Fobiano is
known for petite serra and so they have some beautiful
old petits raw head head pruned, and then there's peanut noir,
and there's chardonnay and then some pretty eclectic, you know,
(04:43):
Italian reds. But that vineyard we're in the process of
of replanting. So that's you know, that's gonna be quite
a quite a froz, especially today.
Speaker 2 (04:56):
And these wines are available across the country and in
numerous markets. Are they are they nationally distributed? Are any
of them just direct consumer or in international markets?
Speaker 3 (05:07):
So we kind of do both, and we pivoted a
little bit in our business model that everything is nationally distributed,
and we you know, our philosophy kind of all along
is to build, build these wines on premise and then
take them out to retail. And that's what we've done
(05:28):
with Martin Ray, that's what we've done with Angeline, which
is a larger brand. So we have presence nationally but
also presence in kind of all distribution channels.
Speaker 2 (05:43):
And when we talk about that about bigger brands, what
is the total case production on average of each of
the brands. I mean, I guess we have to separate
them out.
Speaker 3 (05:50):
But yeah, so you have you have Martin Ray, which
is probably eighty thousand cases. But what's unique about Martin
Ray is that we have core core Martinary wines which
are Charonay, Pino Cabernet, and Asvino blanc and rose. But
then we do a lot of single vineyard mountain lions
(06:12):
from Napa and from Santa Cruz mountains sort of the
keep the same heritage there. And then we do a
lot of single vinyard pinos here from from Russian River
and Sonova Coast.
Speaker 2 (06:27):
So the total case production for Martinary is it's around
eighty thousand, okay. And then Fobiano Fopion.
Speaker 3 (06:33):
Is tiny, it's around seventy five hundred cases, okay.
Speaker 2 (06:37):
And Angelique Angeline, Yeah, Angeline is.
Speaker 3 (06:43):
I hope this hasn't turned anybody off, but it's probably
around four hundred thousand cases. Yeah, and it's it's an affordable, everyday,
good drinking wine and what's interesting enough about it my
calls come through, yeah, is that a lot of people
have never heard of it. And because it's not a
(07:06):
real commercialized wine or brand, you mean, you can find
it in a lot of places. It's in a lot
of restaurants by the glass, and so we're it's a
horrible but you know, we take the wine making and
the quality very seriously. Whether it's a fifteen dollars a
(07:27):
bottle of wine or if it's one in one of
our single vineyard cabs from Napa, they.
Speaker 2 (07:32):
All get the same treatment.
Speaker 3 (07:33):
They all get the same treatment, maybe not the same
aging or barrels.
Speaker 2 (07:38):
So so now that we got that out of the way,
the basic stuff about the wine about you, what's your
first memory relevant to wine? Did you grow up in
this world, was it something that you were familiar with
at a young age, or what's your first memory.
Speaker 3 (07:54):
I think my first memory of wine was when my
mom and I grew up in Bakersfield, California, which is
not really the wine mecca at all, but she really
loved wine. And I think I was maybe seven or
eight years old or nine, I mean, and she had
a bottle of ridge at dinner and it was like, whoa,
(08:15):
that's you know, that's something different than my father, like
stirring a genatonic or whatever else, or the you know what,
you know, the Ama dinner or the you know, the
jug wines. Here was a you know, a bottle in
a ridge in a seven fifty MILLI later now I thought,
that's that's different. So yeah, and and really my sort
(08:39):
of experience with wine was not typical. I had not
planned to go in the wine business. We were a
farming family in the in baker Sield. But what happened
is I went to college, I traveled around afterwards, and
(09:02):
then I needed to get a job because I was
playing tennis professionally but having more fun.
Speaker 2 (09:08):
Than making a career.
Speaker 3 (09:11):
And so I was in debt and I had to
get a job. And so I got into the wine
business through sales and merchandising. And then sort of that
segue led the one led to you know, creating some
kind of my own labels and then buying a winery
and selling that winery and then starting starting this business. Wow.
