Dave McIntyre's WineLine

Why Aren't More Local Wines on Local Wine Lists?

This is a question that can probably be asked wherever fine wines are made. In fact, it WAS raised last year in the San Francisco Chronicle, which reported complaints by North Coast vintners about restaurants that touted their local meats and produce but filled their lists with imported wines. Todd Kliman took the debate national this summer with his essay, "The Locavore Wine Hypocrisy," on thedailybeast.com. In today's Washington Post Food section, I look deeper into the question, and find some intriguing arguments on both sides to explain the problem. I also discover some area restaurants that are making the commitment to feature the local vino.

An AmpelWHATapher?

Ampelography is one of the funniest sounding words in wine, a field that's full of potential puns and double entendres. It means simply, the study and identification of grapevines. And Lucie Morton is one of this country's leading ampelographers. But she's not just good at identifying grapevines - Morton identifies and wages war on grapevine pests and diseases. She is also a revered vineyard consultant here in the Eastern United States (though she also has clients in California and France).

Think "revered" is a bit strong for a vineyard consultant? Well, check out my column on Lucie in this week's Washington Post Food section. Two of her clients use religious imagery while speaking of her - one calls her "our Moses leading us from the wilderness" while the other describes his "Road to Damascus moment" when he tasted a wine from one of her clients and became a convert to the gospel of high-density planting. And don't miss my recommendations of wines produced by some of her local clients.

A New Virginia Winery Takes Top Prize

Last month, the Virginia Governor's Cup for white wines was awarded to Paradise Springs winery of Clifton, in Fairfax County, for its 2009 Chardonnay. This was noteworthy because Paradise Springs is one of Virginia's newest wineries. But it is also worth celebrating because the winery's owners fought stiff opposition from the county government and from neighbors who feared that a winery would just be an events venue for jazz festivals, weddings and drunk fests and such. This award, plus a gold medal in January for their Norton in the Governor's Cup judging for red wines, shows that Paradise Springs is more interested in quality than buzz.

I wrote about the award last Thursday on The Washington Post's All We Can Eat food blog. But while I commend my scintillating writing for your enjoyment, I hope you will notice the comments added by Post readers. The first asks, "Why would I drink local wine when I can drink cheap, delicious, imported wine for half the cost?" Someone then replies, "Because you don't know the difference." (The third comment is simply spam for someone selling bootleg clothing.)

This exchange is illuminating. Local wines - be they from Virginia, Maryland, Texas, Michigan or elsewhere - face the challenge of demonstrating their value. Sure, if I just want to spend $8 or less on a bottle of wine, I will find many from France, Spain, Argentina and Chile that will suit me just fine, thank you very much. A wine that speaks of terroir, especially local terroir, that demonstrates through some subliminal message that it is somehow connected to the place where it was grown, is another story. And yes, such a wine can come from Virginia, or Maryland, Michigan, Ohio, New York, Texas ...

USA Today on Regional Wine

USA Today, the nation's newspaper, dropped at hotel room doors across the land every morning, last week endorsed the regional wine movement with a travel feature on 10 "local" wine regions to visit. This is a great idea - if your business or pleasure takes you to St. Louis, consider a detour to Hermann. Heading to New York? Linger awhile in the Finger Lakes. Taking your family to Washington, DC, for some American history, or Charlottesville, to see Jefferson's Monticello? Guess what? Wine country is just around the corner.

The article is also a tribute to Regional Wine Week and DrinkLocalWine.com, as Jeff Siegel and I were interviewed about emerging wine regions across the country.

Oz Clarke Gives Two Thumbs Way Up for Virginia Wine!

Here's a great way to start Regional Wine Week: I received my copy of Oz Clarke's Pocket Wine Guide 2011 yesterday - it's a fun, handy reference volume with short entries on wine grapes, regions and producers around the world, with vintage charts, liberally peppered with bons mots from the effervescently witty Oz. I always enjoy reading his introduction, which this year warns against complacency by wine drinkers in the face of anti-alcohol activists who don't distinguish among drinks.

