Industry Night: The Days of Dismissing Virginia Wine Are Over

Did you miss me — probably not because a new Industry Night shows up in your inbox every week. But your girl here has been in Chicago for a few days for the James Beard Awards. AND

OMG — so incredible. It’s hard to put into words how special it is to be out there with so many of the most important creatives who are changing the food space one bite at a time.

The media awards are always a cozy affair and powerful. I always walk in there and think I am so well read — and then I learn about all these essays, and stories and shows — there’s so much good content out there and at the media awards you get to hear from the people who are writing, filming or speaking those stories. I’m gonna tear up — but it is amazing.

Now If you’ve never been to the awards weekend there’s a break between Media and Chefs. So during the break the day is filled with meet & greets like the Nobu brunch, the fantastic AAPI panel discussion and a celebration of bees at the Violet hour.

At least that’s what I went to — there’s like 20 on record and probably another 20 off record events.

Then the awards.

So your girl here was hired once again by Hilton to emcee the red carpet. That means in hair and makeup at 11am, on the red carpet at 330 and at 331 the fire started — literally — for 2 and half solid hours I was chatting and cajoling and asking questions to Ruth Riechl!! Marcus Samuelson, Rick Bayless, Richard Blaze and so many of the nominees and all in 6 inch heels. It was a whirlwind! Literally my head was spinning. I then sat down with snacks in hand cause it’s a three hour show.

Did DC represent or what? Masako Morishita for Emerging Chef, Mike Rafidi for Outstanding Chef and not DC but definitely DC adjacent, Harley Peet won best mid-Atlantic chef for his Bas Rouge in Easton

Sidebar — if you follow me at @nyccinellis you can learn about all these spots —.

There’s a pretty spectacular reception after the awards and I think we shut it down.

Now don’t think I just did the Beards — three days of amazing walks through that gorgeous city - down the river, on the lake and through the neighborhoods. And the food scene is on fire - Rose Mary, the Croatian restaurant in Wicker Park - the pasta and morels oh and the the cheesy- bready burek! And Galit in Lincoln Park - Middle Eastern/Israeli. That wine list was so diverse and interesting and the somm took us on such a journey.
I didn’t do this on purpose but speaking of wine …. if you are watching this show on YouTube and you should and you should subscribe too!

You see that I am no longer at the Capital Jewish Museum, I am in Delaplane VA, in the Piedmont Region of Virginia. Just East of the Blue Ridge Mountains at Barrel Oak Winery & Brewery. The 30-acre vineyard with its traditional Vitis Vinifera and American French hybrids has 10 varieties of grapes growing here including Chardonnay, Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc & Petit Manseng oh and Virginia’s premiere native grape Norton.

I’m so grateful to the team here, especially Adriana Lucca, for agreeing to host the show here for the next four episodes!

Wine in Virginia can be traced back to the first settlers, and even a few founding fathers — hello Thomas Jefferson — but it wasn’t until the late 1970s when the industry began to take root.

Now for quite some time much of the wine world dismissed Virginia viticulture — but that has changed! The last 50 years has allowed for an explosion in both the quantity and quality of Virginia wine. What began as a scattered handful of wineries to over 300 wineries and counting, Virginia winemakers and wine lovers alike are reaping the fruits of that labor.

So we are talking about VA Wine! The winemaker here at Barrel & Oak is Jeremy Ligon. He was on F&TB recently and when we talked about me doing Industry Night here at the property I was like let’s get a panel together of VA wine makers and talk about the trajectory of VA wine — to say that Jeremy understood the assignment is an understatement. Today I have

-Jeremy Lignon Winemaker at Barrel & Oak Winery (and Brewery!)
-Jason Murray - Owner – Winemaker - Viticulturist at Arterra Wines
-Kerem Baki - Winegrower and Owner of Hillsborough Vineyards

Listen in to hear the full history here, or watch the episode here.