One of my distributors want to start stocking some wines from Virginia and asked me to do some research for him. I quick looks shows a lot of interesting wines being made there, but like Long Island, I didn’t see many wines under $30 let alone $20. Any advice and suggestions would be appreciated.
I would use the search function. There are a few threads out there on VA wines in the last few years. I worked in Richmond pre-Covid and sampled a fair amount. They tend to be expensive and not very good qprs.
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I will do that, thanks.
As someone who lives near Charlottesville among a number of wineries, I can say that although some wines are good they are almost all overpriced as compared to France and even California. The reds tend to be unripe and many whites are non-descript and generic tasting.
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I’ve had a few wines from Horton and enjoyed them, especially their viognier. I think Barboursville and has been mentioned on the board a few times - may want to check.
There is a competition called the Virginia Governor’s Cup and here are the 2021 winners (have no idea how the wines are judged etc but figured it’s a good place to start):
Cheers
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Under $30. Thibaut-Janisson Blanc de Chardonnay. Our Wines - Thibaut-Janisson Winery
I haven’t had this in a few years now. Hopefully, it’s still the same quality as before.
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They also make a pretty good sparkling wine.
Seeing that you are in Vermont, I think it’s more of a question of figuring out the short list of wineries that have the volume/ interest to distribute there. Barboursville, Prince Michelle, and Trump would probably be the three most likely, and are definitely the most likely to make them available for anywhere close to their retails here in VA. Most wineries smaller than that are not readily distributed even within the state, and after the incredibly tough 2020 vintage most of them are even more reticent to send much away from the winery.
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They make nothing but sparkling wines.
I didn’t know that. It was a gift.
2nd for Barboursville, easily our favorite winery nearby.
Linden makes a great chard.
But yeah, a lot of nondescript but not bad viogniers and weirdly unbalanced reds. Have to look hard for the diamonds here.
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I’ve been to Barboursville, and the wines are ok. I think their prices reflect that it tends to be sold locally, and to visitors, and the wines can not objectively compete with Loire CF or Bdx cab franc blends on a dollar for dollar basis.
I would love to read a really insightful article about the economics of this but I think the poor QPR is more a result of the demand and rather than cost/supply. Having lived in this area for 20 years, my impression is that the VA wineries are able to sell virtually all of their wine to people day and weekend tripping via tasting rooms. Sales in this market generate, I think, a higher price than if they were competing in the retail market. (And good for them - far be it from me to object to someone working hard and making money!). Because such a high percentage of the sales are through this channel, it results in higher prices at retail. So that, if my impressions are correct (and Are R above mentioned this too), that helps explain the price.
As far as the quality goes, VA is a fairly humid environment and my understanding is that it is rather hard to grow wine grapes, especially at a volume (even at the volume of medium size Napa or Sonoma estates), is very tough. Just harder (and, to be fair, I think more labor intensive) to grow high quality grapes. As a result, I feel like pretty much 95% of the VA wine is about 40-50% higher than an equally good wine from France, Italy, etc.
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My thoughts exactly. Especially on the day trippers.
I’m not sure about now but ten years ago before the Fauquier County Board of Supervisors passed a winery zoning ordinance that curtailed the number of events wineries may hold on their properties, many of the winery owners stated that such an ordinance would put them out of business and that they needed the revenue from weddings and events to survive. That’s not an argument one makes when selling out their inventory every year. Unless of course, total production isn’t an economic quantity, in which case the business plan was never to be a viable winery. I didn’t follow the aftermath so unsure if it was all talk or if many really did go under or were sold.
Edited to add: I have gone through two workshops that addressed the financial aspect of starting a winery in the mid-Atlantic region. In rough terms, if one has a vineyard and winery it takes 15 years to recoup all the startup costs and truly start making money. Obviously, this differs depending upon a lot of variables.
Turn the wineries into kid filled subdivisions, that’ll solve the traffic situation and fill up the schools.
Taste through the selections at Linden, Glen Manor, Veritas, King Family Vineyards, and Barboursville and see what works for quality versus cost. Assuming that the distributor works towards a wholesale price there are probably more wines in play that there would be for retail customers.
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RdV hasn’t been mentioned yet and we’ve found some of their wines palatable, albeit overpriced.
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This is a breathtaking thread for me. Perhaps the most important opinion I can have (after 40 years of VA wineries and well over 100 different ones) is noting a visit to King Family west of Charlottesville several years ago The winery is in the foothills of the Blueridge mountains and like many of the now 325+ VA wineries, a truly beautiful setting. There were twenty tables adjacent to a polo field with the mountains just beyond.
Nineteen of the twenty tables had a bottle of $18 rose. I walked around all of them, almost broken hearted that virtually nobody wanted to try a good VA wine.
They wanted the experience which is extraordinarily beautiful. As cheap as they could get it.
Most people on this thread have no idea of what a good VA wine might taste like.
Glen Manor petit Verdot (two barrels a year in a handful of years-best pv in America)
Veritas Petit Verdot (both of these are among America’s best)
Linden (Jim Law is the father of the VA wine industry)
His Hardscrabble red 2007, 2010 are excellent-his reds need age but after ten years are defining.
Barboursville Octagon 2001, 2009 (single best VA red wine ever made)(I am not a fan of $135 RDV)
Linden Hardscrabble Chardonnay (93, 94 points WA)
Glen Manor and Delaplane petite manseng
Breaux 2007 Nebbiolo (only that year)
Delaplane Williams Gap 2017
Glen Manor Cabernet franc
Pearmond Petit Verdot Reserve 2016
VA also makes excellent tannat.
2010 and 2017 vintages were extraordinary.
Veritas has a very good port like wine called Othello.
Jim Law should have received a Beard award years ago.
Today Linden and Glen Manor define the VA wine industry.
Barboursville, once their equal, now has machines that dispense wine in the tasting room. They discredit their superb winemaker. A visit two weeks ago brought tears to my eyes at how far Barboursville had fallen.
Nearby, Early Mountain now takes it’s place for setting as Veritas, King Family, Afton Mountain and Keswick also do in the greater Charlottesville area.
For many VA wineries (again, among the most beautiful on earth) it is about the day trip and the visit. For several as noted above there are varietals that are also
worth the pilgrimage.
Rose is not one.
Nor are the machines at Barboursville.
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Seems like we’ve been waiting a decade for a post like this on VA wine.
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