Paul Ting, Author at C-VILLE Weekly

Coursing out the discourse at wine week’s Feast of Reason

This year’s Monticello Wine Week (June 22 to 28) includes a new event that deserves further conversation. On June 27, Eastwood Farm and Winery will host the Feast of Reason dinner at the Virginia Wine Collective, with chef Leah Branch in the kitchen and food historian Deb Freeman at the table. Branch, a Virginia native […]

Paul Ting | June 17, 2026

Culture Working Pour

Winemaker Corry Craighill blends experience into a Gov Cup win

On a March evening at Richmond’s Main Street Station, the 2026 Virginia Governor’s Cup was presented to Valley Road Vineyards for its 2023 Cabernet Franc Reserve. The award, now in its 44th year, is the state’s highest winemaking honor. It was the young Afton winery’s first Cup, and its winemaker Corry Craighill is only the […]

Paul Ting | April 29, 2026

Culture Working Pour

Barboursville Vineyards’ Octagon named one of world’s top wines

Virginia wine has earned increasing recognition in recent years, but its reputation has not always traveled as far or as well as its best bottles deserve. Within the state, great wines have inspired loyalty, pride, and serious respect. Elsewhere, they are still too often received as a curiosity or a pleasant surprise. That is part […]

Paul Ting | March 11, 2026

Culture

Spirit Lab Distilling puts Virginia wilderness in your glass

“I ’ll be honest,” says distiller Ivar Aass without a hint of irony. “Forage Amaro is my least favorite thing to make.” It’s not that he dislikes the result. Quite the opposite is true. But as a one-man operation, the process of foraging is both time-consuming and labor-intensive: walking fields and forests, pulling his car […]

Paul Ting | November 19, 2025

Culture Food & Drink

A new collective brings fresh ideas to Virginia wine

In both scale and spirit, Virginia wine is growing, fueled by new talent, broader perspectives, and ambition. The result is a more confident, creative region that’s gaining national recognition. Like other thriving wine communities, we are seeing the emergence of small, independent winemakers, and side projects from established names. The Virginia Wine Collective, a new […]

Paul Ting | July 16, 2025

Culture Food & Drink

Women gather to set a new vision for Virginia’s wine industry

The journey to establish Virginia Women in Wine began five years ago with a series of informal get-togethers spearheaded by food and travel writer Nancy Bauer. The gatherings of women who shared a passion for Virginia’s wine industry but found themselves unfamiliar with, or disconnected from, one another grew, and Bauer remembers the moment when […]

Paul Ting | September 11, 2024

Culture Food & Drink

Growing excitement

Most of us check the weather forecast to decide how to dress, or evaluate the impact it has on our travel or events. For farmers who grow grapes and winemakers whose craft is innately tied to the whims and blessings of Mother Nature, the weather report is even more crucial. Vintage variation, the impact of […]

Paul Ting | December 13, 2023

Knife & Fork Magazines

Not your garden varietals

As temperatures rise and the days get longer, wine lovers look for different options in their glass. Whether chosen to accompany a day by the water, an afternoon on the deck, or an evening gathered around the grill, most of us move away from big-bodied, high-tannin, and high-alcohol red wines and instead reach for lighter, […]

Paul Ting | June 8, 2023

Culture Food & Drink

Better and better

As a founding father wine geek, Thomas Jefferson is typically the first person who springs to mind when discussing the history of our wine region. But it was Emma Randel who literally put Virginia wine on the map in 1982. Largely due to the efforts of Randel, who recognized the importance of the area as […]

Paul Ting | September 28, 2022

2022 Best of C-VILLE Staff Picks

Bottle by bottle

It’s no secret Charlottesville is home to a wonderful food and wine scene—situated in the middle of Virginia wine country, benefiting from strong ties to farm-to-table culture, and featuring outstanding chef-driven restaurants and diverse cuisine. In this environment, it should not be a surprise that many local wine shops also flourish. All the favorites presented […]

Paul Ting | August 24, 2022