The Taste with Doug Shafer – a Podcast About Wine, Food, and Friends

The Taste with Doug Shafer – a Podcast About Wine, Food, and Friends

A Napa Valley podcast serving up stories of wine, food, and friends.

Episodes

June 9, 2025 55 mins

James Molesworth often finds his way into a wine through anthropology, which was his major in college. As Wine Spectator's lead taster for California (Cabernet and Pinot Noir) and Bordeaux, James talks about the importance of learning the underlying culture of a region and a winery to fully understand a wine. Besides tasting wines in the traditional sense, he spends time in vineyards with producers learning the stories of a vintage...

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Chris and Josh Phelps are a father-and-son team who have worked together unofficially for a long time. While Josh was a kid growing up in Napa Valley, Chris was the inaugural winemaker at Dominus before moving on to make wine at Caymus, and then Swanson and Inglenook before starting his own wine brand Ad Vivum Cellars.

When Josh got out of college in the mid-2000s he launched Taken wine brand before selling and starting again with t...

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May 12, 2025 69 mins

Whoever said crime doesn't pay, didn't know John Caldwell. When John bought his 54 acres (and three houses) in the Coombsville area of Napa Valley in the late 1970s, he thought he was getting into the real estate business. But when the County placed a moratorium on development, he had to figure out something else to do with his land and decided to grow grapes and make wine. What came next is one of the wildest stories in the wine i...

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Doug Shafer and Chef Tom Colicchio first met in the early 1990s on board a nearly empty cruise in the Baltic Sea in what turned out to be an unforgettable few days. In this episode the two catch up and talk about Tom's new bestselling memoir, "Why I Cook," along with his early years in the New York City restaurant scene, his 22 seasons hosting the Emmy-winning Bravo TV show "Top Chef," his work in food advocacy, raising kids, and e...

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April 14, 2025 57 mins

Glenn Salva has been at the heart of Antinori Napa Valley since the mid-1980s when the renown wine family, the Antinoris, who'd been making wine in Tuscany for 600, decided to expand into the New World. The story as Glenn tells is filled with challenges and incredible opportunities -- including the moment when they bought their own mining equipment and dug their own wine cave. More than anything, we learn how the Antinori family's ...

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April 9, 2025 4 mins

We're excited to announce a new era of The Taste that starts on Monday, April 14, with our first new episode with Glenn Salva, who's been at the heart of Antinori Napa Valley since the 1980s. Be sure to check out our new website -- TheTasteWithDougShafer.com -- and our Instagram account -- TheTasteWithDougShafer. The first 100 people who go to the website and subscribe to our email list will be entered to win a magnum of Hillside S...

