Tag: 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

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.

Categories
Living

Does winter weather spell trouble for area growers?

Although grapevines are dormant in the winter, wind and low (think single digit) temperatures are the top concerns for causing damage. A layer of snow actually helps protect the vines. Photo by Robert Llewellyn

By Natalie Jacobsen

Between sporadic power outages, icy roads and burst pipes, Charlottesville is dealing with plenty of winter woes. But we aren’t the only ones grappling with the freezing temperatures: Central Virginia vineyards are facing this weather head-on, with growers keeping a close eye on their property.

David Geist, co-owner of Arcady Vineyard Bed and Breakfast, is fairly new when it comes to grape-growing (he and his wife, Kathy, bought the business a few years ago). He took several courses and reached out to experienced area vineyard masters to learn the ins and outs of maintaining healthy crops.

“Last year was quite mild; we didn’t anticipate how cold it’d be this year, but [what I did] to prepare was actually wait to prune,” says Geist. Putting off pruning will give vines an extra layer of protection against the cold, “[and] the hardier they will be when the frost hits. Frost affects vines from the outside in, so the more mature you leave on, the better the actual vine and roots will survive,” he says.

Arcady, one of the hobby vineyards in the Charlottesville area, grows chambourcin grapes, which are used to make a dessert wine. Typically, smaller vineyards run the risk of having higher devastation rates during harsher and more extreme weather than larger farms do. But Geist isn’t worried because he’s bringing in reinforcements this season: They have donated their vineyard to Piedmont Virginia Community College’s vintner cultural department, which will perform periodic check-ups. PVCC’s Greg Rosko says his students will study the effects of the winter weather on the vines when it gets closer to spring to determine the success of the crop.

Similarly, Valley Road Vineyards’ CEO and co-founder Stan Joynes expresses little concern for this season’s weather. “We did nothing different [from past winters],” he says. “So far, we don’t see any evidence of damage, but it is also too early to tell.”

The Afton vineyard is currently growing younger vines, which are three seasons old. Younger vines are more fragile and may be more susceptible to the cold. “We won’t know for sure until bud breaks on our chardonnay grapes—our first in every season—which could happen late February or early March,” says Joynes.

He doesn’t expect this year to be akin to last winter’s season, “which was a near perfect growing season: It got warm early, and never got cold again.”

The absence of fluctuating temperatures and a steady increase of sun means a larger crop haul. “In ’16, we got to single digits in April, which was devastating to chardonnay and other early buds,” says Joynes.

A blanket of snow, however, can help protect vines.

“While the vines are dormant this time of year, you actually hope for snow to protect them from the harshness,” says Joynes. “Winds and chills are a concern for damage.”

Another wish is for moisture—for constant irrigation. Both Geist and Joynes hope to see more precipitation in the second half of winter.

“We are all way down on moisture, but there is still time,” says Joynes. “Trying not to be pessimistic, timing of the cold and veracity of the cold is everything. Protect them when they’re dormant and it’ll all be fine.”

Production value

According to the Virginia 2016 Commercial Grape Report, the central Virginia region (which includes Albemarle, Amherst, Bedford, Greene, Hanover, Louisa, Nelson, Orange and Spotsylvania counties) produced the most grapes—2,744 tons—statewide.

Vineyard owners experienced a challenging winter with significant snowfall and low temperatures in January and February, including late frost in the first and second weeks of April that caused some smaller growers to lose their entire crop. Compared with 2015, there was a 10.4 percent decrease in total tons of grapes produced throughout Virginia.

Top regional grape producers in 2016

1. Albemarle County—933 tons

2. Orange County—896 tons

3. Nelson County—709 tons

Categories
Living

Magic is being made with Honah Lee Vineyard’s grapes

Honah Lee Vineyard’s mountaintop location produces “lush and plump” fruit, including viognier and petit manseng, that is increasingly coveted by winemakers. Photo by Haley Jones

When Vera Preddy and her late husband, Wayne, purchased their property on Gibson Mountain in 1985, they never imagined they’d end up in the wine business. Their 150-acre farm was once part of Windholme Farm, and when they moved onto their parcel, they christened it Honah Lee, after the idyllic place described in the 1960s folk song “Puff, the Magic Dragon.” They started raising cattle and built a house, and later, on a neighbor’s suggestion, decided to get into the turkey-raising business.