Then he describes what wines excite him lately. There are some unpronounceable Turkish varieties, and he's hot for Slovenian Furmint and even Cabernet Sauvignon from Jordan. (The country, not the Sonoma County winery.) He's rediscovered Chardonnay from California, New Zealand and Australia, and while he doesn't seem to share my love for Argentina, he gives a begrudging nod to Torrontes.

And then there's this:

"My most thrilling discovery in the USA this year has been the wine from vineyards spread around Washington, DC, in particular those of Virginia, whose sumptuous, scented Viogniers are world-class. A perfect partner for the leaner, racier delights of New York State."

Some disclosure is in order here. I contribute entries on the Eastern United States to this book, and I hosted (and wrote about) Clarke when he visited the Washington area earlier this year and shared his opinions on some local wines. When I met him, though, it was clear he was already quite familiar with many wines from the Mid-Atlantic region and particularly jazzed about Virginia Viognier.

Don't forget to check out DrinkLocalWine.com this week for more postings on regional wines!

Not Your Father's Virginia Wine

Does your impression of Virginia wine date back to an unfortunate taste 10 or 20 years ago, in a store or at a sweltering festival somewhere in hunt country? Mine did, but I kept tasting, as Virginia wines kept getting better. Unfortunately, I'm not at all convinced that most people have continued to taste and keep an open mind about Virginia wine.

That's why I hope you'll enjoy my column in today's Washington Post, in which I highlight some interesting trends in the Virginia wine industry - it's growth over the past decade, with an increasing emphasis on quality; it's success in new markets, both among younger, tech-savvy drinkers and overseas; and the increasing focus on vineyard-designated wines that express and develop Virginia's terroir, unique from that of France or California.

This is Virginia Wine Month, as declared by the Virginia Wine Folks. And next week is Regional Wine Week, as declared by Jeff Siegel (The Wine Curmudgeon) and myself at DrinkLocalWine.com. Be sure to check in regularly for the best blogoscribbling about wines "from around here, wherever here happens to be."

Weather Plays Games with the 2010 Harvest

This year's strange weather is playing some real mind games on vintners as they begin the 2010 harvest. Here in the Eastern U.S., harvest is earlier than ever after an exceptionally hot and dry weather helped ripen grapes - or at least spike sugar levels - faster than anyone could have imagined. Out West, a cooler-than-usual summer has delayed harvest, raising fears that the autumn rains will begin before the grapes are off the vine.

Here is my early harvest update in Wednesday's Washington Post along with my monthly list of Recession Buster recommendations. This month features some boxed wines, perfect for your end-of-summer cookouts.

Now, we have Hurricane Earl, a Category 4 storm, bearing down on the East Coast. If forecasts hold, it should not have a great effect on Virginia or Maryland, but it could deliver a lot of wind and rain to Long Island at an inopportune time. Stay tuned ....

More from Oz Clarke

When I wrote about my tasting party with Oz Clarke, the gregarious and hilarious British wine writer, several readers chastised me for not revealing Oz's reactions to the individual wines. So he was kind enough to send me some tasting notes of his favorites. Keep in mind that we tasted probably 30 or so wines that evening ranging up and down the East Coast of the US, but centered on the Mid-Atlantic region. Here are the ones that stuck in Oz's mind:

NASSAU VALLEY VINEYARDS (DELAWARE) CHARDONNAY  2006 AND CABERNET SAUVIGNON 2007

These Delaware wines were new to me. I really liked the lean, stoney fruit, even a little leafy in the red, and the restrained alcohol. I’d countenance a very light hand with the oak, but this is a promising newcomer.

