Fine Wine Confidential Podcast

Send us Fan Mail Todd Kliman, is a James Beard Award winning writer. After reading The Wild Vine you will know why. He has an incredible ability to bring to life the story of the Norton Grape and have you feel as if you just entered another world, you didn't even know existed. All the time going back into time and then bringing you back to the moment.  He started out with the idea that he wou...

Send us Fan Mail Matthew began his winemaker career on the West Coast in California. His final stop on that journey was several years at the venerable Heitz Cellars in Napa Valley where he says he learned some good winemaking skills and lesson that have served him well the rest of his career. He would then move to Virginia in 2002 to take the position as winemaker at Williamsburg Winery establishe...

Send us Fan Mail Jeremy Ligon was brought on just in time for the 2021 harvest. Barrel Oak was purchased from its' previous owners and the new ownership wanted to up the quality of the wines from their Vineyard. In my opinion, Jeremy was a significant step up and his wines reflect that.  In 2014 Jeremy was recognized as one of the new upcoming winemakers in Virginia as someone to keep an eye...

Send us Fan Mail If it were not for Dennis & Sharon Horton Virginia may have never come to know and enjoy it's native grape Norton once again. Let me quote a passage from Todd Kilman book The Wild Vine to set the stage for this Episode. Dennis Horton rang up Jon Held at Stone Hill Winery in the fall of 1988 and requested a shipment of vines, (Norton), laying the foundation for his new vin...

Send us Fan Mail Rappahannock Cellars was established when John Delmare and his wife Marialisa made the decision to sell their vineyard in the Santa Cruz Mountain area of California and move their family to Virginia back in 1998. They soon purchased the historic Glenway farm in Rappahannock County which would become their new home and vineyard.  It is truly a family affair as three of their twelve...

Send us Fan Mail Arterra Winery owned by Founder & winegrower Jason Murray believes in producing wine that is reflective of the grape from which it is grown. Thus, he uses only native yeasts, neutral barrels, and screw caps for bottle enclosure. He feels that when you have a bottle of Arterra you will taste exactly what the grape gave him that vintage and nothing else. After 20 years of growin...

Send us Fan Mail Dr. Bruce Zoecklein is nothing short of an Icon here in Virginia. When he was recruited by VA Tech in 1985 to head up their Enology Program the Virginia Wine Industry was just beginning to take shape and form. Bruce brought a level of knowledge about winemaking that would prove invaluable to the growth of Modern-Day Virginia winegrowing. His credentials are incredible and include...

Send us Fan Mail Michael Heny spent close to 20 years in winemaking at Horton Cellars before taking the position as winemaker at Michael Shaps Wineworks in 2019. As a result of his many years working with Dennis Horton, who was the person responsible for re-introducing Norton back to Virginia, he has a great deal of knowledge regarding the challenges that Norton can pose both in the vineyard and t...

Send us Fan Mail In this Episode I interview my friend Scott Elliff the Founder & Owner of DuCard Vineyard along with his winemaker Julien Durantie. It is an in-depth look at how one small Virginia Estate tackles the challenges of growing and producing world-quality wine from the Norton grape. For my part I say, "and they do produce world-quality wine".  DuCard happens to be the firs...

Send us Fan Mail Episode # 3 found me in my studio interviewing the owner of Fifty-Third Winery & Vineyard Dave Drillock and his winemaker Chelsey Blevins who is quickly being recognized as a young rising star in the Virginia wine industry.  Fifty-Third Winery & Vineyard produces an outstanding Norton along with a wide range of wines from both vinifera and hybrid grapes.  They are my favor...

Send us Fan Mail Episode # 2 features Jennifer McCloud the Founder & Owner of Chrysalis Vineyards at the Ag District in Middleburg, Virginia. Along with producing some of the finest Viognier and Albarino in the country she is the proud owner of the largest single vineyard planting of Norton in the world. It makes up over 40 acres of the 70 acres of vineyard land she farms.  Chrysalis was found...

Send us Fan Mail This Episode kicks off my new series of Podcasts focusing on wines produced from the Norton grape here in Virginia. In Episode #1 I recorded a conversation between the judges at the Homestead Norton Cup Challenge the weekend of November 3rd & 4th, 2023. It was during the lunch break before the judges finished judging the Final Four Norton wines that had made it into the final...

