We made it through the “busy” season and what a ride that was! Fortunately we have a wonderful couple who have an innsitting business to cover for us at the B&B entertaining and checking in guests for us while we are out driving wine tours or we would never have made it through October and November. It was so much fun with so many great guests but the time went by in a whirl and winter snuck up on us!
Chris now has a barrel of port style desert wine sleeping and aging at Virginia Wineworks, the custom crush winery owned by Michael Shaps. Don’t miss this low-key winery where some of the best wines in the state are made! They are there most days now rather than just weekends, f you want to pop in for a tasting and to purchase some award-winning wines.
Recently in an interview a Virginia winemaker stated that it would not come to be to see a Virginia wine that would sell for $6-7 a bottle.
Just to show you how FAST things move in Virginia Wine Country, that statement is now disproven! Michael Shaps has brought in the equipment to box wine. We now have two super crowd-pleasing everyday wines – a lightly oaked Chardonnay and a great Cabernet Franc. The box holds the equivalent of 4 bottles of wine and retails for $30. That comes to $7.50 a bottle!!! So go on down to Virginia Wineworks or to Kroger Rio and enjoy that one or two glass of wine with dinner with NO pumping the bottle, and NO wine going to waste. The glass of wine you enjoy after first opening the box is the same a week down the road. Fresher, saving you money to purchase, saving waste, and, I’m sure, much “greener” than the bottle! I personally love, love love the convenience!!!
Wine tasting is now a much more leisurely experience after the hectic crowds of fall. It’s now a great time to visit our area and enjoy the wineries as the tasting staff have time to answer all your questions with no lines waiting for space at the tasting bar!
Pictured here is a treat we had on an Arcady Wine Tour last week – it was quiet in the tasting room and guests were allowed to taste the freshly pressed grape juice for a dessert wine alongside of the finished product.
We also love a new winery in the area – Glass House. Whimsical artwork greets you at the entry. The tasting room is to the left and an impressive glass atrium filled with tropical plants to your right. We enjoyed their first offerings – they are the only winery in the immediate Charlottesville area that makes a Babera besides Barboursville! Along with that we enjoyed some artisan chocolates made right there at the winery. Bottles come with cool glass stoppers, too. They will be open on New Year’s Day if you want to taste wine in an exotic ambience!This is the time of year when you want to double check before taking off to wine taste to see if any of the wineries you plan to visit have changed to winter hours. Many are still open every day, but some are working shorter weeks – Pollak and White Hall are closed on Monday and Tuesday right now. Only a few close for the winter months – Mountfair is closed until March, for example.
At Arcady Vineyard B&B while business is quieter during the week we’re working on the addition of our second wing. The County allows a bed and breakfast to have up to five rooms, so this wing will hold four rooms. Two will have private decks and two will have private terraces. They’ll connect through a door in the existing sitting room which we’ll convert into a game room.
Right now the roof is half finished – we’re waiting for the shingles to be delivered. Then when the window man comes back from Christmas vacation we’ll order our windows. This shows the addition from the back, looking from the vineyard.The final events of the year in our Wine Country include the Masked Ball at Veritas Vineyards New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day Brunch at DelFosse Vineyards.
See you in the New Year!