USA

After lunch we drove to the nearest winery, CrossKeys Vineyards (http://www.crosskeysvineyards.com/) in Harrisonburg, and had a delightful tasting. The winery is very impressive with a large stone courtyard and beautiful cream stucco buildings. It is surrounded by vineyards – all with vertical shoot positioning (VSP) and 8 by 4 feet spacing. They have 29 acres, and produce 5500 cases of estate wine. It was a rather crowded tasting room for a Monday afternoon, and while there we couldn’t help but overhear how many people came in asking for their sweet wines. It appears that Virginia wine drinkers have a sweet [...]

It’s hard to believe that Virginia is now 5th in the nation in terms of wine production, but it is true according to several Virginia wineries I have visited this past week. What’s more – Virginia has over 140 different wineries and 7 AVA’s (American Viticulture Areas). The most prolific AVA in terms of total number of wineries and highest production rate is the Monticello AVA – where Thomas Jefferson’s famous house and estate are located. At the same time, there are also many wineries about one hour’s drive outside of Washington DC in what is called “Mid-Northern Virginia, but [...]

Since I am fortunate enough to live in Sonoma County, I have had the opportunity to visit hundreds of wineries in Sonoma and Napa over the past 8 years. However, it wasn’t until yesterday that I visited the very charming and friendly Suisun Valley. Situated only 20 minutes south of Napa and only a short 1 hour drive from San Francisco, it is the perfect one-day get-away. It seems amazing that after exiting I-80 onto Suisun Valley Road that within 5 minutes you are transported back in time to a gentle sleepy valley of vineyards, quaint wineries, friendly restaurants and [...]