Drinking well-crafted, locally sourced wines, beers, and ciders will be easy at this year’s Thanksgiving table. Staff photo
If you are looking for the perfect beverage to accompany your Thanksgiving meal, area producers have many options, ranging from beer to wine to cider. Here are some recommendations to help you drink well while also drinking local.
Amber and brown ales are obvious options for pairing with turkey, stuffing, potatoes, and gravy. The seasonally offered Apple Crumb Apple Ale from Three Notch’d Brewing adds an extra dimension by incorporating apples and cinnamon into the brew. These notes combined with malty, bready, and caramel flavors will remind you of freshly baked apple pie.
A sour or funky farmhouse ale, or even a full-on sour beer, can bring a bit of acid to the table. The sournesscuts through the fattiness of roasted meats, while side dishes with fruit flavors or sweetness bring out similar fruit notes in the beer. Starr Hill’s Carole Cran-Raspberry Gose, only available through December, delivers autumn berry flavors and a nice balance of sweet and sour fruit.
The vanilla, caramel, and chocolate notes found in porter are a great match for dessert. Strange Currencies, from Reason Beer, was originally brewed as a birthday present from the head brewer to his wife. It’s currently available in four-packs of 16-ounce cans direct from the brewery. It’s full and satisfying enough that it could be served on its own instead of dessert, but who is going to pass on that slice of pie?
Two wines deserve a second recommendation in these pages because they are perfect for Thanksgiving: The 2017 petit manseng from Michael Shaps Wineworks and 2017 pinot noir from Ankida Ridge Vineyards. Shaps’ petit manseng is a dry, white wine with weight and texture that brings flavors of honey, tropical fruit, and nutmeg spice at the finish. As a white wine, it can pair with lighter fare, and with roast chicken or turkey. Pinot noir is the classic red wine to pair with Thanksgiving turkey, and the pinot noir from Ankida Ridge Vineyards is the best example of the varietal in Virginia, full of flavors of cherry, cranberry, plum, and cola. Its long, fruit-filled finish will have your mouth watering and anticipating the next bite or sip.
The 2017 Small Batch Series Viognier from King Family Vineyards should also be on your radar. Winemaker Matthieu Finot ferments these white grapes on their skins, more like a red wine would be produced, thus adding aromatics on the nose, and creating a fullness on the palate, and texture in the mouth that will stand up well to the dishes of the season. Similar to the petit manseng mentioned above, this white wine holds up well throughout the meal.
When it comes to Virginia red wine, we can’t forget cabernet franc, which has the perfect weight and flavors for stewed, roasted, grilled, and smoked meats. The 2019 Madison County cabernet franc from Early Mountain Vineyards is a wonderful example of what this grape can be when grown on a good site and in an excellent vintage year. It’s full of ripe red and black fruits with undertones of green herbs and a full finish highlighted by soft, fine tannins.
For many, cider evokes visions of dry falling leaves, pumpkin patches, and hayrides on the farm. Our local industry continues to push forward with creativity and passion, and cider-lovers are benefiting from interesting small-batch, craft products.
The Cranberry Orange Blossom Cider from Potter’s Craft Cider is a limited and seasonal release. With subtle hints of sweet and sour flavors and a pleasant acidity, it will cut through heavier, fattier dishes and can serve a similar role as the sour beers mentioned above. Intentionally produced at only 5.5 percent alcohol by volume, it’s bright and easy drinking that won’t weigh you down before your celebration is over.
Another intriguing option is the just-released 2019 Bricolage Sparkling Cider from Patois Cider. Featuring wild, unsprayed local apples and a minimal intervention fermentation process, this cider develops fine bubbles in the bottle that are sure to please. The palate shows textural weight expresses a depth of caramelized fruit flavors without being too sweet. Delicious on its own, it will also complement a wide range of dishes. This versatility means you can drink this through the entire day of feasting, or at least until the turkey and football games lull you to sleep.
Every October Virginians raise a glass to living in a state with the oldest wine month in the country (it dates back to 1988). We also celebrate the fact that Virginia has become the sixth-largest wine region in the United States, contributing well over $1 billion to the state’s economy, while the industry continues to grow in both size and reputation.
The Virginia Wine Board has events planned throughout the month, including Virginia Wine 101, hosted by Jason Tesauro. In addition to his ongoing role as a fierce advocate for Virginia wine, Tesauro has contributed articles to such publications as Decanter, Esquire, and Travel+Leisure, and has served as the national brand director and chief sommelier for Barboursville Vineyards since 2002.
We asked Tesauro to highlight a handful of local wineries that tell the story of Virginia wine’s past, present, and future. His answers give insight into an industry that has come a long way, that is proud of what’s been accomplished, and is full of dreams and aspirations for the future.
C-VILLE Weekly: Are there wineries that you consider pioneers in the industry, that have done something notable in terms of Virginia wine being where it is today?
JT: Barboursville Vineyards is where vitis vinifera [the main species of grapevine used to make fine wine] was first cultivated on a commercial scale and where low-cropped, early-picked, high-acid, no-and-low oak, finesse-driven, Old World-style wine growing established itself as Virginia’s modus operandi.
Thibaut-Janisson Winery pioneered what’s possible with traditional-method sparkling wine in Virginia, and has defined the premium sparkling wine category in Virginia. I’ve showcased their Blanc de Chardonnay in blind tastings against champagne and blown people’s minds.
Ankida Ridge Vineyards is absolutely the pinot pioneer of Virginia. Embracing high-elevation viticulture, they’re leading the way toward cooler climate varieties and raising expectations of what can happen up in the mountains both there and in other places, such as the Shenandoah Valley.
What wineries do you consider at the forefront right now in terms of representing or promoting
Virginia wine?
Veritas Vineyard and Winery stands out to me as a complete wine estate. The combination of family-run farm and destination for hospitality is a compelling model. Dining and overnighting in The Farmhouse adds a sumptuous layer of leisure and wine country. Wine is supposed to transport us with “somewhereness.” When a winery combines that concept with physical acts of feeding us, pampering us, and nourishing us, something else happens. More and more wineries are adding this kind of hospitality element, and I bet that many of them started with an aspirational visit to Veritas.
King Family Vineyards is on every “Best of” list for good reason. Mathieu Finot is a brilliant winemaker who leads with his French instincts, but is never limited by them. He makes serious wines for cellaring and fun wines for carousing. He consults, collaborates, and experiments. That kind of balance remains a benchmark for every new winemaker in the state.
What do you see as the future of Virginia wine? How does the present inform what’s coming?
One thing we’ve learned through the pandemic, wineries built on events rather than wine are vulnerable. The future belongs to those that can deal with the mercurial weather with smart viticultural practices and deal with the mercurial economy with smartly scaled production and distribution. It will be challenging for those who depend overwhelmingly upon concert traffic and tasting-room sales to survive.
White wine blends are a promising trend. Wineries are experimenting with blends to craft consistent complexity and balance. We already know red blends afford winemakers the opportunity to adjust to vintage variation by playing with percentages. If late rains leave cabernet sauvignon less than richly ripe, then the winemaker can turn up the volume on cabernet franc and petit verdot. It’s a newer idea here to do something similar with white blends.
