Introducing Bloggers to Virginia Wine

I am passionate about Virginia wine. I firmly believe that Virginia has the potential to make world-class wines, and in some cases, I think we already are. To that end, I relish the opportunity to highlight some of the best Virginia wineries/wines to friends and visitors from out of town.

Inevitably, even the doubters come away impressed.

Last weekend I had the opportunity to escort a couple of friends -- who also happen to be two of my favorite wine bloggers -- around Vinirginia Vineyards. Lindsay Morris was in town to present her thesis at the German Wine Society, an event hosted by Christian Schiller. They asked if I would be interested in visiting a few wineries, and I jumped at the chance.

Lindsay has written up her account of the great afternoon and I don't have much to add about the wines, but I wanted to add some insight into why I chose the wineries I did.



We started off at Fabbioli Cellars because I was pretty sure I could bribe Doug to join us for lunch with a pulled pork sandwich. More importantly, Doug is a great person to talk about the Virginia wine industry and he is a great winemaker, when you get into the cellar he can do some amazing things with wine. I've referred to him as the MacGyver of winemakers, because of his amazing ability to blend wines together to make something completely unexpected.

The next stop was 8 Chains North, and I wanted to stop there for two reasons: They are pouring wines made from German grapes (that are not Riesling) and getting the thoughts of two experts on German wines intrigued me. I also wanted to stop at 8 Chain because Ben is a great viticulturist. He can talk Terroir, soil composites, which way the breeze blows in the vineyard, water tables and even about the differences between the vines along the same row in a vineyard (and he has talked about these things). If you want to know about the essence of a grape in Loudoun, Ben is your man (sadly, Ben was also out of town for the weekend).

Finally, we stopped at Breaux Vineyards. Jennifer Breaux can charm the pants off anyone which makes her a great ambassador for Virginia wines, but she also knows the business side of Virginia Wine as well as anyone. Breaux is selling wine all over the world, they are one of the few Virginia wineries that is represented overseas. Breaux also has an intensely loyal following, they consistently rank amongst the top wineries in Virginia and have the largest social media following. I wanted to bring Lindsay and Christian to a winery that is as packed as any winery in Napa or Sonoma to show the potential of the wine business in Virginia.

Of course, the Virginia wine industry being the size it is, I could have switched up and any of the people we met could have talked about any aspects of wine I wanted to focus on, but I know where their passions lie and I wanted that passion to come through.

I also want to extend an open invitation. If you are a wine blogger who is coming to Virginia and would like a guide, send me an e-mail, if time permits I am happy to escort. BBQ is on me!

Note: Don't laugh, Virginia produces excellent BBQ and it pairs very well with a slightly chilled Chambourcin.