Virginia back roads ... Foggy Ridge Cider

"It is indeed bad to eat apples. It is better to make them all into cider ."
--Benjamin Franklin

 Foggy Ridge Cider ... what a delightful discovery on the back roads of Virginia as we explored communities near the Blue Ridge Parkway! You've heard of Dugspur, right? No? It's a tiny little community tucked away off Rt. 58 in Carroll County, and that was where we were headed to check out this award-winning cider. After all, September is apple season in the Commonwealth.

The website had an inviting greeting that intrigued me: "At Foggy Ridge Cider we value a rural life. Dirt roads, starry skies and plenty of wildlife are more important to us than WalMart, Hardees or a shopping mall. The surrounding three counties average 1.3 traffic lights and less than 20,000 people per county. This is a good thing.While we're not on the beaten path, we are easy to find and will greet all visitors with a warm and gracious welcome."

I like places that are off the beaten path so we set out in search of Foggy Ridge Cider, following Buffalo Mountain in the distance and the wildflowers along the roadways and the occasional brightly-colored tree signaling fall had arrived. It was late September and the weather was sunny and cool.

We arrived just in time for a tasting with two other couples. Lynn was our warm and friendly server and entertainer, providing an excellent presentation of artisan cider and story-telling that kept everyone laughing as they tossed out verbal observations after each offering. The comfortable feeling was of seven friends enjoying an afternoon drinking hand-crafted cider while overlooking the orchard with Buffalo Mountain in the background.

 Buffalo Mountain. It was said that in pioneer days, children were given permission to roam as long as they had Buffalo Mountain in their sights. It can be seen from a thirty-mile radius. It looms over the orchard at Foggy Ridge.

Reviews over the years have been numerous and glowing, as seen in the framed copies on the walls of the tasting room.

Diane Flynt, owner and cider artist, wrote: "Simple is often best–think of a just caught whole fish brushed with fruity olive oil and grilled on a bed of fresh herbs. Or pasta topped with fresh tomatoes, basil and a syrupy balsamic vinegar. Simple is also best with cider. Foggy Ridge Cider begins in the orchard with apples carefully selected for their unique flavors and grown for taste, not appearance. In our cidermaking, we aim to put this fruit in the bottle with minimal manipulation."

We adopted three bottles to take home for enjoying and sharing.

First Fruit cider blends early season American heirloom apples to create a rich fruity cider with lively acidity to drink, like Thomas Jefferson, on its own or with a meal.

Foggy Ridge Handmade, bottled in baby champagne bottles, is for sale only at restaurants, retailers, and at Foggy Ridge Cider Mill. This crisp cider made from Newtown Pippin apples has beautiful soft tannins and a delicate apple flavor with light pear notes. 

Award-winning medals.

Overlooking the apple orchards ... Buffalo Mountain is in the distance.

Sometimes the best treasures are found in the tucked-away corners of Virginia and beyond. Foggy Ridge is one of those treasures. Years ago I said there had never been a gravel road that I didn't want to explore and find out where it went. Thankfully, SWAC Husband indulges my free spirit and good-naturedly goes along with my curiosity which has resulted in a lifetime of special memories sharing the places we've traveled and the sights we've seen.

This was just one more stop on our September journey along the Blue Ridge Parkway as we continued south to North Carolina....

Photos by Lynn R. Mitchell
September 27, 2013

Charlottesville: Trump Winery's Eric Trump nominated as rising star

There's celebrating going on at the Trump Winery, located in the shadow of Mr. Jefferson's mountain outside Charlottesville, Virginia. Eric Trump, 29-year-old son of famed real estate mogul Donald Trump, familiar face from NBC's "The Apprentice," and president of the winery, is in no danger of hearing the words, "You're fired!" anytime soon. He's up for a prestigious wine industry award.

Since acquiring the 1,300-acre vineyards in along the historic Monticello Wine Trail two years ago through the bankruptcy of Patricia Kluge, Trump Winery under the leadership of Eric has defined and perfected the art of marketing a Virginia wine. Distribution now covers twenty states and Trump wines can be found in such unexpected places as the Loft Mountain gift shop in Shenandoah National Park. They also export to three countries.  Along the way they have picked up gold medals and top awards at international wine festivals and even received the highest rating ever of a Virginia wine in early 2013.

All that detail has not been missed by those in the industry. He has been nominated by Wine Enthusiast magazine for the 2013 Rising Star award to be presented in January 2014 in New York City.

