Homeland Security Learns of Blogger Plot to Assemble 13 Pressurized Bottle of Intoxicants, Shows Up with Flintstones Jelly Glasses. And Handcuffs

Overview

We recently attended the now annual VA sparkling wine tasting organized by Frank Morgan of Drink What You Like.  This year, Early Mountain Vineyards hosted us, and as always, we had a great time catching up with our blogging friends while also checking in on the state of sparkling wine in VA.

Once again, this tasting highlighted that Claude Thibaut is at the heart of quality sparkling wines in VA.  Three of the top 4 wines from this tasting were made by Thibaut-Jannison Winery, and Claude Thibaut had a hand in making 3 of the other wines we tasted.  Kudos to him for his top quality offerings.

Setting the Stage

This year, there were 13 wines in the line up.  Ten of these were VA wines.  The remaining 3 were from the Finger Lakes in NY, New Mexico, and Spain.  We tasted the wines in 2 flights: one of 7 wines and one of 6 wines.

It’s always been hard to rank order across flights, but it felt particularly challenging this year, and I wasn’t the only taster who felt this way.  It feels like we learn something about doing this each year, so next year, I think we’re going to limit things to 10 wines and try to taste them all in a single flight.

the glow of the tablet in the background gives this blogger cred. -G

As a final note, once again, 2 sparkling viogniers were included.  We tried this last year for the first time, and I was dubious about including them.  We tried it, however.  There were mixed reactions, so Frank opted to try including them again. This year, whether people liked them or not, everyone felt that they stuck out in a pool of otherwise chard-domiated wines.  Given this, I think the second lesson we’re taking into next year is to stick to blanc de blancs.

With that said, on to the wines.  I’ll talk about them within flights, and I’ll give you my rank for that flight, my rank across flights, and the group’s overall ranking.

Flight One

The first wine in the first flight was the ’08 Trump Winery blanc de blanc.  If, like us, you’ve yet to make it to Trump, you may still be familiar with this wine from its former labeling as Kluge.  I’ve been very up and down on the Kluge/Trump sparklers, and it makes me wonder if there is a lot of batch variation since I’m usually a bit more consistent.  On this day, however, this wine was working for me.  It was my 2^nd choice in this flight, my 3^rd choice overall, and clichéd the number 3 spot for the group as well.  The wine offered a floral yet yeasty nose.  I particularly noticed apple and peach notes as well as some flintyness.

The next glass contained the nv Thibaut-Jannison Winery Fizz.  This wine felt a bit foamly to me rather than fizzy, and I wasn’t liking that aspect of it, but I did like the yeasty savoryness I found in the glass.  I also noted a minerality I described as river rocks.  I ranked this 3^rd for this flight and 4^th overall.  It grabbed the 4^th slot from the group as a whole as well.

Wine 3 was the nv Gruet Winery blanc de blanc which just edged out a win in last year’s tasting.  This year, I found it to be overly perfumey and lacking in body.  It’s still a great value, but it just wasn’t doing as much for me.  I raked it 5^th in this flight and 8^th overall; the group ranked it 9^th.

Glass 4 contained the ’08 Thibaut-Jannison Winery Cuvee D’etat.  This had a very light nose, but I really enjoyed the yeasty brioche notes with apple and pear on the palate.  It was a very balanced wine, and it was the wine from this flight that I most enjoyed revisiting.  It ranked number 1 in this flight, 2^nd overall, and 1^st for the group.

The ’06 Chateau Frank blanc de noirs from Dr. Frank Vinifera Wine Cellars was up next.  I had actually had this wine, and quite enjoyed it, when we were in the Finger Lakes this summer – in fact, we’ve now got a bottle on our wine rack.  As the only blanc de noir in the line up, it was no surprise that the fruit flavors really came through.  I notes peach, apple blossom, and a touch of light berry.  There were also hints of the yeastiness I so love from sparklers.  I ranked this 4^th in this flight and 5^th overall; the group had this one tied for 5^th/6^th.

The nv Jaume Serra Christalino brut cava was unquestionably my least favorite wine of this flight.  My first impression was of fruit, but the flavors were muddy, and I was soon left with a chemical taste that really turned me off.  Once the bottles were unblended, one taster suggested that this bottle was off given her familiarity with the wine.  I’ve never had it other than as part of this tasting, so I can’t speak to that, but I’m definitely not rushing to taste it again.  I ranked it 7^th in this flight and 12^th overall.   The group ranked it 13^th.

The final wine in the first flight was the nv Barboursville Vineyards brut.  While this wine is fine, it’s never struck me as anything special, and this tasting didn’t change my impression.  The wine felt flatter/less effervescent and it struck me as being more like a sauv blac than a chard-based sparkler.  I ranked it 6^th in this flight and 10^th overall.  It came in 7^th in the group rankings.

