EPISODE # 32 MIKE HENY/WINEMAKER: MICHAEL SHAPS WINEWORKS

Fine Wine Confidential Podcast

Michael Heny graduated with a degree in Mechanical Engineering and Comparative Literature from University of Virginia in 1990. Hardly, the typical training or studies that would lead to a successful career.
He was in need of a job just out of college when he answered and ad for a position as a cellar worker at Montdomaine Cellars where Shep Rouse was the winemaker. He remembers Shep tasting wine one afternoon outside the cellar when Shep asked him to join him. It was the first time he even was exposed to the Tasting of wine. He became enthralled with the process there but would end up traveling to Europe only to come back and work the harvest at Meredyth Vineyards under Archie Smith. He then would move on to a position at Horton Vineyards working under the guidance of two more of the early pioneers in Virginia winegrowing, Alan Kinne and Dennis Horton. Ultimately, he ended back at the Montdomaine Cellars facility in 2019 but, working as the winemaker at Michael Shaps Wineworks who had purchased the facility in 2007 when it became the home for Michael Shaps wine program.
There are some more twists and turns you will learn about when you listen to the interview.
HIGHLIGHTS OF THE EPISODE:

a). describes being a young boy when he became so curious with a bottle of German wine his parents were given as a souvenir of a trip to Europe his Grand-parents made. He couldn't resist and opened it and tasted.
b). he always wanted to be a Poet, so how he ended up being a noted winemaker for over 30 years in Virginia is an intriguing story.
c). He was fortunate to work with several of the early pioneers of Virginia winegrowing and had some truly good mentors.
d). One of the odd twists in his career was him working at one of the leading Retail wine merchants in the Country at the time Calvert-Woodley in Washington DC. It opened his eyes to the wide world of quality wine knew nothing about at the time.
e).He makes what I believe is a brilliant statement/observation when I asked him about the future of Hybrid grapes in Va.
Much, Much more. Listen below or read the attached transcript.

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