Virginia Wine Week

Talk about great wine time! The week before En Primeurs is Virginia Wine Week! From the press release:

The Virginia Wine Marketing Office and the Virginia Tourism Corporation today announced Love By the Glass, the first-ever Virginia Wine Week. Wine lovers will celebrate Virginia Wine Week March 22-28, 2010 at more than 100 participating restaurants and wine shops across the state.

Virginia Wine Week promotes restaurants and wine shops who offer Virginia wine for sale by the glass. From March 22 to March 28, participating businesses will add at least two Virginia wines for sale by the glass to their menus and merchandise. Look for Virginia Wine Week posters, menus and decals or visit www.VirginiaWine.org to find participating businesses.

I checked out the Virginia Wine Site for participating restaurants in Loudoun County and there are several, including: Landsdowne, The Dock and the Wine Kitchen. The tool is actually very nice, but it would be nice if it listed what the specials are.

I'll keep you posted with any other events I hear about, and if you own a Virginia Winery and are doing something special, drop me a note and I'll post it!

2010 Virginia Governor's Cup Winners Announced

The winners of the Virginia Governor's Cup (Red Only) have been announced. Congratulations to the winners!

GOLD MEDAL WINNERS
Cabernet Franc	2008	Potomac Point	Cabernet Franc
	2007	Sweely Estate	Cabernet Franc
	2007	North Mountain	Cabernet Franc Reserve
Dessert	NV	Cooper	Noche
Meritage	2007	Fox Meadow	Le Renard Rouge
	2007	King Family	Meritage
	2007	Tarara	Meritage
Norton	2005	Chrysalis	Norton Locksley Reserve
	2008	Paradise Springs	Norton
Petit Verdot	2007	James River	Petit Verdot
	2008	North Gate	Petit Verdot
	2008	Sugarleaf	Petit Verdot
	2007	Gadino	Petit Verdot
	2005	Ingleside	Petit Verdot Reserve
Proprietary	2007	Rosemont	Kilravock

I find it intriguing that there is a such a high concentration of Petit Verdot amongst the winners. Is Petite Verdot the new Virginia Wine?

Virginia Wines in the UK

At the DC Sip & Twit last week I was lucky enough to run into Christopher Parker from New Horizon Wines and he was very excited about how well Virginia wines are doing in the UK. He mentioned several shops that are carrying them and he is seeing more awareness of them.

The UK has a long history of infatuation with great wines, so this is exciting news! Christopher has graciously agreed to answer some questions for me. I hope to have those ready soon.

Hidden Brook Winery

Eric and Debbie opened Hidden Brook winery in 2002, but they have been growing grapes on the property since 1999.

The tasting room is in a beautiful cabin they built themselves over the three year period after the first planting. The day we visited the power was out (high winds), so please forgive the darker than usual pictures. I really like the spacious simplicity of the tasting room, plenty of places to sit and enjoy a bottle of wine and the roaring fire.




Debbie actually did the pouring for us, which was nice to get her insight into the wines. They tend to produce sweeter wines than those usually finds in Loudoun County, in fact two of the nine wines we tried were dessert wines. They also produce a Chardonnay and a Vidal Blanc as well a Chambourcin (both standalone and blended with the Vidal Blanc, Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon.

Hidden Brook is a great place to come in from out of the cold and enjoy a light bottle of wine and some cheese.

Snow in Bordeaux

Based on all the Twitter and Facebook comments, I believe it is snowing in Bordeaux. Also, based on those comments, I gather the people of Bordeaux deal with snow about as well as people in the DC Metro area do. Yet another thing the two wine regions have in common :)

Update:: My friends at Brane Cantenac have some great pictures on their blog.

Sip, Swirl, Snark

Another useful Virginia wine blog is Sip, Swirl, Snark. They do a great job of talking about Virginia wineries...check them out!

