How green do you want to be? If you’re a real eco-oenophile, then you need to check out biodynamic wine. Part plain ol’ organic-ness and part hippie-dippy magic, biodynamic farming is mocked by some for following moon phases and for its use of creative fertilization. Mockery aside, the crazy thing is that some of the […]
Virginia’s burgeoning wine industry is going to be immortalized on film, yes, but no one’s exactly sure when. Footage, lots of it, has been shot for a new feature-length documentary by Charlottesville-based Silverthorn Films, called, for lack of an official title, Virginia Wine. Although there’s no release date yet, Bill Reifenberger and his partners have […]
One of the favorite questions for Virginia wine aficionados to ponder is this: What is Virginia’s red grape? Having a single varietal that you can bottle and sell is vital in today’s wine market, and it sure helps if that grape is big, red, and easy for consumers to remember. See, for example, California Cabernet […]
Carly Gullickson, who at 22 is a 12-year veteran of the game, returns a ball during a marathon match against Lindsay Lee-Waters in the semifinals of the Boyd Tinsley Women’s $50,000 Pro Tennis Championships at Boar’s Head last weekend. Lee-Waters ultimately took the trophy, defeating Ekaterina Bychkova in the finals. Out on the clay courts […]
On a grey day in February, when the weather is still cold, I think I see the future of Virginia Wine. Cigarette hanging from his mouth, he’s cooking me lunch, flipping steaks on the grill with his bare hands. Andy Reagan, the 32-year-old winemaker at Jefferson Vineyards, will later pour me his 2007 and 2008 […]
In January the Virginia Wine Marketing Office sent a survey to Virginia’s wineries to gauge how well the state’s industry is faring, and how good a job the VWMO is doing at selling it. “We hear a lot of things anecdotally throughout the year,” director Annette Boyd told me over the phone: “Sales are up, […]
As is true almost everywhere, Chardonnay rules. Cabernet Franc and Merlot follow.
Whether you define the term as someone who has spent hundreds of dollars over many months to get a degree, or as just some guy who helps you pick your wine at a restaurant, there are very few sommeliers in Charlottesville. Actually, if you go by the first definition there are none at all. But […]
"Some fans are completely uninhibited, they’ll do whatever the hell they want to have a good time,” Rusty Speidel says over the phone. “They get geared up, they tailgate their brains out, they take the extra time out to travel.” Speidel should know. He’s one of the guys behind Rowdy.com, a NASCAR fan site based […]
I have written before that the best way to start learning about wine is to read the words on the label—types of grape, place names, vintage. These words matter, which accounts for my annoyance when people refer to sparkling wines from Virginia or Spain as “Champagne” though Champagne is a region in France. But is […]