Fine Wine Confidential Podcast

Send us Fan Mail When Bill Curtis opened TASTINGS Restaurant, Wine Bar, & Wine Shop in 1990 it was the first of its kind on the East Coast to combine all these elements under one roof.  Bill has been involved in the Virginia wine and food scene for close to 40 years and has a tremendous Passion still, for the wine world.  He is exceptional in his breadth of knowledge and is especially sharp wh...

Send us Fan Mail Jennifer McCloud's journey and pursuit to reclaim Norton as Virginia's native grape began in the mid-1990's when she found herself in Charlottesville, Virginia at the Eastern conference of the American Society of Enology and Viticulture, (A.S.E.V.) where Dennis Horton and his winemaking consultant at the time Alan Kinne were speaking about Viognier and Norton, two g...

Send us Fan Mail Tim & Peter Rausse were involved in the planting and development of the Gabriele Rausse winery beginning early in their youth.  Although Tim went off to school shortly thereafter, he would return and immerse himself in the operation and winemaking and hasn't looked back.  Peter calls himself the unofficial GM these days and recounts in this Episode how his role is to make...

Send us Fan Mail Michael Heny graduated with a degree in Mechanical Engineering and Comparative Literature from University of Virginia in 1990.  Hardly, the typical training or studies that would lead to a successful career.  He was in need of a job just out of college when he answered and ad for a position as a cellar worker at Montdomaine Cellars where Shep Rouse was the winemaker.  He remembers...

Send us Fan Mail Rosemont Vineyards was established in 2003 by Stephan and Chandra Rose on a farm that had been in the Rose family since 1858.  When Stephan retired as a successful Dow Chemical executive, he was interested in returning to the family farm and get back to land, so to speak.  With the help of a family friend, he was introduced to Lucie Morton the world-famous Ampelographer and Virgin...

Send us Fan Mail In 1999 Jon Wehner and his family established Chatham Vineyards at Church Creek located on the Eastern Shore of Virginia. Jon is a second-generation winegrower following in the footsteps of his mother and father who had a small home vineyard for over 30 years in Great Falls, Virginia. The quality of the grapes from that vineyard produced a Vidal Blanc that was the house wine at on...

Send us Fan Mail Dennis and Sharon Horton planted a small hobby vineyard at their home in Orange, Virginia in 1983.  That hobby turned into the full-time pursuit in winegrowing and in 1989 they planted their first commercial vineyard.  In 1993 their Viognier stunned the experts and was proclaimed the best Viognier in the country.  That quick fame and Dennis ambition to pioneer the growing of many...

Send us Fan Mail Both Corry Craighill & Ashleigh White have had an interesting start to their careers in the wine industry.  Corry has made wine all over the world and Ashleigh has worked on the West Coast and the East Coast of this country. While Ashleigh had the good  fortune to have her uncle, Jeff White turn the family farm into a vineyard, thus providing her with an opportunity to take a...

Send us Fan Mail Bruce Zoecklein began his career in Enology on the staff at Fresno State University in California.  He was recruited in 1985 by the University of Virginia to head up a new initiative to support the Virginia wine industry.  His West Coast friends thought he was "crazy" as they couldn't fathom that quality wine was being produced in Virginia.  Bruce took the position...

Send us Fan Mail Paradise Springs Winery was founded in 2007.  However, the Fairfax County Board challenged the Wiles family's right to open a winery and start a vineyard.  There was over two years of litigation which Kirk and his mother eventually prevailed and won.  During that two year period Kirk was so confident that with the help of consultant and Virginia vintner Chris Pearmund they be...

Send us Fan Mail Joy Ting fell for the wine bug after a trip visiting here boyfriend, now her husband, while he was stationed in Northern California during his stint in the Air Force.  They took a trip to Napa Valley and that experience intrigued the both of them.  When they settled in Charlottesville, Virginia because he got a position at University of Virginia in the medical department she reali...

Send us Fan Mail Jake Busching got his start in Virginia winegrowing after he moved to Richmond Virginia and was a struggling musician working in the restaurant business to make a living.  Eventually he would move to Charlottesville and take a position at Jefferson Vineyards working for the Woodward family.  When Chris Hill, the consulting viticulturist at Jefferson Vineyards realized that Jake kn...

