Virginia wine industry's harvest blues
Gray Ghost Vineyards has a curious way of customer loyalty: to make them work for their wine.
In the fall, hundreds of customers are turning to the harvest aid. Their reward? The opportunity to buy a case of wine at a discount of 15 percent (plus lunch and a T-shirt).
"I love wine, and I wanted to see the process in action," said Kristy Malik, 30, explaining why she woke up at 5:15 to make the disc from Luckett Amissville, Virginia 'C' is hard work, "she said, bending to place a bunch of grapes in a vat yellow.
Up the road, a half-dozen volunteers at Delaplane Cellars sat around a table, plucking stinkbugs, spiders and moldy grapes from the vineyard’s Cabernet Franc crop. Sorting grapes isn’t glamorous, but the work is crucial this year, said Jim Dolphin , Delaplane’s owner.
“The wetness and the humidity has in some cases led to botrytis, which is a mold that can lead to sallow rot, which is basically where the grapes start to rot on the vine and turn to vinegar,” Mr. Dolphin said. “It’s going to be impossible to make great wine this year.
Straight from the 'heART'
The question was also the last thing Plute wrote in her journal before everything happened, she said. In the days that followed, Plute started a line of painted T-shirts, a project she calls works of [heART], after meeting two women with costly illnesses.
Plute met Katie Renz in the recovery room after having surgery to remove her gallbladder in the beginning of July. Renz was there for a much different reason. She had developed a strong case of dehydration because her bi-weekly chemotherapy treatments made it hard for her to keep liquids down.
Plute started works of [heART] to benefit those who are ill and unable to pay their medical bills. The painted T-shirts feature a variety of designs that include elephants, lions, trees, fish and even a painted shirt tie for a more professional appearance. The shirts are $10 each. Plute plans to give all the proceeds to a woman with a virus that causes blood clots and severe fatigue who has costly medical bills and doesn’t have health insurance.






Gray Ghost Vineyards rewards volunteer workers with a 15 percent discount on wine along with lunch and T-shirts. (Steve Hay/Special to The ) By Sadie Dingfelder - Special to The Gray Ghost Vineyards rewards volunteer
Still scoreless as we head to the bottom of the fourth, and the Busch Stadium people do that thing where they slingshot T-shirts at people. by Daniel Barbarisi Aww, no more perfect game. Jaime Garcia just walked Ian Kinsler. OK, I'm going home,




