Raise a glass during Virginia Wine Week
By Michael Fletcher | Friday, March 18th, 2011 | Virginia
Virginia Wine Week: Love by the Glass is March 18-27, 2011.
The Virginia Tourism Corporation says, “Virginia Wine Week combines the best of culinary traditions at restaurants across the state with elegant local wines and special tasting menus.”
Spring arrives on Sunday. Why not celebrate with a glass, or bottle or two of your favorite Virginia vintage?
Cross posted at The Write Side of My Brain
Tags:
Contribute for Conservatism!
Share this post
About the author
Michael Fletcher
Michael Fletcher works as a freelance writer and consultant in Richmond, Virginia. He blogs regularly at http://www.thewritesideofmybrain.com, http://www.richmondvabusiness.com and http://365thingsibelieve.wordpress.com
We're 75% there! Thank you to everyone who has so far contributed! Just $2000 to go!
Comments
4 Responses to "Raise a glass during Virginia Wine Week"
[...] posted at Bearing Drift Share and [...]
Thanks for the post, Michael. I have many friends in the Virginia wine industry and I’m in the process of joining them with my move to Loudoun County. Some interesting facts about Virginia wine:
Our wine industry in Virginia is relatively young, but Virginia is now one of the largest US producers of fine wines behind California, New York, Washington, Oregon, and North Carolina. Kentucky and Ohio are also major producers and there is at least one winery in each of the 50 states.
Loudoun County is one of the largest producers in Virginia with 27 wineries and growing, just behind leading Albemarle County.
Virginia wines are gaining an international reputation. A Loudoun County 2009 viognier (Sunset Hills) won the double gold medal at the Finger Lakes, NY, competition this past year. It beat viogniers from all over the US and 13 foreign countries, including France.
While chardonnay is the most abundant Virginia wine, viognier is catching up with it and becoming the signature Virginia wine. Many wineries are now producing an “unoaked” chardonnay to compete.
The only way to buy good Virginia wines is to visit the winery. The Virginia General Assembly, in all its wisdom and burdened with $250,000 in campaign contributions each session from the ABC beverage distributors industry, outlawed self-distribution by our wineries several years ago. The wineries only release their lesser vintages and varieties to distributors and hold back their best ones for their tasting room sales.
Visit a Virginia winery and do a tasting. If you like wine and haven’t tried Virginia wines, then you are in for a pleasant surprise. And, tell your representatives in the General Assembly to repeal the self-distribution ban. It is strangling the industry.
Absolutley agree with you on that HisRoc! Just another example of how Virginia Government being so entrenched in the booze business hurts the tax payer, the industry, and the consumer.
What a great idea! Take a wine tasting trip around Virginia. I’ll have to get a driver though. I’m a lightweight.
Leave your response