Mountain Wines Decoded: Sonoma Terroir with Stonestreet Winemaker Kristina Shideler

Check out all the great events Laurie has on the calendar in 2026 on her website at TheWineCoach.com/events including the Wine Meets its Match tasting at The Ivy Cafe in Easton, MD on April 22nd.

Think all California wine tastes the same? Not even close.

In this episode, I’m joined by Kristina Shideler, head winemaker at Stonestreet Estate Vineyards, to break down what really sets mountain-grown wines apart—and why Sonoma is full of surprises.

Kristina takes us from her science-driven start to crafting wines at high elevations, where vineyard site, climate, and timing aren’t just details—they’re everything. We get into what mountain fruit actually tastes like, why “bigger isn’t always better,” and how thoughtful winemaking lets the vineyard lead.

We also talk about pushing boundaries (hello Assyrtiko), the truth about price vs. quality, and how to actually pair these wines without overthinking it.

If you’ve ever wondered what you’re really tasting in the glass… this one’s for you.

In this episode we cover:

•  Kristina’s journey from science and global travel into winemaking
•  How European wine culture shaped her perspective on terroir
•  What makes mountain vineyards so different—soil, elevation, and microclimates
•  How Stonestreet’s extreme vineyard diversity shows up in the glass
•  Why planting grapes like Assyrtiko could be the future of California wine
•  How native yeast, harvest timing, and restraint let the vineyard shine
•  The real difference between everyday wine and age-worthy bottles
•  Easy food pairings for Chardonnay and white blends (no stress required)
•  How long you can age Stonestreet Cabernet—and why it’s worth the wait
•  The biggest myth about California wine—and why it needs to go 

Wines Tasted

Stonestreet White Blend 2025

Stonestreet Chardonnay 2021

Stonestreet Cabernet Sauvignon 2019

Transcript

Laurie Forster (00:27)
This week on The Sipping Point, we're heading to Sonoma, California. I'm gonna be talking with Christina Scheidler of Stone Street Estate Vineyards. But just a few reminders, go to thewinecoach.com. You can sign up for my email list there so you get the first notifications about my upcoming wine events, tours, great podcast interviews, and so much more.

Also there, if you click on events, you'll see I have a couple of events coming up this month on the 22nd in Eastern Maryland. I'm doing wine meets its match. We're gonna spend the evening making wine sandwiches and seeing why some foods go so well with certain wines and why that is.

Also on April 29th, I have a virtual wine tasting from Lava to Glass, where we're gonna taste some wines from vineyards that have volcanic soils. And they're gonna be from all over the world, including Italy, Greece, and so much more. Just go to thewinecoach.com, click events. You can sign up and log in from anywhere in the world to join me. I'll give you the links to the wines if you wanna have the same ones as me. And we'll just have a fun evening of tasting and connecting.

All right, I'm gonna be bringing in Christina Scheidler. Her path to winemaking started early with trips through Europe that sparked her curiosity food reflect people and place. She went on to study biochemistry and agricultural economics at the University of Missouri, followed by a master's in viticulture and enology from UC Davis. Because why choose between science and wine when you can have both?

Her journey has taken her around the globe with harvests in New Zealand, Portugal, and Argentina before returning to Sonoma County where she worked at Verite and Arrowwood. She joined Stone Street in 2012, working her way up to head winemaker. Now she crafts wines that truly express the mountain vineyards she calls home. When she's not making wine, she's juggling life with three kids, running, gardening, and probably hosting a wine dinner that we all wish we were invited to.

Laurie Forster (02:27)
Kristina welcome to The Sipping Point.

Kristina N Shideler (02:30)
Thanks, Laurie it's great to be here.

Laurie Forster (02:32)
Awesome. Well, I'm so excited to have an amazing woman of wine here and you're dialing in straight from the winery, I understand. So we'll just imagine that we're all sitting with you in Sonoma, California right now. But I know it was a little bit of a journey for you to get to where you're sitting right now and your position as head winemaker at Stone Street. And so we'd love to hear a little bit about how you came.

to be in the wine business and then maybe a little bit more of your journey to head winemaker.

Kristina N Shideler (03:03)
Yeah, so like everyone has their story of how they got into wine and I don't think that mine is too different from some people that I've spoken to in that I was coming up through more of a science background, pre-medicine, and studying that. It was my junior year, I was in a lab and working my first fellowship, so first dose of like 40, 50 hour work week and it was all indoors.

And I thought to myself, what else can I do with the science degree? And for some reason, this light bulb went off. I was like, what about winemaking? That has to require science, right? And why would that light bulb go off in the first place? And so at the time, it was just like, yeah, that makes a lot of sense. But where the seed really was planted was during travel, early. My first international trip was at eight years old. My mom is a music professor.

