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Breaux Vineyards, Drink Local, Heather Munden, Loudoun County, VaWine, Virginia, Virginia Wine, Virginia Wine Blog, winemaker
Speculation about who would land the coveted winemaker job at Loudoun County’s Breaux Vineyards ended last Monday with the official press release welcoming Californian Heather Munden to the Breaux family.
News travels fast and far when a prominent winery like Breaux — in one of the most recognized ‘emerging‘ regions in the U.S. — is hiring a new winemaker. Not surprisingly, the top vintner job at one of the Commonwealth’s largest winery operations has been the subject of much interest here in Virginia and points west.
In late March I was reminded just how fast and far news travels in the wine industry when a winemaker friend in northern, California emailed to ask for ‘some scoop on a big Virginia winery’ that was in search of a new winemaker.
One could make an easy argument that such interest from experienced vintners from larger and more prominent regions is a testament to Breaux’s reputation as one of the east coast’s premier winery operations as well as Virginia’s reputation as a serious region producing world-class wines.
A couple weeks ago I had the opportunity to catch up with Heather to talk about her move to Virginia and her role as the new winemaker at Breaux Vineyards.
Munden grew up in the Bay Area of California. Her education background includes a hotel and restaurant management degree from San Francisco City College and a Viticulture and Enology degree from the University of California, Davis.
After graduating from UC Davis, Munden spent three years crossing the globe working as a harvest intern, consultant, and winemaker in Italy, New Zealand, Chile and Western Australia. Before packing her shears for the 3,000 mile journey east, Munden was a consulting winemaker at Mira Flores Winery, the Artisan Winemaker at St. Francis Winery & Vineyards in Sonoma, CA, and held positions at Hartford Family Winery and Michel-Schlumberger.
Why Virginia?
Virginia provides a whole new challenge for me. I get to push my life in a different direction. I also have some family and friends on the east coast so it will be great to live near them.
Prior considering the winemaker position at Breaux, did you have much experience with Virginia wine? If so, what is your overall opinion of the wines here?
No. I haven’t tried enough Virginia wines to have an opinion but I did recently attend a tasting of the Virginia Governor’s Cup wines and was pleasantly surprised at how great the wines were.
Can you describe your philosophy of winemaking?
I am very much a hands-off winemaker. I don’t like to intervene unless wine/grape quality is affected. Bring me good grapes and let them do the work.
What are you most excited about at Breaux?
Jennifer Breaux Blosser and the team is just as passionate about food as I am so being able to incorporate my passion for food and wine here will make Breaux Vineyards a destination place. I’m looking forward to leveraging my culinary arts background at Breaux. Maybe plant a garden or even start a Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) program and host more farm-to-table wine dinners.
Breaux is also are very dog friendly which is a prerequisite for me. My new puppy, Jem, will be arriving this weekend. He will be the fourth Rhodesian Ridgeback that I have owned. Chris and Jennifer have been extremely generous and have given the employees about half an acre to build a dog park so our furry friends can come to work with us. I can see us hanging out there in the summer with a glass of Rose watching the dogs play.
What do you foresee as your most significant challenge in Virginia?
The weather here in Virginia makes me nervous. In California, it’s easy to make wine. I realize there is nothing I can do about the weather so I will focus on making the best picking decisions possible.
What changes would you like to make at Breaux?
I’m still getting settled here so it’s too soon to say for sure, but one thing I would like to work on is moving the white wines out of American oak in to French oak. I’m not a fan of American oak, it doesn’t integrate well like French oak does, and tends to mask the delicacies of some varieties. Breaux currently uses both American and French oak and will be moving more towards French exclusively.
What is the one myth about wine that you would like to see dispelled?
I would like to remove the intimidation factor of wine. Everyone should enjoy wine. If someone tells you you should like a particular wine and you don’t, move on to one that you do. Just keep drinking until you find wines you like. [To paraphrase – drink what you like! 🙂 ]
Please share a couple of facts about you that people may not know.
I raise pigs, built my own brick oven, love silverware, cannot live without my dog and feeding family and friends is my life ambition. Also, I am a great baby sitter but a horrible speller.
It’s great to see Breaux expand the ranks of talented women winemakers here in Virginia.
Welcome to Virginia wine, Heather! All the best with your inaugural vintage.
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Jordan Harris said:
Welcome to the area Heather. I hope you are settling in well. I also love the fact that you are a great babysitter…Can I call you at the winery to drop of my boys 🙂 – Jordan Harris
DrinkWhatYouLike said:
Whoooa – backoff Harris! I’ve got first dibs on Heather babysitting … 🙂
HMunden said:
Thank you for the welcome. Please feel free to bring the boys by. I ma sure they will have fun in the puppy playground.
Jim Raper said:
I’d like her to tell us what she thinks of Virginia Nebbiolo.
HMunden said:
During my first week at Breaux I tasted one vintage of Virginia Nebbiolo. I did’t quite get it. A week later Chris, Jennifer and I sat down for two hours and tasted the 2000-2013 Nebbiolo’s. What a great treat! Now I get it. Nebbiolo is a much more subtle variety though it is a power house in its own way. I look forward to working with the grapes.
Jim Raper said:
Thanks for the reply, Heather. Welcome to Virginia and we look forward to your wines.
Mark Fedor said:
Welcome Heather to Virginia! My kids are older so I don’t need any babysitting. So you are off the hook. Come to think of it, we have a rescue greyhound that might need babysitting from time to time… 🙂 See you soon… – Mark Fedor, North Gate Vineyard
HMunden said:
Hey Mark,
Thank you for the welcome. Bring the dog by any time and we can sit in the shade sipping Rose and talk wine.
Heather
Jeff said:
Welcome Heather Experienced winemakers with a proven track record always welcome. Im with Jim wanting to know your thoughts on Virginia Nebbiolo but also thoughts on the dire need for planting more vines in Virginia. Breaux is one of the largest in the state but small by comparison to previous job. New plantings are critical. Plans to help Breaux vineyards with new plantings? Past experiences with vineyard expansion?
HMunden said:
Jeff,
Thank you for the welcome. I had never worked with Nebbiolo prior to being here at Breaux unless the grape growers in Southern Italy slipped it in when I wasn’t looking. I have tasted through 13 vintages of Breaux Nebbiolo and am amazed how powerful yet elegant the wines are.
Planting more grapes in Virginia is a must if the industry is going to continuing growing at the current pace. With all of the great new tasting and event space we are building here I am sure that planting more grapes is the next project on the horizon. I have had enough experience in vineyard expansion to be able to come up with an opinion.
Hope full we will see you at the winery.
Heather
Rebekah Wineburg said:
Virginia you are lucky to have her! Heather will be missed back here but I am very excited to taste the wines that she is going to make at Breaux.
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