A little over two years ago, the Virginia Wine Benefit started showing up a lot in my social media. This group was founded to support the Virginia Winemakers Research Exchange (a group that supports knowledge sharing on growing practices and current research into best practices with a goal of elevating the quality of Virginia Wine- how can you not support this????), and other beneficiaries this year are Virginia Women in Wine (a group that highlights and supports the growing number of outstanding female winegrowers, winemakers, and winery owners in Virginia) and the Oenoverse Club (a group that brings people from historically marginalized and underrepresented groups into the wine industry).
If you know me well, you know I do not love getting all fancied up for things, but for Virginia Wine, I will. Ticket purchases raise funds for the event itself (with Virginia Wine being poured and heavy hors d’oeuvres being served), as well as the charities. Throughout the day and into the evening, a silent auction with Virginia Wine-related items being auctioned off is occuring, with winners announced at the event. I’ve been fortunate to attend (and write about) a past wine experience from this event, and these are some fun and not too typical types of events!
This year’s auction items include:
- A private tour of the not-yet-opened Virginia Wine Collective Space (winemaker studios and incubator project from Eastwood and Jake Busching)
- A gift certificate to the Ivy Inn (oooooooh!)
- A Truffle Hunt and Guided Tasting at Jump Mountain Vineyards
- Private Tasting at Turk Mountain with winemaker Mathieu Finot
- An Olive Oil Experience at the Blue Table
- Chairs and a table made from reclaimed barrel wood
Current Auction Item List Link
If you follow them on facebook, you’ll see more details about the items, and as more are added, you will get to see even more great stuff. New items continue to be added to the auction. I’ve seen auction items like winemaker dinners (with several winemakers coming together), learning to saber a sparkling wine bottle (this terrifies me, but I’ve now watched it happen and it is pretty cool). I saw one previous prize that included a bottle of no longer available wine called “3” that was a collaboration between Jake Busching and a few other winemakers. There are some seriously cool opportunities to geek out on great wine with the people who bring it to life in the fields and get it into bottle for us.
The event takes place on April 25 from 6:30-9:30 at the Wool Factory here in Charlottesville. Hubby and I are planning to be there, and I have a few things I’m planning to bid on when it goes live. Not convinced you want to go yet? Check out this news story about the event!
And I have an opportunity for you!
I’d love it if you bought some tickets and joined us for the fun and camaraderie. But I just scored two tickets to give away to a follower. So here’s what you have to do:
- Comment on this post – just a few sentences about a Virginia Wine that you love that you think isn’t one of the “heavy hitters” – something off the beaten path that you think rocks that you doubt very many others have tried. What made you love it?
- Post your comment on the blog or at least on our instagram or facebook post about the event no later than Saturday, April 5, 2025 at midnight EST.
- I will put the names into a spreadsheet by timestamp and have a random number generator choose a number – the one that corresponds to the commentor tells me who gets the two free tickets!
- ONLY ONE COMMENT ENTRY PER PERSON. If you provide more than one wine (and who can love only ONE Va Wine????) then your first timestamp is your entry.
- Winners will be announced on our around Sunday, April 6 on our facebook and insta, and I will reach out to you via the email or profile DM your comment is posted.
Really! That’s it! I hope we will see you at the Generous Pour – it’s a great cause, and there are some amazing people going to the event. I really hope you will enter, and if you’re not the lucky winner, I hope you will grab some tickets for a fantastic date or friends out night! Want buy buy tickets anyway? Here is a link!
My NoVa Wine Blog 
First of all, thanks for your great blog. My husband and I are headed with another couple next weekend to Loudoun and looking forward to checking out some new wineries we haven’t visited before. Second, for a “hidden treasure” wine, my vote goes to the Lucky Break at Loving Cup. It’s filled with grapes that aren’t found often around Virginia – 60% Corot Noir, 37% Marquette, 4% Norton (Norton being the exception there) and is a great red. Not a huge red, but not so easy-drinking as to be unremarkable. Karl has done an amazing job with some very unusual grapes for the area and LC is well worth checking out!
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My personal fave wine in Virginia that I consider a “hidden gem” is Rosemont’s Sparkling Rosé. It is delightful. Rosemont is located in the southern part of Virginia close to the NC border, so it’s not as well known, but all of their wines are just stellar.
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Loving Ashton Creek Vineyard’s 23 Petit Manseng. It’s great for these warmer days with juicy tropical fruit and just the right touch of sweetness on the finish! Talk about a perfect summer wine!
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I’m not sure it’s a hidden gem, however the Hark Vineyards Located in Earlysville, was new to me when I visited a couple weekends ago. I tasted multiple wines, all of which were impressive. My favorite however was the Pinot Gris. I came away with several bottles. Last night we had a bottle before dinner. Its tasteful notes of melon and floral went so perfectly with some light cheese and fresh fruit. The rest of the bottle was served with dinner, which consist of a white sauce pasta dish. The Pinot Gris complimented it perfectly. I encourage anyone who hasn’t been to the vineyard to go and try their award winning wines. Their new tasting room will be opening soon and from what I’ve seen, it’s going to be beautiful!
Dan- thanks for the opportunity to comment.
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