Blind Blogging Mice Fall Into Wine Tank, Saved by Bobbing Corks

Have you ever done a blind tasting?  This is when you wrap wine bottles from a given category (e.g., merlot) in brown paper bags or tinfoil and pour samples without knowing which winery (or vintage) the wine is from.  The idea is that by removing the labels from view, you can also remove preconceptions the tasters hold.  Given that the vast majority of the wine we taste is either at a given winery while doing a tasting or at home from a bottle we’ve purchased and chosen to open, we don’t do much blind tasting.  That said, when we have done them, we’ve always found them fun, and we’ve often found them instructive.  Given this, when Kurt from Wine About Virginia asked us to come to his house for a blind tasting with other local bloggers we thought it sounded like a lot of fun

Attendees at this party included Allan from CellarBlog, Frank from Drink What You Like, John from Hagarty on Wine, Kristy from Kristy Wine Vine, Colleen and Andrew from Wine Cruisers and our hosts Kurt and Carol.  Kurt asked everyone to bring 2 bottles of VA wine from the same category (e.g., chardonnay or meritage).  Most of us also tried to bring bottles from the same year so that comparisons would be across wineries but within vintage.  We packed a couple of bottles of chardonnay as well as a crock pot full of spinach dip and headed to the party.  (One thing we did not remember to pack was a camera, so you’re stuck with crappy pictures from my cell phone – sorry about that.)

I started with the 2 albarinos.  I knew that one was from Chrysalis Vineyards and one was from Willowcroft Farm Vineyards, but I had no idea which bottle was which.  Bottle 1 offered a lot of tropical and floral notes on the nose and made me wonder if there was a bit of petit manseng in there.  On the palate, the flavors were softer, and I had a hard time picking out individual notes.  This struck me as the more complex of the two wines, but on that day, I gravitated to the second bottle with offered stronger honeysuckle and tropical fruit notes as I sipped.  The latter was the ’10 Willowcroft, but the ’10 Chrysalis was preferred by the group.

I next turned to the 4 viogniers.  The first (later to be revealed as the ’08 Maggie’s Vineyard Viognier from Delaplane Cellars) offered honeysuckle on the nose but struck me as a bit flat on the palate and ended up being my least favorite.  Having just had the wine at the winery (and really enjoyed it), I was really surprised when the wine was unblinded since it just didn’t taste right.  We speculated that this could be a case of low level TCA (cork taint) dulling the flavors.  Number 2 (the ’08 Annefield Vineyards) was both my winner and the overall winner.  It offered both fruit and floral notes that struck me as being very representative of this grape.  We got to bring the remains of this bottle home with us, and I still found it enjoyable the next day.  (Note to self, must get some more Annefield wine to try!)  Number 3 was the ’09 from the Winery at La Grange.  This wine had a very floral nose and a lot of fruit on the palate.  It wasn’t a sophisticated viognier, but it was fun and really enjoyable (my number 2).  Viognier 4 (my third ranked wine) was the ’10 from Paradise Springs Winery.  This wine was all tropical fruit with some light oak on the nose.  It isn’t what I look for in a viognier, but I didn’t find it objectionable.

Chardonnays were up next, and despite having brought 2 of the 4 bottles, I wasn’t excited for this flight.  Chard #1 (an ’09 Veramar Vineyard chardonnay reserve) offered melted butter and lemon on the nose and movie theater popcorn butter on the palate.  The lemon and butter made me want lobster, but it didn’t make me want the wine (sorry for bringing this one guys – we’d never tried it).  Number 2 was the ’09 Blenheim Farm Chardonnay from Blenheim Vineyards.  This was my favorite, but it was also a bottle we brought, so familiarity and recognition may have played a role in this.  I noted apple and lemon with a hint of floral oak.  Number 3 was the ’10 Fletcher’s Chardonnay from La Grange (a wine I’m pretty sure is not yet for sale).  I found this wine a bit confusing – I got a floral nose and something that tasted sweet on the palate.  I ranked this wine third, but it won the flight.  The final chard was the ’10 Cold Steel Chard from Willowcroft.  This isn’t a wine I’d be likely to buy, but I did find it enjoyable.  I got a floral nose and soft notes of apple and citrus on the palate (my #2 ranked wine).