Flight Two

Let me start by saying that this flight, overall, was a disappointment.  I think a large part of the difficulty I had integrating my ratings between flights was due to my generally poor reactions to the ones in this half of the tasting.

The flight started with the’10 Afton Mountain Vineyards Bollicine.  The wine was way too perfumey for my taste, and there was a note of Elmer’s Glue in there that took me right back to my childhood – fun as that can be, it’s not what I’m looking for in a sparkling wine.  I raked it 5^th in this flight, 11^th overall, and the group ranked it 11^th as well.

The nv Horton Vineyards sparkling viognier stood out as being a viongner, and not in a good way.  It struck me as being light flat cream soda.  This came in 6^th in this flight and 13^th overall.  The group gave it the 12^th place berth.

The other sparkling viogner, the nv Paradise Springs Winery Apres, happened to be the wine in the next glass.  At first, when fairly cold, the wine struck me as yeasty and fruity.  It wasn’t remarkable, but it was enjoyable – at least until a somewhat off-putting finish.  As the wine warmed, however, it became too perfumey, and it just struck me as fairly flat for a sparkler.  I ranked this one 4^th in this flight and 9^th overall.  The group placed this one in the 10^th spot.

Wine number four in this flight was the nv Prince Michel Winery sparkling wine.  This wine struck me as bright.  It was yeasty with apple and pear notes and pear-dominant finish.  I ranked it 3^rd in this flight and 7^th overall.  The group scores placed this wine in 8^th.

The nv Thibaut-Jannison Winery blanc de chardonnay won my top slot in this flight and the overall tasting, although the group as a whole placed it 2^nd.  This wine struck me as being what I expect a sparkler to be.  It had yeast on the nose and some soft fruit that came in on the palate.  It was well balanced and a wine I enjoyed revisiting after the tasting had concluded.

The final was to be tasted was the nv Veritas Vineyards Scintilla.  I again noticed the yeast on the nose I look for along with some floral and soft fruit notes.  It was a solid wine – it just didn’t particularly stand out to me.  I ranked it 2^nd in this flight and 6^th overall.  It tied for the 5^th/6^th slot among the group.

Wrap Up

Claude Thibaut’s success did not surprise me.  What did surprise me was how consistent I’ve been in my ratings of these wines over the last few years.  The Thibaut-Jannison wines consistently rank at the top of the tasting for me, and the Barboursville and Afton wines have typically been ones I’ve struggled with.  The Scintilla from Veritas has also been a fairly consistent performer over the past few years.

This type of comparative tasting is hard to do as it can get expensive, but it really is a great way to learn about a given type of wine in a region while also learning about your own preferences.  If you get the chance to do one, go for it.

NOTE: All bottle pics were provided by Frank Morgan of the ever awesome Drink What You Like. I figure link love is always better than writing “credit: sexy Frank” thirteen times.  -G

 

Bottle Label’s Secret Decoded as “Three Vermillion Ferrets Playing Battleship,” Codebreakers Admit Slim Chance of Error

I hate paying for overpriced oil changes and hard to find parts, and while I can appreciate craftsmanship, I have to say that I’m not really sorry that I don’t own a Ferrari. One of the biggest reasons I’m glad to not have one is the fact that many of Virginia’s wineries are reached via gravel roads, which are probably not ideal for low-slung vehicles with way too much power going to the rear wheels. This occurred to me as we powered up the hill to Mountfair Vineyards in the Winery Assault Vehicle, which is decidedly not a Ferrari. It’s also not a DeLorean, which kind of sucks.

We’ve tasted here numerous times before, so we were familiar with the great little post and beam tasting room as well as many of the wines. Every vintage is different, of course, so we came back for another taste. The tasting now kicks off with two Thibaut-Janisson wines. The first was the Blanc de Blanc ($30), a dry sparkling wine with yeast and apple and winning in it. This was followed by the Virginia Fizz ($25), a sparkling with a little sweetness that still has great acid backbone and gobs of flavor.

The Mountfair wines started with the 2009 Merlot ($25). I got light berry fruit, and found it to be a solid, drinkable red. The ’09 Belated ($30) was next, a blend of Merlot, Cabernet Franc, and Petit Verdot. It had a big rich nose but was lighter than expected on the palate. We ended with the 2010 Inaugural ($30). Sorry, I didn’t catch the blend. There was a nice fruit character to the wine but the acid was a little off for me on the finish. I’d have to say that this time around, I preferred the Merlot to the two blends.

Oh, and you all should be proud of me. We noticed the pool table in the barrel room, and not once did I make a crack about getting felt in the barrel room. So, score one for me!

