It's no secret that Thomas Jefferson was a winemaker as well as a politician. His home state, Virginia, is still cranking out the grape juice.

This article from The Orlando Sentinel provides a look at some of the top wineries in the state and offers travel suggestions for those who may want to take in some of the historic sites in between some wine tasting:

Twisting, narrow mountain roads lead past hobby farms and getaways for the wealthy and D.C.-connected, small estates with names such as Skunk Ridge Farm and Fiddletop. At the end of many of these paved goat trails, vineyards climb the slopes of this peak or that as the rest of the Blue Ridge Mountains frame them in "Take that, Napa Valley" splendor.

"Good wine is a necessity of life," Jefferson once wrote. The third president, one-time ambassador to France, loved his wine, and took a shot or two at transplanting French vines to his estates. He never succeeded, but later generations learned to graft the vines onto the root systems of hardy native Virginia grapes.

Jefferson Vineyards is next to Monticello and just a wine-cork's toss from lesser-known Ash Lawn, home of the less celebrated but almost-as-accomplished Virginian James Monroe. Even closer is the historic Michie Tavern, a Revolutionary-era dining and drinking establishment open for tours and meals.

The Jefferson Vineyards winery, established in 1981, was originally named Simeon, for a nearby crossroads. The Jefferson name was taken up, a helpful tour guide informs us during our visit, when the owners realized that the guardians of the Jefferson-Monticello empire had never copyrighted the famous man's famous signature.

But because Jefferson once owned the land the 30 acres of vineyards are on, and tried to grow grapes there, this seems fair.

"Wine-making here in Virginia," the guide tells us, "is basically a hobby." None of the wineries we visited could be called a huge commercial enterprise, although Barboursville has impressive production numbers and ambition.