Speaker 2 (09:35):
So it's the crudest way to get here, but you know,
it was a mess, a mess, but you found the
right place. So along that process do you have Is
there a particular wine that stands out for one of
those aw home moments that really captured your attention, because
maybe it was at the beginning of your career and wine,
maybe it was further along and it was just through
(09:57):
travels or particular experience, And I'm sure there were many,
But does one standout is one of those great aha moments?
Speaker 3 (10:04):
Yeah? I think when I was sixteen years old, my
first yeah, my first uh, you know, experience with wine
was a wine cooler.
Speaker 2 (10:13):
That's a good AHA moment, getting drunk.
Speaker 3 (10:16):
Getting drunk. Yeah, I mean that was the days of
the California Cooler and those but Bartels and James. But
I think maybe when I was in college and my
brother he went to a I think it was Belle
Traumo's down in Paliato, and he would do these tastings
(10:40):
every couple of weeks with friends and everything else, and
he got some German like weaselings and diverse demeanors and
and I had not really had those before, and that
was kind of my first time. I was like, these
are you know, these are pretty amazing wines. And that's
(11:02):
really kind of I mean, I'm sure I tried some
at home or anything else. But that's kind of the
one thing that really sticks out to me. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (11:10):
Yeah, So now if we were to come to your home,
what kind of wines would we find in there? What
do you drink? What do you collect, whether it's a
major collection or you just hide them the bed, in
the closets, in those cool areas of the house. But
are they the wines that you are making, are they
local wines or do you have particular varieties or regions
that you are driven after.
Speaker 3 (11:32):
Well, I mean so we have plenty of inventory, especially
in these days, so I dragging a lot on my
own wine. I love wine from all over the world,
and I collect Italian branch, not as much as I
used to. I used to collect California cavs, but not
anymore because I think that stylistically they're just not for
(11:56):
my pollet. And so I would say these days, I'm
drinking more whites that are not oakie, more stainless steel, dryer,
higher acidity, and my go to is pino noir.
Speaker 2 (12:15):
Any particular wine you opened up recently that drank really well,
something from your from your collection or maybe out to dinner.
Speaker 3 (12:23):
I mean I open with friends the other night a
bottle of Pengus, which is not California, but it's just
absolutely a lovely wine. So again, I'll drink wine from
all over the world, but I would say for me,
wine is meant to go with food, and for me
(12:44):
now it seems like peanut pear is better with food
than a heavy, oaky, sweet Napa Valley cab.
Speaker 2 (12:52):
Sure, what was the one you opened the other night?
Speaker 3 (12:54):
Pingus?
Speaker 2 (12:55):
Pingus?
Speaker 3 (12:55):
And what is that? It's just an incredible you want
to want me to give you this? I don't want
to miss But where is it from?
Speaker 2 (13:05):
And what is the grepe?
Speaker 3 (13:08):
I don't want to I don't want to misspeak. So
it's of course it's Spanish, but the grape is God
my friends, whom?
Speaker 2 (13:23):
Okay, well, there you go. So you're working with a
lot of different varieties, but you're a pino noir drinker.
Do you think there's a such thing as a perfect
variety as pino noir a perfect variety?
Speaker 3 (13:37):
I think it's a perfect variety until you go to
make it, and if you talk to the winemakers, it's
incredibly challenging because it is so delicate and you have
to be very careful. But if you master it you
can really really make some beautiful wines.
Speaker 2 (13:53):
Do you think that qualifies as a perfect variety or
is there not a such thing.
Speaker 3 (13:58):
There's not not as such such a thing.
Speaker 2 (14:03):
Well, you know, but people aspire to make great wines.
They aspire a perfection, and like you said, when a
pino has made, well, it's pretty close to perfection. So
you know, I mean, I love a good pino. I
love a good wine in general, and balanced wine. And
a lot of times people, you know, use critics and
(14:24):
scores as a way to guide themselves through through how
to drink wine. And I'm curious your opinion on critics
and scores, both as a wine drinker but also as
a brand. What do you think about them?
Speaker 3 (14:35):
Well, you know, I don't want to hurt my chances of,
you know, of being too critical here, but I have
my favorite wine critics that I think actually understand the
purpose of wine readings and they're more embracing of all
(15:00):
different types of wines from all around the world at
all different price points. And one in particular is James Suckling.