 

Bill Nye Develops Carbon Sequestration Technology Using Booze, Bubbles, and Bloggers

Everyone involved had so much fun with last year’s blind tasting of Virginia sparkling wines that Frank Morgan decided to organize a second annual tasting.  This year, in addition to Frank, Paul and Warren, and Grape Envy Guy and I (the holdovers from last year), the tasters included Allan, Melissa, Anthony, Megan (who writes about food and wine for C-Ville Weekly), and Pia (who works in wine-centric PR).  We were also joined by Andy Reagan, winemaker at Jefferson Vineyards, who offered up space in which we could have the tasting as well as lots of high quality stemware and even some post-tasting snacks.

Just like last year, we wanted to include as many VA sparkling wines as possible.  We decided not to include sparkling rosés, but we did decide to include sparkling viogniers this year.  Other than this, we decided that all wines had to be ones we (or anyone else) could readily buy either from the winery or an easily accessed retail outlet.  Finally, they all had to be wines we could actually buy before the tasting.  Thankfully with 3 of us focused on gathering wines in the weeks since we set the date, we were able to get 10 VA sparklers.  We also opted to include the Gruet Brut as our non-VA “ringer” since a number of us know and like this wine and find it to be one of the best values in bubbles out there.

Finally, rather than focus on formal scoring, which most of us have no training in, Frank opted to have us just rank the wines in order of personal preference from 1 (favorite) to 11 (least favorite).  He then quickly tallied the scores so that we could see which wine was the group favorite on this day as well as where our individual preferences fell.  All the wines were blinded before being poured, but we did opt to bag the two sparkling viogniers separately and pour them in positions 10 and 11 as we were a bit worried that they’d stand out.  Because of this, our assumptions about sparkling viogniers may well have colored how we ranked them.  It turns out that these wines didn’t stand out like sore thumbs in an otherwise chardonnay-dominant line up, so if we do this again next year, we’ll probably just mix them right in with the other bottles.

The wine that ranked 11th (for both the group and me) was the Petillante from Old House Vineyards, a non-vintage chardonnay sparkler ($35).  This wine smelled off putting, I noted burnt toast and unappealing fruit scents, and the wine also left a lingering, undesirable aftertaste.  Having just tasted from another bottle at the winery, I think this is more of an issue with the wine than an issue with an off bottle.

Number 10 was the Afton Mountain Vineyards, ’08 Tete De Cuvee, a blend of pinot noir and chardonnay ($30).  This wine ranked 6th for me, and there was generally a great deal of variability in the scoring for this one.  I noted pineapple and coconut on the nose and pineapple on the palate.  This wine was definitely not traditional in terms of apple, pear, yeast, etc., but it still worked reasonably well for me.  At the same time, others in the room were wondering if it was an off bottle.  Make of this what you will, but it’s the second year in a row we were wondering if we got a bad bottle, and given this, I’m less convinced this time.

Nine for the group (10 for me), was the Paradise Springs Winery Apres, a non-vintage sparkling viognier ($43).  I was probably biased since I knew this was a viggy – I’ve just not been a big fan of sparkling viognier.  I noted sweet honeysuckle and peach notes from this wine and generally found it a bit boring.  It was fine, but it didn’t strike me as special, and it had more floral notes than I want in a bubbly.

The Prince Michel Vineyard & Winery sparkler, a non-vintage blend of chard and pinot noir ($40), came in 8th.  I liked this wine a lot more than most of the tasters, but I’m also a sucker for a blanc de noir, since I love the berry notes that you can get with these wines, and the pink tinge to this wine in the class immediately let me know there was some red wine in this blend.  I noted a toasty, yeasty nose with hints of apple and berry with plenty of yeasty berry notes on the palate.

The Barboursville Vineyards Brut, a non-vintage blend of 90% pinot noir and 10% chard ($20), came in 7th with both me and the group.  I got a very floral nose that I found a bit off-putting.  I liked the acid in this wine as well as the apple notes.  I wanted some yeasty notes and a bit more complex flavor structure.

We had two wines tied for 5th/6th: the non-vintage Horton Vineyards sparkling viognier ($25) and the Kluge ’08 SP Blanc de Blancs from Trump Winery ($29 – chardonnay).  I ranked the Horton 9th (but remember, I was probably biased) and the Kluge 4th.  I noted that the Horton seemed to have a heavier/fuller mouthfeel and a floral nose.  It tasted a bit sweet and topical.  I noted that it wasn’t necessarily what I look for but that it was good.  Had I now known it was a viggy, this one may well have ranked higher with me.  The Kluge offered an apple, pear, and tropical nose, the last of which was unexpected for me.  On the palate, I noted creamy apple and toast.

