February 2011, Food and Wine Magazine
“Ancient Wine Techniques, Simple Dishes,” by Kristin Donnelly.
Kristen includes us amongst a very short and prestigious list of what she calls edgy winemakers using ancient techniques.
January 19, 2011, Salt Lake City Tribune
“Utah native brings under-appreciated wine to forefront,” by Kathy Stephenson.
While visiting Jared’s parents for the holidays we managed to catch some press coverage…” Jared is a 1989 graduate of East High School in Salt Lake City and Tracey is a native of North Carolina. Both left their jobs with Internet start-up companies in the 1990s and went to work at a winery in France’s famed Rhône region. That is where they learned the natural farming and green wine-making practices they follow today. The couple was in Salt Lake City recently visiting family and hosting a wine education class and a wine-pairing dinner….” Read more.
January 16, 2011, San Francisco Chronicle
“Winemakers to Watch in 2011,” by Jon Boneé.
In his annual prediction of where the industry is headed Mr. Boneé profiles five winemakers to watch in the New Year. He says, "…one of the pleasures of 2010 was how many small labels are on the rise, where vintners are making wines that are starting to redefine the standards of California wine…. Maybe it's their Berkeley home base, but Jared and Tracey Brandt take a sort of pride in rejecting the mainstream of California wine. That isn't to say their Donkey and Goat wines are esoteric - the Four Thirteen is an outstanding Rhone-style blend by any yardstick. But any time you hear a scuffle over so-called natural winemaking, the Brandts are in the midst of it." Read more
December 2010, San Francisco Chronicle
“Top 100 Wines of 2011,” by Jon Boneé.
The San Francisco Chronicle's annual report of the year's Top 100 Wines includes Donkey & Goat 2008 Four Thirteen, Red Wine blend. Mr. Bonné says, "Jared and Tracey Brandt's take on a traditional Chateauneuf blend from the Sierra Foothills shows tremendous energy and depth. Bright strawberry fruit accented by balsam, sweet pepper and wild garrigue, completed by a darker mineral note."
November 2010, Saveur Magazine
“The New California Wine” by Jon Boneé.
We were included in his detailed analysis of where the California wine industry is headed. “… I realized that there were other winemakers like Paul Draper still around: defenders of a subtle, terroir-driven style who were still crafting some of California's best wines, unchanged by the whims of fashion. What's more, there was a whole new crop of winemakers who were discovering for themselves the type of winemaking Draper had long practiced. Two of these are Jared and Tracey Brandt, the husband-and-wife team behind the minuscule Donkey & Goat winery in Berkeley….”
November 7, 2010, San Francisco Chronicle
“N.Y. takes a new look at California” by Talia Baiocchi.
Talia provides a snapshot of the challenges faced by many California wineries when targeting the hugely important and lucrative NYC Metro market and expands to include us as an example of a winery that immediately found success in NYC.
November 2010, Food and Wine Magazine
“40 Big Food Thinkers 40 and Under,” by Katherine Wheelock.
Katherine writes, “These 40 up-and-comers—all 40 years old or younger—are changing the way Americans eat and drink, from a vodka distiller who rewrote Nebraska's Prohibiton-era laws to a White House chef who's fiercely fighting to improve school-lunch programs. “ About us she says, “By experimenting with novel techniques—like making wine using grapes growing wild on abandoned vineyard land—Brandt, 40, and her husband, Jared, are helping to change the way wine is made. They're also changing where it's made: They produce their distinctive Rhône-style bottlings in a warehouse in downtown Berkeley, California, in the heart of fast-growing urban-winemaking country.”
November 2010, Sunset Magazine
Includes a profile of fantastic Palate Wine Bar in Glendale where Steve Goldun, co-owner and wine director sites our 2008 Four Thirteen, Red Wine Blend as a wine that recently blew him away.
October 18, 2010, The Wine Case
Natural Wine: a more practical point of view, By Remy Charest
October 2010, The Gray Market Report
More Unnatural Wine and Other Notes, By Blake Gray
We were thrilled to be listed by Blake as one of his missing favorites in a list of wineries left out of a new wine book.