Governor Bob McDonnell, who was at Trump Winery for its grand opening in October 2011, and has been a big supporter of Virginia's wine industry, noted Eric's nomination:

“Eric Trump is truly a rising star in the global wine industry and could not be more deserving of Wine Enthusiast's Rising Star Award nomination.  We are very pleased that he and his family decided to invest in Virginia's wine industry.  It was clearly the correct decision for both Eric and the Commonwealth.  In just two short years, Eric has significantly expanded the distribution of Trump wines both nationally and internationally, while elevating the overall integrity of the wines.  I'm confident that Eric and the team at Trump Winery will continue to raise the bar for Virginia wines in the coming years.  I wish him good luck at the award ceremony in January.”

Eric's plans are to continue building and widening Trump Winery's reach, commenting on the website:

"We're going to continue to grow; we are going to continue to plant vines, we are going to continue to expand our distribution. People love the Trump brand and our wines. They love what we stand for, what we're doing, and most importantly, we're having a lot of fun doing it. There is a lot more to come from Trump Winery."

I've said it before and I'll say it again. It's good to have the Trumps in Virginia's wine country.

Ox-Eye Vineyards offers wine tastings and fun in downtown Staunton

A hidden gem to Staunton is being discovered by visitors as well as locals. On Saturday we joined friends for the Sears Hill Bridge dedication in downtown Staunton and enjoyed lunch at the Clocktower Restaurant before walking to the Ox-Eye Vineyards Tasting Room on Middlebrook Avenue. The day was beautiful so we sat outdoors on the patio and enjoyed a tasting and glasses of award-winning wine from Ox-Eye Vineyards.

Ox-Eye Vineyards Tasting Room is located in the Historic Wharf District of downtown Staunton in a 1904 building designed by noted architect T.J. Collins. After sitting vacant for years, it was carefully and tastefully renovated by the Kiers.

Congratulations to homeschool friends and owners John and Susan Kiers who were recently named by the Washington Post as one of the mid-Atlantic top ten wineries to check out. Their focus is crafting high quality, food-friendly wines from grapes best suited to the soil and climate of the Augusta County farm in Virginia’s beautiful Shenandoah Valley.

The view out the upstairs window was of the Wharf parking area that had been crowded earlier in the day with vendors and guests at the Staunton-Augusta Farmers Market.

My favorite wines were the Ox-Eye Riesling and White Ox and, while I'm usually a Riesling girl, the White Ox was a tad sweeter and went home with me ... but I'll be back for a bottle of the Riesling next time.

The tasting menu provided a road map while navigating through the variety of wines. 

In the past the building now housing the tasting room had served as an office for a coal and lumber business. Later it was a scale house for horse-drawn coal wagons. Where the covered patio now provides tables for visitors to enjoy wine and the outdoors, the loaded wagons would pull up through the covered archway to be weighed by the Fairbanks scale.

 The building eventually became a sales room for the Fultz Lumber Company, the last business to occupy the site. After it closed, the building sat vacant for many years before the Kiers began renovation in 2010 and opened in 2011. 

Ox-Eye has had lots of favorable reviews, and includes a link to a Washington Examiner story, "Will Hot, Dry Weather Make 2010 a Good Year for Virginia Wines," that I wrote in 2010 about the hot, dry weather and its affect on grapes at Ox-Eye Vineyards. 

Ox-Eye Vineyards Tasting Room is a great place to join friends for a glass of wine and to hear local musical entertainment or catch art showings by local artists like the one going on right now featuring Jeffrey Stockberger upstairs, and Cheryl Gerhart downstairs.

See you at the Ox.

Photos by Lynn R. Mitchell

April 13, 2013

McDonnells showcase Virginia wines in California

SAN FRANCISCO – Governor Bob McDonnell welcomed top wine and travel journalists and industry leaders at a special event March 27 in San Francisco to promote Virginia’s wine, tourism and film industries. The event showcased 12 wines which medaled in the newly revamped Virginia Governor’s Cup Competition along with several Virginia wines and foods which are distributed in the San Francisco Bay area.  The event marked the first time the Virginia Governor’s Cup winning wines were featured outside of Virginia. 
 

“We were honored to bring these award-winning wines to the West Coast as part of our administration’s efforts to grow the Virginia wine industry, promote tourism, and encourage film and production in Virginia,” said Governor McDonnell.  “The growth of these industries is key to keeping Virginia’s economy strong and providing good, quality jobs for Virginians.”