I then turned to the 3 cab francs.  Number 1 (the ’09 from Desert Rose Winery) was what I thought of for a cab franc.  It had plenty of cherry flavors, and I ranked it #2.  Wine 2 a ’10 cab franc made by John Hagarty – a home winemaker.  It had a bit more oak than I look for, but it definitely seemed like a VA cab franc.  Wine 3 was my favorite (and the favorite of the group as a whole); it was the ’09 Rappahannock Cellars Glenway Vineyard cab franc.  It was the softest of the three wines and offered some earthy fruit flavors that offered a bit more complexity than the wine from Desert Rose.

Up next was a flight of three Nebbiolos.  I knew Allan had brought these wines and that 2 were from the same winery but different vintage years (Breaux Vineyards was a safe guess here).  Wine 1 was my least favorite of the three; it was very young and fairly rough.  This was actually a “ringer” wine Allan threw in – a ’06 Monte Degli Angeli Barolo from Italy.  Wine 2 was the winner (for me and the group).  I correctly guessed this as the ’01 nebbiolo from Breaux and I got a some earthy notes on the nose and soft fruit and anise on the palate.  Wine 3 was the ’07 Cellar Club Barrel Select Nebbiolo from Breaux.  This wine was clearly too young as those tannins were in your face and the wine was incredibly tight, but I look forward to what this wine can be in the future.  This was another case where we took home the leftover wine, and it really opened up nicely by the time it got home and improved even more over the next few days.

Meritage blends came next.  My winner was wine 1 – the ’07 Breaux Cellar Selection Meritage.  This wine had a woody nose but a lot of dark fruit was present on the palate.  There were some hefty tannins in this wine, and it really needs a few more years, but I bet that more time open would have allowed this wine to show better.  Wine 2 was my least favorite but the favorite of the group.  I got a bit of earthy funk with this wine that wasn’t working for me, but there was also a lot of fruit that may well explain the wine’s appeal.  This was the ’07 Grand Cru Olivier from Del Fosse Vineyards.  Wine 3 was actually the ’09 Cab Sauv from La Grange (I ranked it #2).  It was soft and fruity, but it struck me as less meritage like as it didn’t seem to have the same layers (I was excited when I realized that I’d said this about a single varietal wine when they were unblinded.

The final two wines were petit verdots.  The winner (for both me and the group) was the ’08 from Pearmund Cellars.  This wine offered a lot of fruit flavors and softer tannins.  The other wine was the ’08 from Chester Gap Cellars.  The nose on this wine was earthier and the fruit wasn’t as distinct on the palate.  This was the final bottle that we took home with us, and this was another wine that benefited from more hours (and days) open.  Of the wines we took home with us, this was the one I made sure to finish.  I’ve had mixed reactions to Chester Gap wines, but I want to check out his petit verdot more often (likely after giving it more bottle age and plenty of air from a good decanting).

So I think it’s clear that there was a lot of wine.  An event like this really only works with a lot of people so that you can spread the cost of all those bottles out among a group.  We’ve done much smaller scale blind tastings at home with 2 or 3 bottles, however, so considering giving one a try if you’ve yet to do so.

Thanks Kurt and Carol for organizing this event and bringing us all together.  It was a lot of fun.

 

Twist That Wine Open And Roll The Dice

When you get right down to it, we’re pretty boring people.  We work (too much), taste wine at home or at wineries as time and budgets allow, and feel privileged when we manage to find time to eat a meal and/or watch a movie together.  Sometimes we even get really wild and play a board game.  This is how we recently spent an evening, and yet another bottle of rosé seemed like a good accompaniment.  (Now we really do need to stock up again – we’re down to only a couple of pink bottles left.)

We decided on a bottle of Chrysalis Vineyards ’08 Mariposa.  The nose offered notes of cherry and some grape koolaid.  On the palate, however, watermelon flavors were more dominant although there was still plenty of red cherry in the mix as well.  This was not my favorite wine as there wasn’t a heck of a lot going on with it, but it was a fun accompaniment to an evening of board game play…and the screwcap made for easy wine access.

 

He Was Right

One of the wines we tasted during our last visit to Chrysalis Vineyards was the ’06 Rubiana.  Grape Envy Guy took one sip of this blend of 52% tinta cao, 31% nebbiolo, and 17% fer servadou and then turned to me and said that the wine would pair beautifully with out deep and dark pizza.  GEG typically leaves food pairings to me, but he was completely certain that this would work, and I was intrigued.  We left with a bottle.  Unfortunately, life got in the way, so months passed without this pizza actually getting made…until recently.