BLACK ANKLE VINEYARDS VIOGNIER 2009 AND LEAF-STONE SYRAH 2008 (MARYLAND)

With a name like that, you just know I’m going to love the wines, though my fantasy about the exact turn of the black ankle may not be entirely based on fact. These are restrained, reserved styles from Frederick County in Maryland and good examples of Maryland’s late but youthful charge on the Eastern wine scene. Or should I say, re-charge; I have fond memories of Byrd Chardonnays from the 1980s.

MICHAEL SHAPS PETIT VERDOT 2005 (VIRGINIA)

Virginia just loves to play hard ball. Most wine regions steer well clear of Petit Verdot – too tricky to ripen, too tannic, can’t pronounce the name, blah, blah. But good ’ole Virginia thinks – hey. Warmish climate, humid, rain in the fall – Petit Verdot, thick skin to avoid rot, needs the heat. We can do that – and they do.  Lovely dark fruit, pleasant tannic grip, a smudge of oak. Welcome to your New World home, P-V.

HORTON VINEYARDS RKATSITELI RESERVE 2008 (VIRGINIA)

Now. Is that R silent? Some people call it Rekatsiteli, the Finger Lakes boys call it Arkatsiteli – but that R, – that P in Russian – isn’t it silent before a consonant? I learnt a bit of Russian – admittedly from a book published in the 1930s when presumably most decent Russian linguists had been incarcerated – so that I could sing Mussorgsky better. I then realised that Mussorgsky isn’t one of those guys you can sing better unless you’re born in deepest Siberia with a throat as wide as a 100-year-old pine tree trunk, so I sort of lost interest. But I still think the R/P question is silent before a consonant. I’m going to pronounce it Katsiteli. And Horton, God bless the fact that they’ve probably planted a row or two of every vine variety known to man – produce a really classic, full, apple puree example only matched in the East by Frank’s Finger Lakes classic that I tasted a few days later. 

SHINDIG 2009 (FINGER LAKES, NEW YORK)

For those toffee-noses who don’t believe the hybrids can do dick shit (sorry, ed - Note from Dave: That's OK, this is the Internet!) this mean, lean, chewy, apple skin and shimmering green flesh tongue scourer is 80% Vidal with a dash of Riesling to pull it towards the legit. side of the blanket.

BOXWOOD WINERY “BOXWOOD” 2007, (VIRGINIA) 

Well, some Virginian had to take on the twin Shibboleths of St-Emilion garagiste and Napa Titan. It’s pretty good if that’s your thing – and Virginia is sort of equidistant, so it should be good. (Note from Dave: Boxwood does two red blends: Topiary, which is modeled after St. Emilion - half merlot, half cabernet franc - and Boxwood, which follows a Left Bank recipe based on cabernet sauvignon, merlot and petit verdot. We tasted the Boxwood, because that’s the one I had on hand, but Oz can be forgiven for mixing them up slightly given the sheer number of wines we tasted that night. Besides, we probably talked about the Topiary and how that is the most popular of the two.)

BILTMORE RESERVE CHARDONNAY 2008, (NORTH CAROLINA)

I’ve been looking at photos of that damned railroad pile for so long, and at last I taste the wine. Intair-es-ting. Here come de Judge. (Note from Dave: I don’t understand this. But the wine was pretty good!)

  

McDonnell pushes to privatize Virginia's liquor stores

Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell (R) argued again today for his proposal to privatize the commonwealth's liquor stores by auctioning off licenses and using the windfall for transportation construction.

McDonnell raised this idea during last year's campaign, but so far has met with skepticism. Critics fear the state will lose revenue and that privatization would mean less efficient regulation of alcoholic beverages.

Speaking on WTOP radio today, McDonnell argued that not only would the state receive a windfall from the sale of the licenses, but it would continue to benefit financially through annual taxes and fees, The Washington Post reported on its website.

The governor made an argument that should resonate in Montgomery County, Maryland, the nation's only county controlled liquor distribution system, and in other control states such as Pennsylvania:

"I don't think selling alcohol is a core function of government -- neither do most people,'' he said. "I don't think it's a core function of government to do it and I think the private sector can run the stores more efficiently. There are free market incentives to do it." 