Higher-elevation grape growing is becoming more than a curiosity. Watch how small vineyard blocks located in the benchland (sides of mountains) and hilltops start coming to play in a serious way.
Esquire magazine recently reported that only one in 1,000 winemakers is black. Virginia wine, in partnership with Virginia Tech and community colleges, has an opportunity and, dare I say, a responsibility to create and bolster viticulture and enology programs at the regional and local level. It’s been said that 40 percent of Virginia winemakers have foreign accents such as French, Italian, Spanish, Indian, or South African. I expect to see a much more diverse slate of talent as we create a better farm system to draw BIPOC students into the fascinating world of agriculture.
Any other suggestions for people celebrating Virginia wine this month?
Visit more wineries, pick a couple of favorites, and build a small collection. Use a decanter and don’t drink white wines so cold.
Pizza has long been a favorite carry-out food, and that hasn't changed during quarantine. Lampo Neapolitan Pizzeria recently posted this photo of a dizzying pizza box tower and asked followers to guess how many. Photo courtesy Lampo Neapolitan Pizzeria
Stepping up to serve free meals
In these trying times for the restaurant industry, chef Harrison Keevil of Keevil & Keevil Grocery and Kitchen is using his talents to serve others. What originally started as a free lunch (about 20 meals each weekday), has expanded to include breakfast and dinner, and by April 13, Keevil is planning to offer 500 meals a day out of his kitchen. He’s currently funding it himself and taking donations at @keevil-kitchen. He’s also keeping it local by using as many area sources as possible—think Caromont cheese, Albemarle Baking Company pastry, and locally grown vegetables. If you know of someone in need, email keevilkitchen@gmail.com for delivery coordination.
Local bartenders get creative
With no bar to tend to at the moment, Tavola’s cicchetti bar team recently launched a Cocktail Quarantine video series. Episode one featured “quarantinis:” Husband and wife duo Rebecca Edwards and Steve Yang, both recently recognized as top 100 bartenders in the U.S., shook up their favorite variations on the martini. The best part? They’re taking requests. Go to @cocktailcoupleva on Instagram or tavola cicchetti bar on Facebook, and send a direct message or leave a comment with your cocktail of choice. Don’t forget to leave a virtual tip!
In the same spirit, The Local’s beverage director Alec Spidalieri developed a cocktail recipe book, which is available on a pay-what-you-can basis as a downloadable PDF. Visit his website for payment information and to download the content.
It’s five o’clock…on Zoom?
What would we do without Zoom and Facebook Live? In the time of social distancing, these platforms are allowing friends to connect and businesses to creatively reach their customers. The Wine Guild of Charlottesville and King Family Vineyards are hosting happy hours and virtual tastings, which allow people to come together while keeping their distance. Want to join the fun? Follow the Wine Guild and King Family on social media for upcoming virtual events.
Survival by takeout
Quarantine is for pizza lovers, or at least that’s the way it seems. Both Crozet Pizza and North Garden’s Dr. Ho’s Humble Pie have added additional phone lines to keep up with ordering demand. And a recent Instagram post from Lampo showed to-go pizza boxes piled high, and asked followers to guess the number of boxes shown. Those feeling fancy have takeout options too, with restaurants including The Farmhouse at Veritas and C&O now offering multi-course meals for pickup. Bet you never thought you’d enjoy steak chinoise in your pajamas, did you?
Luca Paschina, winemaker at Barboursville Vineyards, has high hopes for the 2019 vintage. "We will be celebrating this growing season for many years to come," he says. Photo: Amy and Jackson Smith
Like all agricultural endeavors, growing grapes is subject to the vicissitudes of weather. In Virginia, after a difficult 2018 harvest (because of rain, rain, and more rain), 2019 was good—some would say great—thanks to timely precipitation and stretches of warm, sunny weather.
“This vintage is a beautiful gift to the faithful farmer,” says Luca Paschina, the winemaker at Barboursville Vineyards. “We will be celebrating this growing season for many years to come, for giving us white wines of great intensity and fragrance and reds of unquestionably long age-worthiness.”
Part of this optimism flows from a sense of relief after 2018. Overcast and wet conditions can present serious challenges in both the vineyard and the winery. Lack of sunlight hinders the fruit’s growth and ripening, decreasing sugar content (it is this sugar that is fermented into alcohol), and producing grapes that lack flavor and can taste “green,” or undesirably vegetal. High moisture can also allow mold, mildew, and disease to take hold, leading to damaged fruit and diminished yields. In one of the sadder images of 2018, some winemakers simply left grapes to rot on the vine, because they had burst from too much water and, regardless, the ground was too soft to move harvesting machinery into place.
The next growing season could not have arrived fast enough. Chris Hill, who has been cultivating grapes in Virginia since 1981, says that better vintages share “the common thread of dry weather from mid-August through mid-October.” In his opinion, 2019 should be compared to great vintages such as 1998, 2002, 2007, 2010, and 2017. But Kirsty Harmon believes 2019 is the best vintage since 2008, when she started as winemaker at Blenheim Vineyards.
Joy Ting, research enologist for the Winemakers Research Exchange (and this writer’s wife), explains that, in addition to a dry season, an abundance of sunlight helped to ripen fruit much earlier than in previous years. “The white grapes came in quickly since daytime temperatures were high and sugar accumulated rapidly,” she says. “A little bit of rain and slightly lower temperatures allowed the red grapes to stay on the vine. This led to very good flavor and tannin development.”
Ting also puts forth a theory, shared by a number of winemakers, that the exceptionally wet conditions of 2018 led to higher groundwater levels in 2019, compensating for rainfall one to three inches below average last July through September. Winemakers Emily Pelton at Veritas Vineyard and Winery, and Michael Heny at Michael Shaps Wineworks, agree with Ting. “I was thankful for all of the rain that we had in 2018,” Heny says. “We had so much groundwater that the vines [in 2019] had everything they needed.”
But what about the 2019 wines? High quality, fully ripe fruit picked when the winemaker thought it had achieved optimal conditions (rather than because the next storm was coming), should lead to high quality, aromatic whites and full-bodied, age-worthy reds. It’s impossible at the moment to recommend specific bottles from the vintage—because, well, the wines are unfinished and unbottled—so I asked winemakers which 2019 wines held the greatest promise. “I feel that, in general, red wines more acutely express the quality of a vintage,” says Nathan Vrooman, winemaker at Ankida Ridge Vineyards. “The white wines coming from the region will be very good, but the red wines will really shine.”
Among those, cabernet franc appears to be rising to the top. Finot says the King Family cabernet franc “performed very well this year.” At Veritas, Pelton calls the 2019 crop “bright and vibrant and full of depth.” Paschina singles out Barboursville’s harvest from Goodlow Mountain, about a mile south of the winery, as perhaps its “most elegant wine of the vintage.” Similarly, Rachel Stinson Vrooman, the winemaker at Stinson Vineyards, points to her cabernet franc as “ripe and concentrated, but also maintaining some of the pretty florals and herbal aromas that I look for.” At Keswick Vineyards, winemaker Stephen Barnard believes the estate’s Block 2 cabernet franc to be “the best expression of terroir yet—savory, extracted, spicy.”
