Wine Country Personality: Erica Goodell

I run Arcady Vineyard B&B and Arcady Vineyard Wine Tours with my husband Chris out of the Monticello Appellation of Virginia. Based just 2.5 miles from Jefferson’s home Monticello, we have a wealth of wineries from which to select for tour routes.

Born in San Francisco, my family was transferred to Bonn, Germany when I was six, and three years later to Bern, Switzerland where we lived until around 1976. Since it was legal in Europe, I spent many enjoyable hours as a teen in the cafés drinking local wine. (I could not afford American coca-cola which, as an import, was much more expensive!) It was a great way to learn to enjoy wine, devoid of the snobbery and attitude so prevalent today. This experience drives me to ensure my tour guests learn that wine is fun, to be enjoyed! No wine snobs need apply! A college career included studies at Colorado State University and Hunter College in New York City where I graduated with a liberal arts degree. My travels led me back to San Francisco and then toHilton Head, South Carolina, working in the restaurant and hotel industry. I met my husband Chris in Hilton Head, and we both moved on to live and work in Tahoe, Mill Valley and Napa, California. In Napa both Chris and I worked in the hospitality and wine industries.

My desire was realized to own a bed and breakfast inn. After extensive research and planning in 1999, we discovered Charlottesville, Virginia’s emerging Wine Country.  Realizing that the time had come to find a site for our business, we traveled to Charlottesville to see if the location was right for us. Charlottesville strongly reminded me of my childhood home in Switzerland – town and country, with very little cookie-cutter suburbs.  Drives five minutes outside of the city center and you have cows grazing in the pastures!

Since moving to Charlottesville in 2000, we have purchased a 13 acre property near Monticello in a cluster of wineries. Here we have completed the first phase and opened our Wine Country-themed Bed and Breakfast, planted a small vineyard of Chambourcin, and  have run the wine tasting tours for 5 years.  

I love working in this industry with its easy camaraderie and support.  The wine tours have given me the chance to really learn our local wines and wineries and watch them evolve over the years.

The industry is growing and changing  so fast that I often feel the more I learn the less I know!

My goal for the future is to complete the final phase of our bed and breakfast, continue running our tours, and possibly work on small individual wine tours overseas. We never tire of discovering new and exciting foods and wine, how they are created;  the history, people and culture behind them, and sharing them all with our guests!

Arcady Vineyard Wine Tours
1376 Sutlers Road
Charlottesville, VA 22902
(434) 872.9475
www.arcadyvineyard.com

Arcady Vineyard Bed and Breakfast
www.innarcadyvineyard.com

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