Tag: Market Street Wine

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Living

Oregon wine’s enduring relationship with Virginia

Bill Curtis of Tastings has long been a champion of Oregon wines, in particular the wines made by Michael Etzel of Beaux Frères winery. Photo by Amy Jackson

In most wine shops and restaurants in Virginia, you’ll find an excellent Oregon wine selection—one that locals may take for granted. But Virginia’s high-quality Oregon wine niche is no accident, it’s driven by a core group of passionate people.

Though Oregon’s pre-Prohibition wine history dates back to the 1840s, today’s winemakers put down roots in the 1960s. In 1985, Beth and Rob Crittenden worked a harvest in Oregon and got to know many of the winemakers long before the state’s wine renaissance dazzled the rest of the country—and they loved the Northwest wines their friends grew and produced.

Shortly after the couple moved to Virginia to be closer to family, they founded Roanoke Valley Wine Company in 1994. “When we first moved here,” says Beth, “there were just a handful of Northwest wines” available in Virginia. The Crittendens aimed to fix that. They introduced Virginia to the Oregon wines of Brick House and Eyrie, and carried the wines of Cameron Winery and Patricia Green from their first vintages.

“We were the first distributor in the United States to offer Oregon wines as a central focus,” says Rob. “Many wines were available in Virginia years and years before they were available in larger markets. For that reason, Virginians have had, and still have, access to the best of Oregon.”

That access was eagerly accepted by the local wine community. “When we first introduced Oregon wines in Virginia, only a few potential customers even knew that Oregon made wine,” says Rob. “Luckily for us, they were open-minded. …Early adopters included Bill Curtis at Tastings, Robert Harllee at Market Street [Wineshop] and Elaine Futhey at the C&O.”

Because most Oregon wineries are small, typically family operations, “Oregon producers have always embraced direct relationship-based marketing of their wines,” says Brian O’Donnell, winemaker at Belle Pente Vineyard & Winery.

Dry-farm advocate (no use of irrigation) John Paul, owner of Cameron Winery and planter of the inimitable Clos Electrique vineyard, says, “When we have time, we personally go on the road to sell our own products. I have to believe that the authenticity of that approach is not lost on the consumers here or elsewhere.”

The popularity of Oregon wines in Virginia “is because of people like Beth and Rob and their amazing team,” says Rob Stuart of R. Stuart & Co. “They are all about small, family producers living real lives. There is such a disconnect these days with large corporate conglomerate producers and the consumer. RVWC is giving the Virginia market a reconnect to what we all seem to crave, a personal connection between the producers and the consumers.”

There is a growing eagerness to embrace the high quality wines of Oregon that catches its winemakers off guard. “Mainly you will find me on a tractor, so, imagine my surprise, along with my distributor, when a wine director in D.C. ushered us back during dinner service to taste my wines,” says Jim Prosser of J.K. Carriere Wines based in Newberg. “The deer on my hill don’t show a deference, [but I] guess [the reception of Oregon wines is] different on the East Coast.”

Because light red wines go so well with a diversity of foods, pinot noir has become the go-to grape in many dining situations. “Since Oregon pinot noir is compatible with so many different types of foods, it is a natural choice for this more casual, small-plate-oriented method of dining,” says O’Donnell. “Heavier red wines are far less versatile at the table. That is why you find pinot noir—and especially Willamette Valley pinot noir—gaining in popularity in America’s top restaurants.”

Prosser echoes this notion. “Wines of energy lift themselves out of the glass and represent; they offer moments of epiphany,” he says. “Oregon wines have energy and that will bode well for their intersection with food, wherever, however you find it.”

Chris Dunbar of The Alley Light in downtown Charlottesville nods to the Oregon wines on his wine list. Currently, “we serve the Omero Cellars pinot noir by the glass, and have Beaux Frères, Ken Wright and Domaine Serene by the bottle. Oregon’s cool climate produces a similar taste profile to Burgundy—Robin’s favorite wine region—which always pairs well with food,” says Dunbar, referring to the restaurant’s chef and co-owner Robin McDaniel. “Conversely,” he says, “I love the under-appreciated Alsatian varietals—pinot blanc, pinot gris and riesling” from Oregon.

