Fine Wine Confidential Podcast

Send us Fan Mail Veritas Winery was established in 1999 by Andrew Hodson and his wife Patricia.  They  both had successful careers in the Medical field but asked themselves is this all there is? So, during a folk tour after meeting a couple who had moved to Virginia and described how they had never been happier and that Virginia had a budding winegrowing industry.  Andrew and Patricia looked into...

Send us Fan Mail Rutger de Vink the founder of RDV established is Vineyard in 204 after having working as an intern with Jim Law and Linden in the early 2000s.  He credits Jim for a fortuitous trip he took at Jim's invitation with a group of winemakers to travel to Bordeaux in 2002.  It was during that trip that he met a fellow Dutchman, Kees van Leeuwen, when they visited Cheval Blanc in St....

Send us Fan Mail Shepherd (Shep) Rouse is Virginia through and through.  His ancestors roots trace back to the 17th century in Virginia. Shep was a Fulbright Scholar and after spending time in Germany he fell in love with their wines and Riesling specifically. When he returned to the U.S.  he decided to take up the art of winemaking and headed to the West Coast where he would as a  get his degree...

Send us Fan Mail Jim Law began his quest to produce wine in Virginia when he and his family bought a long-abandoned apple orchard in the Northern part of Virginia in 1983 after several years of searching for a parcel of land that had high elevation and had eastern facing slopes.  His first vineyard experience was with a small Ohio vineyard and in 1981 he had two distinctly different opportunities...

Send us Fan Mail In September of 2020 I had the opportunity to interview Jay Youmans MW.  Jay owns the Capital Wine School in Washington, DC. and is responsible for overseeing and conducting the Virginia Governor's Cup wine Competition.  He shares how he originally got involved in the competition and describes the inter-workings and criteria that is required to participate.  Jay got started i...

Send us Fan Mail Chris Hill is one of the most accomplished and noted Viticulturalist in Virginia.  Many of the clients he has worked with in advising and planting vineyards are amongst the who's, who of the successful modern day Virginia winegrowers.  That list includes Michael Shaps, Pollack,  Barren Ridge, Veritas,  King Family Vineyards, Keswick, Lovingston, and Pippin Hill Farms and Vine...

Send us Fan Mail Michael Shaps started making wine in Virginia when he succeeded Gabriele Rausse at Jefferson Vineyards in 1995.  Michael became enamored early on with the wines of Burgundy, so it seemed the logical step for him to go to France and learn how to make wine. With no prior connections he left his job in Boston where he was the manager and wine buyer for a high-end restaurant and went...

Send us Fan Mail This Episode with Luca Paschina from Barboursville Vineyards starts with him describing his youth in Italy where he began making wine at the young age of 14 years old with his Father.  Later, he would go on to work for another wine company.  He was there for 8  years and gained experience in all aspects of the wine business from grape growing, winemaking, to working in Sales.  Dur...

Send us Fan Mail In this second and final segment of my interview with Gabriele we dig deeper into the reasons why he left Jefferson Vineyard in 1995 and took the position of Director of the Grounds and Gardens at Monticello.  Gabriele shares a number of insights about Thomas Jefferson throughout this segment.  He also share several interesting and somewhat humorous stories about Kluge and the ori...

Send us Fan Mail This is Part 1 of Episode 2 where I have the pleasure to interview Gabriele Rausse, who the NY Times called the Father of modern-day Virginia winegrowing. ( Part 2 of this Episode will be published as a continuation of this Episode at a later date).  Gabriele came to Virginia in April of 1976 when Gianni Zonin offered him the position of  planting the vineyard at Barboursville.  A...

Send us Fan Mail In this first episode I introduce myself, (Fred Reno) and what motivated me to create this Podcast.  I have included  brief audio excerpts from interviews in my next in my next 3 episodes.  First, with Gabriele Rausse, who the NY Times called the Father of the modern-day Virginia wine industry followed by Luca Paschina who succeeded Gabriele at Barboursville Vineyards in 1990.  Th...