Linden recently hosted what might be my favorite event of the year – a pair of Friday-only library tastings. Being an overachiever, I went to both.
Jim Law produced his first vintage in 1987, so it’s fair to say that Linden has a considerable number of older bottles to choose from. He’s often spoken about the need to hold on to bottles for the future, be it comparative tastings or just for his own education. Even now, Jim’s older bottles often portend the direction his current releases are going.
Linden used to do Library tastings every December until COVID hit, so this is something of a return to norm. I was really impressed that Linden charged the same price for this library tasting that they do for their regular tastings. I attribute that to Jim being a ‘wine educator’ at heart, and he wants to make the study material available to everyone.
Both days included a pair of comparison flights of a 2009 and a 2017, which Jim selected because stylistically these are similar vintages. He also threw in a few extra bottles during both days.
The first flight included a 2009 and 2017 Avenius Chardonnays. Both were especially warm and dry years; arguably 2 of the best in the past 15 years. The 2009 was considerably darker compared to the 2017.
I bought a number of bottles from the 2017 vintage, so I know it’s great. Yet compared to the 2009, the 2017 just paled in comparison. It really didn’t seem fair to put 2009 compared to anything else, since 14 years of age just gave it so many extra layers.
By comparison, the 2017 was still tight, even if it was excellent. If in 8 years it turns into the 2009, then I’d be very happy.
On top of these bottles, Jim brought over a sample of the 2007 Avenius Chardonnay to make this flight a trio.
The 2007 was considerably softer but still provided plenty to savor. My friends who joined me for my 1st visited debated which was better. Some preferred the 2007 for its complexity, while the 2009 ‘was more delicious’.
I ended up getting a glass of the 2009 Avenius to enjoy in the members room.
Comparative flight #2: 2009 Hardscrabble red and 2017 Hardscrabble red
To be fair, the 2017 Hardscrabble red is one of my all-time favorite Virginia wines ever. I’ve used it in blind tastings and wine professionals (including one born and raised in Bordeaux) insisted this was a Bordeaux wine. This bottle had maybe a tiny bit of brett in it, but only in a way that added to its complexity in a good way.
The 2009 was more leathery, no fruit but plenty of power. The rim was a little watery but it didn’t present as an ‘old’ wine.
“Bonus flight” #1: 1991 Merlot and 2001 Reserve
Neither of these bottles were on the original tasting. But when Jim opens a ‘bonus’ tasting, you just sit back and enjoy.
While drinking the 1991 Merlot I learned a new wine descriptor; ‘sanguine’. It directly translates as ‘bloody’, and is a reference to not just the color but the iron notes it exudes.
To me, if a red wine could be minerally, this is it. It also had some history to it, since the red label came from a finger painting of Jim’s daughter Sam (who now works at Linden full time).
Jim explained the 2001 Reserve was an example of him chasing the current trends of the time. He designed it to be all power, no finesse. It also seemed to predate his focus on vineyard-specific wines. Shockingly, it still had some fruit notes to it.
During my 2nd visit I was able to get a new trio of wines; flight of 2005 and 2006 Avenius Chardonnays, and a 1997 Reserve.
The 2005 had very little fruit left; it was like biting into an old lemon that was becoming a husk. The 2006 was livelier. Of course, neither held a candle to the 2009 Avenius.
The 1997 Reserve was perhaps the best ‘old Virginia wine’ I’d ever had. There was still some fruit there, despite being 27 years old. Earthy but still drinkable.
Turns out Jim only made 2 ‘Reserves’; one in 1997 and one in 2001. Both were precursors to today’s Hardscrabble reds.
I enjoyed one last glass of the 2009 Chardonnay, then off to Walsh Family Wine.
Last month (after a hard day of sorting grapes at Linden) I went over to Walsh for their latest Friday Bar Takeover. This event included a pair of new participants, The Parallax Project and Blue Wall Cider & Wine.
I’ve become accustomed to visiting old friends at these Bar Takeovers (looking at you, Jake Busching, Joy Ting, Daring Wine Co) but it’s exciting to try new, small brands. Some projects showcased here are actually produced at Walsh Family Wine, while others are what you might call ‘visiting friends’.
Parallax falls into the ‘visiting friends’ category. The brand is owned by entrepreneur and jack-of-all-trades Lance Lemon & “Virginia wine hype guy” Reggie Leonard, friends who decided to collaborate with Commonwealth Crush Co to create wines unique to them. These gents are also helping lead the charge for greater diversity in the Virginia wine scene.
