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I think I'm going to go with the bison steak.

That's local. Right?

Everything is. You know it.

They're going to introduce you to the cow, that made the cream

that's on the dessert.

Jim-cow, cow-Jim.

Pleased to meet you. - Jim-cow, nice to meet you.

Good to have you with us this evening.

Welcome to Field & Main. Glad to have you. - Thank you!

As you're looking through the menu,

are there any questions I might answer for you?

I'm just.

Everything is local. Correct?

It is. Something to accompany it. I have a glass of wine, perhaps.

Oh, yes.

Yes, I think I would love to have, like, a bold Napa Cab.

Something like that.

And I'll do a Italian. Elegant.

Surprise me.

Surprise you. Fantastic.

I might surprise you, if I might, with a little something more oriented to here

We're talking about local cuisine.

How about local wine?

We have options that really will complement the courses beautifully.

Virginia wine? Absolutely.

You're making it sound exciting.

I don't see Virginia as being a wine region.

So is it new?

Not really.

Virginia is special, one of the oldest states in the country.

It has had wine as a part of it since its inception,

although that obviously evolved over time as we understood what it took to grow

European style wines in the New World.

Virginia has a long history in wine.

There is no place in America that has been wrestling

with the promise of wine longer than Virginia.

When the English settlers of the Virginia Company

arrived at Jamestown in 1607, they believed they had found a miracle.

Grape vines were everywhere,

Captain John Smith, who made the long Atlantic crossing of the colony's

first settlers, wrote of what he found in Virginia with a sense of wonder.

Wild grape vines grew everywhere,

climbing trees stretching across the land.

Could Virginia be a wine colony?

The English crown, eager to reduce its dependance on France

and Spain, was excited to try.

In a world where water could not be trusted.

Alcohol was sustenance as much as pleasure.

An Englishman of the early 16th

century, drank nearly 40 gallons a year.

Smith reported that colonists had already

made nearly 20 gallons from wild grapes

wine, he said, compared favorably to that of France or Italy.

But the native grapes of America, musky

and wild, would not yield the wine they dreamed of.

To the English palate, the wines were Foxy and unwholesome.

In 1619, as the first representative assembly met in Jamestown.

Speaker John Pori declared: “Three things would bring the colony to perfection...”

The English plow, cattle and vineyards.

The first House of Burgesses, the first legislative body in Virginia

passed, an act called act 12 and the year 1619,

which basically, stated that all male householders, landowners,

would be required to plant at least ten grapevines for the purpose of

establishing a winemaking industry here in the colonies.

That act that came because of it, really started

what we now know as the wine industry, not just in Virginia,

but in the United States.

A gentleman by the name of John Johnson, who was an ancient planter.

Went above and beyond the ten grapevines and actually ended up planting

almost 85 acres of, of grapes here on this property.

So you can really say that the wine industry in the United States

truly happened at the Williamsburg Winery.

The English in particular wanted a wine industry to start

So that they wouldn’t have to buy wine from their enemies

France and Spain.

First it was all, European grapes that were being brought over here.

French vignerons were brought in to help.

Some of them said the English treated them more like slaves than employees.

And none got a wine business going.

They tried and tried and they a lot of the, European

varietals did not, fare so well in our climate.

In 1658, the colony made one final determined offer

A reward of 10,000 pounds of tobacco to anyone who could produce

two large casks of wine grown from a vineyard in Virginia.

No one ever claimed it.

All these European grapes come over, and that was fine...

except for the climate in the mid-Atlantic

was not good for those grapes.

It was too cold mostly, so they would die of the winter

We had fungal diseases that would then

maybe wouldn’t kill the vines but they made them unproductive

Gradually attention shifted elsewhere.

Tobacco, more dependable and profitable,

replaced wine as Virginia's agricultural future.

In 1770, the General Assembly turned to France, commissioning a Frenchman

named Andrew Estave to become Virginia's official winemaker and viticulturist.

He received 100 acres at Jockey's Neck, just beyond Williamsburg.

A house and three enslaved people.

He promised to make good wine,

in four years from the seating and planting of the vineyard.

Like others before him, he failed.

Estave thought his stocks of European grapes were too delicate for Virginia's climate.

Later, another Virginian would revive the vision.

Good wine is a necessity of life.

Thomas Jefferson is often remembered as a statesman and philosopher,

but he was also America's first great wine connoisseur.

Jefferson thought that to produce wine

in Virginia in America was very important,

Thomas Jefferson was a lover of wine, and he thought, gosh,

in this wonderful climate we have, we should be able to grow grapes.

Few men believed more deeply that Virginia could become a serious wine

growing place.

Alongside fellow visionaries George Washington,

George Mason, and more than two dozen other influential leaders.

Jefferson helped form the Virginia Wine Company.

Their goal: Was to establish vineyards that could finally produce wine

as a viable cash crop for the colony.

In 1773, an Italian physician

and agricultural visionary named Filippo Mazzei arrived in Virginia

Filippo Mazzei is the guy who came from, Italy.

To start one of the first Virginia wine companies in the area,

with the support of several prominent colonists.

Washington, Jefferson and, Adams put together some money to buy a place for him.

Walking the hills of Albemarle County while visiting Thomas Jefferson.

He was struck by their resemblance to Burgundy, he said.

In my opinion, when the country is populated in proportion

to its extent, the best wine in the world will be made here.

So Jefferson gave him the land which now is called Colle

So Mazzei started to experiment with, grapes.

The vines were close to fruition, but the Revolutionary War broke out.

Mazzei went home to help secure funding for the war effort,

when he left to raise funds for the American Revolution, his vineyard

was destroyed.

As far as we know,

that was the end of Mazzei’s effort and ever growing vines in this area.

But Jefferson, throughout his entire

life, was trying to grow European varietals, vinifera,

and then later in life, switching over to native varietals up at Monticello.

At Monticello, Jefferson, with his enslaved

individuals, carried on the effort, Warmly Hughes as his head gardener

with his wife Ursula Granger Hughes as farm laborer, among others.

Burwell Colbert as his butler, James Hemings

as his cook, and his brother Peter Hemings as a brewer.

They played indispensable roles in shaping the food,

wine culture and viticulture of the estate.

But the vinifera vines proved too delicate, overwhelmed

by disease, humidity and pests unknown at the time.

Doctor Daniel Norborne Norton

was a young fellow, He had finished medical school.

He was a medical doctor, enough time had passed with Thomas

Jefferson trying to grow grapes unsuccessfully.

That Norton thought, geez, let's try to make a fine table wine.

By doing some hybridizing experiments.

He began working with grapes that bridged two worlds.

Virginia's native Vitis Aestivalis

and the Vitis Vinifera varieties of Europe.

The grape that emerged was the Virginia seedling, or Norton, as it was later named.

It's completely, phylloxera resistant.

So it grows on its own roots.

And it is the most not one of the most,

the most disease resistant bunch grape anywhere in the world,

whether it's for table fruit, raisins or wine.

In 1873,

a group of grape growers created a cooperative, the Monticello Wine

Company, under the leadership of Oscar Ryerson, a German farmer.

The Monticello Wine Company had a fully operational winery

capable of holding 200,000 gallons of wine.

Native and hybrid grapes filled its presses, notably Norton,

Catawba, and Delaware.

Before long, the world took notice.

In 1873, a red wine made from Norton grapes from the Monticello Wine

Company earned international recognition at the Vienna World's Fair.

Started winning awards, serious awards throughout Europe.

Where Norton was acclaimed the best red wine of all nations.

Now somebody may say, well, wasn't that about the time that phylloxera

epidemic was wiping out the French vineyards? Hmm.

Perhaps. Maybe.

But nonetheless, it was recognized as a great grape.