July 20, 2010 Eater New York
The Breslin Answers the Burning Question What Does One Drink With Fried Foot, By Talia Baiocchi
Donkey and Goat are putting out some of the most interesting wines in CA. Hailing from the Sierra Foothills in El Dorado County, husband and wife team Jared and Tracy Bradt learned their techniques from Texier—one of the Northern Rhone’s most exciting producers. They’ve taken his non-interventionist approach to CA, a place where these sensibilities are scarce. This is 100% Grenache Gris that are sourced from 90+ year-old vines, barrel fermented with native yeasts, and bottled unfiltered. The result is cloudy and wildly aromatic, and with only 168 cases made per year, endangered status is applied.
May 14, 2008, Salt Lake CIty Tribune
Utah-born vintner brings fruit of Rhone-honed skills back home, By Kathy Stephenson
"No one from East High School's graduating class of 1989 would have predicted that classmate Jared Brandt's future would involve cases of wine.
Legal cases would have made more sense. But Brandt, along with his wife, Tracey, are up-and-coming California winemakers. This year, their winery, quirkily named A Donkey and Goat, produced 1,600 cases of wine including a syrah, a syrah blend, a chardonnay and a rosé..."
February 8, 2008, Daily Candy, San Francisco Edition
In a Word: kickass.
"...Husband-and-wife team Jared and Tracey Brandt turn out small cases of sustainably produced Rhone varietals from the Sierra Foothills and Anderson Valley the Old World way. That means they don’t rely on science for a “perfect” blend, they crush grapes with their feet, and they get their friends to help come harvest time.
The result: seriously good vino. The Three Thirteen (a blend of syrah, mourvèdre, and grenache) varietal has already been winning raves..."
December 2007, Robert M. Parker Jr.'s The Wine Advocate, Issue 174
2005 Fenaughty Vinyeard Syrah, 90pts: The 2005 Syrah Fenaughty Vineyard exhibits loads of blueberry and blackberry fruit intermixed with meaty, black olive, and pepper notes. Surprisingly silky-textured, opulent, fleshy, and seductive, it will provide pleasure over the next 5-6 years.
2005 Syrah Vieilles Vignes, 89pts: Another elegant offering is the 2005 Syrah Vieilles Vignes. Good acidity as well as attractive raspberry, blueberry, spring flower, and bay leaf notes are present in this mid-weight, stylish, authoritatively flavored Syrah. Drink it over the next 5-6 years.
2006 Chardonnay Brosseau Vineyard, Chalone, 88pts: The medium-bodied, Chablis-styled 2006 Chardonnay Brosseau Vineyard offers aromas and flavors of lemon oil, nectarine, and wet rocks. Drink it over the next several years.
October 10, 2007 , Conde Nast Portfolio.com
Wine and the city by Mickey Butts
"...As the morning fog begins to burn off, winemaker Tracey Brandt punches her forklift under a large plastic container filled with syrah grapes, hauled in the day before from the foothills of California’s Sierra Nevada. She moves the grapes over to a stainless-steel chute, where volunteers pick spiders and debris from the small, intensely blue-purple fruit before sliding the bunches down into the destemming machinery... "
September 30, 2007 , Oakland Magazine
Uncorked by Wanda Hennig
Wineries and Wine Tasting in Oakland? You Bet—thanks to an eclectic
bunch of East Bay artisanal winemakers
"...Brandt makes wine with his wife, Tracey, under the label A Donkey and Goat, named for the animals
they saw each day while interning for a year at a winery in France. The Brandts started from their garage with 400 cases in 2003 and are up this year to 1,200
cases..."
September 19, 2007 , Contra Costa Times
Taking it to the streets by Jessica Yadegaran
Urban wineries show soul, not soil
The Naturalist, A Donkey and Goat Winery
"...In the Rhone, the Brandts followed the principles of biodynamic and traditional farming, and have incorporated
some of these older and sustainable practices into their winemaking. They rarely inoculate their wines with yeast. For their
Chardonnay, they pick twice, once in July and again in August, to utilize that early natural acid and avoid adding artificial acid later...."
