Inside Smith Story Wines: Ali Smith Story on Building a Boutique Winery from the Ground Up

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Summary

What happens when a fearless wine lover and her husband turn a passion project into a powerhouse label? Laurie Forster uncorks the story with Ali Smith Story, co-owner of Smith Story Wines. From navigating the wild world of winemaking to busting myths about the industry, Ali shares her inspiring journey—complete with Sauvignon Blanc, Pinot Noir, and a whole lot of heart. They dive into the meaning behind her Brave wine, the grit it takes to build a family-run winery, and how wine can be more than a drink—it can be a movement. 

Takeaways

•  Ali and her husband took a leap of faith into winemaking, backed by encouragement from industry insiders.
•  Their winery was born not just from grapes, but a successful Kickstarter campaign and a whole lot of hustle.
•  Smith Story’s Sauvignon Blanc is a boutique beauty—crafted in small batches with serious attention to detail.
•  Ali’s Brave wine was inspired by her personal story of resilience and recovery.
•  They’re committed to organic and biodynamic farming, proving that great wine starts in the soil.

Wines Tasted

Smith Story Sauvignon Blanc, Sonoma County, CA

Brave Red 2024, Carbonic Grenache, Sonoma County, CA

Smith Story Filigreen Farm Pinot Noir , Anderson Valley, CA

Check out the Domaine de Brave Gifts Boxes and SmithStoryWines.com 

Transcript

Laurie Forster (00:01.258)
All right, Allison, welcome to The Sipping Point.

Ali Smith Story (00:02.926)
Thank you. So fun to be here. I love talking from this beautiful place in Healdsburg, California today, our tasting room. Yeah.

Laurie Forster (00:12.142)
love it. And next time I get out there, I'm we're gonna meet in person. So I'm so excited that I'm getting to learn everything about it. And I always love to start the show. I told everyone your fabulous background and how you guys started the winery. And I know that's an inspiration for so many no matter what business they might start. But maybe we could start out before we get into tasting your wine, which I'm also excited about just a little bit about how did you come to own a winery because this is a dream for many people but

Ali Smith Story (00:31.115)
Right? Yeah.

Laurie Forster (00:41.806)
not one that many people actually achieve. So how did it start for you?

Ali Smith Story (00:42.038)
Yeah.

Ali Smith Story (00:45.805)
Well, it really, it started, I think, my husband and I have had a long career, you know, in this business. And it really started by other industry peers telling us there's two people that can do it and do it well. It's you guys. So that was really a big like, really? But, you know, our parents aren't wealthy. We don't own land. You know, there's a lot of big first steps that

We should probably figure out, and we did. We worked on our business plan for a couple of years before we actually launched in 2014.

Laurie Forster (01:18.938)
Wow, I love that. And I think I heard that there may be a little Kickstarter in your past. So you kind of built this with a lot of support from the wine lover side.

Ali Smith Story (01:20.482)
Yeah.

Absolutely. We did, you know, and I, both Eric and I, we've a long time fans and friends of a lot of family winemakers and winemakers around the world that continue to work with families that farm grapes. So I felt really our Kickstarter campaign, we were approved. I think we were the first winery to ever be approved on Kickstarter in 2014.

And our campaign was family farmers first. It was really our opportunity to tell the world how most wine is made by a lot of small vineyards, not just ginormous, huge vineyards with a big castle on a hill, particularly here in California, Northern California. So we got after it. You know, I had been writing for a long time online.

Laurie Forster (02:01.732)
Mmm

Ali Smith Story (02:18.532)
when I was based in Austin, Texas about wine. So I did have a following and Eric had a following as his years went by as a buyer for K &L wine merchants back when there was a good old paper newsletter, right? We couldn't, you know, always couldn't wait for that newsletter to arrive. And then I'd also already very much engaged in all social media platforms. So I did have somewhat of a voice and

Laurie Forster (02:31.097)
Yeah.

Ali Smith Story (02:43.288)
We did it in 30 days. We hit our goal of $25,000 and that was a great marketing launch for us. We kind of joke, we should have asked for five million because that's what it really takes to get things going the right way. I'd say that majority of our Kickstarter backers are still Wine Club members and most of them are beautiful friends of ours too. So a lot of silver lining to that.

Laurie Forster (02:54.267)
Right.

