WINE I’m a Fool for the Pino
Foghat Cellars Rocks the Wine World By Michael Buffalo Smith
making a Foghat wine. He and his assistant winemaker thought that the name 'FOG hat' lent itself to a cool brand name. So after several conversations, we flew out
to California to check it out and were hooked. Steve is a very well-respected winemaker (Talley Vineyards, Sierra Madre Vineyards) and we all agreed that we wanted to make re- ally great wines and not just lend our name to a brand. So every year since, we have gone out at harvest time and actually worked pick- ing grapes, sorting out stems etc., crushing and punching down and learning all we can about the making of wine.
Roger Earl is perhaps best known as the
drummer and co-founder of the excellent classic blues rock band Foghat. These days, Roger and his wife Linda divide their time be- tween the band and their line of fine wines from Foghat Cellars. We asked Roger and Linda to give us the
low down on how they got into the wine busi- ness, what types of wines they offer, and just who is the ultra-talented winemaker that they work with.
How did you decide to go into the wine business and when did you start? Linda: Foghat played the California Mid-State Fair in Paso Robles, California on August 1, 2007. A couple of days later we received an email from winemaker (and huge fan) Steve Rasmussen, asking if we were interested in
Our first two vintages were a 2005 Caber-
net Sauvignon and then a 2008 Chardonnay. We now have a 2007 Cabernet Sauvignon from the Santa Ynez Valley & 2012 Cabernet Sauvignon from Paso Robles, and a 2010 Pinot Noir and 2010 Chardonnay from Sierra Madre Vineyards in Santa Maria. The 2010 Chardonnay won a Bronze Medal at the Or- ange County Fair in 2014. We were honored!
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