Why do you say never? What is/are the reason(s) that this could never happen? Obviously if one considers the entire Virginia wine industry its no where close currently. But if I consider only the top wines today and the progress that has been made in just the past 20 years I don’t see why, that at some point in the future it may not be able to compete.
Our environment is way too inconsistent. This year alone we had places that could see a hard freeze, frost damage, 95+ degree days with 90% humidity, daily rain showers to prevent mold spraying. And even if there were a season where none of that happened, a tropical storm system could come through and wipe all that out in late August. The extremes are just too much. There’s too much risk to ever have enough acreage to create a bulk market that would be necessary to drive prices down. In the two previous vintages there was such a shortage due to crop loss several wineries had to take wines completely out of retail so they could have enough to sell through the winery the whole season.
Thank you for summarizing my comments above with “a little homerism.” I stand by what I wrote and only ask that the effort is made to locate the wines I mentioned. Perhaps the real problem is that the VA Wine Board (or whatever its name is) has not done an adequate job in growing the image of VA wine nationally.
In the early '90’s similar comments were made about WA state wine with the perception that much of it tasted like plonk. The WS had a cover feature about Leonetti merlot ("Who makes America’s best merlot?) and its credibility exploded. We visited Walla Walla for the first time soon after that article came out having been on their mailing list since '91 ('94 merlot was featured by the WS). There were, perhaps, six or seven wineries in and around Walla Walla. Today, I believe there are more than 135. Among the finest syrah I have ever tasted is from there. Those reading this won’t blink an eye today-but in the early '90’s I would have been laughed at if I had said that.
VA is much like WA in the early '90’s. Find Glen Manor’s '09 and '10 PV and measure it against any you can find elsewhere. There are a half dozen Meritage (noted above) and the ascending Nebbiolo from several winemakers. Jim Law’s Boisseau. If I’m still around 20 years from now and if the VA Wine Board learns how to promote the state’s best wine I expect there will be a national acceptance that some of this state’s wine is excellent in and of itself. Not just because a neophyte on a message board was a “homer.”
“Ascending Nebbiolo” is an interesting term.
I am not a fan of Breaux although their '07 Nebbiolo (mentioned above and only available at the winery) is superb. Barboursville’s Nebbiolo Reserve is several steps below but interestingly blended with '10 Octagon. It was put up for sale at their winery last Fall with a one bottle limit. Jeff White at Glen Manor is seriously considering growing the grape (if he has not started already) and several others are curious to see how it may do in VA.
At Jaffurs in Santa Barbara last fall I had a discussion with, I believe, an owner or sr manager who expressed real surprise at my comment about VA PV. There, as most other places, PV is thought of as fruit to blend, not to stand on its own. However, at a number of wineries in VA, it does particularly well and stands on its own. (Glen Manor, Veritas, Chateau O’Brien-‘10 and before, King Family, Cooper, Michael Shaps and Linden among others) There is emerging interest in how Nebbiolo will do and, I believe, we will see more of it. Given Breaux’ success (they aged it for 5 years in Oak) it is a wine that may help spread Virginia’s reputation along with petit verdot.
For those reading this Jeff White sells out of his petit verdot in two or three weeks when it goes on sale-there was only, I believe, four or so barrels of it for '12. The '13 that will be released this Fall is an extraordinary wine, worth the effort to secure some of it.
Mold, mildew, and Pierce’s Disease for starters?
60 bucks for a difficult-to-obtain Nebbiolo is a pretty tough sell when there are so many affordable Italian versions in nearly every wine shop. I also think comparing VA to the budding industry in WA all those years ago is unrealistic because of the serious differences in climate, and the inherent VA inconsistencies. I also think VA is not going to become the next “thing” if wineries are hanging their hats on Nebbiolo, Cab Frank and Petit Verdot.
I’ve been hearing that VA will be the next thing for quite a few years. I would love to see it happen but think it is extremely unlikely, for many of the above mentioned reasons.
Acidity will always be the problem. That is why Claude is experimenting with blending in some New York state Chardonnay.
All the marketing, hype and magazine articles doesn’t change what is in the bottles. And that is mostly overpriced sometimes pretty good wine. Virginia needs to stay in the shallow end of the pool.
Mold and mildew are largely manageable. It takes a combination of site, trellising, spray, and variety but it doesn’t have to an issue. Last I checked, Pierce’s disease was only affecting a small section of the southern part of the state. Maybe it has vectored farther north by now but I really don’t hear anyone talking about it as a problem which is surprising considering the fear that surrounded it years ago.
Challenges exist in most regions. This is my ninth year growing in Maryland and we share most of what you listed but I don’t think that any one of them alone is a reason to say that we could never improve. Maybe as you point out, its the combination of all of them. I do agree that there is a world of difference between 2007 and 20111 and learning how to make the best of both is still a challenge that may be too great for many today. Yet with better sites, root stock, trellising and varieties that suit the climate, it should be possible. How much better I don’t know but I am still trying to understand why people think it can never happen. I don’t see a single thing that makes it impossible but I see a lot of things that require more understanding to best fit this environment.
Just wanted to thank everyone who are posting on the current VA wine scene. I’m completely ignorant of what’s been going on so I’m finding it very interesting.
I do not get to taste the wines as often as I would like, but Linden, Barboursville and King Family have all produced multiple very impressive wines. I have inserted Petit Meunier and Horton (the latter from Norton) into blind tastings with impressive results. The Chardonnays from Linden stand up very well.
