AltWeeklies Wire
Blunt Truth: Ten Years in the Life of a Local Drug Dealernew

Seems like a lot of us are buying weed. So I ask you, how well do you know your dealer? How well do you know what he goes through? (How much do you really want to know?) Meet "Mr. Dealer" -- he's 26 years old and has been selling weed for over 10 years.
C-Ville Weekly |
J. Tobias Beard |
07-30-2008 |
Drugs
Virginia Criminalizes Salvia, Nobody Noticesnew
At midnight July 1, Salvia Divinorum, the mind altering Mexican plant whose use by teenagers has been sweeping the nation (or so says some media), officially became illegal, giving some Virginians out there a cool, new, felony-level, drug-using past.
C-Ville Weekly |
J. Tobias Beard |
07-09-2008 |
Drugs
The 'First Lady of Virginia Wine' Talks About Closing Her Winerynew

Felicia Warburg Rogan, founder of Oakencroft Vineyard and Winery, is one of a handful of people who can rightfully be said to have helped create the Virginia Wine industry. But now, after 25 years, Oakencroft is shutting its doors on December 31.
C-Ville Weekly |
J. Tobias Beard |
06-11-2008 |
Food+Drink
Why Don't You Know What's in Your Wine?new

We want to believe wine is nothing but grapes and sunshine. The grapes are picked, crushed, aged and poured. This idea abides in advertising and drips from the lips of every winemaker and winery owner. Nine times out of 10, however, it's far from the truth.
C-Ville Weekly |
J. Tobias Beard |
05-28-2008 |
Food+Drink
Winemakers Deal with the Rising Cost of Barrelsnew

To get the kind of taste that sells, you need oak. But brand new French oak barrels, the ne plus ultra of wine containers, are very expensive, and with the dollar falling steadily against the Euro, they've only gotten more so.
C-Ville Weekly |
J. Tobias Beard |
05-14-2008 |
Food+Drink
Touring the Future of Virginia's Wine Industrynew
The Washington Wine Academy and Reston Limousine have started bringing groups from D.C. to Charlottesville to tour wine country, and intrigued by reports of Long Island wine tours gone mad, and by a recent article claiming that "Virginia wine success will come from tourism," I decided to get on the bus and see for myself what this approaching success will look like.
C-Ville Weekly |
J. Tobias Beard |
04-30-2008 |
Food+Drink
The Eco-Friendly Ways of Virginia's DelFosse Vineyardsnew
It has long been gospel that Virginia wines will never be organic; the sheer number of bugs and mildews pretty much necessitate spraying. But organic is sooo hippy dippy 1990s anyway; sustainability is what's hot.
C-Ville Weekly |
J. Tobias Beard |
04-23-2008 |
Food+Drink
Marrying the Wild and the High-Tech at Acorn Hill Winerynew
Making wine is incredibly scientific and complicated, yet its marketing still emphasizes the pastoral. The truth is that today's winemakers might just as easily wear lab coats as Carhartts.
C-Ville Weekly |
J. Tobias Beard |
04-16-2008 |
Food+Drink
Wishing Happy Birthday to Our Founding Foodienew
Reading John Hailman's 2006 book, Thomas Jefferson on Wine, I learned that we owe our third President for much more than a great university and a few important documents.
C-Ville Weekly |
J. Tobias Beard |
04-09-2008 |
Food+Drink
Want to Learn About Wine? Read the Labelnew
Ninety percent of what you need to know about wine can be found on the bottle, and that knowledge can be winnowed down to four facts: the winery, the grapes, the vintage and the region. Or who, what, when and where. If you have to add why to that list, then there's just no helping you.
C-Ville Weekly |
J. Tobias Beard |
03-05-2008 |
Food+Drink
Tags: wine
Salvia: The Next Casualty in the War on Drugsnew
Let us herald the last legal days of the strong, natural hallucinogen salvia divinorum in Virginia. Raise your hand if you've ever heard of it before.
C-Ville Weekly |
J. Tobias Beard |
03-05-2008 |
Drugs
Tags: Drugs
Why is Virginia Wine Interesting?new
Because it's a work in progress.
C-Ville Weekly |
J. Tobias Beard |
02-27-2008 |
Food+Drink
Virginia Wine 2.0new
Michael Shaps is making Virginia wine work in a new way.
C-Ville Weekly |
J. Tobias Beard |
02-20-2008 |
Food+Drink
Behind The New Yorker Story on Thomas Jefferson's Winesnew
The first bottle went at auction for $156,450, still the record for a single bottle of wine, but almost as soon as the gavel fell questions arose about their authenticity.
C-Ville Weekly |
J. Tobias Beard |
02-07-2008 |
Food+Drink
How a Few Wine Lovers Upset the Va. Wine Industrynew
Immediately following the founding of the Wine Guild of Charlottesville, several distributors were furious. They said that by advertising how much wine actually costs retailers, and how much lower the Guild's mark-up is, the Guild would force distributors to undercut the shops and restaurants that are their most important customers.
C-Ville Weekly |
J. Tobias Beard |
01-23-2008 |
Food+Drink