Visiting Fauquier County Wineries with Northern Virginia FLITE Tour

Last week we participated in the Fauquier County day of the two day Virginia First Lady Maureen McDonnell FLITE (First Lady's Initiatives Team Effort) tour of northern Virginia wineries. The purpose of FLITE  is to "bring attention to the great work being done by selfless people around the Commonwealth who are taking the opportunity to leave Virginia a better place than they found it". In addition, the First Lady uses these tours as a Bully Pulpit to encourage retailers and restaurants to include local Virginia wine in their portfolio. Thus, our tour was primarily composed of members of those markets as well as a few members of the media, a blogger or two, as well as First Lady Maureen McDonnell and Secretary of Agriculture & Forestry Todd Haymore.

Left Bank Vineyard at Delaplane Cellars

Tasting at the Wine Bar

The first stop for our bus was Delaplane, Virginia and Delaplane Cellars where proprietors and winemaker Jim & Betsy Dolphin met us along with State Senator, Jill Vogel. After a few introductory remarks Jim gave us a tour of the facility as well as his wine making philosophy. Delaplane normally specializes in the Rhone varieties Syrah and  Viognier; but with supplies limited, we sampled their red Bordeaux, Chardonnay, Melange Blanc white blend, and an estate Petit Manseng late harvest. Delaplane has always given center stage to the vineyards where they source their fruit and this year's vintage is no exception, and they are finally able to showcase their estate Left Bank vineyard. Their 2010 Left Band Reserve is more of a left-right combo because of the significant amount of Merlot. Their Splinglot and Williams Gap Bordeaux blends are both fuller, courtesy of the more mature vineyards, with the Williams Gap Reserve my favorite - big blackberry flavors, a chewy mid palette, and a spicy - tannic finish. Their estate Late Harvest Petit Manseng show why that grape has promise in Virginia as it's inherent acidity nicely balances the sweet juice. Petit Manseng is also an input to the Melange Blanc (plus Chardonnay and Viognier), a nice summer wine - particularly for that100 degree day.

We then headed just down the road to Paris, Virginia and lunch at the Ashby Inn And Restaurant. Here our sweet and sour radish soup and crispy port belly were paired with the Pearmund Cellars 2011 "Vinecroft" Viognier and the Chester Gap Cellars 2009 Cabernet Franc respectively.  This magnificent lunch definitely gave the sommeliers in our group inspiration to pair local wine with local produce.

Jim Law

Hardscrapple Vineyard at Linden Vineyards

Our final stop was to Linden Vineyards where famed winemaker Jim Law and Shari Avenius, Linden’s director and owner/winegrower of Avenius Vineyard, received us with a glass of the 2011 Avenius Sauvignon Blanc. This wine was highly appropriate not only to soothe our group from the day's heat index but also to showcase that white Bordeaux can be produced in the region (Glen Manor Vineyards). This is one of my favorite Linden wines; bright, crisp, with a nice combination of citrus and grass.  In the cellar we followed up with the 2009 Hardscapple Chardonnay, 2010 Claret Merlot, 2008 Hardscrapple Red, and 2006 Late Harvest Vidal. Notice how Linden holds back releasing vintages in order for the wine to mature in the bottle. At Linden there is obviously no need to rush vintages out the door. And we learned how meticulous Law is in the cellar by juice to the Claret and in the vineyard by ripping out entire blocks when disease or low quality ensues. No wonder, Linden is considered one of the top - if not the top - producer in the Commonwealth.

And this tour was another example of the McDonnell Administration promoting these excellent wines to local establishments. Several Linden, Chester Gap, and Pearmund wines are available in my area - hopefully they will be available in yours very soon.

