Facilities include the beautifully restored, historic barn and the studio of artist, Alex Carr, who designs the watercolor prints for labels.

osting et Hills

attention grabbers, and ground breakers, these vineyards are learning how to work with the grapes that thrive in the state’s humid climate. Winemakers are doing the research and the travel necessary to determine how to grow the grapes that make great wine, and Nate Walsh is among the best. He began by apprenticing for three years with Mike Heny at Horton Vineyards in Barboursville. Here he learned the specifics of making wine in Virginia and “of running a relatively large, working winemaking program.”

From Horton, Walsh traveled to

a large operation in Oregon, then on to a smaller one in New Zealand. “Te purpose here,” he says, “was to see the differences in winemaking, in technology, in vineyard management, and in the overall philosophy of what was important about the outcome. I wanted to leave Virginia so that when I came back I would have a better understanding of what we are producing.”

Walsh considers Sunset Hills to be a

good fit for him personally since the owners’ “foremost interest is making better wine, not making the wine quicker or cheaper

17 www.artizenmagazine.com