So, you might be wondering what this deep and dark pizza is.  It’s a deep dish vegetarian pizza (yes, you can have amazing pizza with no meat) made with a hearty olive oil dough – trust me, the dough needs to be substantial.  The pizza has the requisite tomato sauce and mozzarella, but it also has fresh and sun-dried tomatoes, pepper jack cheese, onion, garlic, red peppers, and black beans.  It’s then seasoned with taco seasoning and cumin.  (I may be missing something, but this gives you the idea.)  We’ve got a lot of great pizza recipes, but this really is one of my favorites.  It is not, however, a pizza I normally think about pairing with wine.

Now, about that wine…  When I tried it on its own, I noted lots of dark fruit and some light oak and the nose and plums and warm spices on the palate.  I kept thinking about a winter fruit compote.  As for the pairing with the pizza – the title says it all: he was right.  The spice in the wine played well with the seasonings in the pizza.  Unfortunately for him, GEG is now going to find that I’m going to pawn of food and wine pairing onto him more often now that he’s proved himself so capable.

 

Summer Sipping, VA Wine Style

For those of you who don’t follow all the wine chatter on twitter, you’re likely not very aware of how frequent online wine tastings have become.  Virginia has started to come on board with this, and the VA Wine Board Marketing Office has worked to facilitate a number of these over the last few months.  By doing this, out of state bloggers are become more aware of Virginia wines.  This happens when they are sent sample bottles so that they can participate in a tasting, when they’re invited to a tasting hosted by a nearby blogger, and when they see all the chatter about the tasting on twitter and read the subsequent blog posts many write about the experience.  This is great, and is particularly exciting since VA is hosting the 2011 Wine Bloggers Conference in July, and many of the visiting bloggers have little to no exposure to the world of VA wine.  One a local level, Virginia bloggers who participate get to share impression of, often new, wines from through the state with their readers who are already invested in the world of VA wine encouraging (hopefully) more wine trail exploration.

We were recently given the opportunity to be part of one of these tastings.  The theme was wines for summer, and with the temperatures climbing, I was definitely ready for some summer wine options.  Thankfully, 6 sample bottles showed up on my doorstep to help me usher in the season (which, honestly, I wish would wait a bit longer before making an appearance).

The tasting began with the Keswick Vineyards 2010 Verdejo (≈$18).  This wine is 100% verdejo, and, as far as I know, the only verdejo you’ll find in the state.  I noted a light grassy nose with some grapefruit.  As I started to sip, I got tons of lemon along with some grapefruit.  As the wine warmed, some melon came out as well.  There was some great acid in this wine, and I found it very refreshing.  It’s perfect for these crappy hot days we’re having right now, and it ended up being my favorite of the night.  If only I’d thought to prepare some shrimp to nibble as I sipped…

We then moved on to the Veritas Vineyard & Winery 2010 Sauvignon Blanc Reserve (≈$25).  I’ve been a big fan of this wine from previous vintages (see here and here), but 2010 was such a hot year that I knew that the profile of this vintage would likely be a bit different.  On top of that, this vintage is also a blend of grapes from 2 different sauv blanc clones since yields were lower in 2010 and required the blending.  I still enjoy the wine (and actually have a bottle that we bought soon after its release waiting for us on our racks), but I miss some of the bracing acidity that the super hot, dry summer just wouldn’t allow to happen this time around.  I noted lots of fruit – lemon, lime, and peach – and because of this, the wine almost tasted sweet.  Again, I just wished for a bit more acid.  As the wine warmed, I also noted some grass on the finish and the grass and hay were even more noticeable on night two as they were dominant elements along with grapefruit.

We took a turn towards the pink (or perhaps salmon) with wine number 3: the Boxwood Winery 2010 Topiary Rosé (≈$14), and this was the wine that I was most excited about.  I loved the 2009 rosé, so much so that it made my favorite VA wine list, so this wine showing up at my door was incredibly exciting.  (FYI, this year Boxwood has also released a second rosé – the Boxwood Rosé).  This wine is a blend of 75% cab franc and 25% malbec.  The wine offered a very light nose, but I detected a hint of strawberry and herbs.  On the palate, I noted strawberry, some ripe melon, a hint of herbs (maybe thyme or oregano), and some spice – especially on the finish.  I was loving this spice.  Come to think of it – I was loving this wine as a whole.  Oh well, it’s my post, so I figure I can have multiple favorites!  We need to get more of this wine, and a taste of the second rosé ASAP.