May 18, 2007,Imbibe,
Syrah in the City by Richard Reynolds
Urban wine makers set up shop in the industrial parks of San Francisco's East
Bay
"...On the asphalt outside Berkeley’s A Donkey and Goat winery, 35-year-old owner
Jared Brandt is scooping grapes out of a 500-liter wooden barrel. His wife,
Tracey, is moving more barrels around with a forklift, and several friends are
helping out. Today they’re pressing their 2006 syrah, an elegant, medium-bodied
wine made with grapes trucked in from Broken Leg Vineyard..." Read more
April 2007, Oakland Magazine,
Going Natural by Laurie Daniel
Berkeley Winery Tries Eco-Friendly Approach
"For Jared and Tracey Brandt, owners and winemakers of A Donkey and Goat winery in Berkeley, green practices begin in the vineyard. The couple got much of their winemaking training by working for Eric Texier, a vintner in France’s Rhône Valley who works with grape growers committed to low yields and natural farming methods. So when the Brandts got started—their first commercial harvest was 2004—they followed Texier’s example."
March 15, 2007, Appellation America Wine Recommendation,
by Laurie Daniel
2005 Brosseau Vineyard Chardonnay, Chalone
"Jared and Tracey Brandt of A Donkey and Goat winery in Berkeley have a very European sensibility when it comes to wine. For one thing, they are very particular about the acidity in their wines. That’s led to an unusual method for making this Chardonnay from the Chalone AVA.
They love the minerality they get from the Brosseau Vineyard, but they found that the acid levels in the grapes would drop before the flavors were mature. Rather than just add acidity in the winery, they devised an ingenious process: Right after veraison, long before the grapes are ripe, they harvest 2 to 3 percent of the crop. They press the grapes – which is difficult, because the grapes at the level of development are on the hard side – then refrigerate the very tart juice (which is like verjus used in cooking) until the rest of the crop can be harvested. The tart juice is blended in before fermentation. The resulting wine, which sells for $40, is lean, racy and Chablis-like, with lemon and mineral flavors. It’s still very tight and would benefit from more time in the bottle."
January/February 2007, Stephen Tanzer's International Wine Cellar
2005 Chardonnay Brosseau Vineyard, Chalone: Peach Skin Color. Pear, melon, lemon ice tea, incence and a leesy nuance on the nose. Juicy on entry, then nicely concentrated and rich in extract, although the wine’s saline character and edge of lemony acidity are not currently in harmony. Finishes quite dry, with an impression of solidity. 88
December 26, 2006, Robert M. Parker Jr.'s The Wine Advocate
2005 Chardonnay Brosseau Vineyard, Chalone, 88
2005 Syrah Broken Leg Vineyard, Anderson Valley, 89
2005 Three Thirteen, California, 87
These interesting as well as creatively packaged wines are all very good. The 2005 Brosseau Chardonnay is surprising light for a wine from this vineyard. Made in a Chablis-like style, it offers notes of orange blossoms, citrus, and lemon with the oak clearly pushed to the background. Enjoy this attractive Chardonnay over the next several years. An hommage to Châteauneuf-du-Pape, the 2005 Three Thirteen is a blend of Syrah, Mourvèdre and Grenache. The name reflects the three varietals this estate uses as opposed to the thirteen grapes permitted in Châteauneuf-du-Pape. A Rhône Valley-like bouquet of strawberries, cherries, peppers, herbs, lavender and spice emerge from this straight forward red. Consume it over the next 2-3 years. The best in this group appears to be the 2005 Syrah Broken Leg Vineyard. From a cool Anderson Valley site, it exhibits plenty of blueberry, raspberry, sweet cherry, floral, and spice characteristics. Pure, medium-bodied, elegant and authoritatively flavored, it will drink well for 5-6 years.
November 10 , 2006, San Francisco Chronicle,
East Bay rising, by W. Blake Gray
"Forget bucolic hills with neat rows of grapevines and breezy summer days far from traffic. To make wine, you need to buy grapes from Wine Country, but you don't have to live there. There's a bustling urban wine scene developing in the East Bay, with wineries nestled into warehouses beside factories and tasting rooms accessible by BART and commuter ferry."
September 29 , 2006, The Wall Street Journal,
TASTINGS by Dorothy J. Gaiter and John Brecher
American Syrah Makes A Name for Itself
A Donkey and Goat 'Vidmar Vineyard' 2004 (Yorkville Highlands): Blackberries, pepper and earth. Great fruit. Nicely balanced, with a medium weight. More drinkable, less intense than some.
September 25, 2006, Grape Radio,
Urban Wineries
"Grape Radio sits in with Michael Brill (CrushPad), Tracey Brandt (A Donkey and Goat), Sasha Verhage (Eno), and Andrew Vingiello (AP Vin), four urban winemakers from the Bay Area, to discuss how they got started, and the advantages and disadvantages of making their wines in the big city."
