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In this episode of The Good Stuff presented by the Sonoma County Winegrowers, hosts Virginie Boone and Karissa Kruse talk with Randall Watkins, Winemaker for Laurel Glen Vineyards.

Winemaker Randall Watkins grew up on a vineyard located in the foothills of Taylor Mountain in Sonoma County. His father was a small-scale winemaker, creating rustic Zinfandel and crisp Chardonnay in a barn on their property with the help of friends who were paid in wine. Beginning when he was only 10 years old, Randall participated in the annual harvest and grape crush, and as he grew older, he continued to learn about farming and fermentation from his father.

In 1993, Watkins received a bachelor's degree in sociology and management from the University of California, Davis. After a brief stint working for an environmental consultant in San Francisco, Watkins again felt the call of the wine country. He continued his hands-on winemaking training, working in the cellars and labs of Buena Vista Winery and Hartford Family Winery in Sonoma County, as supervisor of red wine fermentations at Carmen Vineyards in Chile, and as assistant winemaker at S. Anderson Vineyards in Napa. Watkins then returned to UC Davis, where he rounded out his practical knowledge by completing a master's degree in enology in 1999. Watkins went on to produce stellar wines over the next 7 years as winemaker and General Manager for Carmenet Winery and Moon Mountain Vineyard before joining Laurel Glen Vineyard in 2011. Randall is Laurel Glens winemaker currently, and makes wine for his family brand Watkins Family Wines.

Throughout his winemaking experience, Watkins found that grapes from hillside vineyards produced red wines of incredible richness, depth, and concentration. After making Cabernet Sauvignon from vineyards in Sonoma, Rutherford, Stags Leap, Red Hills, Mendocino, Monterrey, and Chile, Watkins discovered that his favorite big red wines were consistently from vineyards located in the Mayacamas Mountains.

Laurel Glen uses grapes from their estate vineyard in the Sonoma Mountain AVA. It was originally planted to mixed red varietals by German Immigrants at the end of the 19th century, and replanted to Cabernet Sauvignon in 1968 by Carmen Taylor, just prior to the modern proliferation of vineyards in California. In 1977, Ms. Taylor sold the property to Patrick Campbell (Laurel Glen founder), who would become one of Northern California’s winemaking pioneers and a leading industry figure. Campbell took cuttings from the three acres of Cabernet vines planted by Taylor to develop the 14 acres comprising our vineyard today.

Shortly after Patrick Campbell purchased the vineyard in 1977, he started to expand it. He took cuttings from the existing Cabernet Sauvignon vines, grafted them to St. George rootstock and increased his Cabernet vineyard from three acres to fourteen. Eventually, this became the Laurel Glen clone which was certified as a unique clone by the University of California at Davis. Today, the vineyard is planted exclusively to this clone of Cabernet Sauvignon, uniquely well suited to the cooler conditions of the Sonoma Mountain AVA.

Laurel Glen Vineyard was purchased by the current ownership in 2011, a small group of wine lovers led by industry veteran Bettina Sichel. Bettina immediately appointed viticulturalist Phil Coturri to manage the vineyard. A true pioneer and leader in organic and biodynamic farming in California, Coturri started using exclusively organic farming practices in 2011. Laurel Glen Vineyard received certification from CCOF (California Certified Organic Farmers) in 2014. They use minimal inputs and plant numerous cover crops every year to enhance biodiversity, minimize soil erosion, control weeds, fertilize the soil without chemical inputs, and improve the structure and microbial activity of the soil.

And finally, Virginie and Karissa share their Tuesday Night wine picks!