Wine number 4 was the first of two viogniers – the Jefferson Vineyards 2010 viognier (≈$25).  I’ve been lucky enough to taste this wine a few times during recent visits to Jefferson, so I already knew I’d enjoy this one.  The wine is actually a blend of 75% viognier, 7% chard, 14% reisling, and 4% petit manseng and 75% of the wine was aged for 6 months in neutral French oak.  This wine is all about the fruit, both tropical and stone fruits, but there are also some floral elements, think honeysuckle and jasmine, and a hint of lemon for good measure.  The wine has some nice acid and an enjoyably round mouthfeel.  All the fruit makes this wine taste a bit sweet, but the residual sugar is only .065%, so it’s basically dry.  I know that they’ll be more of this wine in my future.  Just to let you know, the oak flavors came out on night two – mostly as vanilla notes – but the wine is still very young, so this may be less of an issue in a few months.

The second viognier (100% for this one) was the 2010 from Chrysalis Vineyards (≈$29).  While we’ve yet to have this vintage, we’ve enjoyed viogniers from Chrysalis in the past, but the price tag has always kept us from taking a bottle home.  This wine spent 5 months in wood (95% in neutral oak and 5% in new acacia barrels).  It probably offered a more typically viognier profile with lots of orange blossoms and some honeydew and pear notes.  I enjoy most viogniers that use little to no oak, so I enjoyed tasting these two wines back to back.  FYI, the wood in this wine also came out more strongly on night two, but this one was more floral, toast, caramel…  I still don’t know if I’d pay nearly $30 for this wine, but I did enjoy it quite a bit and now really want to learn more about the use of acacia barrels.

Our final wine of the night was the Lovingston Winery 2010 Petit Manseng (≈$17).  This is another wine that’s been a perennial favorite at chez snark (see here and here).  This year’s offering is 100% petit manseng and has 1% residual sugar – although all the fruit flavors in this wine would make me think it was more like 2 or 3%.  Pineapple was definitely the dominant flavor, but apricot and mango were in there as well.  This wine is a fruit cocktail in a glass in all the best ways.  I just wish I had some curry to pair with this one.

All things considered, I think this was a great way to celebrate seasonal change, and I got the impression that all involved had a good time sipping, chatting, tweeting, etc.  Thanks again to all the wineries, the wonderful trio at the Virginia Wine Board Marketing Office (Annette, Amy, and Mary Catherine), and Frank (from Drink What You Like) and Paul & Warren (from Virginia Wine Time) – it was great to collaborate with all of you to make this happen.  Now it’s your turn to tell us, what are your favorite summer VA wines?

 

We’re all a-twitter

Wine tastings via twitter are happening all the time, and Virginia’s been in on the action a few times. In fact, VA wine with be front and center on twitter again on Tuesday, May 24th when a summer wine twitter tasting takes place at 8pm (eastern).

The Virginia Wine Board Marketing Office wanted to highlight some of the great warm weather wines that can be found in our state, and we were thrilled to be asked to be part of this event.  You can be part of it too.

If you’ve got a twitter account (or want to start one), join the discussion on Tuesday.  All the tweets for this tasting will be using the #vawine hashtag, so it’s easy to follow along via the twitter search function or by creating a column for this hashtag in a program like tweetdeck.  If you don’t have a twitter account, you can still search on the #vawine hashtag via twitter and follow the tweet stream.  Finally, since all of the wines that are part of this tasting are current releases, you can pick up a bottle (or six) and join in with your own impressions.

The wines in the tasting are:

• Keswick Vineyards 2010 Verdejo
• Veritas Vineyards 2010 Sauvignon Blanc
• Boxwood Winery 2010 Topiary Rosé
• Jefferson Vineyards 2010 Viognier
• Chrysalis Vineyards 2010 Viognier
• Lovingston Winery 2010 Petit Manseng

Who plans to join us?