Poultry has been a staple industry in the area for centuries (Honah Lee sits about four miles north of Gordonsville). In 1794, a Gordonsville tavern became known for serving chicken. In the 1840s, a railroad stop was established in the town, and by the 1860s locals sold chicken through the windows of stopped C&O trains.

The Preddys raised chickens in the past but switched exclusively to turkeys because they stay put. “When we had hens, they were sneaky and they’d get out,” Preddy says.

I wondered aloud to Preddy’s son, Eric Hopwood, if their business model made for a busy fall, going directly from grape harvest season into Thanksgiving turkey season. Hopwood explains that their turkeys are more for lunch meats than the holiday meal. “Our turkeys are about 40 pounds apiece,” he says. “The breast itself is the size of a Thanksgiving roaster oven. We raise turkeys year-round that are antibiotic- and hormone-free, and they go to specialty stores.”

The Preddys were focused on poultry and cattle when they leased a good portion of their land to a nearby winery. Grape vines went in the ground, but after a lease dispute in the 1990s, the Preddys found themselves in the sudden stewardship of vineyards.

“We had to learn real quick about growing grapes and making wine,” says Preddy, so they hired consultant Jeanette Smith. “She was great as far as teaching us how to take care of the vines.”

The Preddys, thrust by circumstance into a burgeoning industry, couldn’t imagine then how much the industry would grow. “There were a few vineyards around then, but now they are like little mushrooms; they’re popping up everywhere,” Preddy says. In 1995, Virginia had 46 wineries. A 2016 press release from Governor Terry McAuliffe’s office announced there are now more than 285 wineries in the state. That’s a 520 percent growth rate over a 21-year period.

As you travel up the mountain, the first vines appear around 650 feet. The vineyard is punctuated by two turkey barns and the colony of gigantic turkeys, then the rows of grapes continue up to the top where you’ll find older-vine viognier at about 1,000 feet.

At first, the Preddys sold their grapes to about 20 different wineries. Then, they narrowed that down to about five or six wineries. Today they work mostly with Michael Shaps Wineworks and Jake Busching Wines.

Life on the mountain began to change focus from grape-growing to wine-making when Hopwood took the reins in the early 2000s. “At the time, I was with the local law enforcement, and I retired from that in 2011,” he says. “That was when we started getting more into the wine business, and we added the event venue.” In 2015, Hopwood first made his wines at Michael Shaps Wineworks and now pours them under the Honah Lee label in his tasting room. Hopwood and his wife, Brandy, also oversee BerryWood Crafters, which incorporates local baked goods and crafts in their wine tasting room.

Hopwood points to the malbec near the top of the mountain as the source of his favorite wine from the property. Aside from the taste, that particular site has a special meaning to his family. “It’s a wonderful place to wake up to every day, the views, the peace and tranquility,” he says. “I often go up there to the top and sit and contemplate life. I take my little 2-year-old daughter up there and she just falls asleep in my arms.”

The perch up top is storied for its views. “At one time, we had a fire tower up here and you could see 360 degrees,” Hopwood says. “It was said that with binoculars you could see the tip of the Washington Monument.”

Mountain fruit is increasingly coveted in Virginia. Though it’s more intensive to farm, vines on sloped mountains have better airflow, which helps prevent frosts, and the soils usually have better drainage. The summit has also captured the heart of Jake Busching, who has been working with Honah Lee fruit since early in his career. Enchanted by the viognier on the mountain, Busching sourced his 2015 and 2016 Viognier from the Preddys.