The United Grapes of America - McPherson Cellars Texas Tre Colore

StarChefs.com: The United Grapes of America

Depending on who you talk to, Texas is either the 5th or 6th largest wine producer in the The United Grapes of America and the Lone Star State seems to have found a home for Italian and Rhone grape varieties. McPherson Cellars from Lubbock is featured in the StarChefs.com article and I picked up their 2010 Texas Tre Colore specifically because of the southern Rhone blend of Carignan (27%), Mourvedre (62%) and Viognier (11%).  I mean, what a great combination of grapes and this is one excellent medium bodied, easy drinking wine. There are very little tannins in this wine, thus its perfect for consuming solo and the red cherry flavor fits our palette perfectly. Even our Pinot Noir centric friends enjoyed this one. Winemaker Kim McPherson and his father "Doc" were instrumental in jump starting the early Texas wine industry and you can read about that history at the winery's website.  Cheers to a fine Texas wine.

Notes: The Tre Colore was purchased at Wholefoods for $15.

Pairing Virginia Wine and Cigars at Floydfest

One of the many enjoyable aspects of Floydfest is the wine and beer garden at the Pink Floyd Garden Stage, a secluded enclosure to down a few drinks while still exposed to their outstanding musical line-up. On Saturday night, I happened to run into Ron Barker of the Virginia Wine and Cigar Trail, who was featuring Panacea Cigars from CigarVolante, LLC in a display near the stage. Ron's mission is to introduce Virginia wine lovers to cigar pairings where every wine has a suitable matching cigar. Even white wines. Ron selected the Black Maduro Grande to suit my medium strength preference and suggested I pair it with a medium bodied wine - preferably a Cabernet Franc or Pinot Noir. I shuffled over to the Chateau Morrisette tent and found a medium bodied Chambourcin (close enough). On its own, this is a smooth wine, low tannins, and very suitable for a summer festival. However, when paired with the Black Madur, the wine seemed to gain more body, nuttiness, and spice - while still retaining an easy drink-ability. Concurrently, the wine mellowed the cigar so that what little cigar burn was eliminated. Who knew?  I can't wait to start pairing more wine and cigars - perhaps their Green Pennsylvania Broadleaf with Viognier or Sauvignon Blanc. Cheers.

The United Grapes of America - Florida's Keel And Curley Winery Blueberry Wine

StarChefs.com: The United Grapes of America

You know you may have a problem when on the day your son is flying home from Florida you frantically call his host to include two bottles of your favorite Florida wine, the Keel And Curley Winery Dry Blueberry. Now the original The United Grapes of America StarChefs.com article mentions wines from Schnebly Redland's Winery, but these tropical fruit based wines are generally too sweet for my tastes. On the other hand, the K&C blueberry is completely dry with a big nose and can be mistaken for a medium-full bodied malbec if one was tasting blind. The wine is made from High-Bush Blueberries grown in their Plant City farm about 20 miles east of Tampa Bay. The blueberries are fermented on the skins which helps retain the key benefits of this super fruit: vitamin C and antioxidants. In fact a new University of Florida study fund that "wine made from southern highbush berries had more antioxidants than white wine and all but 20 percent of the reported values for red wines..." That could be why in 2011,  300,000 bottles of blueberry wine were sold throughout the Sunshine state. Glad I scored my two bottles. Cheers.

Civil War & Wine at The Winery at Bull Run

Last week I visited northern Virginia's newest winery, The Winery at Bull Run, located adjacent to the Manassas National Battlefield Park. And this proximity to the park is what would draw history buffs as well as wine lovers to Centreville. The winery is located on the former Hillwood estate with ruins of the former mansion used as a patio. Parts of the First Battle of Bull Run (First Manassas) were near the Hillwood estate - most notably at the Stone Bridge - also adjacent to the winery and the southern part of the Park. With that in mind, proprietor Jon Hickox exhibits Civil War relics within the winery - some collected from the property and others donated by collectors. He also placed markers throughout the property describing the mansion and what the battlefield looked like from that location. The museum and markers are reason enough to visit this infant winery.

