Ep 271: The SoNapa Problem with Oded Shakked of Longboard Vineyards and Jim Morris, the Sonoma AND Napa Wine Guy

Published: April 6, 2019, 4 p.m.

b'

Napa and Sonoma are the two most famous places for wine in the United States. On a map, they are right next to each other and they seem really interchangeable. But looks can be deceiving. The truth is, that they are an hour drive apart and worlds away in climate, geography, grapes, cost, marketing, and culture.

\\xa0

This week, Oded Shakked, winemaker and owner of Longboard Vineyards and Jim Morris, the Sonoma Wine Guy, who now works for a Napa winery help me parse the differences. This podcast should help make everything a whole lot clearer when people talk about Napa versus Sonoma!

\\xa0

Here are the show notes:

  • Geography:
    • The distance between the areas \\u2013 45 mi -1 hr, the difficulty in getting between them
    • Looking at a map \\u2013 and the geography of the two areas
  • Marketing differences \\u2013 when and how they diverged: Napa\\u2019s 20 year head start and the importance of Robert Mondavi\\u2019s marketing efforts to Napa
  • Ease of travel in Napa v Sonoma
  • The money difference/investement -- small farmers v. outside money
  • The competition element \\u2013 a problem for both Sonoma and Napa
  • What\\u2019s not different: SKILL!!! Everyone knows what theya re doing for the most part
    • Provenance, time, is smaller \\u2013 Napa \\u2013 elite
  • Experience difference:
    • Napa \\u2013 an elite or aspirational experience, status, expense, trying to weed out people
    • Sonoma \\u2013 more affordable, more relaxed
  • Costs differences \\u2013 and how places used it to weed people out
  • Grapes and climate
    • Diurals/acid differences \\u2013 Sonoma is cooler in many spots
  • Napa Envy by Sonoma
  • Sonoma\\u2019s Identity issue
  • One common problem: cost of living is going up and it\\u2019s harder to find people to work there
  • Some travel tips for Northern California wine country and all the other stuff you can do in Sonoma!

Thanks to our sponsors this week:\\xa0

YOU!\\xa0The podcast supporters on Patreon, who are helping us to make\\xa0the podcast possible and who we give goodies
in return for their help! Check it out today:\\xa0https://www.patreon.com/winefornormalpeople

\\xa0

Blinkist:

Blinkist is the only app that takes the best key takeaways, the need-to-know information from thousands of nonfiction books and condenses them down into just 15 minutes so you can read or listen to. 8 Million people are using Blinkist right now and it has a massive and growing library: from self-help, business, health to history books.

Get the main idea of books so you can decide if they are something you want to read more of or if the gist is just enough!\\xa0Right now, for a limited time Blinkist has a special offer. Go to www.blinkist.com/\\u200bWINE\\u200b to start your free 7 day trial.

\\xa0

'