Category Archives: Special Wine Event

The Petit Verdot Championship Round

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This event was three years in the making. Petit Verdot has long been one of my favorite grape varieties, so serving PV in a blind tasting was a no brainer.

But this particular tasting wasn’t any typical event, since it only included the top wines of my three previous Petit Verdot tastings; one only using wine from the 2017 vintage, a second that compared Virginia PVs to other regions, and a third that only tasted the 2019 vintage.

Each of these blind tastings produced three top contenders. I did my best to collect those specific vintages, or at least the closest I could find. Thanks to the generosity of several wineries who opened up their wine libraries, I was able to collect 7 of the 9 of these top-scoring wines.

There were two exceptions. I wasn’t able to get a 2017 Cave Ridge Petit Verdot. But since I had a 2019 Cave Ridge PV, I figured that’s close enough.

Neither was I wasn’t able to get a bottle of a 2018 True Heritage Petit Verdot (used in my second event). But I did get the next best thing; a 2020 Petit Verdot from Southwest Mountains Vineyards, which is actually from the same vineyard (Castalia Farm) and winemaker (Emily Pelton).

Tasting & Scoring Methodology

A group of friends & I blind tasted 9 wines in 3 flights. All the flights were bagged blind.

We didn’t have a sophisticated scoring system. The goal was to pick a ‘favorite’ in every flight, as opposed to rating them and determining which one we thought was the ‘best’.

The favorite of every flight went to a ‘finalist’ round. I took the extra step of hiding the ‘finalists’ with a second bag, so any biases of an earlier tasting hopefully didn’t carry over to the final round.

After finishing the final round, we unveiled all the wines and crowned the overall favorite of the day.

This group was composed of Virginia wine aficionados, so all were very familiar with Petit Verdot.

The contenders:

  1. 2019 Wisdom Oak Winery
  2. 2017 Glen Manor Vineyards
  3. 2017 Arterra Wines
  4. 2017 Hark Vineyards
  5. 2020 Southwest Mountains Vineyards
  6. 2019 Chateau MerrillAnne
  7. 2019 Cave Ridge Vineyard
  8. 2017 DuCard Vineyards
  9. 2014 Linden Vineyards

We also kicked things off with a pet-nat Petit Verdot from Early Mountain Vineyard.

Flight #1:

  • Bottle #1: 2019 Wisdom Oak (round winner)
  • Bottle #2: 2017 Glen Manor
  • Bottle #3: 2017 Arterra Wines

Bottle #1 / 2019 Wisdom Oak. This was the fruitiest wine of the flight (and turned out, of the event). Very nice aroma which reminded us of “sweet cherries and brandy”; at least one person mentioned they found some coconut as well. Notes of stewed strawberry, plumb, and maybe some vanilla on the palate, followed by some barrel notes.

Bottle #2 / 2017 Glen Manor. Soft, aromatic nose, with notes of barnyard and black cherry. Someone mentioned ‘forest floor’ as well. Black plumb or more general ‘dark fruit’ on the palate. A few detected a ‘hot note’ of higher alcohol (which turned out to be true; at 14.7% it was the highest-alcohol wine of the day).

Bottle #3 / 2017 Arterra Wines. Rustic nose. Tart cherry on the palate. Notes of leather. Someone mentioned ‘meaty’ notes, which I would agree with. It was pretty easy to tell this was a natural ferment, since everything just seemed ‘different’. In retrospect I probably should have opened it up much earlier, since wines from Arterra need extra time to open up.

Votes: When it came time to pick a favorite, this was probably the first time I’ve had 100% of my attendees vote the exact same way, for the exact reasons. All seven of us gravitated towards Wine #1/Wisdom Oak very quickly.

That said, I wish I had more time with this round. #2/Glen Manor was just hitting its stride as I took votes, and some guests seemed conflicted if they should stick with their original vote or change it.

Arterra likewise need time to open up, since their wine isn’t designed to be ‘showy’. I had a glass the next day and it definitely smoothed out.

  • Alex: 1/2/3. Thought #1 had the best nose and best balance
  • Allison: 1/2/3.
  • Dave: 1/2/3. Liked #1 from start to finish.
  • Kathy: 1/2/3.
  • Matt: 1/2/3.
  • Stephanie: 1/2/3.
  • Vicki: 1/2/3. Liked the fruit-forward nature of the wine.

Flight #2:

  • Bottle #4: 2017 Hark Vineyards
  • Bottle #5: 2020 Southwest Mountains Vineyards (round winner)
  • Bottle #6: 2019 Chateau MerrillAnne

This was probably the most difficult round to pick a favorite as we really, really enjoyed them all. All of these wines were also very aromatic, which was unusual for Petit Verdot.

Bottle #4 / 2017 Hark Vineyards. I was immediately taken by the very plush, almost ‘juicy’ aroma. Others mentioned the nose had notes of purple flower, graphite, forest floor, or grassy. Very dark in color.

The palate had dark fruit and rougher & aggressive tannins. Someone mentioned they found a ‘metallic’ note, but didn’t mean to use that as a negative.

Bottle #5 / 2020 Southwest Mountains Vineyards. Long, juicy finish. Bright, lightly colored, “sweet” nose; it almost reminded me of a Nebbiolo. The palate was on the lighter side, with a sweet barrel note to it.

I later learned this had 20% Merlot, so the softness made a lot of sense.

Bottle #6 / 2019 Chateau MerrillAnne. Soft aromatics; maybe notes of caramel? Not a lot of fruit on the palate; someone mentioned they felt the barrel was overpowering it. My favorite descriptor was ‘cherry cordial”, which several agreed with.

Votes: We gravitated towards SWM Vineyards, but really liked all of these wines. I suspect the softness of the SWM was a huge attraction.

  • Alex: 5/6/4.
  • Allison: 5/6/4.
  • Dave: 5/6/4.
  • Kathy: 5/4/6. Voted #5 for the ‘juicy-fruit’ quality of it, but also liked the cherry/tannin combo of #4.
  • Matt: 5/4/6.
  • Stephanie: 5/6/4. Toss-up between 4 & 6, but liked #5 all the way through, from nose to finish.
  • Vicki: 5/6/4. Voted for #5 because of the cherry/vanilla qualities. Thought #4 was too acidic.

Flight #3:

  • Bottle #7: 2019 Cave Ridge Vineyard
  • Bottle #8: 2017 DuCard Vineyards
  • Bottle #9: 2014 Linden Vineyards

This was our tannic, heavier-alcohol, ‘food wine’ round. We started to heavily snack during this round and anything with fattiness greatly improved nearly all of these wines.

It really came down to a narrow finish between #8 and #9.

Bottle #7 / 2019 Cave Ridge Vineyard. Lots of different notes on this one. I found blueberry on the nose (and palate), while others said it was more toasty, maybe toffee.

Descriptors on the palate varied greatly. Some mentioned raspberry/cherry, others mentioned dark chocolate; even bitter chocolate (I suspect those were the tannins talking to me).

Bottle #8 / 2017 DuCard Vineyards: Caramel nose. Palate descriptors ranged from dark chocolate to caramel to sweet fruit. The fruit was most prominent on the finish.

Bottle #9 / 2014 Linden Vineyards: Stewed red berries and tart on the palate, with a sweet cherry finish. The nose wasn’t well received; the higher alcohol was a turn-off (it was actually slightly less alcoholic than other bottles but didn’t wear that alcohol as well).

Many mentioned they wished the nose was as good as the palate, although the nose seemed to lighten up the longer the tasting went on. That helped greatly, which swayed some votes from #8 towards #9. This was actually 88% PV, with 8% Cab Sauv and 4% Carmenere’.

Votes:

  • Alex: 8/7/9. The nose of #8 was well integrated, while #7 and #9 had more alcohol.
  • Allison: 8/7/9
  • Dave: 9/8/7. Thought #9 had a little more complexity than the others.
  • Kathy: 9/8/7
  • Matt: 9/8/7. Thought #9 opened up enough to put it ahead.
  • Stephanie: 9/8/7. Also liked #9 more as it opened up.
  • Vicki: 8/7/9. Also agreed with Alex; thought #8 was well integrated.

Finalist Round:

  • Bottle #1: 2019 Wisdom Oak Winery (Event Winner)
  • Bottle #5: 2020 Southwest Mountains Vineyards
  • Bottle #9: 2014 Linden Vineyards (Runner Up)

I didn’t take extensive tasting notes this round. Neither did I bother re-bagging them. These wines were so memorable, a new bag wouldn’t have done anything.

All of us were really struck by the fruitiness of wine #1 (Wisdom Oak). That fruitiness really stood out, especially compared to some of these tannic heavy-hitters.

We loved it so much that when I did the vote tally, 6 out of 7 participants decreed the 2019 Wisdom Oak Petit Verdot was the best wine of the event. It was just really well balanced, with a strong fruit quality that really put it over the top.

I contacted owner/winemaker Jason Lavallee for details on this wine (PS – except for some library bottles, it’s sold out) and he explained his opinion where those fruit notes came from.

According to Jason, the particular barrels he used were actually designed for white wine, specifically for those whites to showcase more fruit qualities. Surprisingly this only got a Silver at the Monticello Cup; maybe it just wasn’t ready yet? Well, it’s ready now!

Votes:

  • Alex: 1/5/9
  • Allison: 1/5/9
  • Dave: 1/5/9
  • Kathy: 1/9/5
  • Matt: 9/5/1
  • Stephanie: 1/9/5
  • Vicki: 1/5/9

Lessons Learned:

This was a tough one to judge. I don’t really have any ‘lessons learned’, but do have a few observations. I just wish I knew how to best enact them.

First, many of these wines presented very differently than other bottles of the SAME VINTAGE did even a few months back. I can’t explain why they tasted so differently.

Second, nearly all these bottles could have greatly benefited from decanting. I thought about that in advance and opened them up around noon (we started tasting around 3 PM), even sampling them to ensure more air entered the bottle (you know…quality control…). But that limited amount of air wasn’t nearly enough. I think we would have enjoyed them much more if I had given them a full decanting.

Third, I understand what people say about “Petit Verdot overload”. By that third round my mouth was drying out. I also suspect that it wasn’t a coincidence that the 2 of the 3 top bottles had 12-20% of another grape blended in to smooth the tannic nature of PV down.

I’m undecided if serving food with these wines would have helped. Granted, that would have been unfair since a wine should be judged on its own, not on the quality of the pairing. But this entire event really did cry out for more food. Something to keep in mind in the future.

2024 Virginia-only Cabernet Franc Showdown

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You might say that Cabernet Franc is a grape that ‘gets around’.

First off, it’s the most planted wine grape in Virginia. Just over 700 acres of Cabernet Franc is grown in the state – much more than runner-up Chardonnay and leaps and bounds more acreage than #3 Petit Verdot.