More efficiently? Let's see, in Montgomery County, all alcoholic beverages are distributed out of an un-air conditioned warehouse (and of course we're baking in record heat this summer), with only one delivery per licensee per week. And the county tacks on a 25% surcharge for privilege of cooking your wine for you. Not to mention that most MoCo liquor stores have all the charm and warmth of a methadone clinic. The situation has gotten a little better - we have a few privately owned stores with dedicated owners that are willing to make the extra effort to work with the county and distributors. But the system is archaic and, like Virginia's, should be privatized.

Momentum for Local Wine ...

The "drink local" movement is gaining steam. When my buddy Jeff Siegel, aka The Wine Curmudgeon, received a press release last week touting a dinner with cookbook author Diana Kennedy to be held next month at the Modern Museum of Modern Art in Fort Worth, he immediately asked the organizers if Texas or Mexican wines would be among the "carefully selected" wines for the Mexican menu. The museum's chef emailed him that although the menu had not been finalized, Texas wines would be involved. Maybe Mexican wines, too.

In April, the Park Hyatt in Washington added a Virginia winery to its Masters of Food and Wine program after I criticized the all-California selection for an event touting regional Mid-Atlantic agriculture. The Lettuce Entertainment restaurant group did the same for a Chesapeake Bay-themed dinner at their Wildfire restaurant in Tyson's Corner, Va, scheduled for July 27. Once I inquired about it, they quickly lined up Barboursville Vineyards as a co-sponsor and featured winery for the dinner.

The message is getting some big media play, too. Jon Bonne wrote about "justifying local wine" in the San Francisco Chronicle - "local" meaning California, of course. And Steve Heimoff, a senior editor and very distinguished wine writer with Wine Enthusiast magazine, recently blogged about a plea from a vintner for wine lovers to support their local wineries to help them through hard times. Heimoff lives in California wine country, and "local" for him also means California wine, but the message translates. The vintner Heimoff cited was Oded Shakked of Longboard Vineyards, who criticized restaurants for touting their local produce but ignoring local wines.

And that is precisely the message Todd Kliman eloquently espouses in a withering essay posted last week on The Daily Beast. In "The Locavore Wine Hypocrisy," Kliman takes on some of the most famous restaurants in the country for talking a good local game on their menus and not following through on their wine lists.

Here's an excerpt:

"... if these are heady days for the local cheesemaker, butcher, and farmer, they're head-scratching days for the local vintner, who has been largely shut out of the feel-good foodie fad. If the wine lists at the country's most prominent locavore restaurants tell us anything, it's that 'what grows together, goes together'—the mantra of the movement—is meant to refer to what's on the plate, not what's in the glass. Local and regional wines are seldom to be found."

Kliman, the food and wine editor of Washingtonian magazine and author of the tremendous new book, The Wild Vine, rips apart the most common excuse for ignoring local wines - that they are too expensive and better values abound from California. Chefs are willing to pay extra for organic eggs from chickens just up the road, he points out. And sommeliers are supposed to align their wine lists with the chef's menu, even if it means a little extra work to suss out the better wines from the area. But many somms seem unwilling to take a chance on local wines that don't seem trendy.

"The idealism of their mission statements notwithstanding, what locavore restaurants are telling us is that quality matters much less than cachet when it comes to assembling a wine list—the perception that a given product is the best, most exquisite example in its class," Kliman writes.

Maybe once local wines gain a little more cachet, the sommeliers will wake up. What's interesting to me, however, is that momentum for local wine is coming from writers - bloggers, especially - and consumers, rather than retailers or sommeliers. When I eat out, I want my sommelier to be taking chances and to seek out unusual wines - even if they come from just up the road. Don't treat me with kid gloves - dazzle me.