We had the pleasure of spending time with Karl Weichold, the estate winemaker at Stoller Family Estate, located in the famous Dundee Hills in Oregon. Karl shares his story of how he became a renowned winemaker, starting with a degree in Biochemistry and Genetics from Texas A&M, to working at an Italian restaurant where he first fell in love with wine, to Texas wine country, and then to Oregon where he worked at 12th and Maple and Erath before landing at Stoller. In our conversation we talk about his thoughts on the art and science of wine making, what makes a “haunting” wine, and how the changing climate affects the choices they have to make every year - including during the very warm summer of 2023 in the Pacific Northwest. As the estate winemaker, Karl also has the ability to manage the grapes themselves, and we talk about how he has changed the amount of time he spends with the grapes versus the juice. Karl also talks about the special 30 year anniversary celebration at the Stoller Estate is holding this year. It is a conversation you really don’t want to miss!
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Show Notes
Special Episode! Meet the (Wine) Makers #4: Karl Weichold of Stoller Wines! 00:00
Hi Everyone! Welcome to a special episode of The Wine Pair Podcast - where I give Carmela a little break - and I get the chance to interview people who are actually involved in making wine! This week I am talking to Karl Weichold, the Estate Winemaker at Stoller wines in Oregon, and we have a great conversation about his start in winemaking in Texas, how he ended up in Oregon, and how his approach to winemaking has changed over the years. It’s really fascinating stuff you are going to love.
Introduction to the Interview with Karl Weichold of Stoller Family Wines 00:32
Hello, and welcome to The Wine Pair Podcast! I’m Joe, your sommelier of reasonably priced wine, and for this special episode, I am on my own as my wine pairing partner in crime is busy making cakes for her Baby Cakes micro-barkery, which by the way you can learn more about if you head over to her website lovebabycakes.com.
Now, as a quick orientation to our podcast, what we usually do in each episode is learn about, taste, and review three wines that are reasonably priced, which means under $20, and should be easy to find. However, for this special set of episodes, we will interview people who are involved in actually making wine. Sometimes, like today, those wines don’t necessarily fall into the reasonably priced range. But that’s ok! Because part of what we want to do with our podcast is to educate ourselves and you on different aspects of wine knowledge in a fun, entertaining, and unstuffy way, even fun and entertaining as Decanter magazine has called our podcast, and that is what we are doing today!
A small plug before we get to the interview with Karl from Stoller Family Wines - if you like what you are hearing or are interested in hearing our other “regular” episodes, please subscribe to our podcast so you can hear more - especially since you are only getting one half of The Wine Pair Podcast in this episode! You can also go to our website to send us a note or subscribe to our newsletter, you can follow us on Instagram at The Wine Pair Podcast, and, if you like what you are hearing, leave us a nice rating and review!
Ok, let’s get to the interview with Karl
Interview with Karl Weichold of Stoller Family Wines 02:06
Hello Karl - and welcome to The Wine Pair Podcast. It’s just me today, Karl, just one half of the Wine Pair, so you’ll have to suffer through with me!
For all of our friends out there in listening land, we have a really special treat today - joining us all the way from the great state of Oregon is Karl Weichold (Wy - kold), who is the Estate winemaker at Stoller Wines, and has done stints previously at places like Erath in Oregon as well as wineries in Texas. And, yes, there are wineries in Texas!
Thank you for joining us Karl!
I am excited to jump in and learn more about how you approach winemaking and all of that fun stuff, but why don’t we start out with you telling us a little bit about you - your background, family, etc. and then we can talk about how you got into winemaking and landed where you are today.
Interview Questions:
- Tell us a little about yourself - your background, your family, etc.
- Tell us about how you got into winemaking. Was this something you had planned for and pursued, or did it "find" you?
- Did you have a mentor, or someone who taught you the ropes?
- What do you think defines you as a winemaker and makes you and your wines special?
- Any wines that you specialize in? Or that you really consider your signature
- Do you lean more towards the art or the science of wine (or both)?
- What’s something surprising, interesting, exciting, or funny you have learned about yourself since you started making wine?
- Are there any important or interesting stories about your wine or the people you work with that you think would be important for our audience to know?
- If we were to invite you to Sunday Night Dinner (a tradition in our Italian American family), what of your wines would you bring and why?
- How can people find your wines and follow you (your website, social, etc.) - and I hear that there is a big event coming up?
- Best way to find us is at https://www.stollerfamilyestate.com/ and through our Facebook page and Instagram (@stollerwine).
- We are celebrating the 30th anniversary of the property this year which is very exciting! The first 20 acres (10 acres dedicated to Pinot Noir and 10 to Chardonnay) were planted in 1993 and has transformed into one of the largest contiguous vineyards in Oregon’s Dundee Hills.
Outro and How to Find Karl Weichold and Stoller Family Wines 38:23
Alright - We want to thank you very much for listening to our interview with Karl Weichold from Stoller Family Wines.
Just in case you are worried about memorizing all of this, don’t worry, you can find out all of this information on our website thewinepairpodcast.com in our show notes for this episode, and you can find Karl and Stoller Family Winery on
Facebook and Instagram @stollerwine
Website: https://www.stollerfamilyestate.com/
And you can find out more about how to celebrate the 30th anniversary of Stoller Family wines.
And, we hope you will subscribe to our podcast The Wine Pair Podcast and follow us on Instagram. You can also sign up for our newsletter if you head to our website thewinepairpodcast.com, and you can reach out to us and get more information about Stoller wines at joe@thewinepairpodcast.com. And, if you are enjoying what you are listening to, we would love it if you could leave us a nice rating and review as a free way to support us.
With that, we are going to sign off - we look forward to hearing from you, and as we like to say, life is short, so stop drinking shitty wine.
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