The 2023 Virginia Wine Year In Review

Posted on January 1, 2024 by Matt Fitzsimmons

My latest ‘Virginia wine in review’. To see my other ‘Years in Review’, check out my 2020, 2021, and 2022 articles as well.

I did my best to identify the major trends and most interesting stories from the last year. Honorable mentions go to the expansion of breweries in wine country, reporting on the spotted lanternfly, and greater diversification in the industry (PS – around 17% of head winemakers in the state are female, and we now have several Black head winemakers and owners).

As 2023 closes, Virginia currently has 276 wine tasting rooms, 33 cideries, and 13 meaderies, plus 25 wine brands, cideries & meaderies that lack tasting rooms. Here is a link to my winery roster:

The Virginia Winery Roster

This article is entirely my personal opinion and doesn’t reflect the Virginia wine marketing board or any other entity or person.

2023’s Major Trends and Events

1. Openings and Closings: 12 new wineries and 2 meaderies joined the industry this year, and 4 left the business.

While Crimson Lane, Commonwealth Crush, and Southwest Mountain Vineyard probably made the biggest splash, also joining us are Dobbins Hollow Winery & Cidery (Pilot), Good Spirit Farm (Round Hill), Haunted Hills Winery (Jetersville), Mattapony Reserve (West Point), Rassawek Vineyards (Columbia), River Dog Winery (Richmond), Seven Lady Vineyards at Dover Hall (greater Richmond), The Vines at Oakdale (outside Richmond), and the return of Oakencroft Farm & Winery (Charlottesville).

Two new meaderies also joined the fun; Funktastic Meads (Midlothian) and Negus Winery (Alexandria).

Four locations closed; Aspen Dale, Merriweather Vineyards, Maggie Malick Wine Caves, and the Capitol Hive meadery.

2. 2023 Vintage. Put simply, this vintage looks outstanding. A few owners have gone so far to say, “Perhaps our best ever”.

Sure, we’ve heard this story before. Every year there’s a fair bit of booster-ism, not to mention it’s tough to make an overarching pronouncement on a state as geographically diverse as Virginia.

Even so, it’s hard to ignore the almost-universally positive feedback. The least enthusiastic description of the quality of this year’s fruit was “very good”, while many long-time growers say it’s rivaled only by the superb 2009 or 2012 vintages, which likewise featured warm, dry summers.

If there’s one negative about this year’s vintage is it’s not quite as bountiful is it could have been. The Shenandoah Valley and Central Virginia suffered spring frost damage which reduced yields. Even more vineyards suffered drought stress, causing the vines to shut down. You know it was a dry year when vineyards that normally complain about too much rain wished for a few more inches of it.

3. Softening economy & changing consumer tastes: From 2018 to 2022, the Virginia wine industry saw 16-21 new wine, mead, or cider tasting rooms open per year.

That market growth slowed in 2023, which saw 14 such openings.

It’s tough to say if this slowdown is due to market saturation or the economy; probably a mix of both. But if Carlo DeVito’s predictions of a market correction in the craft brewery industry are on target, then wineries may be up for its own correction, or at least a prolonged slow-down in new openings.

Add to this how Millennials and Generation Z are abandoning wine in favor of mixed drinks, seltzers, or abstaining all-together, it’s a tough near-term forecast for the local wine industry.

4. Grape glut: It’s with no small degree of irony that praise for this year’s vintage is also coupled with an understanding that Virginia is growing more grapes than it can sell (at a profit, that is).

Virginia has long seen volatility in grape supply and demand, as anyone who saw crop losses to 2018’s rain and 2020’s frost can attest to. But more recently, several good harvests in a row have given many vineyards too much of a good thing.

Vineyards that rely on selling fruit will feel the worst of this pinch, especially smaller producers that sell 100% of their harvest. Yet the impact will be felt across the spectrum, especially when coupled with falling demand.

5. Wine Incubators: Over the past year or so Virginia has recently seen the opening of two ‘incubators’; Commonwealth Crush and Eastwood Farm.

This term probably requires a bit of explaining. The start-up costs to winemaking are high and serve as a bar for new entrants. These incubators provide the equipment, make it easier for new winemakers to get started. Given how some of my favorite winemakers don’t even have a tasting room (looking at you, Joy Ting and Jake Busching) I hope such incubators will give micro-producers a chance to join in, sparking greater creativity and diversity in the industry.

6. Wine bars/Urban tasting rooms: The Virginia wine experience is very much tied to visiting scenic locations in the countryside. But in 2023 a trio of VA wineries, namely Bluestone’s ‘Rootstock’ wine bar in Harrisonburg, Rogers Ford Winery’s ‘Curio’ in Fredericksburg, and October One’s Leesburg-based tasting room, bucked this trend.

The first two provide a mix of Virginia and non-Virginia wine. October One serves as that business’s only tasting room, plus offers wine from several other Virginia wineries. Until this year, only Morais’s “Aroma” and Lost Creek’s ‘Echelon” urban wine bars/tasting rooms offered Virginia flights.

