Virginia: America's Old World Jason Tesauro
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virginia Virginia: America’s Old World It doesn’t get the media coverage that California does, but Virginia is tipped to be the next big thing in American wine. Jason Tesauro picks out the varieties and producers that are bringing the area to wider attention, at home and abroad A dashiNg Dutchman EmergEs from his slick the midpoint between Bordeaux and Napa Valley. travel trailer to pour three wines, including his ‘Very simply,’ said steven spurrier during a 2012 visit, own. The 2008 Château Léoville-Barton (£65) will ‘Virginia makes the kinds of wines i like to drink.’ mellow, but in its adolescence, the second growth is standoffish. Flanking it, a voluptuous 2008 Colgin Then… iX Estate Napa Valley Red Wine (£330). standing Virginia’s wine timeline begins in 1774, when between these classic examples of Bordeaux italian viticulturist Filippo mazzei planted clippings austerity and California opulence, an elegant yet from France, italy and spain at Thomas Jefferson’s juicy wine from a rising star and rocky hilltop one monticello. The 19th-century phylloxera blight and hour west of Washington, DC. Rutger de Vink’s RdV Prohibition (1919) wiped out the wine culture until Vineyards Lost mountain 2009 (£50) wins the day. italy’s Zonin family founded Barboursville (1976) Not surprisingly – i later learn – Jancis Robinson and ushered in the modern renaissance. scored it 18/20. in the 1980s, plantings shifted from French Virginia wines are coming of age at the moment hybrids to vinifera, and the 1990s saw Riesling and when American palates are doing the same. Despite Pinot Noir bulldozed in favour of Viognier, CANADA Wine regions of Virginia Toronto NEW California’s global rise in the 1970s, the us of yore Cabernet Franc and Bordeaux varieties. Great YORK 1 Shenandoah Valley Photograph:Leonard Phillips /Thomas Jefferson Foundation Monticelloat www.monticello.org.wine. Map:Maggie Nelson Detroit Lakes 2 Shenandoah Valley AVA still treated wine as a cocktail and fast food as a Winegrowers fine-tuned their terroir thanks to a 3 Northern Virginia treat. Enter the era of slow-food consciousness and strong oenological and viticultural research PENNSYLVANIA 4 Chesapeake Bay USA go-local fetishism. After years of high-octane wines programme at Virginia Polytechnic institute, plus New 5 George Washington Birthplace AVA Washington York 6 Eastern Virginia – and one heck of a hangover – open-minded support from the tourism industry, Department of ‘The English want to like OHIO D.C. 7 Hampton Roads WEST 8 Central Virginia N drinkers who have tired of the density, oak and Agriculture and, most importantly, a kind of VIRGINIA 9 Monticello AVA alcohol often found on the west coast are now open-door collaboration unheard of in Europe. ‘We Richmond 10 Southern Virginia American wine, and Virginia KENTUCKY showing interest in Virginia’s delicacy, stainless try to work collectively, not protect trade secrets,’ VIRGINIA Chesapeake 11 Blue Ridge Highlands Bay 12 Heart of Appalachia steel and food-friendliness. says matthieu Finot, winemaker at King Family. consistently delivers finesse NORTH ironically, since New World obsession never By the late 2000s, Virginia had emerged as the CAROLINA MARYLAND caught on in England, uK critics touted Virginia fifth-largest wine-producing state in the us, and elegance’ SOUTH Atlanta CAROLINA even before America’s own mainstream wine press. thriving outside of California’s shadow alongside Bartholomew Broadbent, US-based wine importer Washington Atlantic Ocean GEORGIA Charleston Winchester D.C. michael Broadbent, for instance, reported on his Washington, New York and Oregon. Chesapeake Bay first ‘seriously good wine’ from Virginia (the 1998 Arlington 3 Potomac Barboursville Vineyards Octagon 3rd Edition) in …and now three harvests later, RdV is regularly named among SHENANDOAH MOUNTAINS River 0 100 200 2 8 2001. Thus, 400 years after the Jamestown As a predominately warm region, Virginia’s long the state’s best producers. kilometres 1 9 Experiment, the Brits have a new Virginia outpost. growing season combines with varied exposure, ‘soil is first and climate comes second,’ says Luca Tappahannock 5 Charlottesville ‘The English want to like American wine, and altitudes and soil types to ripen most varieties. it’s Above: Rutger de Vink, Paschina, winemaker and general manager at Rappahannock KENTUCKY Richmond 4 River Virginia consistently delivers finesse and elegance,’ far from love at first sight, however. striking out on who spent three years Barboursville, Virginia’s benchmark winery. ‘my 6 BLUE RIDGE MOUNTAINS APPALACHIAN MOUNTAINSRoanoke 7 says Broadbent’s son, us-based wine importer his own after an apprenticeship under famed investigating RdV’s terroir number-one advice for each grower is to gain a 8 Hampton Bartholomew Broadbent. Virginia winegrower Jim Law, Rutger de Vink devoted better understanding of their soil. some are still 12 VIRGINIA Norton 11 Norfolk ‘They are a perfect bridge between the west three years and 100 test holes to identifying RdV’s Top: Monticello, where planting what grows in the market, instead of what Danville 10 Virginia Abingdon 7 coast and Europe,’ says Jennifer Knowles, sommelier stone-ridden sweet spot of poor soils where high- Virginia’s wine story began grows well on their site.’ De Vink says: ‘We set out to Beach at the famed The inn At Little Washington. it is fate: vigour vines perform best. A soil scientist first continue what Luca had done, what Jim had done at TENNESSSEE NORTH CAROLINA the heart of Virginia wine country lies practically at identified it as ‘nothing but a pile of rocks’. Only Linden Vineyards, the pioneers of Virginia.’ ➢ 6 2 | J u l y 2 0 1 3 • DECANTER DECANTER • July 2 0 1 3 | 6 3 virginia michael shaps, winemaking consultant for more degree in infectious diseases – and the frosts, Viognier, which can show tremendous structure than 30 Virginia wineries, tells clients: ‘i can’t just droughts and rains that came with the job and depth here. ‘We’re trying not to get it too ripe,’ Virginia at a glance wave the magic wand. Put your money into entrusted to her by her British parents. explains Finot. his 2011 is generously aromatic, vineyards, not me.’ Old World regions cannot Veramar Vineyard winemaker Justin Bogaty says: handled in 70% stainless steel with the remainder The state has 230 wineries across nine Shenandoah Valley Region expand, but the New World can, if only as fast as its ‘We become better from challenging years.’ in neutral oak, French acacia barrels and concrete regions and seven American n Shenandoah Valley AVA (22 vines. gesturing to a denuded hilltop where he has Veramar’s 2011 Cabernet Franc (12.7% alcohol) eggs. Around the state, vinification varies, but top Viticultural Areas (AVAs – see below). wineries): the state’s largest AVA. cleared 16 hectares, george hodson, general shows classic varietal tartness and smokiness, examples undergo sur lie ageing in steel or neutral Central and northern regions represent Bounded by Blue Ridge to the east and manager at the family-run Veritas Vineyard & though it’s a tad thinner than in drier years. ‘Not wood to preserve the nose, freshness and nearly 80% of production. Piedmont is Appalachian mountains to the west. Winery, says: ‘until we get significant investment in bad for 36 days of sunshine,’ Bogaty quips. he’s a uC minerality. Those with ample acidity even hold up characterised by well-draining red clay; vineyards, we’ll be a novelty.’ Davis graduate making everyday wines – with to cellaring. Barboursville’s rare eight and ten-year- the north features low-vigour silt loam Chesapeake Bay Region Virginia’s tasting rooms are filled with accents, whole-cluster fermentation and gentle tannins – in old Viogniers show honeyed hues, silky textures over crumbling granite; Shenandoah n Northern Neck George Washington and not just from international visitors. Nearly 40% part because there’s no empty space in his cellar for and plenty of life. Valley is known for its limestone skeins; Birthplace AVA (11 wineries): Peninsula of the state’s winemakers are French, italian, south ageing: ‘i haven’t got a corner to tuck it into.’ There’s nearly twice as much Chardonnay in the east and along the coast, sandy between Potomac and Rappahannock African or spanish expats, imported for their passion, planted, though it shares Viognier’s leaner loam is common. rivers on the Chesapeake Bay. patience and minimalist approach. matthieu Finot, Calling cards tendencies, with most wines either eschewing wood winemaker at King Family since 2007, studied in ‘Virginia is innovative enough to grow Petit or evincing Burgundian restraint. Elsewhere, According to the Virginia Wine Board, Eastern Virginia Region Côte de Nuits, Bandol, Jura and elsewhere. he says: manseng, but traditional enough not to reinvent Thibaut-Janisson Winery introduced major Chardonnay is the most popular n Virginia’s Eastern Shore AVA (three ‘We’re used to bad weather and can adapt to what’s the wheel,’ explains Pelton. Paschina adds: ‘We have méthode Champenoise fizz to VA, while sauvignon variety, followed by Cabernet Franc. wineries): Atlantic to the east, happening. A California winemaker will not know to make wines that are excellent, not just very good. Below: King Family’s Blanc, Vermentino and sophisticated stickies made Chesapeake Bay to the west. Sea so well how to handle rain and vintage variability.’ That means we should know our varietal limits.’ Matthieu Finot says from Petit manseng and moscato demonstrate Central Virginia Region breezes and sandy soil. hodson’s sister, Emily Pelton agrees. As winemaker investment in lesser-known varieties and Europeans can handle bad aptitude and even mastery, but the number of plots n Monticello AVA (38 wineries): The at Veritas, her skills weren’t forged at uC Davis like Bordeaux blends is paying off with world-class weather better than is still tiny.