The Crush Monkey

People are becoming increasingly concerned with how their food is produced and what is in it as witnessed by the explosion in interest in local foods and farmers markets, and are embracing wine as food. Virginia wineries benefit by having an educated consumer base. Our customers benefit by learning that making wine is not some mysterious, glamorous endeavor but a sometimes arduous marriage of agriculture and manufacturing. To a great extent we have become disconnected from knowing how and where our food is made and a visit to a winery can answer a lot of questions that people may have about grape growing and wine making. Grape growing and winemaking have become an important component of agriculture in Virginia, and go hand in hand with the burgeoning local food movement. Having so many local wineries is a fantastic opportunity for people to come out and see what we do to process and prepare this most complex food-wine- and talk to winemakers about the grapes that we grow and the wine...

I have been thinking a lot lately about what it means to make wine in Virginia. My thinking always rambles along several roads at the same time; the challenge of making quality wine, the reputation that Virginia has as a wine producing region and what it is that Virginia wineries do to promote our product and make a living. I will address quality first. I am sure that everyone is aware that great wine is made in the vineyard, that you need good fruit to make good wine. This is the challenge facing winemakers in Virginia. Our weather and the varieties of grapes that we grow (the ones customers buy) are often incompatible, so winegrowers must work harder in the vineyard to bring in good fruit. If fruit comes in compromised, winemakers work harder to clean it up to avoid problems later. We spent many, many hours sorting grapes on the crush pad-pulling out sour rot, botrytis, bugs and unripe fruit. Along with the issues of disease, there is also the challenge of getting red grape...