I think he is by far the most enlightened wine
critic and the other wine critics are going to hear
that and they you know whatever. But in his events.
(15:21):
He does events around the world and they're really fun.
They're fun wine tastings, and it makes them where young
people you know, come and they enjoy the atmosphere and
he plays He's got DJs there, so they're playing cool music.
And he's just got a lot of different wines from
(15:42):
all of the world, and he'll take a wine when
he reviews them, and he doesn't if it's a fifteen
dollars bottle of wine, that's not going to skew his opinion.
It's not going to say, oh it's a it's a
fifteen dollars bottle of wines can only get eighty points.
What he does is he considers exactly, you know, sort
(16:07):
of the you know, the place of that wine in
the market, and who's going to drink it, And then
his reviews are are such where someone who may be
younger and not his experienced, they can read that review
and not get scared off. So I think he's really
good about kind of telling the story and communicating everything else. Unfortunately,
(16:30):
I think some of the are more important critics. I
think that they are still stuck on maybe you know,
the trophy wines and having to you know, give him
high scores because that's going to make them look better,
that's going to make their magazines look better, that's going
to sell magazines. And I don't believe that's doing anybody
(16:52):
as service, and it's not doing the wine business as service.
And I think that, you know, I've always been and
kind of a little frustrated by the coverage of the
critics because there's lots of good stories that you know,
that these critics can can tell. And there's lots of
(17:13):
cool places, lots of cool wineries, and lots of cool
brands that you'll never even know about.
Speaker 2 (17:19):
It.
Speaker 3 (17:20):
I hear about them all the time, and I think
that you know, it is it is really the purpose
of you know, the wine critics that go out and
find those and bring those to the consumer and bring
those too, you know, people maybe who are not in
the wine, who are not in the wine yet, or
(17:41):
maybe they're intimidated by the whole thing. And I think
that in that way would help I think it would
help us overall as an industry.
Speaker 2 (17:51):
So that's a lot of say no, But I mean
that's interesting because you know, it's always sort of a
people laugh at me when I ask that question, but
it's a loaded question, and everyone interprets what critics roles
are differently, and I think that was very insightful, just
about maybe they can change their role a little bit
and be more beneficial. I don't know, do you.
Speaker 3 (18:11):
See them changing their I don't see these publications. I
see there are maybe their readership, you know, dwindling a
little bit, but I don't think they're gonna I don't
know if they're gonna pivot. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (18:25):
No, I think the wine industry stays a little bit
the same and and change is hard to come by.
But you know, we as wine drinkers should share our
loves with other people, and hopefully you know, it's through
word of mouth and through passion. So for you, as
a wine drinker, red whiter Rose.
Speaker 3 (18:47):
Well, I start with.
Speaker 2 (18:52):
Okay, still there, sparkling.
Speaker 3 (18:55):
Yeah, you know, I like I like everything. I mean,
i'd like a real well, I've gotten into Vermontino recently.
And then you know our loves, some of them walking.
Then we do Martin Ray, we do a we call
it as it's concrete Charnay and it's made in concrete eggs,
(19:16):
which that was in one of the warehouses I showed you.
We have these concrete eggs which are really cool, and
so it sees no oak. And I just love that wine.
It's a concrete Chardinay. It just drinks so well. It's
it's you know, it's basically an unoaked wine.
Speaker 2 (19:35):
So you mentioned at the very beginning that or just
a little while ago, that food is meant to go
with wine, and you talk about how you like Vermentino
and Sharenay and that Pino is such a food friendly wine.
So I'm curious how you approach food and wine pairing.
Do you just get pino and come what may? Or
do you have certain rules you follow?
Speaker 3 (19:56):
No, I'm not I'm not that I'm not crazy about it.
I mean, al drink all drink red with red wine
with sushi.
Speaker 2 (20:06):
Right, you break rules.
Speaker 3 (20:07):
I break the rules, but you know, and I mean
I think the way, especially with Kino, the way that
it's kind of made these days, it can go with sushi.
I mean it's obviously, you know, lighter than a cavernet.