Second, Cabernet Franc is one of the parents Cabernet Sauvignon. Back in the 17h century, Cabernet Franc and Sauvignon Blanc got feisty in a French vineyard and produced an offspring which took parts of both parents’ names. So even if you aren’t in love with Cabernet Franc, thank it for being a great parent.

Cabernet Franc possesses a lot of great qualities yet shows them in moderation, including good but not high tannin and acidity, medium body and alcohol, and a floral aroma. This makes it a versatile wine able to be paired with a variety of food options or enjoyed on its own.

It’s also a hardy grape in the vineyard, able to ripen in cooler weather, offers good disease resistance, and doesn’t need a long growing season. Virginia winemakers (and wine growers) constantly sing its praise.

I did a “Virginia Cabernet Francs vs The World” comparison last year with wines from Virginia, France, and the Finger Lakes, but this time around we did a round of 100% Virginia wines. Most were of the 2021 vintage but we had some variation in vintage year.

Tasting & Scoring Methodology

A group of friends & I blind tasted 9 wines in 3 flights. All the flights were bagged blind.

We didn’t have a sophisticated scoring system. The goal was to pick a ‘favorite’ in every flight, as opposed to rating them and determining which one we thought was the ‘best’.

The favorite of every flight went to a ‘finalist’ round. I took the extra step of hiding the ‘finalists’ with a second bag, so any biases of an earlier tasting hopefully didn’t carry over to the final round.

After finishing the final round, we unveiled all the wines and crowned the overall favorite of the day.

This group was composed of friends who are definitely Virginia wine aficionados, so all were very familiar with Cabernet Franc. Only one had industry experience, but the others were more than familiar with blind wine tastings.

The contenders:

  1. 2021 Glen Manor
  2. 2021 Pippin Hill
  3. 2022 Wolf Gap
  4. 2021 Pollak
  5. 2021 Greenhill
  6. 2020 Pearmund
  7. 2021 50 West
  8. 2021 Keswick
  9. 2020 Stone Tower

Flight #1

  • Bottle #1: 2021 Glen Manor (round winner)
  • Bottle #2: 2021 Pippin Hill
  • Bottle #3: 2022 Wolf Gap

We were immediately struck by how different all of these wines were. #1 leaned into elegance while #2 was fare more traditional. #3 was probably too young for this lineup.

Bottle #1 / 2021 Glen Manor. Earthy nose, but also light and clean. Guests mentioned notes of spice and coco on the palate. It was velvety and tannic; firm tannins were mentioned. Astringent but in a good way.

Bottle #2 / 2021 Pippin Hill. Green pepper on the palate, white pepper on the nose. There initially was a mustiness to it but that went away as the wine opened up. Someone mentioned notes of tart cherry, and the term ‘mocha’ got some traction. Several used descriptors of balanced and smooth. Velvety; maybe a little oaky. One person mentioned too peppery

Bottle #3 / 2022 Wolf Gap. This was our ‘easy drinking wine’. Smooth, but the nose and palate weren’t aligned. Some mentioned notes red pepper and maybe vanilla on the finish. Others mentioned white pepper, or even evergreen and pine on the nose. Soft tannins.

Votes:

  • Ann 1/3/2. Liked the astringency and body of #1, but thought #3 was easy drinking
  • Ashley 2/1/3. Liked the complexity and spice of #2, but also enjoyed the balance of #1
  • Brandon: 1/2/3
  • Frank: Tie between #1 and #2, with #3 a more distant third. 
  • Emily: 2/1/3
  • Isabel: 1/2/3. Thought #1 was spicy but bold, with some nice black pepper
  • Martha: 2/1/3
  • Matt: 1/2/3. I thought #1 was an easy favorite here, for its overall elegance.

Flight #2

  • Bottle #4: 2021 Pollak (wild card advance to next round)
  • Bottle #5: 2021 Greenhill (round winner)
  • Bottle #6: 2020 Pearmund

This round was the complete opposite of the previous one. If the 1st round wines were strangers, this round was like seeing triplets, or at least close brothers. This round reminded me more of the Loire than Virginia.

This was also our favorite round of the day (outside of the winners round). While #6 / Pearmund lagged behind in votes, many felt it was easily was the equal to the best of the previous or subsequent flights.

Bottle #4 / 2021 Pollak. Nice complexity; good fruit qualities. Notes such as vanilla, liquorish, or barnyard were bandied out. Others mentioned notes of coco and elderberry on the palate. Acidic and dry.

Bottle #5 / 2021 Greenhill. Complex and rich were the key descriptors. Very light in color but complex on the palate. If Wine #4 (Pollak) was fruit forward, this leaned into the dark fruit. This also had a more ‘traditional’ coco nose as Cab Francs go. Notes of sweet cherry or ripe red cherry were mentioned.

Bottle #6 / 2020 Pearmund. Light color. More vegetal nose, but definitely not in a bad way. Tart cherry was mentioned. Notes of cranberry and dry fruit, plus some tartness.

Votes:

  • Ann: 5/4/6. Seemed torn between #4 and #5, as both were complex, lively, and balanced
  • Ashley: 5/4/6. Liked the dark fruit of #5
  • Brandon: 5/4/6.Thought “#5 had everything”, but especially liked its complexity
  • Frank: 5/4/6. Thought #4 was complex and balanced
  • Emily: 5/6/4. “Liked everything going on” for #5, but appreciated the fruit on #6
  • Isabel: 5/4/6. Focused on the ripe cherry notes of #5; also mentioned its smoothness
  • Martha: 5/4/6. Liked the nose on #5
  • Matt: 4/5/6

Flight #3

  • Bottle #7: 2021 50 West
  • Bottle #8: 2021 Keswick (round winner)
  • Bottle #9: 2020 Stone Tower

If the previous round were near-triplets, these were brothers. It was also our big & bold group.

Bottle #7 / 2021 50 West. This wine had higher levels of sugar and alcohol than we expected, yet was also on the lighter and peppery side. Sesame nose, notes of tart cherry were mentioned. Mildest nose of the flight. Dark fruit on the palate… maybe plumb? Someone mentioned it was ‘vibrant’.

Bottle #8 / 2021 Keswick. Someone mentioned a ‘beeswax nose’. Regardless, that nose was divisive, with some loving it but others not so much.

But after it opened up, people’s opinions changed. We found it to be fruit forward, with rich raspberry notes. Smooth and lush was also mentioned. Of all the wines we tried, this one needed the most time to reach its full potential. I suspect several people changed their votes once it did.

Bottle #9 / 2020 Stone Tower. Probably the most tannic wine of the entire day. One person mentioned a barnyard-y nose, while another said it had a liquorish, earthy nose. Musky, hints of vanilla. This was a classic, more fruit-forward Virginia Cab Franc. My favorite descriptor is this was a “big stud” of a wine.

Votes:

  • Ann: 8/7/9. Thought #8 was bold and has musty nose, but that softened out. Vibrant.
  • Ashley: 9/7/8. Though #9 had a liquorish nose
  • Brandon: 8/7/9. Thought #8 was barnyard-y but that mellowed out. It was also the earthiest of the bunch (I wonder if he was referring to #9 and I got this wrong?)
  • Emily: 9/8/7. Thought #9 had a nice warming sensation; cozy and toasty. Also was fruit forward with a peppery aroma.
  • Frank: 8/7/9 complex. #8 had a bell pepper note, and was lush and easy drinking
  • Isabel: #8 and #9 were tied, then #7. Felt #8 had earthy and berry notes, while #9 had a tobacco character
  • Martha: 8/9/7. Liked the nose and finish of #8, felt it was well balanced
  • Matt: 8/7/9. The nose really stood out on #8

Finalist Round

  • Bottle #1 / 2021 Greenhill (Bottle #4 in the 2nd flight) Event Winner
  • Bottle #2 / 2021 Glen Manor (Bottle #1 in the 1st flight) Runner Up
  • Bottle #3 / 2021 Keswick (Bottle #8 in the 3rd flight)
  • Bottle #4 / 2021 Pollak (Bottle #5 in the 2nd flight) Third Place

Normally I only pick a single favorite of every flight, but in this case Flight #2 was so universally loved, I picked a ‘wildcard’ to advance to the winning round (turned out to be our 2021 Pollak).

I re-bagged the wines so help prevent any biases from our previous rounds influence this round (although mostly we still guessed which was which). No surprise at who made finalist round; all of these were elegant, complex wines from exceptional producers.

I didn’t take many notes on this time. But after some deliberation we went with the 2021 Greenhill Vineyard Cabernet Franc as the favorite of the day. It was a great example how Cabernet Franc can be light on the palate yet be rich and complex.

I thought the runner-up 2021 Glen Manor Cabernet Franc leaned into that elegance even more, even if it didn’t have the same layer of richness. While GMV was my personal favorite of the day, but I wouldn’t argue with either bottle.

Votes:

  • Ann: 2/4/3/1. Went with Glen Manor because of its balance and spice note
  • Ashley: 2/1/4/3. Thought the Glen Manor had body but was also clean and complex
  • Brandon: 1/4/3/2
  • Emily: 1/4/3/2. Loved Greenhill because it was cozy and balanced
  • Frank: 1/2/4/3. Thought Greenhill had the lightest style
  • Isabel: 1/2/4/3
  • Martha: 1/2/4/3. Loved the nose and palate of the Greenhill; soft
  • Matt: 2/4/3/1. I gravitated towards Glen Manor because of its richness

Lessons Learned:

First off, all of these wines had ‘Virginia’ written all over them. That’s because Cab Franc is very terroir-influenced, plus it’s so widely grown that different winemakers have different signatures. You can have 9 wines and have 9 very different flavor profiles, yet all of them are recognizably ‘Virginia’ in style.

That said, very broadly this group tended to be divided between more traditional ‘Virginia style’ wines that leaned into the earthiness and pepper notes, and a set of lighter, more refined ‘Loire’ style wines. In this case, the Loire-style wines won the day.

I think the 2020 Stone Tower and 2021 Glen Manor were great examples of this spectrum. The former was a ‘big tannic brute’. The later was more of a ballerina. The 2021 Greenhill and 2021 Pollak were likewise examples of these more refined style. I’ve seen a trend which focuses on the former, but I’m hopeful we’ll keep seeing the later.

One last (late) edit. I also think this event also showcased why certain wineries have the exceptional reputation that they enjoy.

Virginia makes outstanding Cabernet Francs, so it’s hard to go wrong in this category. This particular lineup had a bunch of stars. Even so, going into this event certain names – namely Glen Manor, Keswick, and Pollak – kept being mentioned as likely winners.

It was no surprise that each of those made it into the final round. Despite that, the ‘brown bag’ really helps strip away biases.