She would take students over every single summer over to Western Europe and show culture, art, music, museums, and of course wine and food was a big part of that. And something that really resonated with me was all the same thing. was really discovering a place through everything. And so that really stuck with me. And so yeah, was this light bulb that was back there in my mind somewhere where that

That would be really interesting. That would get me outside. That would get me, it would combine all my interests, right? And so it was very romantic idea of what winemaking would be. And some of that's true. And then of course, you get into the production side and it is agriculture. And so I got my first dose of that. Actually, I was going to school at University of Missouri. I finished off the degree in biochemistry and got an opportunity after that to.

work at a local Missouri winery. And so that's where I dip my toes in actual production. Great place to start because it functioned like a small farm where I got to do everything. So anything from vineyard to lab to cellar to tasting room, I got to do it all. It was a small team of about three people and my boss had gone to UC Davis. And so that was another seed planted of like, okay, what else could I

do with this, what are the opportunities? And I applied to the UC Davis graduate program, ended up getting my master's there. I like to say that I was one of the first to do the traveling winemaker gig where you work internships around the world. It's very commonplace now. That's how you can get a lot of experience at once is because all of us need more help during harvest. And so you expand your team, maybe like double it.

And so where was an easy place for me to go for that first international harvest of New Zealand? Their industry at the time was booming with Sauvignon blanc. You know, it was English speaking, very safe country to travel by myself. I was barely 21 years old and ⁓ it was back in the day of calling cards and dial up internet. it was, you know, not like job postings were up there, not easy to...

Laurie Forster (06:01)
Wow

Yeah, I remember.

Kristina N Shideler (06:13)
know, book travel and get all the information that we can get today. But yeah, that kind of launched my travel within the wine world and got a lot of harvest experience that way. Caught the travel bug, informed the next place to go to, went to Portugal, Maduro Valley, Argentina, and Mendoza. And I worked five years in the industry before

Laurie Forster (06:29)
That's great. Love it there too.

Kristina N Shideler (06:38)
I had ever put in a California winery as far as working there. ⁓ yeah, I mean, I just feel really fortunate that I got that hands-on work experience and the combination of that and the formal education. know, people come at it from a lot of different ways, but that really suited me.

Laurie Forster (06:42)
Wow.

That's great. so all of that time working New Zealand, Portugal, Argentina, was there one moment or one experience that just kind of said to you, yes, is definitely wine life is for me. This is what I want, you know, going forward longterm, anything that comes to mind.

Kristina N Shideler (07:17)
I was pretty sold from that first Vintage On that that's what I wanted to do. I think when I started realizing the possibilities of what could exist, in my mind, was like, yeah, I want to be a winemaker someday. But I think I saw it more as a job than something that you master, like this creative lifelong pursuit. And I think the point that I reached that was in Portugal, in the Douro Valley.

One thing that I really got from that experience was the opportunity to taste a lot of European wines. So Dirk Nieport was incredibly generous, opened up a cellar to us on a daily basis. We would have lunch wines, wine tastings. And that's when I really started to understand wine from, you know, the really sensory aspect of it, really digging into those questions of what makes a wine taste the way that it does.

and made me very intellectually curious, more from a creative standpoint and really sought for like, wow, this is something that can be really, really great. And to do something really, really great, these are kind of some of the things that are behind that. And obviously, vineyard craft history, you know, it was, that was like, I'd say a turning point for me.

Laurie Forster (08:23)
Mm-hmm.

That's great. And of course we know you ended up coming to Stone Street your way Head Winemaker. So tell me a little bit about, how did you come to Stone Street and the Alexander Valley? tell us a little bit about the winery and why it's so special.

Kristina N Shideler (08:52)
Yeah, how I got to Stone Street. I was in the lab at UC Davis. Everyone had graduated and I was trying to finish up my research. I'm just one of those types of people where I can't like put a cap on things. my professor hired me for the summer. I was like, I still want to keep on working on answering this question. He's like, you need to go work harvest. You need to get a harvest job. And you have not worked in California. He's like, where would you work if you were in California? I'm like.