Laurie Forster (03:08.195)
Love that. And I love the idea of supporting family wineries, farmers. And I always say that the closer you get to the product, the cooler the people are. Because there's a lot of people in the wine business that can get an attitude, it seems, but it's not usually the people making the wine. So that's why I love having you on. And I know that we have three of your wines that we're going to sample and talk about today.

Ali Smith Story (03:17.802)
Yes. Yeah.

Ali Smith Story (03:22.07)
Yeah.

Right, yeah.

Ali Smith Story (03:33.067)
Yeah.

Laurie Forster (03:33.595)
So one of them that I know you're really passionate about is the Sauvignon Blanc and you have something to announce about this summer. Can you just let everyone know?

Ali Smith Story (03:37.612)
Yes, yes, yes.

I do. mean, honestly, it is 2025, the summer of Smith's story, Sauvignon Blanc. It's a thing, you know, is kind of a fun thing we thought about the beginning of the year because we have sold out so quickly in years past. And this year we debump our production to a whopping 800 cases, which is still very small in terms of the wine production world, but a big production for us. So.

Laurie Forster (03:49.882)
Yes.

Laurie Forster (04:09.903)
Right.

Ali Smith Story (04:09.948)
So far so good. This has been released just for a few months now and you know, you're not supposed to have a favorite child, but I love it so much. okay. Yeah.

Laurie Forster (04:17.019)
I have an only so I do have a favorite. mean, I'm allowed to. Yeah. But what is it that you love so much about your Sauvignon Blanc and Sonoma Sauvignon Blanc in general? Because I know you guys travel extensively. The Loire makes excellent Sauvignon Blancs, but they each have their own character or terroir, as us wine geeks say. What is it that is classic Sonoma for you?

Ali Smith Story (04:27.85)
Mm-hmm.

Ali Smith Story (04:32.18)
Yeah.

Yeah, yes. Yep.

Mm hmm. Yeah.

Yeah, well for us it's really leaning into the place where those grapes grow. know, years past we've had a vineyard partner that had some limestone in it. This year there's a lot of volcanic rock from the Knights Valley AVA and just really luscious, beautiful, sun-drenched little vineyard close to us here in Healdsburg in the Dry Creek Valley. So for us, that's Sauvignon Blanc should be a lift.

Laurie Forster (05:08.251)
Mmm.

Ali Smith Story (05:12.967)
It should be citrus of lemon and lime. And this year I'm getting like an orange blossom note right now. And then, you know, just a fair amount of, you know, to get real nerdy, a little Petrichor, some minerality on the backside. But I think, you know, the cool climate up here, I just I love the fact that the alcohol levels are fairly low. This is just above 13 percent. So you can enjoy a few glasses without getting popped. So

Laurie Forster (05:28.28)
Nice.

Laurie Forster (05:42.447)
Yeah.

Ali Smith Story (05:42.762)
I enjoy that because we like to eat and drink, you know.

Laurie Forster (05:46.402)
Absolutely. I love on the nose while you get some of that classic citrus, you're also getting some sort of floral notes too. It's really perfumed and lovely. And then when you take the sip, which I think I will, you get this great zing of acidity that I think, you you're on the right track here, the summer of Sauvignon Blanc, because lots of the things we eat in the summer.

Ali Smith Story (05:54.984)
Yeah. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

Ali Smith Story (06:01.086)
Yeah, yeah.

Mm-hmm.

Yep. Yeah. Yeah.

Laurie Forster (06:11.097)
we squeeze a lemon on or have acidity in them or have that crispness that you want matched in the wine.

Ali Smith Story (06:12.948)
huh. Yeah.

No, absolutely. One of my favorite little summer pops is a just a really easy diced and seamed zucchini dish with burrata cheese with some Nicouise black olives and drizzling that with a little olive oil, but really doing a heavy, just a fine plane of shredded lemon peel with a squeeze of lemon. that is just summer with this wine. So it's really, it's a fun wine to play with. And then, you know, it's great just to have a glass on the patio too.

Laurie Forster (06:32.411)
Mmm.

Laurie Forster (06:38.683)
Eww.

Laurie Forster (06:47.291)
Absolutely. Yeah, this is a cool wine that you can just have, yeah, sitting out back on a hot day. But I love that you're throwing out your pairing ideas. I'm broadcasting here from the eastern shore of Maryland. So we're off of the Chesapeake Bay. So everything is very seafood related. And this is such a great wine for whether it be crab or oysters or a lot of the great things that we get from the Bay and love to enjoy in the summer. So absolutely beautiful.

