My wife and I went to Charlottesville last weekend for a few days and hit a few wineries that were new to us and revisited Barboursville for the first time in a few years. No detailed notes but some quick impressions.
Barboursville - I have been 5 or 6 times before but not for a number of years. Nice to see that they now have an alternative to the terrible crowded tasting room for those willing to pay a little more. For $20 one can do a sit down tasting in another part of the winery that is away from the mass of weekenders. Food is also available so we made it a light lunch as well as tasting. Six one ounce pours and some older vintages available (but they count as two). I tried the 2010 Octagon and 2009, 2010, and 2011 nebbiolo. The 2011 was weak as expected but the others were nice with the standout for me being the 2010 nebbiolo. The 2010 nebbiolo was probably the best wine of the weekend.
Trump - I have never been to this property but was curious about it since the days it was Kluge. However, nothing about it makes me a fan. The wines were not that appealing to me and I did not find anything that I would choose to drink. Possible the best of the lot was the off-dry or semi-sweet sparking rose but it is not priced very well at $28 when compared to Prosecco prices.
King Family - I liked the winery but don’t consider this on the same level as Linden or Barboursville, maybe in that next tier down. They had a nice viognier that is more crisp and lighter in body than normal for VA that I think is better for the style. Also the Meritage was the only other red that I found worthy of puchase on this trip. The Polo on Sunday is a blast however and definetly ensures that I will retun.
Veritas - Solid across the board and on that same tier of quality as King Family. I would drink any of these is served them but the ones that stood out were the Sparking Scintilla and the port styled Othello which is made from Touriga and Tannat.
Pollak - On the recommendation of our server at King Family we decided to stop at Pollak which was not planned. Overall, decent wines but somewhat lacking excitement except for the Pinot Gris. I don’t think I have had another Pinot Gris from VA and this wine makes me wonder why more are not trying to work with it. Not as heavy as an Alsace version but still showing some body and acidity. Probably the find of the trip. I can’t wait to try it at home with food.
Overall a nice trip. Virginia is making strides in that most if not everthing I tasted this time is drinkable with most of them being moderately enjoyable. Some as noted above I definetely liked and purchased. The wineries pouring 2011 reds are not doing themselves any favors as the wines just are not that good. More wineries should have followed the lead of Linden and declassify it as well as disclose it as such due to the horrible weather thanks to the hurricane.
Thanks for posting, Brian. Sounds like a nice trip. My sister lives in Charlottesville, and your notes are helpful for my next visit. I agree with your comments about Trump and the King Family Sunday polo!
I have been to all of those in the last year, and disagree about trump. It was a pleasant experience. The patio is a great place to sip their sparkling.
Let’s face it Virginia is not Sonoma, but for a nice view and at least drinkable wine, trumps patio is not all bad.
Mark, I agree with your comments about the patio at Trump. It is a great place to sit out and enjoy the scenery. And when it was Kluge you could a decent bite to eat. And I believe Jacques Torres’ brother was doing pastry/chocolate for a while.
Based on the number of people that were there on Saturday, many share you opinion. I really wanted to like the Trump wines and I was happy when the bought the place and made it clear that the intent was to continue to run a winery and not turn it into something else. I just did not find anything to my taste and did not finish a single pour.
As for a place to sip and enjoy the moment, I prefered both Barboursville’s library and the Veritas porch. Again YMMV.
If you haven’t had lunch at Palladio, at Barboursville, I highly recommend it. You will need reservations. A nice way to start an afternoon of tasting.
I basically agree with all of assessments here, although I’m not sure I’ve tasted the most recent vintage of all of these places.
My overly simplistic and subjective take on the Virginia wine scene is that there’s widespread competence and a lot of people making enjoyable wine that sells very well. What I think is harder to come by is wine that really excites. But I count myself as a fan.
Brian, next time you’re in the area head a few miles north of King Family to Grace Estates and Stinson, if you have not previously. Or, head a few miles south to a number of excellent Nelson County breweries!
As much as Virginia wineries would like to give customers a break in weaker vintages, financially it’s an impossibility. Linden is one of the very few wineries that likely own themselves outright; everyone else has a mountain of loans to be paid off above all the other costs of running a winery. Also there really isn’t much to ‘declassify’ them into, unless they come up with a one-time ‘kitchen sink’ wine to blend everything into, but they would have to make that wine assuming from the start it would be sold at a loss, and very few would be willing to admit defeat from the start.
The biggest problem in VA is that the vintages have so much variation from year to year, it’s nearly impossible to make wine with a ‘formula’ in mind. Very few winemakers are skilled enough to deal with what happened in 2011 and still make a passable wine, but some did. You turn around in 2013 and have what started out as a relatively good vintage and the cicada swarms destroyed the nut crop, forcing animals en masse to the vineyards eating grapes an forcing an early harvest for many to save crops. A lot of those whites you tasted at King, Pollak and Veritas were 2013 and they were forced to be lighter than their 2012 versions because of that. Those that made ‘better’ wines in 2013 had to produce less as they were loosing crop to deer and squirrels the longer they let the fruit hang. Wineries that try to make the same wine or a more international styled wine in Virginia will miss the mark more than they will hit it. The 2014s should be good as long as they can avoid mildew from this recent run of storms and humidity, and if the tropical storms stay off the coast for another 3 weeks or so.
Trump is definitely one of the prettiest settings for a winery, and I would never tell someone they shouldn’t go there and buy their wines if they enjoy them. I wouldn’t recommend them based on some biases I have that extend back to the Kluge days and continue today that bring me to the opinion they do not represent Virginia wines properly. YMMV
Thanks Matt. I did not know the story behind 2013. I find it interesting that over in Maryland, I also had a really bad year with squirrels for no apparent reason.
Great to hear everyone’s thoughts. Were taking a girls trip there in early October and have already planned Barboursville and Keswick tastings. May try to add Grace or Stinson on Dave’s rec. I’ve been before but did more horseback riding than tasting–my husband isn’t a big wine fan but is always happy to DD. We usually stay at veritas farmhouse which is a beautiful B&B on the property—would highly recommend checking it out. Service is up there with most 5 star hotels Ive stayed in and is much more reasonably priced. In addition to their bubbles and Othello I also liked their viogner. Nothing life changing but good daily drinkers.
Very cool to hear a commentary on the 2013 growing season as well. Thanks for the info Matt.
Maria, if you do get to Stinson and Grace, don’t overlook White Hall Vineyards, which would be about 2 miles up the road. It’s one of the venerable workhorses of the area, but I have always liked their wines and they are in a lovely spot. All of these places will be $5 to taste a number of nice wines, I think.
Matt, your mention of mildew makes me wonder: I have read before about how much many Virginia wineries have to spray pesticides/fungicides to maintain a clean product in certain years. Do you think a consumer who worries about such things should/could be sketched out by all of the chemicals on many of our local vines, or do you think it’s akin to eating a Virginia apple or Virginia peach, and not that different from other regions? Just something I’ve always wondered.
The Veritas bottles are made by Claude Thibaut, and he makes his own bottlings at Veritas as well. While you’re staying at their cottage see if they’ll let you snag one. They’re very high quality.
There are non-chemical alternatives, mineral based, that many wineries use. It’s more that they have to use them so often because they are constantly getting washed off by summer storms 2-3 times a week, gets very pricy.
All I can tell you is that if you want really good wine, drop by and see Matthew. I kid, but seriously, I live in reno nv, and fly to richmond va once a month for a week, and buy all my wine for my apartment there from Matthew a good hour away from my apartment. The man has great suggestions and better wine selections.
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