NYT Article on Virginia WIne

I haven't posted enough about Virginia wine lately, but the following article in the New York Times travel section (h/t Lenndevours) gives a brief overview of the best the region has to offer. I would disagree with their assessment that the tastings at Barboursville are "so-so", but the rest of it is spot on.

Virginia Is for (Wine) Lovers
The state has excellent growing conditions, bucolic scenery, and a damn good Petit Verdot.

Even wine snobs now admit that the Finger Lakes does a mean ice wine and that Long Island produces a number of decent Cab Francs. Next on the East Coast radar? Virginia. It’s been quietly cultivating its grapes since Jefferson’s time, and now, thanks to recent experiments with varietals like Tannat, Petit Verdot, and Chambourcin, and the promising 1998, 2001, and 2005 vintages, the state’s 100 or so wineries deserve closer scrutiny.

Temperatures are about the same in the Blue Ridge Mountains, so a trip won’t get you a reprieve from November’s chill, but there’s still some fall foliage and lots of pure southern-country-valley landscape: sleepy hills, apple orchards, and tidy little chapels. It can be a long highway drive from region to region, so pick one trail and stay there—at least for the day.