Virginia wine was featured last night at President Obama's first State Dinner. The president, his guest of honor, Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, and invited members of D.C.'s elite washed down pumpkin pie tart and pear tatin with Thibaut-Janisson blanc de chardonnay, from the Monticello district near Charlottesville.
Thibaut-Janisson is an up-and-coming specialist in fine sparkling wine. Winemaker Claude Thibaut is convinced that Virginia has the climate and terroir to produce excellent bubbly – and evidently the president agrees.
“Here's more evidence Virginia can produce top-notch fizz,” I wrote about this wine last year in my Thanksgiving recommendations in the Post. “Elegant and stylish, with palate-refreshing acidity and subtle fruit that emerges about an hour after opening.”
Other wines served at the dinner included the 2008 Modus Operandi Sauvignon Blanc from Napa Valley; the 2006 Brooks Winery Riesling “Ara” Vineyard from Oregon's Willamette Valley; and the 2007 Beckman Vineyards Grenache from California's Santa Ynez Valley. The dinner's menu is available on the White House Web site here.
I've always been a big fan of Brooks. The winery farms biodynamically and produces excellent Riesling - the Ara is its best - and Pinot Noir. I had the opportunity to visit the winery last summer during the International Pinot Noir Celebration, and enjoyed the 2006 Ara then. But if you want to taste what the White House guests enjoyed tonight, you'd better hurry - the winery has only a few cases left.
This caps a banner week for Regional Wine. Last week, I wrote in the Post that “the growth of local wineries throughout the country is transforming the American wine industry.” Yesterday, my buddy Jeff Siegel, aka “The Wine Curmudgeon,” offered more proof of the changing face of American wine. Jeff noted that Eric Asimov in The New York Times included a New York wine – Shinn Estate Merlot – in his Thanksgiving recommendations, while Boston Globe wine columnist Stephen Meuse praised Massachusetts Cabernet Franc, even if he didn’t include a specific recommendation for one.
“What's with these big deal wine writers suddenly hopping on the DrinkLocalWine.com bandwagon?” Jeff asked. Not that we're complaining!
Happy Thanksgiving, everyone! Please comment here on what wines you'll be enjoying for the feast.
Can Virginia wines stand tall among some of the best wines in the world? Undeniably yes, if the results of an in-depth tasting I attended on February 27 are any indication.
The occasion was the second annual Virginia Wine Expo, held this weekend in Richmond. The tasting was conducted by Bartholomew Broadbent, wine importer and head of Broadbent Selections, scion of Michael Broadbent, and resident since early last year of Richmond. Broadbent presented six pairs of wines, each matching a Virginia example against an imported wine that had been highly rated by leading wine magazines. The tasting, attended by about 100 people, mostly in the trade, was conducted “semi-blind” – meaning, the list had been posted on the Expo’s Web site (where I had seen it), and the bottles were on display on the dais. But we did not know which wine was which, and we were guess the grape varieties and which one of each pair was from Virginia.
In each pair except one, it was pretty easy to tell which wine came from Virginia. (Or, perhaps I should say I was lucky six times out of six – the show of hands was not always consistent.) The difficult pair, the Bordeaux blend from 2001, was tricky because the first wine was tired and past its prime, while the second was still youthful and lively. The easy tendency – even the winemakers in the room – was to assume the Virginia wine had not held up over time. And of course that was wrong.
Here are my notes from the tasting, in the order tasted. The imported wines are all from Broadbent Selections, which obviously simplified the organizational aspects. Pretty gutsy, though, to subject one’s own portfolio to such competition in front of so many people rooting for the home team. Broadbent selected the Virginia wines with the help of Richard Leahy, east coast editor of Vineyard & Winery Management magazine.
Linden Vineyards “Avenius” Sauvignon Blanc 2007, paired with Spy Valley Sauvignon Blanc 2008. It was easy to tell which was the local here, if only because the Spy Valley’s aggressive grassy and passion fruit aromas shouted its New Zealand origins. The Linden had some grassy notes and a hint of spice; it was rounder and fuller than the Spy Valley, with some creamy mango tango juicy loosey going on.
“The Spy Valley has classic New Zealand acidity, while the Virginia wine has more complexity,” Broadbent said. “Both are high-quality wines.”
Rockbridge Vineyards DeChiel Reserve Riesling 2006 and Louis Guntrum Riesling (Yellow Label) Spätlese 2006. Virginia is not noted for its Riesling, but the DeChiel Reserve was charming for its bright fruit and appealing acidity. It was the clear crowd favorite, but primarily because many in the audience disliked the classic “petrol” minerality of the Guntrum, which hails from Germany’s Rheinhessen region. Broadbent said he picked this particular German contender because it was the same price as the DeChiel (about $18).
Warwick Estate Cabernet Franc 2006 from South Africa, paired with Michael Shaps Cabernet Franc 2007. I was sitting next to Michael Shaps at the tasting, and when we reached this pair he started bouncing on his chair like a giddy schoolboy who knows the answer to a pop quiz. So there was no way I’d vote for the first one. But I wouldn’t have anyway – the Warwick Estate had too much bandaid flavor to it, and I found it rather unappealing. (From crowd comments, others seemed to like it better than I.) The Shaps wine was simply gorgeous – concentrated, ripe and lively, superb fruit from a superb vintage that received superb handling in the winery. After tasting several dozen Virginia wines at the Expo later that evening, a friend and I both said as we left, “Shaps – the wine of the tasting.”
