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

James Hall proved that you actually can go home again when, in 2024, he bought back the winery he'd sold nearly 10 years earlier. We had a great time talking with James, getting the background on a fascinating career and learning more about Patz & Hall winery in Sonoma.He grew up in Santa Cruz, California, where his father was an English professor. On family travels in Europe, James was first introduced to the joys of wine. It was an unforgettable glass of Meursault Charmes that really turned him on to wine, later leading him to study fermentation science at UC Davis in the late 1970s.One of his first winemaking jobs was at Flora Springs, where he struck up a friendship with Donald Patz. They and their wives, Anne Moses and Heather Patz, created a partnership in 1988 that started the Patz & Hall wine brand, focused on exceptional Chardonnays and later Pinot Noirs.In 2016 they sold the winery to Chateau St. Michelle. Then, In 2024, when the winery was positioned to be sold again, James bought back.Learn more about the Patz & Hall story and their fabulous wines at: https://www.patzhall.com/

Jeb Dunnuck's journey to becoming a globally recognized wine critic took an unexpected path, starting in Indiana farmland, where he grew up, then through an early career as an engineer for NASA, working on high-profile projects such as the Kepler Space Telescope.Along the way though, he fell in love with the wines of the Rhône Valley and putting his engineering skills to work built a website and newsletter called The Rhône Report, focused on wines produced from Rhône grape varieties around the world. Within a few years Jeb earned a lot of attention for his work, including the notice of legendary critic Robert Parker, who invited Jeb to come work with him at The Wine Advocate.Today, Jeb heads one of the most successful online sources for wine criticism and reporting at JebDunnuck.com. We had a great time getting to know more about Jeb's story and learn his approach to evaluating hundreds of wine each year.Be sure to check out Jeb's site at JebDunnuck.com and get a glimpse of his work with NASA with the celebrated Kepler's First Light: https://www.nasa.gov/image-article/keplers-first-light/

Judd Finkelstein's earliest memories are all about life at a Napa Valley winery. In the 1970s his parents started Whitehall Lane Winery, later selling and moving across the Valley to launch Judd's Hill Winery. Judd says like so many who grow up here, he had to move away from Napa Valley to truly appreciate it. Initially after college, he worked in the entertainment industry in Los Angeles until feeling like a better life would be one working with his family in the wine business. Back in Napa he combined his love of wine and entertainment becoming beloved for his comedic video series "Judd's Enormous Wine Show" and "Wine Booty" (still available on YouTube) and his many appearances playing the ukulele. After running Judd's Hill since the mid 2000s, two years ago, Judd opened the doors on The Fink, called Napa's neighborhood bar for the world traveler. You can find Judd at this celebrated cocktail bar in character as The Fink, a dapper, welcoming host. We absolutely loved this hour with Judd -- enjoy!Learn more by visiting https://www.juddshill.com/ and https://www.thefinknapa.com/

We first got to know Pat Monahan when he and his Grammy-winning band Train filmed much of the 2012 music video for their hit song "Drive By" at Shafer Vineyards (which has earned more than 200 million views on YouTube). We knew right away that Pat was a wine fan based both on our interactions with him that day and because we learned that he helmed the successful "Save Me San Francisco Wine Company," whose sales raised millions for Family House, a haven for families of critically ill children.In this episode, we get to catch up with Pat and learn a lot more about his background (like how he was painting houses in the Bay Area the first time he heard a Train song on the radio), his current world tour, and his new wine project with podcast friend Dave Phinney.Learn all about Pat's latest wine project at: www.savemesanfranciscowineco.com/

Bobby Stuckey loves creating welcoming, inspired spaces in his restaurants both for customers and employees, seeing hospitality as a mission as much as a career.Bobby’s story starts in Arizona where he grew up “a dyslexic, ADHD kid,” who wasn’t finding success in school. Fortunately he landed a position as a busboy in a local restaurant and soon realized that pouring his energy into that job came with real rewards. The world of restaurants has been his home ever since. Along the way he fell in love with wine and learned the importance of mentorship.Today, after a long, storied career as a wine buyer and sommelier at legendary restaurants including The Little Nell in Aspen, CO, and The French Laundry, in Napa Valley, CA, Bobby’s life is centered in Colorado where his restaurants such as Frasca and Pizzeria Alberico in Boulder and Tavernetta in Denver have earned every top hospitality and service award imaginable. Most recently — just after recording this podcast — Bobby and his team won the 2025 James Beard Award for Outstanding Restaurant for Frasca, a restaurant that has already earned a Michelin star and two prior James Beard Awards.It was an absolute pleasure to catch up with Bobby and learn more about this career, life story, and what’s next for this outstanding hospitality leader. Explore Bobby’s restaurants by visiting frascahospitalitygroup.com.You can listen to The Taste on our website at TheTasteWithDougShafer.com or on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, iHeartRadio, or Amazon Music.Also, please keep in touch at [email protected]. We would love to hear from you!

Suzanne Deal Booth is a fairly recently name to Napa Valley in that her first released vintage was 2018 from Bella Oaks winery, a property with a rich legacy. More recently she purchased Wheeler Farms on Zinfandel Lane, just south of St. Helena. Her story, though, begins not in wine but in art restoration and preservation, a passion that has taken her to iconic sites around the world. Today she combines that love for art, history, and wine into her properties and her wines, which are earning great critical response and gaining fans around the world. Learn more at: bellaoaks.com wheelerfarmswine.com

The story of MacDonald Vineyards begins with a deep, foot-dragging, don't-make-me-do-it reluctance to get into the business of grape-growing four generations ago, a historic hand-shake deal with Robert Mondavi, and accidents of history, fate, and weather. Ultimately though, it is the inspired passion and incredible work ethic of two brothers, Alex and Graeme MacDonald. As children they played in this Oakville vineyard that one day they would turn into some of the most celebrated wines in Napa Valley. We loved learning the background of this stellar property -- part of the historic To Kalon Vineyard -- and of the brothers who have overcome every hurdle to produce wines that are some of the best. Learn more by visiting: https://macdonaldvineyards.com/

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, a site, and its people. James has been part of the culture at Wine Spectator for 29 years tasting his way through regions including Chile, South Africa, and New York's Finger Lakes District. In this episode he talks about his evolving approach to tasting and finding ways to express the inexpressible when it comes to reviewing and writing about wines in these top regions.

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 the hugely successful Grounded Wine Company. Today Chris and Josh have combined forces to work on Ad Vivum, Grounded, and other projects.As you might guess, a father-and-son winemaking duo resonates with Doug, and we had a terrific time recording this episode. Learn more about these two Napa Valley talents by visiting Ad Vivum and Grounded Wine Co.

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 industry, involving smuggling and close calls with the law. Today Caldwell is recognized as a pioneer and the changes he brought made a difference Valley-wide in the quality of the wine produced here. Learn more at: CaldwellVineyard.com