Ali Smith Story (06:48.308)
Yeah.

Ali Smith Story (06:59.498)
Okay. Sure. Oh yeah. Yep.

Ali Smith Story (07:09.609)
Yes.

Yeah, it's perfect. Cool. Yeah. Thank you. Yeah.

Laurie Forster (07:17.243)
about the idea, know, love your labels, but what goes into your thought process around that? And obviously we'll look at the other ones as well.

Ali Smith Story (07:25.738)
Sure. Yeah. Well, you know, our label is, it was really important for us to have a label that really exuded a classic wine and winery. You know, our background is definitely more old world. You know, a lot of fun labels from Spain started coming out really 20 years ago with great dynamic graphics and pictures and

We just kept going back to those, you know, really like first gross and serious wines, how they sustain and kept a really strong label for many, many decades. So that was really our purpose, but to also create a little bit of personalization. So there's a peony on the background of the label for a white wines. and I eloped on the big Island in 13. So that's a little nod to our wedding.

Laurie Forster (08:13.57)
No.

Ali Smith Story (08:15.201)
and even the red wines have a sketch of the green Hawaiian wedding lay around as a border. And you know, I was a Smith and I married a Story Guess what? We can pronounce those and we can spell that name. So it all kind of worked out.

Laurie Forster (08:25.531)
Right.

Absolutely, absolutely. Well, this is delicious and what a great summer wine to start with. I know the next wine is very special to you and you were inspired and created through a health journey of yours. Tell me a little bit of the story. And this label is a stunner as well. So beautiful. These lovely flowers and just the name Brave, which

Ali Smith Story (08:35.238)
Mm-hmm. Thank you.

Ali Smith Story (08:41.693)
Yeah.

Ali Smith Story (08:48.061)
Sure, yeah. so gorgeous.

Yeah.

I can hold it too, I love it. Cool. Sure.

Laurie Forster (08:59.451)
Yes, I know it's beautiful. So tell me a little bit about creating that and how folks can get some brave from you. Yeah.

Ali Smith Story (09:05.917)
Yeah, sure. Well, it was really an interesting project that came about in early 2021. I was diagnosed with breast cancer and just started in immediately on conquering and battling that whole thing. And I'm great today and I'm in remission. But at one point and all the craziness going on as we were planning for harvest, my husband suggested, hey, if you want to

Laurie Forster (09:23.547)
great.

Ali Smith Story (09:32.809)
you know, maybe focus on one wine just to keep your mind focused on something that could be yours. Let's do that. So we were actually, we had to move where we were based in the Anderson Valley in 2021 to this beautiful spot in Healdsburg. And then I really had some focus in the vineyard with the first Brave. So I named it Brave because that's what everybody kept telling me I was doing.

You know, you're so brave, you're so brave. And all I could feel is, gosh, we've all been so brave getting out of 2020. You know, we're all brave. You know, I think bravery comes in a lot of different forms. So I felt strongly about naming this brave. then honestly flipping around on my phone, I take a lot of pictures and I love taking pictures, particularly of a beautiful thing. So this

picture popped out and it was a picture that I actually took on an iPhone I used as the label in 2015 of a wild peony bush in a garden that used to be in our old home. So I thought, you know, that might work and it did. So that's how that came about. And it's a carbonic maceration technique that I use for this. So to simply put, you know, I love a lot of the carbonic wines coming out of Beaujolais most of all.

Laurie Forster (10:43.556)
Yes.

Ali Smith Story (10:52.528)
and then have had a little bit of carbonic, beautiful wines here in California too. So carbonic for me is just fresh, fresh and vibrant. And you know, the fresh red wine that we barrel down the harvest season, the fresh red wine that we bottle and the first that we release. So this is always released late spring and it's just a fantastic warm weather wine. You serve it chilled. Yeah. Yeah.

Laurie Forster (11:01.071)
Mm-hmm.

Laurie Forster (11:18.017)
I love that. And chillable reds is something that people are really interested in. And, you know, one of the things I find fascinating about the carbonic maceration side of it is that the fermentation takes place within the berry. And so you get that real fruity nose and fruity taste on the palate. I'm a huge fan of Cru Beaujolais and sometimes Nouveau if it's a great vintage.

