Other than CA-WA-OR-NY from which US States have you tried wine?

I have the opportunity to have Virginia wines on a regular basis. They have come a long way since 1989 when we first tried them. There are some very good cab franc, viognier, chard and some red blends. My son, David, has posted on several of the wineries. I still think that the price point is a bit high when you compare them to CA. they are getting closer. The best I've had come from Barboursville, King Family, Veritas and Blenheim.

Have also tried some from North Carolina, Texas, Connecticut and Ohio. Nothing there

Randy,

I think wine is produced in every state in the US, so not surprising that I've tried some from lots of places. Let's see:

MA and RI: Westport Rivers and Sakonnet. I recall Westport Rivers producing a nice Blanc de Blanc style sparking wine and at least in one vintage, an easy-drinking Riesling I liked OK.

FL: There is a wine made in St. Augustine near where my Mom lives. It was scary bad...

NM: Gruet sparkling wine can be quite tasty.

I' know I've tasted other wines from TX, VA, MI, MO, OH and probably a few others, but I can't recall the details.

-Michael

I've liked a couple VA wines (from Norton and others).

I also like the Gruet from NM.

I liked one Texas wine, but not several others.

I've had NC wines ranging from ok to bad

Robin brought a KY, from a winery partially owned by Wendall Berry, that was pretty bad, but he said that the regular (this was the reserve) was much better

If I start screaming in my sleep Betsy probably figures I'm reliving my experience with AZ ("Tombstone Red") or CT wines.

gee; let me think

ny, pa, nj, md, va, w.va, oh, mi, in, il, wi, mo, io, ky, ks, n or s da?, tx, nm, id, la, ar, nc, ga, fl, sc, ri, ma; plus on, bc, and several other provinces. there were good wines more or less from nearly all of them.

Illinois, Indiana and Wisconsin--oh, well.

I agree with New Mexico and Gruet. Haven't found any from Virginia or Missouri yet, but I've heard some interesting reports. And Idaho may have some real potential.

Gruet sparkling and still wines from NM
Horton Viogniers from VA
Ch. Grand Traverse wines from MI
Very good reds including an outstanding Cadenza blend from Allegro in PA
Decent but forgettable wines from Llano Estacado in TX
Very decent Chardonnay from a winery in Moab, UT

oh, and some plonk from Biltmore Estate in NC courtesy of my in-laws...

Mark Lipton

Virginia - Like many
Maryland - Still looking for one I like
New Jersey - Awful
Texas - some o.k.
Indiana - Many - overall poor
Maine - Awful
Michigan - too long ago to recall
New Mexico - Gruet. Yum
Florida - better than expected.
North Carolina - hit or miss. The Childress Chardonnay can be good
Penn.- not a good one yet.
W. Virginia - Don't remember it

[James Roscoe]

The Virginia Wine Festival is this weekend. Hopefully I can report back with a few!

In order of experience and preference:

1. Tie Missouri & Virginia
2. Texas
3. Pennsylvania
4. Rhode Island
5. Ohio, Indiana, Tennessee, Florida, North Carolina, Illinois, Maine, and Maryland.

On the list to try: Michigan

...Penn.- not a good one yet.
W. Virginia - Don't remember it

I've had some nice wines from Presque Isle, near Erie, PA - in fact I bought a case of their '05 Noiret.
Alan Wolf brought a vertical of Vignoles dessert wines from his winery (Jones Cabin Run) to NiagaraCOOL a few years ago and they were all impressive.

Lovers Leap Riesling from Kentucky - very nice with good definition and structure; more than I expected.

Varietal Frontenac from Minnesota - beautiful pin-cherry colour with cherry fruit, velvety mid-palate tannins and a well balanced finish

Turtle Run Chambourcin from Indiana - nicely torrefied with smoky black-cherry aromas typical of warm-vintage hybrid reds

Turtle Run "Summer Solstice" (50% Traminette, 50% Chardonel) from Indiana - lovely white blend, very food-friendly and well made

Chaddsford Chambourcin from Pennsylvania - another well made, food friendly Chambourcin

Chaddsofrd Niagara from Pennsylvania - the best, most balanced (i.e. not insanely sweet) commercial example of varietal Niagara I've had

Blumenhof Cynthiana from Missouri - my #1 wine of the night at MoCool 2004

Johnson Estate 1978 Chancellor - raisins and toast on the nose, yet still alive; wonderful

Johnson Estate 1983 Chancellor - a beautifully evolved, admirable example of what hybrid reds can do when treated with quality in mind

Alan Wolfe's Nortons, Chambourcins and Vignoles stickies from West Virginia - wish I could buy them in Ontario!

Chateau Grand Traverse Proprietor's Red from Michigan - fantastic stuff, very elegant and food-friendly

And I do count NY too as here in Ontario, I have very scant access to wines from our neighboring state:

Dan Smothergill's dry labruscas from New York - superb; should be shown as examples to many commercial wineries that don't do nearly as good a job; especially the varietal Diamond

Howie Hart's many homemade wines, mainly from NY ...

And I second Howie on the '05 Presqu'Isle Noiret - an impressive new-generation hybrid red with peppery spice and nice mid-palate tannins.

And I probably missed a few.

I tried some wine from Missouri some years ago. Other than the fact it was terrible (sweet and goopy) all I can recall about it was that it was white and came in a green bottle. I think there might have been a hawk or an eagle (or some large bird) on the label.

Randy,

Gewurz from Carlson in Colorado. Pretty dry and not bad. I've definitely had worse from California.