Number 4 was last year’s winner, the Virginia Fizz from Thibaut-Jannison Winery, a non-vintage chard ($21).  This was my 3rd place wine.  I did correctly guess that this was the Fizz given that it has a bit more residual sugar than the other non-viggys in the tasting line up.  I noted a crisp, light, refreshing nose with floral pear with a hint of apple on the palate.  I wished it had a touch more acid, but I still liked it a fair bit.

The Thibaut-Jannison Winery Blanc de Chardonnay, a non-vintage chard ($27) came in 3rd overall (and 8th for me).  I noted a floral apple nose with plenty of floral notes on the palate as well.  Again, I was not loving the floral, but I also felt that it lacked acid and a bit of depth.

The Veritas Vineyard & Winery Scintilla, a non-vintage chardonnay ($30) came in 2nd for the group and first for me.  While this wine just missed the top, it was selected as a favorite by 6 of the 11 tasters, so I’m very comfortable crowning this one the VA sparkling wine winner for this tasting.  (The only other wine to have more than 1 person rank it first was the Barboursville with 2 1st place scores.)  It offered a tart, green apple nose with plenty of yeasty notes to make me happy.  On the palate, I noted apple, pear, and brioche (kind of a toast/butter combo).  Clearly, we’ll need to pick some of this up on a future visit to Veritas since we’ve only every had it at the tasting room or as part of these blind tastings.

The overall group winner was the Gruet Winery Brut, a non-vintage chard ($16); I ranked this wine 5th.  I still find this wine a great value, but I did feel that it lacked some complexity.  I noted both the yeast and apple notes I like in a sparkler, and I was happy with the crisp acid this wine offered.  It was a bit simple, but it was also very solid.

At the end of the day, it was a bit disappointing that a wine from New Mexico came out on top in this tasting, but I’m a stat geek, so I noticed all the variability in our individual rankings.  Given this, I decided to look at median scores, and this (slightly) changed the results.  Under this system, #1 was Veritas, #2 was Gruet, tied for #3/4 were Kluge and VA Fizz, tied for #5/6 were the Thibaut-Jannison Brut and the Horton, tied for #7/8 were the Prince Michel and Barboursville, #9 was Paradise Springs, #10 was Afton, and #11 was Old House.

So, go Veritas and Gruet – depending on the scoring system.  Both are good wines that are worth checking out. 🙂

 

Maxim Magazine Deems Dimunitive Virginia Winemaker Far Too Manly for Bloggers to Pair His Wines With Quiche

Many people only think about bubbly wine for New Year’s Eve, Valentine’s Day, and “special” occasions like weddings and anniversaries.  By all means, open a bottle of fizzy wine on these occasions, but I think that opening the bottle of bubbly can make for a special occasion.  There are many different types of sparkling wines out there, but my preference is for a dry champagne-style.  If that’s not for you, however, check out the myriad other options available – I guarantee there are some out there that will work for you.

Here in VA, it’s hard to talk about sparkling wine without talking about Claude Thibaut.  I’m a big fan, and when I hear that he’s doing a tasting at a wine shop I can get to, I make plans to be there.  The last time we caught up with him, we found him pouring a limited release of a vintage (2008), extra brut sparkler: Cuvée D’État.  He was really impressed with the vintage year and this particularly vineyard site, so he decided to do this special bottling.  I liked it when I tasted it, and given my love of Thibaut-Jannison Winery sparklers, a bottle came home with me.

One of the foods that people talk about as a good pairing for sparkling wine is the egg.  I love eggs – they taste great, are incredibly versatile, and they cook quickly.  I also love mushrooms!  Thanks to Grape Envy Guy’s near miraculous ability to pick out great recipes, we had a dinner of mushroom and feta frittata planned.  In a perfect world, I would have opened a bottle of a lighter, but earthy, red wine.  I didn’t have a wine like this in the house, however.  (In fact, I’m not even sure what this wine might be – if you’ve got suggestions for us, please make them – we need some help).  Given that I had to move on to plan B, I turned to the bottle of Cuvée D’État I had chilling in the fridge.

On the nose, I noted crisp, green apples with a hint of yeast.  On the palate, I found apple, peach, and some floral notes (sorry, my floral identification isn’t great).  As I spent more time with the wine, I also noted some Asian pear flavors.  I really liked this wine.  I also really like the frittata.  Frittatas are a great, quick dinner (it’s like a quick quiche with no crust for those of you unfamiliar with the term), and we make a lot of them.  This may be the best one we’ve ever made, and the sparkling wine made a simple dinner feel really special.

