Back when I had a side hustle as a winery tour driver, customers sometimes asked me to choose our next place to visit on the fly. If we were near Crozet, I invariably headed to White Hall Vineyards, which is out of the way and offers a feeling of discovery. You approach on a gravel […]
We usually present a dessert in The Last Bite, the department title of the last page of Knife & Fork magazine. But in our winter 2019/20 issue, we switched it up with an exclusive sweet/savory/hearty twist on classic baked acorn squash. Chef Della Bennett of Plenty, the fine home-cooking delivery service, recommends the creation as […]
On July 1, 2018, Virginia House Bill 286 went into effect, officially allowing dogs to enter winery tasting rooms. The occasion was met with no discernible reaction from one constituency: the dogs that live at wineries. • Those lucky animals need not engage in any “get your laws off my fur” protest. As vineyard owners […]
On one of the last days of classes before the holiday break, the bell rings at Walker Upper Elementary School, and kids stream for the exits. But Becky Calvert is just getting settled into her “classroom,” a sprawling institutional kitchen with a lot of buffed stainless steel surfaces. “I try to do some of the […]
On November 29, the day after Thanksgiving, we posted a story about Gladys the emu and the Cathcarts of Albemarle County. That holiday had been incomplete for the family, because Gladys—one of three emus who live on the Cathcart farm near Carter’s Bridge—was still missing after bolting from her pen with her sister Mabel ten […]
This is a story about sewing machines and a woman who repairs and gives them to Charlottesville’s refugees. That might sound like a paltry gift. But to a refugee who sold her clothes in her home country to help pay for her family’s journey to escape violence, institutionalized misogyny, and possibly death, a sewing machine […]
By Paul Ting living@c-ville.com It’s hard not to love sparkling wine, and consumer trends reflect that: Its sales shot up 51 percent from 2008 to 2017, according to industry statistics. Reflecting the trend locally, Virginia Sparkling Company, an affiliate of Afton’s Veritas Vineyard & Winery, announced in late October that it would invest $590,000 in […]
The poor dog hobbles in with her front paw dangling off the ground, swaddled in a sock drenched in blood. It was all the owner could do to contain the mess before jumping in the car. I’m not completely sure what I’ll find under there, but I’m relieved when it turns out to be a […]
Robin Felder sees connections. For instance, when he installed the 250-gallon solid copper still at his and his wife Mary’s hilltop home near North Garden, he knew that the high-tech machine would need a considerable water source to cool and condense the evaporated alcohol into the final, drinkable product. The swimming pool, sunk subtly into […]
Today, the day after Thanksgiving, I am praying for Gladys the emu. A lapsed Catholic, I haven’t been a churchgoer for years. But praying to St. Francis for the safe return of Gladys, for her reunion with her brother Floyd and sister Mabel at their home 10 miles south of Charlottesville, and for the peace […]