Several from Mass.
Most notable is Nashoba Valley dry blueberry wine--the only wine I'd consider having with blueberry blintzes (and even then I'd decide against).
Awful wines made by Truro Vineyards on Cape Cod.
Chicama on Martha's Vineyard some years ago--not awful but bad QPR.
Some pretty good sparklers at Westport Rivers, as has been mentioned; again bad QPR for the best.

Charles

Several from AZ and Gruet from NM

[Robin Garr]

Aside from the obvious West Coast and NY State, from which other states have you tasted wine, and was it any good?

Having got my start as a wine writer for a Louisville newspaper, I've had some professional interest in the wines of the Eastern U.S. and Canada since the '80s, and while on the one hand I'd say the industry has come a long way over the past 25 years; on the other I've still got to say that most of it isn't really competitive with the top wine-producing states or world reasons, and that <i>with a few noteworthy exceptions</i>, small-farm wineries are usually more about tourism than they are about wine.

Based on my experience, the most promising of the states and provinces - based on their best - are New York and Michigan, with signs of quality from top producers in Virginia, Ohio and Texas. Random points of excellence turn up all over - Westport Rivers in Mass., a few artisans in Indiana, Chaddsford in Pennslyvania, Montbray (now defunct) in Maryland, and so on.

As best I can recall on a quick run-through, I've tasted commercial wines from at least 28 (oops, I included NY in that count, make it 27) "non-traditional" U.S. states and three Canadian provinces. I've also judged wine competitions in Kentucky, Indiana, New York and Maryland.

Kentucky
Indiana
Ohio
Connecticut
Rhode Island
Massachusetts
Pennsylvania
Maryland
Virginia
North Carolina
South Carolina
Georgia
Florida
Mississippi
Michigan
Wisconsin
Missouri
Arkansas
Louisiana
Oklahoma
Texas
Colorado
Utah
Idaho
New Mexico
Arizona
Hawaii

Ontario
Quebec
British Columbia

Kentucky
Indiana
Ohio
....

(etcetera etcetera until all 50 states are listed)

You Statedropper, you!

Hard to compete with that list, but I've had wines from Ohio, Penna., Rhode Island, Mass, Missouri, Arizona, Idaho, Virginia, Nova Scotia, a rhubarb wine from Vermont that actually wasn't half bad.

Good ones? Probably the Markko chardonnay from OH, the viognier from Horton, the whites of Callaghan (AZ), reds from Presque Isle (PA). The others I can recall the tasting, but not so much the wines.

[Robin Garr]

(etcetera etcetera until all 50 states are listed)

You Statedropper, you!

Naah ... only 27. With California, Oregon, Washington and New York it bumps up to 31, though.

Let's see -

Arizona (a few good ones, some others that are astoundingly bad)
Wisconsin (better than expected)
Georgia (Ugh)
Idaho (not bad)
Virginia (some good, some not so)
North Carolina (tried a bunch, didn't find one that I liked)
Missouri (good stuff)
Michigan (mixed bag)
Hawaii (if you count that pineapple stuff)
New Mexico (Gruet - yum)

I think that's all of it.

From Idaho: Hell's Canyon Merlot...quite nice; Indian Creek Pinot...actually think I took this to Jenise's for dinner in Jan. 2003...good; Sawtooth Merlot...also nice

From Texas: Becker Cab...quite good

From AZ: Callaghan has a pretty nice line up

a friend from Grape Radio brought a Cab Franc from a Penn winery to a tasting once, and it was an eye opener...don't remember winery....

From Idaho: Hell's Canyon Merlot...quite nice; Indian Creek Pinot...actually think I took this to Jenise's for dinner in Jan. 2003...good; Sawtooth Merlot...also nice

From Texas: Becker Cab...quite good

From AZ: Callaghan has a pretty nice line up

a friend from Grape Radio brought a Cab Franc from a Penn winery to a tasting once, and it was an eye opener...don't remember winery....

Callaghan is the one from Arizona that I consider to be pretty darned good. I think there are a couple others who are pretty serious about what they're making. And then there are the rest.....

Randy, as an avid stamp collector, I've tried to taste wines from as many states as possible -- It would be easier to list the seven I haven't succeeded in finding.

Regards, Bob

PS: some of these were only marginally wine, I must say, although I've excluded all non-grape wines from my "life list". B.

Callaghan is the one from Arizona that I consider to be pretty darned good. I think there are a couple others who are pretty serious about what they're making. And then there are the rest.....

%^)

Other than Callaghan, might the other two be Dos Cabezas (winemaker Todd Bostock became the sole proprietor in the Fall of 2006) and Echo Canyon ? Callaghan makes a cabernet/petit verdot blend that has been served at a couple White House dinner functions ... Dos Cabezas excels on his GSM blend ... Echo Canyon is the Arizona favorite of the Wall Street Journal with his red blends ...

Clink !

%^)

Love to hear any tasting notes on North Dakota wines, as I heard they were the last U.S. state in which a winery was established, circa 2002. There are now a handful of wineries there.

cheers,
al

Aside from the obvious West Coast and NY State, from which other states have you tasted wine, and was it any good?

Here is my list:

North Carolina
Flint Hill Cabernet Sauvignon
Flint Hill Viognier
RayLen South Mountain Chardonnay
Biltmore Estates Chardonnay Sur Lies
RayLen Category 5 (red blend)
Raffaldini Vermentino
Westbend Riesling

As I live a stone's throw from RayLen, Childress, Westbend and Flint Hill, I've tasted many of their wines as well as others from around the state at local tastings. Those listed above are the ones I would buy again. We may not be quite there yet, but we're on our way.

Tennessee
Stonehaus Homestead White

Texas
Comfort Cellars - Tasted about a dozen wines at the winery. All fair to decent, but not majorly impressed with any of them.