Virginia is poised to create something truly unique — a wine scene that values innovation, collaboration, and diversity. While the state’s wine roots stretch back to 1619, Virginia is only just beginning to carve out its own identity, unburdened by the expectations that weigh on more established regions. Alexya Brown, a digital marketing specialist for Virginia wineries, captures this moment perfectly: “If you want to get to know living wine, as in, get to understand a wine region that’s actively being shaped and defined today, then Virginia is a great place to start.”
One of the leaders in this movement is Oenoverse, a community and platform focused on making the Virginia wine industry more diverse and inclusive. Together with its partner, The Verasion Project, Oenoverse is not just participating in the development of the Virginia wine scene — it’s shaping it. On Nov. 2, 2024, Oenoverse and The Verasion Project will bring back their collaborative wine festival Two Up Wine Down, created to showcase Virginia’s dynamic wines and the community that makes the region so exciting.
Finding Diversity in Grapes and Community
For centuries, attempts to plant grapevines from Europe in Virginia were met with failure. Since the earliest settlers, and famously Thomas Jefferson, each attempt at planting them was thwarted by disease or simply didn’t take to the soils of the New World. It wasn’t until the introduction of French-American hybrid grapes in the 1960s that Virginia wine truly began to flourish.
One of the most distinctive features
