By Doug Fabbioli Crossing Over To Cocktails Recently, I was asked to speak at a conference on collaboration. Ok, it’s not quite a big surprise me talking about collaboration. Anyway, the Cider Conference asked me to sit on a panel with other beverage industry folks to talk about why and how to work together. For […]

By Doug Fabbioli   Winter Work When the weather gets colder and the leaves have fallen off the vine, the grower gets a chance to take a nice slow, deep breath. Another season is in the books and the vines are not susceptible to the diseases that we scouted for over the last 7 months […]

By Doug Fabbioli When a Crop Creates a Home As a farmer and a business guy, I always have an eye open while traveling looking for what people do in a certain town, valley or region. A crop, a factory, a land feature, there is usually something that has folks settling in an area making […]

By Doug Fabbioli The “Strategery” of Winemaking Winemakers are mostly an odd group of people. They are certainly well respected as a producer, an artist and often a farmer with vision, drive and stamina it takes to bottle the best of Mother Nature each year. We get the recognition of dancing with the weather and […]

Publishers Picks: VA Wines By Bob Tagert Nancy has told you about one of her favorite winery excursions in her Grapevine column and that inspired me to tell you about a trek that I encourage you to take as well. In this short piece I will hit on a few of our favorite wineries and […]

By Doug Fabbioli Liquid Diversity! There is a lot of tradition in the wine industry. France is probably the most consistent enforcer of the traditions. Their laws insist that only certain grape varietals are planted in certain areas. We in America are fortunate that we have the right to plant any varieties anywhere we choose. […]

by Nancy Bauer, Virginia Wine in My Pocket Kids or No Kids – That is the Question!   Some wineries love kids, some tolerate them, and some say nope, not happening, “don’t even think about it!” We’ve rounded up a few of each to help you pick the right winery for your day away in […]

By Doug Fabiolli   Back to Basics         Our agricultural mentoring program got a big boost a few weeks ago. Now I really need to step up my game to teach better, say the best words and act like a grown up. I hope I can keep the illusion of knowledge going. Along those […]

By Doug Fabbioli   A Life in the Day           For some reason I find myself caught in the middle of this turbulent storm of productivity. I know we are making business, creating jobs, collaborating with others, maintaining quality, giving great customer service, teaching techniques and strategies for success, building the skills of the […]