The Fine Wine Confidential Book Podcast is a series of audio excerpts or snippets from my upcoming book, titled Fine Wine Confidential.  

This new Podcast series will share insider information about what really happens behind the scenes in the Fine Wine business. Everything, from the up-close look at how marketing, sales, and pricing decisions are made to the sometimes crazy notions winery founders and owners have about who they are and why they have had success. 

I will tell you from my experience that most of their success is a result not of their decisions but the recovery efforts by their staff or outside help to overcome the not-so-brilliant direction they were headed. You couple that with good timing and other market conditions that were not of their making, and that usually explains the success they enjoyed. I will lay it all out there for you to decide for yourself once you have heard the stories.    

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

Here is Part 2 of my in-depth interview with Lucie Morton where we continue to discuss the differences between Norton and Cynthiana grapes. 

We also cover her attempt to reclaim another Virginia native grape, Cunningham which one of her familial ancestors is connected to here in Virginia. 

Finally, Lucie will describe her proverbial Ah Ha moment when she decided that she would produce her upcoming documentary film titled "Odessey of Forbidden wines, exile and return of American grapes." 

This interview is packed with many more insightful comments and history from Lucie and is a fitting last episode in my All About Virginia Norton podcast series. 

Take a listen or read the transcript below. 

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

Lucie Morton is the World's most preeminent Ampelographer, if not the only one still living that practices this art in the wine industry. I know, you are asking yourself what is Ampelography? Well, Lucie will explain that in some detail in this episode. 

In fact, this interview was filled with so many insights that I have chosen to break it up into 2 parts. In Part 1 we touch on many areas of winegrowing with a focus on American Heritage grapes and their demise and rediscovering. One of which, the Cunningham Grape, another Virginia native grape Lucie is in the process of recovering, it is going through the quarantine requirements, and her nephew plans to plant it on their original family farm on the banks of the Potomac River in King George County, Virginia.

Lucie is also in the process of producing a film called the Odessey of Forbidden Wines, Exile and return of American grapes. We will discuss that in detail in Part 2. 

I could go on about Lucie's many accomplishments, but I will let the Episode speak to it instead. Enjoy the listening. You will be as fascinated as I am every time I engage Lucie in a discussion about winegrowing.

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

It is safe to say that Kendell Anderson the featured winemaker in this Episode #20 started his career in the Wine Industry in a most unconventional way. He graduated from William & Mary with a degree in Kinesiology and Health Science, not the traditional degree you might associate a winemaker with.

It was a girl friend of his that got him interested in wine when she began to take him to wineries mostly in Loudon County in the Northern section of Virginia.  He would eventually land a job with a large California company, Saxco that sold bottles, labels and other packaging materials that many beverage companies used. That led to a position at Stone Tower Winery as a cellar assistant. 

Ultimately, he would get a position at The Winery at Bull Run where he is the winemaker today.

Kendell is emblematic of the younger generation of winemakers here in Virginia as he approaches the industry with an open mind and the interest in learning what folks want in the future for wine and how they will interact with it. 

It is a fascinating look at a winery that is stepped in history as a result of it's background having been the site of the first battle of the Civil War.

Take a listen or read the transcript below.

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

Tom Payette is one of the veterans making wine here in Virginia. The upcoming 2025 harvest will mark Tom's 40th. While most of Tom's career has been in Virginia he has been involved some years ago on the west coast in California as a result of his position at Prince Michel. The then owner Jean Leducq owned a vineyard on Elhers Lane in Napa Valley.

Tom has been recognized by numerous wine publications for his work including being named in 1999 as Winemaker of the Year by Vineyard & Winery management and more recently he was named by Wine Business Monthly as one of their Wine Industry Leader of the Year Awards.

Tom has a very active Wine management and consulting business currently and New Kent Vineyards is one of his long-time clients who produces Norton. Tom brought with him the day of the interview two bottles of wine. Once of which was from their Norton vineyard block and the other was from what Lucie Morton the world renown Ampelographer visited and said was from Cynthiana which is not Norton despite the fact that it is legal to label it as Norton. Lucie joined us after the interview concluded and we tasted the wines. There is no question they were different. More on that in a later Episode when I interview Lucie.

Take a listen to Episode posted here or read the transcript.

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

Dustin Minor and Nokesville Winery are a relatively new addition to the Norton scene in Virginia. His first full fledge vintage was 2021 when he made wine in the basement of his house after getting his winery license. Today he only produces a little over 1,000 cases of wine but from what I have tasted the quality is high and the future is bright for this new upcoming Vintner.

