News

Chesapeake Bay Wine Trail is the toast of Virginia

Sherry Amatenstein - NY Daily Progress Oct 10, 2009

The Northern Neck, the northern-most of Virginia's three peninsulas on the western shore of Chesapeake Bay, was the birthplace of George Washington. But to some, this lush and laid-back region 2 1/2 hours from Washington, D.C., has an equally important claim to fame: It boasts a winemaking history dating back 400 years and is currently home to some of the county's hottest wine producers. What better time to visit the Chesapeake Bay Wine Trail than October - the 21st Virginia Wine Month, with many events planned? Award-winning, artisanal products are showcased by nine Northern Neck boutique wineries, each with a background nearly as tantalizing as the wine...

Eat, drink and celebrate Virginia’s Wine Month

Jack Berninger - Richmond Times Dispatch Sep 29, 2009

Virginia wines continue to impress. Honors and accolades cite the quality of the wine -- 67 state wines won medals in the International Eastern Wine Competition, which featured entries from 16 countries and 34 U.S. states this year. Many of the state's 148 wineries offer their wares, including award winners, at wine festivals or in tasting rooms. When wine month in Virginia starts tomorrow, festivals, tasting rooms and special wine events will take place just about everywhere from the Eastern Shore to the Blue Ridge Mountains and all points in between...

A Mixed Case

Jim Raper - Virginia Business Magazine Sep 27, 2009

Even connoisseurs may not know what to expect from a Virginia wine with a proprietary name such as Hardscrabble. After all, wine buyers in the United States, and most of the rest of the world, have shown a clear preference for varietals — wines labeled by grape variety. But as comforted as consumers may be to find a familiar variety such as Chardonnay prominently on the label, many Virginia winemakers are gambling on upscale blends. Since they are not entitled to varietal names and, therefore, require hard-to-decipher labels that can be a drag on sales, why the gamble, especially in these difficult economic times?

4 Wine Country Contenders

Thomas Berger, Beth Collins and Alison Rohrs - Budget Travel Aug 31, 2009

(Budget Travel) -- Perhaps they're not the first place you think of when it comes to wineries, but these four regions offer character and great wine, without the hoopla. Charlottesville, Virginia Virginia's premier wine country, dotted with working farms and over 1,000 acres of grape vines, spreads out around the city of Charlottesville in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains...

Judgement of Paris

Wayne Nelson - Washingtonian.com Aug 31, 2009

On a beautiful Saturday afternoon at the end of May in the town of Paris, Virginia—an hour’s easy drive from DC—a telling event took place. It had been inspired by a 1976 winetasting in Paris, France, that did the unthinkable: It compared some of the top names in French wine with new and little-known wines from California. The results shook the wine world...

End of Summer Road Trips

NBC Today Show - NBC Today Show Aug 24, 2009

Check out this clip from NBC Today Show - tips for visiting VA wineries in central VA (fast forward to 2:30 minutes into the video).

Glass Acts

Dave McIntyre - The Washington Post Aug 18, 2009

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/story/2009/08/18/ST2009081802401.html The "Judgment of Paris" transformed the world of wine, marking California on the map in big, bold letters that could not be ignored. That May 1976 tasting galvanized an upstart American wine industry that had struggled in the decades since Prohibition and helped overcome a consumer perception here and abroad that American wines were inferior to their French counterparts. We invited six area wine professionals -- three retailers, three sommeliers -- to blind-taste a dozen chardonnays and a dozen red Bordeaux-style wines, telling them only that we were pitting the United States vs. France in a sort of oenological grudge match. Then we slipped in five Virginia wines and one from Maryland without telling anyone...

2009 Virginia Wine Lover Magazine Wine Classic

Meredith Hemenway - Aug 02, 2009

The competition, which was sponsored and produced by Virginia Wine Lover Magazine, was open to all Virginia wine makers and saw entries from nearly two dozen of the state’s wineries and vineyards that included more than one hundred varietals and encompassed virtually every grape grown in the commonwealth. The invited panel of judges was comprised of authoritative members of the food and wine community, who are ardent supporters of the state’s burgeoning industry. They evaluated each entrant on its relative merits as it pertained to its specified category by using a double blind tasting process and utilizing a modified version of the Davis 20-Point system. Judging took place in late June at the Riverstone Chop House in Suffolk, Virginia and was privately conducted. Winners have been categorized according to Platinum, Gold, Silver and Bronze levels and include multiple winners for each category—an alphabetical listing of all winners for each medal level.

Virginia 1, California 0

Michael Broadbent - Decanter Magazine Jul 31, 2009

The August 2009 issue of Decanter, the leading U.K. consumer wine magazine, has just been delivered. Columnist Michael Broadbent, author of the great Vintage Wine Book with his tasting notes dating back 50 years, wrote his monthly column with the controversial title “State’s Evidence: Virginia 1, California 0″.

“State’s Evidence: Virginia 1, California 0″ says Decanter’s Broadbent

Richard Leahy - www.richardleahy.com Jul 15, 2009

The August 2009 issue of Decanter, the leading U.K. consumer wine magazine, has just been delivered. Columnist Michael Broadbent, author of the great Vintage Wine Book with his tasting notes dating back 50 years, wrote his monthly column with the controversial title “State’s Evidence: Virginia 1, California 0″

Chesapeake Bay Wine Trail is the toast of Virginia

Eat, drink and celebrate Virginia’s Wine Month

A Mixed Case

4 Wine Country Contenders

Judgement of Paris

End of Summer Road Trips

Glass Acts

2009 Virginia Wine Lover Magazine Wine Classic

Virginia 1, California 0

“State’s Evidence: Virginia 1, California 0″ says Decanter’s Broadbent

Virginia Makes Wines Yes, and London Likes Them

VA Wineries win 12 Decanter World Wine Awards 2009

Sauvignon Blancs American Makeover

Virginia vino gets the documentary treatment

Virginia'a Surprising Wine Country

Bon Appétit Magazine Features Foggy Ridge Cider & Kluge Estate

Virginia Wine Country - 280 miles round-trip from D.C

A Grape Virginia Vintners Can Love

Keswick prize-winner carries hints of violet, blueberry, even cedar

Comparing Notes: Wine-Tasting Party

VINES & WINES: Homegrown and proud of it

Regional Wine at Obama Inauguration