 

Get to Know Your Winemaker: Alan Kinne of Chrysalis Vineyards

Even after all these posts, Virginia’s winemakers are STILL willing to talk to us. Who woulda thunk it? I’ve professed my Norton fandom in the past, as well as my enjoyment of Chrysalis Vineyards. Here’s winemaker Alan Kinne:

Where did you grow up?
The southwestern corner of Michigan on a farm…we were the second dirt road off the other dirt road.

How long have you lived in VA?
This is my third time living in Virginia.  The first time I was here for five years, the second for 12 and this time I’ve been here a little over one year.  I can’t seem to get away from Virginia!

What brought you to wine?
I took a summer job at Tabor Hill after graduating from the University of Michigan.  I was going to go back to grad school, however, I loved the wine industry and have been making wine ever since.  Until I made wine, I had never drank wine.  Who knew it was so good!

Where else (besides your current winery) have you made wine?
Let’s see chronologically:  Tabor Hill in Michigan, Shenandoah in Virginia, Pindar on Long Island, Prince Michel in Virginia, then ten years as a consultant all over the East Coast, Martin & Weyrich and York Mountain in Paso Robles and, prior to Chrysalis Vineyards, I worked at a custom crush facility in the Willamette Valley making Pinot Noir for 15 clients.  Did I mention my own label–Bodegas M–from Paso?

What characteristics do you enjoy in wine?
I especially love the combination of art and science.  Since I grew up on a farm, I really enjoy the viticultural aspect as well.  That, and the fact you can bring your work home and enjoy it.  (And I don’t have to wear a suit…)

If you could have a private tour of any winery in the world, which would you choose?
I’ve had the wonderful experience of traveling extensively throughout the wine world.  My next trip I’d like to visit Oremus winery in Hungary.  My wife and I were invited to visit there by the international sales manager for Vega Sicilia (the owners of Oremus).

What is your favorite food and wine pairing?
Truly, there are too many to mention.

What are your favorite wine varietals?
It all depends on where I am working.  I enjoy making  Albariño, Viognier and Norton in Virginia.  Each has it’s own challenge and reward.  When I was in Oregon, it was Pinot Noir–all of the different clones and vineyard sites– and in California it’s Tempranillo, Nebbiolo and Syrah.

A lot of wine folks are excited for the 2010 wines. Which of your wines are you the most excited about?
So far, they are all delicious.  A great year.

Who is your favorite cartoon character?
That great team:  Pinky and the Brain.  One of my favorite Brain quotes:   ” Hurry up, Pinky, If we don’t get to Carly Simon’s house I’ll never know if that song was about me.”

What is one thing we haven’t asked that you want Virginia wine lovers to know about you or your winery?
Balance is the key.

Have you made a wine since you’ve been in VA that you think speaks to who you are as a winemaker? If so, what is it and why that one?
I’ll go way back:  Horton Vineyards 1993 Viognier.  A great wine.  I consider it the most influential wine ever made in Virginia.

Thanks Alan!

 

20 Reasons My Wine Region’s Better Than Yours: VA Wine Diva

A while back, Jordan Harris, winemaker at Tarara challenged us, and other Virginia wine bloggers, to list our top 20 Virginia wines.  He was curious not because e wanted to see how many Tarara wines made the list, but because he was interested to see what characteristics seem to be appealing to people.  It took a bit of work to find a date that at least some of us could agree on – never mind the work to narrow the field down to 20 wines – but we’re finally ready to go.  FYI, I limited myself to 2 wines per winery for this list so that I didn’t fall into the trap of just listing a ton of wines from the wineries we’ve visited more frequently.  Please note that the wines are in alphabetical order by winery rather than rank order, so don’t read anything into their placement on the list.  With no further ado, here’s my top 20 VA wine list (of course it might be different if I wrote it tomorrow).  [Grape Envy Guy has his own list.]

