by Richard Leahy | Apr 7, 2019 | Tastings/Evaluations, Virginia Wine, Winery Visits
On April 6th, Afton Mountain Vineyards owners Tony and Elizabeth Smith celebrated ten years operating the winery under their ownership with an open house that featured a talk by Gabrielle Rausse, one of the Virginia industry’s founders, this writer (author...
by Richard Leahy | Dec 27, 2018 | Regions & Terroir, Tastings/Evaluations, Virginia Wine, Winery Visits
So first, let me take back the complete and total write-off I made of the 2018 vintage in Virginia recently. Nobody will dispute that as far back as we can remember, this vintage was the pits, for the inches of rain and crop loss either due to poor fruit set in May or...
by Richard Leahy | Nov 3, 2018 | Regions & Terroir, Tastings/Evaluations, Winery Visits
Regular readers may remember I did a marathon tasting tour of the Finger Lakes of New York last June. Since the region has about 200 wineries, I couldn’t get to each one. In mid-October, I returned and visited places I had missed on the previous trip, and I’m pleased...
by Richard Leahy | Oct 28, 2018 | Tastings/Evaluations, Virginia Wine, Winery Visits
To me, it doesn’t feel like Virginia Wine Month without closing it out at Barboursville Vineyards, where today they hosted their semi-annual Vertical Tasting. For $40, you get to taste four flights of a single wine going back several years, or decades. It’s highly...
by Richard Leahy | Aug 27, 2018 | Regions & Terroir, Tastings/Evaluations, Winery Visits
I spent a few days in southwest Michigan this week in the town of St. Joseph/Benton Harbor. St. Joseph is at the edge of a deepwater port on Lake Michigan, at the southern end of what is described as the “Midwestern Riviera”. The town, with its rectangle...
by Richard Leahy | Jul 16, 2018 | Regions & Terroir, Tastings/Evaluations, Winery Review, Winery Visits
Hammondsport, the town in Steuben County on the southern edge of Keuka Lake, has a long-standing wine history. Gold Seal Vineyards (while it was still in business) proudly held the status “U.S. bonded winery #1” and posted this on the side of one of its buildings,...