In 1890,

the state produced nearly half a million gallons of wine,

ranking fifth among wine producing regions of its time.

Charlottesville proudly called itself the capital of Virginia's wine belt.

For the first time in its history.

Virginia wine was not an experiment.

It was an industry.

Just as Virginia's winemakers began to find their footing.

A series of national upheavals intervened.

The Civil War tore through the land.

Prohibition arrived in 1916, and with it the destruction of Virginia's vineyards.

People are interested to learn that Virginia prohibition against alcohol

preceded national prohibition by years.

And you had crazies like, yeah, Carrie Nation and the Anti-Saloon

League running around with axes and, you know, burning

the wine-making records were never going to have this abomination again.

Crazy, crazy stuff.

And of course, prohibition fostered so much criminality.

And, you know, people just said, now, to hell with

we're not going to let the government tell us we can't enjoy a drink.

Who they think they are!

And so you had the speakeasies and you had the rum runners

and everybody was drinking, kind of an embarrassing and foolish move

on the part of the temperance minded folks

of the United States at that period of time.

And then came the

Great Depression, draining what little capital remained.

By the time prohibition was repealed in 1933,

the wine industry had all but vanished.

If you think about the Jamestown

settlers, that's probably the starting point of history.

Now, you can argue, was that the starting point of the industry?

You know, if you base it on viability and sustainability?

Probably not.

But the mandates of planting ten vines for every settler,

you know, probably kickstarted maybe that that little pebble going down the hill

and then the Monticello Company comes out and they produce a lot of wine.

And then people go, well, perhaps there is something here.

But for me, it really started in, what, 1975, 76, when the Zonins come out.

Here, and they get Barboursville and they plant vineyards.

In the 70s, Gianni Zonin, which is our founder from the Zonin family,

The family has, several wine estates in Italy,

in the north and center and in the south, like Sicily, Tuscany, Veneto.

His friend Mario told him why don’t you come to Virginia

that are at the moment there are five wineries, the wines that are mediocre.

They are, they are started by amateurs.

They're very at the very beginning, they're growing, exclusively,

American French hybrids, Native American grapes.

Like Concord at the time.

Nobody really has yet been able to produce, a good bottle of wine,

he decides to come and, fells in love with Virginia.

And especially with this historic place.

And he thought, why not?

Being the first to produce a good glass of wine in Virginia

So they buy it and then they start, planting.

And the first person to come and plant is Gabriele Rausse

Well, I came here in April 1976,

I came over with Gianni Zonin,

who wanted to purchase a piece of land in America,

and we went around for three days, and then we chose

Barboursville farm.

The president of the bank,

gave us a $2 bill because it was April 13th,

it was Jefferson’s birthday when we purchased Barboursville Farm.

So here it is.

I still have it in my wallet.

When I planted the first five acres

of grapes in, Barboursville, who came to see me?

It was USDA.

And they said the most stupid thing you can do is to plant European vines

in Virginia, But I kept going.

Virginia Tech came to tell me that I made a mistake.

The Commission Agriculture asked me to go to Richmond, there was a round table

with 20 scientists, and each one of them explained

why I was going to fail.

And after 6.5 hour listening

without saying a word, the Commissioner said, did you understand what they said?

Because your English is not perfect?

And I said, my English is not perfect.

But I have a PhD on plant pathology.

They all talk about disease of the vines.

I know everything about disease of the vines.

So what are you going to do?

Well, I said, I'm in the land of freedom.

I don't bother anybody.

I don't see why I shouldn’t be allowed to continue with my experiment.

So the plant pathologist from Virginia Tech stood up and he said, as long as you

throw away your money or the money the people you are working for

is it’s perfectly alright for us, the moment you get a Virginia farmer

excited about something doesn't make any sense.

We have the moral duty to stop you.

The industry first started.

It was the mom and pops was people

that had the passion for wine

and then growing grapes and willing to do the work,

even though they didn't have, you know, nobody had studied it.

They just were, you know, fanatics of home winemaking.

When I came to Virginia,

there was only one winery, they were growing only the hybrid grapes.

And then eventually, in ‘77, ’78,

three more wineries started, that I remember one was,

Piedmont Winery,

the other one was Meredith, and the other one was Mountain Cove

but they were all growing only hybrid grapes.

There were a lot of, amateurs still, but there were already

some very committed, serious, grape grower, winemakers.

When we started out, it was what we call bucket and funnel,

which means you have a bucket, a juice and a funnel,

and you put it into a big glass carboy and you ferment it and I mean,

we didn't know what we were doing. It was very rustic.

It started in 1970, in Fairfax

County, Great Falls, Virginia, my parents had an experimental vineyard.

It was a time in America, and particularly the East Coast,

when there was a big debate about whether we could grow French vinifera

in America and, particularly the East Coast.

And so my parents planted an experimental vineyard,

a French American hybrid grapes.

So as a child, I spent my years, helping them in the vineyard,

when I was small, of course, I was really just there.

But as the years went on, I was more helpful.

We would pick grapes and we would press

Chambourcin Vidal Blank, Seyval.

At a young age, when I would get bored, I would sort of wander off in that corner

of the wine cellar and I would find bottles, empty

wine bottles, and I would look over my shoulder

and fill them up with water, and then I would cork them.

And there were a few times that winter when neighbors would call and say,

you know, when I open this bottle of wine, it tastes an awful lot like water.

And it took several years for my parents to realize what I was doing.

So I always managed to have fun.

And eventually I did graduate to corking

real wine, of course, but I did start with bottled water.

When we initially started, we had lots of the French

American hybrid grapes, which we were told would do better

because they would, respond better to, our climate.

And they did fine.

But the names weren't known.

The people didn't know them, didn't know what to expect.

So they weren't very successful for us, even though they grew well.

The wine, was hard to sell.

We switched over to Vinifera

you know, the traditional Chardonnays, the Cabernet.

Overall, we really had to still understand how to match the varietals to soil.

Here there

is a mix of rocks which gives a bit more drainage,

that is less water retention and and vines like that better.

So this soil is present in a vast area of the Monticello AVA.

So it is by the late 90s that we really start seeing

some amazing wine so from that point on, basically there was a lot of, observation

on the condition of the weather different varieties,

a lot of experimentation, going in, testing...

Today, 30 years later or so, we're still very focused on, food,

wine, and great hospitality

I mean, we've got French

trained winemakers, Italian trained winemakers, we've got South Africans.

I don't know why, but, you know, we've got UC Davis trained winemakers

and people are coming to Virginia looking to to experiment.

So the history. Yeah.

I mean, I think you got to look to that, but I think you really got to look at us

as maybe a 50 year industry, in the 1970s where, sizable plantings were put in

and wines were made and the sustainability aspect of sustainable business,

you know, that's when it thrived.

And look, we're we're benefiting from, you know, the Felicia

Rogan's and the Dennis Hortons and the David Kings and, and the folks

that that came in there and on a whim, planted a bunch of grapes.

Treville Lawrence,

Elizabeth Furness

Archie Smith Junior,

Emma Randel,

Felicia Warburg Rogan,

Juanita Swedenburg,

Dennis Horton

David King,

Who knew? I know who knew what dinner we get,

you know, Virginia Wines, 101 class.

You’re not complaining.

No, of course I'm not complaining.

Cabernet Franc is a grape that does remarkably

well in Virginia and quite well all throughout Virginia.

There's a number of different regions.

It's not one monolithic state producing one style.

There's different profiles.

So give this a try.

You know how I like my wine? In a glass.

Tremendous.

- She's funny. - She is. Please.

And this is a grape that, derives its more robust profile

thanks to two varietals that, that are blended sometimes here

in Virginia to give structure and power that is both Petit Verdot and Tannat.

It's beautiful.

Wow. Okay.

