This Saturday, September 22, the 3rd annual Top of the Hops Festival descends upon the Ntelos Wireless Pavilion, and beer lovers like yours truly rejoice! Dozens of fantastic craft beers from all over the world will be available for tasting, and forecasts show temps in the mid-70s and clear skies. All signs point to a fantastic sunny and beer-soaked […]
This Saturday, September 22, the 3rd annual Top of the Hops Festival descends upon the Ntelos Wireless Pavilion, and beer lovers like yours truly rejoice! Dozens of fantastic craft beers from all over the world will be available for tasting, and forecasts show temps in the mid-70s and clear skies. All signs point to a fantastic sunny and beer-soaked […]
Mangia l’etoile L’etoile might be Virginia cuisine with a French influence, but on Tuesday, September 25, gourmet fineries from Foods of All Nations and wine from The Country Vintner will help it go Italian at its 6pm Italian Wine Dinner. For $80 per person (plus tax and gratuity) expect six family-style courses and eight wines […]
Afton Mountain Afton Mountain After Hours Saturday, September 22: Dallas Wesley and Band (6-9pm) (540) 456-8667 www.aftonmountainvineyards.com Barboursville Vineyard Italian Harvest Feast Saturday, September 22 at 1pm: Enjoy a traditional five course feast paired with Barboursville wines, prepared by Guest Chefs Cesare Lanfranconi, formerly of Washington’s Café Milano, Tosca, and Spezie, and Shannon Overmiller of The Majestic […]
Last year’s bitch of a vintage, sullied by that four-letter ‘r’ word, left hardworking Virginia winemakers bruised, battered, and bitter. They deserved a break. From all predictions, 2012 was shaping up to be a dependable and promising vintage. Even after an early bud break, most vines escaped the spring frosts unscathed and then were treated […]
There will always be restaurants that change hands so often that it’s hard to keep track. While the little cheese wedge of a restaurant next to the Vinegar Hill Theater has stood as its current incarnation—Camino—for nearly three years now, it was Il Cane Pazzo for three years before that, and L’Avventura for eight years […]
Party like it’s harvest time Monticello, the home of our own “first foodie,” serves as the pastoral background for the sixth annual Heritage Harvest Festival on Friday, September 14 and Saturday, September 15. You and your family will learn—with all your senses—about the gifts of our local soils and the hardworking people who grow them. […]
Afton Mountain Afton Mountain After Hours Saturday, September 22: Dallas Wesley and Band (6-9pm) (540) 456-8667 www.aftonmountainvineyards.com Barboursville Vineyard Italian Harvest Feast Saturday, September 22 at 1pm: Enjoy a traditional five course feast paired with Barboursville wines, prepared by Guest Chefs Cesare Lanfranconi, formerly of Washington’s Café Milano, Tosca, and Spezie, and Shannon Overmiller of […]
Behind every good man is a good woman—and behind every good red wine is a good white one. From the precipitous slopes of Côte-Rôtie to the stone-stacked soils of Châteauneuf-du-Pape (and many of the 150 miles in between), southeastern France’s Rhône Valley produces red wines deserving of adulation. Though standing in their long-cast shadows are […]
Ah, Fall: crunching leaves, jeans and hoodies, the melody of Auld Lang Syne playing after a touchdown, and the warming smell of spices in the season’s savory food and drinks. Contrast that with the sweltering, soggy, drawn-out dog days of summer and you’ve got two pretty different headspaces. This was the source of my shock […]
Fresh figs, worshipped by cultures worldwide since 4000BC, are proof that there’s a higher being. Looks deceive, until rough skin the color of a bruise gives way to a shiny geode-like interior. Figs’ texture is anything but structural though—they quiver when you cut them and their delicate seeds crunch ever so slightly between your teeth. […]