Not so long ago, the best wine was European, and good American wine was Californian. Period. Virginia oenophiles knew that Thomas Jefferson had tried and failed to make a drinkable beverage from Old World vines on Virginia soil, and if the Renaissance man of Monticello couldn’t do it, it obviously couldn’t be done. End of story.
Or maybe not. At Monticello, as a matter of fact, grounds and gardens director Gabriel Rausse is now making wine from the same grape varietals Jefferson tried back in 1807. Today there are a whopping 255 wineries in the commonwealth – more than double the number from just eight years ago. Virginia wine has been served at the White House, and is on the menu for an upcoming dinner at the U.S. embassy in London. If only TJ’s vintner, Phillip Mazzei, could see us now, when wine lovers are actually moving here to be part of the scene.
“We came here on vacation two summers in a row – 2004-2005,” says Joyce Watson, owner of Wine Made Simple in Charlottesville. “We had heard about Virginia becoming an up-and-coming wine region. I suppose wine has been a hobby all of my life, and so most vacations revolved around wine and visiting different parts of the country.”
Although she enjoyed a successful career in the corporate world, Watson says, “I had always had that little dream in my heart that I wanted to be in the wine business and have my own shop.” In 2011, she made that dream come true, opening Wine Made Simple and becoming a part of an industry she believes is “such an important part of who we are as a culture here in Virginia. It’s part of what I love about the state so much,” she says, “what really drew me here. I think a lot of people find it very exciting.”
Those people include tourists drawn by Virginia’s beauty and history who discover its burgeoning wine scene. “It’s amazing to see what’s happened in a decade,” Watson says. “All the talent and the expertise that we have here has really contributed to Virginia wine being recognized as an area where quality wine is being made nationally and internationally. The fact that it’s become a wedding destination has brought more awareness to the wine industry here too. I think the thing that people really enjoy is just the whole experience of going out to the Virginia wineries. It’s such a relaxing experience. They are very pleased with the wines and the variety.”
The Vigonier grape is very well-loved here,” Watson adds. “People really have come to know it because of how well it grows here, and it’s featured on most wineries’ tasting lists.” In her own store, Watson finds that Virginia wine sales peak in December, as wine lovers in the know buy gift bottles to show off the home state product. She keeps roughly 50 different labels in stock.
“We are coming off of five or six years of dramatic growth in term of sales and in the number of wineries that are producing wine,” says Annette Ringwood Boyd, Director of the Virginia Wine Board Marketing Office. “Virginia is getting critical acclaim for our Cabernet Franc, our Petit Verdot and our Vigonier.”
While Virginia winemakers produce plenty of well known wines like Merlot, Chardonnay and Cabernet Sauvignon, they also bottle blends with intriguing names like Othello and Scintilla (Veritas Vineyards), Festa di Bacco and Albarino (Afton Mountain Vineyards). The industry here is all the more exciting for its youth, and its youthful spirit of innovation. “You see a lot of experimentation,” Boyd notes. “Virginia can be hot and humid in the summer. So we’re looking to wine regions in the Mediterranean; we’re seeing experimentation with grapes from those areas. Italian Vermentino, French Petit Manseng, and Spanish and French Tannat are having a lot of initial success here.”
That success is coming at a particularly fortuitous time, when the “farm to table” locavore movement has sparked an interest in where food is grown, and that interest in turn, as Boyd points out, has sparked an interest in local wine. Not only is “Virginia is really coming along with the caliber of our wines,” she says, but “the two movements are happening at the same time.” Spring is the time to enjoy both together, as the festival and special events season gets underway. To paraphrase one local vintner, Virginia wineries are easy to find and hard to leave. Here is a sampling, “nose” and “finish” not included, of what’s happening soon.
Cardinal Point Winery
Rockfish Gap, the Blue Ridge Parkway, and Skyline Drive, are all clearly visible from Cardinal Point Winery in Nelson County, where winemaker Tim Gorman began tending the vineyard’s fifteen acres in 1986. Right now, Cardinal Point’s red wines include a 2012 Clay Hill Cabernet Franc and a 2012 Union with 72 percent Petit Verdot, 17 percent Cabernet Franc, 11 percent Tannat. White wines include a 2013 Green inspired by the Vinho Verdes of Portugal (made by co-fermenting Chardonnay and Petit Manseng), a 2013 IPC Hopped Chardonnay, a 2012 A6 (a blend of Viognier and Chardonnay), a 2013 Quattro (a blend of Riesling, Gewurtztraminer, Viognier, and Traminette), and a 2013 Chardonnay.
On Friday, May 8, runners will enjoy the Rockfish Red 4 Miler, a Friday night “group run” winding through scenic back roads, beginning and ending at the vineyard. The race will begin at 6:00 p.m., and will be followed by live music on the veranda, and wine samplings in commemorative wine glasses. Food will be available for purchase.