I’m hopeful this concept gets traction. Virginia wine is somewhat limited to those who are adventurous enough to drive a good hour or so to visit wine country. These locations make it easier for your average consumer to drink local wine without traveling far to find it.

7. VA Wine in the News: This was a good year for raising Virginia wine’s national profile. Wine Enthusiast magazine designated Charlottesville as its 2023 Wine Region of the Year. If that’s not enough, they also listed Keswick Vineyards’ 2021 Chardonnay and Barbourville’s 2019 Octagon as amongst their Top 100 wines.

Press like this not only raises the profile of these individual wineries, but the Virginia wine scene as a whole. I’m hopeful this will show that Virginia isn’t an ‘emerging’ region; in terms of quality, it’s well-established.

One not-so-great news item was how the Thomas Jefferson Foundation (which runs historic Monticello and neighboring Jefferson Vineyards) dismissed “Virginia’s Wine Godfather” Gabrielle Rausse this past October, claiming ‘his position was eliminated’.

8. Winemaker musical chairs: Every year you see winemakers come and go, although this year this seems especially prevalent.

Rappahannock Cellars’ Theo Smith purchased Capstone Vineyards and is now making wine there. That allowed…

CrossKeys Vineyards winemaker Steve Monson to move to Rappahannock, which in turn allowed…

DelFosse‘s Andrew Bilenkij to take Steve’s head winemaker job at CrossKeys. Which allowed an opening for…

Keswick Vineyards winemaker Stephen Barnard to move to DelFosse (now Mountain and Vine).

Got that? Because I had to review this 3 times to make sure I got it right!

Virginia Wineries Experimenting With Low and Non-Alcoholic Options

Posted on December 16, 2023 by Matt Fitzsimmons

If you’re thinking of starting the New Year alcohol-free, you’re far from alone. Wired Magazine reported that o ne in five adults claimed to have participated in 2022’s Dry January, up 13% from the previous year

The concept behind Dry January goes back to World War II, when Finland initiated a no-alcohol campaign to conserve resources during its conflict with the Soviet Union. But it wasn’t until 2013 this slogan became an international phenomenon, when Alcohol Change UK promoted it as a means for people to live an alcohol-free lifestyle (if only for a month).

There are good reasons to cut back on alcohol, whether it be resetting one’s body, saving money, or breaking an alcohol dependency. Many participate in Dry January just to prove to themselves it can be done.

Yet those who don’t want a full-fledged alcoholic beverage need not avoid socializing. Several local wineries are leaning-in to this movement by producing seltzers, mocktails, and no or low-alcoholic wines for those who wish to mingle but do so in a healthier way.

Younger Drinkers “Wine-Curious” But Looking At Their Options

Wine sales have steadily declined for the past several years, and the industry is struggling for an answer. Low or no-alcohol wines may be a method for wineries to stay relevant as consumer tastes change.

You might say it all starts with demographics. According to the 2023 Silicon Valley Bank “State of the Wine Industry” report, there is a huge gap between older and younger drinkers regarding how wine is viewed.

Older consumers come from an era where wine, as part of the ‘Mediterranean diet’, was advertised as a way to increase longevity. Boomers are also at the height of their buying power, which leads them to buy more expensive wine.

While ‘premium’ wine sellers appreciate this uptick in sales, they know it can’t last. Boomers are poised to age-out of the market, leaving it to younger consumers to take up the slack.

However, the more health conscious Millennial and Generation Z age cohorts aren’t as interested in wine, especially for entry level (under $15) bottles. When they do imbibe, they’re likely to do so in greater moderation. A significant portion are abstaining from alcohol entirely.

Not only are they drinking less, younger drinkers are skipping wine in favor of spirits and cocktails. Wine’s share of the beverage market is already decreasing. If enough potential drinkers skip these entry-level ‘gateway’ bottles, who knows what will become of the wine industry?

Wines With Little Or No Alcohol? What’s The Point?!?

As Virginia’s wine industry is relatively young, its winemakers have focused on innovation rather than tradition to guide their path forward. This has led several local wineries, including Hark Vineyards, to take advantage of growing consumer interest in low or no-ABV options. Hark winemaker AJ Greely shared her own observation on this trend.

“Post-COVID I think people realized they needed to cut back. That’s when we saw greater interest in low/no-alcohol wines.

Regardless of the reason, Hark decided to craft a non-alcoholic wine that appeals to those folks. It allows us to offer a glass that looks like wine, tastes like wine, but contains no alcohol. We’re proud to be the first, and thus far only, non-alcoholic wine in the state.

There are a couple of options to remove alcohol; vacuum distillation, centrifugal, and reverse osmosis. In Virginia, the only one available to us is reverse osmosis.

Our “Ené” is a neutral oak barrel fermented vidal blanc that went all the way through fermentation (but no ML) then aged in neutral oak for 6 months. At that point the tech worked with us for 2 days, using a membrane in the machine to remove the alcohol.”

This trend isn’t limited to wine, as mocktails are also finding their way to local wineries. Owner Stephanie Pence of Brix and Columns Vineyards started serving a pair of mocktails this past May and soon found they were a hit.

