Wine country. Acres of vines, old barns and winery outbuildings, folks sipping samples in tasting rooms, rookies taking a tour to get basic training in how grape juice becomes wine, picnics under shady trees. Sales rooms with bottles and cases of the local product plus the usual assortment of cork pullers and glasses, special cheeses, gourmet goodies, museum pieces from wine areas in Europe.
Just your normal, everyday, ho-hum winery scene, with one small difference. This is Virginia.
Virginia? Wine?
You betcha, y`all, and it`s no publicity stunt. The South might not rise again, but the wineries of Virginia are very serious about their reborn product.
There`s another thing: Not only is Virginia a whole lot prettier than the Napa Valley, but it`s also a lot more peaceful.
A budding industry
Virginia`s wine country, a baby in the grand scheme of things, is a relatively undiscovered jewel. The Virginia Winegrowers Advisory Board estimates that only some 90,000 visitors tour Virginia wineries every year, although the number is growing. The always-popular Napa Valley has at least that many any weekend-about three million visitors a year, according to a Napa Valley Vintners Association spokeswoman.
Before any of you California wine chauvinists start laughing in your cabernet, remember that the very first wine produced by Europeans in North America was in Virginia, at Jamestown, in 1607.
Thomas Jefferson, who liked a frequent glass of the grape, tried unsuccessfully to plant European varieties at Monticello. However, he did inspire the planting of American grape varieties.
By the middle of the 19th Century the wine business was flourishing in Virginia, and, according state historians, one of the most popular wines in the United States just before Prohibition was Virginia Dare, a sweet claret produced at Charlottesville, near Jefferson`s home.
What was a fairly sound wine industry in Virginia was all but destroyed by Prohibition, and it took a long time to return.
In 1960 there were only 16 acres of vines in the state. By 1980 there were only a handful of wineries. Now there are almost 50.
Prince Michel, the state`s largest winery, produces around 25,000 cases a year and expects to double that by 1992.
Unfriendly climate
Quality winemaking in Virginia always has been tough. Not blessed with the excellent Mediterranean climate of California, its vineyards have been hit hard over the centuries by unpredictable frosts, damp weather, fungus diseases and the dreaded phylloxera aphids that threaten vineyards everywhere.
Most Virginia wineries concentrate on white wines because of the climate. Many of the vineyards are planted with European varieties such as riesling and chardonnay, but reds are grown and wine experts say some are quite good. Another popular variety is a French hybrid, seyval blanc.
A typical Virginia white is Germanic is style, very much like the wines grown along and behind the Rhine.
Taking a lesson from the extraordinarily successful public relations efforts of the Napa Valley wine industry, Virginia winemakers combine their production with free tours, tastings, gift shops and festivals and special events.
Because of the growing season, harvest and crush festivals usually take place around mid-October.
Most of the wineries are concentrated in the northern part of the state in an area bounded roughly by Washington on the north, the Blue Ridge Parkway on the west, Fredericksburg on the east and Scottsville on the south. The main route through the area is U.S. Highway 29, which runs from the District of Columbia to Appomattox Court House.
In an afternoon of winery touring, you can walk around the boyhood home of George Washington or wander through the homes built by James Madison and Jefferson-and that`s just a start.