Send us Fan Mail Thanks for being a listener to the Fine Wine Confidential Podcast. For more information go to www.finewineconfidential.com 

Send us Fan Mail Thanks for being a listener to the Fine Wine Confidential Podcast. For more information go to www.finewineconfidential.com 

Send us Fan Mail This Epilogue to my Montage about Dennis Horton and his contribution to the Virginia wine industry you get the opportunity to hear directly from 3 generations of women in the Horton family.   It was my intent to give them the last word on Dennis Horton. The interview was at Horton Cellars where I sat with Sharon Horton, his wife and partner, Shannon Horton their daughter and Caitl...

Send us Fan Mail Part 2 of Episode #44 Montage about Dennis Horton features my interviews with Jenni McCloud, Owner and Founder of Chrysalis Vineyards who was inspired by Dennis Horton and planted the largest vineyard of Norton currently in the World. Followed by one of the most respected individual in the Virginia Wine Industry, Luca Paschina General Manager & Winemaker at Barboursville Viney...

Send us Fan Mail Because I never had the opportunity to meet of know Dennis Horton before he passed away, I wanted to include his story and contribution to the Virginia Wine Industry in some fashion.   I was given an idea by Bruce Zoecklein Professor Emeritus of Enology at VA Tech.  He suggested that I interview a handful of folks in the Virginia wine community and have them share with me their th...

Send us Fan Mail Arterra Winery was founded by Jason Murray in 2013. Jason is a veteran of winegrowing in Northern Virginia for over 20 years. Arterra, which means "Art of the Land" represents Jason's quest to grow wine in a fashion unseen by most of us in the wine business.  His Marketing moniker is " Clean Wine." When I first heard that I didn't really understand if...

Send us Fan Mail Common Wealth Crush Company is a new exciting  development in the Virginia Wine Industry.  Ben Jordan along with his brother Tim and Jordan and Patt Eagan have opened what I term a winemaker Studio in the historic district of downtown Waynesboro, Virginia.  Conceptually, it will allow small wine brands to have access to a winemaking facility without having to shell out the up-fron...

Send us Fan Mail Chris Pearmund has been in the Virginia wine industry for over 30 years.  He started his career in 1990 when he managed to snag an entry level position at Naked Mountain.  He would then purchase Meriweather vineyard in 1996 which has the oldest Chardonnay vines in Virginia today, planted in 1976.  The numerous ventures and positions Chris has held in the Virginia Wine Industry is...

Send us Fan Mail Bluestone Vineyard started out as a small family vineyard when Curt and Jackie Hartman were, encouraged by their friends Phil and Lois Kreider, to help them expand their own availability of grapes for the purpose to produce wine for their own personal use in 2003.  In 2007 the decision was made to turn it into a commercial venture and in 2008 they began to plant more vines at thei...

Send us Fan Mail Chelsey Blevins would tell you that winemaking found her.  It was in 2010 that she visited Horton Vineyards and was given a full tour of the cellars.  It was after the tour that Mike Heny, who was the winemaker at that time asked her if she wanted to work the harvest.  She said, why not.  Thus, her entry into the wine business.   Next, she got a position at Barboursville Vineyards...

Send us Fan Mail Damien Blanchon was born and raised in the South of France where his family had roots in the Beaujolais Village region of Burgundy. He grew up with wine in his family and when he was 8  years-old he already knew this what he wanted to do--drive a tractor in the vines and be a winegrower.  He would go to school to learn the craft of winemaking and recalls a teacher tell him when he...

Send us Fan Mail AFton Mountain Vineyards was one of the first of the early farm wineries in Virginia when it was planted in 1978 by David Medford a Chemist from Richmond, Virginia.  However, he named it Bacchanal Vineyards after the Greek god Bacchus.  It would be purchase later by Tom & Shinko Corpora and renamed Afton Mountain Vineyards in 1987. In 2009 Elizabeth & Tony Smith would purc...

Send us Fan Mail Patrick Duffeler purchased his tract of land called Wessex Hundred just outside of Williamsburg, Virginia in 1983 and would start to plant his vineyard in 1985.  Patrick was born in Belgium and after gaining his degree in Economics & Finance from the University of Rochester, New York he started his professional career with Eastman Kodak. He would go on to work in the Internati...