“Customers love them! They are great for guests that are under 21, designated drivers, those with health issues and just non-alcohol drinking visitors.

We serve two mocktails. One is a Strawberry-Guava Mojito, made with Simple Mixology strawberry guava cocktail juice and Fever Tree sparkling grapefruit garnished with mint. The other is a Moscow Mule made with lime simple syrup and Fever Tree Ginger beer. Those under 21 can drink with the grown-ups and not feel left out.”

For those who aren’t quite ready to completely give-up alcohol, winemaker Scott Spelbring of Bluemont Vineyard has an option for you.

“Piquette is an easy drinking, lower alcohol wine fermented using grape skins or pomace that has already been pressed. In the case of our Piquette Blanc we added water to our whole cluster pressed Albariño pomace, fermented the remaining sugars and bottled them with just a splash of Albariño and Viognier wine for additional flavor.

It’s unfiltered with a touch of sweetness and a light effervescence to round out the finished wine, making it a fun springtime sipper. I get tropical notes; banana, lychee, and pear with a slight creamy or custard finish. A year of aging this natural-style wine has made the sweetness taper off into an off-dry white wine with a touch of fruit on the finish. Fun, simple and non-serious.”

So far only a handful of Virginia wineries have experimented with low or no-alcoholic wine. As the market changes, more of these beverages will (hopefully) become available. For additional options, try Revalation Vineyards’s “Verjus”, or Castle Glen Winery’s mocktails.

Jump Mountain Vineyard and the 2023 Shenandoah Wine Cup

Posted on December 8, 2023 by Matt Fitzsimmons

I often tell people it’s a good bet that wineries located off the beaten trail will have high-caliber wine, as that’s the only way such locations can stay in business. Jump Mountain Vineyard proves that adage is true. It’s fair to say this extends to the Shenandoah Valley as a whole, although even by their high standards Jump is a hidden gem.

So when I learned that Jump Mountain won the 2023 Shenandoah Cup Wine Competition with its 2019 “Borderlands” tannat-heavy red blend, I wasn’t the least bit surprised.

But I’m jumping ahead in my story, so I’ll start at the beginning.

The farm that is now Jump Mountain was purchased by Mary Hughes and David Vermillion in 2006 for the purpose of growing grapes. When asked what gave her the crazy idea of starting a vineyard, Mary began the story with by explaining, “It’s a cautionary tale…”.

Of course, she was half joking; but only half. Both Mary and David harbored a secret desire to plant a vineyard, and when they fessed up to one another, making the dream come true was the next logical step.

It helped that Virginia was pushing potential buyers to plant vineyards for the then-new-ish Virginia wine scene, which in the mid-2010s was suffering from a lack of good fruit. That Dave was already friends with Gabrielle Rausse, a treasure-trove of Virginia wine knowledge, must have helped as well.

Their decision to plant in the Shenandoah Valley was driven by a combination cheaper land and the valley’s excellent growing conditions. In fact, those conditions were even better than they realized.

When Jump was deciding what vines to plant, ‘experts’ at the time recommended they focus on hybrid grapes, on the assumption their location was too cold for vinifera to survive. Jump proved them wrong. The mountain namesake for their farm can be seen not far in the distance.

With a 1,300 foot slope that leads down to a creek (excellent for leading cold air away from the vines), Jump’s vineyard now consists of 3 acres of vinifera. Around half is Cabernet Sauvignon, with another acre of Grüner Veltliner, a quarter acre of Tannat, and quarter acre of ‘everything else’ (Italian grapes Refosco, Lagrein and Sagrantino, primarily from the mountainous north).

Matthieu Finot is their consultant, but the owners are the winemakers. At 700 cases/year in a good year, Jump’s production is very tiny. Fortunately, their wine is also sold in some stores in Charlottesville.

I visited Jump years ago and loved the wines, but their location in Rockbridge Baths (about 40 minutes southwest of Staunton) makes them one of the more remote vineyards in Virginia. Fortunately, they were open on a Friday for some visitors, and they let me crash the party for a tasting and interview.

I was able to try their entire line-up, including their new sparkling. The price points were great as well, ranging from $17 for the excellent Grüner, low to mid $20s for the reds, with the highest being $30 for their traditional method sparkling.

I was particularly surprised to see a Virginia Cab Sauv at $23. This grape often struggles in Virginia, but it seems to like Jump’s location. Anywhere else it would be a good bit more $$ but even within the low-priced Shenandoah Valley it was still a steal.

2018 Grüner: Cold hardy, lots of citrus fruit, ‘adult lemonade’
2020 Grüner: Much ‘fuller’ than the 2018. Made in neutral oak and with more lees. I preferred this one over the 2018 (not that I’d turn the 2018 down)
Sparkling Grüner: Made in the Traditional method; apple-citrus notes
Syrah Rosé: Made with fruit from a nearby vineyard. Syrah is hard to get ripe in Virginia so Jump uses it to make a rosé instead
2021 Livia: 60% Refosco, 20% Cab Franc, 15% Lagrein, and 5% Sagrantino: Named after Caesar’s 2^nd wife, who extolled on the virtues of wine drinking as a method of longevity. Interesting combo of pepper & fruit, plus low tannins
2019 Cabernet Sauvignon: Tannins were there but softer as Cabs go
2020 Borderland: Tannat & Cab Sav heavy red blend; big and bold mouthfeel. The name ‘Borderlands’ is a reference how Tannat’s home is the Pyrenees Mountains. The 2019 vintage won the Shenandoah Cup.