Yet it the winner didn’t surprise me at all. Greenhill Vineyards’ Ben Comstock has been making a lot of great wine, racking up a bunch of Double Golds or “Best in Class” at various events. Having the best Cabernet Franc at this event was no surprise at all.

Walsh Family Bar Takeover With Domaine Finot and Domaine Fortier

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How many Walsh Family Wine Bar Takeovers have I been to? 25? 30? More? I’ve lost track.

Let’s just say that between all the creative ‘side-project’ wines crafted from well-known Virginia winemakers, wines from new businesses that don’t have tasting rooms, collaborations between Nate Walsh and one of his friends, and ‘friends of Walsh Family’ visiting to share their wine…Walsh Family Wine has showcased a lot of guest brands.

This latest Takeover was likewise a hit, since it featured an old favorite and what I expect to be a new one.

Bar Takeovers can get really busy, so I arrived early to chat up Stephen Fortier and Jennifer Volk-Fortier before things got hectic. I waved to Matthieu Finot as I parked, gave a hug to Kathy Wiedemann, and got a glass of Walsh Sauv Blanc while I chatted up the tasting crew.

Matthieu’s Domaine Finot VA set up shop near the main tasting area while Domaine Fortier was in the ‘Garden Room’. Matthieu joked he couldn’t start serving until 4 PM because he’s always late (fashionably late; he’s French after all) so wouldn’t pour until the stroke of 4. Eventually he relented and we got started.

Matthieu Finot (left), Stephen Fortier (center), Jennifer Volk-Fortier (right)

Domaine Finot

The name Matthieu Finot should be very familiar, given he won the most recent Governor’s Cup for his 2019 Meritage with King Family Vineyards. Less known is his personal label, Domaine Finot.

It’s unfair to say that King Family doesn’t allow Matthieu creative license in his winemaking (check out their ‘Small Batch’ series). But here’s the thing with many established wineries; they have a ‘brand’ to protect, so prefer most of their wines stay ‘on brand’. This has resulted in a number of established winemakers establishing ‘side-gigs’ where they can flex their creative muscles.

Domaine Finot is where Matthieu has free reign to do what he wants, and his focus is to create ‘natural wine’ using 5 acres of fruit from Turk Mountain, located in the Afton region of Charlottesville.

Matthieu explained his wines are as ‘minimal intervention’ as you can get while still using vinifera, which (sadly) require at least some spraying in Virginia. Or, as he explained, ‘natural wine…basically.’

Natural wine isn’t legally defined in the United States, hence there’s some ambiguity regarding what the term actually means. For Matthieu, his approach is to use natural yeast and no sulfur, usually making his wines unfiltered, and occasionally using whole-cluster fermentation. His Malbec is made using carbonic maceration.

That also means these wines get to be what they want to be. While Matthieu would have preferred his most recent vintages come out with lower levels of alcohol, he shrugged and said, “Well, that’s minimal intervention”.

Matthieu served 4 wines; a Petit Verdot Pét-Nat, a 2022 Sauvignon Blanc, a 2021 Cabernet Franc, and his brother’s 2022 “Tracteur Rouge” red blend, made from Domaine Finot (Virginia)’s ‘brother’ label, Domaine Finot (France).

  • The Pét-Nat was arguably my favorite of the lineup. I didn’t ‘want’ a bottle, I ‘needed’ a bottle. No tasting notes; I just enjoyed sampling it on the spot (and came back for a 2nd taste).
  • 2022 Sauv Blanc: Made as an ‘orange wine’ (wine made from a white grape but made in the cellar using the same process given to red grapes). Cloudy. It had a pithy-tart/grapefruit note to it; almost like an IPA. Super expressive and interesting.
  • The 2021 Cabernet Franc was the runner up favorite. “Big” as Cab Francs go, made with whole cluster fermentation.
  • Tracteur Rouge: Grown in a parcel in the Alps by his brother Thomas; owner of Domaine Finot (France). Like its Virginia counterpart, Thomas farms with a high degree of sustainability. I remember liking this wine, but tasting notes are hard to write when holding your glass out in a crowd.

Domaine Fortier

The other guest winery was Domaine Fortier, owned by Jennifer and Stephen Fortier. Based in Lovettsville, the Fortiers had become so engrossed by the Virginia wine scene they decided to ‘pursue the dream’ of becoming vintners, on top of their successful careers and raising a family.

To help make the dream come true they turned to Nate Walsh, who is producing their wines at Walsh Family Wine and tutoring Stephen in winemaking. Nate was a natural choice, since he’s local and specializes in small-batch winemaking like this.

While the Fortiers bought grapes during their first few years of operation, in the future their wine will be made using fruit from 10 acres on their own property (a mixture of Cab Franc, Merlot, Petit Verdot, Tannat, Petit Manseng, Chardonnay, and Norton).

I got the feeling the Fortiers are one of those couples that need to constantly stay busy. Stephen is a defense contractor while Jennifer is a patent attorney with an engineering background. Like many who catch the ‘wine bug’ they didn’t have any background in viticulture, but neither did they let that stop them.

According to Stephen, originally they were aiming for 5 acres of vines but decided ‘go big or go home’, picking a 34-acre property in Lovettsville. Vines were planted in 2020, and they are aiming for about 3,000 cases/year. Eventually Domaine Fortier will have a tasting room, but for now they will serve their wine at pop-ups events.

Jennifer explained they are focusing on providing a more ‘elevated experience’ with their wines. One problem Virginia wine has is its wine is often sold young, as vintages sell out quickly. To avoid this, the Fortiers took a methodical approach to building up the brand, opening only when they could sell wines that had some age.

Their strategy was working out before they even ‘opened’, because their 2017 Cabernet Franc earned Gold as the prestigious San Francisco Chronical wine competition.

Originally we kicked off with five wines, but we convinced them to sneak in a bottle of white Merlot to the lineup. While everything was well made, I’d say the whites were the real stars.

  • 2023 Albariño: Or “sunshine in a bottle” as Jennifer called it. This grape does great in Virginia. Expressive; not quite as much saline as a Spanish wine but one of the better Albariño I’ve had lately – and I drink a lot of Albariño.
  • 2020 Petit Manseng: The knockout wine of the day. Fruit forward with tropical notes. Made in a dry style, it was so rich it could fake you out into thinking it was sweet. This was the first bottle my group opened at our table near the fireplace.
  • 2020 Chardonnay: Lightly oaked
  • 2020 Le Pivot: Sorry, no notes on this one!
  • 2017 Cabernet Franc: 85% CF/15% Tannat, made using barrels from the old Northgate Winery (which is now Walsh Family Wine). Gold at the SF Chronical.

Sipping The Atlantic Seaboard Wine Association’s Top Wines With The Congressional Wine Caucus

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It’s not often you get to sip local-ish wine at a semi-formal event at the US Capitol, but that’s exactly what I was able to do this past week.

The event in question was the annual Jefferson Loving Cup Trophy award ceremony, sponsored by the Atlantic Seaboard Wine Association (ASWA) and hosted by the Congressional Wine Caucus. Guests were able to enjoy light bites and tastings of over 45 wines, including the ASWA’s 2023 Best of Show and Best of Category winners.

It would be easy to poke fun at Congress for taking time off for a wine event on the eve of a shutdown, but for this event I’ll give them a pass. After all, the wine industry contributes an estimated $276 billion to the U.S. economy annually and creates the equivalent of almost two million full-time jobs. That’s a lot of $$$, especially for enterprises that are often based in rural areas.

More importantly for me, these particular wines all hailed from the east coast; specifically the 14 states that touch the Atlantic, plus Pennsylvania, Vermont, and West Virginia. Altogether, this area produces around 45 million gallons of wine annually.

That sounds like a lot, but it’s still just over 6% of total US wine production. That’s a splash compared to the west coast’s 90% market dominance – and exactly why the ASWA’s role is important.

West coast brands hog up much of the wine world’s shelf and advertising space, so east coast regions need an organization to advocate for them. Bonus points for how the ASWA highlights grapes that would otherwise be overlooked (hello petit verdot and petit manseng).

Mike Thompson (D-CA) stopped in for a few minutes and joked how the Congressional Wine Caucus was one of the largest such caucuses, in no small part because it’s far easier to negotiate over a glass of wine than behind a desk. After a few remarks, we kicked off the “Best in Class” awards.

We were lucky to have a number of local growers in attendance. I didn’t catch everyone’s name, but I did get to see Jason Murray and Sandy Gray-Murray of Arterra Wines, Shannon Horton of Horton Vineyards, Mark Ward of Pearmund Cellars/Effingham/Vint Hill, Jeremy Ligon of Barrel Oak Winery, and Emily and Kenny White of Chateau Merrillanne, amongst others.

I know the Pearmund ‘family’ must have been exceptionally excited that three separate wines won Best in Class in their categories; their 2022 Petit Manseng and 2022 ‘Celebration’ from Effingham, and the “Misty” from Vint Hill.

Mark joked that one of his hardest jobs is to decide if he should make wine that he likes vs what the public likes. His palate preferred drier wines, but these would make those with a sweeter palate happy.

One winemaker that was new to me was Tom Shelton of Bordeleau Winery, located on Maryland’s Eastern Shore. Bordeleau won not just Best in Class for their “Lot Number 3” Non-Vintage Petit Verdot, but it went on to win the overall “Best in Show”.

This PV is a rare example of a non-vintage wine. Tom explained he recognizes that Maryland’s variable climates creates ‘peaks and valleys’, making it difficult to produce stylistically-similar wine year after year. To get around that, he makes all of his wines non-vintage, with the exception of a few whites.

This particular PV used fruit from 2016, 2017, and a bit from 2019. I was struck by its smoothness and complexity; it had just enough fruit to make it pleasant but it still had a tannic backbone. This was their 3rd petit verdot.

My other favorite wines were Horton’s 2019 Albariño, the 2021 Chardonnay from Fox Run, Herron Hill’s 2020 Pinot Noir (both in the Finger Lakes), plus several sparklings (of course).

I also got to try Fifty-Third Winery’s 2021 Norton, which I had just written about. Norton is a love-it-or-hate-it grape but I was pleasantly surprised by its smoothness, so I can understand why it was awarded “Best Norton” at the separate Norton Cup event last year.

While Bordeleau Winery’s Petit Verdot was the star, plenty of other wines were recognized. The 2023 ASWA competition awarded 33 “Best of Class” wines from amongst 455 entries.

In addition to popular categories such as Best of Class Bordeaux-style wine, chardonnay, and sparkling, they also had winners for various categories of mead, sweet wine, fruit wine, cider, hybrids, and other vinifera wines.

Here is an abbreviated roster. To see ASWA’s entire medal list, check out the Atlantic Seaboard Wine Association’s press release, or visit https://aswawines.org.