If I really want to look at the pairing critically, which I guess I do since I’m doing it, the wine would have worked better with the meal had the floral notes been a bit less pronounced, but good wine and good food make for a nice night, and sometimes bubbles and eggs are all you need (or at least all I need).

 

Are You Moving Fast Enough?

Mountfair Vineyards follows a different model than most of the other wineries in the state.  They produce only a handful of Bordeaux-style blends each year – all in very small quantities.  They also put a lot of emphasis on growing their wine club (which involves a commitment to buy at least 6 bottles of their 4 planned releases in a given year.  All of this comes together to mean  that you’ll taste only a limited number of wines during a given visit and that, if you like something, you should buy it then, because it likely won’t be there when you make a return visit.

We most recently visited Mountfair a few weeks ago, and at the time, they were pouring 4 wines.  One of these, the Inaugural, is already sold out, and a second, the Belated, is down to approximately 10 cases according to twitter.  Scarcity is a tactic used in many sales environments, but it’s definitely a reality you have to confront when you visit this winery.

Our tasting began with the ’09 merlot ($20), a blend of 80% merlot and 20% can franc.  This wine offered cherry and berry on the nose, and these dark fruits were joined by some herbal and eucalyptus on the palate.  This is not a super complex wine, but it was solid and enjoyable.  The ’09 cab franc ($20), a blend of 80% cab franc and 20% merlot, was up next.  I mostly noted generic cherry and oak elements in this wine.  It was fine, but it did nothing for me.

The next wine we tasted was the ’08 Belated ($25), a blend of 60% merlot, 30% cab franc, and 10% petit verdot.  On the nose, I mostly noted the oak.  On the palate, I mostly noticed an unbalanced acid element.  I couldn’t get beyond this to note much of anything about this wine.  Our final wine of the day was the ’09 Indigenous ($25), a blend of 50% petit verdot and 50% cab franc.  This wine also had some acid balance issues, but I was noting some blackberry and earthiness here as well.

Mountfair is one of those wineries I find myself rooting for.  The large club shipments are not for me, but I like the idea of a small number of red blends done very well.  I’ll be curious to see what Mountfair produces in the coming years,  That said, for the time being, I’m not that sold on their wines (a change from our first visit last year, so I hope this is a fluke).  The balance of oak, acid, and fruit wasn’t there for me.  That said, we had a nice time tasting there and will make a return visit sometime later in the year.

On a final note, the Thibaut-Jannison Fizz is now being poured and sold  in their tasting room.  This is the wine that came out on top in our blogger sparkling tasting, so this gives you one more opportunity to try and buy it.

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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.

 

Get to Know Your Winemaker: Claude Thibaut of Thibaut-Janisson Winery

The series continues with the Maestro of Sparkle, Claude Thibaut. Since we like to preserve our anonymity, we’re hoping he hasn’t figured out that we’re the same people who pop up every time he’s doing a tasting in our area. Hey, it’s his fault for not having a tasting room at Thibaut-Janisson Winery. We have to track him down to get our grubby mitts on his wines.

Anyhow, he must not have figured us out because he graciously agreed to play along and sent us his responses to our questions:

Where did you grow up?

I was born and raised in the Champagne region near Reims

How long have you lived in VA?

Since 2003, I came to work for Kluge Winery first

What brought you to wine?

I am the third generation of Champagne maker, it is in our blood…

Where else (besides your current winery) have you made wine?

France, Australia, California

What characteristics do you enjoy in wine?

Finesse,Balance and Pleasure

If you could have a private tour of any winery in the world, which would you choose?

Champagne Bollinger

What is your favorite food and wine pairing?

Goat cheese and Sancerre

What are your favorite wine varietals?

Pinot Noir and Chardonnay

A lot of wine folks are excited for the 2010 wines. Which of your wines are you the most excited about?

I am not that excited about 2010 as a Vintage, too hot and dry.

Who is your favorite cartoon character?

Popeye

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

It is the only winery dedicated solely to the production of sparkling wine “methode traditionelle”

Thanks again, Claude!

 

Bubbles, Bubbles Everywhere

When we visited the Eastern Shore in the fall with Frank (from Drink What You Like) and his wife Acada & Paul and Warren(from Virginia Wine Time), one of the topics we spent some time talking about was VA Sparkling wines.  We all thought Virginia had some nice sparkling options, but we all also expressed some frustration with how difficult it was to try them since many are never poured in tasting rooms.  That evening, the seeds of a blind Virginia sparkling wine tasting were sown.  It took a while to find a workable date, set the parameters of the tasting, secure the wines (thanks for help with this Frank), find a venue, and organize a tasting panel.  Everything came together for Saturday, however, and I think it’s fair to say that a good time was had by all.

