Nothing makes a wine columnist feel the freakishly swift passage of days more than the realization that it’s Thanksgiving wine recommendation time yet again. Every year, I consider taking a different approach—or even skipping it entirely, hoping that no one will notice the omission of what’s become an annual expectation. (Especially tempting after our beer […]
Nothing makes a wine columnist feel the freakishly swift passage of days more than the realization that it’s Thanksgiving wine recommendation time yet again. Every year, I consider taking a different approach—or even skipping it entirely, hoping that no one will notice the omission of what’s become an annual expectation. (Especially tempting after our beer […]
Afton Mountain Our tasting room is open year-round. Here you can taste our wines with our friendly and knowledgeable tasting room staff, enjoy a glass or bottle of our wine on our patio with beautiful panoramic views, or relax at a picnic table in the grass or at the Pavilion surrounded by the beauty of […]
Beer and Thanksgiving. The words conjure fond memories: an uncle asleep in the La-Z-Boy with a pile of cans on the end table; the Lions game on TV; a semi-interested crowd of family gathered around the set, making small talk. Tradition is great, but the days of discarded cans of Coors and sleepy football fans […]
Nowadays, restaurant menus are more likely to tell you where the chicken was raised than how it’s prepared. Four years running, the National Restaurant Association has voted locally sourced foods the top trend. But here in Virginia, where our soil takes a long winter’s nap, what’s a locavore chef to do when the growing season […]
Under construction Nothing says “holiday season” like decorating a gingerbread house. Just as it did last year, Sweethaus is offering a gingerbread workshop at its new West Main location. Drop in on Saturday, November 17 at 10am or Saturday, November 24 at 10am, noon, 2pm and 4pm, and for $25, get a pre-assembled house, a […]
It is tempting to imagine that the resurgence of Virginia hard cider had its genesis in a single moment: Monticello’s Director of Gardens and Grounds Peter Hatch and Virginia gentleman Tom Burford kneeling together with their grafting knives to re-propagate the Virginia Hewe’s Crab apple tree in Thomas Jefferson’s north orchard.
I’ve eaten tacos from propane-fired griddles outside my apartment near downtown Los Angeles, and from the street grills off Garibaldi Square while mingling with mariachis between sets in Mexico City. I’ve partaken of the ubiquitous taco stands of Texas and the cozy Mexican diners on the north side of Chicago. It doesn’t make me an […]
Fresh apple cider is the quintessential autumn drink in Central Virginia, and has a long and relevant history here that predates even Mr. Jefferson. When European colonists arrived in the 1600s, they invested in survival by planting apple orchards. Because apples don’t bear true to seed (due in part to their survivalist tactic of mixing […]
Cider may be indelibly written into American history, but no matter how many pints John Adams drank with breakfast, it’s a beverage that confuses us. Cider, to everyone but Americans, implies the presence of alcohol; here, unless we preface it with “hard,” we picture the hot, spiced variety that warms us up after a romp […]
Merlot is making a comeback. Or so the prediction has gone for the past three years. According to retailers though, sales haven’t even begun to rebound, yet we keep reading that they have. So, has this grape that went from golden child to outcast in the span of 20 years really risen from the depths […]