The Best & Worst of Virginia Wine

Our tasting at Rockbridge Vineyard didn’t get off to a great start.  The woman working the tasting room was disorganized and didn’t seem to know what to do when people walked into the tasting room while she was pouring for someone else.  I don’t blame her for not wanting to have to keep track of [...]

We’re not big chardonnay people.  We have a few we really enjoy, but we really need to stop buying bottles of chard because most just languish on our shelves until we give in and open them.  This was what happened with the ’08 Gray Ghost Vineyards chardonnay.  It had sat on our shelf long enough, [...]

Summer rains? Thunder and lightning? Hail the size of puppies? “The dead rising from the grave, human sacrifice, dogs and cats living together, mass hysteria?”* Nope, not that kind of storm. After spending the weekend drinking a LOT of mediocre to bad wine along the Shenandoah Valley Wine Trail, we were excited about a return [...]

My initial exposure to Cross Keys Vineyards came via facebook and twitter where they congratulate the couples who get married at the winery.  This made me a bit nervous as I’m not a big fan of wineries that are more about the events than the wine.  I understand that weddings and other events are a [...]

My mom was visiting recently.  She’s not a big drinker, and throughout my childhood, she mixed cheap white or pink wine with gingerale on most of the occasions when she drank a glass.  When she visits, she’s usually game for a wine tasting or two and may even have a glass of wine with us [...]

When we visited Breaux Vineyards this winter, we were just starting to get over our merlot aversion.  I think we’d had too many really horrible cheap versions and just couldn’t get past the name of the grape.  We’re over it now, but when we tasted the Equation, a non-vintage merlot with just a touch of [...]

Not too terribly far from Luray is the town of Stanley, VA, and in the town of Stanley is Wisteria Farm and Vineyard. The tasting room is in an old Victorian-style house that’s part of a small farm. Even on a hot July day, we were cool in the deep shade cast by the large [...]

Old House Vineyards is our closest winery and, as such, is a place where we often meet up with friends.  Recently we joined some friends there for a wine tasting and a picnic.  Given the summer we’ve been having in VA, you’ve got to take advantage of bearable temperatures whenever they occur to spend a [...]

VA Wine Diva came up with that title. She’s pretty AND smart. Yay me! Anyhow, we were up in the Shenandoah AVA and decided to try Crooked Run Cellars in Mount Jackson, VA. We rolled up to a big old barn as they were getting ready to open. At first it looked like just a [...]

Recently I wrote a post titled “bubbles make it all better,” and this is typically how I feel about sparkling wines.  We recently opened a bottle that was not working for us (and may have even put Grape Envy Guy in a worse mood).  The Horton Vineyards sparkling viognier (nv) just wasn’t doing it for [...]