Yeah, Excellent. I think we're both ready for a full pour.

Here we go.

And if you're venturing further around Virginia, there's really a tremendous

amount of wonderful wineries to visit and spend your time

luxuriating actually, at the site.

The hospitality, there is spectacular.

So we should do that.

Yes. Cheers to both of you.

- I appreciate you. - Enjoy your dinner.

This is so good.

It's like a little secret, you know, like the guy down the hallway

who just happens to be an incredible jazz pianist.

Hey, hey, that's my story, okay?

Smooth and better after dark.

Okay. Slow down.

I can't.

To Virginia, to Virginia,

There are nights when it's April and you're

expecting a frost and the moon is full

and you can feel the high dew point, and it's a starry night.

And you feel the temperature dropping.

And then the wind machine alarms go off at two in the morning

or three in the morning, sometimes 9:30 in the evening

when you're just trying to get some rest for a few hours, knowing that you're

going to have to be up all night protecting the vineyard from spring frost.

People are, really

grinding their teeth and worrying about, am I going to get to make wine this year?

It’s pretty light, yeah? You know, the frost didn't help.

Have a small, small cluster.

That's not going to

give me a lot of Chardonnay this year.

So we've had years

where we had helicopters up in the air, and it gets just so cold.

There's no more warm air and there's nothing you can do.

That was a tough morning.

I like your t-shirt.

Yeah.

Hey dad, you might help me out of here.

All right.

What can I do?

Grab the rod Keep it tight.

Yeah, I know. Oh, yeah.

Nice one.

Pretty one.

Nice, right?

Thank you.

Yeah It’s beautiful.

Old bay, Yeah.

Well Let’s say, Grace, you should dad.

Dear father in heaven.

We thank you for this wonderful meal and all the bounty from the Virginia’s

Eastern Shore.

And let's be mindful of others and

be grateful for everything we have.

Amen. Amen!

Dig in and enjoy. Right.

This looks great.

Wow. Okay, great.

Let's say Cheers.

To the bounty of the Eastern Shore.

Yes. And another.

Got another. Hold on. Good vintage, here we go.

Cheers. To the Eastern Shore.

Cheers.

It's an unnatural act, probably to grow grapes here.

Because it gets cold and frost in the wintertime and and hot and humid

in the summer time.

And way too much rain.

In 2018, we had a, a warm spell in February.

We were actually out here pruning in our t-shirts in February.

And then March, We had a killer frost

that ended up,

really, really tearing the trunks apart and destroying,

you know, all of the above ground grapes that were over here.

The roller coaster and the ups and downs of the

the farming and winemaking is a wonderful representation of life itself.

Because life is not perfect life.

It cannot be planned.

Farming and winemaking is the exact same.

We are absolutely subject to the elements.

It's what Mother Nature wants and that's what we get.

And we still make wine out of it

Life in the vines, brings a lot of hard lessons.

Not everything is going to go your way.

In this vineyard today, we're picking Chambourcin and, I

probably lost half of my fruit to a small herd of deer.

Grief, it's fear. And it's also forgiveness.

So much forgiveness.

To accept that not everything is always going to work out in your favor.

That's grape growing.

You know, in agriculture, you know, the with the good comes the bad.

We spend a lot of time, from bud break to to harvest.

Checking, balancing, making sure the crop is safe.

So when things go sideways, that is heartbreaking.

We've put our heart and our families and growing

these grapes, you know, day by day.

I talked to some of the quote -unquote experts,

and I think they basically thought we were nuts, you know, because, I mean,

the climate is much warmer, no elevation.

There are seeds in it, right?

Yeah. You know that little sour?

The seeds should be green.

The other green they'll solidify and become more brown.

And that's when you start to get some of those, you want them dark brown.

Like these will be picked in about 5 or 6 weeks.

They're still a ways away.

The most important thing I learned was, hey, it's important to have a career,

but it's also important to have dreams

and to just slow down.

Yes, yes.

My mother worked because my father worked in the farm.

So I learned to cook

because I couldn't wait for my mother to get home from the bank.

All right, you guys start.

God is great, God is good.

And we thank him for our food.

By his hands.

We all are fed.

Give us Lord our daily bread.

In Jesus name, Amen.

Bon appetit.

Cheers. Cheers!

What are we drinking Justin?

The 2023 Kilravock.

Oh, good year!

Hot and dry.

What I saw back,

I don't how many years ago, was that to me,

the industry was going in the wrong direction,

the wrong direction, as far as I'm concerned.

And it was going more commercial, more events.

And I wanted people to be more focused on the farming

and the site and making wines of terroir that spoke of terroir.

So I decided the only way to really have that happen, because you how are

how are you going to know is to do a two year

apprentice program, which at the time and now is like two years?

And I said, you, you're going to work here for two years,

and the first year

everything's coming at you new and you're going to

you're not going to put the pieces together,

you're just going to react like, well, what are we doing now?

Why are we doing this?

The second year?

You understand.

You understand why you did it.

Because you tasted the wine from what you did,

you understand that we had especially at that time, we had sites

that shouldn't have been planted to that grape variety.

And then you you managed the canopy and saw that it just wasn't balanced.

And then you tasted the wine and said, that doesn't work.

And then you had other sites

that were balanced and were correct and you taste the wine said, oh, I get it.

So the second year you really saw all that,

and then after that I said, you're out of here.

Because as much as I like you much, I want you help.

Now you have to contribute.

And one of my secret things in deciding on who to hire was

I wanted to hire people

that I felt would stay in the area because I felt that that was the only way

that we were going to elevate in the way I wanted to elevate.

I didn't want to, you know, some people applied from the West Coast.

I said, no, no, I don't want to go back to the West Coast.

We need people that are going to stay here.

I know we're probably about three weeks or so.

I'll grab the door. Right. Absolutely.

Hey Jeff!

Good to see you.

Hey Josh!

What did you bring Josh?

‘09, how about your young one? ’22?

Oh, boy.

Did you tell everyone?

No, I just I just gave some suggestions

we’re all on the same page.

I haven't tasted the ‘22.

Some of us have learned how to think like Jim.

Well, let's let's taste.

I think the vintage shows a nice balance between the two.

Right.

And that's the that's the.

I think that's what experience gives to

Virginia vintners who have gone through a lot of vintages

is that you don't make plans, and then you, you ferment

and extract and pick, according to what, Mother nature gives them.

So and this is a perfect example, not not the easiest vintage,

but, I think it's well played.

And I was one of Jim’s slow learners

it took me 12 years to learn everything.

You and I both together.

Oh. But I remember. And Jeff.

And then you planted your own vineyard which we made wine for many years.

But, Jeff, would get up and God knows Dark 30

and work in his vineyard for a couple hours,

then come here and work for, you know, a full day

and then go home and run back in his vineyard.

With, with farm, any farming, timing is critical.

And if you get behind, that's sort of my famous saying, which isn’t

my saying is that, a good farmer is always a day ahead.

A bad farmer is always a day behind.

So the difference is one day.

Jeff, you started here in ‘93.

When did you play your first vintage?

In ‘95, ’95? Okay, yeah.

Jim walked up on my mountainside and said, I think you can sell wine from up here.

And Joshua, you were an apprentice of Jim’s?

Yeah, I joined Jim in 2006, you know, and

so I, I too was a slow learner and I think, back in 2006, it's

it was hard to ripen Cabernet Sauvignon at that point. So.

Yeah. No, I mean, we would hang on to the very end and.

Yeah, well, we didn't have it planted in the right place to those.

Those were the huge learning curves that we went through.

Yeah. Still feels like coming home.

Yeah. Yeah, yeah.

Not not a lot has changed.

And that's sort of by design except for the wines that keep evolving.

There. So I was going to say there's some change that that this table

in a good way.

