Special Episode! The Virginia Winemakers Series: Jake Busching of Jake Busching Wines

Jake Busching is a bit of a legend around Virginia winemaking, so who better to be the first winemaker we talk to as part of our Virginia Winemakers series! Jake has a really cool background, one that is surprisingly not as common as you think, because he came to winemaking as a farmer, rather than as a scientist or being from a long family of winemakers. From that came some great quotes like “my heart is in the dirt” and his admonition to young winemakers to “Put the boots on first and get in the dirt.” In our interview, he talks about how as a winemaker you have to embrace the chaos of nature, because nature doesn’t care what you are trying to do. He also talks about his take on the science and art of winemaking and where he leans (he’s a former musician, if that gives you any hint), and his simple approach that the grape is the most important of the wine, which is why he is 100% vintage driven - whatever nature gives him that year. We also loved his take on Virginia winemaking being “cowboy country” meaning there are a lot of people learning how to do things along the way. Please join us in our wonderful conversation with Jake Busching. 

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Chapters

• 0:00 Introduction
• 2:37 Interview with Jake Busching
• 36:38 Outro and how to find Jake Busching Wines

Transcript

Show Notes

Special Episode! The Virginia Winemakers Series: Jake Busching of Jake Busching Wines  00:00

Hello, and welcome to this special episode of The Wine Pair Podcast! I’m Joe, your sommelier of reasonably priced wine, and for this special episode, I am on my own as my wine pairing partner in crime is busy making cakes for her Baby Cakes micro-bakery, which by the way you can learn more about if you head over to her website lovebabycakes.com.

Today, we are going to start one of several interviews with Virginia winemakers. Wait, you didn’t know they may wine in Virginia?!? Well, they do, and it is a region ready to take off. So, you may not be seeing wine from Virginia in your area of the country or world quite yet, but be on the lookout. When we first started this concept, we were going to do an episode where we brought three Virginia winemakers together, but as I talked to them all, I realized that they all had very different and exciting stories that you deserve hearing. So, today, we are bringing you Jake Buching of Jake Busching Wines, and we will periodically share with you others like Justin Rose and Corry Craighill.

What I really love about Jake’s story, and you will hear him talk about it in a minute, is that he really came to making wine from a farming background, which is not something I find very often from most of the winemakers we talk to. So, his story really helps to cement for us that, fundamentally, wine is an agricultural product - something we often forget about in the hype around wine.

Before we get to Jake, let’s do a quick orientation to what we usually do in our podcast because many of you may be here for the first time, and we are happy to welcome you to our podcast tribe. Now, in most episodes we learn about, taste, and review two to three wines that are reasonably priced, which means under $25 each, and should be easy to find. However, for this special set of episodes, we interview people who are involved in actually making wine. Because part of what we want to do with our podcast is to educate ourselves and you on different aspects of wine knowledge in a fun, entertaining, and unstuffy way, and that is what we are doing today!

A small plug before we get to the interview with Jake - if you like what you are hearing or are interested in hearing our other “regular” episodes, please subscribe or follow our podcast so you can hear more - especially since you are only getting one half of The Wine Pair Podcast in this episode! You can also go to our website thewinepairpodcast.com to send us a note or subscribe to our newsletter, you can follow us on Instagram and Bluesky at The Wine Pair Podcast, and, if you like what you are hearing, you can even leave us a nice rating and review!

But without further ado, let’s head over to our interview with Jake Busching

Interview with Jake Busching of Jake Busching Wines 2:37

Hi Jake, and welcome to The Wine Pair Podcast. Thanks for joining us and being willing to share your story. We have had lots of listeners ask us to do more on Virginia wine and Virginia winemakers, and so this is giving all of us a great opportunity to learn more by talking with you.
Are you ready to jump in?

Interview Questions:
Tell us about your family background growing up and if wine played a role at all, and then tell us how you ended up as a winemaker, and a winemaker in Virginia
What do you think makes Virginia wine special?
What is your prediction on what will make Virginia wines take off?
What is one wine you are very proud of that you make?
How can our listeners find you and your wines?


Outro and How to Find Jake Busching and Jake Busching Wines 36:38

Thank you very much for listening to our interview with Jake. Clearly a person who cares not just about his wine, but about being a mentor, guide, and support for winemakers all over Virginia. We hope you will spend some time getting to know Jake better and looking for his wines. So you have it again, here is how you can find him

• Website: https://www.jakebuschingwines.com/
• Website: https://eastwoodfarmandwinery.com/virginia-wine-collective/ (Virginia Wine Collective he mentioned)
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jakebwine/
• Email: jake@jakebuschingwines.com

Thank you again, and, we hope you will subscribe to our podcast and follow us on Instagram and Bluesky, please visit our website at thewinepairpodcast.com where you can reach out to us and sign up for our newsletter, and you can also reach out to me at joe@thewinepairpodcast.com if you want more information, especially if you have winemakers you think we should interview, and we look forward to hearing from you!

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