Talking agriculture with Virginia’s wine lobbyist
“I’m advocating for small business people and farmers,” says Matt Conrad when I call to find out more about the man who twists state politicians’ arms on behalf of Virginia vino.
Keswick takes home the Governor’s Cup in state Wine Expo
Winemaker Stephan Barnard’s Cabernet Sauvignon was a surprise winner. But the winner of the Lifetime Achievement Award, Felicia Warburg Rogan, was certainly not.
The fact about sulphites
Every wine purchased in this country has a small warning on the label that the wine in question contains sulfites:
Once a ballerina, Pamela Margaux now imports fine wines
When Pamela Margaux moved here from California in 2003, she didn’t know what she wanted to do, only that it had to be different from what she’d been doing.
A new book explores bubbly's beginnings
Champagne is the most brand conscious of wines, unapologetically purchased for its price and status: Moet, Cristal, Krug, names mentioned by rappers and Wall Street traders alike, although perhaps less so by the latter these days. Chief among those in terms of brand recognition is the highway-safety-orange label of Veuve Clicquot Ponsardin. Ubiquitous in wine [...]
Re-examining the AVAs of Virginia
Have you ever noticed the word “Monticello” printed on the label of your favorite Virginia wine? “Christ,” you probably thought, “is there anything around here that man hasn’t gotten his clutches on?” Well, no, but the use of “Monticello” on the label does not mean that the wine is made at TJ’s house. Monticello is [...]
Precision dance in the age of Obama
It starts like this: One set of feet goes Stomp. Stomp Stomp, stomp, clap. Stomp, stomp, clap, clap, stomp. Pause. And then many feet-many hands 10 times faster, stomp stompstomp stomp clap, clapclapclap, clapstompclapstomp. The Best of Both Worlds Dance and Step Competition MLK Performing Arts Center Saturday, January 24 The Best of Both Worlds [...]
Taking a master class in how wine is put together
The art of making wine is in many ways the art of blending. For most of history, the world’s classic wines have been created by blending different grapes to create a unified whole, named not for those grapes, but for the places they were from: Champagne, Chianti, Chateauneuf-du-Pape, Bordeaux. Even in Burgundy, famously obsessed with [...]
No kangaroos in Austria
When you are in the wine trade, most people assume you just get paid to drink, and they are essentially right. Sometimes, however, you are not only paid to drink, but to eat as well, and to do it in a far off land. In that case, those people are not only right, but also [...]
Petting a bald cat
Holidays, overindulgence, New Year’s resolutions—some of you may have woken up January 1 and immediately pledged to stop drinking so much or to stop drinking at all.
Same wine twice
The simple reason some of us spend many liver-destroying hours obsessing over wine is that it’s endlessly multifaceted.
For me? You should have!
Got family and friends that are wine lovers? Searching for the perfect gift?
Less is more
It recently occurred to me while tasting wine at a local vineyard that Virginia wineries have a very different business philosophy than their European cousins.
Cork is dead, long live cork
Six years after Randall Grahm, the owner of Bonny Doon winery, held an elaborate mock
Workingman's pour
This is a mea culpa of sorts, or perhaps a reconsideration. It’s a question I’ve asked before:
Like a virgin?
READ MORE: Kiddie porn mushrooms online Task force also charged with tackling perverse images—tens of thousands at a time I log in as VA_Girl, a 13-year-old looking to meet people online. I’m a chat room virgin, and there are tons to choose from, with generic names like “Teen Spot” and “TeenChatNow.” I pick one at [...]
Kiddie porn mushrooms online
Internet Crimes Against Children task forces work on both child enticement cases and child pornography cases, and the latter are becoming increasingly important. Albemarle Detective Chuck Marshall tells me when we begin to talk about ICAC that “at any given time there could be 40, 50, 60 people just in Charlottesville based on their IP [...]
Red wine, please, easy on the scorched earth
Just the other day, at the local retail establishment where I work between Pulitzers
You wouldn't hit a guy with glasses, would ya?
One of the biggest indicators that you may be dealing with a dangerous wine freak
Fairy good year
After a 95-year ban, absinthe, one of the last great taboos, is legal and, better yet, available in Charlottesville at Zinc.
Virginia's so-called Champagne
Americans just don’t understand sparkling wine. First there’s the annoying habit of always calling it “Champagne,” and second the unforgivable sin of only drinking it on special occasions. Sparkling wine should be drunk anytime or all the time. It’s perfect with food, it’s beautiful in the glass, and it automatically raises your status by, like, [...]
The hard sell
Twenty years after Governor Gerald Baliles declared October to be Virginia Wine Month, the industry seems to be drowning in marketing.
