Ever wonder what actually happens when you book a private sommelier? Is it just a guy showing up with a fancy corkscrew and some opinions? (Okay, sometimes it is a little bit that.) But September always gets me thinking about the behind-the-scenes side of this job, because as soon as the kids are back in school and the pool floats get put away, my phone starts buzzing again with people ready to host! So let's pull back the curtain a little, shall we? It always starts with a c

If you've felt like 2026 has been a rollercoaster, wait until you hear what Virginia's grapevines went through! I've been getting a lot of questions lately about why this year's Virginia harvest is such a hot topic (pun very much intended), so let's talk about it, because it's honestly one of the wildest vintage stories our wine country has seen in a long time. It all started back in April. After an unusually warm early spring coaxed the buds out ahead of schedule, a brutal f