Okay, like pie in the sky, would be Verite, Dominus, or Dining Creek. Those were the top three for me. And she's like, okay, well, let me see. Let me see what I can do. So he made some calls and Verite had an intern. This is August and luckily 2011 was a late year, but like you should have your harvest team by then. I was so late. And an intern had dropped off of the Verite team. And so I got that internship and it was...

incredible. Like I didn't even know that Verite was part of the Jackson family and the wealth of vineyards that they had. That was my first time on the on the mountain estate, the Stone Street Mountain Estate, was during my internship at Verite. And so I was blown away. So much of what I saw in the Douro Valley and in just other parts of my travel, you know, with those mountain vineyards, I could tell it was just such a special place. And

Yeah, became very excited about the prospect of working with that vineyard among others at Verite. I met the winemaker at the time, Graham Wirtz, who's a Stone Street winemaker, and him and I talked a lot. I had a lot of questions about vineyards. That was really where my interests lie and where my fascination was. And so he approached me at the end of the harvest and said, you know what, we have an opening here. Would you want to?

I'm like, oh, I have plans to go to Argentina. You know, I just still have the travel bug. Like, I'm not going to stick around here for too long. I want to keep on traveling. And I had applied. I still went on that flight and got the call. You know, in a couple months, I had applied for an assistant winemaker position, but I was approached with a viticulturist position. And

Laurie Forster (10:53)
Yeah

Kristina N Shideler (11:03)
that sounded so much better to me at the time. was like, my gosh, you mean my job is to be in this vineyard, this mountain estate every single day. And so I could not say no to that. I booked the trip right back and ⁓ yeah, started in the spring of 2012. And I worked very closely with the winemaking team at the time. And Lisa Valtembergs also was assistant winemaker, later became winemaker of Stone Street after Graham. She

Laurie Forster (11:16)
Yeah.

Kristina N Shideler (11:30)
was going on maternity leave, which gave me an opportunity to come into the winery. And so it was this beautiful way to really dive in to this very complex mountain estate and also have a foot in the door with winemaking. And so I had three years really just training in between the two and supporting both Graham and Lisa in those early years. And at that time we were still trying to figure out, you know, what do we have here in terms of some of the newer plantings that now are mature? And so I've seen

the life of this vineyard really evolved from, a decade. And so I always like to talk about just like that vine age and how important that is. And when you do plant new vines, how long it takes to really understand what you have going on. And even with older vines, are these vines, are they thriving or are we in decline for some reason and need to start thinking about replants? So the...

Laurie Forster (12:02)
Wow.

Kristina N Shideler (12:21)
The property, which I know we're going to get to talking about is incredibly complex. Let's take this like very keen mindset and you have to constantly be a student of it. And so that just fit my personality a hundred percent. And it's positional never give warning.

Laurie Forster (12:24)
Yes.

Love that.

Well, I love that you brought up mountain fruit and I wondered if we could just talk about that real quick and then let's taste. sent me a couple of wines here too that we can taste and talk about. you know, people probably lots of wine lovers here. People talk about mountain fruit and you know how special it is. And I know you have elevations anywhere from 400 to 2400 feet and it's all about the mountain in my mind. I know the tasting room and the winery is down on the valley floor, but

that that's where these special vineyards are located. So if someone doesn't know what makes mountain fruit or wines made from mountain fruit so special and what are they looking for in the glass that would tell them, ooh, this is mountain fruit.

Kristina N Shideler (13:21)
Yeah, if I had to sum it all up, it's just a lot of personality. And you can think about it really from the ground up. Like these mountains, least in California, were formed by tectonic activity, volcanic activity, millions and millions of years ago. Well, that dirt on the mountain, that soil, that ground has not moved. It is rock. you know, whereas like on the bench in the valley, you know, slowly that

Earth has moved and gone downhill or maybe riverbeds have some influence, whereas the mountain is just there. And so you get these really interesting sedimentary soils, really complex soils on our property. We have over 20 different soil types. At elevation, you have a lot of really interesting weather patterns happening. you know, I think that any time that you grow vines, like vines are not like soybeans and corn that need all this like

Laurie Forster (13:58)
Nice.

Kristina N Shideler (14:17)
Fertile soil need to be treated really special. It's not, you're not gardening tomatoes. Vines are better when they struggle a little bit. So with weaker soils, the rockier soils, the wind, the exposure, the UV, like there's so much on the mountain that is slightly marginal that really benefits the quality of the fruit that we get. Thicker skin, smaller berries, more personality, more character.

I always like to talk about with mountains, especially for our property, it's not one big monoculture. We have wildlife corridors, have Bay Laurel, we have chamomile, we have all of these mountain scrubs and all this other wildlife and flora activity going on that's not just vineyard. And that all is part of it too. And so when we talk about terroir place, like my hope is that, you you can really taste the mountain in these wines. And I think...

that personality and I think this goes for our estate but a lot of mountains, mountain wines where you're like, that has a lot of personality, that has a lot of edge, there's a lot of power behind those wines that get produced on these mountain sites.