Barren Ridge Touriga Nacional 2007 from Virginia’s Shenandoah Valley, paired with Quinta do Crasto Touriga Nacional 2006 from the Douro Valley in Portugal. There was no doubt which was which here, as the Crasto was simply sublime – it featured all the leafy tobacco and fennel aromas of the Douro, with amazing complexity. The Barren Ridge was simpler, with bright fruit and a surprising exuberance for Virginia. It was a delicious eye-opener, especially when Broadbent mentioned the prices - $18 for the Barren Ridge, compared to $75 for the Quinta do Crasto. (Another, less expensive Touriga from Crasto was ranked #3 in Wine Spectator’s Top 100 ranking for 2008.
Warwick Estate “Reserve”2001 from South Africa, with Barboursville Vineyard “Octagon” 2001. This was the tricky one. I had tasted the 2001 Octagon about a year and a half ago, and I was confident that it would not have turned brick red and tired so quickly. Winemaker Luca Paschina was in the audience, and he seemed nervously confident as some crowd chatter clearly considered the first wine the Virginian. But the Octagon was quite lively, even picking up an attractive note of orange peel and clove.
“The Barboursville Octagon is classic Bordeaux in Virginia,” Broadbent said. “I rank this wine as good as you get in Virginia.”
Paschina was quick to spread the praise. “There are other Bordeaux blends to come from Virginia,” he said. “What it takes is having vineyards with enough age and knowing what works well in each one.”
Chateau Guiraud Sauternes 2005 paired with Veritas Vineyard “Kenmar” 2007. Again, it was obvious which wine was Virginian, as the Veritas featured perfumey floral aromas typical of Traminette. The Guiraud, #4 in Wine Spectator’s ranking last year, was rich with botrytis and crème brulée notes.
Broadbent stressed that the tasting was not meant to be a competition, but rather an exhibition of how some of Virginia’s best wines stand tall among the best wines from around the world.
Quod erat demonstrandum.
Last week I had the pleasure of meeting two legends of American wine and food - Mike Grgich, celebrated winemaker who created the Chateau Montelena Chardonnay that won the Paris Tasting of 1976, and Wolfgang Puck, who helped revolutionize our cuisine by incorporating flavors from around the world that reflected the increasing diversity that is America. The occasion was a wine dinner at The Source by Wolfgang Puck, the chef's D.C. outpost at the Newseum.
As I sat there listening to these two long-time friends regale their dinner guests in their pronounced Eastern European accents, I couldn't help but thinking, "What a wonderful country!" Our economy may be going down the toilet, but optimism and cheer were on display. We had just elected as president a second-generation American of mixed-race who speaks of hope and a bright future instead of enemies lurking around every corner hoping to destroy our way of life unless we destroy it first in self-defense. My own forebears came to this country long enough ago that I have no trace of Scottish or Irish brogue, but I thought of my Taiwanese mother-in-law, who came here 38 years ago and has scrimped and saved and worked her ass off ever since to realize the American dream of a comfortable life for herself and her daughter. And I thought of her 8-year-old granddaughter, half-Chinese, who will now grow up thinking a mixed-race President of the United States is nothing out of the ordinary.
The food and wine were good, too.
This is as political as I will get on this blog, but I figure the people who sent me hate mail five years ago when I made fun of "freedom fries" and joked of putting plastic sheeting up to protect my wine cellar from WMDs are probably no longer reading anyway.
But back to the subject at hand. In between choruses of "You Are My Sunshine," which is apparently Grgich's favorite song, I was able to ask the winemaker what he thought of "Bottle Shock," the recent movie about the Paris Tasting.
"It is just Hollywood, not fact," he said. He acknowledged he hadn't seen it or how it portrayed his accomplishment, but he said he had read the script.
Grgich is also a champion of biodynamic winemaking. He began converting his estate vineyards to biodynamics in 2000, and by 2006 the conversion was complete. He said he can taste the difference.
"We like how our wines taste without pesticides and herbicides," he said. He expressed some skepticism, however, at the current talk of wineries becoming eco-conscious and obsessed with reducing their "carbon footprints."
"The world is going green, though of course like everything else, you can go too far," he said.
And on living and working in Napa Valley, going strong at age 87: "Why should I die and go to paradise, when I can live and work in paradise?"
My thoughts on the Grgich Hills Estate wines served at the dinner:
2007 Fume Blanc - Textbook, with bracing acidity and a good balance between grass and tropical fruit.
2005 Chardonnay - Oaky, not yet fully integrated, but beautifully structured.
2003 Chardonnay - Buttery, orange peel, full and long, nicely rounded and a good testament for aging Napa Valley Chardonnay.
2004 Merlot - Gorgeous, cocoa, roasted coffee, still quite tannic but very rich.
2004 Cabernet Sauvignon - Still somewhat tight and tannic, not yet showing its full potential, though some nice herbal/lavender notes emerge with time.
1995 Yountville Selection Cabernet Sauvignon - Lively, blackberry fruit, good acidity and balance, delightful.
1997 Yountville Selection Cabernet Sauvignon - Delicious, berry and black fruit, lively acidity, with notes of anise, clove, 5-spice (my Chinese background perhaps? Or Puck's Asian-accented cuisine?) and lavender.
Have you ever picked up a shriveled passion fruit - one that looks like it's ready to toss in the compost bin - and then sliced it open and slurped up its juice and seeds? That 
wonderfully ripe, tropical flavor is what you'll find in this zesty wine from the Marlborough district of New Zealand. This is not complex Sauvvie; there's no minerality here. But there is bold NZ character and refreshing acidity - and great value for the price. Look for the starfish on the label, and enjoy this with grilled chicken or any seafood, especially with a citrusy marinade or sauce.
I am a freelance food and wine writer and wine columnist for The Washington Post.
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