I'm just gonna leave this here...

http://trumpwinery.orderport.net/product-details/0168/CRU--Fortified-Chardonnay

I have never had one. Are they any good?

Fortified Chardonnay?

Supposedly they’re OK. Although I never had one either.

Are they good? Look —> Bronze, 2005 San Francisco International Wine Competition!

18% ABV, baby!

‘Fortified’ chardonnay…hints of border wall and defense contracts on the nose. Making chardonnay great, again.

Sounds like Macvin from Jura, although to be fair, Macvin is made from the final pressing of the must and fortified by distilling what is left after that, so it is pretty much a way to monetize leftovers. Those I have had taste OK as a sort of dessert wine, I have one open in my fridge right now for guests who do not really like wine. At least Trump’s is competitively priced…

There are quite a few fortified Chardonnays from Australia. I remember Burge Wilsford made some nice wines. Don’t remember if I had a fortified Chardonnay though.

It’s basically angelica.

More parallel to Floc de Gascogne or Pommeau du Normandie (done with apples). Was an original product from when it was Kluge owned. Know several people that have worked at the tasting room, and it has always been one of the most heavily consumed wines by the bottle with people on the grounds despite the abv.

I tried it. Not sure how to phrase this properly. I guess the best I can do is It’s nothing I want to drink but there is a lot worse in Virginia and this winery.

There are much better wines in Virginia than these. I found them rather strange much like I do the namesake. Delaplane, Linden and RDV all much better.

I’ll have to look for those. When I visit my daughter at W&M, local restaurants have VA wines but I have no clue so I never buy.

About 10 years ago, Pat Kluge invited my girlfriend and I to spend Thanksgiving weekend at Albemarle with she and her husband. She was especially proud of this wine and use of bourbon barrels. As a dessert wine, I have tasted worse. It kind of fit with the $800000 entry table owned by Napoleon and the papier mache sculpture gallery. I completely forgot about it after seeing the 400 bottles of Yquem 750mL in the closet off the laundry room.

OMG what if that closet wasn’t kept at 55 degrees at all times. The horror.

That wasn’t a serious comment in case you were wondering.

Cru…isn’t there another winery in California that has a line of wines under that designation?

Other additional names to look for
Glen Manor
Barboursville
King Family
Veritas
Thibaut-Janisson
Pollack

Virginia wineries come up a few times a year, so search should pull up a few threads that may have more detail or other suggestions.

If only going to get one wine, Linden Chardonnay - either Hardscrabble or Avenius.

Except for the cost, I cannot imagine a better wine for priming my kidneys.

BARF

There was a complete lack of fruit flies if that helps.

How about lice? (Parasite, not starch food staple.)