Ep 510: Virginia’s Iconic Barboursville Vineyards with Winemaker & GM Luca Paschina

Wine for Normal People

I welcome to the show, again, and this time for a much longer and more thorough conversation, Luca Paschina, the head winemaker and GM of Barboursville, the historic property in the Monticello AVA of Virginia. Luca was on the show in 2016, originally on episode 162.

Barboursville has a long history, which starts around the same time as its current owners’ wine history -- the Zonin family of Veneto (found 1821). We discuss Thomas Jefferson and his role in trying to get Virginia wine started. Luca tells us about Gianni Zonin, who purchased Barboursville in 1976 and created the first world class winery in Virginia. He is still the owner today.

Luca has been the head winemaker of Barboursville since 1990. He gives us an excellent retrospective on what he has learned in these decades and the key terroir points about the Monticello AVA. tell us the . We also touch on some of the challenges and the advantages of the region and we are pretty honest about separating the wheat from the chaff.

This is a very honest look at Virginia, and frankly a great way to tell if a winery you visit knows what they are talking about. If they don’t follow Luca’s advice, likely the wine isn’t going to be very good! This is a great show and I hope it motivates you to look more into the excellent wines of Virginia!

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