Not tried on this trip, but the winner of the 2023 Shenandoah Wine Cup was the 2019 Borderlands, a blend of 50% Tannat, 25% Cab Sauv, and 25% Cab Franc. The 3^rd place was the 2021 Livia.

The Sparkling Wines of the Shenandoah Valley

Posted on November 30, 2023 by Matt Fitzsimmons

Many Virginia wineries offer a sparkling wine, but no other local wine region has embraced bubbly with the same vigor as the Shenandoah Valley. Around half of the valley’s wineries make a sparkling wine, with options ranging from “pét-nats” for casual drinking to more sophisticated bottles made using the méthode champenoise, the same process used in Champagne.

Not only is the Shenandoah Valley especially suitable for the production of sparkling wine, sparkling 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%.

This growth is largely driven by changing views of when bubbly should be consumed. Sparkling is moving away from its traditional role as a ‘special event’ wine to something wine lovers should casually enjoy.

The Influence of “Terroir”

While the words “champagne” and “sparkling wine” are often used interchangeably, for over a century France has worked hard to ensure the term ‘champagne’ is legally protected. Only sparkling wine grown and made in the region of Champagne is allowed to carry that label.

France is understandably protective of this term, as Champagne’s unique terroir creates the conditions which makes its wine the pinnacle of what sparkling wine should be.

This has much to do with location, location, location! Champagne is one of Europe’s northernmost wine regions. Vineyards located at Champagne’s latitude usually struggle to get their fruit to full ripeness. Yet here this proves to be an advantage, as the high acidity present in unripe grapes is perfect for sparkling wine.

Champagne is also famous for its chalky-limestone soil, which provides good drainage. Vines with limited access to water struggle, forcing them to focus their limited energy on creating high-quality fruit.

Its soil grants another advantage. Chalk both reflects heat during the day and stores it during the night, allowing vines to stay within a temperature range that is conducive to ripen its fruit evenly.

It so happens the Shenandoah Valley emulates many of the qualities that make Champagne a premium location for sparkling wine.

Shenandoah Valley wines are likewise famous for their acidity. While Champagne’s grapes maintain their acidity due to its northern latitude, wines made in the Shenandoah Valley maintain their acid profile by virtue of the cooler temperatures found at higher elevation vineyards.

The valley’s soil also emulates Champagne’s porous limestone, as both areas were ancient sea beds. While it doesn’t have the chalk Champagne is famous for, the Shenandoah Valley’s higher elevation allows for greater diurnal temperature shifts. This means the valley has both warm days and cool nights, allowing its fruit to ripen without losing their acidity.

Perhaps the Shenandoah Valley’s greatest advantage is its lack of rainfall. The Allegheny Mountains to the west and Blue Ridge to the east create a ‘rain shadow’ over the valley between them. Most local vineyards only receive around 35-37 inches of rain a year, while northern Virginia and Charlottesville receive 42-47 inches.

Shenandoah Wineries Growing Their Sparkling Brands

Lee Hartman of Bluestone Vineyard insists the Shenandoah Valley is a great place to make wine of any type, but he’s especially proud of his sparkling program.

“We have a really good spot for sparkling. Our hill tops out at 1,400 feet, so there’s cooler air, super well drained soil, and lots of limestone. If we get 3 inches of rain, much of it washes away.

We partnered with Veritas Winery for the first two years we made sparkling, but now we’ve brought it all under our roof and doing it by hand.

During disgorging, it’s very satisfying hearing this loud cannon of wine spit out an ice cube of yeast. Given all the work you’re not really saving money, but my team and I are giant nerds, and we like having our hands in the process.

At the end of the process you get to list “Grown and Bottled” on the back of the label. It’s time consuming, but there’s something really fun in saying we did all of this.”

Sparklings that hail from the Shenandoah Valley also boast an impressive amount of diversity, both in how they’re made and the fruit being used.

Most bubbly currently made in the valley is produced using the méthode champenoise (aka traditional method), which is both the hardest and most prestigious way to make sparkling. This process requires two separate fermentations; an initial one to fashion the base wine, and a second inside the bottle to create the bubbles sparkling is famous for.

A handful of wineries also make wine using the ‘Charmat’ method, a more cost-effective process which follows the basic principles of the méthode champenoise but does the second fermentation in a steel tank and at a larger scale. A few even use the original minimal-intervention “méthode ancestrale” way, more commonly known as “pét-nats”.

Robert Muse explained his rationale why Muse Vineyards selected the most expensive method, writing back, “I prefer the traditional method as it produces a deep, rounder taste and mouthfeel. The word ‘biscuity’ is used to describe some champagne-like wines. I’ve never experienced this pleasant attribute in other sparklings.”