Laurie Forster (15:26)
Love that. And love that you brought up taste because the first wine you sent me is your white blend. And this has definitely got some personality for sure. And it's so interesting. Let me get it up here so people can just see that it's a blend of a grape called Assyrtiko with some Semillon and Malvasia Bianco,

How did you come about the idea of growing Assyrtiko or have you been growing it for a long time?

Kristina N Shideler (15:55)
That was the planning that went in in 2020. So that's our most recent planting on the mountain. And the idea of planting Assyrtiko Malvasia Bianca, the Semillon have Chinon Blanc, Savion Gris, Riesling, is that we were trying to play around climate changes on the mind of everyone. And we know that we have these soils that do not hold a lot of water. And so how do

Is there something else where Cabernet showed it did not grow in this area very well? Is there some other variety that has a lot of drought tolerance that is better suited for these really crazy high magnesium soils that are not suitable for Cabernet? And so we just started playing around and how will you know anything unless you try it? And I was able to...

make wine from all these varieties that first year. And it was very clear to me that Assyrtiko had a lot of potential on that site. so that 2023 was the first year we produced this wine. And since then, it has been an Assyrtiko led blend, which has the most amazing acidity. mean, it holds acidity so well during the ripening period. And it has really intense aromatics too, which is something that you don't find as much in

the Assyrtiko from Greece, which is where it's from. But California, think that California sun, maybe the exposure that we're at just has beautiful floral aromatics. And then Semillon is a variety that is not known for its acid, but its roundness. So together they make this really interesting blend where you get the texture and the roundness and kind of that honey quality of the Semillon and the saline.

and yeah, those beautiful floral aromatics together. And it's just, I mean, it's complex, but it's also just juicy and delicious and refreshing.

Laurie Forster (17:42)
It's beautiful.

Yeah, lots of really nice peach or some people will call it stone fruit. That'll give you a whole bunch of options there that might include nectarine as well, but the floral and that little note of honey, but I love the racy acidity, especially now that we're getting into these warmer weathers. And here in Maryland, we're all about our seafood. So the minute I tasted this, I was like, my gosh, if I had some oysters right now, I would just be in heaven because.

This is a wine that could stand up to the brininess of an oyster and many other kinds of seafood, but is there anything specific you like with the white blend?

Kristina N Shideler (18:23)
Yeah, I think you called it with the seafood and I would almost challenge to do like a more of a contrasting pairing too and try that out because you have, know, especially a lot of like the halibut, the meatier fish. If you do something with a lot of oil or butter, then this just like cuts right through it, but still stays really, really fresh.

Laurie Forster (18:32)
Mm-hmm.

Yes.

Yeah, this is really, really delicious. And now is this something that people would get normally just at your Stonestreet website? Or do we see this around the country because it's pretty limited production, it seems.

Kristina N Shideler (18:57)
It's very small production. So through the tasting room and our website, last year it sold out in two months. So we are releasing the 2025 actually this coming week. ⁓ So this is something that people call in, they're anticipating now. Like you said, it's just such a fun spring summer wine. know, we have members that call this their pool water.

Laurie Forster (18:59)
Yeah.

my gosh.

Okay.

love that.

Kristina N Shideler (19:24)
Yeah, it's like the taste of spring in a glass. I love it.

Laurie Forster (19:28)
It really is. It's really fun. And I always encourage people just to try different things because the world of wine, there's thousands and thousands of different grapes. So that must make it fun to be able to mix in some of these unique varietals in with the varietals that we know and love that do great in Sonoma as well. So thank you for sharing that with us. ⁓ You were talking about, and I know I've read on the website as well that

Kristina N Shideler (19:50)
Yeah.

Laurie Forster (19:56)
The focus is really to let the vineyard and you have, think it was over 170 micro climates within your vineyards, meaning those different areas of the vineyard have, you know, different climatically and maybe suited for different grapes or make a different tasting wine. What do you do as a winemaker to stay out of the way of the expression of the site, to not do too much to put

you know, sort of what you want there versus what maybe the vineyard or the vintage wants to express.

Kristina N Shideler (20:29)
Yeah, that's a good question, especially as we get into chardonnay because chardonnay is one of those varieties that you, it expresses the land so transparently as you really want to get out of the way there. So I think a big, I think there are two main things in my philosophy. And one of those is native yeast fermentation. I think that whenever you just, you you don't inoculate with a manufactured yeast, your whatever comes in on the grapes, that's.

what is converting the sugar into alcohol. I think there's something there. It's a much slower process, but it just allows the grape to really transform into a complex wine that represents where it's from. Along those same lines is pressing really gently, just really honoring the grape and the material that we're making the wine out of. And so I don't do any sort of...