But I've also had cabinets with sushi. But they have
to be a certain style as far as at home
and pairing wines and with the food. I'm just not
(20:31):
I'm not that fanicky about it.
Speaker 2 (20:33):
Are there certain things you'll look forward to make that
decision of what you're gonna pair? Are you looking for acidity?
Are you looking for texture? Are you looking for body
to contrast to compliment?
Speaker 3 (20:44):
Yeah, I think I'm looking for acidity first not I mean,
body is okay, but you know, too much body or
too much whatever's in that body is can just overwhelm
the food. So I mean the flavors for me have
to be a lot more subtle and integrate it, as
do the tannins and the and the oak. But certainly
(21:06):
not a big you know, hokey you know, cabernet to
go with oysters exactly.
Speaker 2 (21:14):
So for someone who hasn't had the pleasure to taste
your wines yet, let's say Martin Ray wines, what do
you think they're missing out on?
Speaker 3 (21:21):
I think they're missing out on great wines at an
incredibly affordable prices. And that is really our mantra around here,
and whether it's under the Venu Rogos label, under Martin
Ray or Angeline We I mean, for instance, we do
a Diamond Mountain cab under Martin Ray. And if you
(21:42):
if you compare our price to other diamond mountains in
uh in the market, you'll see that we're you know,
half as less, maybe even more.
Speaker 2 (21:55):
So.
Speaker 3 (21:55):
We really try to give the consumer value. And that's
really our secret in trying to penetrate the market, because
we can't do it with a bunch of advertising. We
can't do it with a munch of marketing. We are
pretty stealth around here. I don't have a big sales force,
so it's really we have to get people's attention, and
(22:17):
that's our book.
Speaker 2 (22:20):
So if space aliens were to land on your property
right now, come walking up to the tasting room door,
which of your wines would you want to welcome them with?
To say welcome to Martin Ray, I would say.
Speaker 3 (22:37):
What would be the wine. One of my favorite wines
and we don't go to the grapes here, but we
buy them every year is Harvard Pinot. And Harvard's a
Russian river, a vineyard about five miles from here, and
to me, it's so great and so typical of Russian river.
(22:58):
And I love the you know, the company, they're a
great company, Emeritis, and I love the people who grow
who are the vineyard managers, and they're just really great people. So,
I mean it's just overall, it's got a great vibe
for me.
Speaker 2 (23:18):
So, so you own a number of vineyards, acres of vineyards,
i'd say, and also with the with the banks, but
even here on your property where the winery is, you
have vineyards. And we know that every vintage tells a
different story in the years that you've been in a
region like Sonoma, and I won't even talk about Passo
(23:41):
because you're newer to that area, but in the region here,
in a place like this, how much variation do you
see year to year? Do you see more commonality? Do
you see big variations? Do you see consistency?
Speaker 3 (23:53):
You know? I think you know. I mean this climate
change obviously is something, but I think there's a us
variation than there used to be. That doesn't necessarily mean
that every growing season is the same, but I'm seeing
less variation just because I think the wine making has
evolved such where if you do get kind of vintages
(24:18):
that are lacking something or not as good, or maybe
they're not as you know, the grapes came off and
bricks were lowest, whatever, the winemakers are talented enough and
they have the tools to be able to I mean,
I don't you know, adjust. I was going to say fix,
but adjust is a good word. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (24:38):
Well, if it's a hotter year, they pick earlier. It's
a colder year, they wait longer. Yeah, I mean it's
not necessarily manipulation in the winery. It can be just
I mean, are you looking for wines that tell a
story of vintage or are you looking for consistency?
Speaker 3 (24:57):
We both, but I think it's more consistency that we're
looking for, so, you know, and then there's there's you
can control so little when it's you know, when it's
out there in the vineyard. But you know, it's it's
more consistency for us rather than I mean it's not.
(25:18):
It's not great for anybody growers or wineries or the
market if you have one great vintage and then you
have five bad vintages. So it's better for us. It's
better for our business model too, if we have consistency.
Speaker 2 (25:30):
Yeah, it's a business model.
Speaker 3 (25:31):
It's a business model, and it's I don't know if
it's a good.
