Photo courtesy of Wine Fringe
Jill Smedley, left, and Jake Blodinger, center, talk with Dustin Miner, winemaker at Nokesville Winery in Prince William County, for an episode of their podcast, Wine Fringe, which launched in 2025.
A new podcast offers a behind-the-scenes look into the Virginia wine industry, with advice to help consumers make good choices and observations to help producers make — and sell — good wine.
Wine Fringe, whose founders characterize it as an offbeat wine podcast, explores the craft of winemaking, the production methods involved, and the realities of marketing and selling the resulting wine with humor, reflection, and a splash of irreverence.
Launched in 2025, the podcast brings together opinionated insights from two different viewpoints within the wine industry. The duo previously worked together at Chrysalis Vineyards in Middleburg, with Jake Blodinger as the winemaker and Jill Smedley as the marketing manager.
In addition to their podcast, the pair now run Wine Fringe Consulting, and they were instrumental in creating and launching the Norton Network to promote Virginia’s native grape.
Photo courtesy of Wine Fringe
Blodinger and Smedley are shown with winemaker Shai Van Gelder of Petite Domain in Loudoun County, who was featured on the podcast, which currently has more than 20 episodes.
Together Blodinger and Smedley present conversations that offer, as their tagline puts it, “No fluff. No snobbery. Just real talk about wine on the fringe with a touch of sarcasm, wit, and the occasional rant.”
Shedding Light on the Process Behind the Bottles
Blodinger was training to be a sommelier when he realized working tables wasn’t for him. So he pivoted and earned a degree in viticulture and enology from Surry Community College in North Carolina, eventually finding his way to Virginia in 2019.
With a marketing degree from the University of Mary Washington, Smedley got her start in the wine business at Barrel Oak Winery in Delaplane, where she worked her way up to marketing manager before moving to Chrysalis Vineyards.
The Wine Fringe team interviewed Jason Murray, winemaker at Arterra Wines in Fauquier County, who discussed his winemaking philosophy on the podcast. Photo courtesy of Wine Fringe.
The Wine Fringe team interviewed Jason Murray, winemaker at Arterra Wines in Fauquier County, who discussed his winemaking philosophy on the podcast.
It was while they both worked at Chrysalis that the idea for a podcast developed from their conversations in the vineyard and the cellar about winemaking.
As Smedley explained in the first episode, “the name of the podcast is Wine Fringe because there are all these fringe topics in the industry we don't talk about.”
Blodinger agreed: “The more we talked, and the more I talked with other people, we started to realize that there are a lot of misconceptions and inconsistencies.”
Helping Consumers Make Educated Purchasing Decisions
Photo courtesy of Wine Fringe
Smedley and Blodinger recently discussed the podcast and recorded several episodes when they attended the Midwest Wine and Grape Summit in Missouri.
With that perspective in mind, the two have applied their industry insider knowledge to a variety of topics, delivered in chatty back-and-forth conversations punctuated by wry observations.
With more than 20 episodes completed, the show is currently in its second season. It offers a peek behind the curtain of winemaking by featuring interviews with producers along with experts in other facets of the wine industry.
Wine Styles: They’ve discussed topics aimed at helping consumers understand winemaking so they can make informed purchasing decisions, such as the difference between the familiar European grape varieties (such as Cabernet Franc and Chardonnay) and hybrid grape varieties (such as Vidal Blanc and Chambourcin) that are gaining popularity.
Production Methods: They’ve done deep dives into the difference between natural and conventional winemaking as well as the difficulties of organic farming in Virginia’s challenging climate.
They’ve offered frank assessments about everything from the rise of the anti-alcohol movement to whether celebrities actually make good wine. They’ve provided viewpoints ranging from how Virginia can differentiate itself in the current wine marketplace to what potential buyers need to know before purchasing a winery.
Smedley and Blodinger also recently spoke about their work with the Norton Network at the Midwest Wine and Grape Summit in Augusta, Missouri, where they gave a presentation on how to build statewide wine connections. They followed up by interviewing several local wine producers for podcast episodes.
The goal is to empower consumers with knowledge and confidence, whether they’re buying wine at a store or talking with staff at a winery — a vision they outlined on the podcast.
“We're hoping that listeners will hear some of the things that you and I think about the industry, and also the truths that we know that people don't know,” said Blodinger, explaining how that can “teach consumers how to make good purchasing decisions on wine, not be afraid to chase the wines they like, and also learn.”
Smedley elaborated on that point: “Kind of empowering consumers, too, to have fun and engage in conversations with tasting room staff.”
The Wine Fringe podcast can be found on all major podcast platforms as well as Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube.
Jane Fullerton Lemons is a Virginia-based writer and recovering Washington journalist focused on wine and travel. A 2026 fellow at the Wine Writers Symposium in Napa Valley, she shares stories of the people and places behind the bottles, while also helping American consumers understand agriculture and how it impacts their lives. You can follow her work here.