Laurie Forster (21:11)
Mmm.

Kristina N Shideler (21:22)
I use a lot of the leaves so we don't rack completely off of those heavy leaves. Like that's where the grape skins are. And so that's where the flavor is. That's where the texture is. So using as much as I can of these amazing grapes that I'm getting and using that to make the wine. And that sounds so obvious, right? But when you're working in modern winemaking, you have all these different tools that can move all of these.

Laurie Forster (21:36)
Yeah

Kristina N Shideler (21:46)
different lovers for you in terms of flavor and in a sense of control, right? So let go of some of that control. I monitor it quite a bit. I monitored it more than anything. I'm moderate it nervously sometimes, but yeah, it's really taking a step back and tasting along the way and intervening if you need to, but full expression of the vineyard is really important to me. And then the other thing that's really important in making wines that respect that puns.

Laurie Forster (21:51)
Right.

Kristina N Shideler (22:13)
sense of place is pick time. So I think that the further that you let the grape get ripe, the more it starts kind of tasting the same. I mean, you can get jam, those jammy flavors really from most vineyards if you just let them hang for long enough. And so I think that that pick time and really being precise about it, that doesn't mean necessarily getting it.

too early, but knowing exactly when that vineyard should be picked to get maximum expression. So one thing that I do is I pick at different times to learn that for myself. Okay, do I like this vineyard a little bit on the earlier side, pushing it a little bit? Where do I get the maximum expression of the vineyard? So I think those are two really important things when working with a site like this.

Laurie Forster (22:58)
And when you're deciding the pick time, obviously there's a measure of sugar called brix that a lot of winemakers obviously are monitoring throughout the growing season to decide when to harvest. But then I've been to other places where they say, maybe Bordeaux, where they say, well, I know by tasting the grape. I can look at the brix, but it's more important if I taste one, I know exactly

when it's ready by taste. Where do you fall on that or is it a little bit of both?

Kristina N Shideler (23:31)
Yeah, it's sugar level, so brix, also acid. What is the acid doing? Is it staying nice and low or am I losing acid? So trends are important too. How fast is the brix climbing over time? Is the acid dropping over time? What does the weather look like too? Like how much room do I have to play with here? And then absolutely being out there and tasting the grapes almost daily. So it is daily.

Laurie Forster (23:49)
Yeah

Kristina N Shideler (24:00)
the important blocks. And so I try to take all that information and pull it all together. It's not just one thing.

Laurie Forster (24:09)
Wow, it's like you need a master computer in your mind for that to put that all together. Well, you mentioned Chardonnay and that's actually the second white that you sent me that this is the 2021 Chardonnay by the way that I have. And so of course, one of the white grapes that we really associate with California in general, but definitely Sonoma. So tell me a little bit about

your style of Chardonnay? People like to put Chardonnay in a pigeonhole or give it a personality maybe that isn't true in every case of Chardonnay. So what is your style of Chardonnay if you had to describe it?

Kristina N Shideler (24:54)
Yeah, so first I'll just bring attention to the fact that we are in the Alexander Valley, which is a warmer region. The reason why we're able to grow Chardonnay in the way that I want to, which I'll get to, is that we're tucked in to the inversion layer. So this is this fog layer that rises up and stays mid-elevation between about 800 and 1800 feet. And it's just, we have it here today, which is, it's always fun to like look up and...

see these low clouds, but if you're at the top of the mountain looking down, it just looks like an ocean of fog and you're in the sun. So that's how we're able to make chardonnay that retains a lot of acidity. And with the California sun, we're getting the ripeness that we need, but we're also getting a lot of wind and cool air from the Pacific and then that nice fog. So for me, it's a balance chardonnay of having a lot of personality, a lot of texture.

generosity of texture, but also tension. So the tension is where, know, what I mean by that is like that acid, that framing so that when you're tasting a Chardonnay, you're getting all the flavor, but it's leaving really, really clean, almost like quenching. We're like, I want another sip of that. That was refreshing. ⁓ Rather than cloy or oily or heavy on the palate,

Laurie Forster (26:08)
Mm-hmm.

Kristina N Shideler (26:12)
really going for something that is fresh. And then the aromatics just respectful of where the vineyard is. It has to tell you something about the vineyard when you smell it. So you mentioned the stone fruit, the peach on the Assyrtiko That's kind of a hallmark of, would say, our mountain in general for whites. Always get a little bit of stone fruit, but also the lemon, a little bit of minerality, the floral.

Laurie Forster (26:29)
Mm-hmm.