Two of the most popular grapes for Champagne, chardonnay and pinot noir, are likewise the grapes most widely used for sparkling in the Shenandoah Valley.

Rockbridge Vineyard & Brewery partnered with Veritas to make their new Blanc de Noir, while the 2019 Blanc de Noir from CrossKeys Vineyard took “Best of Show” at the 2022 Atlantic Seaboard Wine Association competition. Barren Ridge, Bluestone, Cave Ridge, Midland, Muse, and Ox Eye Vineyard all make Blanc de Blancs.

As the Shenandoah Valley is home to over 630 acres of vines, an abundance of other grapes are also available.

Those looking for something different should try the cayuga sparkling from Briedé Family Farm, the riesling from Cave Ridge, or the grüner veltliner coming soon from Jump Mountain Vineyard.

A number of other wineries including Brix & Columns and Wolf Gap also make Charmat-style sparklings using chambourcin or cabernet franc. Regardless of your choice of bubby, don’t wait to drink it on New Year’s Eve. Sparkling can be enjoyed at any time!

Virginia Sparkling Showdown: 2023 Edition

Posted on October 16, 2023 by Matt Fitzsimmons

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:

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)
Bernard Brémont 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
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 1^st 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 1^st place votes and tied for most 3^rd 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 3^rd 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 (2^nd place)
Bottle #6: 2016 Trump Sparkling Reserve (Overall Winner)
Bottle #8: NV Bernard Brémont Grand Cru ‘Cuvee Prestige’ Champagne (3^rd 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 2^nd 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 1^st 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?

Reaching for the Sky: Virginia’s High Altitude Vineyards

Posted on September 23, 2023 by Matt Fitzsimmons

Standing on the deck of her tasting room, Ankida Ridge Farm & Vineyards owner Christine Vrooman gestured at the scenery before her. “We have a little valley here and a little valley there, and cold air moves down them to the bottom of the mountain. We’ve never been touched by spring frost, and our disease pressure is low since we never get morning dew. I could have called it Utopia Ridge.”

The benefits Christine described are the main reasons winemakers around the world prize mountaintop sites. While farming high, steep slopes is difficult, the grapes’ access to cool temperatures and direct sunlight gives them the ability to produce complex, high-quality wine.

Ankida is one of Virginia’s first high mountain vineyards, but it’s not alone. While there’s no specific definition of what constitutes ‘high altitude’, a handful of Virginia wineries including 12 Ridges Vineyard (highest elevation 3,300 feet), Rock Roadhouse (3,000 feet), Ankida Ridge (1,800 feet), Fox Meadow (1,800 feet), Stone Mountain (1,750 feet) and Hazy Mountain’s Little North Mountain Vineyard in Swoope (1,700 feet) easily qualify for this prestigious club.

The Advantages (and Tradeoffs) of High Altitude

Christine’s description of how frosty air bypasses her vineyard isn’t an exaggeration. The phenomenon that allows mountaintop vineyards to avoid frost is called a ‘thermal belt,’ and is one of the most important advantages of growing at higher altitudes.

Cold air is dense, and like water, flows to the lowest point available. The influx of cold air displaces lighter warm air, which rises. This results in a narrow zone where the temperature is warmer than the air above and below it.

As Ankida is 1,000 feet higher than the bottom of the valley the morning cold air passes through the vineyard, but like an unwanted guest is shown the way out. This lets the vines stay within a consistent temperature range, one that is conducive for growing grapes.

“Mornings start off warmer than the town below, but in the afternoon, the vineyard is typically 5-15 degrees cooler than the surrounding lower regions. Even in a hot summer, the temperature almost never hits 90 degrees,” Christine explained.

Higher altitude vineyards have several other advantages. Grapes grown in such locations are subjected to stronger UV rays, resulting in thicker skins that provide more intense color and bolder tannins.

Strong winds also mean mountaintop vineyards have less disease pressure, as good airflow keeps the canopy free from moisture.

But as with nearly everything, there’s a tradeoff.

As the second highest elevation vineyard on the East Coast, 12 Ridges is an especially cool climate site. During a tour of their vineyard adjacent to the Blue Ridge Parkway, winegrower Josh Seaman discussed how bud break doesn’t even start until late April. While this puts them past much of the ‘danger zone’ of a spring frost, being 3-4 weeks behind the rest of the state elevates their risk to hurricane season.

Cool weather sites must also juggle the tradeoff between ripeness and acidity. Heat ripens grapes on the vine but simultaneously causes their acidity to drop. This means 12 Ridges’ fruit struggles to ripen even into September. Windy conditions also make fruit set more difficult.

Virginia Wines That Showcase High Altitude Terroir

The cool yet consistent temperature range found at higher altitudes also allows for different options in the vineyard. It’s not a coincidence several of these wineries are the state’s biggest producers of pinot noir, a wine so notoriously difficult its nickname is “the heartbreak grape.”

“One of the things that drew me to pinot is it has a shorter growing season, so it’s ideal for up here in the mountains,” said Stone Mountain owner Deanne Gephart. “Now that we have pinot we finish earlier. No matter the bear pressure or what crazy weather happens, our grapes are off the vine.”