Speaker 2 (25:35):
One, but it's business business being Yeah, I mean that's that's.
Speaker 3 (25:39):
Well, that's what this is. That's what it's about, and
what you're seeing these days, especially when business is so difficult,
as you've seen a lot of the hobby wineries, those
who got into it because they thought it was you know,
romantic or whatever else. It ain't so romantic now and
they're having some I mean, there's a real I don't
(26:01):
want to say upheaval in the business, but there's a
there's a cleansing going on, yes, And I don't know
how long that's gonna that's going to take, and I
hope we're not. That's the question is.
Speaker 2 (26:17):
We don't know how long it's going to take, and
we don't know who's going to be affected by it.
Can you survive? So, you know, as a as a
brand and having these different brands, do you establish any
sort of rituals at the start of harvest for team
building or for is there any sort of tradition that
(26:37):
you have here?
Speaker 3 (26:41):
Well, you know, we have. The great thing about this
place is we have employees that have been with us
for thirty and forty years and they have they have
their things they do as you know as a group
as seller workers and the winemakers, and they.
Speaker 2 (27:02):
Don't invite you to these things. No.
Speaker 3 (27:05):
I mean, so when we do a silver free harvest thing,
and then we do a post harvest thing and and
it's just great for me to see the same faces
every year, and they make this place happen. I mean,
we won't get into politics or any of that, and
I certainly don't want to bring too much attention to
(27:25):
the issue. But they are a family and without them
we would not exist. And that goes back to my
experiences too in this in the Central Valley, when you're
growing up, growing up, and if it wasn't for the
migrant workers, you wouldn't have you wouldn't have bag in
the Central Valley. I mean it's that simple. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (27:46):
So obviously your job is the business side of it.
You're the owner of the winery. You are not spending
your days in the vineyards or in the winery on
a daily basis as much as your crew does, as
your winemaker does, your vineyard manager and everyone else. But
do you spend a little time walking through the winery
and the vineyards.
Speaker 3 (28:06):
Yeah, I mean I spent less time here and more
time at Focyono now because we're doing so much work there.
And I really love the business. So I love still
having my hands and you know, a lot of different
parts of it, but I'm more involved in the sales
and marketing side of it, and you know, working with
(28:27):
my team to manage the national market and the distribution
channel and network and it's you know, again, we have
a very small team. We have seven salespeople and then
myself and I sort of look over them. But they
have a lot of autonomy, so I mean, they are
basically their own bosses, but you know they are the
(28:53):
goal is high for them. I mean, they really have
to manage your business.
Speaker 2 (28:57):
Yeah, but I'm asking more. Okay, so you're out in
and marketing, but do you spend what you do? You
feel that you have a connection back to the wines.
Have you ever had to talk Do you talk to
your wines and ever remind them what they need to
do so that you can sell them or do you
talk to the vines and tell them what they need
to do or do you leave that to the others
to have the discussions.
Speaker 3 (29:16):
I pray, okay if that's and I meditate over you know,
the everything, But I really I talk with the winemakers
and I give them feedback, but I also listen to
them because they are incredibly insightful and you know, I
think it's important that, you know, you let your wine
(29:36):
makers kind of do what they do best.
Speaker 2 (29:39):
Yeah, so the winemakers at least talk back to you.
I'm not sure if the wines talk back.
Speaker 3 (29:43):
The wines, Yeah, they talk back to me. When I
go in the warehouse and I see inventory that's not moving,
that's talking back.
Speaker 2 (29:51):
Well, that's when you have to yell at them a
little bit.
Speaker 3 (29:54):
I'm not I'm not I'm not a I'm not a yeller.
Speaker 2 (30:00):
I don't yell at the wide Well, happy wine is
good wine. So when you grew up in the agworld
and you said that wine was something that you came
to in a very secuitous, circuitous way and was not
your plan when you were little, what did you want
to be when you grew up.
Speaker 3 (30:16):
I didn't really know what I wanted to be. At
a certain point I wanted to I think I wanted
to be a professional athlete, and tennis was that. But
then I got into that and that was that was
not going to happen long term, and I'm glad it didn't.
