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 […]

How to understand Sparkling Wine – the continuing  saga. By Andrew Hodson of Veritas Vineyard and Winery We saw last week that when you actually taste something, say for example a Veritas Mousseux the smell and taste combine to create what we call-”flavor.” The problem is there is no way that we can measure what […]

With Andrew Hodson, Veritas Vineyard and Winery I want to continue my saga in praise of traditional method sparkling wine to encourage you all to enjoy with me the delights of our latest release of 2015 Scintilla.  The very essence of Scintilla as a sparkling wine and what distinguishes it from all the competition is […]

by Andrew Hodson Veritas Winery What’s a Pet Nat got to do with Sparkling Wine? I talked last week of how the British were formative in what was to become  the product we now know as “Champagne” but before Champagne became Champagne there existed a way of making wine fizzy by letting yeast referment in […]

“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 of France can be called “Champagne” the rest […]

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; […]

By Andrew Hodson, Veritas Vineyard and Winery. Believe it or not there is also a grape called Gros Manseng, the “petit” and “gros”refer to the actual size of the grapes themselves, petit is small and gros is big. So Petit Manseng is a grape with small berries originally from the south west region of France […]

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 […]