Atlantic Seaboard Wine Association Best of Class Winners (abbreviated)

  1. Albariño 2019 Albariño Private Reserve by Horton Cellars Winery, VA
  2. Bordeaux-Style Red Blends 2021 Founded 1734 by Chateau MerrillAnne, VA
  3. Cabernet Franc 2021 Cabernet Franc Reserve by Fifty-Third Winery & Vineyards, VA
  4. Chardonnay 2020 Chardonnay by The Winery at Sunshine Ridge Farms, VA
  5. Merlot 2015 Reserve Merlot by Ospreys Dominion Vineyards, Ltd., NY
  6. Other Red Vinifera Varietals 2021 Tannat by Arterra Wines, VA
  7. Petit Manseng 2022 Petit Manseng by Effingham Manor Winery, VA
  8. Petit Verdot NV Petit Verdot by Bordeleau Winery, MD (Best in Show)
  9. Pinot Gris/Pinot Grigio 2022 Pinot Gris by Harvest Ridge Winery, DE
  10. Riesling 2021 Semi-Dry Riesling by Fox Run Vineyards, Inc., NY
  11. Sauvignon Blanc 2022 Landmark Sauvignon Blanc by Boordy Vineyards, MD
  12. Seyval Blanc 2021 Seyval Blanc, Barrel Oak Winery, VA
  13. Sparkling Vinifera Wines 2022 Sparkling Riesling (String of Pearls) by Idol Ridge Winery, NY
  14. Viognier 2022 Viognier by Ashton Creek Vineyard, VA

Virginia Sparkling Showdown: 2023 Edition

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Sparkling wine is one of the fastest-growing segments of the wine market. Between 2019 and 2022, the number of Americans enjoying sparkling wine has risen by 30%. Currently, the US is tied with the UK for volume of sparkling wine imported.

A big part of this growth is driven by changing views of when sparkling wine should be consumed. Sparkling is moving away from its traditional role as a ‘special event’ wine to something wine lovers should casually enjoy.

I have nothing against lower-cost sparklings such as Cava, Pét-Nats, Prosecco, and various charmat-style wines which are helping drive this trend. But Champagne-style sparklings are still my favorite, much to my wallet’s dismay.

While Champagne is the world’s most famous sparkling region, Virginia has a number of excellent ‘traditional-method’ sparklings as well. A few years back I hosted a blind tasting and Virginia-based Claude Thibaut’s Xtra Brut was picked our favorite. Last year a Trump Blanc de Blanc was favored over a comparable champagne during a France vs Virginia lineup.

Tasting & Scoring Methodology

This time around I expanded the number of options. A group of friends & I blind tasted 9 wines in 3 flights. One flight represented some of the best of Virginia, a second represented Champagne, and the third was mixed-flight with sparklings from Argentina, California, and the UK.

All of these wines were 100% chardonnay, with the exception of the champagnes which blended with pinot noir and perhaps pinot meunier (blanc de blanc brut champagnes in my price point were hard to find, although I tried keeping the participating champagnes chardonnay-heavy). All were Brut (0-12 grams of added sugar per liter) or Extra Brut (0-6 grams). Lastly, everything we tried was made in the traditional method.

All the flights were bagged blind, although they stayed in their respective regional groups. We picked the favorite of each round to move to a ‘finalist round’. We didn’t know which group we were tasting until the unveiling.

My fellow blind tasters were a mixture of wine industry professionals and local wine enthusiasts, so we had a strong contingent of tasters. Many had only limited exposure to Virginia wine.

We didn’t have a fancy scoring system. The goal was to pick a ‘favorite’ every round, as opposed to rating them and determining the ‘best’.

The contenders:

  1. 2018 “Under the Wire” Alder Springs Vineyard (Mendocino California, $64 per Vivino)
  2. 2019 Alma4 (Mendoza Argentina, $26 per Wine.com)
  3. 2018 Gusbourne Brut Reserve (England, $70 per Wine.com)
  4. 2018 Blanc de Blancs “Zero” Midland Wine (Shenandoah Valley Virginia, $45 at Commonwealth Crush)
  5. NV Thibaut-Janisson Xtra Brut (Virginia, $36 per Timeless Wines)
  6. 2016 Trump Sparkling Reserve (Monticello Virginia, $75 at Trump Winery)
  7. De Saint-Gall Blanc De Blancs Grand Cru Brut Champagne (Champagne France, $45 at Total Wine)
  8. Bernard Brémont Grand Cru ‘Cuvee Prestige’ Champagne (Champagne France, $62 at Total Wine)
  9. Taittinger La Francaise Brut Champagne (Champagne France, $56 at Total Wine)

Flight #1: International Round

  • Bottle #1: 2018 “Under the Wire” Alder Springs Vineyard
  • Bottle #2: 2019 Alma4
  • Bottle #3: 2018 Gusbourne Brut Reserve (Round Winner)

The thing that struck me in this round is none had the full-on toastiness that I’m accustomed to in sparklings. There was some cream in them, but the nose and palate of these three wines didn’t line up with what I was expecting.

Bottle #1/Alder Springs: Lemony; bubbles were short-lived. Lighter on the palate. Many commented it had an outstanding nose but the finish left them wanting. Some noted an herbal note to this nose, maybe some greenness.

Bottle #2/Alma4: Fresh, “Smells like a floral white”. Not toasty at all; if anything I found yeast on the nose. Others noted it had a grassy nose, maybe even bell pepper. Nothing really stood out in this wine.

Bottle #3/Gusbourne Brut Reserve: Someone noted it may have spent some extra time in oak. Many complimented its balance and structure. Notes of lemon curd and citrus were mentioned, or more generically ‘orchard fruit’.

  • Guest #1: 3/1/2. Thought the nose started off as sweet but that blew off.
  • Guest #2: 3/1/2. Felt #2 would be a generic crowd pleaser.
  • Guest #3: 3/1/2
  • Guest #4: 3/1/2.
  • Guest #5: 3/1/2. Thought #1 was aggressive, while #3 was creamy & lemony.
  • Guest #6: 3/1/2 Felt #3 was the most ‘familiar’ for someone who likes traditional-method sparklings, and enjoyed its balance.
  • Guest #7: 3/1/2

Flight #2: Virgina Round

  • Bottle #4: 2018 Blanc de Blancs “Zero” Midland Wine
  • Bottle #5: NV Thibaut-Janisson Xtra Brut
  • Bottle #6: 2016 Trump Sparkling Reserve (Round Winner)

This round was easily better than our previous one, with only #3 being comparable.

The result was almost a toss-up between the Thibaut-Janisson and the Trump Reserve, but I gave the win to Trump Winery as it had more 1st place votes.

That said, T-J was consistently nearly everyone’s favorite runner-up. The T-J was more crowd-friendly, while the robustness of the Trump Reserve was a turn-off for some people. Ironically, the Trump wine had the most 1st place votes and tied for most 3rd place votes in our flight of 3 wines, while votes for the T-J Brut were more evenly distributed.

Even though the Midland wine came in 3rd in this round we universally enjoyed it. If anything, many of us put the Midland ahead of many others of the evenings.

I did a quiz at the end of the night on which flight corresponded to which region before revealing the wines. Many felt this was the Champagne round, which is one of the greatest compliments I can think of.

Bottle #4/Midland “Zero”: Some brioche notes, although they didn’t linger. Stone fruit with only a little apple; more nectarine or pear. Notes of lemon zest, apricot were mentioned. The only real negative was people felt the bubbles fizzled out quickly.

Bottle #5/Thibaut-Janisson X-Brut: There was an herbal note on the nose although the brioche was still there. Notes of straw; maybe a bit reductive. Very palate-friendly and an overall crowd-pleaser of a wine (note: at $36 this was arguably the best value of the night).

Bottle #6/Trump Sparkling Reserve: This was a complex, ‘mature’ wine with very consistent bubbles. Creamy & silky, but with intensity. Probably the most intense wine of the entire evening. The main negative is it arguably had too much going on for guests who preferred something easier-drinking.

  • Guest #1: 5/4/6. Liked the nose of 4 but voted for 5 because of the caramel notes.
  • Guest #2: 5/4/6. Felt #6 had notes of apple tart and the best nose of the bunch. #5 was yeastier on the nose but very drinkable.
  • Guest #3: 4/5/6. #6 had great structure but felt it got tired, while #4 aged well in the glass.
  • Guest #4: 6/5/4. Loved the nose of #4 but the palate didn’t keep up. Felt #6 was ‘big’ and needed food.
  • Guest #5: 6/4/5. Thought #6 “Is what sparkling should be”.
  • Guest #6: 6/5/4. On #6, “I want to get to know this wine better”. Felt #5 was a great crowd-pleaser.
  • Guest #7: 6/5/4. Thought #6 was complex; agreed #5 was a crowd pleaser.

Flight #3: Champagne Round

  • Bottle #7: NV De Saint-Gall Blanc De Blancs Grand Cru Brut Champagne
  • Bottle #8: NV Bernard Brémont Grand Cru ‘Cuvee Prestige’ Champagne (Round Winner)
  • Bottle #9: NV Taittinger La Francaise Brut Champagne

Unfortunately, we had our first wine with a flaw – #9/Taittinger had something off about it. So really this was a competition between #7 and #8. All of the wines had a familiar brioche note to them.

Bottle #7/NV De Saint-Gall Blanc De Blancs Grand Cru Brut Champagne: I said it reminded me of a sparkling cider; someone else mentioned crab apple. Yeasty. Slightly bitter finish. Many commented the finish was on the shorter side.

Bottle #8/NV Bernard Brémont Grand Cru ‘Cuvee Prestige’ Champagne: Notes of apple; someone mentioned apple sauce. Good structure and mouthfeel. Fine bubbles. Bright. Notes of lemon initially but that moved to apple. Great mousse (the foam that forms after a sparkling wine or champagne has been poured out of the bottle). Super creamy and great aromatics.

Bottle #9/NV Taittinger La Francaise Brut Champagne: Not sure what happened here, but it seemed corked. Bland; short-lived on the palate. Some white flower notes. Olive on the nose.

  • Guest #1: 8/7/9. #8 had all the great things that #6 had, but was more complex.
  • Guest #2: 8/7/9
  • Guest #3: 8/7/9. Felt #8 had great mouthfeel.
  • Guest #4: 8/7/9
  • Guest #5: 8/9/7
  • Guest #6: 8/7/9. Felt #8 was comforting and familiar in the way a sparkling wine should be.
  • Guest #7: 8/7/9. #8 hit all the marks.

Finalist Round

  • Bottle #3: 2018 Gusbourne Brut Reserve (2nd place)
  • Bottle #6: 2016 Trump Sparkling Reserve (Overall Winner)
  • Bottle #8: NV Bernard Brémont Grand Cru ‘Cuvee Prestige’ Champagne (3rd place)

We all loved this round. The three wines before us were outstanding; picking a favorite was entirely a measure of personal preference and mood.

