Jessica Mendoza

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That's all for today, Thursday, December 11th.

The Journal is a co-production of Spotify and The Wall Street Journal.

Additional reporting in this episode from Sam Schechner, Keech Hagee, Joseph Diavola, and Ben Fritz.

Thanks for listening.

See you tomorrow.

There were many, many points that we agreed on.

Most of them, I would say a couple of big ones that we haven't quite got there, but we've made some headway.

The sun is out, and it's warming John Valetto's vineyard in Sonoma County, California.

Rows and rows of Pinot grapes glint on the vine.

They're destined to be pressed, bottled, and uncorked at holiday parties, or sipped after a toast.

What is your favorite wine?

You're making me thirsty, John.

It's making me want to grab a glass in the middle of my workday.

Probably not a great idea.

John is a second-generation Sonoma farmer.

He planted his first wine grapes in 1995.

Today, he bottles his own wine and also sells a lot of his grapes to other wineries.

For years, John's wine business, like the California wine industry more broadly, was a success story.