Blue Wall is owned by Justin and Casey Wisch, who also own nearby Long Stone Farm. Blue Wall is one of the many small projects that Nate Walsh and his winemaking team support. The Wisches source their apples from their estate orchard and grapes from Nate’s vineyards, all of which is made at Walsh Family and labeled under the Blue Wall brand name.
The Parallax Project
Kathy Wiedemann & I decided to start our visit with Parallax, who were hanging out in Walsh’s Garden Room. Reggie and Lance have so far produced two wines; “What’s This”, and “What’s That”.
The project’s name was inspired by what’s called “The Parallax Effect”, which is “a difference in the apparent position of an object when viewed along two different lines of sight”.
Lance and Reggie applied this principle to their wines. While one is a red wine and the other is a white, both were made using nearly the same grapes but in different blends and winemaking styles.
The 2023 “What’s This” is their white wine, a blend of 32% Vidal Blanc, 29% Chardonel, 29% Tannat (direct press), 6% Petit Manseng, 3% Traminette, 1% Albariño.
I’d never heard of a blend that even approaches this wine, and it was just as tasty as it was interesting; the kind of wine you need to keep sipping just to figure out what’s in your glass. Very floral with citrus notes (amongst others). I bought a bottle.
The 2023 “What’s That” is 83% Tannat, 8% Vidal Blanc, 7% Chardonel, 1% Petit Manseng, and 1% Traminette. While technically you could call this a ‘tannat’, it’s the farthest thing from one. Lower on the tannin, more fruit, and also highly aromatic.
The blending may seem odd – but they work. Both wines were designed to be enjoyed young and are very much in line with the off-beat style I’ve come to expect from their wine mentors, Ben and Tim Jordan of Commonwealth Crush.
Blue Wall Cider & Wine
In the main tasting room was Justin and Casey Wisch, who were pouring four of their ciders; Black Twig, Wickson Crab, Ashmead’s Kernel, and Virginia WineSap.
Blue Wall is actually just one component of Long Stone Farm, a sustainable farming operation that offers everything from CSA shares, a farm store for their meat and produce (which doubles as a wine/cider tasting room), even a monthly ‘Sunday Supper’.
The last is perhaps my favorite initiative of theirs, as it showcases everything that’s made at their farm but served by a local chef.
Blue Wall’s ciders are made in a ‘traditional’ style, which I nickname ‘wine cider’. No carbonation here; these ciders are meant to showcase the fruit they came from.
Wickson Crab was the ‘biggest’ of the four in terms of flavor, probably because it was barrel aged. It was my favorite of the more standard ciders.
Next up were Black Twig and Ashmead. Black Twig is off dry, while Ashmead is definitely the sweetest of the lineup. Had it been warmer the Ashmead would be a summer pounder outside (in fact it was when I attended their dinner).
But my favorite was Winesap, made as a sparkling pet-nat style cider. Very light and drinkable, and I suspect extremely food friendly. I got a bottle of this to go and will definitely open it with friends at dinner.
Special shout-out to Kathy’s husband, who brought the pizza that we ate outside.
“Out of all the grapes, you must grow Nebbiolo. It’s beautiful, it’s the wine of kings”.
These words were spoken by an Italian winemaker (who’s identity is still unknown) to Paul Breaux during his 1996 research trip to Alba, Italy. This gentleman overheard Paul order a glass of wine with dinner and walked over to his table to insist he try Nebbiolo.
A long conversation ensued. Paul was so impressed by the wine and the man’s passion for it, he decided on the spot Breaux Vineyards needed this grape. It was a huge leap of faith for a variety that was then untested in Virginia.
This chance encounter had a profound impact on Breaux Vineyards. Jen Breaux went on to explain, “Nebbiolo has given us a name in Virginia wine. I truly believe that”.
I recount this story because not only does Nebbiolo evoke such passion, only winegrowers truly in love with this grape would be willing to deal with such a finicky, difficult to grow variety.
While the Italian Piedmont has the near-goldilocks conditions to produce the world’s finest Nebbiolos, it’s a far riskier proposition here in Virginia. Early budding, late ripening, and with inconsistent yields even when things go well, Nebbiolo flies in the face of any logical growing strategy. That’s likely why Virginia has only 39 acres of Nebbiolo planted, divided between about a dozen wineries.
Bill Gadino of Gadino Cellars gave one of my favorite answers. When deciding what red grape to plant, he approached Luca Paschina of Barboursville for advice. Luca told him, “If you’re going to pick one, go for the gold and grow Nebbiolo.”