Ali Smith Story (11:22.969)
Mm-hmm. Yep.

Ali Smith Story (11:28.935)
Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

Ali Smith Story (11:34.437)
Yeah.

Yep.

Ali Smith Story (11:42.758)
Hmm.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Laurie Forster (11:45.68)
But in the summer, a lot of times we shy away from drinking reds because, you know, they're tannic or they just seem too big. But a red like this is such a great option for burgers and the meat side of what we eat in the summer. Absolutely.

Ali Smith Story (11:50.791)
Mm-hmm.

Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah, Yeah, barbecue wine. Absolutely. And I, know, and about five days into fermentation, you know, all the grapes go fulling in, not de-stemmed. The whole clusters go into the tank. A lid goes on the tank. And then about five days in, we lift the lid and then do a little foot treading just to, you know, crush some of those berries even more. But just when that lid lifts and we step out just a little bit, the aromas are...

They're so pretty. It's almost like every time I smell this wine, it puts me right back into the cellar into that moment. It's really nice. Yeah. Yes. Yep.

Laurie Forster (12:33.787)
that's wonderful. Yeah, memories and smell are so closely related. So I know people can go to smithstorywines.com and order all of your wines, but the Domaine de Brave wines have a special place where people can go and not only get the wine, they can get gift baskets for maybe someone that is recovering from something or that they just want to brighten their day.

Ali Smith Story (12:46.555)
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

Ali Smith Story (12:56.731)
Yeah. Yeah.

Sure, yeah. Yeah, it was a really cool thing that happened. was, gosh, I knew that I wanted to do more with just the Brave label and what was that? And a lot of times during my own treatment, I had received so many wonderful gifts from people. And some of the times I'm like, they didn't know what to get me and I don't need anything. I'm a grown woman, I don't need anything, you know, but I thought, you know, somebody needs to be curating things that maybe would...

be really well received for a wellness gift or a celebration gift. So it wasn't until this past December I was treated to go see Taylor Swift, her heiress tour in Vancouver. And on my way out of that concert, I was given a bracelet and of all things, the bracelet, the very last bracelet that was traded with me said the word brave on.

And it was a kismet moment and just a sign of you gotta take this forward and make this bigger and share your story. So Domain to Brave really came out of that. And then the gift boxes are just really fun. So right now, thank you, thank you. I've got a little two box here, a two bottle. Yeah, and.

Laurie Forster (14:11.099)
They're gorgeous, I saw them on the site and yeah, they're really well curated.

nice. And yes, you can get them with one bottle of wine, two bottles of wine or without wine if your person is a non-drinker or can't drink at that time. But what a great idea. And you kind of know what people are looking for in that moment. And you're right. We don't need a lot more stuff, typically, most of us at our age. So just really something that kind of brightens your day is such a wonderful idea.

Ali Smith Story (14:23.92)
Yeah, yeah.

Ali Smith Story (14:28.868)
Yeah, yeah, yeah. Thank you. Mm-hmm. Yep, yep, yep, yep, yeah.

Ali Smith Story (14:46.148)
Yeah, it's just, I want people to feel good, you know, and that box is full of surprises and joy and just a real purposeful gifting opportunity. And everything is handmade, you know, whether it comes from a local artisan here in Northern California. Right now we've got a featured Aloha gift box and all things handmade from the big island, a little bit from Maui. So we're just, having some fun. Absolutely. Yeah.

Laurie Forster (15:12.143)
that's great. That's awesome. And obviously people can visit you at your tasting room downtown Healdsburg, which is such a fabulous town where you can just walk around and hit so many different tasting rooms. really every time I visited, I've really appreciated that. You don't have to keep getting in the car and driving somewhere else and great restaurants. so fabulous. Awesome. I'm going to be visiting next time I'm out there.

Ali Smith Story (15:16.301)
Yeah. Yep. Yep.

Yeah.

Mm-hmm. Yeah.

Ali Smith Story (15:31.565)
Right, Yeah, yeah.

Ali Smith Story (15:39.204)
Well, it's really, it's special, you know, we're on West Side Road. And, you know, to think about the very first time I visited Healdsburg, I was with a roommate in San Francisco who needed to pick up a wine club from Seghesio And I'm like, first of all, what's a wine club? And second of all, what's Healdsburg? And I remember taking a left on River Road and we went all the way down and made a right.

