Friday, October 23, 2009

More Updates from Virginia Wineries for Virginia Wine Month

I continue to hear from Virginia wineries about what they are doing to celebrate Virginia Wine Month. Below are updates from some more wineries:

White Hall Vineyards held its Art in the Vineyard event October 17 – 18. Aside from hosting local artists and artisans, White Hall is offering a discount on cases of its chardonnay throughout the month. Megan Hyler, White Hall’s Sales Manager, informed me that business in October has been great so far, and she attributes some of the traffic to Virginia Wine Month raising awareness of local wineries.

Rappahannock Cellars continues to host large groups, as it did for TechAdventureDC in August. Recently, students from the Richmond Culinary Institute got a behind the scenes tour and wine tasting and then headed to the Inn at Little Washington for lunch…Yeah, well, my college’s cafeteria had a waffle bar, so those RCI kids can suck it.

Aside from making me jealous, Rappahannock is featuring live music every weekend throughout October. This weekend will features Marie Miller on Saturday from 2 – 5pm and Robbie Limon on Sunday from 1.30 – 4pm. Rappahannock Cellars is also promoting their Wine Club with specials throughout the month and have also opened a remote tasting room in Sperryville which opened earlier in the month. People I spoke told me that business has been very good throughout the month.

Loudoun Valley Vineyards is hosting hot air balloon rides this weekend, weather permitting.

Of all the wineries that I have spoken to so far, the only one that did not seem to have any special events planned, and are simply continuing on with business as usual was Jefferson Vineyards.

Jefferson Vineyards aside, most wineries that I have spoken to are excited about Virginia Wine Month, promotions and events that they have been able to tie into the occasion, and traffic that their wineries have received. Some restaurants are apparently offering discounts on Virginia wine throughout the month, but I have only heard that from second hand accounts.

The area where the promotional month is lacking is in supermarkets. It would be great to see in-store displays promoting Virginia wine throughout the month. It will need to wait until next year, as there are only two more weekends left in October. Two weeks is more than enough time to head to some Virginia wineries and enjoy Virginia Wine Month with some of the people who make it all possible.

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