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Posted January 2006
The Monticello Wine Trail Festival
 A Great Place for (Wine) Lovers
By
Sally Pfeffer
Amid
the sunshine, blue skies, gentle breeze and background tunes
from a sultry female jazz singer, more than twenty winery
booths dotted the landscape at The Boar’s Head Inn during the
recent (Oct. 1-2, 2005) Monticello Wine Trail Festival. The wine
festival is an annual event at Boar’s Head in Charlottesville
where the red cloak and hunter-like atmosphere is booked for
months in advance.
Price
for admission was $20 which includes the wine glass and generous
pours from the wine makers themselves. The wineries from the
Monticello Viticultural Area showed off their award-winning wines.
Tastings varied from light whites and reds to full-bodied table
wines and dessert selections. After a few sips, even the locals
could pronounce French varieties like Viognier and Cabernet Franc.
Cabernet Franc is a grape that grows well in the Virginia area,
but originated in France.
Paired
with the wine were vendors offering chicken chili, baguettes,
gourmet cheeses and freshly prepared sandwiches. Some guests
even hauled in their own blankets, lawn chairs, and picnic baskets.
 Children
and adults danced in the street to Helane Fontaine, a five-star
bandleader, vocal artist and jazz producer. Her songbook is characterized
by the most uplifting love songs ever written and her style is
influenced by many great ladies of song: Doris Day, Ella Fitzgerald,
Judy Garland, Peggy Lee, Julie London, Carmen McRae, Della Reese.
She performs many concert appearances in front of audiences from
fifty to thousands in Wichita and Salina, Kansas, Miami, Florida
and Virginia, D.C. and Maryland. And, she’s already been invited
back to the Monticello Wine Trail Festival next year.
Virginia
ranks fifth in the U.S. for production of world-class production
of the Vinifera grape wines, as well as award-winning Native
American, French Hybrid and fruit wines. This was the dream of
Thomas Jefferson – for Virginia to produce wines that are made
in Europe.
Most
Virginia wineries are open for public tasting with various months
and hours of operation and tours; check winery websites for more
information. For more information about the Monticello Wine Trail
Festival, go to www.monticellowinetrail.org |
