William Pollard Jr | aka: Wild 4 Washington Wine

30th Edition of #VAWinechat  On 25 June 2015 I participated in another fun #VAwinechat twitter wine tasting featuring Early Mountain Vineyards of Madison, Virginia. My friend Frank Morgan of Drink What You Like  is the host of #VAWinechat. He started Virginia Wine Chat  to bring wine bloggers and consumers together via a virtual gathering to discuss the wines, winemakers, wineries and regions of Virginia. I have been fortunate to participate in several Virginia Wine Chat wine tastings. Quality is strong in Virginia. Thank you Frank for the invitation and thank you Early Mountain Vineyards for sharing your lovely wines. A conversation with  Early Mountain Vineyards ​Twitter: @earlymountain Follow the twitter discussion #VAWineChat​ (L to R) Frank Morgan, Jonathan Hollerith, Ben Jordan.  Frank Morgan hosted the wine tasting with Early Mountain Vineyards' new Winemaker Ben Jordan and exiting Vineyard Manager and Winemaker Jonathan Holle...

Excellent wines of tremendous quality and value from Virginia.  It is time for you to discover Virginia wine country. As with any rising winery destination, the best wines receive the most attention. Evidence Fabbioli Cellars and the wines of Doug Fabbioli. If you are planning to visit Virginia, put Fabbioli Cellars on your itinerary. "Yes, call me a fan of Fabbioli Cellars!" The largest concentration of wineries in Virginia is Loudoun County. Doug Fabbioli returned to his roots in Virginia 18 years ago after making wine in California for 10 years. He notes that making wine in Virginia is different; collaboration is the key word for success. (L to R) Frank Morgan with Winemaker Doug Fabbioli. Since March 2013 , my friend Frank Morgan of Drink What You Like has been collaborating with Virginia winemakers via #VAWineChat. He brings them together with savvy social media wine influencers to share the treasures of Virginia wine country...

Companion Post for The Wine Muse February Podcast There are so many wines and so little time, how do you know where to start?  The Wine Muse hosts Linda Rez and William Pollard invited four wine industry experts to the #ThirdThursday #WineMuse show to share their sentiments about their favorite wine LIVE. Listen to The Wine Muse February podcast . Linda and I each brought or own bottle of wine for this show. Naturally, I brought a Washington Syrah from one of my favorite wineries, a'Maurice Cellars of Walla Walla. Linda had a bottle of Townshend Cellar Washington Reserve Red. This was one of our favorite podcasts. Time went far too quickly as our guests shared their thoughts about what the topic of "favorite wine" meant to them. We were quite taken with our guests, we want to invite each of them back again. And we'll allow more time for each of them. Below is a list of our guests with their bios and links to their sites. I have also included tasting not...

“We could, in the United States, make as great a variety of wines as are made in Europe, not exactly of the same kinds, but doubtless as good”.    - Thomas Jefferson The original colonies were mandated by England to grow vinifera and to make wine. They failed miserably. Even Thomas Jefferson struggled for 30 years to grow vinifera, without success. After a great deal of hard work and experimentation that has all changed. By invitation, I enjoyed another  Virginia Wine Chat  wine tasting with host  Frank Morgan of Drink What You Like . This Virginia wine tasting featured three different wines from the  Monticello AVA . Virginia is an exciting wine region, one I've grown fond of after  visiting in 2011 .  Jefferson's Monticello. Jefferson’s vision has been realized by the success of 255 Virginia wineries. Virginia is now the fifth largest wine producing state in the United States. Quality is strong. Producing 500,000 cases annua...

Virginia Wine Baby! "Still a lot to prove, and I like that." - Nate Walsh Last week I enjoyed another Virginia Wine Chat wine tasting with host Frank Morgan of Drink What You Like and Nate Walsh, Winemaker & Vineyard Manager of Sunset Hills Vineyard . I interacted with them and other wine media friends via twitter #VAwinechat. Frank and Nate were on a UStream video feed  so we could watch them as they tasted. Frank Morgan (left) and Nate Walsh (right). Together we tasted three different Virginia wines made by Nate Walsh. We also learned a little about Nate. Nate Walsh arrived at Loudoun County wine country as a fluke. He's not from a wine making family and he was not educated as a winemaker. After earning degrees in English and Italian and in need of cash, he took a summer job working in the vineyard and never left. He's worked in the Willamette Valley in Oregon, Central Otago in New Zealand and then came back home to Virginia. " Still a lot ...