February 17, 2006, The Wall Street Journal,
TASTINGS by Dorothy J. Gaiter and John Brecher
Taking Sides in the Butter Battle
"Tracey Brandt was literally speechless for sevearl seconds before explaining that she and her husband-partner don't like buttery Chardnonnays and didn't make one. Chablis is my inspiration …"
January/February 2006, Stephen Tanzer's International Wine Cellar
A Donkey and Goat 2004 Syrah Vidmar Vineyard Yorkville Highlands($32): Full red-ruby. Nose shows sassafras, earth, sweet oak and an almost confectionary cherry element. Sweet, spicy and very New World in style, with flavors of cherry, raspberry and cola. The impression of sweetness lasts through the richly oaky finish but is supported throughout by freshness. Only a building element of oaky torrefaction kept this wine below 90 points. 89. 2004 Syrah Carson Ridge El Dorado ($32): Reticent aromas of marachino cherry, incense and herbs. A sappy, concentrated fruit bomb on the palate, with intriguing nuances of juniper and wild herbs adding interest to the intense cherry flavor. Not at all overly sweet. Finishes with dusty wood tannins and very good length. 89. 2004 Syrah Vieilles Vignes McDowell Valley ($34): Bright ruby-red. Musky aromas of meat, cedar and espresso. Supple and lush, with varietally typical dark berry flavors. This comes across a bit less complex and delineated than the Vidmar or Carson Ridge bottlings but it's the biggest and most pliant of these three 2004 syrah release. Finishes with a flavor of jammy blackberry. 88
December 26, 2005, Robert M. Parker Jr.'s The Wine Advocate
A Donkey and Goat 2004 Syrah Carson Ridge El Dorado 89
A Donkey and Goat 2004 Vidmar Vineyard Yorkville Highlands 90
A Donkey and Goat 2004 Syrah Vieilles Vignes McDowell Valley 88
These three excellent, heady 2004 Syrahs are made in an up-front juicy, immediate gratifying style. The 2004 Syrah Carson Ridge shows excellent gamey, blackberry fruit notes intermixes with pepper and soil undertones. It is medium-bodied, supple,and best drunk over the next 3-4 years. Slightly deeper and fuller-bodied, with more definition as well as abundant fruit is the 2004 Syrah Vidmar Vineyard. It offers plenty of blackberry and peppery notes, sweet oak, and loads of fruits. Enjoy it over the next 5-7 years. With more blueberry characteristics in its cooler-climate personality, the 2004 Syrah Vieilles Vignes reveals a deep runy/purple color, medium body, elegant blue and red fruits, and a clean, well-defined finish. It should drink well for 3-4 years.
December 2005, California Wine and Food Magazine,
Rhone Varietal Harvest Bears Fruit
"While some of those lower yields can be attributed to shatter, Tracey Brandt from A Donkey and Goat Winery said that their Mendocino County Syrah was off by 50% this year, not just because of weather, but because a bear ate over a half ton of the fruit…”
June 17, 2005, KQED's Food Blog, Bay Area Bites,
Donkeys and Goats
"Keep your eyes out for this young winery; Tracey and Jared are not only knowledgeable and passionate about what they are doing, but they are already producing some fantastic wines."
June 16, 2005, Alameda Sun
Mexican Food with Wine? Fine. By Gil Michaels
"The plato: Juanita’s Combination No. H: A chicken flauta and a chile verde burrito. The wine: A Donkey and Goat Grenache-Gris Rosé 2004, McDowell Valley. Stunning shades of strawberry, medium-bodied, medium-dry. Cherry, berry and toast aromas frolic in the glass like the Munchkins from the Lollipop Guild. Flavors of getting a passionate lip-lock from a giant love-struck strawberry. Oy, mamacita! Drink more rosé!"
April 13,2005, Piedmont Post
California's Syrah - the next big thing
"This small Berkeley based winery buys grapes from around the state and lovingly vinifies them into exquisite French styled Syrahs. This wine has the elegance, finesse and perfumed nose of a good Côte Rôtie for half the price."
July 21, 2004, Oakland Tribune
Winemaking for the Common Throng, by Stett Holbrook
"Now, Brandt and her husband Jared, are prepared to give up the comfort of a double income for the uncertain world of winemaking. Who needs good clothes anymore? Lets just make wine."