16 Jun 2026 10:00
From Escaping Post-War Vietnam to Creating Red Boat Fish Sauce to Becoming a Napa Valley Vintner | Cuong Pham
Cuong Pham has one of the most remarkable stories we've ever heard on the podcast. He escaped Vietnam in 1979 and lived in a refugee camp in Malaysia before making it to the U.S. Here he became an engineer at Apple in its early days where he built a long, successful career.
In the early 2000s, with a longing for the flavors of his mother's cooking, he began the work of creating Red Boat Fish Sauce company, which has become a global phenomenon.
Cuong's most recent adventure began when he and his wife, Ann, purchased a hillside property on Soda Canyon Road in Napa Valley. With his new vineyard established, Cuong has launched a winery called Doi Da, which is Vietnamese for "Rocky Hill." We learned about the wines both from him and his highly regarded winemaker Nova Cadamatre.
We also learned a host of surprising similarities between making fish sauce and producing wine, involving terroir, harvest, fermentation, aging, and more.
We were riveted by this one.
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