As for the wines, their portfolio is produced using the Pearmund empire where the wines are made at either Pearmund Cellars, the Winery at La Grange, or Vint Hill Craft Winery. They are growing small amounts of Norton on the estate and source fruit from vineyards across Virginia. To their credit, the tasting sheets include the  vineyard information. (I wish more wineries would follow this example.) For reds they offer a Merlot, Cabernet Franc, Meritage, and Norton; for whites, a Chardonnay, Viognier, a merlot based Rosé, and the "Delaney" - a blend of 40% Traminette, 30% Vidal Blanc, 20% Viognier, & 10% Riesling. Plus the "Fort", a Chambourcin port-styled dessert wine. For my tastes, the wines were okay. The chardonnay was typical Pearmund - more on the oaky side; the Viognier, oddly off-dry. The Delaney blend was spot on for those grapes as was the Norton, not over-acidic and jammy.  These wines are pricey - you pay for the Pearmund winemakers and location: high 20s to $32 for the reds; $24-$27 for the whites; and $38 for the Fort. For me too expensive for everyday consumption but worth a bottle when soaking up the Civil War history.

The United Grapes of America - Michigan's Chateau Grand Traverse Ship of Fools

Ship of Fools with the Ocracoke Lighthouse

This week's The United Grapes of America features a wine from Michigan, the Ship of Fools from Chateau Grand Traverse.  While sampling this wine at Wholefoods, another customer was shocked that Michigan produced wine. Andrew Stover, Vino50 Selections, responded that Michigan shares the all important 45° north latitude with Burgundy, Northern Rhone, and Oregon's Willamette Valley AVA. And with over 100 wineries, the Michigan wine industry is nowhere near a nascent industry.

StarChefs.com: The United Grapes of America

Chateau Grand Traverse has been operating for over three decades - specializing in Riesling, but for this post we feature their Ship of Fools ($15) Pinot blend of Pinot Blanc, Pinot Gris, and Pinot Noir. That may be a one of a kind catch.  Obviously the 45° latitude caters to Pinot and the 55% Pinot Blanc provides a suitable bearing to savor this wine, with the Pinot Blanc the sails and the Pinot Noir the nautical rustic charm. Seriously, this is a nice wine - balanced between the subtle grapefruit flavor and mild acidity - with good texture in between. I would also recommend pairing any Pinot Blanc based wine with food.  And take a voyage through the Great Lakes to Lake Traverse Michigan. Cheers.

Beer and Wurst on the Outer Banks

A few years ago I read an article called 50 beers to drink before you die and recognized a brewery I'd seen while driving to the Outer Banks, the Weeping Radish Farm Brewery. Their Black Radish (Schwarzbier) was listed and I had tried this dark German styled lager before and had always enjoyed that beer as well as that style. Last week I had a chance to visit the brewery while heading down to OBX. The facility is located in Jarvisburg NC, eleven miles north of the Wright Memorial Bridge leading into Kitty Hawk.

Weeping Radish brews primarily German styled lagers and keeping with the Purity Law of 1516 (Reinheitsgebot), they  utilize just water, hops, malt and yeast in the brewing process.They offer a range of styles from though out Germany, from Munich and Cologne (Kölsch) to Marzen and Weizen. During our visit we sampled their entire portfolio (seven beers) and all were spot on for their style. The OBX Kolsch was light and refreshing, the Corolla Gold (Munich Helles) was a little sweeter, and the Fest and Black Radish were right on. I definitely think a Schwarzbier is a style everyone should sample before they die - so why not the Black Radish - basically a milder form of Porter. The most interesting brew was the Radler - based on the Biermischgetränk (beer mixed with Lemonade or cola) - with this version mixed with Lemonade. The citrus flavor was mild and really was only apparent at the finish. It received mixed reviews with our crowd one pro and one preferring others.

As the name applies,  the Weeping Radish Farm Brewery is also a working farm. Goats range in front of the brewery and they provide a range of sausages and liverwurst. My favorite was the sweet potato wurst - with onions and bread - and paired with the Weizen - some sweet and sour flavors. All in all, this is a great place to stop on the drive down. The main complaint, the vessels sold to hold the beers are not very compatible for beach or pool drinking - 22oz bottles. Where are the cans? :) Cheers.