Laurie Forster (15:56.186)
Hehehehe

Ali Smith Story (16:06.757)
in the middle of the Russian River and followed West Side Road all the way to downtown Healdsburgh And now that we have an address here, it's pretty wild, you know, it's really cool. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Thank you. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. The summer. Yeah, no, I get it. Yes, yes.

Laurie Forster (16:16.013)
It is, it's a special place, a special place. Well, I absolutely love this. Maybe we should be calling this the, you know, the red of summer, the summer chillable red. I mean, absolutely, I love it. All right, perfect. And you guys travel, before we get to our Pinot Noir, you guys travel extensively. I know on your website, you had lists in all the different wine regions. Is there one that you guys feel like?

Ali Smith Story (16:33.541)
Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

Mm-hmm.

Laurie Forster (16:45.625)
most like Piedmont, Italy is one of the places in the world that I love the absolute most and just feel so connected to the people there. Is there one place that's that you guys feel is your place outside of Sonoma?

Ali Smith Story (16:49.193)
yes. Yeah. Yeah.

Right, yeah, yeah. You know, I think Eric would probably say Germany. That's where he learned how to make wine in the Rheingau region. You know, I feel like my place, I've got a snippet of love for everywhere I visited, quite honestly. The creativity I get, just the, I don't know, the feeling I get when I'm in Spain is not comparable to when I'm visiting France and I'm so enthralled with history there.

Laurie Forster (17:11.355)
Mm.

Ali Smith Story (17:24.42)
You know, I feel like it's really the people in every single region that have stood out to me as much as those regions. You know, where I have not visited is Burgundy. And so that's on the list. I've got to go. I can't believe I haven't been. I talk like I have and I've definitely helped a lot of great Burgundy producers in my lifetime. So I hope to get over there. Yeah, kick some rocks at them. Yeah.

Laurie Forster (17:28.591)
Mm-hmm.

Laurie Forster (17:35.835)
Laurie Forster (17:46.01)
Right. Yeah. There you go. And do you guys, know you've talked about this before, I'm sure, but working with your spouse, I have done, my husband's a chef, I've done events with him, but we don't work together on a daily basis. So, you know, what is that like? Do you guys like just have your own lanes and, you know, stay in your lane kind of thing, or how does it work?

Ali Smith Story (17:55.46)
Mm-hmm. Yeah.

yeah.

Yeah.

Mm-hmm.

Yeah. Well, good thing we enjoy the same type of wine. So there's one. You know, I think our goal for the winery is to be able to grow enough to have a few people in between us at some point. That's for sure. You know, it's not for the thin skin that I know. You know, we got engaged in 12, married in 13, launched the winery in 14. And there's been a lot of world events going on the last 10 years.

Laurie Forster (18:15.259)
It's true, true.

Laurie Forster (18:25.242)
Mm-hmm.

Laurie Forster (18:39.003)
Just a few.

Ali Smith Story (18:40.068)
Just a few and going through breast cancer. you know, I think if he was just a business partner, I don't know if we would have lasted, but the fact that we're married and we are committed, this is our livelihood. You know, we sold a home, we drained our 401k, we are in it. And probably the best thing about working with your husband is just sharing all the success and the good parts of the business.

Laurie Forster (18:54.938)
Mm-hmm.

Laurie Forster (18:59.14)
Yeah.

Ali Smith Story (19:07.542)
and remembering that, you know. This year we made a pact, we've almost stuck to it, just to have a date night a week. And that kind of sounds silly and simple, but it's really a necessity, I think, when you work with your spouse seven dates a week. So I think tonight we're going to catch a movie. You know, we've seen maybe two whole movies in a theater in the last six years or so, so we're gonna do it. Yeah, yeah.

Laurie Forster (19:08.024)
awesome.

Laurie Forster (19:23.227)
Absolutely.

Laurie Forster (19:27.739)
Laurie Forster (19:32.388)
Right. That's awesome. Yeah. And it's just owning your own business in general. Someone told me, as I have my own as well, that it's the most expensive exploration and personal development you will ever encounter because, know, yes, there's so much to learn and really just to have that resilience because there are so many ups and downs and different things that go on.

Ali Smith Story (19:37.729)
Yeah.