Yes.

Kristina N Shideler (26:41)
Yeah, it's all of those things combined with the influence of the yeast, also a little bit of that brioche as well. And we are doing our fermentation in barrels, so 30 % new oak, do have a little bit of that brioche is coming from the new oak percentage there.

Laurie Forster (26:49)
Yes.

Yeah, it's really lovely and balanced. And I think, you know, for a while people got scared of Chardonnay because they thought it was going to be an oak bomb. what's wonderful is, you know, people don't understand it's not like you're using all new oak in this. It's only 30%. So you're, you know, you're giving the other 70%, right, is balancing out anything that's there. And so this is a really lovely and I love that creaminess too.

you back to our seafood thing, you know, with like a halibut with one of our restaurants does a champagne cream sauce. It's delicious with crab on top. And this would be absolutely delicious with that. But you could also, you know, get into your chicken dishes and pork and things because it does have that, you know, it is fuller body than the white blend. So now we can go to some fuller bodied pairings.

Kristina N Shideler (27:33)
my god.

Yeah, I love the recommendation of crab. We have dungeness out here and my husband actually goes and catches them fresh in the Pacific, little kayak and goes out there and traps them. And I like something just really, really simple with this Chardonnay. So yeah, the crab with some lemon and the Chardonnay and nothing getting away there. Yeah, it's a great texture together too.

Laurie Forster (27:56)
Yes.

Have fun!

Yeah, it's lovely. I don't think I mentioned the white retails on your website for 55. And then this one would be $60, both beautiful and both I could imagine amazing pairings, whether they're on the back porch or dinner party, these could be really part of either of those. So you mentioned using

native yeast. How does that work in practice?

Kristina N Shideler (28:39)
it's using what's hanging around the vineyard and maybe hanging around the winery. so this is not anything, anything, come from men, but we do a lot to control that. So sanitation is essential. So we don't want any other spoilage microorganisms. So everything is sanitized, like obsessively. We have white floors here at Stone Street. So you should be able to.

eat off of the floors, say, in the winery. And the other thing is temperature. So yeast do prefer a specific temperature, usually around 60 degrees to start the fermentation. And then you can kind of play with it from there. But yeah, you have to put them in favorable conditions to be able to flourish on their own. But for example, if you're going to inoculate, like with bread yeast, right? Like if you're going to make some

bread yeast up to stick in your flour, that reaction happens pretty quickly, like within 24 hours. A native yeast fermentation might take an entire week before you see any indication of the bubbles from the CO2 or any reduction in sugar. So it's a much slower process.

Laurie Forster (29:47)
Gotcha. And sometimes people think they know California wine or Sonoma wine or Napa wine and just have a generalized perception. What do you think is the biggest misconception about California wines and specifically of course, Alexander Valley, Sonoma, your area?

Kristina N Shideler (30:06)
Yeah, I mean, it's like anywhere you go. It's what can you get access to, right? I remember when it came back from this like New Zealand or Argentina that are so export driven. And so people have in their mind just based on a couple different examples, what the entire region or even the whole country is about. And so I would just challenge people to learn more about these regions and

Laurie Forster (30:25)
You

Kristina N Shideler (30:31)
try to get outside their comfort zone a little bit just because there's a familiar label that they do know about what else is out there. Obviously visiting is the best way to really see the region and taste and learn about the area and learn about your own preferences because what it comes down to at the end of the day is what you like. But certainly, yeah, the diversity that exists within Sonoma County.

Alexander Valley or even even our property. There's so much diversity here and I think that that's the strength of our region is that we have so many different climates can make so many different styles of wine so many different varieties and expressions within Sonoma County. It's not it's not going to taste the same as our neighbors, especially on this site.

Laurie Forster (31:14)
That's wonderful. And I know it's been a couple years since I've been to the winery, but there's a lovely tasting room. And of course you can do the traditional tasting route there. But one of the things we did was we went up to, I think the highest point in the mountain and had a picnic. And then they showed us the different plots and the different vineyards. Some of the, not all of them, of course, because you have so many, but.

the important ones, and then we tasted the wines from these different areas on the mountain. And I know that's a special experience you can sign up for if you want to do something a little bit different, correct?

Kristina N Shideler (31:50)
Yeah, that's the vineyard excursion. And so that is the ultimate way to see the property. Our winery is located in Alexander Valley. You can see the mountain from here, but nothing is like going up there and tasting the wine in the same blocks that they come from. And, you know, it's California. We usually have amazing weather here around, you know, even in the rain, it's moody. You see the clouds moving. It's always a beautiful day out.

Laurie Forster (32:09)
True.