The United Grapes of America - Maine's Savage Oakes Vineyard and Winery Maréchal Foch Rosé

Savage Oakes Vineyard and Winery opened almost a decade ago as Elmer and Holly Savage looked for ways to augment income from their Barrett Hill Farm. While principally raising Belted Galloway cattle, the couple also sold blueberries that grew wild in their fields. Since they had a natural source of fruit, Mr. Savage spent 4 years researching wine making and grapes that excel in northern climates. The family toured several wineries throughout Wisconsin, Minnesota, and New York to determine which grapes were suitable to Maine’s climate. They chose Seyval Blanc, Cayuga, Frontenac, St. Croix, St. Pepin, Leon Millot, and Maréchal Foch.

Ironically, when the winery opened in May 2006, there were not enough wild blueberries to produce blueberry wine, which was the original impetuous for the winery. Instead the winery opened with five grape wines, with almost all produced from grapes grown in their vineyard. One of these was the Maréchal Foch Rosé. The grapes were cold pressed with little skin contact, then aged in stainless steel tanks. The result is a rather tasty wine that has the flavor profile and texture of the Foch grapes as well as being light and refreshing. Your summer picnic or pizza wine.

StarChefs.com: The United Grapes of America

The United Grapes of America - Delaware's Nassau Valley Vineyards Indian River Red

StarChefs.com: The United Grapes of America

Our next The United Grapes of America feature moves from this country's newest state to the oldest, Delaware, and Nassau Valley Vineyards, a winery that was listed in the original StarChefs.com post. Nassau Valley will be celebrating their twentieth anniversary next year and proprietor Peg Raley actually drafted the farm winery legislation that allowed wineries to operate in the First State. The estate is located near the popular seashore resorts of Lewes, Rehobeth, and Dewey Beach and receive plenty of tourist traffic. And being near the coast, the vinifera vines - yes vinifera (Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Chardonnay, Cabernet Franc, and Petit Verdot) are planted in very sandy soil. This provides plenty of drainage and the sea breezes cool the grapes at night allowing for a decent diurnal variation. The "perfect" location for a vineyard. The winery produces single varietal wines from these grapes - the Chardonnay is my favorite of these - but their pride is the "Indian River Red" Vintner's Blend. Priced at $30.00, this is a blend of the estate's best fruit and for 2010 the blend consists of 73% Merlot, 17% Cabernet Franc and 10% Cabernet Sauvignon. The wine was then aged in French Oak for eight months.  This is a big wine, earthy and leather, but also exuding dark cherry flavors. The tail contains some pepper and plenty of mouth drying tannins.  This is the type of wine that really surprises you - made in a very unlikely area. Yet, if you can swallow the price - a nice example of a local wine.

Lake Erie Meets the Delaware Shore

 While driving along Rt54 into Fenwick Island Delaware, I noticed a parcel of vines planted in very sandy soils about 3 miles from the ocean. Looking around I saw a sign for Fenwick Wine Cellars across the street in a small shopping center. Could this be Delaware's third winery? Yes and no. Yes, the proprietors have planted Concord, Niagara, and Reliance on their farm; but no, the heavy work occurs in the family winery in Lake Erie, PA - Arrowhead Wine Cellars.

Adrian Mobilia was raised on a 200-acre farm growing grapes, apples, cherries, and peaches. After graduating from Penn State with a degree in Horticulture he helped his father Nick plant vinifera grapes and launch to accompany their existing labrusca and hybrid vineyards and launch Arrowhead Wine Cellars. He eventually met an Ocean City native and he and Shannon decided to replicate the family business on the Delmarva coast. They planted the estate vineyard in 2010 and will soon be able to determine if the fruit will tolerate the salt laden sandy soil. In the meanwhile the current Arrowhead wines are getting a makeover with Fenwick Wine Cellars labels. And that's quite a range of wines.