Tasting & Scoring Methodology
A group of friends & I blind tasted 8 wines in 4 comparison flights, youngest to oldest. All the flights were bagged blind.
3 of the 4 East Coast wines came from Virginia, and 1 was from Pennsylvania. The Italian wines included 1 Barbaresco and 3 Barolos, widely considered the best expressions of this grape. Except for a 2015 vs a 2017, all pairings were matched by vintage year.
The goal was to pick a ‘favorite’ in every flight, as opposed to rating them according to a sophisticated scoring system. After the 4 flights, we selected 3 bottles to go into a ‘finalist’ round. Our resident chef also prepared a meal that went with the wine.
It’s important to point out that ‘favorite’ was a very subjective term. It wasn’t a requirement we choose the most ‘varietally correct’ wine as a ‘favorite’. That said, my guests often used ‘varietally correct’ as part of their own criteria. To satisfy my curiosity, I also asked which wine they thought was from Italy.
The lack of Virginia producers greatly limited our options, especially when it came to finding older vintages. By contrast, you can pick up great Italian Nebbiolos anywhere.
No doubt this biased the outcome in favor of Italy. But hey – if you want to play in the big leagues, you come with the team you have!
The contenders:
2020 Barboursville ($40 on website) vs 2020 Nada Giuseppe Barbaresco Casot ($49 Wine.com)
2017 Va La Vineyards ‘Cedar’ (~$50 for the current vintage?) vs 2017 Manzone Barolo Gramolere ($59 – $69.99 Wine.com)
2015 Gadino Cellars ($51 on website) vs 2017 Parusso Barolo Perarmando ($65 Wine.com)
2012 Breaux ($80 on website) vs 2012 E. Pira Chiara Boschis “Cannubi” Barolo ($99.99 on Wine.Com, $84 at a nearby wine store)
Bottle #2: 2020 Nada Giuseppe Barbaresco Casot (3 votes)
This was the closest matchup of the day in terms of votes. We needed to let these wines open up before we could fairly judge them, and the tasters wine went back-and-forth in selecting which was their ‘favorite’.
Eventually, 5 of 7 guests settled on #1 being Virginia, as those subtle pyrazine notes were suggestive of the East Coast. They weren’t prominent by any means, but ‘green’ notes of any type were so uncharacteristic of Nebbiolo that just a hint was enough to identify its origins. This trend continued over the course of the event.
Bottle #1 / 2020 Barboursville Nebbiolo (Virginia). Light but noticeable nose. Lots of pepper notes, with an undertone of pyrazines. Rustic. Complex, with earthy/leathery notes. Dried herbs also came up. Ruby colored.
Bottle #2 / 2020 Nada Giuseppe Casot (Barbaresco). VERY light, almost unnoticeable nose unless you swirled it a lot. Notes of anise was mentioned. “Smooth” tobacco came up. Garnet color.
Alex: Favorite was #1/2020 Barboursville and thought #1 was East Coast (correct). Loved the nose of #1 and thought it was ‘drink now’ while #2 needed more time.
Kathy: Favorite was #2/2020 Nada, and thought #1 was East Coast (correct)
Lindsay: Favorite was #2/2020 Nada, and didn’t guess country of origin.
Matt: Favorite was #1/2020 Barboursville and thought #1 was Italy (inaccurate). I thought #1 had an Old World quality to it while #2 was smoother & easy to drink, hence I thought #1 was Italy while #2 was Virginia.
Ryan: Favorite was #2/2020 Nada, and thought #1 was East Coast (correct)
Sarah: Favorite was #2/2020 Nada and thought #1 was East Coast (correct). Thought #2 had ‘deeper’ fruit.
Vincent: Favorite was #1/2020 Barboursville and thought #1 was East Coast (correct). Thought #1 was more complex.
Bottle #4: 2017 Va La Vineyards ‘Cedar’ (Pennsylvania) (2 votes)
Wine #4/Va La was noticeably different than anything else we had that day. Hard to put my finger on it…maybe it was the filtering (or lack of it)? It was a bigger & bolder wine than we were expecting. Wine #3/Manzone was one of the most ‘varietally correct’ wines of the day.
Bottle #3 / 2017 Manzone Barolo Gramolere. Very balanced and ‘classic’. Notes of dried roses and tar were mentioned, but they weren’t overwhelming. Very tannic. Ruby color.
Bottle #4 / 2017 Va La Vineyards ‘Cedar’. Oh boy, this wine was complex! Punch you in the face ‘big’. Acidic and ‘weird’ but in a good way. Garnet color.
#4 had the oddest descriptor I’ve heard in a long time; “caramel/chocolate/olive oil”.