1. Boxwood Winery ’09 Rosé:  We’ve been bad bloggers.  We’ve only visited the Boxwood tasting room once, and we’ve never made it out for a reservation only tour at the winery itself.  Because of that, we haven’t talked a lot about Boxwood.  That said, this rosé was one I kept thinking about after trying it at the Drink Local Wine conference last spring.
2. Breaux Vineyards ’01 Nebbiolo:  When I got to try this library wine as part of a blogger event in advance of the Drink Local Wine conference, I knew it was something special.  Grape Envy Guy had thought he hated this grape until he tried this wine as well.  This is one of the wines that’s convinced us to do a better job of aging some of the bottles we bring home.
3. Chrysalis Vineyards ’09 Albariño:  This is the only vintage of the albariño we’ve ever had, so I can’t talk about this one in comparison to other vintage years, but it was enjoyable enough that we’ve started to seek out other albariños to try (albeit from outside of VA).  Let’s hope some more people start experimenting with this grape soon.
4. Chrysalis Vineyards ’03 Norton:  Norton can be a really brash young wine, but it starts to mellow with a bit of maturity.  This is another with that’s convinced us to do a better job of cellaring a number of our wines.
5. Delaplane Cellars ’08 Honah Lee Viognier:  Again, this is the only vintage of this wine we’ve ever tried, but it’s been a big hit with both us and visiting family.  I’m really excited for another visit to Delaplane so we can see what Jim Dolphin’s been up to.  It’s been too long.
6. Glen Manor Vineyards ’07 Hodder Hill:  Jeff White and Glen Manor definitely have a place in the Treehouse of Virginia Wine Awesomeness.  Given that, it was hard to decide which wine(s) of his to include in this list.  In the end, however, I came back to 2 of the reds we tried on our first visit to his winery.  Yum!
7. Glen Manor Vineyards ’07 Petit Verdot:  Yum, part deux.
8. Gray Ghost Vineyards Adieu:  I’m not a huge dessert wine person.  That said, the Adieu is one I return to again and again as a solid winner.  I’ve never had an edition that I didn’t like, so I just list it here in the general sense.  Finally, if you’ve not yet tried this wine with pumpkin pie, you are so missing out.
9. Hiddencroft Vineyards ’07 Petit Verdot:  We like to try before we buy.  That said, sometimes we like what we taste enough to take a risk and buy a wine not available for tasting.  Such was the case with this petit verdot after really enjoying the reds we were able to try.  Clyde did not exaggerate; it was quite a wine.
10. Hume Vineyards ’09 Chambourcin:  Come on, as much as I love chambourcin, you had to know that there’s be one on my list.  Hume’s is the one I recommend most often these days.  When a winemaker enjoys a grape, it tends to show in the wines s/he makes with that grape.  Such is the case with this wine.  (Thanks for enjoying an underdog grape, Stephane.)
11. Jefferson Vineyards ’07 Meritage (preferably the one bottled as a magnum):  The first time I tried this wine was at a snowy Winemaker Wednesday tasting at the Frenchman’s Cellar in Culpeper.  Jeffrey, the store owner, and Andy, the winemaker, had both the ’06 and the ’07 open.  The ’06 was good, but the ’07 was special.  I liked it just as much when I tasted it at Jefferson months later.  When we took part in a special VA vs. the world tasting Andy organized, we then got to try the wine bottled in magnums.  This wine was aged in separate, larger barrels.  Get some – trust me.
12. Linden Vineyards ’07 Avenius Chardonnay:  I’ve typically been a Hardscrabble chard fan.  I still am, but now that I’ve had the opportunity to try the more mineral-drive Avenius chard, I recognize it as more my style.  I was able to taste the ’07 and ’08 side by side at Linden, and the ’07 just stood out a bit more as far as those mineral characteristics.
13. Linden Vineyards ’04 Boisseau Red:  This was a library wine that was part of a Linden cellar tasting we participated in.  Again, age can do something special to a wine.  When we went back upstairs, I got a glass of this wine to enjoy since we couldn’t buy a bottle.  Again, this is what we’re trying to do a better job at aging some of the wines we buy.
14. Lovingston Winery Petit Manseng (both the ’08 and ’09):  I think that people need to start paying attention to VA petit manseng.  It works dry, lightly sweet, and as a dessert wine.  The Lovingston offering is one I keep coming back to.  (I’m already chomping at the bit for the April release of the ’10).  Both bottlings we’ve had have been outstanding.  If you get that chance to try this wine, do.
15. Lovingston Winery ’06 Reserve Merlot:  This is a special wine.  It stood out during both our first and second visits to the winery.  It also stood out as a special wine during our evening wine and food fest following a day of wine tasting with other bloggers on the Eastern Shore.
16. Pollak Vineyards ’08 Merlot:  I’m a Pollak fan; I don’t think this is a secret.  It did, however, make it hard to figure out which Pollak wine(s) would make this list.  In the end, this merlot that I so enjoyed a glass of at the winery and a bottle of at home (come on – it must be a good wine if I need to remind myself to actually sip it)
17. Pollak Vineyards Viognier (both the ’08 and and ’09):  This is another wine where I couldn’t pick a vintage year.  I’ve enjoyed both of these, but, if push came to shove, I’d probably give a slight edge to the ’09, but that might just be because it’s a more recent memory.
18. Rappahannock Cellars ’07 norton port-style dessert wine:  Any wine that gets described as an orgasm in a glass has to be on this list – that is all.
19. Thibaut-Jannison Winery nv Virginia Fizz:  I knew a T-J bubbly would be part of this list.  Prior to our recent VA bubbly comparative tasting, I would have put the flagship brut on this list, but given that I ranked the Fizz first there, I had to give it the nod here.  That said, I still love the T-J brut, so it gets a massive honorable mention.
20. Veritas Vineyards Sauvignon Blanc Reserve (both the ’08 and the ’09):  While the ’10 isn’t rocking my world as much as the two previous editions have, the Veritas sauv blanc, still had to make my list.  If I had to pick one year, I might give a tiny edge to the ’08 (see notes on the ’09 here), but we’re relying on my memory at this point…  In the right years, however, this reserve (the non-reserve is, literally, a different wine), is a special wine.

