Catherine Kistler of Occidental Wines

"That's the beauty of working with Pinot Noir: it's an incredibly transparent-to-site wine; it shows where it's grown. A perfect wine for me shows that it could not have come from anywhere else, while still keeping things food-friendly, medium-weight, delicious, and beautiful." – Catherine Kistler

When you grow up in Sonoma, the daughter of a living wine legend, you have a knack for noticing things that others tend to miss. Subtle tasting notes among Pinot Noir blocks stand out boldly. Farming knowledge that took your father a lifetime to learn is innately ingrained in how you see the landscape. Observing changes at seasonal and generational paces releases pressure on your ego. This is how Catherine Kistler was raised.

In this week's episode, she sits down with her friend and our American wine specialist, Jamie Schwartz, to reflect on her upbringing and the ways her father, Steve Kistler, prepared her for her vocation at the helm of Occidental Wines. They discuss the dramatic realities of farming on the True Sonoma Coast, the lessons in humility she's learned from her father, and what you can find when you obsess over a precise Pinot Noir clone grown in one small place.

Automatically generated transcripts often make mistakes. Find a corrected version here.

Skurnik Wines & Spirits

Follow us on Instagram