All of the participants praised #8/Brémont for its great texture and balance. #6/Trump was ‘bigger’ and more complex. #3 could easily have fooled us for being from Champagne.

I asked everyone to guess which round represented which region, and the votes were all over the place. Several people (including the wine industry professionals amongst us) felt the 2nd round (Virginia) was our Champagne round. Only one out of seven of us correctly identified the region each round came from.

It was a very close race between Gusbourne and Trump for favorite of the day, but Trump won out. Trump had more 1st place votes than Gusbourne, although they were nearly neck-in neck.

Assigning 1 ‘point’ for 3rd place, 2 points for 2nd place, and 3 points for 1st place, the scores were 16 points for Trump, 15 points for Gusbourne, and 11 points for Brémont. It was far closer than many of my other comparisons and a tribute to the quality of these wines.

  • Guest #1: 8/3/6
  • Guest #2: 6/3/8
  • Guest #3: 3/6/8.
  • Guest #4: 8/6/3. Toss-up between #6 and #8, depending on my mood for balance vs. complexity.
  • Guest #5: 3/6/8
  • Guest #6: 6/3/8
  • Guest #7: 6/3/8

Lessons Learned:

As a Virginia wine aficionado I was incredibly pleased so many people thought our Virginia flight was actually from Champagne. I’m confident the top 3 wines of the evening made it into the final round, although we easily could have added the Thibaut-Janisson Xtra Brut in there.

The quality of the British sparkling was something of a surprise but probably shouldn’t have been. Sparkling wine grown in the UK has the same soil qualities as Champagne, plus they are somewhat cooler so the acidity is prominent.

Not coincidentally, the finalist wines were also the most expensive, and the winning Trump wine was the oldest (which probably contributed to its complexity). I guess you really do get what you pay for (although I do need to give the Virgina T-J Xtra Brut special mention for being arguably the best value of the evening).

Also not coincidentally, both Thibaut-Janisson and the Trump sparkling have French roots. Patricia Kluge of Kluge Estate (now Trump Winery) started the trend for high-end Virginia sparklings by inviting French winemaker Claude Thibaut to Virginia as a consultant. Claude later went on to co-found Thibaut-Janisson.

Today, Jonathan Wheeler is Trump’s winemaker and he’s taken their sparkling program to new heights. During my previous blind tasting using a Trump wine, I wrote that “Trump sparkling can go toe-to-toe with anything”. Here, it proved it.

It’s not just my opinion either. The 2023 San Francisco Wine Chronical competition selected the 2016 Sparkling Reserve as Best in Class in the Brut category. The 2015 Blanc de Noir won the overall Sparkling Sweepstakes in the 2021 competition. Nearly year after year, a Trump sparkling is selected for the Virginia Governor’s Case (top 12 wines in the state).

Yes – their sparkling is just that good.

Next up…reds maybe? Perhaps a Governors Cup winners round?

Virginia Chardonnay Blind Showdown (2023 Edition)

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There are certain phrases used in the wine world that grate me, and “Anything but chardonnay” is one of the top contenders. Given chardonnay is one of the most planted varieties in the world – and 2nd most planted in Virginia – if you hate chardonnay, it can only be because you haven’t tried enough of them.

I say this because chardonnay is the chameleon of white wine. You can find austere, higher-acid chards from cool weather vintages, or full, ripe wines from warm-weather climates. It can be heavily manipulated with oak or made in steel. From Australia’s Adelaide Hills to Washington State’s Walla Walla, chardonnay is (literally) everywhere.

Burgundy is often thought of as the world’s premiere chardonnay producing region, but I’ve had a number of Virginia wines that could give good Burgundies a run for their money. The biggest problem I had for this event is narrowing down the list of contenders.

Ultimately my guests were able to bring a variety of chardonnays from around the state. The only rules I gave them is I couldn’t have any wines that were in my last chardonnay challenge, and I needed at least one Shenandoah Valley wine.

The goal was to do 2 flights of Virginia wines and a flight of Burgundy, all blind. We had a last-minute issue with getting our last French wine, so we substituted a Russian River Valley (California) chardonnay for it.

The top wines of every flight went to a finalist round. Since we loved the wines in the 2nd flight so much, I gave the runner up in that flight a wildcard advance to the final round.

As always, this event was the product of this day with this group. Many of these wines had the potential of being a winner.

The contenders:

  1. 2019 Brix and Columns (winery in the Shenandoah Valley, not sure where the fruit is from)
  2. 2019 Linden Boisseau (Front Royal)
  3. 2021 Vint Hill (Story Vineyard, Fauquier County)
  4. 2021 DuCard TANA (TANA Vineyard)
  5. 2022 12 Pearls of Wisdom (Effingham/Pearmund)
  6. 2021 Stone Tower (Leesburg)
  7. 2020 Famille Vincent (Burgundy)
  8. 2019 Patrick Javiller (Burgundy)
  9. 2016 Hertelendy (Russian River Valley, CA)

Flight #1

  • Wine 1: 2019 Brix and Columns
  • Wine 2: 2019 Linden Boisseau
  • Wine 3: 2021 Vint Hill (round winner)

Bottle #1: 2019 Brix and Columns: Light gold. Muted nose. Clean, crisp. Notes of hazelnut and lemon. Some people mentioned it was a little musty. The biggest problem some had was the finish just fell off at the end.

This wine was a bit divisive because it was very easy drinking, almost at the expense of complexity. I liked it a lot, but others found it wanting.

Bottle #2: 2021 Linden Boisseau: High acidity, floral nose. Notes of tart apple and lemon/lime. Someone noted it had an almost riesling quality to it. It was a wine that seemed to cry out for food, and the lack of a pairing dish probably brought it down a notch.

Bottle #3: 2021 Vint Hill: I found notes of slate; someone else said honeysuckle and lemon. Others noted notes of lemon and peach; almost a creamsicle quality to it. Several people noted it had lots of honey. Almost all of us mentioned its long finish and good complexity.

We were all over the place in terms of favorites. Everyone liked #2 but nobody put it as a favorite. I was torn between “easy drinking” vs “complexity” but went with the former. Most of the guests chose the latter category, so the Vint Hill wine won out.

  • Alex:  3/2/1
  • Frank: 3/1/2
  • Jen: 3/2/1
  • Kathy: 3/2/1
  • Matt: 1/3/2
  • Ryan: 1/3/2
  • Stephanie: 3/2/1

Flight #2

  • Bottle #4: 2021 DuCard TANA (wildcard advance)
  • Bottle #5: 2022 Effingham 12 Pearls of Wisdom
  • Bottle #6: 2021 Stone Tower (round winner)

Wine 4: 2021 DuCard TANA: Noticeably floral, with notes of marzipan, sweet almond, flowers. Solid acidity, with a bit of minerality. We guessed made in stainless. We were partially correct; I later learned it started in steel but also had 4 months in neutral oak and aged on lees.

Grown in the TANA vineyard around 6 miles from DuCard on a SW-facing slope. Made in “Mȃcon” style, as benefiting from having a French winemaker.

Wine 5: 2022 12 Pearls of Wisdom: Very perfume-y. Long, very grapy finish. Racy acidity. Notes of lemon, apricot, or peach. Overall delicious.

There was a LOT going on in this wine. We enjoyed it thoroughly but felt it was almost ‘too much’. We probably would have enjoyed it more on its own as opposed to a lineup of other chardonnays, as it wasn’t a very chardonnay-like wine.

Wine 6: 2021 Stone Tower: Notes of apricot, peach on the nose. Personally, I thought it was lighter than the other two, but others note it was on the fuller side.

More elegant and mineral driven than anything we’d had so far. We thought it had a little bit of oak. Smooth. Someone mentioned a ‘smoky minerality’ to it, with notes of grapefruit.

This was a tough round to choose a favorite! For the seven of us, it was easy the favorite round of the day.

The biggest problem I found was wine #5 was so different from the others it seemed out of place, to the point it was an almost unfair comparison.

Wines #4 and #6 were more evenly matched, to the point it was a near toss-up. But since we liked #4 so much, I gave it a wild card advance to the final round. Many felt #4 (DuCard) was more likely to please multiple people, while #6 (Stone Tower) was a ‘serious’ wine.

  • Alex: 6/5/4. Felt #6 was what he would open on his own.
  • Frank: 4/6/5
  • Jen: 6/4/5
  • Kathy: 6/4/5
  • Matt: 4/5/6
  • Ryan: 4/6/5
  • Stephanie: 6/4/5. Liked the complexity of #6. #4 was more likely to please a crowd.

Flight #3

  • Wine 7: 2020 Famille Vincent
  • Wine 8: 2019 Patrick Javiller (round winner)
  • Wine 9: 2016 Hertelendy

Wine 7: 2020 Famille Vincent: Muted nose. Some oak. Crisp, notes of mandarin orange or clementine.

Wine 8: 2019 Patrick Javiller: I found notes of crisp green apple, some butter. Others mentioned lemon blossom on the nose and palate.

Wine 9: 2016 Hertelendy: “Funky and smoky” were the key adjectives. This wine was CLOUDY. Not sure what was going on here. On the nose, notes of drawn butter or maybe butterscotch. Nutty on the palate; maybe hazelnut, maybe a bit of lees or oak.

The cloudiness of the last wine was divisive for many of us, so it was really a contest between #7 and #8.

  • Alex: 9/8/7
  • Frank: 7/8/9
  • Jen: 8/7/9
  • Kathy: 8/7/9
  • Matt: 8/7/9
  • Ryan: 7/8/9
  • Stephanie: 7/8/9

Finalist Round:

  • Wine 3: 2021 Vint Hill (3rd favorite)
  • Wine 4: 2021 DuCard TANA (favorite of the day)
  • Wine 6: 2021 Stone Tower (runner up)
  • Wine 8: 2019 Patrick Javiller (4th favorite)

No major wine notes this time. We went almost straight to the judging.

I thought wine #3 (Vint Hill) improved a lot, although #6 had my favorite nose of the lineup. #8 was a bit spicy.

In a surprise twist, wild card wine #4 (DuCard) beat wine #6 (Stone Tower) even though in an earlier round Stone Tower was favored (by a narrow margin). Both were easily the top wines of the day, but 2021 DuCard Vineyard “TANA” was the overall favorite in the end.

  • Alex: 6/4/3/8
  • Frank: 4/6/3/8
  • Jen: 6/4/3/8
  • Kathy: 6/3/4/8
  • Matt: 4/3/6/8
  • Ryan: 4/3/8/6
  • Stephanie: 4/6/3/8

If there’s a lesson learned here, it was that chardonnay comes in all flavor profiles. Not one of these were butter-bombs (despite having a California chardonnay). The best Virginia ones definitely showcased elegance and would have done any Burgundy winemaker proud.

