James Madison was the 4^th U .S. president, the leading
framer of the constitution, author of the Federalist papers that advocated for
its passage, and the last of the Founding Fathers to die, someone with similar
intellect to Jefferson if not so broad in his range of interests. Madison’s
wife Dolly was also a celebrity and intellectual in her own right. Looking back
to Abigail Adams and Dolly Madison, we see first ladies active in their
husband’s presidencies long before Nancy Reagan mumbled the correct answers to
press questions when Ronny was losing it mentally in the last years of his
presidency or Hillary Clinton was assigned to Bill to revamp the country’s
health insurance system.

Montpelier is a more standard large Virginia estate than
Monticello but also has a history of change in ownership, and the interest in preserving
it as historic monument has been relatively recent. Montpellier passed out of
family ownership after Madison’s death (they had no children together) and was
remodeled by future owners which included some Duponts . The exterior
restoration was not completed until 2008, and work is still being done inside and
research undertaken to make the interior look as it did in Madison’s era.

After visiting three presdeidental homes of founding
fathers, it’s notable that all the earliest presidents and some later ones
(James Buchanan, for example) had long and distinguished service at many levels
of government that made them natural leaders of country. That’s quite a
contrast to the last half century when most presidents, including the current
and immediate previous one, had relatively short involvement in government at
not very high levels, several like George W. Bush, Clinton, Reagan, and Carter
having been governors of states as the highest position in government held
before being elected president. Only George HW Bush had a background similar to
that of most of our early presidents.

The landscape of Albemarle & Orange Counties is some of
best manicured looking terrain anywhere . Many parts of the rural South are
still on the trashy looking side with trailer parks, gas stations, fast food
restaurants, and helter-skelter development strewn around. Around
Charlottesville the estates are all surrounded by white or brown fences with
well-manicured bright green grass with horses and thick black Angus cattle.

The area is also one of two densest concentrations of
wineries in Virginia. With charges of around $6 or $7 per tasting in this
popular wine region it’s no longer the great bargain it was when I lived in
Virginia more than twenty years ago when there were fewer wineries but you could
go from one to another, sample free, and quickly get tipsy. Nowadays, it would
add up quickly. So I kept my visits to two – Keswick before Montpellier and
Barboursville afterwards. At Keswick I was the only one there, but it was still
morning, and my fee got me a free glass to keep but only seven small samples. Wine
is good anytime and there’s no reason you can’t do a tasting at 9:30 in the
morning . Barboursville Vineyards has a fancy restaurant with a top chef on the
premises and is one of the largest operations in Virginia. It’s a bit snooty
and clearly very popular. It was mobbed on what was likely the most beautiful
October Saturday of the season. It was one of those situations when you have to
fight your way to the counter and push others aside or else you won’t get any
as the pretentious people with more money than brains monopolize the pourers’
time with their silly chatter; the region is getting very Napa Valley lately. But
I got to taste 19 wines for my fee, most of their basic line but not their
finer reserves, of all types from sparkling to whites, rose, reds, and dessert
wines.

Some of the wines are really delicious and justify the
prices from $12 to $30 for most of what was included in sample flights. Virginia
has a couple of rather unique wines. The Viognier wines to me bear some
resemblance to Chardonnay but are still unique with somewhat fuller feel in the
mouth than most whites . The grape is originally from France but had almost died
out until it was found to thrive fantastically in Virginia. Keswick also offered
several wines from Norton grape, a native Virginia red grape that makes tarter
lighter wines with some resemblance to Pinot Noir. I’m going to start searching
out wineries in more remote parts of the state that hopefully don’t charge for
tastings!