Other varieties to look for in 2019 include pinot noir from Ankida Ridge—one of the few area wineries growing the grape—and chardonnay from Loudoun County’s Wild Meadow vineyard. At Michael Shaps, Heny will use the chardonnay in a vineyard-specific wine; he anticipates the 2019 bottling to rival that of 2015, one of my own personal favorites. Also worth noting, according to Harmon, are albariño, a grape grown mostly in Spain and Portugal that’s still relatively rare in Virginia, and cabernet sauvignon, which the lingering dry heat of 2019 helped to achieve full ripeness and flavor.
With uniformly high hopes for the 2019 vintage, Pelton provides some perspective. “I think it is important for us not to lose sight of how fantastically wine tells the story of the year,” she says. “Great years tend to get all of the attention, but the fact that we get to capture all of the aspects of the fabric of a year—whether it was cool or windy or dry or wet—all speaks to the final product, and I find it thrilling to be a part of that story.”
Bordeaux, France. Napa Valley, California. Central Virginia? Possibly. Though Thomas Jefferson first attempted to plant a vineyard back in the late 1700s, our local wine industry is still young, only really emerging in the last 15 years. But in that time, the central Virginia region has become home to the second-highest number of wineries in the state, producing dozens of award-winning vintages each year.
People aren’t just stocking up on bottles. Vineyards are also enjoying the fruits of their labor in the form of agritourism: tourists coming out for the scenery, tastings, events, and tying the knot. It’s clear that our wineries, breweries, cideries, and distilleries are an important part of commerce in this region, but just how big is that economic impact?
VIRGINIA WINE AND AGRITOURISM
In 2015, The Virginia Wine Board estimated the full economic impact of the Virginia wine industry to be $1.37 billion, roughly the GDP of a small island nation. This marked a growth rate of 83 percent from 2010, and breaks down to 705,200 cases sold, 8,218 jobs, and 261 wineries.
Uncorking the official numbers for the City of Charlottesville or Albemarle County is a bit more difficult. The Charlottesville & Albemarle Convention and Visitors Bureau doesn’t currently track that information, though they are hoping to have the budget to conduct that research, and other estimates can vary depending on how you define the region.
David King, the King Family Vineyards’ co-founder who died in May, was instrumental in passage of the Virginia Farm Winery Act, which allows wineries to sell their products directly to consumers. / Photo: Jack Looney
What makes it especially tricky is that we aren’t just talking about the number of bottles sold and weddings hosted. The biggest slice of the economic impact pie comes from agritourism.
The Virginia Wine Board calculated the retail value of Virginia wine sold in 2015 to be $129 million, while winery-related tourism was more than $187 million. It becomes harder to estimate the local economic impact of tourism when you factor in other elements of a trip. Imagine a group of friends decides to come down from Washington, D.C. for a bachelorette party with Cville Hop On Tours. They aren’t just spending money at the area wineries they visit, they are most likely staying in a Charlottesville hotel, eating at Charlottesville restaurants, and shopping in Charlottesville stores during their visit. So even though Charlottesville does not have a winery within its city limits, it’s benefiting from the area wine industry.
By using the Virginia Wine Board report (“The Economic Impact of Wine and Wine Grapes on the State of Virginia – 2015,” produced by certified public accountants Frank, Rimerman + Co. LLP) to take the average number of visitors for each winery in the state, Neil Williamson, President of the Free Enterprise Forum and editor of The Virginia Wine Journal, is able to roughly calculate the impact of the industry in a given region. With 28 wineries, he predicts that the economic impact will be more than $110 million for Albemarle County in 2019.
“Thanks in large part to David King’s [the late co-founder of King Family Vineyards and champion of the local wine industry] contributions on the state and local level, Albemarle today has some of the best winery and winery event regulations in the state,” says Williamson in reference to King’s advocacy for the Virginia Farm Winery Act, which allows wineries to sell their products directly to consumers. “We fought hard to get them to this point.”
MONTICELLO WINE TRAIL
With the City of Charlottesville at its center, the Monticello American Viticultural Area stretches from the edge of Shenandoah National Park to the James River and was was the first AVA to be established in Virginia. The Monticello Wine Trail, which includes a current membership of 35 wineries within this designated grape-growing region, has an economic impact that is probably closer to $120 million a year. Current President George Hodson believes the region is primed to be the next big thing in wine. “When you look at a lot of the things that are happening in Charlottesville, it becomes a perfect place for the industry to thrive.” Hodson cites the area’s academic culture, natural beauty, and the land’s ability to grow amazing grapes as ingredients for the industry’s organic growth.
What makes the Monticello region distinct in the Commonwealth is the consistently high quality of its wines. More than 60 percent of the wines crowned at this year’s Virginia’s Governor’s Cup were from the Monticello AVA. While Monticello Wine Trail wineries have had success with a variety of vintages, Hodson believes that the region’s petit verdot, petit manseng, and red Bordeaux blends have the potential to define it.
The major challenges preventing economic growth for the region come down to supply and demand. Area residents and visitors are drinking everything the wineries are supplying before it can be distributed to new markets. “We’ve got to make enough to let it leave the Charlottesville area,” says Hodson. He hopes that the continued popularity of events like Starry Nights at Veritas Vineyard & Winery and regular polo matches at King Family Vineyards will bring in the revenue needed to allow wineries to plant more grapes and produce more wine.
Support from state and local tourism boards are also critical to ensuring the industry’s ascent. Virginia’s tourism board makes it a priority to funnel visitors to the vineyards by highlighting wineries, festivals, and wine trails in campaigns. Support from local governments can vary quite a bit by county. Advocates for the industry agree that the best outcomes happen when state and local governments proactively work together. The positive economic impact numbers have helped government officials understand the promise of a rosy future in wine.
“We want Charlottesville and the Monticello [American Viticultural Area] to be the first name in Virginia wine,” says Hodson. “We are wholly committed to and doubling down on making Charlottesville and Monticello AVA a renowned wine growing region.”
VIRGINIA BREWERIES, CIDERIES & DISTILLERIES
Spirit Lab Distilling’s Ivar Aass thinks craft spirits will attain a momentum similar to that of area craft beer and wine: “Prohibition throttled the industry for 80 years,” he says, “and we’re finally getting to the point where craft distilling is gaining steam.” / Photo: Eze Amos
The glass isn’t just half-full for wine. Local breweries, cideries, and distilleries all have plenty to toast about, too. The Virginia Brewers Association reported that 405,465 barrels of craft beer were produced in the state in 2017. That’s two gallons for every Virginian over the age of 21. With 236 craft breweries in Virginia creating a total economic impact of $1.37 billion (the same as the 2015 number for wine), that’s an average economic impact of close to $600,000 per craft brewery.
Local breweries have their own version of the wine trail: the Charlottesville Ale Trail is 2.3 miles, pedestrian-friendly, and includes six participating breweries. They’re plotted along a map that visitors are encouraged to get stamped like a passport.
Virginia’s craft beer scene has been cool for a while now, but Virginia cider is catching up and hotter than ever. Bold Rock Hard Cider currently outpaces almost every other local brewery in sales. The Virginia Association of Cider Makers reports marked growth in the number of cideries opened since 2006, with national cider sales growing an average of 73 percent each year.