Alex: Favorite was #3/2017 Manzone and thought #4 was East Coast (correct). Thought #3 was varietally correct while #4 was ‘interesting’.
Kathy: Favorite was #3/2017 Manzone and thought #4 was East Coast (correct)
Lindsay: Favorite was #3/2017 Manzone and didn’t guess the region. Went with #3 because of its balance.
Matt: Favorite was #4/2017 Va La and thought #4 was East Coast (correct). I thought #4 wasn’t varietally-correct but I didn’t care. I was completely fascinated by this wine so picked it as my ‘favorite’, even if arguably #3 was ‘better’.
Ryan: Favorite was #3/2017 Manzone and thought #3 was East Coast (inaccurate)
Sarah: Favorite was #3/2017 Manzone and thought #4 was East Coast (correct)
Vincent: Favorite was #4/2017 Va La and thought #4 was East Coast (correct). Thought the results were very close but leaned towards #4 because he thought it was denser and had more going on.
This round was more of a blowout because #6 veered pretty dramatically away from varietal-correctness, to the point we thought it was almost a California Cab.
I was surprised when I unveiled the bottle and found it to be our 2015 Gadino. I’ve had this bottle before and didn’t remember it diverging from ‘traditional’ Nebbiolo characteristics, so I can’t quite explain it. Maybe the comparison showcased qualities we otherwise would have overlooked? Or was it something in my storage?
Bottle #5 / 2017 Parusso Barolo Perarmando. Light nose, looooong finish. Ripe fruit, with notes of liquorish. Spearmint gum or cedar on the nose, or maybe herbal notes (depending who you asked). Balanced.
Bottle #6 / 2015 Gadino Cellars. A little caramelly, with a tar nose. But we also found notes of toasted vanilla and blackberry. This was the least varietally correct wine of the day.
Votes:
Alex: Favorite #5/Parusso, thought #6 was East Coast (correct).
Kathy: Favorite #5/Parusso, thought #6 was East Coast (correct)
Lindsay: Favorite #5/Parusso, thought #6 was East Coast (correct)
Matt: Favorite #5/Parusso, thought #6 was East Coast (correct)
Ryan: Favorite #5/Parusso, thought #6 was East Coast (correct)
Sarah: Favorite #5/Parusso, thought #6 was East Coast (correct)
Vincent: Favorite #5/Parusso, thought #6 was East Coast (correct)
This was the highlight of our 1 vs 1 comparisons. Our biggest challenge is Wine #7 had a ‘hot’ note caused some initial worry that maybe it was cooked during storage. Fortunately, after a short time that quality blew off and became much more enjoyable.
Bottle #7/ 2012 E. Pira Chiara Boschis “Cannubi” Barolo. Notes of cherry, blackberry, and menthol were mentioned, but stewed fruit, tar, dry cherry, and star anise came up even more. Not a lot of fruit on the palate but there was a tremendous depth of flavor. One person mentioned a note of bell pepper.
FYI – 97 points from James Suckling; 95 points Vinous.
Bottle #8 / 2012 Breaux Nebbiolo. “Light and well balanced” were the key descriptors, but there were a lot of other descriptors to go along with this. It was almost the complete opposite of #7.
Green pepper on the nose (and one person mentioned green pepper on the palate), with maybe a barnyard quality. At least one person said it was jammy on the palate with tighter tannins. Sweet tobacco on the palate was also mentioned. Char notes.
If this is what Virginia Nebbiolo can taste like after 12 years…sign me up! Very impressive.
Votes:
Alex: Favorite was #7/E. Pira Chiara, thought #8 was East Coast (correct). Went with the depth of flavor with #7.
Kathy: Favorite was #7/E. Pira Chiara, thought #8 was East Coast (correct). Thought this was the closest flight of the day.
Lindsay: Favorite was #8/Breaux, thought #8 was East Coast (correct)
Matt: Favorite was #7/E. Pira Chiara, didn’t guess the geographic region
Ryan: Favorite was #7/E. Pira Chiara, thought #7 was East Coast (inaccurate). Liked the nose of #7 but palate of #8.
Sarah: Favorite was #7/E. Pira Chiara, thought #8 was East Coast (correct). Detected some pyrazines on #8 but overall a good wine.
Vincent: Favorite was #8/Breaux thought #8 was East Coast (correct)
Finalist Round:
Bottle #3: 2017 Barolo Gramolere (Event Winner)
Bottle #5: 2017 Parusso Barolo Perarmando
Bottle #7: 2012 E. Piara Chiara Boschis (Runner Up)
We voted and collectively came up with our 3 ‘finalists’, based on the previous round winners. That said, it was a shame we didn’t include wine #8/Breaux Vineyards as one of the finalists, because it deserved to be there.