There is a wine for every taste from sweet to dry; red to white to blush, fruit wines, and even slushies. Yea, that's a product I'm really not a fan of - but evidently the tourists that flock to the seashore have other thoughts. I really enjoyed tasting through their entire portfolio - not a bad deal either - $5 to sample 23 wines. And that included plenty of labrusca and hybrids like the aforementioned Concord and Niagara plus Steuben, Catawba, Fredonia, and Vignoles. Each of these wines were exactly what you would expect from that grape and brought back many memories of Pennsylvania wine festivals. My favorite reds where the Chambourcin and Reilly's Red (Lemberger) - right on again with these grapes. For whites, the Riesling was made in a very drinkable semi-dry style; but I couldn't resist the Reflections of Fenwick (Vidal-Chardonnay) housed in the Italian made commemorative lighthouse shaped bottle. That's the Fenwick Island Light, built in 1859.  Yet the most fascinating wine is the High Tide/Port - produced exclusively from Concord (double fermented). First, you would never guess Concord was involved. No jammy grape flavors at all. Then, there is absolutely no burn because there was no fortification with grape brandy or grain spirits. Instead it has all the characteristics of a port - silky with plum flavors with a nutty finish. This wine alone is reason to return. Cheers.

Beer in Berlin - Burley Oak Brewing Company

 On the 4th I took time off from the beach to visit a new micro-brewery - Burley Oak Brewing Company - located in Berlin, Maryland only a few miles from the beaches in Ocean City. The brewery takes its name from local history. The name of the town is a shortened version of a local tavern "Burleigh Inn" - derived from the Burley Plantation - and the building housing the facility was once a cooperage - hence Burley Oak. Since opening in August 2011, owner Bryan Brushmiller has kept a continual supply of about a dozen beers on tap where consumers can sample by the pint or take home with growlers. I was a bit confused by this situation since the brewery isn't a restaurant and thought selling by the pint was illegal in Maryland. And yes it still is; except Brushmiller was able to get the Worcester County in Annapolis to carve out an exemption for Burley Oak so they could operate as a pub and not a restaurant. Nicely played.

On my visit the brewery was pouring nine beers, plus a root beer, and was immediately impressed with the diversity of the offerings. There was a Kolsch, Pale Ale, Belgian Ale, IPA, Saison, Wit, Imperial Red, and a Milk Stout. Wow. And two of the beers, Pale Ryeder and SummaRye utilize local rye from Snow Hill. I included the later, a farmhouse saison, to my sample of four along with the Port d'Orange Wit, Cherry Poppins (Belgium Cherry Ale), and Black Cow Milk Stout. Through previous encounters I've found that milk stouts are excellent beach beers - the lactose infusion creates a creamy brew very compatible with excessive heat. The downside; the Burley Oak version is nitrogenized in the cask so is not available for growler sales.  The SummaRye and Port d'Orange were each good examples of their respective styles and with low IBUs - another example of refreshing beach brews. But continuing my trend this summer, my favorite was the Cherry Poppins - a smooth ale with subtle hints of cherry - not overpowering so like a lambic - just nicely integrated. It reminded me of a concoction a bartender created for us at Fireworks Arlington, who blended the Allagash White with a small amount of Kasteel Rouge. Thus, I think we will be hitting Burley Oak two times each trip to the beach, once to fill growlers for our stay and then again on our return home. Cheers.

The United Grapes of America - Hawaii's Tedeschi Vineyards Hula O'Maui

4th of July Hula O'Maui.- Ocean City MD

We are going to expand on a great article by Jeff Harding at StarChefs.com on the The United Grapes of America and attempt to taste a wine from each state once per week. And why not on this 4th of July feature a wine from our most recent state - the Tedeschi Vineyards Hula O'Maui. This is a sparkling wine made in the Methode Champenoise style from 100% Maui pineapples. The wines are available in the East Coast courtesy of Vino50 Selections and I purchased at Wholefoods for $23.99.