Yeah. Sam, started officially in March

of 2024, as did Alex.

And, they're the new apprentices.

Virginia. Oh. La la!

Yeah.

Claude, makes some great sparkling wine.

Wow! That wasn’t supposed to happen.

It’s a party now!

Cheers.

To Virginia wine. Yeah, exactly.

We've come a long way.

Old friends, teachers, students.

Cheers!

Working with Mother Nature's very humbling,

And at the end of the day, Mother

Nature reminds you how really insignificant you are.

So you can do as much as you can in the vineyard,

and all you can do is give yourself a chance.

But you have to be blessed by the weather gods.

And if you are, then we're in a in an area that can produce incredible wines.

And even if the vintage is not,

you know, we've got incredible winemakers that can still make incredible wines.

So we're blessed to be in just, I think, a fantastic part of the world.

Looking at the radar to see

we've got a little pop up storm.

Southwest of us that is threatening

one of my picks,

He's probably on the tractor.

Hey Wes. Did I call you? No I called you.

I was just checking.

I couldn't really see anything on the radar.

Is it still feel like it's developing?

Yeah.

I noticed there is nothing on there either.

It definitely has darkened,

cooled off a little bit.

Okay.

- Some dark clouds, but it's not - great.

Not raining yet.

- Great. Fingers crossed. - Yeah.

Okay. Good luck.

Yeah. Bye.

That's from the storm and all that stuff.

That's not the best grape.

But that's the problem that can happen, you know.

Dude, that's a hell of a storm.

- Look at that freaking thing. - I know.

But here's the thing.

Right?

That's, So we're. That's Wednesday.

Yeah.

If on Wednesday.

It decides not to take that turn.

This is Cat three coming

like it is going to crush us.

So the thing is, is that,

I mean, what were the brix this morning?

It's just 19.5.

I mean, it really just isn't isn't ready.

And, you know, most of the modeling is taking it back out.

And I don't know, I don't think we want to.

I don't think we have a clear enough picture.

But if it comes in and sits on us and does one of those stall outs,

because if it decides to make that turn on us, we can get six 12in of rain.

We can. I mean, at that point, we could be not just losing,

you know, the, Sauvignon blanc and all the whites.

We could be losing our reds.

So maybe it'd be better off to have something in then, you know,

just hedging the bet a little bit

to bring some fruit in to make sure that this thing doesn't stop us out.

The seeds are still so green, George.

Well, what about.

Okay, so we're looking at, like 30 or 40 tons that's at risk.

Okay. What about we just go down the middle and we agree, and we'll we'll pick 20.

We pick half of it. Yeah.

And then we won't push the other half.

Kind of fingers crossed, you know, it'll it'll bare east instead of west.

So that we're not.

So we don't pull in 40 tons that are subpar.

We pull in in 20 and we risk 20.

I mean, that's that's all I'm saying is,

I'm saying we got to bring in something so that we have something that's safe.

You know, if we have to use it for sparkling,

if we have to use it for something else, let's use it for something else.

But we have to be selling something in the next year and a half.

Are you okay if I then just bring all the Chard in specifically for sparkling?

At the end of the day,

I just feel like we've got to get something in,

or else we could be on the other side of this storm going geez!

Yeah, because a big storm, that’s a big storm.

I know my friends, family and even neighbors.

Whenever they see me getting out into my car to come up here

every single day like, oh, you're going to go drink some wine today.

Yeah, that's. I would love for that to be the job.

But unfortunately,

I mean, it's just fraught with, with challenges on the daily basis,

whether that's viticultural or, in distribution and sales,

a big rain right before harvest to, making sure

we're securing the right partnerships and getting those wines in front of people

so that they can start to enjoy and see just how great Virginia is at

making these wines.

Michael, we have some problems.

The spinner on the bottling line has completely stopped working.

I don't have a key to get into the cellar.

The well pump has stopped working as well.

And we have no internet in the tasting room.

And I can't check any of these people in for the tour.

What do you want me to do?

Oh, let's call Archer.

We should call Archer.

Good morrow Angela!

- Welcome back. Archer. - It's good to be back.

So there's a few problems.

One of which is the cellar key.

Oh, yes.

I actually have a spare right here.

Thanks, I knew you would... and the well out back.

Oh, yes. I heard it was malfunctioning.

Well, I have dispatched the craftsman who is going to repair the well.

And he is currently in route.

Until such time, we can direct our guests and our in our staff to the events

kitchen, where the water source actually comes from the county and not the well.

And the bottling line spinner?

Yes. Well, I've actually just been corresponding with our distributor.

They are in need of a few of our Virginia varietals that we actually put in screw caps.

Thus no spinner, no cork required.

Therefore, we are going to simply fill that order and change

the components in the bottling line from cork to cap

- and the internet? - Oh the internet.

Yes, I'm not familiar with the internet.

If that's your carrier bird, then I would suggest

you manually register them as they arrive.

And then once your bird gets here

and its wings are mended, you could simply register them again.

Perfect.

Well, to a day of problem solving.

Huzzah!

There's always been something about agriculture, farming,

and specifically, with grape farming that has,

a much stronger tie to the land.

You grow up on the land

and it becomes part of who you are, becomes part of your soul.

We always joke in the wine magazines

where they show the owners picking grapes.

They're always dressed immaculately in white

with their rings, and we're like, yeah,

they've never picked grapes in their life.

We try to be as mindful as possible about what we're doing in terms of sprays,

and we've started to incorporate teas and other things into our sprays.

With the help of Damien Blanchon from Afton.

Sustainability is the main thing is trying to be more in sync with the environment,

Trying to really think about the vineyard in a not necessarily

a whole different way,

but really trying to make big efforts to push the sustainability forward.

When I arrived, it was a lot of conventional

because making wine in Virginia is very challenging.

It's very hot and humid, lots of disease

development, very high pressure. So,

at the time, like,

you know, they used lots of chemicals because nobody was doing something else.

But that's when I for me, I had a problem with that early on because my family

also are very prone to more sustainability and greener way to grow things.

Didn't get it.

I hope that the that the movement is to be more aware

of what you're spraying so that you can spray

with better intentions.

What kind of world

Am I passing on to my seven week old son?

You know, I want to be able to say that

I at least try to learn about how to farm better.

on camera.

Am I getting a shower in front of the camera?

Maybe.

We are very Virginian into what we do.

So I don't think in wine we can even say like, oh, we know it all.

That would be very pretentious.

I think that we could be sometimes, And I don't think we discovered

or uncovered the full potential of Virginia wine yet.

Winemakers are not magicians.

They're not going to, like, get a magic wand and, like, ting!

And then suddenly everything tastes good.

We have we have to get good fruit, and we have to understand the fruit

that we're growing here.

And that's for me is the major part of the last 20 years

of where we become more and more precise is into what we do in the vineyard,

and that link directly to the quality of the wine that we produce.

From the Appalachian Mountains to the Atlantic coast,

the state is a mosaic of valleys, hills and peninsulas,

each with its own climate, soils and rhythm of seasons.

Across these landscapes, vineyards have taken root,

and with them a growing understanding of how place shapes the vines

Just 50 miles west of Washington, D.C., lies the Middleburg AVA,

bordered by the Potomac River to the north and surrounded

by the Blue Ridge, Catoctin, and Bull Run Mountains.

The surrounding mountains create moderate climate during the growing season.

These stable conditions allow grapes to ripen gradually,

reaching maturity just in time for harvest.

Here, growers work with Bordeaux varieties

Viognier and Chardonnay, crafting both varietal wines and blends.

To the west stretches the vast Shenandoah Valley, bounded

by the Blue Ridge Mountains to the east and the Allegheny Mountains to the west.

The valley sits within a natural rain shadow.