Boutique distilleries are looking to be the model for what’s next for their industry. Spirit Lab Distilling became the first distillery to open within Charlottesville city limits in 2015, and owner Ivar Aass sees the potential for craft spirits to attain a similar momentum as the local craft beer and wine market.
“I think all distilleries are basically playing catch-up,” says Aass. “Prohibition throttled the industry for 80 years, and we’re finally getting to the point where craft distilling is gaining steam.”
Just as we saw with craft beer, Aass predicts that the trends in distilling will favor unique, high-quality, and historically-rooted products. He also sees a future in Virginia-made brandy after recently collaborating with local winemakers on a Virginia oak-aged vintage by distilling some of the 2018 grapes that were too sweet for traditional wine processing.
So whether you like to sip, swig, or savor your locally produced spirit of choice, you can be guaranteed to see more varieties and an improved quality in the next few years. And if you haven’t yet been invited to a wedding at a farm or barn where something boozy is made, you can expect that “save the date” to come any day now. Beverage-related agritourism in central Virginia is booming. We can all cheers to that.
WEATHER OR NOT
Winemakers are learning and experimenting with new ways to adapt to the forces of climate change so central Virginia’s wine industry can continue to grow. / Photo: Andrea Hubbell
The summer of 2017 was a gift for wine grapes. The arid days were the source of complex vintages with the kind of balance winemakers aspire to produce. Then vineyards had to deal with the wet summer of 2018, when too much rain too close to harvest encouraged mold and caused the grapes to swell with water, diluting flavors. Increasingly erratic seasons due to climate change mean that if the burgeoning Central Virginia wine industry is going to survive, winemakers need to find new ways to adapt.
“When you plant a grapevine, you want it to [last for] decades, so depending on how quickly things change, it can affect what you’re doing,” says Ben Jordan, who has been the winemaker at Early Mountain Vineyards since 2015. Grapes can be a fickle fruit. And considering it can take three to five years for a vine to produce anything usable for winemaking, planting decisions are fraught. By that time, and especially with climate change, you may no longer have the right grape in the right site. “On top of that, we’ve always had a relatively dynamic climate,” says Jordan. “We can have droughts, we can have 2017, which was dry and hot, or we can have 2018, which is kind of a washout.”
For local winemakers, being in an emerging industry could be a protective factor when dealing with climate change. Unlike European regions, vineyards in central Virginia are not tied to producing certain wines or trademark processes that haven’t changed in 200 years.
The Winemakers Research Exchange, a local research cooperative for wineries, is encouraging experimentation and knowledge-sharing through studies and sensory sessions. Winemakers can invite their peers to try the unfinished results of everything from whole cluster fermentation to wines aged in concrete eggs. Joy Ting, research enologist and exchange coordinator for the WRE, believes the region’s ingenuity is a good thing when it comes to acclimating to seasonal swings. “It does help us to have more options when we think about how to respond to those things,” she says.
When your seasons become unpredictable, it’s not a bad idea for your wines to be too. “The world is changing,” says Jordan, “and you don’t have to make wines that taste one way or grow grapes the same way.” Central Virginia winemakers are integrating modern science in their old world craft. They are looking at how different clones of cabernet franc behave in the vineyard to decide what to plant for the next 10-15 years, and experimenting with breeding to try to make merlot more resistant to mildew.
Ting says that while the WRE isn’t set up for long-term experiments (most of the studies are designed to look at one year at a time), it’s an opportunity for winemakers to get creative with testing interventions. By learning new techniques for different scenarios, winemakers can be more prepared for whatever Mother Nature throws at them.
In 2018, several members of the WRE had success with one grape in particular: the petit manseng. Described as a “storm grape” that can take on loads of rainfall, it’s becoming a popular choice for local vineyards in need of a stable crop. “More and more people are looking to petit manseng because it does seem to have a good, consistent expression,” says Ting.
Petit manseng, a French grape typically used to make white wines, can be used to make dry wines, off-whites, and dessert wines. Local residents may not be as familiar with it as they are with a vognier or a petit verdot, but as the manseng grows more popular with winemakers, it has the potential to define the central Virginia region. “It’s something that can be really useful in our industry, and can help us stand out in the country and the world,” says Jordan. “It’s a distinctive grape that makes distinctive wine.”
Tony Wolf, professor and director of viticulture at Virginia Tech, started evaluating petit manseng in 1987. He concluded the grape would have an excellent time adapting to the Mid-Atlantic’s climate due to its hardiness against cold and rot, and consistent yields of crops per vine.
“Disease resistance is high on the list of desired traits,” says Wolf in regards to petit manseng. “But we are also going to need to evaluate new (and old) varieties that are suited to higher temperatures and higher rainfall conditions.”
Critics are taking note. This year was the first year a petit manseng won the top prize at the Virginia Governor’s Cup. The 2016 vintage produced by Horton Vineyards in Orange County was lauded for its dry palate and full body with notes of stone fruit and hazelnut.
Jordan is so confident in the grape that he recently ripped out a site of cabernet sauvignon grapes, vines that were planted with generations in mind, to plant the manseng in their place. “That’s part of adjusting to these changing factors,” says Jordan. “It’s about understanding a piece of land in context to its climate as opposed to just what you like to drink.”
CHANGE AGENTS
Beverage leaders are disruptors by nature. Their willingness to take risks when it comes to flavors and production can often lead them to delicious places—and profits. Several have made big changes in the last year.
Potter’s Craft Cider
Potter’s Craft Cider, which currently operates a 128-acre cidery in Free Union, is expanding, adding a 100-year-old church on approximately 20 acres in Albemarle County. The move comes thanks in part to a $1.56 million injection of funds from the state. This development will allow Potter’s Craft Cider to establish a much-anticipated tasting room, and is expected to quadruple its cider production. Governor Ralph Northam announced the investment in January and cited agritourism as a valuable source of income for rural areas. Renovations to the church will take place over the next three years while the team establishes an on-site apple orchard.
Wild Wolf Brewing Company
“Charlottesville has really become a mecca for great beer,” says Mary Wolf of Wild Wolf Brewing Company, which recently opened another location near the Downtown Mall. / Photo: Sanjay Suchak
The Wolf is also on the move. Wild Wolf Brewing Company, based in Nelson County, recently opened a satellite location near Charlottesville’s Downtown Mall. Owner Mary Wolf said she fell in love with the location two years ago and had been thinking about it ever since. When it became available again this year, the company grabbed it.
She knew it was important to have a location within city limits. “Charlottesville has really become a mecca for great beer,” says Wolf. She attributes the city’s thriving industry to the mix of talented brewers who embrace innovation and a population full of young professionals who are willing to try new things.
While Wolf says she might consider opening other locations in the future, she’s not interested in becoming huge. “We’re focused on quality—on great food and beer.”
North American Sake Brewery
North American Sake Brewery may be the most unexpected newcomer to the city. The first craft sake brewery in the commonwealth opened at IX Art Park last year, and started distributing in Virginia last March. Co-owners Jeremy Goldstein and Andrew Centofante, a filmmaker and a web developer, respectively, are a self-described “unlikely [saki] duo,” but they put all of their passion for sake into the products they make. They managed to catch the attention of the Embassy of Japan and were invited to pour their own sake at a reception in D.C. this June.