While ripening fruit in cooler temperatures can be challenging, the opportunity to create wines with high acidity is too good of an opportunity for most winemakers to pass up. Acidity makes wines crisp, food friendly, and ageable, and is increasingly difficult to attain in an era of global warming.

Acidity is also one of the key components for sparkling wine. Not coincidentally, many high altitude wineries focus on chardonnay and pinot noir, Champagne’s most famous grapes. Ankida already makes both a Blanc de Blancs and Blanc de Noirs, and 12 Ridges plans on making sparkling wine in the future.

Virginia has a long roster of high altitude wines, so no one list can do it justice. Nevertheless, here are a few favorites:

12 Ridges 2021 Chardonnay: With high acidity and surprising weight, this wine has light apple notes reminiscent of a golden delicious. Its crispness and minerality makes it more Chablis than Burgundy in style. This is possibly the best chardonnay I’ve had all year.

Ankida Ridge 2022 “Verday”: How does one pick a favorite at Ankida? You don’t; but this wine earns points for being the most ‘fun’ wine of their lineup. Their “Verday” is a light, refreshing, pinot-based wine with the same zestiest of a Vinho Verde.

Fox Meadow 2022 Pinot Grigio: Comparing this to the stellar 2021 Pinot Grigo (best in class at the Atlantic Seaboard Wine Association Competition) is a tough challenge, but this vintage may prove its equal. Notes of honeydew and grapefruit makes this an easy-drinking sipper.

Hazy Mountain 2019 Pinot Noir: A great example of a grape rarely seen in Virginia. Aged with French oak (30% new), this pinot is more reminiscent of Old World pinots than those found on the West Coast. Bright fruit (especially cherry), with a firm tannin structure.

Stone Mountain 2020 Stainless Steel Chardonnay: While I’ll have to wait for Stone Mountain’s pinot (2023 is their first harvest!) this crisp, balanced chardonnay with notes of citrus will tide me over.

Curio Wine Bar (Rogers Ford)

Posted on September 4, 2023 by Matt Fitzsimmons

I typically only review wineries…but I’ll make an exception here, because this is very much a stop for Virginia wine lovers.

First of all, Curio is operated by Rogers Ford Farm Winery, which was actually my very first wine club and still a favorite to visit. Not coincidentally, Rogers Ford was also the first winery to introduce me to one of my all-time favorite grapes, petit verdot.

Second, you can find a lot of Virginia wine here, and not just from Rogers Ford. Of course they sell Rogers Ford here, but when I visited they had Old House on tap, and owner Johnny Puckett is interested in adding more.

Curio is located in downtown Fredericksburg. I’ve often visited this town to tour the local history sites, but this was the first time I’ve visited the town for wine (although I may have to visit for mead as well, since I noticed Haley’s Honey Meadery is up the street).

Johnny recently retired from his full-time job as an IT guy, although the words ‘retirement’ and ‘winery owner’ rarely go together. So it wasn’t a coincidence that Curio opened only a few weeks later.

Curio is a wine bar, but it’s also something of a satellite tasting room for Rogers Ford wine. Club members can find all their wines here (and still receive their club discounts). But it’s not *just* Rogers Ford; you will find a wide assortment of wines from across the world.

One thing that makes this place different from a traditional ‘wine bar’ is they use WineStations to pour your wine. The way the system operates is you buy a debit card that you charge up, then insert the card in the machine. You then select the size of your pour (1 ounce, 3 ounces, 6 ounces) from the wine you want. The machine debits your card the appropriate amount, and automatically pours your wine.

If I had one complaint…is this system makes it almost *too* easy to sample a lot. You’d think 1 ounce isn’t a lot. But when are curious and have a dozen samples to choose from, it goes fast!

I visited the second weekend after their grand opening and Johnny was there serving flatbreads and chatting up new visitors. He explained that ‘Curio’ was selected because he wanted guests to be curious about both wine and people. You can sample a wide assortment of wines, but he was also intent that you chat-up your neighbors.

I charged my card with $30, and between a guests and I we sampled a wide assortment of wine. Being a fan of Rogers Ford I started with his orange wine, but as soon as that was gone I moved to his petit verdot then a few other international wines.

For this visit I went through samples of Johnny’s orange wine, PV, and cab franc, plus several other wines. Make sure to visit the patio outside.

Apologies if the photos have bad lighting; I was more worried about eating the flatbreads than photography.

Meet the Chefs Elevating Food in Virginia Wine Country

Posted on September 4, 2023 by Matt Fitzsimmons

Click here for my latest article for the Old Town Crier – Meet the Chefs Elevating Food in Virginia Wine Country.

It’s easy to find light fare at a Virginia winery. It’s far more difficult to find places that elevate the food to be on par with the wine. Victoria Cosner, Executive Chef of Pippin Hill Farm & Vineyard’s Executive Chef said it best – “If they don’t have food, it’s hard for me to justify going there on my one day off. I want to expect good food.”