So, let’s start with a huge thank you to Keswick Vineyards for serving as our hosts.  They were generous to offer up their carriage house as a tasting space.  In addition to providing the venue, Kat Schornberg Barnard rounded up flutes for us to use (a much harder feat than you might expect) and generally served as a go to resource person in the days proceeding the tasting as well as on the day of the tasting.  I also want to thank everyone who attended/tasted.  In addition to Frank (and Acada – who wasn’t drinking but was an invaluable help in blinding all the wines), Paul, Warren, Grape Envy Guy and myself, we had a wide array of other VA bloggers/writers in the room.  We were joined by Stephen Barnard (Keswick’s winemaker and a recent addition to the blogging scene), John Witherspoon (owner of The Wine Cellar and a blogger at Anything Wine), Richard Leahy (from Richard Leahy’s Wine Report), John Hagarty (from Hagarty on Wine) and his wife Jean, Joel Timmins (from the Virginia Wine Examiner), and Rick Collier and Nancy Bauer (from Virginia Wine In My Pocket – although only Rick was part of the formal tasting).  It was amazing to be part of such a crowd, and it was wonderful to spend the afternoon with so many outspoken advocates for Virginia Wine as we shared this unique experience.

Are you curious about the wines yet… Here’s how we decided what made the tasting.  First, I did my best to identify every winery in VA making a sparkling wine – if I missed any, I’m sure you’ll let us know.  We found that the sparklers seemed to fall into 3 categories: traditional white wines, rosé wines, and sparkling viogniers.  We decided that the two sparkling viogniers (Horton [$25] and Paradise Springs [$43]) we knew of in the state wouldn’t fit in well in a chardonnay heavy tasting, so they were left out.  We also decided to leave out the pink wines this time around.  The 4 we know of are all very diverse, so we weren’t sure how fair it would be to put them all in a line up together: Kluge [approximately $20], Veritas [$30], Potomac Point [price unknown], and Thibaut-Jannison [approx. $35].  This left us with 12 wines we could identify as meeting our criteria; 10 of these were included in the final tasting.  The two wines we didn’t include were the Old House Vineyards Petillante ($35) because it’s sold out and the Athena Vineyards Brut ($30) because none of us could get to the Northern Neck to pick up a bottle from the winery.  The remaining 10 VA sparklings were joined by a California and a French bottle that Frank had received as samples.  I’ll detail each below.

As a final preliminary detail, we kept the scoring really simple.  For the wine experts in the room who wanted to use a formal scoring system, they were welcome to, but all we asked was that people rank order the wines at the end.  This was harder than it sounds, however, since we tasted the wines in 3 flights of 4 (that pesky lack of glasses issue), but everyone managed the difficulty in a good natured way.  I’ll take you through the wines in the way we unblinded them – from our least favorite to our most favorite.  At the end of the day, however, the winner was Virginia Wine.

The 12th place wine was the Chateau Gaillard Cuvee Charlotte Voyant from Touraine, France[sample provided to Frank – retails for around $20], a blend of 70% chenin blanc and 30% chardonnay.  This one was also my least favorite wine.  I had a hard time getting past my dislike of this wine to focus on specific elements of the wine.  My notes included impression of negative floral notes and burned fruit along with notes I wasn’t willing to spend the time needed to label.

The 11th place wine was the Ingleside Vineyards Virginia Brut [$35, but sold to Frank at the wholesale rate plus shipping].  Again, my ranking matched that of the group.  The nose on this wine was really off putting to me.  There was a hint of floral on the nose that I wasn’t loving, but it was the somewhat cooked apple flavors in the wine (think apple sauce) that I really couldn’t deal with.

In 10th place was the Potomac Point Winery ’06 Brut [$40, but provided to Frank as a sample].  I found it far easier to rank my most and least favorites, while the mid-pack ones all ran together.  This one ended up in 7th place on my list.  It offered pear and bright apple flavors with a hint of yeasty bread on the finish, but it was a bit too fruity for me, and all this fruit led to me perceiving it as sweeter – something I don’t care for in my bubbly.  It wasn’t exactly a bad wine, but once the wine (and therefore price) were revealed, it was clear I’d never pay that much for this wine.

The Barboursville Vineyards Brut [$18] ended up in 9th place overall and 6th on my sheet.  The wine is a blend of 90% pinot noir and 10% chard.  This wine didn’t offer the most refined bubble structure of those sampled, but it had a nice blend of floral and pear notes on the nose and pear and yeast on the palate.  I didn’t love this wine, but I found it solid.  At $18 it’s a fairly good buy (but wait until you see the winner…)

In 8th place was the King Family Vineyards Blanc de Blanc Brut [$30] – 10th on my list.  This was one of the wines where I noticed a slightly coarser bubble structure (something I typically only take note of if the bubbles are either large or inactive).  Personally, I didn’t care for the perfumey floral notes in this wine, and I was really turned off by the vanilla I was noting on the palate.  This was the first time I’ve been able to sample this wine, and I think it’s just not the one for me.