Ali Smith Story (19:46.979)
Isn't that the truth? Yeah. Sure.

Laurie Forster (20:01.413)
I was reading an article, Winemaker in Champagne, about all the different things that the winemakers there have been through world wars, different diseases of the vine. And yes, yeah, so it's good for you because, you know, being in business for, what is it, 11 years now? Yeah, that's quite a feat. That's awesome. All right, so we taste, go ahead.

Ali Smith Story (20:08.867)
Yes, yes, I read that too. Yes, yes.

Yeah. Mm-hmm. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. 11 years now. Yeah. Yeah. Now I'm, yeah. I was saying, I read that article too and I was so glad because it really allowed me to take a breath. You know, this is another moment. There's always going to be challenges, you know, and we are so young in the scheme of wine history. So absolutely. Yeah.

Laurie Forster (20:29.679)
Mm-hmm.

Laurie Forster (20:33.721)
Right.

Laurie Forster (20:37.903)
That's true. That's true. All right, we're gonna taste your Pinot Noir in a second, but I asked this question of a lot of the people that come on the show because there are so many myths out there about wine that consumers seem to keep believing. I just always wanna know what's one that you would like to dispel that's just absolutely not true?

Ali Smith Story (20:41.655)
Yeah. Okay. Yeah.

Ali Smith Story (20:50.88)
Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

Yep.

Hmm. Yeah.

Ali Smith Story (21:02.876)
where do I start? I think one is simply white wine can go with red meat. know, yes, it's white wine is very versatile and if a white wine has a lot of good acid, it's gonna be fabulous with all things. That's one. I think that the biggest myth about, which breaks my heart when people slander California wine,

Laurie Forster (21:12.485)
Love that.

Laurie Forster (21:24.762)
Mm-hmm.

Ali Smith Story (21:31.042)
over something that they've been told that has nothing to do with a small producer like us. So, you know, we are shepherds in the vineyard as long as we're farming correctly, organically, sustainably, hopefully mother nature being on the right side, we're harvesting on that perfect evening under the moon and stars, getting the grapes in and we step back, you know, we're shepherds in that cellar, we're checking on our babies in there, we're not tinkering.

and we keep it very real. I think that's the biggest myth. Not all wine is made the same and Lord knows there's a lot of wine.

Laurie Forster (22:09.531)
Yeah, that's true. mean, people hear myths about maybe big, huge commercial wineries using mega purple, which is concentrated grape juice to make the wine darker in color or other additives that are allowed. But typically, all the smaller wineries like yourself, the farmers, the people that are really loving their craft are not doing those things. So these myths just seem to

Ali Smith Story (22:15.923)
Mm-hmm, yep. Yeah.

Mm-hmm. Yeah. Yeah. Sure.

Ali Smith Story (22:29.964)
Yep. Yep. Yep. Yep. Yeah. Yeah.

Laurie Forster (22:37.283)
And there are commercial wineries in every country that, you know, so it's not, yeah, love that. Thank you.

Ali Smith Story (22:40.672)
Yeah, absolutely. Yeah. Well, I have to chuckle when people, you know, hold up a glass and go, look at the legs. And, you know, I don't correct people anymore, but I'm like, yes, that's the dishwashing soap probably, you know, there's little things like that. you know, I had a couple, was at a tasting, leading a tasting in Austin a few years ago and a couple walks up, we're not going to have California wine. There's arsenic in your wines.

Laurie Forster (22:54.639)
Yeah.

Ali Smith Story (23:08.252)
And all I had to say is, bless your heart. You're so wrong. And I'm a Texan, so I can say that. But you know, there's just a lot of bad information. So thank you for asking that because I do think it's important to talk about that and highlight those things.

Laurie Forster (23:11.355)
That's so true. Right.

Laurie Forster (23:24.217)
Yeah, and I think that's where the support of the family run wineries, know, getting close to the source and knowing what you're buying. Actually, that it has a I know when I had Kim from Dry Creek Vineyard on the show, she was really passionate about buying wines with Appellations and that it's the fact that your wine like the Sauvignon Blanc is Sonoma County. It's not just California and that could be anywhere in the state.

Ali Smith Story (23:32.618)
Yeah.

Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. yeah. Yeah.

Ali Smith Story (23:43.519)
Yes. Yep. Yep. Yeah. Yep. Right. Right. Yes. Yes.

