First Impressions of Wine in Lynchburg

I suggest we learn to love ourselves before it's made illegal.
When will we learn? When will we change?
Just in time to see it all fall down.
Those left standing... will make millions...
writing books on the way it should have been.

When she woke in the morning
she knew that her life had passed her by.
And she called out a warning,
"Don't ever let life pass you by."
--Incubus

I was raised here in a small town just outside of Lynchburg (Forest). I attended Jefferson Forest High School (Go Cavs!) and knew that there were wineries up in Charlottesville and over in Williamsburg. Those of you that have been reading this blog since it started 8 years ago (Those of you that are new, I tend to exaggerate) know that I had lived both in Oregon and South Carolina since. Now that I am back in Virginia, I am looking for that "go to" wine and beer shop for what I want to enjoy. I'm still looking...

Craft beer seems to be the big "to do" here in Lynchburg, and there is nothing wrong with that, but it seems to be setting itself up for failure. There is no real awareness or education, the best beer shop is in the back of a pizza joint and there are no growler stations to be found. And wine? ...here we go...

When I came back here to visit my parents, we always stopped at a chain supermarket to pick up wine, which has had, admittedly, a pretty decent seleciton, but by the standards that South Carolina has produced, the selections here are, how do I put it nicely... "less than desirable." What I have noticed is that the supermarkets that have a passable selection like to make you feel as though you can't see the forest for the trees. There definitely is selection, but selection of wines that are all in the same price point. example, at the chain store that I was at, there was a large selection of Pinot Noirs and the price points were all within $5 dollars of each other. I'm sure that exhaustive studies had been performed to keep them in that price point, but what about someone that wants more?

And when it came to value picks, the only selections were the cheapest of the cheap, not in terms of price, but in terms of quality.

So why don't I just go to one of the wine stores in the area? Well, there are two. One is a semi-gourmet European Style cafe that doesn't want to expand its holdings and the other is an old general store that has more of a beer selection.

It seems as though the wine culture is dependent on the restaurants in town, but here lies the crux: most restaurants are starting to lean back on their wine lists to force a corkage system and granted, some of them are foregoing a percentage price for a reasonable $5. This system would be a wonderful system in a place like Charleston or Washington DC, but if you can't find a good wine in the stores, you are still subject to higher pricing on restaurant menus. This shouldn't happen in Virginia.

The first grapes in the colonies were planted here in Virginia under the orders of the Crown of England:

Virginians have made wine for more than four centuries. The Jamestown settlers had such hopes that Virginia would become a major source of wine for the British Empire that in 1619 they signed into law a requirement for each male settler to plant and tend at least ten grape vines.

(http://www.virginiawine.org/learn/wine-history/)

Thomas Jefferson devoted his knowledge of agriculture primarily around wine. We have wineries in this area: 5 in Bedford county and many more just north of us in Amherst county. We as Virginians should embrace the proud heritage that our ancestors laid out for us in wine and promote it as much as possible. We have the Norton grape and similar growing conditions to the North Coast of California.

We should have better wine selection and education in this area, but it is up to the people to want it. Do you? I know that while I am here, I will do my best to promote not only Virginia wine, but wine in general.

Get ready Virginia... we're about to get our learn on.