Joy Ting, enologist and production manager at Michael Shaps Wineworks, also enjoys working with the Honah Lee fruit. “Honah Lee produces fruit that lives up to its whimsical name,” says Ting. “The fruit from there is always lush and plump. Each variety expresses itself fully, from the sauvignon blanc and viognier to the petit verdot and tannat. The petit manseng from Honah Lee has great chemistry, and is versatile enough to make a dry table wine, a sweet dessert wine or anything in between.”

Now, Hopwood is gearing up to begin harvest, which he says could be a record.

“Right now it’s shaping up to be pretty good. But…the summer’s not over yet. We’re watching tropical storms.”

Erin Scala is the sommelier at Fleurie and Petit Pois. She holds the Diploma of Wines & Spirits, is a Certified Sake Specialist and writes about beverages on her blog, thinking-drinking.com.

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Real Estate

Virginia Wine: Finding Its Own Identity

pouring red wine glass

By Ken Wilson – 

It’s no novelty anymore, no curiosity, no fledgling with promise. Virginia wine—more than 6.6 million bottles in 2016—has found its identity and found its fans. It may have taken a few decades—or a couple of centuries counting Jefferson’s aborted attempts—but the local vino is making us proud, and making the state a destination spot for wine lovers eager for new vistas and new tastes. California wannabes? Swirl and sniff and guess again. “Virginia wines have their own merit,” says Matthew Brown of Wine Warehouse in Charlottesville. No longer striving to mimic what’s been perfected elsewhere, area wineries “are planting varietals that will do well in their area, not necessarily what will be the most popular.”

“Planting the right grape variety for the climate is part of it,” says Richard Leahy, author of Beyond Jefferson’s Vines, a complete history of Virginia wine focusing especially on the most recent decade, during which Jefferson’s dream of making world-class wine has come true. “Cabernet sauvignon doesn’t like clay soils for example.” Even more importantly, in his view, viticulturists now “understand the science of viticulture attuned to our growing conditions, especially planting on a well-drained site and spraying fungicides to protect the plants. Also, Virginia winemakers have learned how to make wine in a style that best suits the fruit we grow.”

Some of what we grow best and most distinctively here are Petit Verdot, Cabernet Franc and Viognier, along with Merlot, a well known grape widely planted in Bordeaux. Viognier, a white grape, has what Leahy describes as “distinctive floral/honeysuckle aromas and tropical fruit flavors; it’s dry but gentle on the palate.” Cabernet Franc, considered Virginia’s best red wine grape along with Merlot, “makes a smooth wine with cherry flavors and aromas. Petit Verdot is more of a newcomer, and is very dark, with floral and garden herb aromas, very smooth with black fruit and spice notes. The top Virginia reds today are actually blends of the red Bordeaux varieties like Merlot, Cabernet Franc and Petit Verdot, and have a more Bordeaux-like finesse and balance than what we see from the West Coast.

“Virginia has a ‘Goldilocks’ climate for these grapes,” Leahy says: “warm enough to ripen them, but not so hot that it burns away the delicate fruit flavors which happens in warmer climates. Renowned British wine writer and taster Steven Spurrier even calls Virginia his favorite North American wine region, for its elegant, balanced—with moderate alcohol—wines, with food-friendly acidity.

The result of all this newly achieved excellence? Rapidly expanding markets, as exciting new wines made from hitherto underused grapes garner critical acclaim and word of mouth interest and admiration. “Virginia’s burgeoning wine industry contributes more than $1.37 billion annually to Virginia’s economy, an increase of 82 percent from the last economic impact study conducted in 2010,” according to a study commissioned by the Virginia Wine Board and released this January. Between 2010 and 2017 the number of state wineries increased from 193 to 280, while the number of acres planted in grapes increased by 22 percent. Three thousand acres are planted today. Virginia now ranks in 5th place in the U.S. by volume of wine grapes grown, produces over a half million cases of wine, and contributes roughly $750 million a year to the state economy.