Storms moving inland from the Atlantic lose much of their moisture

before reaching this landscape,

making the valley warmer and significantly drier than the rest of Virginia.

At the heart of Virginia wine lies central Virginia, home of the Monticello AVA.

Here, vineyards climb the rolling hills of the Piedmont

along the eastern slopes of the Blue Ridge Mountains.

The soils are granite based clay capable of retaining moisture during dry

spells, while requiring careful vineyard management to control vine growth.

Gaps in the Blue Ridge Mountains allow cool air to drain away

from the vineyards, reducing frost risk and creating a longer growing season.

The result is a climate slightly warmer than surrounding areas,

with a growing season that could extend nearly 200 days.

This environment supports many of Virginia's most recognized

varieties, including Viognier, Chardonnay, and Cabernet Franc.

Moving east, the land flattens into the peninsulas of the Chesapeake Bay.

The Northern Neck George Washington Birthplace

AVA, lies between the Potomac and Rappahannock rivers.

Never far from the influence of water, The Bay moderates temperatures year round,

cooling the vineyards in summer and softening winter cold.

This maritime influence creates Virginia's highest number of frost free days.

The soils here

are sandy loam, free draining and naturally low in fertility

conditions that produce smaller berries with concentrated flavor.

Across the Chesapeake Bay lies Virginia's Eastern Shore, a narrow

peninsula bordered by the bay on one side and the Atlantic Ocean on the other.

Constant sea breezes cool the vineyards during summer,

while the Gulf Stream moderates winter temperatures

Further south lies the Virginia Peninsula AVA,

stretching between the James and York Rivers near Williamsburg.

This narrow landscape is shaped by estuaries and tidal waterways.

A humid subtropical climate brings long summers and relatively mild winters,

while maritime influences help moderate temperature extremes.

Along Virginia's southern border with North Carolina lies southern Virginia.

A region shaped by its warmer climate. Here, the southerly

latitude provides enough heat for grapes that struggle farther north.

Winemakers here experiment not only with traditional

vinifera grapes, but also with hybrid varieties.

At the far western tip of the state lies heart of Appalachia,

where the terrain becomes rugged and mountainous.

The temperate climate and mineral rich soils allow grapes

to ripen fully, producing deeply flavored fruit.

High in the mountains, another distinct region emerges.

The Virginia mountains.

Here, vineyards grow in alpine like conditions

between the Appalachian Trail to the west and the Blue Ridge Parkway to the east.

Cool temperatures and high elevations shape a dramatically different

growing environment than the rest of the state.

South of the Roanoke Valley lies Rocky Knob Ava.

Cool mountain winds delay

spring bud break and help dry the vines during the growing season.

The loam and gravel soils limit water retention, encouraging vines

to produce smaller berries with concentrated flavor and structure.

I personally never would have thought that vitis vinifera would do as well as

its done in Virginia

If we didn’t grow European wine grapes,

we wouldn’t have an industry here because people

That’s just what people think wine is!

Cabernet Franc, Cabernet Sauvignon,

Chardonnay and Cabernet Franc,

Pinot Noir, Chardonnay, Albarino, Cabernet Franc, Merlot, Syrah.

Roussanne Moscato, Viogner, Sangiovese, Petit Verdot.

Sauvignon Blanc, Pinot Gris, Sauvignon Blanc, Viogner and Chardonnay.

Riesling Merlot, Viognier, Albarino, Pinot Noir.

Pinot Gris Petit Verdot and Tannat, Merlot, Chardonnay

and Cabernet Franc Sauvignon blanc, Merlot, Malbec, Merlot, Cabernet Franc.

Petit Verdot, Cabernet Sauvignon, Grenache.

Albarino, Chenin Blanc, Nebbiolo

We have shown in Virginia that yes we can grow vinifera

and frankly,

the challenges that we have growing vinifera in Virginia,

are just the same as they are in Europe

they have downy mildew, powdery mildew, black rot.

They need to work to control them

as sustainably as the can

but there is nothing...

really different about us and other temperate climates

when it comes to growing vitis vinifera.

Virginia has done great with vinifera, I am really

proud of how the Cabernet Franc that we do here

don’t tell anybody cause I do work in California also, but

I like our Cabernet Franc better than the California Cabernet Franc

I just do! We can do fine with vinifera. Does that mean that’s

the only thing we can do? Absolutely not!

I think we should embrace our success with vinifera

which we’ve had, however, at the same time,

embrace the freedom that we have. We have freedom!

Unlike Europe and their appellation system,

Look at all the wonderful

French and Italian winemakers who’ve helped

make Virginia Wine what it is...

They love the freedom to be able to grow whatever they want here

You have a free card

and you have to try to find what you think works the best.

And, to make it happen.

Where the challenge is.

Well, you may be wrong and is going to take some time.

And I am proud that in Virginia we do have Surya Sapkota

with the USDA to breed grapes

that are good for Virginia

and he can be free to use

we like Norton Norton has its place

but can we make something better?

My peers and I really starting to ask the hard

question of what what can we do to be more sustainable here in Virginia?

And, you know, disease pressure being one of our biggest issues.

That's where we started.

As an industry, we're constantly looking at ways that we can develop

and grow grapes that are resistant to the humidity

and the slightly higher rainfall here in Virginia,

So we partnered with the USDA, and, we're working as a Virginia wine industry.

To, to develop, wine grapes that are just a little more resistant

to our environment.

Okay. This one looks great. What's the parentage here?

This is advanced European vitis vinifera cross

with American species for disease resistance, built for resilience.

This is exactly what our growers are looking for.

The disease resistance.

But no compromise on quality.

This is what we are doing.

We cross thousand of crosses for downy mildew resistance.

Wine quality and flavor. It takes years.

You know, one of the biggest challenges of grapes

that we're not either born here or bred here or, you know, developed for

our region is they are harder to grow, require more inputs.

Be it spray inputs, be it hand work inputs, be it work

with mechanical implements.

All of that adds up to, you know, certainly when you get into chemicals,

you know, that is environmentally, less sustainable when you get into the,

the work, if you have to have

workers around those chemicals less sustainable for the workers.

If you have the risk of maybe 2 to 4 times in a decade

that you could have crop failure if you if you if you mess something up, then

that is a real big, danger to the sustainability

of not just your business, but the industry in general.

Yeah. What folks should know

is that we're basically just speeding up nature's selection.

Exactly.

This type of research is so exciting because it allows our growers

to plant confidently,

knowing that they're investing in the future of Virginia Wine.

Would you like to see more?

Oh of course. Yes.

For a long time,

we had to, prove to the world that we can make wine that taste like wine.

I think we're there now.

There's no question about that.

But, it is currently very, very difficult

to grow organic grape growing with Vitis vinifera.

In Virginia.

It could be easier to do it, with hybrids.

When we started, our belief was you're going

to need to have vinifera Since then we've kind of changed our tune

and now we've been putting in hybrids or experimental hybrids.

Trying to kind of predict

the target of what ripening will be like 10 or 15 years from now.

I've been working with vinifera varieties, but have a steady,

interest towards moving forward with hybrids from the breeding program

because they take what we're doing conceptually and do further

that sustainability mission that incorporates the disease resistance,

incorporates more winter hardiness, does make a more sustainable platform

to be working from.

For me, hybrids are the future.

If I don't plant vinifera ever again, I'd be happy with that.

I think anybody who who plants hybrids

is because they are easier to tend to.

They tend to take less work.

They produce heavily

and they produce beautiful wines.

We, we find that if you are working with hybrids,

that doesn't mean you have to make bad wine with it.

How do you produce a good wine, but also how you are respectful

of what you're doing out in the fields, in the vineyard?

What I love about the hybrids is that you get similar wine quality

as you do with the European grapes,

but because we have the cross of American grape,

they can handle our humidity, our weather, where we're doing more sustainable

farming with them through our vineyard practices.