Wine in a can may seem déclassé, but it’s “practical on the golf course!" says winemaker Matthieu Finot. Photo: Max March
Sommeliers may take offense, but canned wine is a booming business. In January, Crozet’s King Family Vineyards popped the top on this trend by rolling out its first cases of canned Crosé, its popular rosé wine.
As winemaker Matthieu Finot explains, King’s been making a dry, fruit-forward rosé since 2003, and now harvests Merlot grapes specifically for the Crosé. After the crush, the juice rests briefly on the red grapes’ skins, resulting in a pale-pink wine with “less alcohol and more freshness,” Finot says. The King Family website describes “notes of grapefruit, lime, watermelon, and a light grassiness on the nose…and flavors of bitter cherry, peach, and rose petal” on the palate.
“We went from producing 100 cases [of bottles] in the first year to over 4,000 cases in 2018,” Finot says. “The demand for [Crosé] keeps increasing, along with the rosé consumption in the United States.” So it made sense to King and Finot to capitalize on the rising popularity of canned wine, especially among younger drinkers.
After all, wine and portability generally don’t mix. If you want to savor a glass of grape on the go, you’ll need to lug around a heavy glass bottle, a corkscrew, and glasses (unless you want to swig straight from the bottle). And once you’ve opened a bottle, you’ll need to finish it promptly to keep the wine from losing its freshness—a strategy more advisable at home than while you’re out and about. Each can of Crosé, in contrast, is roughly the size of a generous glass of wine, and a four-pack has the same volume as a bottle at the same price.
“Also, canning is better for the environment,” says Finot—lighter, more recyclable, and with less waste. King canned its first 500 cases of 2018 Crosé the same week it bottled the rest of the vintage, with help from a mobile canning company that came to the vineyard.
Cans are sold exclusively at the vineyard, and Finot says they’re planning on more cases of cans for the 2019 vintage to meet the rising demand. “Most of the customers like the convenience of it,” Finot says.
And what would Finot say to wine snobs who can’t bear the thought of aluminum-clad vino? “They can still buy Crosé in bottles,” he says, “but it is less practical on the golf course!”
King Family Vineyards, 6550 Roseland Farm, Crozet; 823-7800; kingfamilyvineyards.com
The comfy fireplace furniture creates an intimate feel in Veritas Vineyard’s tasting room. Photo: Stephen Barling
Whether it’s bitterly cold or just damp and dreary, one of the best places to wait out winter is beside a roaring fire (preferably with a glass of wine). Luckily, plenty of area wineries fit the bill, with cozy couches and toasty fireplaces to sit beside while you sip.
“We go for a living-room kind of feel in our tasting room,” says Paul Summers, owner of Knight’s Gambit Vineyard. “It’s homey and comfortable, and the fireplace no doubt adds to that.” So does the resident hound, Fig, who often lounges on a sofa near the fire.
The tasting room at Septenary Winery also feels like a living room, with four chairs by the hearth. A two-sided fireplace warms up the cavernous public room at Barboursville Vineyards, cranking out heat for visitors seated at tables on one side and patrons at the tasting bar on the other. At Veritas Vineyard & Winery, the most coveted tasting room seats are the overstuffed leather sofa and chairs near the fireplace.
At King Family Vineyards, a big fieldstone hearth anchors the winery’s Pavilion—and draws a crowd. When the oak logs are crackling, fragrant smoke fills the air and a beer-hall vibe prevails, with patrons engaged in animated conversation at the Pavilion’s long wood tables. “It’s very relaxing and warm, like sitting in someone’s great room,” says King Family’s events coordinator, Kelly Bauer. —J.B.
More kudos for BBQ Exchange
Recently recognized by the Food Network for one of the best BBQ pork sandwiches in America, The Barbeque Exchange, in Gordonsville, has been nominated by the USA Today 10Best for Best Brunswick Stew in Virginia. An expert panel selected the nominees, and readers will choose a winner (to be announced March 8) by voting on the 10Best website. —Simon Davidson
Greens (and more) cook-off
Calling all cooks and fans of good home cooking: The African American Heritage Center’s fifth annual Greens Cook Off takes place from 3-5pm February 9 at the Jefferson School. Greens, macaroni and cheese, and pound cake will be judged; visitors can graze on the entries and vote for their favorites. Learn more at jeffschoolheritagecenter.org. —S.D.
Cheese, chocolate, and champagne for lovers
On Valentine’s Day, the holy trinity of cheese, chocolate, and champagne will converge at Oakhart Social. Righteous Cheese’s Carolyn Stromberg Leasure and cheesemonger Sara Adduci, formerly of Feast!, will open four rare-producer champagnes and give instruction on pairing bubbly with cheese. A spread of local chocolates will also be available, because…Valentine’s Day! For tickets and info search Chocolate, Cheese & Baller Bubbly at eventbrite.com —S.D.
Ladies get their Galentine’s on
It started with Leslie Knope, Amy Pohler’s character on the TV sitcom “Parks and Recreation,” but craft distiller Vitae Spirits is carrying on the tradition of Galentine’s Day with its second annual party, at 5pm February 7. As Leslie said, it’s all about “ladies celebrating ladies.” Vitae’s version will feature a pop-up shop—along with booze, of course—with products from women-owned businesses. A portion of the proceeds will benefit the Sexual Assault Resource Agency. —Jenny Gardiner
Super cidery
Potter’s Craft Cider—with a little help from Virginia’s taxpayers—is growing. Potter’s will invest $1.68 million to quadruple its production and refurbish Neve Hall, a former church built in 1924, as a tasting room. The project gets a boost from a $50,000 grant from the commonwealth’s Agriculture and Forestry Industries Development Fund, and matching funds from Albemarle County. —J.B.
Duner’s chef to become owner
Duner’s executive chef Laura Fonner has announced she’ll be acquiring the upscale Ivy restaurant from current owner Bob Caldwell after his retirement next year. “It’s a natural move for me,” says Fonner, who has worked at Duner’s for 15 years. —J.G.
Bert (pictured) and Elaina Cricks have opened Mangione’s on Main, a new Italian eatery in the former Bella’s space on West Main Street. Mindful about not alienating existing customers, Bert says they’ll maintain the family-style menu, but tweak its offerings. Photo by Amy Jackson Smith
The restaurant formerly known as Bella’s is under new ownership, and will reopen this month as Mangione’s on Main, according to owner Bert Crinks.
Crinks and his wife Elaina, who will run the restaurant, are recent transplants from Northern Virginia who’ve been searching for the perfect site in which to open a restaurant. Having spent time in Charlottesville over the past few years while Elaina served on the board of Charity Treks (which raises money for HIV vaccine research through a variety of long-distance bike rides), the couple thought this location was an obvious spot to plant a dining stake in the ground.
Crinks—who lived for a couple of years in Brindisi, Italy, as a child—says his wife’s work as a financial consultant helping businesses informed their decision to start a restaurant, although his love of food was the primary driving force.
“I eat out a lot…and I always wanted to get more involved in how things are prepared, how menus are created,” he says. “I’ve loved [working] behind the bar, it’s a nice way to meet people, and we really loved this town, and it just seemed like a good way to connect with community and for me to learn some new things.”
To ready for their takeover, the couple has been sprucing up the place, with fresh paint and mechanical improvements, and moving essentials and food storage upstairs because of occasional basement flooding.
