Cross post of my three winery visits in mid-May:
Part 1 - Veritas
While visiting my parents in Virginia I was able to take a day to do some wine tasting around the Charlottesville area. I first tasted the wines of the area back in 1988, and while I didn’t have any idea what I was tasting back then, it was one of those experiences that started me down the road to serious interest in the wine hobby.
The most important thing that has happened over the last (nearly) 20 years is that there is no longer any question about the actual winemaking. While there were some wines I liked more than others, not once did I find any serious flaws that would render a wine undrinkable. That’s a far cry from 1988, and even from just a few years ago when there were more than a few badly flawed wines. Certainly some of that is producer specific. We went to three highly regarded wineries in the heart of Virginia wine country.
Our first stop was at Veritas, southwest of Charlottesville. My folks had been there many times, but this was my first visit. It’s a lovely space, rustic but refined. The wines weren’t bad either.
2006 Sauvignon Blanc – ($18, Alc. 12%) Melon and fresh cut grass on the nose. Melon and lemon fruit on the palate. Easy to drink, though I’m not a fan of grassy Sauv Blanc.
2005 Chardonnay Saddleback – ($18, Alc. 12.5%) An unwooded Chardonnay, this showed very nice, crisp apple and melon notes, but it had a very short finish.
2005 Chardonnay Harlequin Reserve – ($20, Alc. 14%) Creamy and spicy, with soft fruit notes. Not enough fruit to support the oak, though I bet this has fans.
2005 Viognier – ($20, Alc. 14%) Honeysuckle and peach aromas and flavors. The fruit is sweet, and the mouthfeel is quite light despite the 14% alcohol. Very nice. I tend to find quality Viognier in Virginia. Given the marginal climate I think it helps for them to be growing a grape without a grand tradition of 100% new oak aging. In most (though not all) Virginia Viognier I have tried the fruit is allowed to shine through, and so the overall lightness is not as obvious.
2006 Rosé of Cabernet Franc/Merlot – ($13, Alc. 12%) Buttery berries!? Lots of berries on the palate & just barely off dry. This is really quite delicious, but buttery?? No oak here, so I’m really confused.
2004 Claret (60% Cab Franc, 40% Merlot) – ($16, Alc. 13.5%) Distinctly green herbal, but not in an unpleasant way, more thyme and rosemary than anything more aggressive (e.g. green pepper). There’s bright cherry fruit, but it’s almost too subtle. Needs some stuffing.
2005 Vintner’s Reserve Red Wine (60% Cab Franc, 30% Merlot, 10% Petit Verdot) – ($25, Alc. 13%) Red fruit and leather on the nose. There’s good acidity here, as well as more substantial red fruit than in the Claret. This has a medium length finish. Well made red wine.
2005 Petit Verdot - ($29, Alc. 13.2%) The fruities wine of the bunch. Lots of black cherries here. The Petit Verdot must be where the Vintner’s Reserve Red gets its more substantial fruit. There’s also mint here, as well as a bit of toasty oak, but the fruit in this wine is strong enough to stand up and dominate the oak. Well balanced and interesting. I bought a bottle of this for the curiosity of 100% Petit Verdot, but also because it was just plain good wine.
2005 Petit Manseng - ($25, Alc. 13%, 1.5% Residual Sugar) Slightly thick texture, with crème brulee and underripe pineapple aromas and flavors. Not bad, but not all that substantial.
2005 ‘Kenmar’ (flash frozen Traminette) – ($18 for 375 ml, Alc. 14%, 8% Residual Sugar) Floral and peach aromas. Slightly confected. Bitter grapefruit peel on the finish. There’s good acid balance, but not enough fruit to cover that finishing bitterness.
All in all this is a very good lineup for a relatively new winery. Veritas is well ahead of Virginia wineries with a much longer track record. As has frequently been the case I find that Viognier and Cabernet Franc can make some nice wines, but the real surprise is the Petit Verdot. Given how hard it is to ripen in Bordeaux I’m basically shocked that anyone in Virginia can make a good wine out of it.
Another point in Veritas’ favor is that the prices are very reasonable. The Rosé is inexpensive enough to be a summer quaffer, and the Petit Verdot is reasonably priced for the quality (and rarity) of the wine. This restraint is not the case everywhere in Virginia. Aggressive pricing may be necessary to make some wineries financially viable, but it does them no commercial favor in an emerging region.
I do however have one rant. While the person who poured the wines for us was very nice, she insisted on giving the spiel about what we could taste in the wines, even after we made it very clear we were quite knowledgeable and wanted to form our own impressions. I’m standing there with pen and notebook, doing the whole critical swirl, sniff, spit thing, and getting the “don’t you taste chocolate?” line. No, as a matter of fact I do not taste chocolate. Please tell the group in the fancy jewelry and straw hats, who just pulled up in their Hummer what they taste in the wines. End of rant.