Tourism has grown dramatically as well. The number of people visiting wineries rose by 39 percent in just five years, from 1.6 million visitors in 2010 to 2.25 million visitors in 2015. Those wine tourists spent $131 million, an increase of 43 percent over the five year period.

“This growth is being driven by small wineries,” said Governor Terry McAuliffe, in a statement announcing these impressive economic figures. “I commend our Virginia wineries and grape growers for their hard work in making world-class wines that are driving this success and building the new Virginia economy.”

Right here in the Monticello American Viticultural Area, Leahy says, “we have many of the best wineries in the state, from Barboursville (large and well-established) to King Family and Michael Shaps. One of the newest and smallest is Loving Cup, Virginia’s only organic winery.” Warm weather heralds an abundance of activity at Virginia wineries: festivals, fundraisers, open houses . . . even polo matches. Here is a look just at some of what’s coming up.

Horton Family Vineyards
Soon after Dennis Horton planted his first vineyard in Madison in 1983, he began searching for grape varieties best suited to Virginia’s warm and humid summers. In the Rhone Valley in southern France Horton discovered the Viognier, whose thick skin and loose clusters made it perfect for the Virginia climate. Leahy credits Horton with “single-handedly” bringing Virginia Viognier to national attention in the early 1990s. Today, he says, “we still have the reputation of being the most consistent Viognier producer in the U.S.” Horton currently  bottles two varieties of Viognier, along with a full array of red, white, fruit (pear, peach, etc.) and dessert wines.

Thursday, May 4 is “May The Fourth Be With You Day” at Horton, with free tastings for anyone wearing Star Wars memorabilia. Nurses get their own free tastings on Saturday, May 6, National Nurses Day. Two Brother’s Food Truck will be on hand from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. with nachos, tacos and more. Saturday, May 13 is Mother’s Day Tea, with savory and sweet delights accompanied by Horton wine and individual pots of tea at 11:30 a.m. and 2:30 p.m. Tickets are $35 for adults and $25 for guests under 21.

Friday, May 19 from 5:30 to 8:00 p.m. is Wine and Paint Night. Tickets are $45 a person and include painting supplies and a glass of wine. Veterans and their spouses enjoy free wine tastings and 10 percent discounts on artisan melts from Gourmeltz, a veteran owned food truck, on Memorial Day weekend, May 27-29.

Horton holds its first ever Food Truck Battle  with as many as ten food trucks offering $3 sampler plates, Saturday, June 3 from 12 noon to 4:00 p.m. Guests, staff, and a local food critic will vote for their favorite dishes. Admission is free.

SOBO (South of the Border) Food Truck comes to Horton on Saturday, June 10 for a fundraiser for Rikki’s Refuge Animal Sanctuary in Orange County. Wine tastings are free with donations of money or paper towels, bleach, laundry detergent, cat food, dog food, and canned tuna. Mouth Wide Open Food Truck will be at Horton on Saturday, June 17 for a MASH-themed Father’s Day Party.

Horton’s Summer Celebration on Saturday, June 24 will feature lawn games for kids and adults.

Gourmeltz and Smiley’s Ice Cream food trucks will be on hand, and totes with picnic blankets, wine glasses, rubber corks, corkscrews, and outdoor toys and games will be on sale. Pop-up tents and furry friends are welcome.

Jefferson Vineyards
Praised by Wine Spectator magazine for having “one of the region’s most consistent track records,” Jefferson Vineyards was established in the 1970s by Shirley and Stanley Woodward Sr. with the help of Gabriele Rausse, sometimes called “the father of Virginia wine.” After building a winery building in Italian Palladian style, similar to architecture at Monticello and the University Of Virginia, they began selling wine in 1986. 

Jefferson’s Sunsets Become Eclectic Concert series kicks off on Saturday, May 13 from 6:00 to 8:00 p.m. Admission is free and parking is $5. The series continues on June 10, July 22, August 12, September 9, and October 21. Bands will be announced.