“Oregon wines are some of our most popular,” says Farrell Vangelopoulos at The Ivy Inn. “With our all-American wine list, Oregon is a natural fit. The pinot noirs are so elegant and expressive.”

At Market Street Wine, co-owner Thadd McQuade says, “Oregon has long been a home to idiosyncratic free-thinkers. Wineries like Biggio Hamina and Illahe have irrefutable personality, aromatic complexity and are standard-bearers of the natural, non-interventionist winemaking that we value and support.”

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Living

The ham biscuit is named Charlottesville’s signature dish

JM Stock Provisions tops its buttermilk-and-lard biscuit with tasso ham and a drizzle of honey and hot sauce. Photo by Tom McGovern

By Sam Padgett

Considering our broad food and drink world, it’s difficult to imagine a single dish that could represent the city’s local food scene. Charlottesville, on account of its geography and demographics, has a more dynamic selection of foods compared to the seafood-obsessed southeastern part of the state and metropolitan areas of Northern Virginia. However, difficult as it might be to identify the dish of the city, a panel of four judges assembled by the Tom Tom Founders Festival made the executive decision that it is the humble ham biscuit.

Leni Sorensen, a culinary historian and the writer behind the Indigo House blog, sees ham biscuits as an inevitability of living in Charlottesville. Sorensen moved here later in life, and the ubiquity of ham biscuits made an impression on her. “They’re everywhere,” she says. “They’re a part of every cocktail party, every museum opening, every kind of festive occasion. I personally know people who would not dream of having a party without ham biscuits.”

Besides its abundance, Sorensen sees the ham biscuit as something that cuts across all spectrums of dining, from gourmet to everyday. Locally, the adaptability of the ham biscuit is extraordinarily clear.

Specialty foods store Feast! has a 2-inch li’l cutie of a slider-style ham biscuit made with local sweet potato biscuits, local ham and a dollop of Virginia spicy plum chutney.

Timberlake Drugs makes its traditional version with a fluffy white biscuit and ham, and there’s the option to add egg and cheese, too.

JM Stock Provisions tops a buttermilk-and-lard biscuit with tasso (spicy, smoky, Louisiana-style ham) and a drizzle of both honey and hot sauce.

The Ivy Inn uses Kite’s Country ham, a sugar-cured ham from Madison County, served with hickory syrup mustard.

The Whiskey Jar also uses Kite’s ham and offers the option of adding egg and cheese.

Ace Biscuit & Barbecue, Fox’s Cafe, Tip Top Restaurant, Commonwealth Restaurant & Skybar, Keevil & Keevil Grocery and Kitchen, Bluegrass Grill & Bakery and plenty of other spots that we don’t have room to name here have ’em, too.

What’s your favorite local version of the ham biscuit? Tell us at eatdrink@c-ville.com.

Is this the best IPA ever?

Luddites might want to steer clear of Champion Brewing Company’s new ML IPA, which debuted last week during the Tom Tom Founders Festival. In conjunction with local startup Metis Machine Learning (the “ML” in the name), Champion’s newest beverage was designed via computer. Using machine learning algorithms, information about the nation’s top 10 best-selling IPAs, as well as Charlottesville’s 10 worst-selling IPAs, was fed into a program that output the desired parameters for the theoretical best IPA.

While there are plenty of variables that make up the taste of the beer, they analyzed the beers’ IBUs (International Bittering Unit, a measure of bitterness), SRM (Standard Reference Method, a color system brewers use to determine finished beer and malt color) and alcohol content.

The results for each variable were 60, 6 and 6, respectively, possibly stoking more fear of a machine uprising.

Michael Prichard, founder and CEO of Metis Machine, wants to quash those fears. “All we really wanted to do was arm the brewer with some information they could work with,” he says. “It’s still a craft; we don’t want people to think we’re trying to replace the brewer.”

