Sweet Cheeks Winery - Jessica Thomas

Sweet Cheeks Winery - Jessica Thomas

Author: DKPS Media December 3, 2020 Duration: 40:16
Dan Smith planted the vines of Sweet Cheeks Vineyards throughout the 1980s and 1990s, selling grapes to other wineries before opening the tasting room Thanksgiving weekend of 2005. The name comes from the curious swell in our hillside. Winemaker, Leo Gabica, originally from the Philippines, moved to Oregon in 1994. Leo answered an Ad for Silvan Ridge night crew on the bottling line and fell in love with the industry. Dan offered Leo a job as our cellar master, and was our first employee hired. Leo took over as lead winemaker in 2013.
Jessica, Dan's Granddaughter, became General Manager in 2016 at the age of 26 after a one year "sabbatical" of traveling and working in Napa/Sonoma. Dan's wife, Beth, took over as President after Dan's sudden passing in 2018.
Beth's daughter, Katie, is our Marketing Director. Together, Beth, Leo, Katie and Jessica
run Sweet Cheeks Winery. The winery expanded and opened a second tasting room,
Sweet Cheeks on 5th, in downtown Eugene at the Fifth Street Public Market. We focus
primarily on our DTC channel, but we do distribute in Oregon and parts of Washington,
Lousiana and Florida.

Crossing the Atlantic from its original home, Wine Soundtrack-USA brings a deeply personal format to American listeners. This podcast, produced by DKPS Media, sits at a unique intersection where the arts of storytelling and winemaking converge. Instead of tasting notes or vintage charts, each episode is built around a candid conversation where a wine producer answers thirty questions. That framework reveals the person behind the label-their history, their philosophy, and the daily realities of running a vineyard. You’ll hear the unscripted hopes and challenges that define a vintage long before the bottle is ever opened. It’s about the landscape, the family decisions, and the quiet moments in the cellar that most never get to witness. Originally launched in Italy in 2017, this series has built a reputation for intimacy, and its U.S. launch extends that same thoughtful inquiry to American soil. For anyone curious about what it truly means to craft wine, this podcast offers a direct line to the source. The conversations are less an interview and more an invitation to listen in on a story that’s been years in the making, one that gives context and character to every glass. It’s for those who believe the best part of wine is the human connection it represents.
Author: Language: English Episodes: 247

Wine Soundtrack - USA
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