Very Daring

Thought to be the oldest branded wine in the United States (dating from circa 1835), Virginia Dare was named after the first child born of English parents in America. The white Virginia Dare was originally given the not-very-PC name Minnehaha; the red, Pocahontas. The wine was made from scuppernong, a variety of native grapes that were found growing along the coasts of Virginia and North Carolina. (The grapes are named after the Scuppernong River). During Prohibition, the company that made Virginia Dare stopped making wine and instead manufactured flavorings (which depend on alcohol during extraction). In 2016, Francis Ford Coppola renamed his Geyser Peak Winery in California to Virginia Dare Winery. The Virginia Dare Extract Company is still manufacturing flavor extracts in Brooklyn, NY.

March “News from the Napa Valley”…brought to you by Premiere Napa Valley

500

Number of kilos (1100 pounds) of grapes per day that a picker in Champagne can harvest. Manual picking remains the tradition in Champagne since the 18th century and is required. Each year about 120,000 pickers,… Continue reading

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