 

The Virginia wineries featured at the San Francisco event were: Barboursville Vineyards, Bluestone Vineyard, Delfosse Vineyards & Winery, Glen Manor Vineyards, Jefferson Vineyards, Keswick Vineyards, King Family Vineyards, Potomac Point Winery, Tarara Winery, Trump Winery, Veritas Vineyard & Winery and White Hall Vineyards.  The event also featured Virginia foods, several of which are distributed in California, including cheeses from Everona Dairy and Meadow Creek Dairy, Royal Oak Peanuts, Olli Salumeria, Chesapeake Bay Packaging scallops, Ayrshire Farm beef, and hams from S. Wallace Edwards & Sons.

 

Raising the profile of Virginia wines and wine tourism are key components of the governor's economic development and jobs creation initiatives. The governor has promoted Virginia wines at the Virginia Executive Mansion and throughout Virginia, on other domestic business recruitment visits, and on international trade and marketing missions to India, Israel, and countries in Europe and Asia. First Lady Maureen McDonnell has also incorporated wine and wine tourism promotions into her First Lady Initiative Team Effort or FLITE.

 

“I admire Governor McDonnell's continuing commitment to promoting Virginia wine by doing so on the doorstep of California wine country,” said Bartholomew Broadbent, proprietor of Broadbent Selections, Inc., a global wine importer/distributor with operations in Virginia and California. “San Francisco has always been a very accepting, cosmopolitan wine market where wines from around the world earn their place in American hierarchy.”

 

Virginia is home to more than 200 wineries statewide and is fifth in the nation for wine grape production.  A newly released economic impact study shows that Virginia's burgeoning wine industry contributes almost three-quarters of a billion dollars - or $747 million - annually to Virginia's economy.  Virginia wineries and vineyards support 4,800 jobs that provide $156 million total in wages.

 

“Last night’s event and related meetings in California are important steps in the governor’s strategic initiative to make Virginia the premiere East Coast destination for wine and wine tourism,” said Secretary of Agriculture and Forestry Todd Haymore. “In addition to work done already in key domestic markets such as Washington, DC, New York and Chicago, the time is right to look at San Francisco, one of the most influential wine centers in the United States, to expand the reach of the Virginia wine industry.”

 

Tourism is a key aspect of the Virginia wine industry, with more than 1.6 million visitors including a visit to a Virginia winery on a trip. Wine travel in Virginia has gained many recent accolades. Virginia was recently named one of the ten best wine travel destinations in the world for 2012 by Wine Enthusiast Magazine.  Articles about wine travel in Virginia have also appeared recently in Southern Living, AAA World and USA Today.

 

Tourism is an instant revenue generator for Virginia.  In 2010 tourism generated $19 billion in revenue, supported 204,000 jobs and provided $1.2 billion in state and local taxes.  Virginia is eighth in the nation for domestic visitor spending.

 

The Virginia Film Office is part of the state’s tourism office and has had recent success luring major motion pictures to Virginia as a result investments by Governor McDonnell and the General Assembly for the Governor’s Motion Picture Opportunity Fund.  The production of Steven Spielberg’s biopic Lincoln, which was filmed 100 percent in Virginia, had an estimated $35 million economic impact for Virginia.  The direct and indirect impact of Virginia's motion picture and video production industry in 2009 was $346 million, representing 2,700 jobs for the state.

 

Visit www.Virginia.org to learn more about wine travel and other destinations across the state or call 1-800-VISITVA to request a free, Virginia is for Lovers travel guide.  Visit www.VirginiaWine.org to get more information on Virginia wines including wineries, varietals and special events statewide. 

Trump Vineyard Estates

 (Left to right)
Governor Bob McDonnell, First Lady Maureen McDonnell, Patricia Kluge, Donald Trump

The Donald was in town Tuesday ... Charlottesville, that is.

The grand opening of Trump Vineyard Estates took place in Albemarle County and featured Donald Trump himself along with his son, Eric, who will run the vineyard, former owner Patricia Kluge, and our own popular Governor Bob McDonnell who was accompanied by First Lady Maureen McDonnell..

The Trump family will be good neighbors for Virginians as they become part of the Commonwealth's growing wine industry, and the winery with its 2,000 acres of land will provide needed jobs for central Virginia.

Welcome to Virginia, Trump Vineyard Estates!

More photos from Tuesday's grand opening. Photos courtesy of Michaele White, Governor’s Photographer.

North Mountain Vineyards ... Shenandoah County, Va.

Photos by Lynn R. Mitchell
22 August 2011