Inside Winemaking - the art and science of growing grapes and crafting wine

Jennifer Williams joins Jim to talk about her work as a contract winemaker, leading Arrow & Branch and co-owning Zeitgeist Cellars with her husband, Mark Porembsky. They dig into the design and philosophy of the new Arrow & Branch custom crush facility in Oak Knoll—its flexible tank mix, "white glove" service model, and how it's built to handle challenging vintages and a range of client brands. Jennifer explains the stylistic goals and vineyard sourcing for Zeitgeist, including heritage whites like Chenin Blanc and Trousseau Gris, and a Cabernet Franc program that uses barrel fermentation and moderate maceration to shape tannins. Along the way they get into pick-date decisions and herbaceous character in Cabernet Franc, managing slow malolactic fermentations, the realities of custom crush pricing and client expectations, and how small Napa brands are navigating a tougher wine market through relationships, thoughtful growth, and authentic visitor experiences.
Resources from this Episode
Arrow & Branch

Zeitgeist Cellars

 
This podcast is sponsored by InnoVint.
Wineries of all sizes rely on InnoVint's winery operating system to optimize vineyard tracking, manage wine production processes, automate compliance reporting, track costs seamlessly, and make data-driven decisions.
The best part? The software is intuitive, easy to use, and mobile and offline friendly! And with the highest-rated customer service in the industry, you're guaranteed to have a smooth transition, even right before harvest.
Learn more: innovint.us
Get a demo: innovint.us/request-a-demo/
Join our free winemaking community: innovint.us/join-the-punchdown/
 
 
Check out the Fundamentals of Winemaking Made Easy video course
 
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This episode features a conversation with Elias Fernandez, longtime winemaker at Shafer Vineyards in Napa Valley. Fernandez, who was raised by migrant farm workers in the Napa Valley, traces his path from studying enology at UC Davis to joining Shafer in 1984, where he became winemaker in 1994. He discusses the winery's evolution under John and Doug Shafer, its shift toward estate-only vineyards with additions like Wildfoote and Altimeter, and the current portfolio, including Hillside Select, TD-9, the One Point Five, and the Wine Spectator–acclaimed Relentless Syrah. The conversation also covers his hands-on approach to extended maceration, his early and enthusiastic adoption of non-Saccharomyces yeasts and crossflow filtration, and his use of AI-based tools like Tule for vineyard water management. Fernandez closes by reflecting on mentoring his son, now assistant winemaker at Shafer, and on the importance of introducing younger generations to wine.
Resources from this Episode
Shafer Vineyards

In this solo episode of Inside Winemaking, Jim tackles one of the questions he gets most often: how to manage empty barrels. Working through the full lifecycle of a barrel, Jim covers receiving and inspecting new barrels on arrival, keeping them hydrated before harvest (his go-to: shrink-wrap them tight and lock the moisture in), and recovering barrels that have dried out. He walks through swelling and leak-testing before filling, the realities of finding and repairing leaks with spiles, and smart practices for stacking, filling, and leaving proper ullage for young wines still off-gassing CO2.
From there, Jim gets into cleaning and sanitizing — why an immediate rinse matters, where he lands on tartrates, and his candid take on the trade-offs between burning sulfur, SO2 gas, ozone, and steam. He closes with short-, medium-, and long-term storage strategies, how often to recharge sulfur based on cellar conditions, and how to tell when a barrel is truly done. Practical, opinionated, and grounded in real cellar experience, this episode is a field guide for anyone trying to keep their empty barrels healthy between fills.
 