King Family Vineyards
When David and Ellen King moved to Virginia from Houston, Texas in 1995, they weren’t even thinking of opening a winery. David had been playing polo since 1980, and the family wanted a farm with twelve acres of relatively flat land for a polo field. Today their property in Crozet holds both Roseland Polo field and King Family Vineyards, widely recognized as one of the state’s top wineries.

On Sundays from Memorial Day weekend through mid-October, weather and field conditions permitting, the King family invites Tasting Room guests to join them field side to watch polo. Matches are free and begin at 1:00 p.m. Visit their website or Facebook Page on Sunday mornings after 9:00 a.m., or call 434-823-7800, for confirmation.

Loving Cup Vineyard and Winery
Loving Cup Vineyard and Winery in the Blue Ridge foothills in Albemarle County is one of only a handful of certified-organic winemaking farms on the East Coast. Loving Cup’s two varieties of white wine and two of red are made from hybrid grapes first planted in 2008, in which the pollen of one variety is crossed with the flower of another to produce an entirely different third.

Loving Cup donates part of the proceeds of its Dudley Nose Rosé to the Almost Home Pet Adoption Center, a no-kill shelter in Nelson County that rescues and finds homes for nearly a thousand cats and dogs each year. Rescue dog Roly-Poly, the “label dog” for the 2016 Dudley Nose Rosé, will appear at the winery from noon to 3:00 p.m. on Saturday, May 13. The Nelson SPCA will bring dogs and cats available for adoption.

Loving Cup will hold its Fourth Annual Open House from 11:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. on Saturday, June 10. Activities will include a hay wagon tour of the vineyard and a cellar tour with the winemaker, sangria and live music on the verandah, pizza by Dr. Ho’s Humble Pie, and the expected appearance of “an 8-year old Thomas Jefferson.” 

Veritas Vineyard and Winery
Roman historian Pliny the Elder famously observed that “In Vino Veritas” – “In Wine There Is Truth.” Andrew and Patricia Hodson established Veritas Vineyard and Winery in Afton in 1999, and run it as a family affair with the help of their children. Veritas will serve a Mother’s Day Winemaker’s Brunch, Sunday, May 14 at 12:30 p.m. Tickets are $75; a vegetarian menu will be offered. The public is invited to bring a picnic or sample the Veritas buffet, and enjoy concerts on the lawn during the 2017 Starry Nights season: Saturdays June 17, July 8, August 12, and September 9. Tickets are $15.

Shenandoah Wine & Jazz Festival
The ninth annual Shenandoah Wine & Jazz Festival, featuring wines from the Shenandoah Valley, takes place on June 24 from 1:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. at the Frontier Culture Museum in Staunton. Participating vineyards include Barren Ridge, Blue Ridge, Bluestone, Cave Ridge, CrossKeys, Hunt’s, North Mountain, Rockbridge, and Wolf Gap. Festival goers will hear swing music by Acme Swing Mfg. Co., blues by Stone Rollin’, and traditional and Latin jazz by Mark Whetzel and his group.

Tasting tickets for the Shenandoah Wine & Jazz Festival are $16.00 in advance for adults with valid IDs, and $20.00 at the door. Non-Tasting tickets are $10.00 for adults, $9.00 for students ages 13 to 17, and $6.00 for children 6 to 12. Children 5 and under get in free. Food Vendors will be on hand as well. Admission price includes admission to the Museum plus a souvenir wine glass.

Categories
Living

Jake Busching’s new label raises the stakes for Virginia wine

Bottling under his new label, Jake Busching Wines, gives the local winemaker an opportunity to use his vast experience in Virginia’s vineyards. Photo courtesy subject

It was while working at Jefferson Vineyards that Jake Busching had his aha wine moment. His epiphany, the Jefferson Vineyards 1998 cabernet franc made by Michael Shaps, remains a true bellwether for Virginia wine—“That’s the one that hooked me,” Busching says. Once he made the connection in his mind between place and flavor, a soil-based winemaking philosophy blossomed, and now the well-known local vintner has a new label: Jake Busching Wines, for which he makes wine from some of his favorite vineyard sites around the state.