I want to mention a few wineries which struck me as notable ommisions from this list.  One is Tarara Winery.  Jordan had suggested that Tarara be exempt from this since he suggested the idea, but that’s not why there are none of his wines on this list.  Rather, Tarara is a winery I don’t feel I know well yet.  I hope to rectify this in the near future, but for now I don’t feel that I know enough about their wines to include them.  Likewise, Keswick Vineyards is absent from my list.  I need to spend more time drinking Keswick wines and taste through more of what they offer to get a sense of this winery.  If I were to write this list in another year, they might well be on there.  Finally, I want to mention Chester Gap Cellars.  A couple of Bernd’s wines came close to making this list, but again, I feel like I need to get to know them better to firmly cement their placement.

So, if you had to list your top 20 VA wines, which ones would make the cut?  If you’ve got a blog, link to your list in the comments.  If you don’t, just comment with at least some of your favorites.

 

They’re More Than Just Norton

Chrysalis Vineyards is probably most closely associated with the norton grape.  Jenni McCloud, owner of Chrysalis,  has a true passion for this underdog native grape.  Given this, it’s easy to forget that norton is not in all of their wines – a lot yes, but not all.  We were fortunate enough to get to try one of their non-norton offerings at the Drink Local Wine conference in April: their ’09 albariño.  It got a little lost in the shuffle of all the tasting, but we were intrigued enough that we picked up a bottle when we last visited Chrysalis (despite the fact that it wasn’t being sampled).  We rarely buy local wines without trying them first, but we had vaguely positive memories our of quick taste at DLW10 and had heard a lot of good buzz about this wine via twitter.

This is a totally new grape to us (yay century club), so I had no idea what to expect.  What I found was an unusual nose of green hay and toasted nuts.  On the palate, I got more of that green flavor along with some white grape juice and white peach flavors, some more nuttiness, and even some apricot as the wine warmed up more.  I know that I’ll be sure to pick up a bottle (or 2) of future vintages of this wine.  I also think we’ll have to try some non-Virginia albariños so that I can get a better handle on the flavor profile of this grape.  I’ve got to say, I hope more people start experimenting with albariño in VA, it would be a welcome change from generic, and overoaked, chards.

 

What a Difference a Year Makes

When we first visited Chrysalis Vineyards last year, I was trying to get a handle on norton and Grape Envy Guy still turned away from big, tannic reds.  Times have sure changed around here at chez snark.  I’m now firmly in the norton fan camp and Grape Envy Guy marked all the (non-norton) big reds on the Chrysalis tasting notes as would buys this year when he didn’t like them last year.

We opted for the full reserve tasting and were really impressed with what we found.