Mindful about not alienating existing customers, Crinks says they’ll maintain the family-style menu, but tweak its offerings.
“The menu is now family-style, so all dishes serve two or four,” he says. “I’d like to introduce a lot more specials, and probably maintain some of those as single-portion dishes so you can go in and order a primi and a secondi. I’ll probably introduce a steak and some of the things I like to eat at Italian restaurants.”
They’ll be enhancing the wine menu as well, and introducing a cocktail hour and happy hour with small plates.
Pig winner
The Heaven sandwich, a collaborative concoction from the kitchen of Craig Hartman’s Barbeque Exchange in Gordonsville, was just named by Food Network as one of the five best pulled pork sandwiches in the country. The accolade caught Hartman and his staff off-guard.
“They didn’t give us any warning,” he says. “I peruse Food Network all the time and look at their videos and saw ‘best pork sandwiches,’ and it was a really fun surprise. People were dancing in the kitchen.”
He says the honor is all the more special considering the competition.
“We know there are a lot of really great restaurants in America, especially ones that do barbecue and pork-related sandwiches, so we’re really blessed that we got picked and that someone there thought enough of it to pick it. We work really hard and love what we do.”
The genesis of the Heaven was to make a sandwich that lived up to its name, with a freshly baked roll, homemade mayonnaise made from bacon fat (called “baconnaise”), pulled pork, home-fried potatoes, fried egg with “sticky love” bacon (made with a special spice blend with sugar), melted cheese, lettuce, and tomato.
Hartman said the sandwich was a team invention a few years ago. They’ve subsequently invented the Hell and Purgatory sandwiches to complement the Heaven.
It’s in the can
King Family Vineyards is joining the canned-wine trend, with a test run of 500 cases of its popular Crosé rose now available in cans.
Wine director Matthew Brown says it’s about convenience. “Each can is a little bit more than a proper glass…so if you’re not going to drink a whole bottle of wine it gives you flexibility.”
A four-pack of canned Crosé has the same volume of wine as a bottle, and sells for the same price.
Zazus no more
The former home of Zazus, the wrap-and-salad institution on Ivy Road, has re-opened as Pico Wrap, run by Sonia and Fredys Arce. Their son Eric said the fare consists of wraps, burritos, and bowls, and they’ll eventually add sandwiches to the menu.
Over and out
It seems a premature auf wiedersehen to Augustiner Hall & Garden, which opened last March, but the downtown spot’s doors are shuttered, and staff was told it was closed for good.
Tavola bar manager Steve Yang (above) and assistant bar manager Rebecca Edwards are both participating in upcoming national bartending competitions in Washington, D.C. Photo by Eze Amos
Two of Tavola’s bartenders are shaking up national drinks-related competitions. Bar manager Steve Yang was named one of 12 regional finalists in the United States Bartenders’ Guild’s annual World Class bartending competition. “Qualifying is both humbling and terrifying,” Yang says of going shaker-to-shaker with some of the best bartenders in the country.
An expert panel reviewed applicants’ essays and replicated their cocktail recipes. Yang submitted the Inquisitions, which is made up of Bulleit Rye Whiskey, Cynar, Cocchi di Torino, Benedictine, Angostura orange bitters and a rinse of Caol Ila 12 Scotch Whisky. The regional finalists compete on May 7 in Washington, D.C., and three national finalists will move on to compete for the title of U.S. Bartender of the Year.
“I’m passionate about any event that increases the visibility of women in the restaurant industry,” says Rebecca Edwards, Tavola assistant bar manager. Photo by Eze Amos
Assistant bar manager Rebecca Edwards will participate in the Speed Rack Mid Atlantic regional on March 19 at Union Stage in Washington, D.C. Speed Rack is a national, women-only speed bartending competition that spotlights female mixologists who work in a male-dominated field, all while raising money for breast cancer research, education and prevention.
The lengthy application process included essays and even a video component, but Edwards’ reason for wanting to compete is simple: “I’m passionate about any event that increases the visibility of women in the restaurant industry,” she says. There are four rounds total: The first round focuses on speed alone, and the eight fastest bartenders proceed to round two, where they’re judged on speed, technique and overall skill. Edwards says that there’s a list of “roughly 100” cocktails that Speed Rack competitors are urged to know, so she’s been preparing with a series of flashcards and some help from her colleagues. “Busy Friday nights at Tavola are good practice, too,” she adds.
Little Star shines bright
The Oakhart Social duo of chef Tristan Wraight and general manager Ben Clore are teaming up with chef Ryan Collins of Early Mountain Vineyards to bring Little Star, anew restaurant, to the space most recently occupied by Three Penny Café.
The three showcased a sneak peek of the dishes-yet-to-come in a two-evening pop-up at Oakhart February 27 and 28. On the menu: tuna ceviche with kumquat, coconut leche de tigre, almonds, serrano peppers, cilantro and toasted amaranth; dry aged ribeye carpaccio with grilled cactus, Parmesan, chive blossoms and migas; the deceivingly simple-sounding sunny side up eggs with salsa negra green onion, cilantro, sesame seeds, hickory syrup and grilled bread; wood roasted lamb neck with braised cabbage, guajillo chile broth and hominy corn; and soft and crispy pork ribs with salsa naranja, white onion, epazote and crispy ancho chile. The Pen + Knife blog team shares a dispatch from the popup that declares if “you don’t like ceviche, this dish will be your religious conversion.” That’s enough to pique our interest—more details to come on opening day, likely in the summertime.
Our cups runneth over
The winners of the 2018 Virginia Wineries Association’s Governor’s Cup were announced in late February. Of the 442 Virginia wines that a group of world-class judges sampled from 100 Virginia wineries, just 12 wines—the highest-ranking reds and the highest-ranking whites—make up the Governor’s Case. Local wines from Barboursville Vineyards, Early Mountain Vineyards, Jefferson Vineyards, Keswick Vineyards, Veritas Vineyard & Winery and King Family Vineyards hold seven of those 12 spots, with King Family Vineyards’ 2014 Meritage taking top honors overall. All wines entered in the competition were made from 100 percent Virginia fruit.—C-VILLE’s At the Table columnist C. Simon Davidson and writers from the Pen + Knife blog contributed to this column.
Grapes ferment in large tanks throughout the production facility before being loaded into a press. Photo by Paul Whicheloe
He pulls the golf cart onto the right side of the gravel path: “Let me show you some of this viognier.” Carrington King, vineyard manager at King Family Vineyards in Crozet, stops the driver of a Kawasaki golf cart heading in the opposite direction of the tasting room, toward the processing facility, loaded down with bright yellow crates called lugs, each filled with 25 pounds of grapes. The crates are marked with the name Roseland in black, the name of the farm and the name of a chardonnay/viognier/petit manseng blend the winery produces. King plucks a cluster of grapes and holds it up to the afternoon sunlight to show how these berries, part of a second harvest of viognier this season, are starting to raisin and dehydrate.
“See how it’s drying nicely, no rot? And that”—he points to a brown discoloration—“that’s a little sunburn, but it’s perfectly fine.”
He pops a few grapes in his mouth.
“Super, super sweet. A year like this you can do interesting projects like this.”