Hunter Smith, president and head brewer at Champion, confirms: “At the end of the day, all I was given was some parameters. After that, it was brewing as usual.”

Prichard and Smith met at a machine learning talk about a year ago, and they decided to collaborate; it seemed appropriate to have the ML IPA ready to serve during the innovation-focused Tom Tom Festival.

The ML IPA, which could stay on the menu after Tom Tom if the demand is there, is, according to Smith, a “spot-on typical IPA.”

Market Street Wine opens

Back in February, we reported that Market Street Wineshop owner Robert Harllee had decided to retire and sell his shop at 311 E. Market St. to two longtime employees, Siân Richards and Thadd McQuade. Market Street Wineshop 2.0—now called Market Street Wine—will open this weekend, with an open house from 1 to 4pm on Saturday, April 21.—Erin O’Hare

Categories
Living

Changes ahead for Market Street Wineshop

Robert Harllee of Market Street Wineshops has watched an increase in Virginia wine sales at his various locations. Photo by Martyn Kyle

After 31 years of selling wine, fresh bread, cheese and more at Market Street Wineshop from the basement level of 311 E. Market St., Robert Harllee has decided to retire.

But fear not; Charlottesville is not about to lose another jewel from its quirky downtown crown: Two of Harllee’s longtime employees, Siân Richards and Thadd McQuade, are taking over. And they don’t plan on changing much: Market Street Wineshop will become Market Street Wine.

In a letter to the editor printed in the July 14, 2005, issue of The Hook, Harllee detailed the history of his shop: Philip Stafford opened The Market Street Vine Shop (at the time, “wine” couldn’t legally be part of a store’s name) in December 1979 and created “the character and flavor” of the wine shop that Stafford’s successor, David Fowler, maintained and passed along to Harllee and his former business partner, Bill Bird. Harllee and Bird purchased the shop from the late Fowler’s estate and opened up in December 1986, with a cash advance from Visa to stock the drawer.

Harllee says that, at first, he waited tables five nights a week to help cover shop costs.

Back in December 1986, there were a few other wine shops in town at the time (among them The Cellarmaster on Elliewood Avenue, In Vino Veritas, Fleurie at Barracks Road, Foods of All Nations), but finding a good bottle of wine is a bit easier now: Nowadays, even grocery stores have decent wine selections. Plus, Harllee says, Virginia wine has undergone “a new renaissance,” which has made not just oenophiles but the average person more interested in the libation. It’s been an exciting thing to witness as a wine shop owner, says Harllee, who closed Market Street Wineshop’s second location on 29 North late last year.

Over the years, Harllee says he’s loved participating in both the big and small of his customers’ lives, helping them choose wines for dinners at home, for birthday parties and engagement celebrations. These are his most cherished memories.

Richards and McQuade are perhaps best known around town as theater artists, but they’ve each worked for Market Street Wineshop in some capacity since 2006 and 1990, respectively. Harllee says they are “infused with the spirit of the shop.” He trusts they’ll carry on what’s special about the shop—the feel of the space, individualized attention for each customer—while also sustaining it for the future.

Market Street Wine will continue to offer fresh bread from Albemarle Baking Company and The Bread Basket, plus cheeses and other delicious things to eat. The Friday night wine tastings will also continue, and Richards and McQuade plan to offer even more specialized and themed tastings, plus classes and other public events.

And in a time when Charlottesville is changing rapidly, when it feels like small businesses with character are being edged out for a new office building, hotel or luxury condos, keeping a small business’ beloved personality is especially important to Richards and McQuade.

The shop has a very “insistent and particular personality,” Richards says, and she and McQuade don’t want to do anything to erase or alter that. She says they want it to remain “a hidden treasure trove that people are excited to uncover” and visit time and time again.“The goal is to make it feel new and refreshed, re-energized, but also be mindful of the years of tradition that are already in place,” Richards says.

Market Street Wineshop will close Saturday, February 24, and Richards and McQuade will replace the floors and rearrange shelving before opening the shop as Market Street Wine sometime in April.