And I think that's important.

If you're not going to make really great wine.

What are you doing?

Most consumers in Virginia have had some experience with hybrids, which is great

because hybrids have been around here in Virginia for decades.

Hybrids are kind of our saving grace as far as, Virginia elements go,

whether it's the rain, the wind, the cold, all of those things

will annihilate vinifera if you're not careful.

But hybrids. They're resilient.

They're tough.

Their skins are thick.

But how do I translate that to the consumer?

I think sometimes people are afraid to try new things

and things that they haven't heard of.

But you have to get around those biases and, you know, preconceived notions that

if it's not something

that they've heard of on a grocery store shelf, then it's not going to be any good.

I don't really care what they think.

Because in a way, The wine should sell itself.

Let them taste it.

If they like it, great.

If they don't. Great.

If they like it, what do they want to know more about it.

And I'm happy to share.

Being able to communicate

the reason that we've planted a certain varietal, what the varietal is,

we've had a lot less pushback about people wanting to try different things

and then see what grows well, here and what we can make from something

that's just a little bit different than maybe that they've had before.

Since we were, quote unquote, one big experiment.

You don't put all your grapes in one basket.

So we

we decided to plant 15 different varieties so we could see what would do the best.

We would love to grow Chardonnay.

But we were concerned about bunch rot because of the humidity

and the temperatures.

So Lucy said, hey, there's a grape called Chardonel that's coming out a hybrid.

Hi. How are you guys today?

Great.

How can I help you?

I'd like to start with a nice, crisp, Chardonnay please.

All right. I don't have a Chardonnay, cause we don’t grow that.

Can I interest you in a glass Chardonel?

And what's that?

Let's get you a taste.

- Justin, can I have the Chardonel, please? - Yeah.

Alright So this is our Chardonel

so Chardonel is a French-American hybrid.

And it's a cross between Chardonnay and Seyval Blanc.

What we like about Chardonel here.

Is that since it's a cross between a French-American grape.

You get the really nice wine quality you get with the French grapes

but then the ability to grow it here really nicely.

That you get with American grapes. So it's a nice kind of balance of the two.

And have a taste see what you think.

It should be pretty similar.

Oh that's nice! That’s good!

Yeah. It's one of the grapes here. We can do really well.

And so I think it can stand up to what you would have expected with a nice Chardonnay.

- This is awesome! - Awesome, enjoy, guys.

I like this.

So far there hasn't been a wine that we haven't like.

Just for the record.

I have been in the industry for

I mean, I've been at Blenheim since 2012.

And it has never been a very diverse industry.

Our thing is trying to create access and opportunity in and through Virginia wine.

Oenoverse gave me the hubris to open a wine and tea bar.

While I've always had a heart

to open a community spot and a place that people can gather,

I would have never, honestly, in a million years

thought wine would be a part of it.

Truthfully, because I didn't see people like me.

Virginia wine was very inclusive, very open,

very like welcoming to me in a way that I didn't expect wine at all to be.

You can go in the door of most tasting rooms in Virginia

and have, you know, a pretty comfortable experience.

And so we wanted to basically try to open that door for more people.

And, I mean, we have seen, I think, a pretty substantial, difference

in feel like creating more of, like a wine culture and community.

When I realized how cool of a space it could be, and when I say cool,

I don't mean like trendy, I just mean like welcoming, warming, inviting, etc.

I was like, whatever I can do to make sure

that people know that this is really what it is, let's do it.

So shout out to Virginia Wine for always being awesome

and shout out to us for helping people see that.

In 5 words or

less how I would describe Virginia Wine is...

Community.

Unique, Diversity.

Exciting, Human-centered and experimental

adventurous, a true expression of time and place.

And fun.

A beautiful mix of nuance and heritage,

Old world charm and grace meets southern grit.

Let me tell you something.

Virginia Wine is beautiful.

I think this is a unique place that almost anything is attainable.

It's a new frontier.

Virginia wine to me is community, family and so much love.

Virginia wine to me is home, family and pure

excellence darling, cheers!

It's just completely different

than all the other wine regions in the States.

And just the way that it's surrounded by community really allows you

to immerse yourself into the winemaking techniques and styles

and overall just understand as a better wine consumer.

Come and try some Virginia Wine.

Winemaking can be a pretty capital intensive business.

Even if you are able to purchase fruit.

I mean, the tanks that are around us, they're not cheap.

So, I mean, I think being able to share space

and really makes it an accessible opportunity.

Yeah. There's a joke.

How do you make, million dollars in wine?

Start with 2 million. Right.

Like, you have to have the resources to do all of this.

My daughters and I were always really intrigued by kitchen incubators

and that whole concept and how amazing it is to see how people

can take a small business and then use an incubator as a launching pad.

And there's some really great success stories around them.

So we thought if that could work in other industries, it must.

There must be a way to do it in the wine industry.

At a time in the industry where we're pivoting from big estate

winery development into small niche winery development.

It allows those smaller businesses and concepts to get started

without without all that front loaded cost

And so it's a huge it's a huge advantage to changing the industry

for the better and allowing a more diverse

and interesting group of people.

Challenges to entry.

The cost of entry, is a big hurdle.

But, I feel like we've been very lucky to find Commonwealth Crush.

Lance and I make wine together.

We call it the Parallax Project.

And so the way that we got there was a lot through the efforts of Ben

and Tim Jordan, Lee Campbell, when they told us

that they were going to launch an incubator program

at Commonwealth Crush, where they wanted that, that their core premise was,

we don't believe that we've seen the best of Virginia wine yet,

and we don't believe that we'll see it if the same people keep

making Virginia wine.

I can't express enough gratitude to the whole Commonwealth Crush team.

And I guess especially we're part of this

incubator program that's intended to bring, more voices to wine.

Kirsty!

Welcome!

Oh! Oh, my.

Virginia’s

wine industry, is build on something rare in the world of wine.

Collaboration. Here winemakers don’t work in isolation.

They work together.

I don't know if you guys are done with Sauvignon Blanc.

You know, by now we're never done with Sauvignon

This is the Blanc the Sauvignon blanc fermenting Sauvignon blanc.

So we pulled out of the tank this morning and we're making risotto.

Okay, so.

You’re the reason I'm still in the wine industry.

You told me after I realized that I wanted to make wine, you said, okay,

this is Virginia and you're a woman you said you need to get some a degree,

some credentials, some way that people will

respect you and recognize that

you can make wine...

Cin-cin, cheers!

A few years ago, we worked with the Winemakers

Research Exchange and we did an experiment on Merlot.

And what we did was we did three different canopy heights.

Tall, medium, short.

And we wanted to see which gave us the best ripening.

And what we found was that the lower canopy on the Merlot

actually worked the best.

It helps us with flavor development and, gives us the best quality Merlot

that we can have.

So it was a really interesting experiment.

We did it over three years.

So we were able to get a really good,

indication of of how it would do in our vineyard.

The Research Exchange is a nonprofit organization.

It was founded by winemakers, and it's funded by the Virginia Wine Board.

Our purpose is to work with winemakers all over Virginia,

to do practical experiments in their wineries,

to learn which winemaking techniques and which approaches

help us to make the best quality wine that we can from Virginia Fruit.

So we do that with our practical experiments,

and then we also share the results with with all the other winemakers.

And so if somebody figures out of an approach that really works,

part of the research exchange is to help share that information

with other winemakers, so people can decide if they want to start

to employ that winemaking technique for themselves.

Experimentation that I do,

I can share it with my peers, and then they can, make their own opinion about it.

It's such a beautiful way to learn something from a group of people

who are just as passionate about as you are,

and they're being kind and helpful, and everybody's working together.