I also think food and time caused us to shift votes. Wine #3 had a noticeable improvement, becoming the runner up to several guests. The addition of food (we had an amazing cheese board and dessert) also may have accentuated #4.

This was the first time a ‘wild card’ wine won one of my events, which I also attribute to how it was the kind of wine that everyone can enjoy. Put in a large group, the DuCard TANA came out as the favorite. But huge kudos to the Stone Tower wine, which many of my guests would drink by themselves.

Loudoun’s “Pride in the Vines” Wine Trail

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Starting June 1st, fifteen participating Loudoun County wineries are celebrating Pride Month with a special month-long wine trail. Passport holders for “Pride in the Vines” who obtain ten different stamps will be eligible to win a prize drawing which includes private wine tastings, bottles of wine, gear, tickets to events, and tours of the vineyards and wineries.

Pride Month has its roots in the Stonewall riots, which started on June 28, 1969. Coincidentally, Pride in the Vines celebrates a movement that was galvanized at a drinking establishment.

Located in New York’s Greenwich Village, the Stonewall Inn was one of the few local bars that catered to an openly gay clientele despite state laws which made it risky for them to show affection in public. The Stonewall was run by the Mafia, who saw gay bars as a good business opportunity. Police raids against such establishments were common but corrupt officers would typically tip the managers off in advance, allowing business to continue with limited interruptions.

This time was different. Not only was the raid unannounced (possibly due to the police not getting sufficient kickbacks), the patrol wagon responsible for picking up arrested patrons took longer than usual to respond. The gathering crowd became increasingly agitated as they watched the police manhandle those they detained, including those arrested for violating the state’s gender-appropriate clothing statute.

The final trigger was a scuffle between a lesbian woman who was roughly escorted to the awaiting wagon. She fought back, calling on the crowd for support.

The resulting riots (Stonewall veterans prefer the term ‘uprising’) continued for several days. It was a turning point in the gay rights movement, leading to the formation of several new LGBT advocacy groups. The first gay pride parades were held on the 1st anniversary of the riots.

Top left: Paul Armstrong and Warren Richard, Virginia Wine Time

Top right: Paige Poprocky and Holly Richardson, Sips and Trips with Paige

Bottom left: Sydney and Bridgette Smith, Williams Gap and Greenhill wineries

Bottom right: Brian Pace and Chris Sexton, Maggie Malick Wine Caves

How Loudoun’s First Pride Wine Trail Started

The idea behind Pride in the Vines in Loudoun County blossomed with Two Twisted Posts Winery, which has hosted gay pride events since opening in 2014. For the family that owns it, namely Krista Cato, her partner Lynda Dattilo and fellow owners and parents, Theresa and Brad Robertson, the topic is a personal one.

“We wanted to create a safe space for people to gather regardless of their orientation or race,” explained Krista. “From Day 1, we hung a Pride flag. It wasn’t always a smooth journey and we received some hate.

My family decided to host an event to celebrate National Coming Out Day (October 11). We thought about celebrating Pride, but Pride is already a big event in D.C. and we didn’t want to overlap with another important celebration.

We advertised it in a local paper, and they came back to us and asked, ‘Do you really want to publish this?’ And we replied; ‘yes we do!’

So we posted the ad and put out flyers in local businesses. We found a lot of them were afraid to post them out of fear of creating animosity with their customers. But a few did.

Simple things like getting a food truck was difficult. The first two canceled but eventually we found one that would support us.

When the day came, Two Twisted Posts had over 200 people come out from all walks of life. Since it was so well received, we couldn’t imagine not continuing annually.”

More Wineries Involved Than Ever Before

Over time, more wineries joined Two Twisted Posts in celebrating gay pride events. In 2019, Bob and Teri Riggs of nearby Forever Farm Vineyard noticed the Pride flag and asked what they could do to get involved. They were soon joined by Williams Gap Vineyard.

The issue hit home for Bob and Teri, whose son is gay. Teri explained, “My participation is to get families involved. We’re all in it together.”

This trio of wineries hosted an informal Pride trail for several years. But as the world around them became more accepting, the idea of a larger wine trail took shape.

“One of the things we’re learning in this journey is there are other people out there who hear them and see them,” said Bridgette Smith, tasting room manager at Williams Gap Vineyard. “So when I brought it up at the Loudoun Wineries and Winegrowers Association (LWWA) I was surprised how many wineries wanted to participate. I think there are more people out there who are willing to speak out loud to support their neighbors than we realize.”

Krista added, “The support is like 300 times more than when we opened. In the beginning, I don’t remember seeing a Pride flag anywhere. When we started hosting events for National Coming Out Day, we were so focused on the event, we didn’t reach out to anybody.

With the partnership of Forever Farm Vineyard, Williams Gap Vineyard and now so many others, it’s safe to say this year’s Pride in the Vines Wine trail is indicative of the changes that have happened in Loudoun.”

Guests can acquire a passport at any of these participating wineries. For more announcements, see the LWWA webpage at https://www.loudounwine.org/new-events.

  1. 8 Chains North Winery
  2. 868 Estate Vineyards
  3. Bleu Frog Vineyards
  4. Bozzo Family Vineyard
  5. Carriage House Wineworks
  6. Fabbioli Cellars
  7. Forever Farm & Vineyard
  8. Good Spirit Farm
  9. Hillsborough Winery
  10. October One Tasting Room
  11. Two Twisted Posts Winery
  12. Walsh Family Wine
  13. Williams Gap Vineyard
  14. Wine Reserve at Waterford
  15. Zephaniah Farm Vineyard

Opus One At Cheesetique

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If you haven’t visited Cheesetique, you’re missing out. While a second location is in Shirlington the OG store is located in Del Ray, part of a row of cute of mom-and-pop restaurants and boutique stores.

One of my favorite evening events are their in-person wine and cheese pairings, which have been on pause since COVID. But while avidly waiting for their return I saw Cheesetique post an event that might be even more fun – the chance to try a flight of Opus One wines.

If you like to drink fancy red wine but never heard of Opus One…you might be living under a rock. For many years an Opus One wine held the record as the most expensive California wine ever sold. Even new releases go for almost $400 a bottle.

So when owner Jill Erber kicked off the event by describing Opus One as “One of the world’s most iconic wines” she wasn’t joking.

While usually described as Cabernets Sauvignons (as they typically use between 76-86% Cab Sauv, depending on the vintage), bottles of Opus also fit the description of left-bank style Bordeaux blends, often using all five noble red grapes.

I went in expecting a wine tasting (and some bite-sized snacks). What I didn’t know is I was getting a full history lesson, as told by one of their brand ambassadors, Emmanuel Padilla.

A Brief History of Opus One

The story of Opus One is really the story of two of the wine industry’s greatest marketers and innovators; Robert Mondavi and Baron Philippe de Rothschild.

Both came from famous wine families. Robert was the first person to open a winery in California since prohibition and went on to become known as the ‘father of California wine’. Baron came from the family that owned Château Mouton Rothschild, the only estate to be accepted as a “First Growth” Bordeaux winery after the initial Bordeaux Wine Official Classification of 1855.

But their legacies were cemented by their ability to bring wine to the masses. In an era where it was customary for vineyards to sell to middlemen, both realized they could increase their profitability and control quality by bottling their own wine and selling directly to the public.

Both also pioneered the use of lower-cost wine brands in conjunction with their premium ones, so people could have a taste of Napa or Bordeaux without breaking the bank. “Luxury should not be unapproachable,” explained Emmanuel.

It was the 1976 “Judgment of Paris” that brought these men together. This event saw a pair of Napa wines take top honors in a blind tasting (beating one of Baron’s own wines), heralding Napa’s ‘arrival’ in the wine world. Baron realized California was a huge business opportunity, so in 1979 he partnered with Robert with the goal of creating an ultra-premium brand.

Opus One was the fruits of their labor, with the first vintage being produced in 1982.

The Difference Between Bordeaux and Napa

After our history lesson, Emmanuel discussed Opus One’s philosophy. This includes being able to drink your wine immediately, not wait years (sometimes decades) for the wine to settle down. “What are we known for in America?”, Robert asked the audience. “Impatience!”

Emmanuel spoke about the scores they’ve earned from the fancy wine magazines but he didn’t dwell on them, comparing wine critics with music critics. After all, Led Zeppelin is one of the greatest rock bands of all time. But were they appreciated when they were touring? No!

He also went into detail about wine growing at Opus One and climate change as a whole. Opus One’s vines point true north to minimize the sun exposure, as they want a longer, cooler ripening season than a fast one that will cause their grapes to bake. Listening to details like this put me in wine-geek heaven.

Fire (and smoke taint) is another growing problem. While Opus One already harvested their grapes before the 2020 Napa fires broke out, they knew the reputation of a ‘smoke vintage’ could damage the brand. While Emmanuel loves their 2020 vintage, he wasn’t optimistic an Opus One flagship wine would be released from it.

It may seem all we did was listen to Emmanuel talk, in truth we were tasting wine the entire time. Four wines were poured over the course of the evening; three of their flagship “Opus One” wines and a wine from their second label, Overture. This being Cheesetique, of course we had small snacks to go with everything.

The wines:

  1. 2012 Opus One. Expressive nose; rich but not overpowering. Lots of dark fruit with a touch of granite. Blend of 79% Cabernet Sauvignon, 7% Cabernet Franc, 6% Merlot, 6% Petit Verdot, and 2% Malbec.
  2. 2017 Opus One. Similar tasting notes but I thought with more complexity. Bottled sold at this particular event were in magnum, which (I didn’t know) increases their age-ability. 80% Cabernet Sauvignon, 16% Cabernet Franc, and 4% Merlot.
  3. 2019 Opus One. Initially I felt this was an obviously young wine but I quickly changed my mind. Complex but still with a nice fruit profile. Reminded me of what the 2012 would have tasted like in its youth. I later realized it had a similar blend; 78% Cabernet Sauvignon, 8% Merlot, 6% Cabernet Franc, 6% Petit Verdot, and 2% Malbec.
  4. Opus One Overture (NV). More approachable. Rounder. More ripe fruit driven. This wine could be aged but is really meant to be enjoyed sooner.

I was really lucky to make this event; it sold out in 2 hours but my name was called from the waiting list. For those who weren’t as lucky there will be another event this summer.

Not only will you have the chance to taste these wines, you’ll be able to buy bottles at a comparative discount (but of course still eye-watering high…because it’s Opus One).