Although Tedeschi Vineyards\Maui's Winery grow and produce grape wines, we would expect a Hawaiian winery to utilize fruit indigenous to the islands. So we weren't surprised that they offered a pineapple wine - the surprise was the sparkler. And as expected, this wine is all pineapple - the tasting notes mention other fruit characteristics - but let me tell you, this is pineapple - from nose to tail. Many readers might be thinking that the wine must be sweet; and yes there is inherit fruitiness that may be misinterpreted as sweetness.. But the wine is fermented brut - completely dry.  And talk about refreshing - who needs Chardonnay (at least when dreaming of the Tropics); in the words of Andrew Stover, "a fun wine". Happy 4th of July. 

StarChefs.com: The United Grapes of America

Update: Evidently my family has a more sophisticated palette than me because many in our group picked up citrus flavors as well as some clove.

A Monticello Collaboration - "3"

One aspect of the wine and beer industry we find fascinating is the close collaboration between winemakers and brewers. This collaboration is manifested in several ways, such as the second vintage of "3". This wine consists of three grape varieties (Merlot, Petit Verdot, Cabernet Franc) grown on three different vineyards, and made into wine by three acclaimed winemakers. The Merlot was crafted by Matthieu Finot from King Family Vineyards, the Petit Verdot by Emily Pelton from Veritas Vineyards, and the Cabernet Franc by Jake Busching from Grace Estate Winery. Each winemaker selected two barrels and the "resulting blend is a wine with full proportion and balance which highlights the ripeness of the vintage".

Tomorrow (July 3rd), King Family is hosting the official release party but each winery will have 45 cases for sale at $33.33 per bottle.

Addicted to Netflix - How Beer Saved the World & Absinthe

A year ago I finally succumbed to family pressure and subscribed to Netflix - and today utilize the on demand feature (what a horrible implementation of splitting the rental and on demand divisions). The first two videos I watched were the popular documentaries Blood Into Wine and Beer Wars.If you haven't seen either of these, I highly recommend them - learn about Arizona wines and the competition between craft brewers such as The Samuel Adams Brewery and Dogfish Head Craft Brewery and basically Budweiser - now Anheuser-Busch InBev. 

But there's more. In the past week, I have watched two new documentaries which are just as informative and entertaining: How Beer Saved the World and Absinthe.

The former is a light-hearted story where "Scientists and historians line up to tell the amazing, untold story of how beer helped create math, poetry, pyramids, modern medicine, labor laws, and America." Yes, they cover all these subjects. And the latter tells the interesting life of Absinthe "from its birth in Switzerland in 1787, through its rise in the chic cafés of Belle Époque Paris, to its prohibition, and its recent worldwide revival". Now its time to plan a trip to Philadelphia Distilling to sample their Vieux Carre Absinthe - the first legal absinthe to be distilled, bottled and sold on the east coast of the United States in nearly 100 years. Or grab some Lucid.


How Beer Saved the World

ABSINTHE documentary film trailer from absinthe on Vimeo.

#SauvBlanc Day with St. Supery 2011 Napa Valley Estate Sauvignon Blanc

Yesterday was #SauvBlanc Day and one of Napa's best producers, St. Supery Vineyards & Winery held a reception at the winery in order to celebrate the day. Being almost 3,000 mile away on the East Coast, St. Supery sent us a bottle of their 2011 Napa Valley Estate Sauvignon Blanc ($20.00) to sip and tweet.

St. Supery Vineyards is an interesting winery, located in Rutherford California, but owned by a French family - the Skalli's. The family has been making wine in the south of France for several generations and Robert Skalli recognized the potential for Napa to produce world class Bordeaux styled wines. Besides reds, these Bordeaux grapes included Semillon and Sauvignon Blanc. And today St. Supery is recognized as an excellent producer of white Bordeaux.