Lovely. All right. Speaking of beautiful, you sent me your, the 2019 estate Cabernet Sauvignon. And I did see that this is one that's hand harvested. That has to be quite an investment to have people out there hand harvesting all the grapes that go into.

making these wines. But what do you see as a difference in the wine from that versus or can you even machine harvest at these elevations?

Kristina N Shideler (32:42)
We cannot machine harvest at these elevations. So, know, slope is about 20%. We have specialized tractors with like hydraulics to fit to the curve and be able to, yeah, even go down for mowing, like to go down a row for mowing. So this is all done by hand, by foot to pick these grapes.

Laurie Forster (32:45)
Okay.

Wow, that's beautiful. So tell me a little bit about this wine. It's very special. I already got a little preview of it. So definitely the black fruit is there. I got some really nice hints of toastiness or cocoa, if you want to call it that. It's just a really, really beautiful Cabernet. But Mountain Fruit Cabernet is so special. What do you feel like this brings to the table?

Kristina N Shideler (33:27)
Yeah, what I love about all of our wines from the mountain, but in particular, Cabernet, is that you always get fruit and savory. So it's never just fruit. There's always so much going on. And for this wine in particular, it's a blend from different parcels throughout the whole mountain. So lower elevation and higher elevation, about 12 different parcels go into this blend. And so the bottom of the mountain is very blue-fruited. The top, you get this graphite and very black fruit.

There's always a little bit of this like sage or bay laurel too. They're very, very food friendly for that reason. But yeah, incredibly complex. And so I think they're very intriguing wines because there's always, there's a place for wines that just have that yum factor, right? You're tasting it. It's just a bunch of fruit. Really fun. This is one that's like, wait, what's going on there? Like it makes you think. For me, it's also just like, this is what.

Laurie Forster (34:21)
Mm-hmm.

Kristina N Shideler (34:24)
the mountain smells like to me. You're up there and castle blades a lot of that like bay, the mountain scrub that you smell up there, the dust, you know, and when it's a hot day on those volcanic soils, iron like quality. So yeah, mean, vineyards, like I said, have so much personality and I just love that there's a lot going on here. Texturally, you're gonna have a little bit more tannin, a little bit more powerful tannin.

Laurie Forster (34:50)
Yes.

Kristina N Shideler (34:51)
higher acid in general on mountain sites. And so that takes time. 2019 is our current release and we will not release this wine until five, maybe six years after vintage, just to give it that time for those tannins to integrate. We have to have patience with these wines, both in the cellar and once it's in bottle.

Laurie Forster (35:09)
Wow. This is so beautiful. And I love what you said. You know, I feel like some of the most special wines are the wines you keep going back to because you're getting more and different things either on the nose or on the palate. You have the fruit, then you also have the wonderful notes from the oak, the savory, then the mouthfeel with tannin is there. And that kind of, you know, just makes you want to eat something sort of, you know, with some luscious fat to it, whether it be

meat if you're a meat eaters, you know, hard cheese or something. What do you love with your Cabernet?

Kristina N Shideler (35:45)
I mean, whenever, especially if it has a lot of age, I love it with like, you know, pizza ovens are so big here. So like when you go over and someone has a pizza oven, just something simple like that. Rib eye, if you're gonna have one of our like single vineyard, one of the bigger Cabernets, rib eye does not disappoint or a New York's, it needs to have something with a little bit more fat to it, but like a really good, good quality piece.

Laurie Forster (36:09)
Mm-hmm.

Kristina N Shideler (36:12)
some nice marbling, know. Filet might be a little bit too buttery for this, but can work, especially in those aged bottlings. So yeah, I always go towards red meat, but I just love for this particular wine, the estate, how integrated it is and light on its feet it gets, just like pizza, grill food, you know, if nothing's too powerful, because it is a pretty nuanced wine. So I wouldn't go with anything too bold in terms of food.

Laurie Forster (36:41)
Nice. It's really beautiful. This on your site, $65 retails. And what's wonderful about the tannin, in addition to the food pairing aspects that we were talking about, is that that allows this to age in your cellar or your wine fridge or whatever you might be keeping your special bottles. What do you think is the sweet spot for your cab as far as aging? How long can people expect?

to have one of these in their cellar.

Kristina N Shideler (37:14)
Yeah, so our proprietor, Chris Jackson, a few years ago, really tuned into how these cabernets were drinking through his cellar. And he's like, this wine at 10 years is incredible. Like, if only people had the patience for this. So we now actually release at both five and 10 years. Because the reality is, people also like their wines at different stages. There's not a

correct answer of when you should drink your wines. I think minimum five years is important for our wines, but you will absolutely be rewarded in that textural experience at 10 years. And so for the estate, I really like this wine at those two time points for single vineyards. I mean, they'll age 20 plus years. Do you need to do that?

