The Other Coast is our series on the wine regions of the American East. Each class focuses on a single state or region, covers the grapes and styles worth knowing, and unpacks why the eastern half of the country is one of the most underrated stories in American wine.
No background required. Come curious.
Thomas Jefferson tried to make Virginia a wine state. It took two centuries, but he was right. Virginia has quietly become one of the most respected wine regions on the East Coast, and the traditional side of the industry is where that reputation was built. Producers working with Bordeaux varieties, Viognier, and a small group of grapes that have proven they belong in the mid-Atlantic climate. Wines built for the dinner table and made with a clear reference to European classicism.
We taste through a lineup of Virginia's established producers and cover what makes the state work as a wine region. The climate story, the soil story, and the grapes that have quietly emerged as Virginia's calling cards. Along the way we walk through why the state took so long to arrive and why it now belongs in serious American wine conversations.