Dustin started by planting several vines in his backyard in Nokesville because he thought they would look cool. That was over 12 years ago and eventually would lead to him planting the 5 acres of vines they have at their estate. 

He is a very determined and intense fellow and there is no doubt in my mind that he will succeed. The wines are worth checking out and adding to your Virginia wine tasting experience.

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

Lexington Valley Vineyard is a hidden gem in the Virginia lineup of wineries. I virtually got lost the first time I went to check it out. I had to keep checking my Navigation app to be sure I was headed in the correct direction. However, once I found it, I was impressed with the wines I purchased that day back in August of 2022, especially their Marchel Foch along with their Norton.

This is a small family run operation that Ryan Hale the current winemaker father Cal planted the vineyard in 1999 but passed aways in 2021. Ryan and his sister stepped up and have kept the winery and vineyard moving forward despite having full-time day jobs. 

Their Norton vines are amongst the oldest in Virginia, now approaching 25 years old. None other than Shep Rouse the owner and winemaker of Rockbridge Vineyard produces his Norton wine from their grapes. If they are good enough for Shep that is all the endorsement I needed to seek them out.

One more note: Ryan Hale was most recently in a documentary film about Dr. Daniel Norborne Norton and the history of the Norton grape here in Virginia. You can watch the film on YouTube. It is titled Norton, The Grape That Change Everything.

Listen to the Episode or read the transcript attached below.

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

I always enjoy sitting down with Shep Rouse and getting his viewpoint on winegrowing in Virginia and wine in general. He has been making wine for close to 45 years. First in California in the early '80s and then in Virginia first in 1986 at the old Montdomaine winery and then founding his own winery Rockbridge in 1992.

Although Shep doesn't produce a Norton every vintage, mostly because he doesn't grow it in his vineyard the Norton wine, I have had from him in the past is a great expression of the grape and what it can be once in the bottle and aged properly. In fact, the 2002 Rockbridge Norton, his first vintage, that I had several years ago was one of the highlights for me since I moved to Virginia in 2019. Tasted in the fall of 2020 it had transformed into a wine that reminded me of some of the BV Private Reserve wines from the early '70s that I used to enjoy from California. It was a remarkable bottle of wine. The memory of which has stuck with me since and has inspired me to begin to collect Norton and lay it down in my cellar for the future. 

You will learn from this conversation with Shep. Take a listen or read the transcript attached below.

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

Burnley Vineyard was first planted in 1977 making them one of the early winegrowing pioneers during the formative years when Virginia wine was just beginning to re-emerge after a long slumber from the years of Prohibition and its repeal. 

C. J. Reeder, Lee Reeder's father purchased the land in 1977 and Gabriele Rausse who had just begun to plant Barboursville Vineyard down the road from this property entire into a handshake deal with C. J. The arrangement was Burnley would buy Barboursville vines, (they had begun a nursery at that time) and Barboursville would buy their grapes. Ultimately that would lead to Burnley Vineyards producing its first Estate Wines in 1984 with Lee Reeder fresh out of VA Tech as the winemaker. Lee has been the winemaker ever since.

I believe you will find this interview refreshing by the openness and honesty that Lee Reeder shows throughout our discussion. 

One of the fascinating facets of this interview is how Lee and Burnley Vineyard helped contribute to the trail about whether Cynthiana is a different grape than Norton or the same. I believe through, mostly my tasting experiences over the past several years that it is the former.

Take a listen and decide for yourself.  

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

This is a fascinating interview because Anna Want, the General Manager and daughter of the founders openly embraces the idea that Casanel has both Norton and Cynthiana vines planted in their vineyard. There is beginning to be a more robust open debate about whether the Cynthiana grape vine is Norton under a different name, or a completely different species of grape vine. I personally, lean toward it is a different species based on the many bottles of Norton I have tasted and enjoyed that have Cynthiana vines listed as the varietal from the nursery they purchased these vines from.

Casanel also is unique in Virginia as they are the only winery I know of who has planted the Carmenere grape and successfully produced a high-quality wine from it here in Virginia. 

The back story as to why the founders Nelson & Casey DeSouza purchase the land that their vineyard was planted on in Northern Loudon County in 2008 is yet another example of the pioneering spirit behind many Virginia wineries. It is a testament to the hard work and determination of one family to make a success out of a Farm Winery. 

Take a listen or read the transcript below.

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