Catching Up...

No, I have not fallen off the face of the Earth, but the way I felt last week, I was kind of wishing I had. Jeremy and I both came down with nasty colds. Mine blossomed into the worst sinus infection I've ever had.

We're both on the mend now, so I'll share with you what we've been up to. While working at washingtonpost.com, Jeremy and I have been compiling and editing videos for a multimedia wine guide. We've visited 12 vineyards, which isn't a bad way to spend your working days!

Here's an unripened grape vine (I forget which kind of grape it produces). Come October, the grapes will be ready for plucking, and they will be made into wine.

Here is a worker at Breax Vineyard showing off a bottle of sweet wine.

We got very familiar with Virginia wines while here, and we really enjoyed them. In particular, the Norton grape, which is indigenous to Virginia, and Cabernet Franc, which grows very well here.

We also came across a wine made from elderberries. (Quoting Monty Python: "Your mother was a hamster and your father smelt of elderberries!")

Not only was the elderberry syrup made at the vineyard tasty, it is also very good for respiratory issues and allergies. I have both of these problems, so we bought two bottles of the syrup!

Overall, it was a great experience, though it ended up being a lot of work! The best part (aside from the wine tastings) is that we learned a lot about the technology that we will need to make us competitive in the media world.