This year,

I have two experiments, but the one we were speaking about

is to reduce

the use of herbicide or eliminate it altogether.

Maybe we could use, woodchips to as a weed

control option in the vineyard.

Okay, so we are at 96.5in.

We're harvesting the fruit to look to see

if there's any variation of weight

how much like tons per acre would it change?

In terms of, like, if there's more competition with,

with the weeds under the vines, but we can look at does it change the,

the weight of the fruit on this one vine and use that as kind of a proxy

for the, that larger number,

- Zero percent! - Looks zero to me!

Look at that.

- That’s what we want to see - Exactly that is

That looks good.

Start stockpiling those wood chips Corry.

Okay, so we say yeah.

So then yeah this is where we, we have to dig down in to get the soil temperature.

Because that's not real soil.

So we have to get to where the roots would consider it

to be soil.

I think the fundamental principle that that makes the research exchange work

is that idea of of collaboration

with one another, even when that overrides competitive drive.

So, you know, I think people are always competitive.

Passionate people are competitive.

They're making things because they want to make the best when they can.

And that's a good thing.

But here in Virginia, I think we also know that we we're still learning.

We're still figuring out what what needs to happen.

And we're genuinely friends with our neighbors.

I'm continually amazed that winemakers are willing

to do so much work to experiment.

It's always respectful.

It's always constructive.

People really do treat one another with trust and respect,

and I think that's a real hallmark of our industry.

And it's one of the reasons

that Virginia wine has gotten so much better so quickly.

For us, we are a new wine region.

And so the only way we can in some way catch up,

with the rest of the world is by, sharing our experiences.

We are going to try everything.

Virginia wine industry definitely grew

because of the different diversity of people coming from Italy,

France, South Africa, but different origins

that brought this culture and we were so entangled

together that we learn and our knowledge got better fast.

And I think we now have quantity of wine, and our vineyard practices

can be equal to a lot of the best region in the world.

We just have to keep on finding to keep on trying to get better, at it.

And that's not easy every year, but

We're comparing a Jefferson vineyard,

a Pinot Gris with a Ukrainian Pinot Gris.

And they're both really good. Yeah.

That's what

that was part of what really kept me in the industry.

When it was a struggle, I could call anyone

in the Rolodex of winemakers locally and say help!

And I would get it.

Hey Stephen

James! Hey, buddy. Doing all right? It's good to see you brother.

Every time we come to King’s, I'm always reminded of,

of your your mom and dad, God bless your dad.

But how how your mom kind of saved us out of the fire that one day, remember?

The story she told me was she remembers

seeing something on social media saying you all needed help that year.

And, we were working in the vineyard picking,

and she had helped here and we were wrapping up.

But she said, you know, I'm going to go over and help out

because that's what was needed.

So she came over there and helped out and remembers grabbing lugs,

going to work on a row.

And up you came and said, Ellen, what are you doing here?

And she said, you said you needed help.

Yeah. And, when I hear that story,

it feels really good because it reminds me of just the collaboration

and the work we do together as, as peers in the industry to help each other out.

Yeah, I think that's

that's a microcosm of the collaboration across the industry up and down.

That's I think helped get us to this point.

You know, I think that's a prime example of when help is needed.

Help is coming and

and it can come from familiar faces and neighbors and,

you know, people who are still harvesting and doing their own thing

can take the time and come and help and And I, for that will always be grateful.

It's, it's a fond memory and like you say,

it's just indicative of the industry today. So cheers.

And, here’s to a very successful harvest.

And God bless you and your family. Thanks, buddy. Cheers, James.

The collaboration that

we have in this industry is really what helps propel it forward.

And because we have so many different winemaking styles

and so many different grape varieties to talk about it, to share it

with our industry colleagues and our counterparts is very essential.

It's what helps us grow as an industry.

As the rising tide raises all boats

That high tide floats all boats.

We are in this together.

And as is commonly said, the rising tide lifts all boats.

And so our tide is rising.

And it's just a, a beautiful place to enjoy

views such as this taste incredible wines.

It's just a magical place to visit.

Because we're not just building one business.

We're building a wine region.

It's a mishmash of people making it all beautiful.

I think that's what makes it special.

And if you leave Virginia, there's

there's regions where they don't have the camaraderie and where

they're not sharing ideas and they're not growing together.

Virginia is all about that.

And that's what's made it special for me, for when I was really starting

to understand winemaking, I'd grown grapes for a long time before that.

But when I really took the reins as a winemaker, you're scared to death

because of all these factors that you're dealing with.

And as a young winemaker, you need help.

One thing that I discover in here in Virginia, a bit different

from what I come from, I found a deep sense of collaboration already,

which we don't have as much in Italy there’s a bit more competition.

You know, you respect your, competitor, but you don't help them

Here instead in Virginia.

It was a small community, that was very, connected and, helpful with each other.

So if I fit right in, because that's kind of my attitude as well in general.

And so throughout the year, it's been really great

to be able to help other people share,

all the findings from our experimentation, very clearly declare

where we failed and why and not, try to avoid other people to go through that.

I, I met a younger person much younger than me.

His name is John Noer, and I really thought, you know, I,

I like to help this this younger person,

he is making a big commitment into farming,

which is what I think ultimately is the winning point for Virginia

It's great to have someone who's been at it

for decades in Virginia and can answer your questions.

Those are the people we need, and we need them young

because we need another generation, to to really,

take care of of growing Virginia.

Good to see you, John. Likewise.

Thank you so much. You have a good season. Yep.

When we were looking for this site,

we were talking to a lot of different consultants to test our soil.

See what it was for grape growing. I ran into this one person,

Jason Murray, He has a horticulture background,

and he was advising all the farms in the county on how to proceed.

At one point, Jason decided to get into winemaking, and

I believe that's when our collaboration really started.

Ready? You want to go try some wine? Yeah. Let's go. All right.

All right.

Right. Have a seat.

I have something really special for you to try. Cool.

I'd like to get your feedback on it.

Tannat, Petit Verdot, Fer Servadou.

And Cabernet Sauvignon.

So you're familiar with our Ruby.

Yeah. But everything it needs is there balance.

It's it's super awesome.

So I think great job. Cheers. Cheers, buddy.

Thank you.

Having somebody to talk to to run things by

has been very beneficial.

And this way we can really think about ideas without judgment.

This is a much more complex and complete wine.

That's what I was thinking.

All right cool. We're on the same page I love it.

Do it

Sweetheart, how are you?

All right. My future little winemakers?

Food is always a big part of my family.

My mother taught me how to cook, she taught me how to be creative

with flavor.

And that’s kinda what did it for me with wine

Adds flavor to my life. Like food does, like special relationships, like my family.

It's a component that creates the whole.

And they say some of the best winemakers were chefs,

But honestly, my winemaking improved.

My cooking improved because my winemaking.

Is this okay? Yes.

Here, girls.

Here you go, Ella.

Oh, grab a seat.

Okay.

All right.

I love my family. I love my friends.

Without any of you, I wouldn't be able to do what I can do today.

So thank you very much for inspiring me and keeping me going.

Right to our future!

Thank you. Cheers.

Cheers.

First day of harvest.

It's my favorite day.

It really is.

Bill, why don't you just go ahead and tell us about

how harvest went this morning?

I like the pictures you took. I will.

I know what I like about it is a slow warm up.

Yeah. And what I like about it.

Especially we have the cellar crew there to help. So,

Which always makes it, I know will be the first get things going.

Yeah. And, then we'll settle down as they get busy with the crush,

and we'll have our regular team just there.

But it's it's great.

Overall a good first day, so. Cheers you guys.

Cheers. Great.

First day. To 2025 cheers.

Thank you.

That was good.

I still run into people

who are like, oh, my gosh, Virginia makes wines.

