Wow! What a beautiful place! It makes me think of the wine farms we have in Cape Town here in South Africa. They have similar wine testing facilities available to the public. We haven't been to one yet, but after reading your post, I think it must definitely go onto the to-do list.
It's interesting how they use the roses in the vineyard, serving a double purpose. Creating beauty while preventing the oxen and horses from cutting corners.
Thank you for sharing this with us.
You can find my post for this week here.
The roses are also there for their real job, the oxen and horses were just a bonus. :) They are like an alarm system (think canary in the coal mines) they tend to get aphids and fungus before the grapes, so they sound off the alarm when their health goes downhill. the grapes are next unless prevented! It was something new I learned!
Thank you so much! It really is much more beautiful in person, but, yes! Thank you!! With over 300 vineyards here in the state of Virginia, we could be on the Tasting Trail for the rest of our lives! I definitely think you should.
I have been to a few tastings and not always wine. Sometimes Mead, sometimes Cider... but, this was wine as I was pretty interested in seeing a small Virginia vineyard. Breweries and Distilleries are all fun, and this comes from someone who is not much of a drinker, but, I can easily be a taster.
I love that he was able to purchase this all-but abandoned estate less than 12 years ago and made it into a success, using the Battle of Bull Run to his advantage. To be fair, the family are huge history buffs and have ties to the first British to land here. They are a super nice family and I am happy to see their success. They kept all the history, and fences and rebuilt the barns in the exact likeness of what was there.
Kept the foundation of the estate and use it as a platform for weddings, and is hugely popular.
Thank you so much for reading the post and for supporting the challenge!
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Yes, the canary in the coal mines is a good example indeed! It's nice to hear that you are able to go to various tastings in your area. And I totally get it...you don't have to be much of a drinker to enjoy the tastings. If you enjoy the tastings and learning about the processes involved, that's all you need!
I love the way you describe the man and his family who bought the estate and made such a success of it. Especially in such a short time! It really sounds like a nice family.
I can imagine that such a venue would be a great hit and very popular as a platform for weddings as you mention.
I have to say, I found that video very interesting about the fences and how they were used on the battlefields for hiding, for cover, and even for forming obstacles to inflict more casualties on enemy lines.
I found this to be a very interesting and informative post!