This podcast is sponsored by InnoVint.
Wineries of all sizes rely on InnoVint's winery operating system to optimize vineyard tracking, manage wine production processes, automate compliance reporting, track costs seamlessly, and make data-driven decisions.
The best part? The software is intuitive, easy to use, and mobile and offline friendly! And with the highest-rated customer service in the industry, you're guaranteed to have a smooth transition, even right before harvest.
Learn more: innovint.us
Get a demo: innovint.us/request-a-demo/
Join our free winemaking community: innovint.us/join-the-punchdown/

Recorded high above the valley floor in Silverado's Stags Leap estate, this episode with winemaker Alison Rodriguez dives into both Napa viticulture and her global winemaking journey. Alison unpacks the 2025 growing season—early bud break, late rains, and the shadow of El Niño—while describing the constant tension between picking early for safety and waiting for full ripeness in a fire-prone era. She explains what it means to farm 325 acres of 100% estate vineyards, how early-season decisions set up harvest success, and how she manages tannin and extraction in small-berry hillside Cabernets, including the tradeoffs of pressing sweet to keep structure in balance.
Alison also shares how a Baton Rouge upbringing and a career in wine sales led her to **Geisenheim** in Germany, European cellar work, and ultimately Napa. She explains the German technique of *Maischestandzeit* for aromatic whites, her evolving approach to Sauvignon Blanc at Silverado (skin contact, neutral barrel ferment, and textural focus), and how she thinks about acid, phenolics, and oak as part of a single matrix. The conversation ranges across Silverado's portfolio—from estate Cabernet blending **Stags Leap and Coombsville**, to Merlot, Cabernet Franc, Malbec, Petit Verdot, Kerner, and old-vine Chardonnay—before closing on the smells of her Louisiana childhood, Napa's collaborative winemaking culture, and why she's still betting on Riesling's long-overdue comeback.
Resources from this Episode
Silverado Vineyards
 

This podcast is sponsored by InnoVint.
Wineries of all sizes rely on InnoVint's winery operating system to optimize vineyard tracking, manage wine production processes, automate compliance reporting, track costs seamlessly, and make data-driven decisions.
The best part? The software is intuitive, easy to use, and mobile and offline friendly! And with the highest-rated customer service in the industry, you're guaranteed to have a smooth transition, even right before harvest.
Learn more: innovint.us
Get a demo: innovint.us/request-a-demo/
Join our free winemaking community: innovint.us/join-the-punchdown/
 
Check out the Fundamentals of Winemaking Made Easy video course

This episode features Livermore Valley winemaker and consultant Meredith Sarboraria for a wide-ranging conversation recorded on location in the heart of the appellation. A proud self-described "Livermoron," Meredith traces her path from tasting room work in the late 1990s to earning her Viticulture and Enology degree at Las Positas College and building her consulting business, Barrel Down Wine Services. Along the way, she paints a vivid portrait of Livermore's wine country — from the outsized influence of Wente and Measure D on land preservation, to the region's sandy loam soils, marine-influenced climate, and its newly adopted signature varietals: Cabernet Franc and Sauvignon Blanc. She also shares candid insights into the valley's growing community of female winemakers and the collective they've built to support one another.
The conversation then shifts to winemaking craft, with Meredith diving deep on the challenges of working with high-acid Barbera, her philosophy of balance over manipulation, techniques for punch-downs in macro bins and T-bins, and the smart use of enzymes during fermentation. Jim and Meredith also preview an upcoming Inside Winemaking group trip to Valle de Guadalupe, Baja California — Mexico's oldest New World wine region — where Meredith has traveled three times and serves as the group's guide. She covers everything from crossing the border by shuttle to the region's savory, marine-influenced wines, its world-class restaurants, and the exciting mix of traditional and modern winemaking happening in the valley. The episode closes with Meredith sharing the childhood smells of Livermore that still bring her home.
 
Resources from this Episode
Barrel Down Wine Services

Inside Winemaking's Feb 2027 Trip to Valle de Guadalupe
 

This podcast is sponsored by InnoVint.
Wineries of all sizes rely on InnoVint's winery operating system to optimize vineyard tracking, manage wine production processes, automate compliance reporting, track costs seamlessly, and make data-driven decisions.
The best part? The software is intuitive, easy to use, and mobile and offline friendly! And with the highest-rated customer service in the industry, you're guaranteed to have a smooth transition, even right before harvest.
Learn more: innovint.us
Get a demo: innovint.us/request-a-demo/
Join our free winemaking community: innovint.us/join-the-punchdown/