Having grown up on his family’s Minnesota subsistence farm, Busching is naturally drawn to working with plants. His father worked at a local paper mill and, at home, they raised beef cows. “When you farm in Minnesota,” Busching says, “you have four months of the year to get everything together to survive for the next eight months. That’s where I learned the importance of the dirt.”

He hunted and fished for many of his meals on the farm, and though life wasn’t always easy, the food was good. Busching sums it up: “I ate like a king, but I wore my cousin’s clothes.”

Eventually, he left Minnesota to work in music, and toured with a band. Asked about the circumstances of his move to Virginia, Busching describes 1993: “We [the band] were sick of being cold and poor, so we moved where we could be warm and poor. We ended up in Virginia.”

By 1996, he returned to farm life and landed at Jefferson Vineyards, a winery near Monticello that grows vines planted on the original site where Thomas Jefferson and Philip Mazzei attempted to grow wine grapes in the late 1700s. “What a great way to come into the business,” says Busching. “This is where it all started. Here.”

Wine bottles. Photography in high resolution.Similar photographs from my portfolio:
Jake Busching has also rethought the conduit of wine from winery to consumer. Rather than open a tasting room or sell to restaurants and retail outlets through a distributor, he sells his wine through his website.

As Jefferson Vineyards’ farm manager, he worked with two important founders of the current Virginia wine scene, vineyard manager and consultant Chris Hill, and winemaker Michael Shaps. Hill has had a hand in planting many of Virginia’s vines, and Shaps now has his own Virginia winery, and produces wines in both Virginia and Burgundy, France.

During a brief stint at Horton Vineyards in 2001, Busching worked with a special site he still admires today: Gordonsville’s Honah Lee Vineyard. Planted in the mid-1990s, the site sits on a mountain that rises up in the middle of flat land. “Up top there’s nothing between you and Richmond,” Busching says. Sloped sites, such as Honah Lee, are good for grapes because the angles generate air movement, which helps prevent frost. The vineyards start around 650′ and at about 1,000′ the top of the mountain wears a crown of old-vine viognier.

Busching subsequently worked at Keswick Vineyards, Pollak Vineyards, Grace Estate Winery and Michael Shaps Wineworks, learning along the way about a wide variety of farming methods and grape varieties from around the state.

In 2015, he made a wine from the special Honah Lee viognier grapes he remembered from his early career, and the recently released bottles are his inaugural offering under the Jake Busching Wines label. He’s also released a 2015 cabernet franc made with grapes from Nelson County.

And keep your eyes peeled in May for Busching’s release of F8, a blend of tannat and petit verdot from the upper section of the Honah Lee vineyard. F8, affectionately referred to by its phonetic nickname Fate, is a special bottling because Busching believes there is a larger place for petit verdot-tannat blends in Virginia winemaking. Throughout his career, Busching has championed tannat, and this has impacted the larger wine landscape. Tannat, typically from France’s Madiran region, is a powerful, full-bodied and usually tannic wine that, to Busching, benefits from blending in some deep-fruited petit verdot. He usually finds a sweet spot at around 60 percent tannat with 40 percent petit verdot. Could his signature blend be a way forward for Virginia reds? If it grows in popularity, we might look back and point to F8 as the catalyst.

Busching has also rethought the conduit of wine from winery to consumer. Rather than open a tasting room or sell to restaurants and retail outlets through a distributor, he sells his wine through his website (JakeBuschingWines.com). This is an effective way to directly interface with consumers on their own time, and it’s becoming increasingly popular with winemakers like Busching, who make incredibly small quantities of special wine. (There are just three barrels of F8.)

As a large second wave of Virginia wine producers establish themselves, Busching’s wines stand out because the mentorship of the late 20th-century wine pioneers shines through. Busching’s new label turns the page to a fresh chapter in Virginia winemaking—one that is built on the sturdy ground of past experience, and maybe a little fate.

