Dave McIntyre's WineLine

Bobby Kacher - Dean of the DC Importers

The Washington, D.C., region is a very fun and active market for wine consumers, especially for those of us interested in imported wines. There is a vibrant cadre of wine importers serving this market, enough to keep wine lovers turning bottles to look at the back label to see who is importing which wines.

The dean of these importers is Bobby Kacher, the ever loquacious face, palate and voice behind Robert Kacher Selections. I profile Bobby in my wine column this week in The Washington Post.

Bobby represents about 75 producers, and about 70 of these are French. (He has two producers in Argentina, one in Portugal, and one in South Africa, that I know of.) All are family owned and operated, they emphasize organic viticulture (at least, no pesticides and herbicides), temperature-controlled fermentation to keep the wines fresh, no filtration, etc - many of these seem commonplace now, but Kacher helped promote these practices when he started importing wines in the 1980s.

As you'll see in the sidebar on wine recommendations, I learned a lot about French wine by purchasing Bobby's imports back in the late 1980s. There are many more importers in the DC area that I follow now, and I seem to be learning about more every year as the market thrives and expands. And I've followed Bobby less reliably as I've explored other importers' portfolios. But each time I taste some of his wines, I'm reminded of my wine-loving roots.

And whatever you do, don't miss out on that Saumur ...

Beat the hot weather with a cold rosé!

Here in the Eastern US, we’re stifling under one of the hottest summers on record. We’ve already passed our average number of 90-degree days for the year, and it isn’t even August yet!

No wine can beat summer’s torpor better than a cold, crisp rosé. Each year, I love going through the new crop of rosé wines from France, Spain and Italy, especially, to see which ones will accompany me through summer. This year, the 2009s held great promise, but I soon learned a lesson as I tasted through several from southern France. Last year may have been a wonderful vintage throughout France, but wines that benefit from being crisp and acidic ran the risk of turning out flabby in the riper-than-normal harvest.

There were still some very good ones, though. Here are a few of my favorites, as I shared recently in my Washington Post wine column. I’ll recommend some more in future posts.

Stay cool!

A Bouquet of Rosés for Valentines Day

Throughout the Mid-Atlantic, folks are probably celebrating a prolonged Valentines Day - curling up with their loved ones to stay warm after hours outside shoveling snow. There may not be an opportunity to get to a flower shop for the traditional bouquet of roses, but hopefully there is some sparkling rosé in the fridge. And if not, I have a few suggestions up and down the budget range in today's Washington Post Food section.

Life Through Rosé-Colored Glasses

In Bordeaux, Vinexpo week has been blessed with stunningly beautiful weather – bright, sunny skies, warm-to-hot-but-not-stifling temperatures, and steady breezes leading into cool nights. It’s been such a treat after all the rain back home.

That rain had me in a bit of funk as I was writing two columns on rosé for The Washington Post, with summer temperatures in mind. You can still check them – one from June 17 on Old World rosé, the other from June 24 on some worthy ones from the New World. (Don’t forget to click on the links for “Rosé Recommendations” to find some extraordinary wines for your summer sipping pleasure!)

Cheers!

Dave

Photo: Julia Ewan, Washington Post

Chaddsford Rosé: "Regional Wine" at its best!

Here’s an impressive statistic for you: The number of wineries in the United States has more than doubled this decade,from 2,188 in 2000 to 4,712 last year, according to Wine America, a D.C.-based trade association. At the same time, California’s share of that number has dropped from 53 percent (1,156 wineries) to 33 percent (1,553 wineries. While California still produces close to 90 percent of all wine made in the United States, this is explosive growth, and a lot of it is happening in states that until recently have not really been associated with quality wine production. Sure, Oregon and Washington account for some of that growth, but New York, Virginia, Pennsylvania and Colorado also lead the growth spurt in the new millennium.

 

And here’s more good news: Quality is improving, too!

