The Wine Makers – Sonoe Hirabayashi, Six Cloves Wines

On this week’s episode of The Wine Makers, we sit down with Japanese winemaker Sonoe Hirabayashi of Six Cloves Wines. She talks about her roots in Nagano, her family’s long history of fermenting miso and sake, and how she found her way into wine, along with her connection to the art of Taiko drumming. Sonoe originally moved to New York to work as a corporate accountant, but after getting hooked on wine, she realized that path was not for her. She headed to UC Davis to study winemaking, later returned to Japan to help her family make sake, and has since worked around the world. Today, she produces balanced, elegant, acid-driven wines under her Six Cloves label. She shares her Chardonnay from Linda Vista Vineyard in Oak Knoll and her Alder Springs Pinot Noir, both showing a strong sense of place and her light touch in the cellar. She also makes Cabernet, Zinfandel, and a Grenache Pinot blend worth seeking out. [Ep 409] Wines – sixcloveswines.com Instagram – sixcloveswines Hear Sonoe talk fermentation and play Tokai drums in San Francisco on Sunday April 26th at Sequoia Sake Company. bit.ly/3QftzQZ

You can listen to The Wine Makers – Sonoe Hirabayashi, Six Cloves Wines online on Radio and Podcast. Open the player on this page to stream the available audio.

The Wine Makers – Sonoe Hirabayashi, Six Cloves Wines is an episode from The Wine Makers on the Radio Misfits Podcast Network by The Wine Makers.

This episode is 1:20:09 long.

This episode was published on Apr 17, 2026.

Yes. Use the heart button on the episode page to add it to your favorite episodes list.

Yes. This page shows related episodes from The Wine Makers on the Radio Misfits Podcast Network when more episodes are available from the podcast feed.