So it was there was no real path there was
(30:40):
you know, it wasn't a child prodigy or was it?
Speaker 2 (30:44):
You know, do you have a favorite tennis player today, I.
Speaker 3 (30:52):
Would say I like a lot of the tennis players,
but I think my favor players Party Center, just because
I think he's such a beautiful athlete and he's moved
so well, and he's to watch him in person, he's
(31:13):
just incredible.
Speaker 2 (31:15):
So if he were to win Wimbledon this year, which
of your wines would you want to present him with?
Speaker 3 (31:24):
Primary champagne, I can't say champagne. Sparkling wine, but I
don't think he drinks well if he dranks.
Speaker 2 (31:31):
What is your sparkling wine?
Speaker 3 (31:34):
We make two and we just started making sparkling wine
I think four years ago, and traditional method, traditional method,
and it's probably something we shouldn't have gotten into because
it's I mean, I say that because I'm kind of
looking at the business side of it. But the winemakers
(31:57):
and winemaker in particular Rayby Patterson, who makes that's her baby,
and she oversees it. She had no experience previous and
she got into it and she got some training and
she's making some fabulous sparkling wine. So it's that's one
of my favorite lines we do here.
Speaker 2 (32:17):
Yeah, see it may not fit the bottom line, but
it tastes it.
Speaker 3 (32:20):
No, No, I mean you have to age it. It's
basically a for your you know, proscess before you can
release your first advantage.
Speaker 2 (32:31):
It doesn't make the guy with the checkbook happy, No,
it doesn't.
Speaker 3 (32:35):
It doesn't.
Speaker 2 (32:37):
So when you look back at your career or your life,
I mean people give us advice all the time. Is
there a piece of advice someone gave you, you know,
at school, childhood, or and work, a parent, a teacher,
a mentor that you try to carry live your life by,
or how you approach your business.
Speaker 3 (32:56):
I think it's I mean, a couple of things stick out.
I mean, my father always told us not to get
into agriculture, and so for a long time I took
that advice, and now I seem to be back in agriculture.
So I missed that one. But I think for me,
what's important, and maybe this was part of just growing up,
(33:20):
is that you have to have respect for people and
you have to treat them well. And whether it's people
you work with, the people that work for you, you
have to treat them fairly and treat them like they're
(33:42):
what they do is valuable. And I think that's just
really important. I think that's what's lost today. I see
just so much hatred and bigotry, and it goes against
how I was raised. And so you know, it's important
(34:02):
for me to really live by that and my kids
and my family, and and I think hopefully it will leak.
Speaker 2 (34:13):
Out and you know it's you know, well, people just
need to drink wine because wine brings people together.
Speaker 3 (34:20):
Yeah, I think I think you're exactly right.
Speaker 2 (34:23):
Wine makes people happy, Wine sparks conversations and wine wine
wine is community. And speaking of community, or sitting at
a table, your wine's are on the table. Who from
any walk of life? You have an empty seat next
to you? Who from any walk of life do you
wish you could share a bottle of the wine that
(34:45):
you produced?
Speaker 3 (34:47):
Someone famous or.
Speaker 2 (34:49):
Famous, infamous, unknown, living, deceased.
Speaker 3 (34:55):
I mean, I think some of the old you know,
maybe the Martin Rays of the world, that would be great,
just to sort of see what he was like, because
he had a he was in famous. I mean he
was he was liked and disliked, but he had real
(35:16):
influence over And then you know some famous musician that's
kind of anyone in particular, so Beethoven, okay, very key,
I mean yeah, I mean I can go you know,
(35:37):
Miles Davis, anybody.
Speaker 2 (35:39):
Like I just I mean, we have a lot of
seats at the table, so you know, you can just
fill it with an eclectic group of people. So when
you look back at your career, what would you say
is one of your proudest achievements to date?
Speaker 3 (35:57):
I think, you know, it's hard to look back at
a career and say I've had, you know, something that
it really sticks out. I mean, there's been some events
that have been incredibly good for my life and my family.