 

That’s why I’m part of a group of wine writers eager to feature the growth of “regional wine” in the United States. The week of October 6, writers across the country – in newspapers, Internet publications and blogs – will highlight wines from their localities or areas where they have traveled. Look for their writings to be collected on a Web site which I will feature here.

One such wine I recently enjoyed was the Chaddsford 2007 Rosé, a delightfully fruity, dry rosé made exclusively from Chambourcin. Winemaker Eric Miller calls 2007 “the vintage of a life time” for his patch of southeastern Pennsylvania, and he’s bled off some nice juice from his always-reliable Chambourcin to make this fun late-summer quaffer. According to the Chaddsford Web site, they only made 147 cases of it, and they don’t list a price, so it may be sold out already. (The winery sent me a sample.)

Chaddsford isn’t exactly “local” for me here in the D.C. area, but it’s close enough. This is exactly the type of wine that consumers, writers, and retailers should be seeking out. Is it profound? No. But it’s good. It’s fun. And it’s “from around here.”

A Winning Riesling from ... Rhode Island!

Winemaking on the East Coast keeps getting better and better! This was on display last weekend at the 4th Atlantic Seaboard Wine Competition, when Best of Show was won by a 2007 Riesling from Newport Vineyards in Rhode Island. This wine featured zesty lime flavors and great acidity - a classic Riesling that had me convinced it was from the Finger Lakes.

I was one of 20 judges that swirled, sniffed and spit our way through 458 wines from 100 wineries in 12 states, and having participated in all four contests, I can say this year’s field was the strongest yet. (Or else my table was luckier than in early years.) The Best of Show taste-off featured 19 wines among the 56 that received gold medals; the judges awarded 117 silver and 153 bronze medals as well. (I wrote about last year’s competition in the October 2007 issue of Washingtonian.)

Can three-quarters of East Coast wines be medal worthy? Yes, if you consider wineries self-select by sending their best and many simply choose not to participate. You can say all you want about these competitions, but they provide a worthwhile barometer of how the market is progressing. That’s precisely why the Vinifera Wine Growers Association sponsors the event.

New wineries continue to do well. Maryland’s Black Ankle Vineyards (profiled in the August issue of Washingtonian) scored four medals, including a gold for its 2006 Crumbling Rock Bordeaux blend. Other local names that figure prominently in the medal lists are Pearmund Cellars, Chrysalis, Horton and Barboursville. Kluge Estate wowed the judges with its 2004 rosé sparkling wine.

Some of these Virginia medal winners will be on display September 27 and 28 at the VWGA’s 33rd Virginia Wine Festival at the Prince William County Fairgrounds in Manassas. If you want to snag a bottle of that Best in Show Riesling, you might need to plan a trip to Rhode Island - but hurry, before it sells out!

Real Men DO Drink Pink, Nigella!

Last Tuesday, June 24, British cookbook author Nigella Lawson (left) was interviewed on NPR's Morning Edition about stylish summer fare for al fresco dining that would be a cut above burgers and dogs but not so intimidating that we Americans would shy away from it. (Here's the story.) At the end of the interview, host Renee Montagne asked the Domestic Goddess about her favorite summer wine, and the two seemed almost apologetic to recommend rosé - a wine they said was usually "sneered at."

As soon as I got to my computer I fired off a note to the show's producers - which, as I did it through the NPR Web site, I don't have anymore - chiding them that rosé - dry rosé, at least - has long been championed by wine writers as the ideal warm weather fare, as I did five years ago in WineLine 32. Rosé, I argued, is well past its snob effect. To bolster my point, I mentioned that rosé is made by more and more wineries across the country, from Bonny Doon's consistently delicious Vin Gris de Cigare to a juicy, delightful Rosato di Sangiovese from Ingleside Vineyards in Virginia. Both of these wines in the 2007 vintage are available now and worthy antidotes to the summer doldrums.

I don't know if my letter was read on the air, but if people keep believing that rosé is for sissies, well, I guess that means there's more for me!