Revisiting Casanel Vineyards

I went out to Casanel last year after they had just opened and had a great time. There was still a lot that Casey and Nelson wanted to do to the winery, so I thought it would be a good time for a follow up visit.

The tasting room is completely finished, including the downstairs area, and it looks really nice. Both the tasting room and the adjacent patio are warm and inviting. Nelson is still recovering from his surgery (we all wish you well) but his daughters took good care of us. The gazebo is almost finished and we were were able to sit under it and enjoy the feeling of being in the middle of the lake while we drank our wine.

As for the wines, they have added a Chardonnay (done in the Chablis style) to their line up, and, as I suspected the Cabernet Sauvignon has aged well. Its a surprisingly smooth wine, full bodied with lots of cherry and cedar.

The vines are also coming along nicely, with at least one section looking like it will be ready to yield good fruit next year.

Steven Spurrier Tastes Veramar Wines

I mentioned Virginia wines are going to be represented at the London International Wine Fair. This is, obviously, a really big deal and the wineries owners I've talked to are naturally excited.

But, it is not just Virginia winemakers who are excited, it seems the international community is excited as well. Check out what Steven Spurrier said about Veramar wines:

Veramar Vineyards 2007 Chardonnay:
Fresh pale yellow, good broad Chardonnay fruit backed by good acidity, quite high in alcohol, but good fruit. 16-.

Veramar Vineyard 2006 Cabernet Franc:
Good colour and good fleshy fruit, quite forward, nice "earthy" taste,
quite French in style, and a little green on the finish. 16-.

Steven Spurrier works for Decanter and uses their 17 point grading scale...so a 16 is very good!

Virginia Wines at the London International Wine Fair

The London International Wine Fair is the second largest trade event for wine in the world. Buyers from all over Europe will meet from May 12th -14th this year to learn about wine from just about every wine producing country and this is the place where a lot of buying decisions are made.

This year the LIWF will have a special exhibit of Virginia Wines. New Horizons will be displaying wines from 10 Virginia wineries:

• Barboursville Vineyards


• Breaux Vineyards


• Corcoran Vineyards


• Keswick Vineyards


• Pearmund Cellars


• Rappahannock Cellars


• Veramar Vineyards


• Veritas Winery & Vineyards


• White Hall Vineyards


• Williamsburg Winery

Representatives of these wineries will be traveling to London to talk up their wine and Virginia wineries in general. This is a great opportunity for Virginia wines to get recognized not just in the States, but internationally. Good luck to all of the wineries!

Casanel Vineyards

Casanel Vineyards is one of the newest wineries in Loudoun County. One of the cool things about Virginia wineries is that many of them have been able to take advantage of existing buildings to make really unique tasting rooms. Willowcroft and Sunset Hills are just two examples of wineries that have created really unique tasting venues.

Casanel follows in this tradition with their efforts to turn a 200+ year old stone barn into a tasting room. They've even documented their progress.

Of course a unique tasting experience is no good without good wines to match. While they have planted their own grapes, it will still be a year or two before those are ready. In the meantime they are making their wines over at Hillsborough. Make no mistake, these are not Hillsborough wines re-labelled, these are Casanel wines.

They currently offer 4 wines, a Viognier which is crisp and dry and a Norton, Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon. The reds are all 2007, so they are still a little young, but they show promise. The Cabernet Sauvignon was the standout here, it is immediately drinkable, but letting it decant for a while really brings out the flavors.

Dog Friendly Wineries

A nice list of dog friendly wineries in Virginia. It is not comprehensive, but it is a start.

Ok, the whole dogs thing is a little weird, but another Virginia wine blogger who is hitting all of the right wineries and makes her own wine...I gotta add the link.

It is nice to see Virginia wines getting noticed outside of the state. Though a note to Katherine Calos, if you are going to give friends a white from Virginia make it a Viognier, something we grow really well -- anyone can do a Chardonnay.