We began with the 7 wines that make up the estate tasting.  The ’09 chardonnay is stainless fermented and had some nice crisp green apple notes along with some soft minerality on the palate.  The ’09 viognier was aged in neutral oak.  It was floral, vanilla, and a hint of tropical fruit.  It should pair really well with a nice lobster dish, but I’m not sure if it’s worth the $29 they’re asking for it.  The ’09 Mariposa is a rosé blend of juice form both red and white grapes.  This is a great warm weather wine with it’s lightly sweet strawberry nose and mixed berry flavors.  We then tried the ’09 editions of Sarah’s Patio White and Red.  The white had some interesting sweet apple flavors along with a hint of floral.  The red is 2005 norton that is not left on the skins and definitely has some of that grapeyness you get from norton.  There were also elements of raspberry plum, and cherry.  The ’06 Rubiana was up next.  This is a Rioja-style wine with a smoky, peppery, plum nose.  The palate was less fruity than I expected based on the nose, but I really enjoyed the spicy and earthy elements.  Grape Envy Guy pointed out that this would work really well with a taco inspired pizza topped with a  ton of back beans.  We picked up a bottle, so we’ll let you know how that works at some point in the future.  This half of the tasting ended with the ’06 estate bottled norton (76% norton).  It’s definitely a young wine that would benefit from some more time in the bottle to soften the tannins and mellow the flavors a bit.  For now, I get earthy cooked fruits when I sip this.

The reserve tasting then involves 5 additional wines.  We started with the more mellow ’05 estate bottled norton (also a blend).  The nose was cherry and raisins and some earthy elements came in on the palate.  This is definitely a more “drink now” norton, but it could still age for longer if you wanted.  The ’05 petit verdot, blended with tannat, had a blackberry jam nose and some nice pepper that came in on the finish.  This is a very smooth wine that’s aged well.  The ’06 Tannat made me think about venison which would likely play well with the leather and black plum flavors (with a hint of vanilla on the finish).  The ’06 Papillon, a blend of petit verdot and tannat, had a nose that made me think of slightly overcookd red fruit jam.  There were tons of cooked fruit flavors (e.g., plum and cherry) on the palate along with some cedar and even a hint of coffee.  The tasting ended with the ’05 Norton Locksley Reserve (a norton/tannat blend).  The nose was mostly tannat with earthy, dark fruits with only a hint of the norton tart grapeyness at the back.  Soft grape flavors did, however, come through on the palate along with some peppery earthyness.  This is definitely a grown up norton.

We’re still hopeful that we’ll someday be able to try the barrel select norton (their 100% norton wine) which has only been available for purchase by club members when we’ve been there.  Much as we’re interested in it, 2 bottles a month from a single winery is just not in our plans.  If you’ve had it, let us know how that compares to the norton blends they regularly taste out.

[mappress]

 

Mom, meet Norton; Norton, meet Mom

My mom was visiting recently.  She’s not a big drinker, and throughout my childhood, she mixed cheap white or pink wine with gingerale on most of the occasions when she drank a glass.  When she visits, she’s usually game for a wine tasting or two and may even have a glass of wine with us in the evening.  On this most recent visit, we decided to go for broke and introduce her to norton.  Regular readers know that Grape Envy Guy is a huge fan of this grape, and I now put myself in that camp as well. I completely understand that the tart grapeyness is not for everyone, however, so I wasn’t sure how my mother would react.

We decided to go with a more aged, smoother norton: the ’03 Chrysalis Vineyards Estate Bottled Norton (a blend of 78% norton, 14% tannat, 6% nebbiolo, and 2% tinta cao [another grape for the century club challenge 🙂 ]).  I don’t typically comment on wine color because there are only so many ways I can describe variations of white/yellow and red/purple, but this wine was incredibly dark.  Technically it’s probably a dark purpleish brown, but it’s as close to a black wine as I’ve seen.

The nose had the tart grape scents I associate with norton; there were also some dark dried fruit scents along with a hint of indistinct earthyness.  When I started sipping, I was first struck by a lighter mouthfeel than I expected – it was still a full-bodied wine, but it wasn’t as heavy as I expected (my expectation probably  having been colored (pun intended 😛 ) because of the deep color).  A grape candy flavor along with a light tartness was the main distinct flavor I noticed, but there was also a complex earthyness that was part of the wine as well – especially at the finish.  The dried fruit from the nose didn’t really show up on the palate, however.

I really enjoyed this wine.  My mom must have as well since she actually asked for a second glass, a real rarity for her.  Maybe we’ve got another norton fan developing…