Just got back from an exciting trip to Virginia– the fifth largest wine producing state. Although this blog is primarily about beer, over the next few weeks, I will be giving  you some information about some great and some not so great Virginia wineries that I was lucky enough to visit on this last trip. As some of you may know from reading this blog, I lived in Northern Virginia and DC for many years. I had the pleasure of seeing the Virginia wine industry really take off over that period of time. I learned to appreciate some unique grapes that grow well in that area and are often hard to find on a national level.  I was overall greatly disappointed in the direction of Virginia wine on this last trip. Previously, with some exceptions, I felt that Virginia wineries were trying to produce high quality wines that could compete on an international level. Although the grape varieties were not necessarily common, the wines produced were classical reds and whites that would be appreciated by even the most selective wine connoisseurs.  However, on this recent trip I saw that many wineries seemed to be catering to a less developed palate with wines that catered to the masses. Now this is not necessarily a bad thing, but even I had to take notice that the quality was not what it had been. For example, two grapes that grow quite well in Virginia are the chambourcin and norton.  These are robust reds that can produce very good wines along the lines of the classic cabernets.  However, I found that many wineries were now using these grapes to produce less than stellar sweet to semisweet wines.  Although not a fan of sweet wines myself, even my sweet wine drinking friends remarked that the previously produce dry reds seemed to be a better use of these grapes.  I made a comment about this at one winery and was told quite simply that dry reds take a long time to produce and sweet ones don’t so we make sweet ones so that we can sell them fast.  Wow, was all I could think. I am not sure that sacrificing quality for quick production is a good overall strategy if you want the rest of the world to not laugh when you say you are drinking Virginia wine.