Steeped in history
Our region is part of the Monticello American Viticultural Area, the state’s oldest AVA, founded in 1984. It’s named for the estate of one of the biggest proponents of American winemaking, Thomas Jefferson, who dreamt his home would be surrounded by flourishing vineyards that could compete with the Old World style of winemaking. Jefferson enlisted the help of notable Italian winemaker Filipo Mazzei, who researched the local terroir and planted thousands of vines around Monticello and at farms nearby. Although the American Revolution cut down Jefferson’s dream, if he walked the Monticello Wine Trail today he might see something closely resembling his vision.
The Monticello AVA, which includes Charlottesville and the four surrounding counties of Albemarle, Greene, Nelson and Orange, is made up of 33 wineries and encompasses 800,000 acres in the area on the eastern slope of the Blue Ridge Mountains. About 30 varieties of grapes are grown here, with some of the most prominent being chardonnay, cabernet franc, merlot and our state grape, viognier.
Virginia winemaking saw a resurgence in 1976 with the founding of Barboursville Vineyards by Gianni Zonin, heir to a family wine enterprise in the Veneto region of Italy. In August, the Daily Meal, which gathers input from wine industry professionals and factors in awards and accolades from wine publications, named Barboursville No. 8 on its 101 Best Wineries in America list (Michael Shaps Wineworks came in at No. 57, Jefferson Vineyards at 94).
What makes it Virginia wine?
Vineyards and wineries in which 85 percent of the fruit comes from the Monticello AVA, with the remainder made up in local grapes from around the state, may enter the Monticello Wine Cup Awards each April.
Statewide regulations are a little less strict: 51 percent of the grapes have to come from Virginia land owned or leased by a winery for that wine to be considered a Virginia farm wine (the label will read American wine).
Some of the larger wineries operate under a different classification: 75 percent of their grapes must come from within the state. And the wines of any winery with 75 percent or more grapes grown in Virginia are labeled Virginia wines.
But Virginia is often overlooked when it comes to making the grade as a top wine region in America, with heavy-hitters like Napa and Sonoma, and New York’s Finger Lakes and Oregon’s Willamette Valley getting all the national headlines. In fact, some wineries in California produce as much wine as all of the wineries in Virginia together. Sadly, in early October, wildfires in Northern California killed 42 people and scorched 240,000 acres, destroying six wineries in the Napa and Sonoma regions.
Locally, we also battle Mother Nature: This fall’s lack of rain caused City Council and the Albemarle County Board of Supervisors to issue mandatory water restrictions earlier in the month—no watering your lawn, take brief showers—to help offset the lower water supply levels (the South Fork Rivanna Reservoir fell to 42 percent capacity in just two months).
But our hot, dry autumn is actually good news for grape growers and vineyard owners. A drier season with more mild temperatures means a longer growing season, which allows the fruit to fully ripen on the vine. That means they are picked at the perfect point of ripeness, when the balance of sugar and acid levels for each variety is at its peak.
This year could not only be a banner year for Virginia winemakers in terms of grape yield, quality of the fruit and thus quality of the wine produced, it could be the year that puts Virginia wine on the map, many say.
Hearty harvest
Emily Pelton couldn’t believe what she was tasting. It was the end of July, and the first sample of sauvignon blanc grapes had just come in from the field at Veritas Vineyard & Winery in Afton, where Pelton is head winemaker.
She expected the berries in a random sampling to be tart, like they usually are, but instead Pelton was hit with a punch of sweetness: “Oh, that’s nice!” she thought.
That was one of the first signs that this year would be “a vintage in our books,” she predicts, up there with her favorite vintages in 2009 and 2010.
Although the area also experienced a drought in 2010, that one caused a surge in sugar in the grapes and fast ripening, which led to a smaller yield, Pelton says. This year, she says they hauled in 382.2 tons of grapes between the 50 acres under vine at her family’s winery and another 50 on farms within 30 minutes’ drive, which will make about 26,000 cases of wine (there are 12 bottles in a case). An average year would yield 15,000 to 20,000 cases for the vineyard.
Emily Pelton, head winemaker at Veritas, helped her parents, Andrew and Patricia Hodson, start the winery in 1999. Photo by Paul Whicheloe
Several factors contributed to this year’s bountiful harvest, says Joy Ting, production manager and head enologist at Michael Shaps Wineworks. For one, there was an early bud break in the spring, which generally makes winemakers and growers nervous, because one cold snap could wipe out their crops. But the milder temperatures held, translating into a longer grape-growing season. Most wineries started picking their first white grape crops at least a week early—Pelton says they started picking August 10, almost two weeks ahead of schedule. King Family picked its first chardonnay grapes for its sparkling wine August 3—a full week earlier than it’s ever harvested. In addition, wineries were still harvesting their last red varieties at normal times (early to mid-October), and were even able to do second-round pickings of certain varieties, such as King’s viognier.
The small amount of rain (our area dodged residual effects from Hurricanes Irma and Maria) meant the threat of disease such as rot was lessened, and it also allowed grapes with more concentrated flavor because the vines could focus on their job—growing fruit.
“I feel like the cabernet franc this year is some of the best cabernet franc that I’ve seen since I’ve been in the industry, about five years,” Ting says. The sauvignon blancs, viognier and rosé don’t need to go through malolactic fermentation, which reduces acidity, and will be released in late summer 2018. Most of the reds like cabernet sauvignon, tannat and petit verdot will continue to age in barrels for another year after being pressed and undergoing malolactic fermentation. They will be available in late 2019. “But I would hesitate to say that, only because I really feel like across the board the fruit was very high quality. From the very early whites all the way through the reds…for Virginia, I feel like it was a really wonderful growing season for us.”
Down to a science
As Carrington King passes by blocks of grapes, he points out their labeling system of using cattle tags on each row: red for merlot, pink for cabernet franc, yellow for petit manseng. We stop near a block of viognier, where people are hand-picking the second harvest of the grape, which will likely be used for a small-batch orange viognier (a method of winemaking in which white grapes are fermented on the skins like a red wine, creating an amber hue and giving the wine “nice tannin”). King’s brother’s father-in-law is out in the field, as is King’s mother, Ellen, picking alongside year-round employees. The vineyard is a family endeavor—David and Ellen King started the vineyard in 1998, and the couple’s three sons now help operate the 327-acre farm and vineyard.
King says all the grapes are handpicked—“It’s hard to find them, you have to hunt way up high,” he says. Gathering berries for sampling (which begins about a week after veraison, when the red grapes go from green to red and the white grapes start softening) is not a very scientific process: Someone grabs a Ziploc bag and walks along a path with a row of vines on either side. While looking straight ahead, he’ll reach in and grab some berries off a cluster, sometimes off the top, sometimes off the bottom, and ping-pong between the two rows to ensure a sampling of berries that get both morning and afternoon sun. By not looking at the berries you pick you’re ensuring as random a sample as possible–our eyes are naturally trained to flesh out the best-looking berries.
“When we’re sampling and trying to get tons per acres we do berry weights and cluster weights. On average our berry weight was lower than most years,” King says. “Typically a winemaker would love to have smaller berries, especially in a red where the ratio of juice to skin favors better color, better tannin, better extraction, because your ratio of juice to skin is higher on the skin side. Now, in central Virginia we don’t know what to call average because it’s been so variable every year.”
