A Spring in my Step, and Clusters on my Vines!

I may be an old fellow and slowing down a bit, but there is one thing I will never get tired of: springtime! Sure, I let those bunnies hop through my yard without barking at them as much, and I haven’t chased too many skunks this year (Mom…
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Wine Tasting 102

It’s that time of year again for lazy sunny days spent cruising the countryside, driving from one vineyard to another, drinking delicious wine, and petting incredibly handsome dogs (ahem!).   Sometimes people are visiting a winery for…
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Springtime in the Vineyard!

Oh boy, oh boy!  Spring is my favorite time of year.  The country air is always full of good smells: flowers, freshly cut grass, manure being spread over the fields, and burger being grilled for dinner.  I could tell you which one of those…
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Contains Sulfites?! What does this mean?

Last week I heard someone asking Mom why there were sulfites in our wine.  They were lamenting that the European wine they had recently enjoyed on vacation said nothing about sulfites on that label, but all American wines list “contains…
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No Corkscrew? No Problem!

Last month my mom left me for over 2 weeks!  Can you imagine that? 14 long days without her to follow around and wait for her to give me the best ear rubs anyone can give?  I was morose. I did nothing but mope while my dad tried to love…
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2019 Governor’s Cup Gala

In the Virginia wine world, February means something very exciting. No, it is not my birthday month.  That is August, just in case you are wondering, and I wear a size yummy in treats. What February is known for is that it is the month when…
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The Making of Dessert Wines

It’s hard to believe that our vineyard finally has something on the menu that is as sweet as I am.  When we released our dessert style Petit Manseng, Lil Em, last week, I have to admit that I didn’t know a lot about dessert style wines. …
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A Perfect Wine Glass?

Boy, oh boy- I have missed this keyboard.  Before I talk to you about the importance of using a wine glass when drinking wine, I wanted to catch you up on my last month.  Several weeks ago, I had a sore toe. I licked it until it felt better,…
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Winston’s Gratitude Post

I was sitting down in front of the fire with my mom and her laptop the other night, and as we were scrolling through Facebook, I noticed some of the gratitude posts that other folks were posting.  That got me thinking that I have so much…
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Harvest Time!

I know at least some of you saw the harvesting fun that we had over the past few weeks. For us folks in the wine industry, the harvest is the culmination of a year’s worth of hard work pruning and training vines, examining and treating…
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Wine Tasting 101

Boy, oh boy, have we been busy here at Brix & Columns.  Hurricane Florence was scheduled to bring a deluge of water to the Shenandoah Valley, and Jeanette didn’t want to risk letting the grapes stay on the vines.  Mom, Gene, and…
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Field Trip Day!!!

Oh boy, oh boy, yesterday was an exciting day here at the vineyard.  All of the staff came over after closing hours for a bit of on-site training.  The field trip started with a reminder to all staff that, due to recent treatments, they…
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