Send us Fan Mail Walsh Family Wine was birthed when Nate and Sarah Walsh had the opportunity to lease  Bethany Ridge Vineyard and produced their first wine, a Sauvignon Blanc in 2014.  Several years later they entered an agreement with the owners of North Gate vineyard and winemaking facility where they had been sharing space since 2017.  They would end up purchasing it. They now produce wine from...

Send us Fan Mail The Glen Manor property has been in Jeff White's family since 1901. However, it was Jeff who saw the potential that the family property had as an ideal site for a vineyard. He planted his first vines at Glen Manor Vineyards in 1995.  A mere 1.2 acres of Sauvignon Blanc.  At the time Jeff was working for and learning about winegrowing from Jim Law at Linden Vineyards.  He woul...

Send us Fan Mail Tony Wolf by all measures has contributed a significant amount of research and experience that has advanced winegrowing in Virginia during the past 35 years.  He has been the Director of the Alson H. Smith, Jr. Agricultural Research and Extension Center for the Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, (VA Tech) since 2004. He has published many articles that have been...

Send us Fan Mail Keswick Vineyards was established by Al and Cindy Schornberg in 2000 on a property that has Virginian historical roots dating back to 1727.  Stephen Barnard joined them in 2002 which was their first vintage and jumped right into making the wine.  He left in 2004 and rejoined Keswick in 2006 and has been the winemaker and vineyard manager ever since.  Stephen got his start in wine...

Send us Fan Mail Matthieu Finot was born into a winegrowing family in Crozes-Hermitage, France.  In 1995 after graduating with his degree in enology from the university in Beaune he proceeded to work in multiple wine regions in France including, Rhone Valley, Bordeaux, Burgundy, Provence, and Jura.  He did stints in Italy and South Africa before arriving in Virginia in 2003. He then landed a posit...

Send us Fan Mail Ben Jordan began his winemaker career in California and would move back to his native state of  Virginia in 2012 where he took the position as winemaker at Michael Shaps Wineworks.  He was then recruited by Early Mountain Vineyards and became their winemaker in 2015.  He is recognized as one of the most respected upcoming winemakers in the Virginia Wine Industry today.  Early Moun...

Send us Fan Mail Early Mountain Vineyards was established in 2012 after Jean and Steve Case, the founders of AOL, purchased a vineyard in Madison County, at that time called Sweely vineyards,  when it went on sale in 2011.  Jean Case took the lead on the project with the goal to not just produce world class wine at Early Mountain but to promote Virginia winegrowing and its wines as a region that s...

Send us Fan Mail True Heritage is the new wine project of the brother/sister team, George Hodson/ CEO & Emily Pelton/Winemaker at Veritas Vineyards.  They created this new Brand with the expressed intent to showcase Virginia wine on a more National and Regional scale.  There is no tasting room, hospitality center or any of the Agritourism  trappings that a vast majority of Virginia winegrowers...

Send us Fan Mail Kirsty's story of how she fell into winemaking begins as almost a fairly tale.  At the young age of 24  early in her career working as a microbiologist she decided to leave the lab and devote her time to a side project she had as a calligrapher and wedding planner.  In the course of that business she planned the wedding for none other than Patricia Kluge owner of what would b...

Send us Fan Mail Lucie Morton is recognized today world wide as one of the foremost Viticulturist and Ampelographer in the Wine Industry.  She started in winegrowing back in 1971 when her Dad asked her to take a gap year as she was finishing up grad school to be his farm manager and look into planting vines at Morland their family farm.  She never looked back.  She would later go to France to gain...

Send us Fan Mail Claude Thibaut was born in a Gran Cru village in the Champagne region. His grandfather once worked as a vineyard manager for Moet-Chandon and his father was among the first of the grower champagne producers as they have become to be known in the country today.  Claude received his winemaking degree from the university in Reims which at that time was a recently established program....

Send us Fan Mail DuCard vineyards was established in 2001 after Scott and Karen Elliff purchased property on the eastern slope of the Shenandoah National Park west of the historic town of Madison, Virginia.  The property, at an elevation of 1,000 feet  was once the site of a thriving Apple Orchard at a time when Virginia was the leading state for apple growing. Scott and his wife bought the proper...

Send us Fan Mail Ankida Ridge was established by Christine & Dennis Vrooman with the planting of their first vines in 2008.  Lucie Morton  was their vineyard consultant and she brilliantly, in my opinion, advised them to plant Pinot Noir.  She believed that the southeastern facing slope at  1800 feet nestled into the Blue Ridge Mountains  along with the granite soils gave them the chance to be...