Lately, many of the Sauvignon Blancs I've tasted has been very one dimensional - either all citrus and acid or all grass. On the other hand, the St. Supery was a nice balance of citrus and grass with low acids - the later thanks to the hotter Napa climate. But I enjoy lower acidic Sauvignon Blanc so this fit perfectly into my palette. And the mouthfeel of grass and citrus (both grapefruit and lemon) mingled together nicely, neither claiming superiority.And priced at $20 - this is a wine worth considering for any summer night. Cheers to St. Supery and #SauvBlanc Day.

Am I an Over-aged Millennial? We Enjoy Similar Wine

Yesterday I received this press release announcing the results of the 4th annual NextGen Wine Competition for Millennial Wine Drinkers and what caught my eye was that the winery awarded Best Rosé is a wine we have discussed often the last few months: the Canyon Wind Cellars 2011 47-Ten Rosé. This wine first shown on my radar while visiting the winery during a 2012 DinkLocalWine.com pre-tour. In fact, check out our Facebook page where the view from the winery is our cover picture. Then the rosé was provided as a gift in the media package and I was able to compare it to another nice local option, the 2011 Boxwood Winery Topiary Rosé. Both are very good wines and available at very reasonable prices ($12 for the Canyon Wind Cellars and $15 for the Boxwood). For me, the Canyon Wine Cellars closely resembles the Provence style - light and dry; whereas the Boxwood is bigger. The millennial judges also enjoyed several "other 46" wines such as the Apple Barn Winery 2011 Apple Cranberry and the Galer Estate Vineyard and Winery 2010 Vidal Blanc. Galer Estate calls their Vidal an "Icebox" wine because the grapes are frozen in a commercial freezer. Two other local wineries that fared well and received Best of Class awards was Maryland's Detour Winery 2011 Alpine Frost and Virginia's Gray Ghost Vineyards 2011 Gewurztraminer.  I've tried this Gewurtz - it is tasty.

Here is the official release that we received:

Vineyard & Winery Management has announced the conclusion of the 4th annual NextGen Wine Competition for Millennial Wine Drinkers, held June 5-6, 2012. The competition is designed specifically with this exciting and important consumer group in mind, and is judged by qualified and knowledgeable wine industry millennials aged 21-35.

Produced by Vineyard & Winery Management, NextGen is one of the fastest growing and most exciting wine competitions in North America today. Judges included high profile NextGenners such as Jessica Altieri, “America’s Social Wine Ambassador.” Altieri, 27, is a leading online wine social media and video pioneer, traveling the world to spread the conversation about wine in an unpretentious way. She is the founder, CEO and Certified Sommelier for WineChannelTV and has worked with some of the world’s leading wine brands, governments and trade associations.

“I would have to say that the results from our lineup of millennial judges mirror very closely what is trending in the marketplace today,” said Bill Traverso, Director of Wine Competitions for Vineyard & Winery Management. “That is why a competition with millennial judges helps wineries in making plans for which variety to plant and which type of wines to make for the next wave of wine consumers.”

“The 2012 NextGen Wine Competition was an incredible success,” declared Chief Judge Giovanni Balistreri. “Judges were flown in from all over the country to join local industry professionals; their combined wine expertise and knowledge contributed to making this competition shine.  A big thank you to our sponsors! I look forward to the 2013 NextGen Wine Competition.”  

Riedel glassware was used to assess all of the wines, which were judged from a field of 750 entries. Judges awarded a total of 17 Double Gold, 63 Gold, 253 Silver, and 249 Bronze medals.