The Diversity of Sparkling Wine Blind Tasting

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All of my blind tastings have a theme. France vs Virginia. Virginia Tannats vs The World. Cabernet Franc Comparison; ect ect. But it’s almost always a ‘like vs like’ event, even if the regions involved are different.

This time I mixed things up. It was still ‘like with like’ because all were sparkling wines of some sort. Yet it was a departure from my normal blind tastings as these sparklings were about as different as I could possibly make them.

Of our 9 wines, 6 of the wines were traditional-method and 3 were pet-nats. More importantly, all 9 were made with different grapes. We had everything from Albariño to Voskehat.

The Contenders:

  1. Keush Origins, 60% Voskehat / 40% Khatouni, Armenia (traditional method)
  2. Gomes Vineyard, Albariño, California (traditional method)
  3. Horton Vineyards Suil, Viognier, Virginia (traditional method)
  4. Chestnut Oak Vineyard, Sparkling Petit Verdot, Virginia (traditional method)
  5. Stinson Vineyard’s “Farmer’s Rest”, Mourvèdre, Virginia (traditional method)
  6. Hansen-Lauer, Riesling, Germany (Sekt, traditional method)
  7. Early Mountain Vineyard, Malvasia Bianca, Virginia (Pet-Nat)
  8. Guide Wine Chardonel and Peaches, Virginia (Pet-Nat)
  9. Raza, Trajadura, Portugal (Pet-Nat)

What we didn’t have were Chardonnay or Pinot Noir. That was intentional; I wanted to do ‘non-traditional’ wines, and the ones we brought fit the bill.

Obviously, I had help. I had hoped Rich Sullivan of Guide Wines would join us but he couldn’t make it. On the other hand, I had The Sparkle-ist Champagne Club, TheVAWineGirl, Cheers and Chews, and Kyle and Chris Zimmerman of QuaffwithKyle. They were happy to heed the call to help me compare these wines.

I put the pet-nats in the same flight but otherwise all the wines were randomized. We had two flights of traditional method sparklings and a pet-nat flight at the end.

As always – this event was the product of this day, with this group. We could have repeated it the next day and come up with different results. After the 3rd round, we paused for some charcuterie, sushi, and oysters.

We all voted favorite/next favorite/last favorite. 1st choice got 3 points, 2nd choice got 2 points, 3rd choice got 1 point.

Round 1 / Flight 1

  • Bottle #1: Keush Origins, 60/40 blend of Voskehat and Khatouni (Winner)
  • Bottle #2: Gomes Vineyard, Albariño (tied for runner up)
  • Bottle #3: Horton Vineyards, Viognier (tied for runner up)

Excellent start to the event. Each of the three sparklings had something unique about them. Many of us gravitated to the Armenian Keush from the get-go, so this round was more of a contest for the #2 spot between the Virginia Horton Viognier and the California Albariño.

We couldn’t get over how different these three were. It wasn’t just the tasting profile but the finish and acidity.

We picked the Keush as the favorite mostly because it was the most complex of the trio and reminded us of a blanc de blanc in terms of the complexity and brioche notes.

Bottle #1: Keush Origins. The nose presented notes of brioche, which I think caused us to automatically gravitate towards it since it was familiar to sparkling lovers. I found grapefruit on the palate; others said green apple. As it opened up it also had notes of peach.

It may also have been the oldest of the trio (and the day) which contributed to its complexity. I felt it was also ‘big’, which was mostly a compliment but I could see that as being a distraction as well.

Fun fact – this wine came from one of the highest elevation vineyards (5740 feet) in the northern hemisphere!

Bottle #2: Gomes Vineyard. I thought it had a lemon nose, although I heard everything from grapefruit to orange zest. Definitely grapefruit on the palate, maybe citrus as well.

We were in LOVE with the nose of this one. But at the same time, the finish left us disappointed. There was just nothing on the back end. The bubbles also didn’t last very long, comparatively speaking.

I do have to point something out; when I paired this with oysters (which didn’t happen till much later in the day), this was arguably my favorite wine of the event. Those flavors just absolutely popped out with the right seafood.

Bottle #3: Horton Vineyards. Faint citrus nose. Very lemon-y and maybe some minerality.

This was our crowd-pleaser wine. While the Keush I thought was ‘too much’ for some and the Gomes had nothing on the back-end, I felt this was the easiest to drink through-and-through.

Rankings:

  • Christina: 1/2/3
  • Kyle: 1/3/2
  • Lieven: 1/3/2. Loved the brioche and complexity. Loved the nose of #2 but it dropped off.
  • Lindsay: 1/2/3. Thought #1 was complex and was ‘never bored’ with it. #2 was very bright.
  • Matt: 1/2/3
  • Stephanie: 1/3/2

Round 1 / Flight 2

  • Bottle #4: Chestnut Oak, Petit Verdot (runner up)
  • Bottle #5: Stinston Vineyard, Mourvèdre (winner)
  • Bottle #6: Hansen-Lauer, Riesling (3rd place)

This was a really tough round to pick a favorite. If wines of the first round were different, this was REALLY different. What made it especially difficult is many of us had never tried these wines before, so we didn’t know what to expect.

There wasn’t any chart to rate ‘best’ here; it all came down to personal preference. Stinson came out as the favorite by a tiny hair, but a one-vote change could have resulted in a 3-way tie.

Bottle #4: Chestnut Oak Vineyard. We immediately noticed an orange tint to the color. On the palate there was a lot going on, which made it difficult to identify. Aromatic and flavorful.

Someone said the wine was ‘confused’ as to what it wanted to be, but ironically that wasn’t meant as a bad thing. It was just not what we’d expected from a sparkling.

Bottle #5: Stinson Vineyard. I found grapefruit on the nose and palate. Maybe a little yeasty? Others said they detected notes of white peach and lemon. Balanced. Some brioche notes.

I had lots of opinions on its complexity. Some felt it was well balanced but others felt there was just a lot going on, almost too much.

Bottle #6: Hansen-Lauer. One of the most acidic wines of the day. Mineral-y; someone mentioned it reminded him of a Greek wine. Some brioche notes came out eventually.

Not a lot going on for the nose, but overall a pleasant wine.

Rankings:

  • Christina: 5/4/6. Liked all of them, but for different reasons.
  • Kyle: 5/6/4
  • Lieven: 6/5/4/. Loved the acidity of #6, even if it wasn’t as complex. Thought #5 was good all-around, with depth and complexity.
  • Lindsay: 4/6/5. Felt food impacted the choices here.
  • Matt: 4/6/5. Tough choice. Could have gone for any of these. But since #4 was ‘big’ and different, that put it over the top for me.
  • Stephanie: 5/6/4

Round 1 / Flight 3

  • Bottle #7: Early Mountain, Malvasia Bianca (runner up)
  • Bottle #8: Guide Wine, Chardonel and peaches (last place)
  • Bottle #9: Raza, Trajadura (winner)

This was our pet-nat round. If I had thought about it more carefully I would have done this round first…but it’s a blind tastings, so where’s the fun in that?

Granted, pet-nats are sparkling wines. But make no mistake – there’s a world of difference between a pet-nat and a traditional method sparkling. I wondered exactly how different this round would be from the earlier one, but there was no mistaking the difference.

Pet-nats are fun, easy drinking wines for when you just want bubbles. So putting them at the end of a round of ‘serious’ traditional method sparklings did them tasting notes a disservice. After we took a food break we revisited some of them and enjoyed them more just for what they were.

Bottle #7: Early Mountain Vineyard. Pale gold color. “Pithy” was mentioned. I thought it had a peach cider quality to it.

Bottle #8: Guide Wine. Bold gold color. I swore the nose reminded me of walking into an apple orchard. I thought I detected some faint hops.

Bottle #9: Raza. The cloudiest of the trio. Little bit of peach but more stone fruit. Had some grassy-ness to it initially. The bubbles also lasted the longest.

We seemed to gravitate towards it because it was the most like a méthode traditional sparkling.

  • Christina: 9/7/8
  • Kyle: 9/7/8
  • Lieven: 9/7/8
  • Lindsay: 7/9/8
  • Matt: 9/7/8
  • Stephanie: 9/7/8

Round 2 / Final

  • Bottle #1: Keush Origins, Voskehat and Khatouni blend (winner)
  • Bottle #5: Stinston Vineyard, Mourvèdre (runner up)
  • Bottle #9: Raza, Trajadura (3rd place)

We took a food break after the 3rd round. The wines that didn’t go to the finalist round were finished off with a mix of sushi, oysters, stuffed clams, and charcuterie.

Our palates were getting fatigued at this point so no real tasting notes.

In the end, Wine #1/Keush was the winner of the day. We were enthralled with its complexity and brioche notes. It seems there’s just something about brioche that screams ‘sparkling wine’, so whenever we detected it, that became our favorite.

Wine #5/Stinson Mourvèdre was the runner-up. I asked winemaker Rachel Stinson Vrooman about it, and she explained that the decision to make it was completely based on necessity.

It’s from the 2020 vintage, which was the year they got heavily frosted. Mourvèdre survived since it’s a late-budding varietal so it was the only block they didn’t lose.

Even so, Rachel struggled on what to use it in. She loved the flavors, and the low ripeness made it a good candidate as a sparkling. It was such a hit they’ve been making it ever since.

  • Christina: 1/5/9. Loved the brioche notes of #1
  • Kyle: 1/5/9. Thought #1 was the most complex.
  • Lieven: 1/5/9. Liked the acidity and complexity of #1
  • Lindsay: 5/1/9
  • Matt: 5/1/9
  • Stephanie: 1/5/9

Lessons learned:

It’s tough to write up a ‘lessons learned’ in an event that by default was always meant to be experimental. Most of these wines were brand new to us. I had no expectations what to expect, so there wasn’t really any benchmark meant to be reached.

But breaking it down, I’d say this event demonstrated two things.

First, there *really is* a huge diversity in sparklings. If you’ve never tried an Armenian wine, try it! Mourvèdre; seriously, who would have thought? Sparkling Petit Verdot? Get out of town!!!

Second, for as diverse a lineup we had, our palates seemed to gravitate towards the familiar. Wines that were stylistically similar to traditional method sparklings – especially ‘familiar’ blanc de blanc or blanc de noir nearly always won out over ‘non-traditional’. If it had brioche, it went to the top of the list of favorites.

These factors worked against the pet-nat round. In retrospect I really should have done pet-nats totally separately, but was curious how they stood up in a comparison. Sadly they didn’t – but it’s not their fault.

On their own I think we would have enjoyed them more, but coming off a round that included some excellent traditional method wines we seemed more down on them than they deserved.

Virginia Tannats Vs The World

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If you’re looking for the boldest wine in Virginia, drink Tannat. This densely purple wine is behind some of the state’s biggest reds, as well as a popular addition in blends looking for extra color and body.

