This is the spring that we dared to hope for. What a difference a year makes! Last spring, we experienced the shutdown from COVID-19 and then the shutdown from frost. Not just one frost but two brutal events, two weeks apart that very nearly shut us down. This year is the reverse and we can […]

Efflorescence, or simply flowering, of the vines is one of the most sensitive and crucial periods in the life of a vine. If you remember in my last post I talked about crucial times in the life of a vine. At that time it was all about bud break when the dormant bud on the […]

Winter 2021 Happy Benevolent Snow It was this time last year when we started to hear about this novel coronavirus and it was this time last year that we were forced to shut down.Our world as we knew it was turned upside down. The humdrum routines of daily life evaporated. It’s hard to imagine how […]

Andrew Hodson’s Newsletter This season of mellow fruitfulness seems like and is like no other, as you may well say is true of everything about 2020.  Autumn is always my most favorite season of the year. The time when autumn leaves start to fall almost as declarative of a change in season as spring is […]

Summer 2020 Retrospective It’s the autumn equinox time to think back on the summer of 2020. Remember at the beginning of 2020 we came out with quips like I hope the year 2020 will bring us 2020 vision, a clear insight into what lies ahead. Well we all know that what we have seen thus […]

By Andrew Hodson, Veritas Winery in Charlottesville, VA “You must be kidding – we all know that sparkling wine originated in and around the Champagne region of France -that’s why it is called Champagne because that’s where the grapes are grown and the wine is made.” Only sparkling wine that comes from that specific region […]

How can Monticello as a small wine growing region in Virginia create a high quality wine that reflects  a sense of the quality of wine characteristic of Monticello or what some people call “Regional Typicity” All of us have a memory that is so clear and vivid that we can remember exactly what we were […]

“I have a very soft spot indeed for its more charming and more aromatic relative, Cabernet Franc.  -Jancis Robinson Editor of the Oxford Companion of Wine – referring to Cabernet Sauvignon Did you know there is a wine from California called “Marilyn Merlot”? Well how about a Virginia Cabernet Franc called “Franc Sonata” it’s catchy; […]

This spring newsletter may seem late but I’m sorry  it is still spring until the first day of summer June 21st, so rather like my winter newsletter this is a retrospective look at the spring of 2020. It is hard to imagine that so much has happened to so many people at a local, state […]

A 2020  Winter Retrospective Ah the balmy days of winter! That was the winter that was not. I hate to say it but I was tempted to put up the 2017 Winter Newsletter to see if anyone noticed the difference between now and then. Our winters are disappearing just like the Monarch butterflies, the glaciers […]