The full results are available in this pdf. The sweepstakes awards are as follows:

Best of Show
Lago di Merlo Vineyards and Winery
2009 Sangiovese Lago di Merlo Vineyard

Dry Creek Valley, California

Best of Show Dessert/Late Harvest
Galer Estate Vineyard and Winery
2010 Vidal Blanc

Chester County, Pennsylvania

Best of Show Fruit
Apple Barn Winery
2011 Apple Cranberry

Tennessee

Best of Show Rosé

Canyon Wind Cellars
2011 47-Ten Rosé

Grand Valley, Colorado

Best of Show Sparkling
E & J Gallo Winery
Barefoot Bubbly NV Moscato Spumante

California

Best of Show White
White Tie Wines

2011 Moscato

California

Ballparks & Brews: Fenway Park

With a group of a dozen Nationals fans we visited the historic Fenway Park for a weekend series between the RedSox and Nationals. The games were great, but the craft beer choices were disappointing.  Predictably Boston Beer Company's Sam Adams and Harpoon Brewery were available randomly the only real option I found was at the State Street Pavilion where they were serving Wachusett Brewing Company Green Monsta IPA, Cisco Brewers Whale’s Tale Pale Ale, and Magic Hat Brewing Company #9.  I stuck with the two IPAs - good beers, just wish there were more choices.

#WineChat: For the Love of Wine! What inspired your passion for wine?

Tokaji Wine Bar in Central Market Hall

This week's Wednesday  #winechat is hosted by Red Wine Diva who poses an interesting question: For the Love of Wine! What inspired your passion for wine?  A very timely topic since it was posed to a few of us in a van ride across the Grand Valley during the 2012 DrinkLocalWine conference. And the answer occurred exactly 15 years ago next weekend.

My route into the winosphere started like many other's - tasting wine at a local wine festival. Through college and my early professional career I was a craft beer drinker. Wine was what we drank when there wasn't any beer available. Then we started attending the Seven Springs Wine Festival in Somerset, Pennsylvania; where I sampled local wines for the first time. I don't remember much about the wines we drank, only that the whites were tasty and many of the reds sweet.  For some reason Clover Hill Vineyards & Winery registers in my memory. But I came away from these annual pilgrimages with the knowledge that local wines do exist, even though I had no clue what we were drinking: Catawba, Cayuga, Vidal Blanc, Niagara, Chambourcin, or DeChaunac. Concord, of course, was grape jelly.

Wine Cave - "Valley of Beautiful Women"

Outside Wine Cave - Eger

Then I had my "Ah ha" moment.  My wife and I decided to spend three weeks traveling through Hungary and Romania for our honeymoon. Our base was an apartment in Buda near Gellert Hill, but we started every day in the Central Market Hall just across the Danube into Pest. While lollygagging through the enormous building I stumbled upon the "Fountain of Youth" in the remote left corner of the market -  The Tokaji Wine Bar - specializing in dry Furmint. Every morning I would order a nagy pohar bor and watch old women stroll through filling empty two liter containers while the men loitered sipping and conversing over their pohar bor. One day we traveled to Eger and the wine caves dug into the "Valley of Beautiful Women", so named because after visiting 30 caves... Here we tasted big reds of Bulls Blood as well as Kékoportó (Blauer Portugieser). While visiting Lake Balaton we visited several "nano"

That's how they roll

wineries - basically home wine makers offering wine for sale in small plastic jugs - just like kids selling lemonade. Whites rule here - particularly Szürkebarát (Pinot Gris) and Olaszrizling (Welschriesling). Then off to Sopron, home to Kékfrankos, no surprise since the region borders Austrian Blaufrankish vineyards.

Wines Still Around from Hungary 1997

Through this unplanned wine adventure I learned that there was no real mystery about wine, just a lot of different wine grapes. Like other European countries, wine was an integral part of the Hungarian lifestyle meant to be consumed daily either from plastic containers or wicker flasks. I still had much to learn, like not aging already five year-old whites meant to open immediately; but that's another lesson. But I was no longer scared off by wine.  On our return, we soon discovered that there were local wineries in Virginia; although in the late 1990's not that many. Remember Farfelu Vineyards?  As we traveled throughout the northeast we realized it wasn't easy searching for local wineries. I couldn't find a central directory to my liking. At the time I needed to train myself in .net; so within a short time WineCompass.com was born and has been running off that 10 year old code since. And from its conception, our the focus has been to visit local wineries and broaden our exposure to new wine regions and grapes. Cheers to your next wine adventure.