Part 2 - Blenheim
After a brief stop for a snack post-Veritas we headed south of Charlottesville to visit Blenheim, a newer winery co-owned by UVA grad and jam band king Dave Matthews. (It is funny to note that Blenheim sits atop Carter Ridge, which is not named for Dave’s drummer Carter Beauford.) Winemaker Brad McCarthy is doing very good things with his own vines, as well as sourcing some fruit from other vineyards.
Unfortunately some of the wines were already sold out, but the six we did get to try ranged from very good to excellent.
2004 Star Label Chardonnay – ($14, 12.5% alcohol) Fresh pears and subtle spice on the nose and plate. Fresh and easy to drink, if a bit spicy for my taste.
2005 Blenheim Farm Chardonnay – ($20, 13.5% alcohol) Pineapple and spice, with a crisp but spicy finish. Oaky (fermented in oak per their website), but not heavy at all. Very good for its type (full disclosure: I’m not a fan of oaky chardonnay).
2005 Viognier – ($25, 13.8% alcohol) Smells and tastes like a fresh peach. Some floral accents, but mostly dominated by that fresh peach. This is slightly oily in texture and has a longer finish than either of the Chardonnays. Very good. Yet another example of successful Viognier in Virginia.
2003 Star Label Cabernet Franc – ($14, 12.5% alcohol) Cherries, spice and herbs all melded together and supported by solid acidity. Light bodied and refreshing, with very soft tannins. Excellent for a lighter style red wine.
2004 King Family Vineyards Merlot – ($25, 13.2% alcohol) Deep, supple cherry fruit flavors, as well as some herbal elements. Soft palate feel, and a longer finish than most any red I tasted all day. Very well done, even if I’m not a fan of Merlot.
2005 Meritage – (58% merlot, 40% cab franc, 2% petit verdot, $20, 13.2% alcohol) Raspberries, blackberries, herbs and smoke combine to make this the most complex red I tasted all day. Very well made wine with solid balancing acids and a medium length finish. Honest to goodness value for the money, and I prefer it to the Merlot, though both are excellent.
Putting my personal style preferences aside I thought everything here was well made, and took home a bottle of the Cab Franc and Meritage for further study. I would like to return to Blenheim when some of their other wines are available, as this set of six has me more encouraged than ever about Virginia wines.
Part 3 – Kluge Estate
Founded in 1999 by Patricia Kluge, this is a winery that has cash. The tasting room is fantastic (good cheese selection too), there are lots of new vineyards, with more coming. There’s lots of potential here, but it could easily be overwhelmed by hype/glitz.
Kluge SP2004 Blanc de Blancs (100% Chardonnay) – Very youthful and yeasty. There’s nice potential here, with dry citrus character, but at $42 it’s way overpriced. Roederer Estate, at less than ½ the price, is still a noticeably better wine.
Kluge SP 2004 Rosé (89% Chardonnay, 11% Pinot Noir) – Tart berry aromas and flavors. Very astringent on the palate. Perhaps the only wine of the day that was out of balance. A tough sell at $45.
2006 Rosé (blend of the five Bordeaux varieties) – Chalky, astringent strawberry flavors. Tastes like it spent too much time on the skins. The fruit flavors are nice, but it’s tough. $13.
2005 Viognier – Remember when I said that most Virginia wineries let the Viognier fruit shine through? Well here’s one that uses oak, and the spice buries the fruit. This ain’t Guigal’s Condrieu Dorianne folks. Ease up on the oak. $26
2003 Simply Red (36% Cab Sauv, 28% Cab Franc, 31% Merlot, 5% Petit Verdot) – Very smooth and soft. There’s light berry fruit, and it’s easy to drink. $22.
2002 New World Red (50% Cab Sauv, 35% Merlot, 15% Cab Franc) – Blackberry, black cherry, solid but supple tannins and good length. This is a very nice wine, but it’s only the equal, not the superior, of other reds I tasted this day, and at $62 vastly overpriced.
2006 Cru (100% Chardonnay) – Now this is an incredibly interesting wine. It’s all Chardonnay, fortified with local brandy and aged in used Jack Daniel’s barrels. It’s smoky, fruity, way too easy to drink, and would also be fantastic served over some chipped ice with a twist of lemon. It’s not at all hot/spirity despite the fortified nature (it is served cold), and the peach, citrus, smoke and vanilla flavors meld very well. Yum! It’s also a good value for what it is, at about $28 for 750ml.
So there’s a last minute save, as the final wine was the best and best value of the tasting. Kluge is making some interesting wines, but overall I think they are over-reaching right now in terms of image and price. If quality continues to go up then that might very well come into balance soon. I would ease up on both the prices and the Cabernet Sauvignon.