The 2007 Virginia Wine Festival was this past weekend. I went early on Sunday and it was a perfect day for it. Not too hot, but not yet chilly. The festival was spread out under 5 tents and was very well attended.

A couple of highlights: Waterford Vineyards and Windham Winery have successfully completed their respective name changes. In a weird way, I guess it is nice that Virginia wineries are becoming so well-known that they draw the attention of other wineries/crystal companies.

I also came across a winery I was not familiar with, Athena Vineyards. They had some nice wines. I especially liked their Nightingale Red a Chambourcin-based wine. They also had a Cabernet Franc that was ok, but a little light for my tastes in Cab Franc.

Overall, a good day.

Don't forget, the 32nd annual Virginia Wine Festival is this weekend. Tickets are $25 at the gate. My recommendations: 1. Get there early. 2. Stay Hydrated.

I got the following email from a reader, and winemaker, in Virginia:

We have run into a problem that I suspect you are hearing about. We feel as though we have been "held captive" by our (mostly) statewide distributor. The distributors forced this law upon us, yet they are unwilling to fully represent us.

Here's the scenario. We signed on with this distributor in January (albeit reluctantly; pursuant to compliance) as we were offered a business partnership.........only to realize they would only distribute one third of our wines. We accepted this on the promise that they would carry more wines when we showed market success. Guess what? They never introduced our wines to the sales staff and it wasn't until I came along that they even knew they carried our wines. Do you see the problem here? NO INFORMATION LEADS TO.....NO SALES!

We have an array of former, favorite customers that we catered to before this law was enacted. How in the world can we sell our other wines to them when the distributor refuses their (special) orders? We are talking CASES here, not just a few bottles.....

I wonder how many other wineries are impacted by this? If you are dealing with a smaller distributorship, they probably know your wines inside and out. But, what about the larger ones?

I've spent some time talking with different sized distributers, and their employees, over the past few months. The smaller companies have a much better handle on their products and a depth of knowledge about all of the wineries they represent. But getting into stores or restaurants and meeting with the right people is a constant challenge. Larger distributors already have the name and the established sales channels/routes. The downside is the sales people only know those wines that are pushed on them, the ones that upper managements wants to sell.

I know I am generalizing here and there are smaller distributors that have great connections and larger distributors with a sales-force that has a depth of the knowledge about their catalogue. Its just that those are the exception.

I know a lot of Virginia winemakers read this blog, so if you have any suggestions to help out my reader I would love to pass them along.

I didn't start this blog to be a media critic, but (to paraphrase Whitesnake) here I go again...

Overall, the article about Maryland and Virginia wineries is very good and I like seeing the good press. But they had to go and ruin it with a list of Virginia wines you should try...



Of course, Barboursville and Linden should be on that list. But, Chrysalis' Norton? I know, I know, Norton is Virginia's grape and Thomas Jefferson grew Norton grapes. I got news for every winery with a Norton wine: Norton sucks, I have never had a good Norton and no matter how drunk I am Norton still tastes awful.

Naked Mountain makes an okay Chardonnay, but nothing all that great. Certainly nothing than better than you can pick up for $10 at Trader Joe's. If you want to go for a white, why not Horton's Viognier, in fact, why are isn't Horton mentioned at all?

Why no Meritages? The list even has Barboursville but fails to mention its Octagon. The Jefferson or Tarara Meritages are good as well.

I forgot to mention this earlier, but don't forget Vintage Virginia is this weekend. You'd think I would have mentioned this during the week, but it is already crowded enough there, I really didn't want to add to the traffic :).

I'll have my recap sometime tomorrow.

On Sunday the wine club went to Breaux Vineyards. It was a beautiful day and Leah has already captured the mood of the afternoon very well.

After doing the tasting I grabbed a bottle of Chere Marie, which was a great match forthe sun and the conversation. I also grabbed a bottle of the Layfayette and can't wait to come up with a meal to match it. Pictures below: