by Richard | Dec 16, 2017 | Tastings/Evaluations, Winery Review
Thursday 12/14 I enjoyed dinner in Charlottesville with consulting viticulturist Lucie Morton, and a colleague of hers from Australia, Helen Waite. After enjoying some introductory tastes, I was asked to fetch a bottle from Lucie’s wine cellar. I couldn’t...
by Richard | Nov 19, 2017 | Cider, Tastings/Evaluations, Virginia Wine
It goes without saying that Thanksgiving is the ultimate American, loca-vore feast, so why would you shop for locally farmed produce and turkeys, while buying a wine from overseas or the West Coast? Especially now, and especially in the East (where Thanksgiving...
by Richard | Jul 28, 2015 | Regions & Terroir
Over the course of the last year I visited the Niagara wine region of Ontario and then the Finger Lakes, the Hudson River Valley, then Niagara and Seneca and Cayuga Lakes again last week. It’s time to share my highlights of the “Great Northern Tour” of 2014-15....
by Richard | Jul 20, 2015 | Tastings/Evaluations, Virginia Wine
This month I traveled around Virginia wine country from the Monticello AVA to northern Loudoun to the Shenandoah Valley. Some of that time I traveled with the long-standing Canadian wine writer Edward Finstein (“The Wine Doc”) who was on a magazine assignment. Thanks...
by Richard | Jun 17, 2015 | Regions & Terroir, Tastings/Evaluations
A heritage grape is one that is closely associated with a particular place and has built fame for how that grape expresses there (cabernet sauvignon in the Medoc, merlot in St. Emilion, chardonnay and pinot noir in Burgundy, riesling in Germany and sauvignon blanc in...