And my response is, oh my God, where have you been?

So many people even tasting wine.

If they know what the wine is,

they already know what what they think it tastes like.

I, I suggest that they do a blind

tasting with other wines.

To explore how Virginia wines stand alongside

some of the world's most established regions.

We invited a group of wine professionals

from prominent restaurants in Washington, D.C.

In a blind tasting,

they sampled wines from Virginia alongside comparable wines from France.

The sommeliers knew the grape variety in each glass,

but not where the wine came from.

I mean, I think

I think they definitely both taste like Chardonnay.

Maybe. Maybe we're dealing with a cooler climate on wine four maybe

dealing with a lesser wine making, you know, hand.

I hear what you're saying, and I mostly agree with that.

But for, especially if we're talking about Virginia wine.

Like wine three, screams like crab cakes in the summertime.

As you said here, the profile is more sharp more crisp, maybe more Chablis.

Our friend Linden.

All right. Wine number three is. Oh, yes, one of my favorites.

Linden Avenius Chardonnay.

A white Burgundy, yeah, it makes sense.

Yeah, this is one of the best things that we can do as wine

professionals is to really taste these wines blind,

to really understand the quality of winemaking, but to really assess them

with no judgment going in.

I think that's such a testament to what they're doing over at Linden.

Yeah. One by one, the bottles were revealed.

Some of the wines the sommeliers admired, most were not from France.

They were from Virginia.

Virginia was no longer simply an emerging wine region.

In the glass, it could stand beside some of the most celebrated wines

in the world and hold its ground.

I’m being wrong all the time.

So I'm going to say this is one that I like.

They feel about equal in quality to me.

One of these times, if they're both Cabernet Franc

one comes from an extremely old

winemaking region like the Loire Valley or Bordeaux, potentially.

But either one of those have such long histories.

And for Virginia a Virginia wine to be, you know,

in this close of a conversation with it in such a short time was really impressive.

Definitely. It's really cool.

All right. Let's find out.

So we think five is Virginia.

We think five is Virginia. Yes.

You know.

Oh okay 5 is

Afton Mountain Cabernet Franc from Monticello.

Nice. I'm not familiar with this one.

We like we go like yeah probably should check them out.

And?

And Saumur Champigny. So a Loire Valley Cabernet Franc. Wow. Impressed with

Wow. Impressed with Virginia.

Okay, I know, need to add more on the menu.

Well, I mean, when you're the the steakhouse master.

So what, how does how did these ones play in the restaurant there? How?

You know, when you're cruising through a list of 100 plus

Cabernet or Bordeaux style blends, how would you differentiate this one?

I think either would definitely have their place.

I would assume a approachable price, one on either of these wines.

So when we have guests come in and say they don't want something that's too dry

but not a sweet wine, it's just something that I think a lot of people would enjoy.

There's not a lot of producers that can do Bordeaux

style, blend at this high quality and use that much new oak.

Either of you care to guess at a producer?

Because I know who I think it is.

No. Not really.

Oh come on.

We have the RdV example that was bought from a Bordeaux Chateau.

I think it's my friends over at RdV. Yeah.

I do.

Just with the amount of new oak, the ripeness of the fruit.

They, they have the, you know, the unique granite hill site

that allows them to get this depth of concentration.

I, I'm and in fairness, we already had Linden.

Yeah. Yeah.

For sure.

But that kind of distinctive dried herb

and graphite reminds me a little bit more of Bordeaux.

She’s right all the time.

So, you know, definitely I think

number one here on the left is kind of has that more international profile.

We’ll see because I love also to be proven wrong.

All right. All right.

Do the honors for number eight.

What we're looking at?

Oh, you know what?

Like I said, I love been proven wrong.

That's awesome.

I love seeing that we are seeing some amazing stuff coming out of Monticello.

That's the one you told me the Pollak, wow.

I'm definitely going to up my game on Monticello.

I think it shows how a wonderful Virginia

wines can be and how they stand up against,

you know,

typical French wines and what people think of the French style and quality.

One of the things that us, somms

at the table, can speak to and try to like, differentiate between Virginia

and France is because we study winemaking and taste a lot of different wines.

But for the guests that come to restaurants and want to drink something,

having them drink these side by side, I would imagine

that they would be very pleased with both of them, not knowing

whether which one is French or Virginia wine.

Having been in a sommelier for a bit of time now in Washington DC

ten years ago, this tasting would have gone much

more poorly for the Virginia side for sure,

and not be super obvious just on a quality level.

Which one is from Virginia in which one is not so.

That was a really cool takeaway here.

Especially for us who who work in restaurants like this is,

it's very important for us to represent these wines

and be proud to show these wines.

I work in the restaurant.

That's all Italian, but we have Napa and we have Bordeaux,

and we have Champagne, and we have all these other things.

Why not include, you know, great wines, for my next door also.

Another winery. There's going to be on the wine list.

I love it.

Taste this, but definitely, did you know, it's from Virginia? No.

Definitely Virginia, I think it's a destination.

It’s a wine destination, and it's been proven

that the quality of the wines are and the next level.

Yeah. Super impressed.

I’m really impressed too.

The biggest thing that I'm most proud of and the secret

is, you know, if the wine is bad, it doesn't matter

how good your marketing is.

The big secret is the wines are really, really good and then the marketing

is easy.

And that is what I am most proud of, is how good the wines are.

Yeah. Yeah.

Looks pretty.

So that's our second course tonight.

Here comes the salmon mi cuit.

With the watercress puree.

All right. Horseradish cream

and pickled onions.

Always enjoyed coming here.

- You've been a long supporter of Virginia. - It's always been great, working together

with these wine dinners and and being able to serve your wine.

Cheers! Cheers!

Hey, Spike.

Good to see you. Jon, what's going on?

Welcome back to the Woodberry kitchen. Thanks for having me.

Brought you some wine from Virginia’s Eastern Shore.

Excellent. We're going to need that. Yes.

So Spike. Thanks.

Thanks for carrying my wine.

You're a real supporter of local everything.

We love it when it comes from around here.

And, this is, you know,

your wine and Tom's oysters are really my favorite pairings in the whole world.

Well, it's great

that we're having this dinner together and supporting all local food.

It's been too long.

Is very tropical, a great aromatic.

The oyster pie is one of the first documented, items from the,

you know, foodways of the, of the southern Eastern Shore. Good.

Well that's exciting. A lot of thought went into that.

We're just fired up,

and now I'm really fired up.

Cheers. really integrates the wine nicely.

So I hope you enjoy, this, this dish.

And thanks so much for having us here this evening.

Cheers.

Without all the winemakers being here, there would be nothing happening.

We are a very good, industry.

We love to work together. We love to party together.

And so if we can get us in the same room to drink wine and have good food.

I think that should be fun.

Will, encourage everybody to, share wines.

I mean, you can drink your own bottle, but I think it's better if you like,

make it and make it circulate around the tables and, like.

So I expect to see people going from the table and stealing bottles.

Especially if there's some good bottles.

Let me know.

And, the last thing

I'd like all the winemakers to stand up

To Virginia Wine!

Virginia.

This land is often called the birthplace of American wine.

Across Virginia, generations have come to this land

with a simple belief that great wine can be made here.

Wine, after all, is not only a drink, it's a memory of the place,

of a season, of the hands that tend the vine.

And perhaps that is the true essence of wine.

Not perfection, but connection between land and people,

between neighbors and friends, between generations who may never meet,

yet share the same hope for what this land can produce.

So when a bottle of Virginia wine is opened somewhere in the world,

what fills the glass is more than wine.

It's the story of a community. Across mountains, valleys and rivers.

Their voices continue.

We, the wine people of Virginia.

We believed in it and we stuck with it.

And here we are.