Tannat found a home in Virginia in 1998 at Chrysalis Vineyard. It’s since proven to be a good match for Virginia’s terroir and one of the fastest-growing varieties over the past decade, with acreage going up from 32 acres in 2011 to 77 in 2021.

As international grapes go, it’s fairly rare and usually only found in warm-weather areas. While Tannat is closely associated with Uruguay and the Madiran region of Southwest France, it can also be found in Lodi, Paso Robles, and increasingly in Texas.

This grape’s name is a dead-give-away to its most famous qualities. In the Béarnese dialect spoken in Madiran, Tannat means “tanned,” referring to its deep color. But another explain may be its high tannin level; enough so the term ‘tannin’ likely became bastardized into ‘Tannat’.

Several factors contribute to its success in Virginia. Its grapes evacuate water well, allowing them to quickly recover from heavy rainfall. Another plus is Virginia’s hot summers naturally brings the grape’s high acidity down to more manageable levels. Its main deficiency is its vines aren’t winter hardy.

But its most distinguishing factor is its high levels of tannin, a trait caused by having 5 seeds instead of the traditional 2 or 3. Tannat is also strong in antioxidants, although few doctors would call it a health drink (personally…I think they should).

To say that I’m a huge Tannat fan is an understatement. I sampled three Tannat flights with each focused on a theme; a ‘younger’ Virginia flight, an older Virginia flight, and a trio of non-Virginia wines.

I’d like to say it was for science, but mostly it was personal curiosity how the ‘home team’ would perform. My Virginia inventory included Chateau O’Brien’s 2012 Tannat Limited Reserve (the only American wine to medal in Uruguay’s 2019 Tannat Al Mundo competition) and Maggie Malick’s 2017 Tannat (Best of Class in the 2021 San Francisco Chronical Wine Competition). I added a few high-profile Tannats from elsewhere as well, including highly regarded bottles from France and Uruguay.

I do admit one mistake in conducting my science experiment. I accidentally put the 2017 Maggie Malick in the flight of older Virginia Tannats, and the 2015 Horton went into what was supposed to be the 2017 vintage-only flight. Hey, mistakes happen when you’re blindly putting bottles into bags!

As always, a caveat – this event was the product of this day with this group of people with these particular bottles. I don’t pretend my one event proves the superiority of any one producer.

The Contenders:

  1. 2016 Batovi Tannat T1 (Uruguay)
  2. 2015 Chateau Bouscasse Vieilles Vignes (Madiran, France)
  3. 2016 Broken Earth Vineyard (Paso Robles, California) 
  4. 2017 Maggie Malick Wine Caves 
  5. 2012 Hiddencroft Vineyards
  6. 2012 Chateau O’Brien Tannat Limited Reserve
  7. 2017 “Staggerwing” Walsh Family Wine 
  8. 2017 Arterra Wines
  9. 2015 Horton Vineyards Barrel Select

All wines were uncorked for at least 4.5 hours prior to the event and were made with 90-100% Tannat.

Round 1 / Flight 1

  • Bottle #1: 2016 Batovi Tannat T1 (Uruguay) 
  • Bottle #2: 2015 Chateau Bouscasse Vieilles Vignes (Madiran, France) (Tie)
  • Bottle #3: 2016 Broken Earth Vineyard (Paso Robles, California) (Tie)

The first flight was my favorite, which made me feel a bit of a traitor since I love VA Tannats. But trust me – it was a flight of champions.

Uruguay is famous for Tannat and Batovi is one of their most famous producers. The 2016 Broken Earth won Best in Class at the 2020 San Francisco Chronical Wine Competition. While I’m not familiar with French Tannats, I picked up a $50 Chateau Bouscasse Vieilles Vignes which scored 95 points from Wine Enthusiast.

This round ended n a tie between #2 (Bouscasse) and #3 (Broken Earth). Since both were so loved, I eventually gave both a pass to the finalist round.

Bottle #1: 2016 Batovi Tannat T1. Blueberry or chocolate on the nose and notes of stewed fruit. The finish was full of plumb and earthy notes. Several participants noted it was ‘gritty’, which in this context wasn’t a favorable description.

Bottle #2: 2015 Chateau Bouscasse Vieilles Vignes. Tapenade on the nose, grippy tannin. Much was discussed concerning the disconnect between the fruit and tannin; the tannin stayed with you long after the fruit dissipated, leaving you wanting more. But damn, that tannin was still pretty nice and it was smoother than expected.

Bottle #3: 2016 Broken Earth Vineyard. Lots of floral notes were mentioned; fig, jam, red cherry. Liquorish finish. This wine had a fuller body than the others; grippy tannins but not as much as #2.

Perhaps the best description for this wine was it reminded you of a high-alcohol Cabernet (notable as it was from California). “My steak wine” was another descriptor.

Favorites (from most to least)

  • Participant #1: 3/2/1
  • Participant #2: 3/2/1
  • Participant #3: 2/3/1
  • Participant #4: 2/3/1
  • Participant #5: 3/2/1
  • Participant #6: 2/3/1

Round 1 / Flight 2

  • Bottle #4: 2017 Maggie Malick Wine Caves 
  • Bottle #5: 2012 Hiddencroft 
  • Bottle #6: 2012 Chateau O’Brien (Round Winner)

This round was very different from the previous one. The way the nose positively burst from the glasses made the first-round wines relatively muted by comparison. I mistook this round as the ‘young’ Virginia round, because I figured only young wines would be so expressive.

Bottle #4: 2017 Maggie Malick Wine Caves. Although this wine was only 13% (one of the lower alcohol wines of this event) it had a hot note that I associate with higher-alcohol wines. Red velvet cake or coco powder on the nose. Notes of red fruit, plumb, or candied plumb were mentioned.

Bottle #5: 2012 Hiddencroft. I didn’t find this wine as expressive on the palate as the others did, although others had notes of black cherry or blackberry. Green pepper on the nose and palate, good acidity.

Bottle #6: 2012 Chateau O’Brien. Smooth; stewed fruit and green pepper on the palate, smokey. It had an almost barnyard-y quality on the palate, which in this case was a positive attribute.

“Tobacco tannin” was the note that most people agreed with. Someone mentioned it had an almost candied cherry note to it on the palate, as well as good fruit but remained well balanced.

  • Participant #1: 5/6/4
  • Participant #2: 6/5/4
  • Participant #3: 6/4/4
  • Participant #4: 6/4/5
  • Participant #5: 6/5/4
  • Participant #6: 5/6/4

Round 1 / Flight 3

  • Bottle #7: 2017 Walsh Family Wine 
  • Bottle #8: 2017 Arterra Wines (Round Winner)
  • Bottle #9: 2015 Horton Barrel Select 

We all noted the wines of this round had lots of barnyard notes on the nose. You could have fooled me into thinking these vintages were older.

Bottle #7: 2017 Walsh Family Wine. Notes were getting difficult at this point. Not fruit driven like the others we tried.

Bottle #8: 2017 Arterra Wines. Tart palate. Blueberry, cherry, even blackberry notes. Someone noted it has some pyrazines and ripe fruit on the nose. Grippy tannin. That said, the fruit was ‘bright’.

Bottle #9: 2015 Horton Barrel Select. This was all about earthy notes. Fig, earthy, dates, even meat. Some funk and both red and black fruit on the palate. Tart, but not as tart as #8.

  • Participant #1: 8/9/7: Thought #8 was the most approachable.
  • Participant #2: 8/9/7. Another vote for ‘fun’ over ‘cerebral’
  • Participant #3: 8/9/7. Thought #8 was ‘fun’ while #9 was ‘serious’
  • Participant #4: 8/9/7
  • Participant #5: 9/8/7
  • Participant #6: 9/8/7. Liked the ‘weird nose’. Continued to insist #9 (Horton) was the best of the day because it was the most fun to drink.

Finalist Round

  • Wine #2 / 2015 Chateau Bouscasse Vieilles Vignes (France) – Favorite of the day
  • Wine #3 / 2016 Broken Earth Vineyard (Paso Robles, California): #3 of the day
  • Wine #6 / 2012 Chateau O’Brien – #2 of the day; favorite Virginia
  • Wine #8 / 2017 Arterra: #4 of the day
  • Participant #1: 2 / 8 / 3 / 6
  • Participant #2: 2 / 6 / 3 / 8. Madiran had the nose but not the palate. California had the finish.
  • Participant #3: 2 / 3 / 6 / 8
  • Participant #4: 2 / 6 / 8 / 3
  • Participant #5: 6 / 2 / 8 / 3
  • Participant #6: 2 and 3 were tied / 6 / 8 (with a protest vote for #9, Horton).

No tasting notes this time; we sorted the top-4 wines in order of how much we favored them.

Our preferences strongly correlated to the wine’s overall approachability, and I suspect age did a lot to improve that approachability. We did pause for light bites before this round, but for the most part these wines were sampled without a supporting dish that catered to them.

Much to my surprise, France won. I say this because I’d not heard good things concerning the quality of French Tannats found in local wine stores, as (allegedly) Madiran’s best tend not to be exported. But this bottle proves that’s wrong; it was truly outstanding.

After our winning Wine Enthusiast 95-point wine, if you go by critical acclaim then the best scoring or most award-winning wines typically did the best. Not sure if it’s a coincidence or not, but the older the wine was the more we liked it (a 2012 vintage came in runner up, then a 2016 vintage was 3rd, then our 2017 vintage came in 4th).

O’Brien has long been a personal favorite and it was the favorite Virginia wine of the day (#2 overall). This wine’s claim to fame is it was the only American Tannat to medal in a major Tannat event in Uruguay, and I see why. Holding for a full decade took a lot of willpower.

The Broken Earth from California lived up to being a “Best in Show” wine at the 2020 San Fransisco Wine Chronical wine competition, clocking in #3 for the evening.

I wasn’t surprised at all that Arterra made it into the final round. It was also the youngest wine in the final lineup (#4 overall).

Lessons Learned

It’s tough to make observations of a region based on one wine, so I’ll forgo that for another event. But I did walk away with a greater appreciation of Madiran. If you hear someone say “Madiran doesn’t ship their best wines” they’re wrong. This Chateau Bouscasse was almost universally decreed our favorite of the day.

The biggest surprise was the Maggie wine didn’t show as well as I thought it would. I’d tried it before and it was far smoother at the time, so I can’t give a good explanation as to why it came off so ‘hot’ this time. It demonstrated to me how great wines don’t necessarily show well all the time.

But my most important observation is how the older wines nearly aways showed better than their younger compatriots. Granted 2017 was an outstanding year for Virginia reds and 6 years of age is fairly decent maturity. But even then, a 2017 vintage next to something older made it easy to tell the difference.

The older it was the more drinkable it was. The more drinkable, the higher we tended to score it. Age matters for Tannat.