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July 8, 2024 1424 mins
Early in his career Dave Phinney redefined the look and feel of winemaking and marketing in Napa Valley when he created a red blend called The Prisoner. Simultaneously he founded and remains involved with Orin Swift, working in partnership with Gallo. After the sale of his original brands, Dave went on to forge his own path establishing the spirits maker Savage & Cooke and most recently began crafting Pinot Noir and Chardonnay on t...
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July 1, 2024 47 mins
Growing up in one of Napa Valley’s most celebrated winemaking families, Chelsea brings a wealth of personal knowledge to her professional success. After graduating from UC Davis she gained real-world experience working in wine regions around the world and in wineries of all sizes from large to small. Today she is winemaker at Napa Valley’s Mattera Cunat Family Vineyards and Aviatrix, crafting wines with her mom, winemaker Heidi Bar...
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June 24, 2024 43 mins
Born in Switzerland, Jean Hoefliger worked in vineyards and wineries throughout the world before landing in Napa Valley in 2001 and his first job here at Newton Vineyard. Since then he’s made wine with numerous brands including Alpha Omega Winery and AXR Napa Valley as well as with his long-time friend Michele Roland.
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June 17, 2024 50 mins
Her journey in wine took Emma Swain from Francis Ford Coppola’s Neibaum-Coppola Estate to wineries owned by Sonoma’s Sebastiani family before taking the reins at Chanel-owned St. Supèry.
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November 7, 2022 64 mins
Third-generation vintner Violet Grgich tells an incredible family wine story that spans a century that includes a world war, daring escapes, and a years-long journey to Napa Valley. Her grandfather was a winemaker in their small town in Croatia, her father came to Napa and help put the region on the world stage and started a winery, Grgich-Hills Estate, where today Violet is president. Enjoy!
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August 17, 2022 59 mins
Hugh Davies lives in the same house he grew up in at Schramsberg Winery here in Napa Valley and, in a case of history repeating itself, it’s where he and his wife are raising their own family and making world-class wines. Hugh does a great job of weaving together 150 years of stories about family and winemaking on Diamond Mountain. Enjoy!
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June 2, 2022 62 mins
In 1975 John Williams arrived in Napa Valley with a return bus ticket and $40 in his pocket. He fell in love with wine and never used that return ticket – instead launching Frog’s Leap Winery. Today John and his son Rory (who also owns Calder Wine Co.) are running Frog’s Leap together and on the podcast, they discuss the joys and challenges of family business.
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April 5, 2022 61 mins
John Kongsgaard grew up in Napa Valley, where his father was a beloved local judge. John says their father-son relationship was tested during the stresses of the Vietnam War and the road to healing that rift culminated in the creation of Kongsgaard’s most celebrated wine, The Judge. Today John works with his son, Alex, to keep growing beautiful fruit and making outstanding wines. Enjoy! For more visit: https://kongsgaardwine.com...
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December 13, 2021 52 secs
Delia Viader came to the wine business in Napa Valley in the 1980s after living in Argentina, Switzerland, Lebanon, and France and earning degrees from the Sorbonne in Paris and MIT in Boston. Her son Alan grew up on the winery property, learning vineyard and cellar work at a young age. Today this duo runs Viader Vineyards & Winery, one of Napa Valley’s best. Enjoy! For more visit: https://viader.com/
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November 19, 2021 58 mins

Adam Lee comes from a family of devout Texas teetotalers. In college, however, Adam not only tasted his first wine, he became passionate about it. He and then-wife Diane Novy moved to California and founded Siduri, making outstanding Pinot Noirs from vineyards site that ranged from Santa Barbara to the Willamette Valley in Oregon. After selling Siduri, Adam has gone on to start several exciting new wine projects. Enjoy!

 

For more vi...

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September 2, 2021 59 mins

Early on Donald Patz thought he’d pursue a medical career. After college, however, he landed a wine sales job and one thing led to another. By the 1980s Patz met James Hall in Napa and they created Patz & Hall, a winery celebrated for outstanding Chardonnay and Pinot Noir. In 2016, they sold the winery and Patz moved on to several exciting new wine projects – including his first venture into Cabernet.

For more visit: https://d...

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July 29, 2021 50 mins

As a kid Elizabeth Vianna lived in Brazil, Los Angeles, and Illinois, then moved back to Brazil. She entered college intent on becoming a concert pianist, then got serious about medicine but along the way found her true love in wine. Today Vianna is one of our favorite neighbors here in Napa Valley’s Stag Leap District as winemaker and general manager at Chimney Rock. Enjoy!

For more visit: ChimneyRock.com

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July 1, 2021 78 mins

While Michael Silacci grew up near the vineyards of Gilroy, California, it took years of travel through Hawaii, Japan, Switzerland, and eventually France to discover his passion for wine. Today he can look back on nearly 20 years of stellar winemaking at Opus One, combining innovative thinking with age-old techniques to produce wines that are among the best. Enjoy!

For more visit: https://www.opusonewinery.com/

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June 4, 2021 51 mins

Jay McInerney burst onto the literary scene in 1984 with Bright Lights, Big City, his novel based on an era both in his life and the life of New York City. A dozen years later McInerney surprised a lot of people by turning to writing about wine. He won over many early doubters, displaying a novelist’s eye and a wine lover’s enthusiasm for profiling wines, winemakers, wine regions, and more. Enjoy!

Wine books byJay McInerney:https:...

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