Vintage Stories

Eric Camera is a winemaker based in California.  He is on a journey through New Zealand working for the famed Craggy Range Winery.  He stopped by the podcast studios (Daniel's home) to have a chat.

Malcolm Reeves has a career spanning five decades in the food and beverage industry.  He is one of the pioneers of New Zealand wine having established its first academic programmes and study.  He established his own winery, Crossroads, which he later sold but not before creating one of New Zealand's iconic red blends, The Talisman.  He has also worked in a variety of food and beverage production and research and is a consultant for a few Chinese Wineries.

Rocco Rainone made a life change and decided to follow his heart full of cheese.  He went to work for Philadelphia's most famous gourmet food purveyor, Di Bruno Brothers.  He's an old friend and we have a chat about all things fermenting, but mostly cheese.

Pierre Simonet is a French Winemaker from the Basque Country.  He immigrated to New Zealand and now makes wine in Hawkes Bay for Esk Valley, one of NZ's top producers.

Geoff Wilson was formerly the only employee of the famous Gimblett Gravels Appellation of Hawkes Bay, New Zealand.  He now works on the sales side helping sell and ship NZ wine to the rest of the world with www.nzwinehome.co.nz 

Matt Ridgway is a chef who was worked for some of the finest restaurants in New York, Philadelphia and Atlanta.  He now has his own road side bistro in Rosemont, NJ named 'The Pass' where he showcases his culinary and charcuterie skills.

Jenny Schultz is another transplant from the east coast of the US, Philadelphia, who followed her dream to go make wine.  With a strong chemistry background, she is now the Enologist at Three Sticks in Sonoma, California.

Glenn Hugo was a restaurant wine buyer traveling around the US opening restaurants for a corporate chain.  But he decided to follow his passion and move to Napa to become a winemaker.  He's now the chief winemaker for Girard, one of Napa's hottest brands.

Tegan Passalacqua is the Winemaker and Vineyard Manager at the historic Turley Wine Cellars.  Tegan is also the proud owner of the Kierchenmann Vineyard, growing old vines, the right way.  He has worked for some of the world’s most prestigious productions in France and New Zealand.   . 

My conversation with Tegan provided some very memorable quotes and moments that I will never forget.  Having worked and traveled through some of the same places, I was moved by his passion and opinions.  I look forward to speaking with him again soon.

Original post date: 1st December 2012

Jesus Céja comes from a large, storied family in the Napa/Sonoma region of California.  Jesus has traveled the world as a brew master and has now settled back in Sonoma to found the Carneros Brewing Company with his family.  He also has his own vineyard, Céja Farms Vineyard a producer of Sonoma Valley Pinot Noir, Chardonnay, Petit Syrah, Zinfandel and Grenache. 

I stopped into the brewery as the newly built facility had just started opening to the public.  Jesus and I discussed the meticulous nature of brewing, yeast propagation, malts, hops and why he is focused on making truly balanced beers.  His passion for brewing these balanced beers are about to take wine country by storm in the coming year and it was pretty cool to see it at the very beginning.

Original Post date: 25th November 2012