Our Boston Winery Segment - Worth the Wait!

Finally! We've completed the segment on Boston Winery! It took time and patience, but we wanted to give such an amazing place the justice it deserved...

A few weeks ago, a friend recommended that we visit the Boston Winery in the Port Norfolk section of the city. We'd heard that they made some really good wine in the back of a restaurant out there.

So without too many expectations, we organized a visit to film a segment for an upcoming show...in short, we were blown away.

Boston Winery is a 12,000 square foot facility inside a Civil War-era brick and stone building adjacent to the grand Venezia Restaurant on the water. Both are owned by one of the great gentlemen of Boston, Ralph Bruno.

In creating the winery, Ralph's vision was to offer people an opportunity to participate in the wine making process by helping to produce their own wine, from choosing the grapes to de-stemming and crushing to aging and bottling.

Ralph and his sommelier, Scott Dahill, took us on a tour of the winery detailing its history and an overview of the operations. A magnificent place, complete with a multiple tabled tasting room (and a big open kitchen behind the bar!) and a beautiful cellar, barrels racked with grace and precision.

And the wine...goodness...it's doubtful that we've tasted better. After one sip, it was obvious to see how much love and passion went into preparing each barrel; between the Merlot and old vine Zinfandel, it was really, really hard to leave! That and how well Ralph, Scott and Jim took care of us...seriously, some of the kindest and warmest people we have ever met.

This an excerpt of the full segment and includes owner Ralph Bruno talking about the history of Boston Winery's civil war era building, how members decide which choose the wood to use for barrel aging and why it makes sense to hug (yes, hug) your wine...!

You can find the full segment (along with our coverage of the Wine Riot) in French Oak # 4 at batv.org/streaming-video/ondemand/french-oak-4. Enjoy!