No they are not the most competitively priced, but they are worth exploring at least a little. That’s certainly better than just running down the industry to score a few cheap internet points.
FIFY
To be clear, I think there can be some very good wines made in Virginia. But the amount of leg work taken to get them to that point results in measuring that success in the tens of dozens of barrels per vintage. Statewide. Breaux may have had one vintage where their Nebbiolo turned out very good, but that may be an exception rather than a rule. Several wineries have had a few vintages of good to very good Cabernet Sauvignon, but in the long run I know of many winemakers that don’t want to touch the variety ever.
Completely agree Gary. A better quality wine can easily be found at $20 and above from France, Italy, CA, OR or WA and it doesn’t require the effort it takes to find a pretty decent VA wine produced in minuscule quantities.
I agree in the $15-25 range and then we can talk about $30 wines with 20-30% off from, say, competitive NJ stores who will not charge shipping. Or even Costco. I have also put together a local group of friends and neighbors and bought 7-8 cases at a time from several wineries in Walla Walla who will give 30% off with larger orders and are not widely known in the D. C. area.
But…
With a case discount and/or futures there is very real value for some wines in the $30-40 range for VA. Delaplane, Linden, Glen Manor and others with several years on them really improve, perhaps dramatically so. I mentioned '09 Linden Hardscrabble red above. I opened this a week or so ago, decanted for an hour and shared with a friend. It was a bargain for what we tasted.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/magazine/vineyards-that-are-putting-virginia-on-the-fine-wine-map/2013/11/21/347a6ffa-3dbf-11e3-b6a9-da62c264f40e_story.html is from the Sunday Magazine of the Washington Post about a year and a half ago. Following is an excerpt:
"As I write this, I am sipping 2010 Hodder Hill, a Bordeaux blend from Glen Manor, which sits on the west side of the Blue Ridge. The vines are grown on impossibly steep slopes at altitudes above 1,000 feet, using viticultural advances unknown just a few years ago and hand-pruned with the care of bonsai artists. It’s mostly cabernet sauvignon — a finicky grape hard to ripen in Virginia — softened by merlot and given rich color by petit verdot, a favorite grape here because it resists fungus and rot. The result is a flawless, silky wine with flavors of black cherry and currants that won a gold medal in the 2013 Virginia Governor’s Cup; the 2009 Hodder Hill won the 2012 Governor’s Cup overall.
At $48 a bottle, it’s a steal — if you can find it. White produced only 350 cases of the stuff."
With two years now the 2010 Hodder Hill is an even greater “steal.” It is drinking beautifully. For all the world, as the Linden Hardscrabble Red and Delaplane’s Williams Gap (and Leftbank Reserve) these are $75 wines. No, VA doesn’t have the image to command this much yet.
But…
http://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/food/is-a-wine-that-costs-four-digits-worth-it-only-one-way-to-find-out/2015/03/21/52900972-cdbb-11e4-a2a7-9517a3a70506_story.html is Dave MacIntyre, the Washington Post’s wine critic, having the nerve and passion to taste a bottle of '09 RDV Lost Mountain side by side with Screaming Eagle.
"The Virginia wine also was delicious, but tasted side by side with the Screaming Eagle it seemed clumsy and shy at first, a country bumpkin at a society ball. Still, its fruit and structure kept drawing us back. It was quiet, yet we sensed it had something to say…
Our dinners were done, but the wines were not. As we swirled and savored the last of the two reds, the Screaming Eagle was, well, what it was. It hadn’t changed, and it was even getting a bit boring. The RdV, in contrast, had exchanged its initial reticence for oratory. The upstart Virginia wine was now singing, its voice resplendent in our glasses. And we could buy a case and a half for the price of a single bottle of the Screaming Eagle."
The RDV held its own. $95 Virginia wine.
Thanks for the insight Joe Heflin. I plan on heading to a local wineshop on Friday to check out some of the wines you have mentioned. It’s been a few years since my last VA wine and I appreciate the information
About a year ago I purchased a bottle each of the RdV Rendezvous and Lost Mountain. Ran them up against a 2005 Cht. Belle-Graves. The result wasn’t pretty. The Rendezvous really wasn’t worth drinking at all. The Lost Mountain was at least interesting. And totally shredded by the Bordeaux, at about 60% less $$$. Not pretty at all. Hell, I don’t even like Bordeaux.
Joe,
Why don’t we organize a single blind tasting? I have followed VA wineries for the past twenty some years but yet found a red I like.
Regarding Dave McIntyre, I often wonder how he got the job. He, like several of other very well known wine writers, have absolutely no clue, basically learn on the job.
I always read and enjoy Dave McIntire. You just have to keep in mind that he’s writing for the general audience. But he doesn’t strike me as a know-nothing.
I am compelled to point out, though, that the first quote is from Dana Milbank, the political columnist for the Post. And hey, maybe he knows his wine.
I too would like to try some of the aforementioned luxe virginia wines. Octagon is probably the classiest that has touched my lips. In my recall, it’s always been a good wine that I was happy to try and uninterested in paying the $ for.
This is the issue, VA wines are simply overpriced. However, based on what vineyard property cost, wineries don’t really have much choice but to charge the inflated prices in order to recoup their investment. If they can sellout their wines at inflated prices more power to them. I simply prefer to spend my hard earned money where I perceive the value to be.