The surprise of the day was probably the 7th place wine: the Thibaut-Jannison blanc de chardonnay [$27-$32].  I ranked it as my second favorite because of the bready/yeasty notes I so enjoy in a sparkling wine, but many in the room were surprised by how low it ranked overall.  In addition to the yeasty notes, there were some nice floral notes on the nose.  There were also the expected notes of apple and pear, but I would have loved just a bit more acid.

The Barefoot Bubbly Brut Cuvee Champagne (from CA) ranked in 6th place overall and 3rd on my tasting sheet [a sample provided to frank – retails for around $10].  This wine immediately stood out as being different, and I assumed it was not chardonnay, but some web research during the Superbowl (I am so not a football fan) indicates that I was wrong about that.  This is not a traditional champagne-style sparkling, but it was a lot of fun, and I could see myself picking up the occasional bottle when I’m looking for something different given the price point – I noted honeysuckle, pear and mango.  I was correct that it was the Barefoot and the novelty factor of the distinct flavor profile may have led me to give this a higher ranking.

We had a perfect tie for 4th/5th place.  The first of these wines was the ’07 Kluge SP Blanc de Blanc Brut [approx. $24].  I wasn’t a huge fan of this one, and when I ranked my mid-pack wines, this one ended up in 8th place.  I got a very fruity nose and some floral and apple on the palate.  Given my love of yeast, I’m unsurprised that this wine wasn’t working for me.  It also offered a shorter finish, and I just found myself wanting more.

The other 4th/5th place wine was the Veritas Vineyards Scintilla [$30], a 50/50 blend of chard and cab franc with no skin contact.  I was right in line with the group on this one as I also ranked it 4th.  The bubbles in this wine were a bit coarser than in some others sampled.  It did offer the yeasty and pear flavors I enjoy, but this one also offered some toasted nuttiness/caramel notes.  Those were not my favorite aspect of this wine, but it was enjoyable overall.

The Afton Mountain Vineyards ’06 Tete De Cuvee (a blend of pinot noir and chard) was the 3rd place wine [$30], although it ranked 9th on my list.  As with the Scintilla, the bubbles in this wine were a bit coarser, but there was a hint of something on the nose that wasn’t working for me.  Some tasters more knowledgeable than I suggested that this wine might be showing some signs of oxidation.  I was getting very floral notes and a lot of fruit on the palate, but it wasn’t as crisp or yeasty as I like.  I’ve had this wine in the past and enjoyed it far more, so we may have had a bottle that was showing some signs of oxidation.  It’s also an ’06 vintage wine, so it might also just be at a drink now stage…it’s hard to say.

In 2nd place was the Prince Michel sparkling wine [$30].  This wine was 5th in my tasting, and may well have ranked higher had I spent a bit more time with it before the bubbles started to dissipate as the lack of carbonation was one of the factors that caused me to rate this wine lower overall, since it had the yeasty apple/pear flavor profile I so enjoy.  I did correctly identify this as a Claude Thibaut wine, however (but more on this in a minute).

Finally, the winner of the day was the Virginia Fizz (all chard) from Thibaut-Jannison Winery [$21-$25]; this was also my hand down favorite wine.  I’ve told people in the past that I prefer the T-J flagship brut, but I need to make sure I don’t overlook the value of this wine in the future.  It didn’t just show well, it really impressed.  I plan to pick up some of this wine to keep on hand as soon a I can.  This wine offered a wonderful balance of fruit, floral, and yeast notes along with a nice hit of acid.  I noted that this was exactly what I look for in a sparkler in my tasting notes.

At the end of the day it’s clear that VA sparkling wines have a lot to offer.  As with all wines, however, not all bottles will be the same.  Acid is a very important component of sparkling wine, and when the weather is too hot, the grapes get very ripe (something not ideal for bubbly) and the acid balance can suffer, and a number of tasters were commenting on the desire for more acid in a few of the sampled wines.  I don’t think it would be hard for local wine lovers to find a bottle of VA bubbly to pop when celebrating a special occasion (or making an occasion special).

As a final note, I think it’s really important to mention the role Claude Thibaut is playing in the VA sparkling wine effort.  He made/consulted on 6 of the 10 VA sparklers in this tasting (T-J blanc de chardonnay, Fizz, Veritas, King Family, Afton, and Prince Michel).  We’ve been fortunate enough to meet him at a few tastings and talk with him about his passion for sparkling wine (and sparkling wine in Virginia), and he’s clearly doing a great job of showing us what’s possible in the state!