Afton Mountain Vineyards
Elizabeth and Tony Smith grew up in Albemarle County, went to Albemarle High School, and were married at the University of Virginia Chapel. In 2009, after twenty years in Virginia’s Tidewater region, the Smiths headed inland and acquired a vineyard on the sunrise side of Afton Mountain, where the vines are protected from frost, shielded from excessive rain, and dried by breezes flowing through the Rockfish and Humpback gaps. Today the Smiths grow fifteen grape varieties on twenty-four acres.
On Sunday, May 10 Afton Mountain Vineyards will offer serve Mother’s Day mimosas prepared with their dry sparkling Bollicine. Nadjeeb with Flora Artisanal Cheese will host a pop-up cheese shop from noon to 4:00 p.m.
Democracy Vineyards
Established in April in 2009 on land that formerly held apple orchards, Democracy Vineyards in Nelson County still devotes fifteen of its forty-five acres to apples. Six of Democracy’s acres are currently “under vine,” with an acre each devoted to grapes for Chambourcin, Petit Verdot, Merlot, Pinotage, Viognier and Petit Manseng.
“Making wine in Virginia, there is always the need to improvise from year to year, but that’s also a chance for some tinkering and creativity,” says vintner Ben Margulie. “The wines benefit from modern vineyard and winemaking techniques as well as the close attention they can get at smaller production levels. My ultimate goal in the winery is to use the diversity of flavors that our vineyard site gives us to make a variety of wines for our customers’ palates.”
Local musicians play Democracy’s tasting room each Sunday from 2:00 to 5:00 p.m. The May schedule runs as follows: Sunday, May 10 – Sue Harlow; May 17 – The Free Radicals; May 23 – John Tracy; May 24 – Ragtop; May 25 – Marie Anderson.
Veritas Vineyard and Winery
Andrew and Patricia Hodson took the name of their winery, opened in Afton in 2002, from the Roman historian Pliny the Elder’s famous observation that “In Vino Veritas” – “In Wine There Is Truth.” Veritas is a full family affair, operated with the help of the Hodson’s children Emily, George and Chloe. Patricia cultivates the vines. Andrew and Emily, who earned a Masters in Enology at Virginia Tech, make the wine.
Veritas will offer a four-course, wine-paired, Mother’s Day Winemaker’s Brunch on Sunday, May 10, beginning with a glass of bubbly at 12:30. The meal will be served at 1:00 p.m. Tickets are $75 per person, and a vegetarian option is available for the same price. Non-alcoholic meals are $30 for children 10 and over, and $10 for children under 10. Reservations are required.
DuCard Vineyards
Nestled at the eastern edge of the Shenandoah National Park, in the shadow of Old Rag Mountain and White Oak Canyon in Madison County, DuCard Vineyards is a “hobby gone wild” for husband and wife owners, Scott and Karen Elliff. The Elliffs began by selling grapes to a nearby winery, but when those wines started winning awards, they started making their own, at first for friends and neighbors, then for the friends and neighbors of their friends and neighbors. And so on.
They’ve gone public now, and their annual Wineappalooza!, Saturday, May 16 from noon to 7:00 p.m., will feature wine tastings, music by Scuffletown and The Local Vocals, food from the Pig & Steak Restaurant, and crafts for show and sale by numerous vendors. Tickets are $10 in advance and $15 at the door, and come with a DuCard logo wine glass. Pets and families will be welcome.
King Family Vineyards
When David and Ellen King moved to Virginia from Houston, Texas in 1995, a vineyard and a winery weren’t even on their minds. David King had been playing polo since 1980, and what the family was looking for was a farm with twelve acres of relatively flat ground for a polo field where he could continue. Today their property in Crozet contains both Roseland Polo field and King Family Vineyards, where sixteen red, white and sparkling wines are currently available.
On Sunday, May 17, The Barbeque Exchange will serve barbeque at the vineyards from noon to 5:00 p.m. The last tasting will begin at 5:00 p.m. Glass and bottle sales will be available until 6:30 p.m., and the Tasting Room and patios will be open until 7:00 p.m. Tickets are $16 per person and available online.
On Sundays from Memorial Day weekend through mid-October, weather and field conditions permitting, the King family invites Tasting Room guests to join them fieldside to watch polo. Matches are free and begin at 1:00 pm. Visit their website or Facebook Page on Sunday mornings after 9:00 a.m., or call 434-823-7800, to confirm that they will be playing.
Monticello
Thomas Jefferson maintained that “in nothing have the habits of the palate more decisive influence than in our relish of wines,” and The Wine Festival at Monticello, Saturday, June 20 from 6:00 to 9: 00 p.m., offers a chance to taste what Jefferson could only dream of. Besides sampling Virginia wines, festivalgoers can view Monticello’s restored vineyards and wine cellar, meet wine-maker Gabriele Rausse, tour the house, and hear live music on the West Lawn.
Gourmet picnic boxes for two, available by pre-order only for $30, will include fresh fruit, local artisanal cheeses, bread and dessert. The Wine Festival at Monticello is an adult only event, limited to ages 21 and over.
By Ken Wilson