Laurie Forster (23:52.22)
you know, the smaller the region you get to on the bottle, typically there, you know, there's more care to that. And if you look at a of your commercial wines, they do just say Oregon or just California, and that's a different animal. So yeah, really believe in that.

Ali Smith Story (23:59.412)
Yep.

Right, right, right. I agree, I agree. I love that she brings up that point. It's important. So closer to the land, closer to the farmers, you know, closer to that piece of weather and mother nature that was happening during that harvest season too.

Laurie Forster (24:13.465)
Yes.

Laurie Forster (24:20.323)
Love that. All right. So you mentioned Burgundy earlier, and I think you need to put that on your bucket list for later this year or 26. But you are making a Burgundian grape with your Pinot Noir, which is the third wine here in the lineup. So tell me a little bit. This is the Heartbreak Grape, right? This is the one that's so hard. But Sonoma is known, you know, for. Tell me a little bit about this.

Ali Smith Story (24:24.308)
Yeah.

It's there. Cool.

Yeah.

Great. Yeah. Mm-hmm. Yeah.

Yeah, yeah. So we're actually going to go up to a little bit north of Sonoma with this wine in the Anderson Valley. And, you know, we always make our wine here in Sonoma County. But years ago, my husband and a few of his colleagues at the wine shop, K &L, bought a small piece of land on the deep end of the Anderson Valley, which is about 45 minutes from the Mendocino coast, about an hour and 20 minutes from Healdsburg, north northwest.

Laurie Forster (24:54.245)
Yes, that's right.

Ali Smith Story (25:16.148)
And they planted this beautiful vineyard. And I just think from us, we were so inspired to start making Pinot Noir very much in the style of our favorite Burgundy producers and some Pinot Noir producers in Germany as well. what we feel like, particularly this wine, it's Fillagreen Farm. And this vineyard is the only biodynamic and organically farmed vineyard in that whole valley.

They also grow beautiful produce and olive trees and other things. But what we like most about this is the Pommard clone in the vineyard. And that's probably one of the clones I got to know best in learning about burgundy over the years. And the way Pommard plays in California, it's not as intense. It's not as tannic. And this particular area, because of where it sits in proximity to the ocean, we do get this amazing diurnal shift.

Laurie Forster (25:53.913)
Mmm.

Ali Smith Story (26:15.551)
So it could be 95, 100 degrees on hot, hot days in the vineyard at three o'clock, but by dinnertime, it's back down to 60 in the high 50s. So Pinot Noir loves that. And if it gets too hot, Pinot's not that great. yeah. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Yeah. Yeah.

Laurie Forster (26:31.073)
Yeah, true. This is close to the coast. So you do have that great, yeah, moderating factor. Now you mentioned organic and biodynamic and just for for people that are tuning in and they're maybe like, what's the difference? And why should I care? Maybe give us your take on both of those.

Ali Smith Story (26:43.721)
Sure.

Right, right, yeah, right.

Yeah. Well, in a short snippet, I feel like this biodynamic way of farming, it's just an extra layer of really taking care of the land as Mother Nature's instructing that farmer to do. And there's some controversy whether it makes sense or not, you know, but whatever. It's not a bad thing. There's no pesticides. There's nothing man-made going into that land or on the vines.

Organic definitely is that. Biodynamic plays with by the moon and stars a little bit more. Organic is just completely, we're working in the vineyard as people and not spraying, not adding any chemicals, things like that. So, which is important. I mean, we've been eating that way or I've been eating that way for most of my adult life now. So why not drink that way too? So, yeah.

Laurie Forster (27:44.379)
Right, love it. And on your bottles, is there a way for someone to know these practices or what's the best way for someone to connect with that?

Ali Smith Story (27:54.591)
You know, yeah, I hope not right now. Label changes are a big thing and we have not put that on our label because most of the vineyards, all the vineyards, but this one that we work with are organic, but they're not certified. So that's a whole other conversation to go to go through certification, but clearly on our website for sure. Yeah, yeah.

Laurie Forster (28:01.178)
Mm-hmm.

Laurie Forster (28:11.557)
Gotcha.

Laurie Forster (28:17.463)
Okay, perfect. And I think that is the thing right now is that you really need to just learn a little bit more about the farmers, the families, the wineries. And that helps because, you know, half the time if you're in a grocery store buying wine, if you will, you don't know it'll have one name, but it's really coming from another huge company that's making 10 of the different brands that are on the shelf.