Be sure to check out one of the dishes from Jeff Judge of EagleTree Farm & Vineyard, Victoria Cosner of Pippin Hill Farm, and Tim Moore of Early Mountain Vineyards.

12 Ridges Vineyard

Posted on August 28, 2023 by Matt Fitzsimmons

Any visitor to 12 Ridges Vineyard is guaranteed to be blown away by the mountain views and wine that demonstrate a ‘sense of place’. Located on an old Christmas tree farm, it has the vibe of a get-away retreat.

The tasting room adroitly maximizes their huge deck so guests can take in their surroundings. You can even hang out on the swing set at the top of the hill, overlooking the vineyard and Blue Ridge Mountains.

I’ll get to the wine in a moment, but before talking about that it’s important to explain *why* wine grown here is so special.

In telling the story of ‘how I started my winery’, owner Craig Colberg said when he bought the property in 2010, he didn’t have a specific long-term plan. Fortunately, Craig’s friends gave him the idea of planting a vineyard precisely to take advantage of its unique potential.

That’s because this place is all about location location location. Vineyard consultant Jake Busching planted the vineyard in 2018 fully knowing its terroir had the potential to make fantastic white wines, especially suitable to make sparkling.

12 Ridges opened in 2019, initially selling wine from other high-mountain sites while their vines matured. Their 20 acres are roughly equally divided between chardonnay, pinot gris, pinot noir, and riesling, with the first vintage coming out in 2022.

What You Need To Know About High Elevation Wine

Situated off northern end of the Blue Ridge Parkway, at 3,300 feet it’s the highest elevation vineyard in Virginia (and 2^nd highest in all the east coast). It also has rocky, well drained soils, important for producing high-quality grapes.

But 12 Ridge’s greatest advantage comes down to one word: acidity. Grapes grown at cooler sites retain higher levels of acid, making them crisp, food friendly and ageable. Acid is also one of the key components for sparkling wine. Not coincidentally, they planted slightly heavier on the chardonnay and pinot noir, as these are Champagne’s most famous grapes.

Higher elevation sites are by default cooler, an important advantage as global warming takes hold. That said, sites with high relative elevation (higher than the surrounding area) have a special additional advantage, referred to as a ‘thermal belt’.

Cold air is heavy and drops to lower elevations. As the cold comes in, it displaces lighter warm air which create a zone of warmer temperature above it.

It’s not uncommon for mornings at 12 Ridges to be a full 10 degrees warmer than the valley below, helping guard the vines from morning frost. Craig explained the diurnal temperature shift could take them from the upper 50s in the morning to highs in the 70s in the daytime.

High elevation sites have other advantages. Grapes grown in such locations are subjected to stronger UV rays, resulting in thicker skins that provide more intense color and bolder tannins. Stronger winds also reduce disease pressure, as good airflow removes moisture from the vines.

But as with nearly everything, there’s a tradeoff.

Winegrower Josh Seaman explained how 12 Ridges doesn’t have bud break until late April. While this puts them past much of the ‘danger zone’ of a spring frost, being 3-4 weeks behind the rest of the state elevates their risk to hurricane season.

Cool weather sites also must juggle the tradeoff between ripeness and acidity. Heat ripens grapes on the vine, but also causes their acidity to drop. The cool weather means 12 Ridge’s fruit struggles to ripen even into September. Windy conditions also make fruit set more difficult.

A Taste of Terroir

As of late 2023, 12 Ridges has only produced two vintages. Fortunately, Craig was very generous and let us try what he had.

While production should ramp up in the future, this is unlikely to ever be a high-producing site. The vineyard typically only produces 1 ton of fruit per acre, which is a lower yield than they’d prefer. Sadly, quantity is often the enemy of quality.

We also talked about their plans for a sparkling program. With acidity like this, the grapes here almost cry out to be made into sparkling wine. Their first release using chardonnay and pinot gris will come out in 2025, so I’ll have to be patient until then.

While the prospect of high-acid whites is enticing, I was just as excited at the prospect of more pinot noir. While there almost 50 acres planted in Virginia, I’d argue less than half of that is planted in cooler sites where it can reach its full potential. This is one of them.

I was also happy to learn their wine is made at newly-formed Common Wealth Crush, with Ben and Tim Jordan as their winemakers. Their low-intervention philosophy is a great fit for 12 Ridges, and Common Wealth Crush (which I visited later that day) has a great setup for both sparkling and still wine.

Over an extended tasting Craig and Josh discussed the lineup, and we found a lot to love. That said, if I *had* to pick a favorite, it would be the chardonnay.

This chardonnay was, not to exaggerate, my favorite Virginia chardonnay of the past year; and I’ve had a LOT of great chardonnay. To say I held back a tear when I learned there was none for purchase would be only a slight exaggeration.

What we tried:

2021 Chardonnay; fresh, high acidity. It also had surprising weight, with light apple notes which reminded me of a golden delicious. More Chablis than Burgundy in style, which in itself is very different from what you find elsewhere in Virginia.
2021 Riesling: Bright, green apple. Mostly dry with a sweet note at the end. Well balanced.
2021 Pinot Gris: Made in an orange wine style, which means they used white wine but didn’t remove the skin during fermentation. Tangy, weighty, and overall really nice and interesting.
2021 Pinot Noir: A bit heavier than a west coast pinot, but that’s not a negative; we all enjoyed it. Made using native yeast and a bit of whole cluster fermentation.

