Fletcher's Twist! 

George, along with Jim, and Neil rounded up most of the "junk" that littered the property and George had it hauled-off.  The field is laid-out for planting vines and Morton [Winery Building Contractors] has completed the winery building's shell.  Our Landscaping Group has been busy planning the big picture, after which they'll hone-in on the details of which plants to plant where, how, and whatever else (thank you so much Ladies & Ray Summerall).  In case anyone else wants to make suggestions, I already gave them my thoughts on how to successfully cultivate dandelions.

In the manor house electric wires are snaking their way throughout, windows and window casings are being caulked and receiving final coats of paint, and the kitchen lay-out is taking shape.  In every fireplace and outside lamp post area you'll notice copper tubing for delivery propane to the gas fire logs and open flame lights.  How did we get them there?  As unobtrusively, and seemingly the hardest way possible.

Late one afternoon, after everyone had left the "job-site" I sat against the stone BBQ and recalled images of La Grange from last November.  I guess being in the middle of the day to day battle I hadn't taken any time to appreciate where we are today.  meanwhile birds flittered amongst the dogwoods that painted the landscape against the backdrop of greening Bull Run Mountain... wow my inherent excitement about La Grange reached a new altitude.  Well, gotta go get a note pad, The Disovery Channel is about to air a show on "Ghosts."

Lafayette French Soldier & Statesman 1757 - 1834 ------ "Humanity has won its battle.  Liberty now has a country." Lafayette

A Taste of History

Each newsletter, more information about historic findings about La Grange and and its people. 

Prince William Historical Group received a presentation in April on "A Taste of Prince William Country Wine History."  The presentation went into the findings uncovered to date of all known wineries and vineyards which existed prior to The Winery at La Grange.  It was very interesting to find that a good percentage of attendees had no clue as to what was going on in the Western part of the County.  Well, they do now and are looking forward to having their October meeting at the new Winery at La Grange.  

I have retyped Benoni E. Harrison's entire will he wrote on January 21st, 1869.  http://app.e2ma.net/campaign/6f2425f6fccc8becd395af67f90c3bf8.  Eventually, this same document will be printed on parchment paper, framed, and placed in the appropriate place in the Harrison Manor House.

Something about the name "Benoni" has bugged me and my research has found that it is a very rare name.  It is a boy's name of Hebrew origin, and its meaning is "son of my sorrow." 

Another item that has been on my mind and that is where did the name "La Grange" come from and at the suggestion of one of the Prince William Historical group's member, it may have been named by General Lafayette when he returned after the Revolutionary War in 1824 and toured some of the states where they honored him by having him name places.  I'm still working to "connect" this to La Grange.  If you did not know, La Grange means "The Barn" in French and I've also seen it to mean "The Granery." 

Research continues!  Ray Olszewski

Marketing Activities

Evergreen Manor House Fund Raiser.  Our Golf Team representing Pearmund Cellars and The Winery at La Grange participated in the Friday Golf Fund Raiser Tournament which included:  Kurt (Slammer), Michael (Methodical), Joe (Golfer Wannabe) and Ray (Steady, Story Teller).  http://www.evergreenmanorhouse.org/ It was a great day for the team who represented Pearmund Cellars and La Grange finishing at a 1 under par - not the winner, but the team who most enjoyed themselves.  Joe (Golfer Wannabe) is associated with Vino Volo where Pearmund Cellars wines are tasted and sold at Concourse C at Dulles Airport. 

Saturday evening, Fletcher Henderson poured the first tasting of the La Grange's elegant Viognier at the Historical Evergreen Manor House event.  He also poured several Pearmund Cellar wines and spoke about both Pearmund Cellars and the La Grange winery.

The Winery at La Grange website continues to evolve as the restoration and construction continue on the property.  New information is being added to the homepage reflecting the changes on the property and bottling of the first production. Viognier, Vidal Blanc, and Fletcher's Chardonnay have been bottled.  "Snort" Port will be the name of our delicious Port Wine made from Petite Verdot fruit.  You will see ew pictures on the Gallery page to provide a virtual tour of the "Morton" Winery building construction.  By the way, 20 La Grange barrels have been sold, with 3 this past week.  Bob Moe, our Webmaster has started to evelop the Wines page using the wine label images and wine descriptions Chris is providing.  There also is work going on to installing Wireless Internet access to the property from Luminary Online to support Internet connection for Point of Sale process, email, web surfing for staff and customers.

Freelance writer, Ray, submitted his article for the Summer Issue of the Virginia Wine Gazette which will be published on June 1.  Bob Moe, our La Grange WebMaster will be adding the article in the La Grange web site to launch the "History" page. 

We have 200+ "general interest" email addresses from people who have signed up to receive our newsletter.  Sign up is easy by going to the ContactUs page.  If you know of someone who might like to read our monthly newsletter and consider them worthy to be included in this awesome enterprise where boundless opportunities exist for history nuts and wine afficiandos, please send an email to info@wineryatlagrange to include just the email address.  We will add them to our growing list. 

Spring House  

In addition to the significant cleaning out of the Spring House, George and his crew installed a sump a sump pump which will become the source of water for the Harrison Manor House, the white farm house, and the grounds.  The 1800 built house is where the corner stone can be found with the engraving of "W*L April 2 1800.