Given that Lexington Valley Vineyard is located on a private road they’ve named Norton Way, we fully expected to find some norton offerings.  Given Grape Envy Guy’s affection for this grape this seemed like a good place to end our Shenandoah Valley wine tasting trip.  We were warmly greeted by the two winery dogs, and [...]

Lately we’ve been buying a lot of Norton, and that means we’re drinking some of it as well.  The ’08 Wisteria Farm & Vineyard was opened at chez snark recently.  As a mid-week norton, it was fine – as a stellar example of what you can do with this grape, it was a disappointment.  To [...]

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 [...]