Laurie Forster (37:51)
Right.

Kristina N Shideler (38:04)
know, I mean, we're doing it for you with a lot of our library offerings, which is a wonderful way to be able to taste our wines. Yeah, for me, I would say that 10-year mark is pretty special if you can get your hands on one of those.

Laurie Forster (38:06)
Right?

if someone is listening and they're like, you know, what's the difference between if I buy a $20 Cabernet and then I buy a $65 Cabernet? Where's the gap? And what am I paying for? When I move up to that next level? What would you say? Obviously, your wines are in that price point. You know, what are you getting that you wouldn't get with sort of the entry level?

Kristina N Shideler (38:48)
Yeah, I I would love to be able to produce this at $20, but just simply the labor that goes into it, it's so labor intensive. We talked about hand harvesting, lower yields on the mountain, on the valley floor and in certain sites, you can get double, triple the yield of the grapes. So you start to do the math there. That adds up. There's a small batch fermentation. We don't have any sort of...

It's not like at a brewery where it just kind of goes into a pot and there's all these different like valves that open automatically. Everything is done by hand to use barrels. That is also not simple. We could just stick this in a tank with oak chips or oak dust. That would be a lot cheaper, a lot easier than working at 59 gallons ⁓ each, all these different lots.

Laurie Forster (39:20)
Right.

Right.

Kristina N Shideler (39:41)
and having to treat those separate and then hold onto them for almost two years and talk them and maintain them. So there's just so much more labor and resources that go into making wine at this scale.

Laurie Forster (39:56)
Yes. I mean, you guys are investing in

doing it the highest quality way, but maybe not the fastest and cheapest way. And so when you're getting a bottle of Stone Street, know, all of the, shortcuts are not being taken, I guess. And when I saw that it was hand, it was all hand harvest, I was like, okay, well that right away tells you, you know.

a little bit about the investment that you're making in the wine, which I think is beautiful. So thank you. I've enjoyed tasting these wines. So thank you for sharing them with me. But if you are just on a random Wednesday night at home and you feel like a glass of wine and you're not going to drink your own wine, what can I find you sipping on?

Kristina N Shideler (40:36)
It would be one of two things depending on the season. have a term in my household called mommy's Mersault So if I can get my hands on a bottle of merceau, that would be my go-to. That's my like relax on the couch, leave mom alone, wine. You know, I understand the stereotypes around chardonnay. And so for the longest time, I was in the pursuit of like, well, you know, what chardonnays do I like? And you know, it's

Laurie Forster (40:42)
Ha ha ha!

Great.

Kristina N Shideler (41:01)
I think what's so rewarding about both Chardonnay and Pinot is that like once you find really, really good Chardonnay and Pinot, you're like, oh my gosh, this is an incredible experience. And it might only be five, 10 % of the wines out there, but it's so worth looking for. And then my other favorite, just if I'm more of a food wine, I love Nebbiolo I love Barolo So that's always very fun for me. Those are not.

everyday wines, but those would be treats.

Laurie Forster (41:32)
Absolutely, absolutely. think we, when I first met you, we talked about our love for Nebbiolo and it, yeah, it does. But you may have come up with your newest brand there at Stone Street. Mommy's Merceau, I think it has a catch to it. So you might, you.

Kristina N Shideler (41:45)
There might be some trademarking

issues there, but...

Laurie Forster (41:48)
Yeah, I was

gonna say you might need to trademark that quickly. Well, Christina, this has been so amazing. Thank you so much for joining me. All these wines are delicious. I'll post links to them on the show page. And if people just want to connect with you and the winery, what's the best place for them to go?

Kristina N Shideler (41:51)
Thank

Our website is a great source of information. has all the information on how you can come visit us, the different types of tours and tastings that we offer, and then of course, a list of all the wines we make.

Laurie Forster (42:18)
Awesome. All right. Well, thank you so much. I'm just going to leave you with a little cheers

Kristina N Shideler (42:22)
Cheers, Laurie.

Laurie Forster (42:24)
Cheers.

Laurie Forster (42:24)
Hopefully Christina has inspired you to get out to Sonoma wine country or at least bring home a bottle of Stone Street Estate to just tour by glass. A reminder about my upcoming April events, go to thewinecoach.com, click events I have two rooms left for my Treasures of Tuscany wine tour in October and I would love for you to join me. Just check it all out at The Wine Coach.

and let me know if you're interested. All right, until next week, cheers.