William Pollard Jr | aka: Wild 4 Washington Wine

There Was a Time... There was a time when I thought I would stop writing about wine. A time, between 2009 and 2010, when I thought my fascination with wine was at an end. Obviously, something happened to cause that thinking, and something happened to put me back on track. I'll address that further on. This post has become rather long. It is in my nature to want to share. Ten years on and there's a lot I want to mention and get out of my thoughts. My thoughts pester me. I hope you find something interesting in these self obsessed musings. There's a lot I left out. So the temptation to add and tweak is strong. Not sure I can resist. When I began this blog ten years ago, I was working for Barnard Griffin Winery . After Fourteen months of hand selling wine, many industry events and daily customer interactions, my head was full of new to me wine related information. I was not sleeping well with a jumble of wine experiences and knowledge swirling around my head at nigh...

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...

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 ...