When The Wine Cellar Comes Upstairs
by Cathy Purple Cherry, AIA, Founding Principal of Purple Cherry Architects
photography by David Burroughs, Durston Saylor, and Darren Setlow
A wine cellar isn’t just for wine connoisseurs or collectors. It is for anyone who desires to store, witness, sip, and share wine with others. However, creating a wine cellar isn’t as simple as selecting a corner of your home and stacking your favorite bottles. Several important factors need to be considered to ensure the space is designed to be beautiful, accessible, functional, and built to preserve your favorite wines for years to come.
African American Professional Horsemen of Keswick
A History of the Significant Contributions Made by Local Black Horsemen
by Elizabeth H. Sutton
On May 12, 2022, in Keswick, VA, the Keswick Hunt Club hosted a special reception to raise funds for the renovation of the Rosenwald School St. John Family Life and Fitness Center in Cobham, VA. The St. John-Rosenwald School, built in 1922–1923, is one of the seven schools constructed in Albemarle County for black elementary school children. Kenneth Wheeler, Jr. MFH and Hunt Club president Peter Taylor organized the event for friends and professional associates in honor of an African American professional horseman, Carroll Bates, and to acknowledge the contributions made by area black horsemen to the success of prominent horse farms in Keswick. Bates, along with several local professional horsemen honored at this reception, were all alumni of schools that offered education for blacks during the era of racial segregation in schools that persisted until the mid 1960s.
2023 Virginia Governor’s Cup®
Delfosse Vineyards and Winery Screaming Hawk Meritage and Eleven Other Virginia Wines Comprise the 2023 Governor’s Cup® Case
During the annual celebration held at Richmond’s Main Street Station, Governor Glenn Youngkin awarded the 2023 Virginia Governor’s Cup to Delfosse Vineyards and Winery for 2021 Screaming Hawk Meritage—a signature estate red blend of 50% Petit Verdot, 30% Cabernet Sauvignon, 10% Cabernet Franc and 10% Malbec. In its 41st year, the competition received 614 entries from over 66 Virginia wineries, cideries, and meaderies. “It is an honor to present this year’s Virginia Governor’s Cup to the team at Delfosse Vineyards and Winery,” said Governor Glenn Youngkin. “Delfosse is adding an exciting new chapter to its venerable history, and we look forward to all they do next as Mountain and Vine Vineyards and Winery.”
Garden Club of Virginia 90th Historic Garden Week The Nation’s Only Statewide House and Garden Tour
Photograph by Robert Llewellyn
For one week in April, visitors tour inspired private landscapes, public gardens and historic sites across For one week in April, visitors tour inspired private landscapes, public gardens and historic sites across Virginia and enjoy the Commonwealth at the peak of springtime blooming. An estimated 2,000 spectacular floral arrangements created by Garden Club of Virginia (GCV) members enhance tour properties. Historic Garden Week 2023 will include 29 unique tours organized and hosted by 48 member clubs located from the foothills of the Shenandoah Valley all the way to the beaches of Tidewater. VAGardenWeek.org GCVirginia.org
Building Business and Community
From the Desk Andrea Copeland Interim President of the Charlottesville Regional Chamber of Commerce
Charlottesville Regional Chamber of Commerce presents Spring LIVE! and Recognition of Leaders Lab Class of 2023.
Collecting with Ken
Sweetmeat Dishes Defined with Antiques Roadshow’s Ken Farmer
Images Colonial Williamsburg Foundation and Brunk Auctions
I recently had the privilege to help sell an amazing piece of English silver from a local home. The sterling epergne, made in London in 1763 in the workshop of Thomas Pitts, came with the original fitted leather and wood case. The piece has extensive handwork and intricate detail.
As I pondered what would be served or displayed in such an item with so many baskets, my first thought was food at a buffet. As it turns out, the English would have likely used it for nuts and sweetmeats. A sweetmeat is what we would call a sugared treat or a cake or a pastry. There is no animal protein or meat in sweetmeat. In Old English, the word ‘mete,’ from which we get the modern ‘meat,’ meant ‘food.’ All vegetarian and non-vegetarian food items were called ‘meat.’ Thus, a more accurate definition of ‘sweetmeat’ is ‘sweet food.’
All Creatures Great and Small
The Great Blue Heron
Great Blue Herons are very common in Virginia and are spotted in the state all year. They are typically seen along the edges of rivers, lakes, and wetlands. They also feed in meadows, farmland, and other open fields. Most of the time, they will either be motionless or moving very slowly through the water, looking for their prey.