 

Time to Celebrate

Let me start by saying that I do not believe that you need a special occasion to open a bottle of bubbly.  In fact, opening a bottle of bubbly can be the special occasion, especially when it’s a stellar local wine offering like the Thibaut-Jannison Winery blac de chardonnay brut.  That said, I’d had a bottle waiting in the fridge to celebrate when I heard about passing the first  (and most rigorous) stage of the review process for a major promotion at work.  I recently received the positive news I was hoping for, so we popped the cork and enjoyed rediscovering what has become one of our favorite wines.

Having had the opportunity to talk with Claude Thibaut when we bought this bottle, I know that this particular non-vintage sparkler is a blend of wine from the ’06 and ’07 seasons.  Since we’ve had this particular blend a few times, it’s interesting to see how it’s changing with additional time in the bottle.

As always, this wine offered a tight bubble structure that I associate with a high quality sparkling wine.  When we first started sipping, however, the wine was a bit to cold, so the scents and flavors were a bit muted.  As the wine warmed up a bit, however, some light yeastiness and tart fruit came though.  Since we were drinking out of flutes rather than traditional wine glasses, however, it was hard to get a good sense of the nose on this wine.

I notice the changes with more time in the bottle on the palate, however.  Bright, tart apple flavors were the first thing I noticed as I started sipping on this wine.  It was quite crisp and refreshing.  The changes to this wine showed up on the finish.  What used to be some bready yeastiness had developed into a richer, toasted brioche finish with some hints of nuttiness.

As a final note, I’ve also discovered that the somewhat unusual bottle shape lends itself perfectly to holding it by the neck to swig directly from the bottle – now isn’t that a great mental picture to leave you with 🙂

 

What We Chose

For the last few weeks, I haven’t been able to escape from the blog posts and stories on pairing wines with thanksgiving dinner.  While I’m always excited to find a really successful wine and food pairing, I’m also a pragmatists.  To that end, I saw drink whatever wine with you want to with any meal and forget about trying to pair it perfectly.  That’s particulalry true at Thanksgiving since there are so many complex flavors on the table that no one wine will work perfectly with them all.  That said, I do give some thought to the wine we open, but we always know it’s a hope for the best endeavor, and we can always open another bottle if the first one doesn’t work well.

This year we tried out two different wines with our meal (and our leftovers).  The first was the non-vintage Thibaut-Janisson brut rosé (approximately 90% chard and 10% pinot noir).  When we tried this one at a The Frenchman’s Cellar at a Winemaker Wednesday event we were intrigued, but it really seemed to need food.  Our second wine was the ’09 High Tide Traminette from Holly Grove Vineyards.  When we tried this one during our Eastern Shore trip, I immediately thought Thanksgiving, so this seemed like the perfect time to open it.

It’s hard to go too far awry with bubbles, especially when the winemaker responsible for the bottle in question is Claude Thibaut.  We haven’t had many sparkling rosés, so we don’t have a lot of context for this wine.  The first thing I noticed was how pale the wine was in the glass; it was barely peachy/pink.  I was then surprised by how much fruit there was to this wine given the pale color.  There was a ton of strawberry on the nose along with some of the yeasty character I love in a sparkler.  On the palate, I noticed both raspberry in addition to strawberry along with a welcome fruity/bready finish.  The acid in the wine did let it play really well with the food – at least most of the food.  It was a winner with the turkey and the cranberry sauce, but it wasn’t so great with the cornbread pudding.

The traminette was another winner for us, and convinces us that this is a good standby wine for us on turkey day.  A crazy floral traminette probably wouldn’t work so well, but if you can find one where the spicy character of the grape comes out, consider it for turkey (at any time of year).  This one had a spicy rosewater nose but wasn’t cloyingly floral.  On the palate, the rose was still there, but some surprising tropical fruit flavors came through as well.  (Had I read the post I wrote about our visit, I might have remembered this, but I didn’t, so it was a nice surprise.)  As was true when I first tasted it, I would have been hard pressed to notice the 3% residual sugar in this wine.  By night two, however, the sweetness was more apparent.  The floral characteristics had also mellowed and some interesting honey notes had come out.  It was less complex, but it still worked well with the leftovers.

All in all, we had a nice Thanksgiving dinner, some nice wines, and some nice time together during what is otherwise a crazy time for us both at work.  Based on the discussions going on our facebook page, it seems like a lot of you had a similar experience.  As always, give thanks for Virginia wine and drink what appeals to you – you never know when a pairing experiment will really pay off.