One was selling one of my businesses years ago, which
(36:20):
allowed for this and lifestyle. But I try to try
to live fairly kind of understated, and I don't like
to get too kind of proud of anything or like
something like that. You know, I don't know, there's been
(36:42):
nothing really that's been life changing or anything.
Speaker 2 (36:46):
To be more subtle, how about the fact that, I mean,
I'm not going to put words in your mouth, but no,
you have people that have worked for you for thirty
forty years. I mean that's a pretty good achievement.
Speaker 3 (36:58):
Yeah, I mean, to me, it's about providing an opportunity
for people to work in a good environment, which I
think is incredibly important. You can't have a toxic work
environment or home environment or anything like that. So I'm
I'm very proud of that. And if I can, you know,
if I can continue on with that, that's great.
Speaker 2 (37:21):
I mean, that's an achievement.
Speaker 3 (37:22):
So it's there you go.
Speaker 2 (37:24):
You achievements don't have to be trophies or big prizes.
They can be subtle.
Speaker 3 (37:31):
Well. The thing is, we have achievements, and you know,
in the past, there was achievements on you know, on
the say the sales side of the business where we
got over a certain case number or we got great
reviews or whatever, and then but it always comes back
to bite you in the ass. And so we try
(37:53):
it down at least I try to downplay everything and
not like group rest on the past or laurels or
anything else.
Speaker 2 (38:02):
Fair enough, not putting that dead glean carrot. Do you
know there's a point to that. I get it. But again,
you know, you can have pride in the fact that
you don't make it something that's so you know, up
and down, and that it has to be that there's
a gold ring that people are reaching for, but that
they're just enjoying themselves in the process.
Speaker 3 (38:22):
Exactly, you know.
Speaker 2 (38:24):
Yeah, So I'm curious if you you talked a little
bit about climate change when we talked about vintage variation
and that we know climate change is going on. Do
you think we'll be drinking wine in five hundred years?
Speaker 3 (38:41):
I think so. Yeah. I don't know if it's going
to be grown in the same areas, but I think
we're going to be. I think we'll be drinking wine.
Speaker 2 (38:50):
We just don't know where it's from.
Speaker 3 (38:51):
Yeah, I think that the gen zers are going to
I think gen zers are drinking wine. But I think
you hit upon something that's really important gen zers, and
that's the experience, that's the community around it. And I
think that's what the wine I think we as wine
owners and the wine business is starting to recognize. Yeah.
(39:11):
And it's not it's not them going to a restaurant
and buying a really expensive wine, because that's not going
to happen. It's more about them getting into a comfortable
environment with their friends where they can have their own
experience with it. Absolutely. I think that's I mean, that's
(39:32):
what I'm hearing from my kids and their friends, and
I'm starting to you know, read that and hear that.
So I think, and to me, that's what it's about anyway.
I don't care if you're a gen z or or
you know whatever. That's what it's about, right, Absolutely, it's
all about being social.
Speaker 2 (39:52):
But if you were sent off to a deserted island
and couldn't be social with people, but you could be
social with three bottles of wine. What three wines would
you want to take?
Speaker 3 (40:00):
Any?
Speaker 2 (40:00):
Three wines?
Speaker 3 (40:01):
Okay? Uh? Type rivals or you can go specific.
Speaker 2 (40:07):
You can give me a brand name.
Speaker 3 (40:10):
Let's see. Well, how about I'll start with a rose
a bandle.
Speaker 2 (40:24):
Going dark and whatever? Uh?
Speaker 3 (40:27):
And I so I, you know, love rosees from that region,
and then I love pinos from Russian river. So I'll
take our Martin Ray synthesis pino okay, and then a
great dessert wine. I get a shote you can.
Speaker 2 (40:45):
Oh that's an interesting anyway, interesting trio.
Speaker 3 (40:48):
I like that.
Speaker 2 (40:50):
So you talk about how wine is community and wine
is social and wine is something that you know, we
it makes us feel a certain way when we can
share a bottle with people and have a great conversation.
So that means it's time that I get to ask
you play our little game with wine and music because
we We've been talking for a while now and we're
coming to the end of this. I'm going to wrap
(41:11):
it up. So my iTunes, well, you know, wine conjures
up an emotion and music does the same, and I
don't want to complicate it. You can give me a genre.