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Living

Chardonnay and petit verdot lead the 2016 vintage report

How does 2016 measure up to previous vintages? “In short,” Michael Shaps Wineworks production manager and enologist Joy Ting says, “2016 was pretty typical for Virginia, with all the challenges and surprises that entails.” Photo by Tom McGovern

This is a good time to catch up with winemakers about the 2016 vintage, a year marked by frost events early in the season, and rain near the red grape harvest. By now, ferments have finished and some wines are in barrel or bottle. Wineries have a good idea about how their 2016s are tasting.

“Each vintage in Virginia presents its own unique set of challenges and opportunities,” says Rachel Stinson Vrooman of Stinson Vineyards. “As growers and winemakers we love to hate this unpredictability, but it’s a key piece of Virginia wine’s identity—it keeps things interesting and makes us feel like we’re all in it together, for better or worse. The 2016 season was just as action-packed as we’ve come to expect. A hard frost in April meant lower yields on pretty much everything. Early budding varietals like chardonnay and merlot were hit especially hard.”

Joy Ting, production manager and enologist at Michael Shaps Wineworks, also reports early-frost damage. “Yields were down in some varieties due to spring frost and rain during bloom,” Ting says. “The chardonnays were particularly hard hit by frost early in the season, with 30 to 50 percent reduction in crop load in most of the vineyards that come through our winery. Some sites fared better than others. The quality was good, there was just a lot less of it.”

Matthieu Finot, winemaker at King Family Vineyards, is happy with his chardonnay. “Because of this weather,” in summer, he says, “we were able to harvest the white grapes when we wanted, and despite limited quantities due to frost damage, they have good balance with the freshness and the acid that I am looking for.”

So, for white wines, we can expect lower quantities than usual, with high quality and concentration due to low yields forced by frost.

Red grapes had a better early season, but inclement autumn weather pushed into a few harvests. “Much like last year’s Joaquin,” Vrooman says, “Hurricane Matthew forced our hand a bit when it came to ripening the reds. Rains hit at the very end of September and set off the inevitable mad rush to bring in fruit. While we would have preferred higher sugar levels on the reds, the wines have good concentration at this early stage—and most importantly do not taste underripe.”

Ting notes that during harvest, “intermittent rain posed challenges throughout, but especially when it was time to pick reds. Heavy rains threatened vineyards on the eastern side of the state a few times, while central Virginia and the Shenandoah Valley saw less heavy rain. When rain threatens, winemakers sometimes have to decide to either pick early or take the risk of letting grapes hang through the rain. Good vineyard management practices were key to producing healthy grapes that could hang through rain and dry out before picking.”

Which 2016 red wines show promise at this point?

“Petit verdot was the star for us this vintage,” says Vrooman. “It escaped most of the spring damage and the tiny berries ripened leisurely while maintaining good acid.”

Ting also points to petit verdot. “The wines that are most exciting in the winery right now are the petit verdots and tannats. These are showing concentrated fruit upfront with a lot of structure backing them up. With so much tannin they still need time to age in barrel, then in bottle, in order to show their full complexity. But, at this stage, they are promising,” Ting says.

Finot is pleased with his cabernet franc. “Overall, I think the cab franc performed the best. I’m very happy with the way it tastes.”

Finot is also enjoying one of King Family Vineyards’ flagship wines: the 2016 Meritage, a Bordeaux-style blend based on merlot, cabernet franc and petit verdot. “I was surprised how much structure the Meritage was showing.” After tasting the 2016 Meritage, he says he likes the way the grape varieties complement each other. “It shows how blending can help consistency in the variable weather we get here in Virginia.”

Erin Scala is the sommelier at Fleurie and Petit Pois. She holds the Diploma of Wines & Spirits, is a Certified Sake Specialist and writes about beverages on her blog, thinking-drinking.com.