The Insiders' Guide to St. Barths: Virginia's wine country

As a counterpoint to the adjacent post on California wine country, I thought I'd report on our weekend trip to the Virginia countryside near Charlottesville. We stayed at Keswick Hall - a beautiful, well-run hotel with great food and service and an 'interesting' as well as lovely golf course which only fed into my frustration with the game. There are many wineries in the area. We visited Barboursville and had a great meal at their restaurant Palladio. Nearby is Horton winery which we also visited. The Viognier seems to be the most successful wine for Virginia especially the sweeter versions. I don't think California wines have to worry about their Virginia competition but the food is a closer call. The Keswick restaurant, Fosset's, is great. We also had a very fine meal at OXO restaurant next to the pedestrian mall in Charlottesville. We'll be going to Mendocino and Sonoma later this summer and will post a comparison.

We also stopped at Montpelier, James Madison's estate nearby, and had a great trip back to the time of the American Revolution and the formation of the Constitution, for which he was chief architect. The main house is undergoing a restoration but there is much to see there, in a museum on site, in the graveyards, and on the thousands of acres of property in the middle of horse country.