You already told me you want to share your bottles
of wine with musicians, and you went from Beethoven to
Mick Jagger. So I think you're going to be just
fine in this. But but I want to start with
(41:32):
the sparkling wine that you're making here at Martin Ray,
the Champagne style, traditional methods, sparkling wine.
Speaker 3 (41:41):
So I would say that would for me would be
maybe a Sunday brunch listening to maybe Vivaldi's Four Seasons.
I mean, I don't know, I'm that works.
Speaker 2 (42:01):
You mentioned that you would take the pino noir. Would
you say symmetry synthesis, sorry, synthesis to your dessert island?
Speaker 3 (42:11):
So what about that one?
Speaker 2 (42:11):
What is is that a specific vineyard designate?
Speaker 3 (42:14):
It is a combination of grapes from our estate vinyards. Okay, yeah,
and so.
Speaker 2 (42:21):
What about that one?
Speaker 3 (42:23):
I would say maybe a chick corea god what some
time ago is one of with I think her name
was Flora Krem who was the singer or La Fiesta,
another song by him. So chick as the jazz. Yeah, yes,
(42:47):
I don't think he's alive anymore, but I just love
his his stuff, Okay.
Speaker 2 (42:52):
And what about your Diamond Mountain cabernet, the one that's
better value than the neighbors leads.
Speaker 3 (42:59):
Up stairway to Heaven. That was easy.
Speaker 2 (43:04):
Sometimes it's so easy to think of what emotion it
makes you feel it.
Speaker 3 (43:09):
No, and there's nothing better than drinking uh. And I'm
solo at home now because my wife is on the
East Coast and the kids are They're out of the house,
but they come back quite often. But there's nothing better
than drinking wine and blasting the stereo.
Speaker 2 (43:25):
See, and it makes you feel it can enhance the
flavor of the wine and change the flavor of the wine.
Speaker 3 (43:33):
Certainly does. Okay.
Speaker 2 (43:34):
So I think I'm going to leave it on that
Diamond Mountain cabernet from Martin Ray with Leadepelin led Zeppelin.
Speaker 3 (43:40):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (43:43):
Well, Courtney, I have one final question for you. What
It's a two parter, and that is what wine region
in the world is At the top of your bucket
list that you would love to go explore.
Speaker 3 (43:53):
I think probably New Zealand. Okay, not just for the
wine region, but just I think what I hear is
such a beautiful place, and so I'd love to go
to New Zealand and business from friends that have wineries there,
and then just kind of, you know, experience the country
(44:13):
and the people.
Speaker 2 (44:14):
Absolutely, And for our listeners who might want to come
explore Sonoma County, where can they find you and what
what can they find when they're here?
Speaker 3 (44:24):
What kind of experiences they can find us at Martin
Ray in the Russian River, and we are open five
days a week and it is a completely kicked back
place and it's relaxed. We want people to come here
and stay, enjoy the food on the weekends. We do
(44:44):
pizzas on the weekends, and we don't want it to
be a rushed experience. You know, this is not Napa
Valley where we charge a whole bunch of money. But
a lot of a lot of people haven't heard of this,
so you know, we, you know, would love people to
come here and tell their friends.
Speaker 2 (45:03):
So check out Martin Ray Winery. Come on a weekend
where you can get pizza.
Speaker 3 (45:08):
But or Opiano or near Heilsburg, which is a really
hot area.
Speaker 2 (45:14):
So two wineries to visit when you're on your trip,
and they're only probably about twenty minutes apart from each other,
so come on up to Sonma. It's beautiful. Courtney, thank
you so much for joining us on Wine Soundtrack today.
I hope that wasn't too painful for you. You got
through the music part.
Speaker 3 (45:33):
That's awesome. No, that was a pleasure. Thank you for
the opportunity.
Speaker 2 (45:37):
Really cares.
Speaker 1 (45:39):
Thanks for listening to a new episode of Wine Soundtrack USA.
For details and updates, visit our website windsoundtracks dot com.
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