So, one night in January, 2010, Dominique and i were having dinner with Fred Smith and Paula Cereghino of Cereghino-Smith Winery. I'd met them the year before, and I liked their wines very much. Fred traveled for work (though honestly, I had absolutely no idea what he did to support himself), so we really only saw each other at trade shows and wine festivals. We agreed to have dinner one night in January.
We were all chatting, and the meal and the wines were a tremendous success. When the conversation momentarily lagged, I think I asked Fred what he did when he wasn't making wine. "I'm a musician." And he kind of left it like that. I only knew him as a winemaker. He and wife Paula were running a boutique, micro-winery in the Hudson Valley. Real garagista style wines. Spectacular. They had a dedicated following. And they sold their wines out each year. His day job did not hold any fascination for me at the time. I assumed maybe he was a studio musician. A session guy. He was a fairly serious dude when it came to wine. But we always had a lot of laughs. As I said, to me, he was a winemaker.
"Have any plans for a vacation?' or a question to that effect. And Fred responded, "I don't travel unless someone pays me." He and Paula chuckled. I was confused. "That's pretty cool. What's a place you recently traveled to?"
"Buenos Aires," responded Fred.
"Really? Was that a recording gig?" I asked innocently.
"Concert," he said.
"For one night?
"A week."
This was getting confusing.
Then Dominique added, "well, if you're ever bored, you can come up to our place and play one day,."
Fred laughed. "I don't think so."
She was about to elaborate, when I kicked her under the table. the both of us were missing something. And we left it alone.
Later that night in bed, I pulled out my laptop and looked Fred up. Fred had played bass with Blondie and then left Blondie to play with Television. He had played in two of the most influential bands of the era. I texted him the next day, calling him every name in the book, laughing, asking why he didn't just say something? He shrugged.
"What am I going to say? I'm a big deal? I can't do that."
Fred was modest like that. But that was also his sense of humor. His bandmate and guitarist Jimmy Rip wrote, “Fred was not only my bandmate for 46 years – he was my true friend. His sense of humor, much like his musical voice, was dry, subtle, to the point, hilarious and always left you wanting more.” And that was very true.
Years later, I asked him what prompted him to leave Blondie to Television. “Blondie was like a sinking ship and Television was my favorite band," he told the press. He shrugged. "I just thought they were doing some really interesting stuff," is what he told me. And that's how great artists think.
Speaking of his bandmate’s skills, Rip wrote: “If you are a lover of melodic bass lines and counterpoint, you could go to school on what Fred created so effortlessly. He was a natural – never flashy, always essential – always serving the song in ways that only the greatest musicians can.”
Fred and Paula made wines with that same kind of passion. They made small batch wines. Some were made with grapes from New York State, and others from California or Washington. Some or a blend of east and west coast. They were always very open about where their grapes came from. One always got the sense that Fred was making wine for himself. Really, really good wines. And he was letting you in on his very expensive habit.
Apparently Paula had given him a winemaking kit when the two lived back in Brooklyn, and Fred got really into it. When they moved to the Hudson Valley, Fred went all in. I first heard about them in maybe 2007, but we really didn't meet until 2009 and became fast friends. We ate dinner when it was possible after wine festivals. Sometimes it was just dinner out somewhere. I remember Steven Kolpan, the late director of the wine program at the Culinary Center of America was on the local WAMC Public Broadcast was talking about Hudson Valley wines on air, in 2010, and brought two wines- Hudson-Chatham and a Cereghino-Smith. H praised both!
Like all things, life whirls you in with certain individuals, and then whirls you out. Between selling Hudson-Chatham Winery in 202,0 and kids, and other opportunities and commitments, I hadn't seen much of Paula and Fred recently. Much to my own shame. You always think you have more time. It's the biggest lie. You don't.
Fred Passed away on February 5, 2026. Tributes from Rolling Stone, Variety, MSN, The Sun, and other outlets all over the world praised this quiet but funny artist.
Much like his melodic base playing, Fred’s wines showed power, consistency, intense fruit, and good grip. They were never show-y. They always showed balance and complexity and flavor. They were never flawed. Always clean and aromatic.
Dominique and I were always happy to open a bottle of Cereghino Smith, whether it was Eaten By Bears, The Super Hudson, others, or our favorite, the Cereghino-Smith Petite Sirah.
I still have one bottle left of Cereghino-Smith Petite Sirah in my cellar. Will definitely drink it listening to Television when I do.
Here are the articles I wrote about Fred and Paula over the years....