Ali Smith Story (28:25.618)
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

Ali Smith Story (28:40.446)
Yeah.

Right, Mm-hmm. Yeah. Yep, yep, yeah.

Laurie Forster (28:44.601)
So just knowing a little bit more about where it comes from, the whole farm to table movement that did with food, I think is what you're saying with wine as well.

Ali Smith Story (28:55.955)
Yeah, I remember, gosh, 25 years ago telling people when I worked for K &L, like if you flip a bottle and, this is back when handheld computers were a thing, chess becoming a thing. But if you can't find people behind that wine label in 30 seconds when you Google that bottle, it's probably not a small production.

Laurie Forster (29:09.69)
Right?

Laurie Forster (29:21.136)
Mm-hmm.

Ali Smith Story (29:21.99)
You know, and I love that the Brave label definitely has a QR code. So that's a quick information click now to get to the website. yeah, you know, but I think I think truly I think, you know, I the wines do the talking, you know, and I think that somebody that hasn't focused on maybe buying organic wine or small production wine, these are these are life changing wines. You know, we even get a lot of

Laurie Forster (29:30.875)
That's great.

Laurie Forster (29:47.853)
Mm-hmm. They're delicious.

Ali Smith Story (29:50.234)
younger people that come visit us and maybe they've just been introduced to more of the natural winemaking because that's the wine bar in their neighborhood and they literally go silent when they taste our wine like my gosh these are gorgeous these are so pretty so you know we love it yeah

Laurie Forster (30:02.135)
I love that.

Yep. In Piedmont, the Italians will say it's a meditation wine because it's that life-changing. It's that amazing. some wines they'll say are so good that you just want to have a glass all by itself and just meditate.

Ali Smith Story (30:11.508)
yeah, yeah.

Mm-hmm.

Ali Smith Story (30:21.342)
Yep, yep. often say my, you know, food or not, my favorite pairing, probably with every wine that we've opened, is just a comfortable chair and to that game, give me a view. That's all you need with a really good wine, so, yeah.

Laurie Forster (30:37.179)
Love that. Great. Well, this has been so amazing. If folks want to find out more about your wines, visit you in Healdsburg. What's the best way for them to connect with you?

Ali Smith Story (30:43.102)
Mm-hmm.

Ali Smith Story (30:46.878)
Yeah, yeah, just find us on smithstorywines.com. We're definitely on the socials. Instagram is probably our main daily storytelling platform, which has been great. But yeah, come see us. We don't have big massive distribution right now. 2020, because of smoke and fires, we didn't make any wine, unfortunately. So we're kind of...

Laurie Forster (30:59.279)
Yes.

Ali Smith Story (31:11.112)
having to kind of get our inventory straight to be able to get through Hostel channels again. So best way to support is find us on our website. We probably sell most of our wine through our website and our wine club these days. So thank you. Yeah, yeah.

Laurie Forster (31:25.509)
That's great. And if join the club, heard you can become a storyteller.

Ali Smith Story (31:29.861)
Yes, storytellers, yes. It's really a funny thing, because why not? That totally worked. And gosh, we just had a wonderful gals in earlier today. And the first thing they did is we want to join. And we're not a winery that has these big parties and to-dos, but we offer some great savings and just some really heartfelt recipes and gatherings. And I think that that's really the pleasure of.

Laurie Forster (31:43.096)
Love that.

Ali Smith Story (31:57.882)
Being 11 years old, we had no idea we'd make so many great friends across the world. That has been a real great silver lining of owning your small winery.

Laurie Forster (32:02.169)
Yes, I love that.

Laurie Forster (32:09.829)
That's great. Well, Allison, thank you so much for joining us, sharing these three wines. I'm going to spread the word that it is the summer of Sauvignon Blanc, specifically the Smith story Sauvignon Blanc. But let's get that going on. And I just really appreciate you coming on the show.

Ali Smith Story (32:11.505)
Yeah.

Yes. Yes. Cool. Thank you. Thank you.

Ali Smith Story (32:28.86)
Well, thanks, Laurie It's been a pleasure. Hope to see you soon in Healdsburg. Right. Cheers. Cool. All right.

Laurie Forster (32:32.226)
Absolutely. Cheers. Thank you.