Employees of King Family Vineyards handpicked a second harvest of viognier grapes last week. Photo by Paul WhicheloeKing Family winemaker Matthieu Finot and vineyard manager Carrington King sort freshly picked grapes by hand. Photo by Paul Whicheloe
Once the sample comes in the process does turn scientific. The berries are crushed and the juice is strained into a beaker, and a pH meter and a refractometer measure the pH level and percent of soluble solids—the sugar level of the juice. As the sugar accumulates in the grape, the pH level increases. When the grapes are first tested the pH might be 2.8 or 2.9, increasing to 5.3 or 6, as it gets more basic (7 on the pH scale is neutral). But acid is good for wine—if it’s not acidic enough the wine won’t taste balanced. Chardonnay used in sparkling wine, for instance, is picked at a lower pH level of 3 to give the wine an “acidic tingle and freshness,” King says.
“When it gets closer to harvest (three weeks after veraison) we might take samples every few days, to try to say what’s the progression of sugar accumulation and how quickly is the acid going down, to try to find the right balance point of when it’s the right time to pick that grape,” Ting says. “And that’s one of the nice things about not having rain coming. We get to dial that in a little more carefully. If it’s going to rain, we’ll usually pick it before the rain, if we feel like it’s close to ripe. This year we would take samples, and we would almost be able to predict ‘well okay, it looks like it’s gaining such and such sugar per day, so it looks like this weekend it should be right where we want it to get’ and it would be right about where we expected it to be.”
Michael Shaps, which has about 80 acres of vineyard under lease or management in eight counties in the state for its own wines, also does contract winemaking for clients who bring in grapes from their own vineyards, and Ting says grapes from all over the state saw similar consistency this year. Shaps was the original winemaker at King Family, and was succeeded by Matthieu Finot in 2007.
Finot, whose lab is housed in the “newish” production facility at King Family (it’s their fourth harvest in the new building), echoes other winemakers in their love of this year’s crop with good acid, which keeps freshness in the wine and helps it age well.
“I’m very excited with the chardonnay, and the cab franc will just be wonderful this year: good ripening, good color, good tannin extraction,” he says. “I think it’s going to be a key vintage for what we do. We had some rain at the beginning of September, just to give us harvest, then it went back to nice, sunny and dry. On a whole I’m very happy with it. Usually when you talk to the winemaker at this time they’re all depressed…here, it’s like yay!”
Experimental thinking
When asked what her favorite varieties this season are, Pelton lets out a little yelp and squirms in her seat. It’s like asking her to pick a favorite child. She concedes that her sauvignon blanc was “killer” this year—not that the viognier wasn’t—but the sauvignon blanc stands out for its intense aromatics. You can pick out distinct notes of grapefruit and passionfruit, specifically pink grapefruit.
“You can really start diving in there and saying, ‘Ooh, I can smell this!’” she says.
For reds, she names both cabernet franc and petit verdot, but finally settles on cab franc.
King also names their cabernet franc and petit verdot as the red varieties he’s most excited about this year: “The chemistry was amazing,” he says.
King Family hauled in 240 tons of grapes this season from its more than 30 acres, which translates to 12,000 cases. King says demand is going up every year, as is production and new plantings: In 2016 they made 2,200 cases of Crosé, which lasted in their tasting room until July. The year before, they produced 1,800 cases that sold out in September. Each year they’re selling out earlier: They will bottle 4,000 cases of the 2017 vintage of the cult favorite rosé, a staple at summer polo matches at the vineyard.
Although King Family mainly sticks to its stable of wines, it created its small batch series four or five years ago to allow Finot to experiment, and in a banner year like this there’s a little more room to play.
“What’s really fun for us is making these little tiny batches to make very select bottlings,” King says.
Newly released this year for King Family is a wine called Mountain Plains, which was the original name of the family’s property when a 22-year-old Thomas Jefferson, then an attorney, signed the deed. The “super meritage” is a blend of petit verdot, merlot and cabernet franc—two barrels of each.
Currently being processed in King Family’s production facility is a whole cluster petit verdot–pressed with stems and all–much the way they would have done in the Old World when grapes were crushed underfoot. The stems give the wine more tannins, Finot says, but that can be risky. He points to a similar experiment a few years ago with a dry petit manseng that is now being served in the tasting room. When he first tried it he thought it was very harsh and acidic, out of balance, and he considered dumping it. But he kept aging it in barrels, and after two years he ended up with a drinkable wine.
“Now it’s one of the wines I really love,” he says.
Berry good
Although the viognier grape, which has intense, complex aromas of stone fruit with tropical notes, was named our state’s signature grape in 2011 (its thick skin can stand up to Virginia’s heat and humidity), it comes in as No. 6 in grape production totals from a 2016 commercial grape report prepared for the Virginia Wine Board. Here are our state’s top five:
1.Cabernet franc (929 tons)
2. Chardonnay (760 tons)
3. Merlot (620 tons)
4. Cabernet sauvignon (533 tons)
5. Petit verdot (495 tons)
Blenheim Vineyards, which made roughly 4,500 cases in 2016 and will bottle 8,000 cases this year, has added the albariño grape, which generally flourishes in Spain, to its portfolio. Ting points to Bleinheim and Afton Mountain Vineyards as early champions of the grape variety, good for making a fresh white wine. Kirsty Harmon, winemaker and general manager at Blenheim, says both the albariño and sauvignon blanc did well this year, and she made a little wine out of pinot noir, which she hasn’t been able to attempt in years past.
“I’d say that it is potentially the best harvest at Blenheim since I’ve been winemaker for 10 years,” she says.
And Veritas’ Pelton is experimenting too, but less with grapes and more on winemaking styles and the growing process. In 2014 she helped found the now statewide Winemakers Research Exchange in which wineries in Virginia can submit experiments for blind taste tests. Last year the exchange had 10 different tastings; Pelton submitted four or five projects.
The future of local wines
Today there are more than 260 wineries statewide compared with 193 in 2010. In 2015, the wine and grape industry brought in $1.37 billion, and wine production nearly doubled in that time frame from 439,500 cases to 705,200, according to the Virginia Wine Board’s 2015 Economic Impact Study.
Today’s wineries, with careful site selection for plantings and fruit monitoring along with evolving winemaking, are a far cry from the early days 40 years ago, King says. He says he’s often asked who his competitors are. His answer: He doesn’t have any. He says all the winemakers, vineyard owners and grape growers are friendly with one another and eager to share insights to create the best wine and customer experience they can.
“It’s a very intimate thing to sell something that you’re going to imbibe—it’s not tennis shoes or a belt buckle. It’s going in your body,” King says. “If someone has a bad experience somewhere, they might write off Virginia wine.”
Two weeks ago Pelton traveled to Charleston, South Carolina, for a luncheon hosted by Garden & Gun magazine. Only Virginia wines, including Veritas and Early Mountain Vineyards, were served, and guests didn’t know what they were drinking until Pelton walked around to each table to chat with the luncheon’s attendees. Their feedback? They were surprised by the wine’s origins, but they loved it.
“I would just like to point out we have such pride in our Southern food culture,” Pelton says. “I’d like people to start having the same [feeling] about their local brewery, winery and cidery.”
