INTERVIEWER
Schmidt, Rich
DURATION
1 hour 24 minutes 31 seconds
DATE
January 15, 2026
INTERVIEW SUMMARY
Phaedra is also a DJ, and treated us to a set during the interview. Here is the tracklist:
- Rameses III – For Jose Maria
- Ben Bondy – 미안해 with Sunny
- Purelink – Looked Me Right In The Eye
- Susumu Yokota – Tears of a Poet
- Woob – Amoeba
- 吉村弘 – To-Ki-Me-Ki (Heart Beats)
- Priori – Segue
- Steve Jansen & Richard Barbieri – Light Years
- Priori – Like It Shouldn’t
- blu – Dubmarine
- Mister Water Wet, Memotone, Ben Bondy, AV Moves, Concave – Hourglass
- Saint Abdullah and Jason Nazary – Lost In Your Neck
- Woob – Pondlife
- 吉村弘 – Hi-Mi-Tsu (Secret) (Prieto Mix)
- Ben Bondy feat. Opheliaxz – XO Salt Llif3
This interview is with Phaedra Brucato of Optimum Volume Wines.
Phaedra talks about her background growing up in Seattle and Southern Oregon and moving around a lot. She discusses studying at Tufts University, earning her BA and BFA, living abroad in China, and originally wanting to pursue art. Phaedra also shares how living in Boston and working in fine dining led her to develop an interest in wine and wine training.
Phaedra discusses her path deeper into the wine industry, including moving back to the West Coast, working a harvest in 2015, and how hands-on experience helped her understand wine more fully. She talks about moving to Portland in 2016, working in sales and restaurants, relocating to Kansas to work in distribution centers in 2020, and eventually moving back to Seattle in 2022 where she became a wine director at a restaurant before coming back to Portland where she currently lives.
Later in the interview, Phaedra talks about her work with Optimum Volume Wines, her side career as a DJ, and even shares a fun fact about playing ambient music during the grapes fermentation. She also shares her interest in collaborating with other creatives and getting more involved in art moving forward.
This interview was conducted by Rich Schmidt at a maker space in Portland on January 15, 2026.
Interview photos
COMMENTS
Some oral history interviews are conducted on site and may contain background noise from nature, winery, or tasting room operations.