An hour to remember with Sparkling Virginia Wine Women

Wow, talk about an hour to remember.

Shannon Horton, Christine Vrooman, Patricia Hodson, and Joy Ting talk sparkling at the Homestead Resort

In November at the Omni Homestead Resort’s Virginia Wine Experience Celebration, four of Virginia’s most vibrant wine women talked sparkling. With Joy Ting (right) as the session’s insightful and knowledgeable moderator, we heard from (from left) Shannon Horton, Christine Vrooman, and Patricia Hodson, including:

> How Shannon works alongside her winemaker daughter and vineyard manager mother to create Horton Vineyards’ hand-riddled sparkling Viognier, turning each bottle four times a day for weeks

> How Patricia's winemaker daughter Emily took over the sparkling program at Veritas Vineyards, and son-in-law Elliott’s interest in sparkling led to the family’s launch of Virginia Sparkling Company (VSC), which riddles hundreds of bottles at the same time using gyropallets

> How Christine’s winemaker son, Nathan, takes her Ankida Ridge Vineyards Blanc de Noir through first fermentation and then turns the wine over to Elliott at VSC, who then adds the sparkle.

Family. That’s so Virginia Wine Country.

The downside? As Shannon hilariously said during the session, “We‘re always just one big family fight away from not having a winemaker.”

I wish I’d taped this session. These women were #onfire.