For those who are curious, here is a brief list of Virginia’s high-elevation vineyards.

12 Ridges Vineyard: 3,300 feet
Rock Roadhouse Winery: 3,000 feet
Ankida Ridge Farm & Vineyard: 1,800 feet
Fox Meadow Winery: 1,750 feet
Stone Mountain Vineyards: 1,700 feet

This list could be even longer if I included vineyards in the Upper Shenandoah Valley / Roanoke / Wytheville areas. I omitted these locations because while they have raw elevation, the lack of ‘relative’ elevation (meaning the vineyards are closer to the valley floor) means those vineyards lack the ‘thermal belt’ and airflow needed to excel in the same way vineyard like 12 Ridges or Ankida can.

Ankida Ridge Farm & Vineyard

Posted on August 26, 2023 by Matt Fitzsimmons

It’s tough to find a Virginia wine lover who’s unfamiliar with Ankida Ridge. While Ankida is one of the state’s more remote vineyards, being one of Virginia’s very few pinot noir growers make them one of the more famous.

Ankida is only 75 minutes from downtown Charlottesville, but the last leg of the journey is all uphill. You know things will get interesting when you pass signs that say “end of state maintenance” and your signal gets weak, but at least the views are beautiful.

I’d been trying to meet up with owners Christine and Dennis Vrooman for a long time but always seemed to miss them. But this time I was in luck; Christine was happy to host a small group, and it was easy to find ‘volunteers’ to come with me.

With an elevation that tops out at 1,800 feet, Ankida is one of Virginia’s higher-elevation vineyards. While one wouldn’t blame the Vroomans for choosing the location for the view alone (which is technically true – the land was originally going to be a weekend getaway), its elevation actually serves a more practical purpose.

Standing on the deck of her tasting room overlooking the valley, Christine gestured at the scenery before us. “We have a little valley here and a little valley there, and cold air moves down them to the bottom of the mountain. We’ve never been touched by spring frost, and our disease pressure is low since we never get morning dew. I could have called it Utopia Ridge.”

The phenomenon Christine was referring to is called a ‘thermal belt’, and its why winegrowers prize mountaintop sites. Cold air is dense, and like water flows to the lowest point available. This in turn displaces lighter warm air which rises above it. This results in a narrow zone where the temperature is warmer than what is above and below it.

As Ankida is 1,000 feet higher than the bottom of the valley, the morning cold air passes through the vineyard but like an unwanted guest is shown the way out. This lets the vines stay within a consistent temperature range, one that is conducive for growing grapes. Christine explained their mornings start off warmer than the town below, but in the afternoon, the vineyard is typically 5-15 degrees cooler than the surrounding lower regions. Even in the hot 2023 summer the temperature never hit 90 degrees.

This climate (plus the ancient granite the vines are planted on) makes it a great place for pinot, gamay, and chardonnay; 6 acres in total. The first two grapes are nearly unheard of in Virginia, while the later retains a degree of acidity that’s rarely found.

This unique microclimate is the inspiration for an initiative that Ankida and nearby 12 Ridges Vineyard are working on; a new American Viticultural Area (AVA) dedicated to high-elevation vineyards.

Details are scarce since it’s mostly conceptual, but the idea is to have a non-contiguous AVA which only includes vineyards situated above a certain elevation. 1,000 feet has been bandied around as the measuring stick to join the club, but fine details such as the vineyard’s elevation in relation to its surrounding area are just as important as the site’s true elevation above sea level.

Fortunately for my group, Christine didn’t let my geeky wine questions stop her from pouring. Out came several cheese plates and a number of bottles, starting with their newest wine, the Blanc de Noir champenoise-style sparkling.

As much as I missed their Blanc de Blanc, this Blanc de Noir was equally good. Even in a lineup full of stars, it was special.

Next up were a pair of pinot-based wines; Ankida’s rosé and “Verday”, plus a chardonnay.

The rosé was nice, but I’ve had lots of great rosés and it was almost unfair to it put it next to a wine that truly surprised me; the Verday. Named after the light, refreshing wine that Portugal is known for, Verday had the same zestiest as any Vino Verde I’ve had.

Next up was their chardonnay. While the pinot noir gets the majority of the press, I think their bright & creamy 2021 Chardonnay should get equal billing. Not sure if I should give credit to the terroir or winemaker Nathan Vrooman, but dang I liked that one.

Then came a pair of pinot noirs; 2017 Reserve and 2019. The former was a special treat and made me kick myself for not ordering it while I could (granted it was $85…but still). 2021 wasn’t quite as complex but was still very quaffable. I was excited to learn that a 2021 Reserve was also in the works.

We ended the day sitting at the top of the vineyard finishing off the open bottles and admiring the view before heading home – but not before we were treated with a ride through the vineyard.