Some “serious” wine drinkers malign sweet wines. It’s understandable, because most are mass-produced simply by adding sugar to a red or white base that doesn’t have much character to begin with. True connoisseurs stop short of condemning the whole category, knowing that some are made with great care and skill (and without added sugar), and […]
Some “serious” wine drinkers malign sweet wines. It’s understandable, because most are mass-produced simply by adding sugar to a red or white base that doesn’t have much character to begin with. True connoisseurs stop short of condemning the whole category, knowing that some are made with great care and skill (and without added sugar), and […]
And just like that, pasta is now a fast-food “thing” in Charlottesville. Following the late-October opening of Luce, a sliver of space on the Downtown Mall, a new instant-gratification, fresh-pasta shop has opened on the Corner in the spot that formerly housed Revolutionary Soup. Pronto is the brainchild of Daniel Kaufman, who also owns Public […]
Groundhog Day sounds like a joke, and it usually is. What kind of holiday is named after a rodent named after a pig? There’s little that’s noble about the groundhog, a nervous, sneaky animal that chews up the wiring in people’s cars and decimates gardens when our backs are turned. To mark a major turn […]
Centuries of domestic breeding have resulted in cats and dogs that come in a wide variety of shapes, sizes, and colors. If you have a favorite breed, there’s a good chance that you like it to some degree because of the way it looks. But what do our pets see when they look back at […]
On Friday, January 17, Albemarle CiderWorks and Mudhouse Coffee Roasters scored top honors in the 2020 Good Food Awards in San Francisco. Among more than 2,000 entrants, the cidery and coffee producer were regional (South) winners in their respective categories—ACW for its Harrison cider, and Mudhouse for its Geisha Moras Negras roast. Bestowed annually by […]
Afton Mountain Vineyards announced a second label this week: Monticello Wine Company. Founded as a winemaking cooperative in Charlottesville in 1873, the historic brand became the largest winery in the South before it shut down with the onset of Prohibition in Virginia, in 1916. Michael Macfarlan, the winemaker at Glass House Winery, and his brother, […]
On one of those fall days that starts out cool and warms up in the afternoon, hinting at the change of seasons, a group of 15 to 20 young skateboarders gathers in the upper corner of the Charlottesville Skate Park. Ranging in age from about 10 to 19, the kids are dressed in everything from […]
Ready to take a breather after the holiday bustle? Sorry—no rest for the weary. Besides, you’ll feel better if you get up and go, go, go with so many good things on tap. That’s alotta gelato Forget resolutions, there’s endless gelato to be had. Continuing a tradition started in 2007, Splendora’s Gelato offers all you […]
Like all agricultural endeavors, growing grapes is subject to the vicissitudes of weather. In Virginia, after a difficult 2018 harvest (because of rain, rain, and more rain), 2019 was good—some would say great—thanks to timely precipitation and stretches of warm, sunny weather. “This vintage is a beautiful gift to the faithful farmer,” says Luca Paschina, […]
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 […]