I didn’t take extensive tasting notes this round. In the end, #3/Barolo Gramolere was by far the consensus favorite of the day. It was nearly a toss-up between the next two for runner-up, but the #7/2012 Chiara came 2nd by a small margin.
Votes:
Alex: 5/3/7
Kathy: 5/3/7. #5 was ‘talking to me’
Lindsay: 3/7/5. #3 was balanced and classic
Matt: 3/7/5. Loved the nose and the rusticity of #3’s palate
Ryan: 3/7/5
Sarah: 7/3/5. Thought there was a lot going on with #7, and it was still getting better over time, while #3 had already peaked
Vincent: (absent)
Lessons Learned:
First off, I want to say that I’m really proud how Team Virginia (with an assist from Pennsylvania’s Va La Vineyards) showed here. While none made it to the final round (although we agreed the 2012 Breaux should have), the East Coast contenders brought their A-game.
But as good as they were, these East Coast wines went up against exceptional producers from one of the most highly regarded wine regions in the entire world. This tasting was the equivalent of a World Cup soccer match between Team America and Team Italy. While the US has some great players…come on…it’s ITALY we’re dealing with.
That said, the results were far closer than I could have expected. We uniformly enjoyed the East Coast wines, especially the ones from Barboursville and Breaux.
Two main lessons learned:
Point #1: Age matters – and the East Coast Nebbiolos showed they could do that. There were many compliments about how that 2012 Breaux was able to last 12 years. Having had older Barboursville vintages I could say the same for them as well.
Point #2: East Coast Nebbiolos (at least in this round) were rarely ‘varietally correct’. Out of the 7 of us, we almost always guessed the correct region for each of the 4 rounds. I’m convinced while the East Coast wines were consistently good, being ‘different’ lost them some points.
What made the East Coast wines easily-identifiable were the light pyrazine and overall earthy notes, which were suggestive of their non-Italian origin.
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.
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.
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.
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:
2019 Wisdom Oak Winery
2017 Glen Manor Vineyards
2017 Arterra Wines
2017 Hark Vineyards
2020 Southwest Mountains Vineyards
2019 Chateau MerrillAnne
2019 Cave Ridge Vineyard
2017 DuCard Vineyards
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.
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.
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:
2021 Glen Manor
2021 Pippin Hill
2022 Wolf Gap
2021 Pollak
2021 Greenhill
2020 Pearmund
2021 50 West
2021 Keswick
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 CabernetFranc 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.
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.
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.
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. It’s also just 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 from 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 several of 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 the 3rd petit verdot they’ve ever produced.
My other favorite wines were the 2021 Chardonnay from Fox Run, Herron Hill’s 2020 Pinot Noir (both in the Finger Lakes), Virginia’s Horton Vineyards’ 2019 Albariño, 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.
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:
2018 “Under the Wire” Alder Springs Vineyard (Mendocino California, $64 per Vivino)
2019 Alma4 (Mendoza Argentina, $26 per Wine.com)
2018 Gusbourne Brut Reserve (England, $70 per Wine.com)
2018 Blanc de Blancs “Zero” Midland Wine (Shenandoah Valley Virginia, $45 at Commonwealth Crush)
NV Thibaut-Janisson Xtra Brut (Virginia, $36 per Timeless Wines)
2016 Trump Sparkling Reserve (Monticello Virginia, $75 at Trump Winery)
De Saint-Gall Blanc De Blancs Grand Cru Brut Champagne (Champagne France, $45 at Total Wine)
BernardBrémont Grand Cru ‘Cuvee Prestige’ Champagne (Champagne France, $62 at Total Wine)
Taittinger La Francaise Brut Champagne (Champagne France, $56 at Total Wine)
Flight #1: International Round
Bottle #1: 2018 “Under the Wire” Alder Springs Vineyard
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
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 #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 BernardBrémont 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.
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?
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:
2019 Brix and Columns (winery in the Shenandoah Valley, not sure where the fruit is from)
2019 Linden Boisseau (Front Royal)
2021 Vint Hill (Story Vineyard, Fauquier County)
2021 DuCard TANA (TANA Vineyard)
2022 12 Pearls of Wisdom (Effingham/Pearmund)
2021 Stone Tower (Leesburg)
2020 Famille Vincent (Burgundy)
2019 Patrick Javiller (Burgundy)
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.
