I Feel the Shift

By Doug Fabbioli As the snow piles are melting down and we are seeing the ground again, I feel like we are hitting a fresh season with better luck happening ahead. Maybe it’s just spring, maybe it’s that Luck O’ the Irish thing or just that we’ve been down so long that it all looks up from here. For whatever reason, the Virginia Wine industry has a lot of positive things happening in 2026 and we want all you folks to visit, imbibe, enjoy, and bring home the tastes that we grow for you! From the vineyard side, as cold as it was in January and February, the reports from our state entomologists, or bug specialists, is that this extended period of cold will kill off a significant amount of the eggs for the spotted lantern flies. Also, although many vineyard sites are still in a drought situation, growers have developed ways to manage their vines better through soil improvements, irrigation and pruning techniques. We have learned more about the symbiotic relationship between the soil nutrie

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