“Now over everything the autumn light is thrown And every line is sharp and every leaf is clear…” – Poem in Autumn, by May Sorton It really does seem like the light is different in autumn. I’m not sure why. There seems to be a clarity often enhanced by the morning chill. The sun lights […]

Maybe There is a Shot at Glory This week I am featuring Cabernet Franc almost as a sequel to my last blog on Merlot. Cabernet Franc and Merlot are both regarded by some as maligned grapes. You may have gathered I’m not a big fan of Merlot; the opposite is true of Cabernet Franc. Until […]

Veraison – What was that again? If you Google the French term “véraison” the English equivalent is “veraison.” Under the French entry it says, “Maturation des fruit, spécialement du raisin qui prend sa couleur.” That roughly means ripening of fruits, especially of the grape which takes its color. When I come across a term like […]

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 […]

The Continuing Saga of Understanding Sparkling Wine Part 5 Witnessing wine – The Body of the wine The properties we consider when we taste wine come under the following categories, Sweetness  Acid Tannins Alcohol BODY Flavor intensity Flavor identity Finish Getting back to witnessing wine, one of the most difficult qualities to describe is what […]

I thought I would give “ witnessing wine” a break for a week because I recently had the delight to try our latest 2019 release of Viognier as well as experiencing a recent Viognier with Jennie Mcloud of Chrysalis vineyard. I was stoked to witness two superb wines that really are unique to Virginia.The thing […]

With Andrew Hodson, Veritas Vineyard and Winery Witnessing taste components in wine – Alcohol. Just to do a brief recap – to witness the properties of a wine and here although I am featuring sparkling wine in the blog these principles apply to all wines from Asti Spumante to Zinfandel. Each time we taste we […]

By Andrew Hodson, Veritas Vineyard and Winery Brief recap, to witness the properties of a wine we go through the same framework each time. We have covered the appearances of wine and how to adequately smell the wine and in our last few segments we have been talking about describing the tasting of wine in […]

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 and Veritas Vineyard and Winery Tasting:  Acid/Sugar Balance I’ve spent time in the series describing how best to analyse wine as part of our understanding and evaluation of any wine be it sparkling or still.  We have to, as a first step, witness the properties of the wine we are tasting and […]