Will McIlroy's guest appearances

Will McIlroy

The First Cut Golf

California Wine Country

Back Pages

OwlTail

Daily Mirror's Andy Dunn and The Telegraph's chief football writer Sam Wallace join Teddy Draper to discuss Stuart Broad taking his 600th Test wicket at Old Trafford in the Ashes. They also debate Jordan Henderson and Riyad Mahrez's moves to Saudi Arabia before previewing the 151st Open Championship at Hoylake.

Broad takes 600th Test wicket | Henderson and Mahrez make Saudi moves | Will McIlroy win Open Championship?

Will McIlroy from McIlroy Cellars is our guest on California Wine Country with Steve Jaxon and Dan Berger. Before we begin with Will McIlroy’s wines, they taste a 2014 Sauvignon Blanc from Geyser Peak, which Dan has brought from his cellar. Dan says it’s still all right, in good shape, still tastes like Sauvignon Blanc. Very drinkable, for a 7-year-old Sauvignon Blanc. Dan would never have cellared this one for so long but sometimes a bottle gets lost in the cellar. Will McIlroy tells the story of how his family acquired some land in 1972 which was planted to prunes. He went to Cal Poly then to UC Davis, where he learned how to grow grapes and make wine, respectively. He worked at Davis Bynum with Gary Farrell for many years. In 1990 his family winery started making Chardonnay with his wife, and now they make an average of a little over 5000 cases per year. Everything in single-vineyard except for the Rosé and mainly it all comes from Russian River Valley. First they taste the 2020 Russian River Valley Chardonnay from their family vineyards. It is all barrel fermented and undergoes malolactic fermentation. This is very true to the varietal, nice fruit flavors and a long finish. Dan says it has subtle richness and aromatics. There is a slight lime and lemon component. Dan Berger says that this wine would be at its peak in two or three more years. Click the logo to visit our sponsor Bottle Barn online. Bottle Barn is their biggest retail presence in Sonoma County. They have plenty in stock. McIlroy Cellars also sells their wines online. Next they taste their 2019 Reserve Chardonnay. It has “Aquarius Ranch” on the label, right on the bench of the Russian River. After about 7 months in the barrels they select their favorite barrels for this reserve bottling. This one sells for $40. They also taste a 2019 Pinot Noir from the Monterey Arroyo Seco region. He only made 290 cases of this one. There were 5 tons harvested at night and shipped immediately to the winery. It is succulent, very little tannins, and smells like Pinot Noir is supposed to, with delicate cherry and plum. It has a tiny taste of oak, but not much. It has been open for about 4 hours and is starting to open up. Will says that this year’s harvest was a dream, the weather temperatures were perfect, warm by day and cold at night, which is perfect for the grapes. The Pinot Noir quantity was low and Chard normal, but overall a great vintage. The McIlroy 2019 Watson Vineyard Dry Creek Valley Zinfandel. This has some richness to it, with the spice component and raspberry, cherry and blackberry. In about a year or two the red fruit will come out a bit more. The vineyard is 2/3s of the way up the Dry Creek Valley. The vines are all head-trained, the 100-year-old Italian method. That makes them hard to pick, because mechanical harvesters depend on the shape of the vines being different.

Will McIlroy from <a href="http://www.mcilroycellars.com/" rel="noopener nofollow" target="_blank">McIlroy Cellars</a> is our guest on California Wine Country with Steve Jaxon and Dan Berger. Before we begin with Will McIlroy’s wines, they taste a 2014 Sauvignon Blanc from Geyser Peak, which Dan has brought from his cellar. Dan says it’s still all right, in good shape, still tastes like Sauvignon Blanc. Very drinkable, for a 7-year-old Sauvignon Blanc. Dan would never have cellared this one for so long but sometimes a bottle gets lost in the cellar. Will McIlroy tells the story of how his family acquired some land in 1972 which was planted to prunes. He went to Cal Poly then to UC Davis, where he learned how to grow grapes and make wine, respectively. He worked at Davis Bynum with Gary Farrell for many years. In 1990 his family winery started making Chardonnay with his wife, and now they make an average of a little over 5000 cases per year. Everything in single-vineyard except for the Rosé and mainly it all comes from Russian River Valley. First they taste the 2020 Russian River Valley Chardonnay from their family vineyards. It is all barrel fermented and undergoes malolactic fermentation. This is very true to the varietal, nice fruit flavors and a long finish. Dan says it has subtle richness and aromatics. There is a slight lime and lemon component. Dan Berger says that this wine would be at its peak in two or three more years. <a href="https://bottlebarn.com/" rel="noopener nofollow" target="_blank"></a>Click the logo to visit our sponsor Bottle Barn online. Bottle Barn is their biggest retail presence in Sonoma County. They have plenty in stock. McIlroy Cellars also sells their wines online. Next they taste their 2019 Reserve Chardonnay. It has “Aquarius Ranch” on the label, right on the bench of the Russian River. After about 7 months in the barrels they select their favorite barrels for this reserve bottling. This one sells for $40. They also taste a 2019 Pinot Noir from the Monterey Arroyo Seco region. He only made 290 cases of this one. There were 5 tons harvested at night and shipped immediately to the winery. It is succulent, very little tannins, and smells like Pinot Noir is supposed to, with delicate cherry and plum. It has a tiny taste of oak, but not much. It has been open for about 4 hours and is starting to open up. Will says that this year’s harvest was a dream, the weather temperatures were perfect, warm by day and cold at night, which is perfect for the grapes. The Pinot Noir quantity was low and Chard normal, but overall a great vintage. The McIlroy 2019 Watson Vineyard Dry Creek Valley Zinfandel. This has some richness to it, with the spice component and raspberry, cherry and blackberry. In about a year or two the red fruit will come out a bit more. The vineyard is 2/3s of the way up the Dry Creek Valley. The vines are all head-trained, the 100-year-old Italian method. That makes them hard to pick, because mechanical harvesters depend on the shape of the vines being different.

Will McIlroy from McIlroy Cellars

Kyle Porter is back from Augusta National, and having had many peach ice cream sandwiches he's an expert on everything that happened at the Masters. Kyle and Chip discuss whether this was an elite Masters (1:30), the polarizing case of Patrick Reed (8:00), if Rory McIlroy just missed one of the best chances he'll get to win a green jacket (22:00), Jordan Spieth vs. Augusta National Golf Club (30:00), attention on the U.S. Open for Rickie Fowler and Phil Mickelson and where Tiger Woods stands after his first major back in action.This episode is sponsored by www.ziprecruiter.com.  To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Kyle Porter is back from Augusta National, and having had many peach ice cream sandwiches he's an expert on everything that happened at the Masters. Kyle and Chip discuss whether this was an elite Masters (1:30), the polarizing case of Patrick Reed (8:00), if Rory McIlroy just missed one of the best chances he'll get to win a green jacket (22:00), Jordan Spieth vs. Augusta National Golf Club (30:00), attention on the U.S. Open for Rickie Fowler and Phil Mickelson and where Tiger Woods stands after his first major back in action. This episode is sponsored by <a href="http://www.ziprecruiter.com" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">www.ziprecruiter.com</a>. To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: <a href="https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy</a> Learn more about your ad choices. Visit <a href="https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices</a>