#SipShenandoah Beer and Wine at Great Valley Farm Brewery & Winery

During our return from the  2021 Bristol Rhythm & Roots Reunion, and not hiking to Natural Bridge,  we stopped off at the Great Valley Farm Brewery & Winery to sample some beer and check sports scores.  As a consequence, we discovered a venue with outstanding views of the countryside, a solid portfolio of craft beer, as well as a couple delicious wines we had brought home. 

Owners Nathan and Irma Bailey purchased the land in 2008 with the intention to open a farm brewery which finally occurred in October of 2016.  At the same time, they planted a vineyard that now consists of six acres of various grape varieties including Gruner Veltliner, Vidal Blanc, Cabernet Franc, and Lemberger. Wine production started in 2019 and these wines are now available to the public. 

During our stopover, I chose a flight that consisted of a Grisette, Hibiscus Wit, NZ Pale Ale, and Milk Stout. A completely diverse range of beers.  The farmhouse Grisette was funky and was made using New Zealand Motueka hops leftover from the Pale Ale. The Wit was deliciously satisfying for that warm day. The Pale Ale had a solid structure and was made using NZ Nelson Sauvin and Motueka hops. And finally, the Milk Stout was as expected - velvety cream merging with chocolate and coffee.

Still a long way from home, we purchased a couple bottles of their 2019 Gruner Veltliner ($24) and 2019 Shenandoah Red ($30) to open at a later date. For the Gruner that was the next day and didn't last long. It's a very pleasant wine, creamy citrus, some saline, and abundant acids. The Shenandoah Road is a blend of Cabernet Franc, Petit Verdot, and Lemberger that is aged for one year in a mixture of French, American, and Hungarian oak.  This blend is ridiculously good with plenty of fruit, some spice, texture, acidity, and creeping tannins. Well done on this initial effort. 

October is Virginia Wine Month so try to visit as many wineries (and breweries) as possible during these 31 days. The Virginia Wine Marketing Board lists several events and theCompass Craft Beverage Finder will guide you to these establishments. Cheers.

Noiret, Cayuga, and Cabernet Franc from Clearview Vineyard

During the Hudson Valley Taste Camp from several years ago, Clearwater Vineyard poured perhaps the best Noiret wine I had ever tasted. This hybrid grape variety was bred at New York's Cornell University with the labrusca Steuben and the undistinguished NY65.0467.08 as its parents. This Noiret was completely free of Steuben's funky and foxy character with deep juicy black fruit flavors and I vowed to someday visit this winery within the Shawangunk Wine Trail. 

This month I finally was able to visit their Warwick estate after a hike along the nearby Appalachian Trail. The winery's portfolio has increased since its first vintage in 2010 but due to covid, the wine tasting consisted of four of their signature wines. The 2017 Estate Noiret ($20) is just as rich and full-bodied with some mint and a solid tannic structure. The 2019 Dry Riesling ($19) was also solid with a hint of petrol with stone fruit. 

But the two most interesting and preeminent in our opinion were the Estate Cayuga White and Cabernet France. Cayuga was also developed at Cornell by crossing Schuyler and the French hybrid Seyval Blanc. Too often dry versions of this wine are too bland and sweeter versions are too cloying.  The Clearwater Vineyard 2019 Estate Cayuga White ($19)  is dry but full of bright fruit, depth, and refreshing acidity.  Similarly, the 2018 Cabernet Franc ($20) is excellent. The wine is medium-bodied, without a hint of green, but a velvety texture and approachable tannins and balanced acids.  And what a bargain. This wine would be priced over $30-$35 if produced in Virginia. 

I envision more hiking and wine drinking during our return to the Hudson Valley and as always theCompass Craft Beverage Finder will guide you to these beverage destinations. Cheers. 

Exploring Virginia Beer at the Bristol Rhythm & Roots Reunion

After a couple years off we attended the 2021 Bristol Rhythm & Roots Reunion music festival which is one of the liveliest festivals. Held in the Birthplace of Country Music the festival showcases music on venues located on both the Virginia and Tennessee sides of State Street. COVID definitely affected this year's lineup but the organizers were still able to schedule fantastic artists over the three days. The festival targets local and national artists with special attention to Texas musicians. We heard great performances by Yarn, The Steel Wheels, Folk Soul Revival, Big Daddy Love, Town Mountain, and Blackberry Smoke. In addition, John Anderson and Hayes Carll represented Texas and we loved that Carll covered Ray Wylie Hubbard's Drunken Poet's Dream.

We acted like drunken poets at two Bristol breweries located within the festival's parameter. State Street Brewing Company is a relatively new brewery with outside seating accessible to hear the Country Music Mural stage or the continuous music at the Delta Blues BBQ.  The brewery opened a few years ago in the former Hayes Furniture building on the Commonwealth side of State Street and utilizes the 20,000-square-foot building to its fullest. Expect a spacious seating area and a long bar that runs parallel to the brewing equipment. There's enough diversity in their portfolio for all types of tastes - and for morning music we went with the Long Tom Peanut Butter Porter. In the afternoon we transitioned to their Dad Hat Kolsh and Splash Berliner Weiss before ending the evenings with the Cosmos Imperial IPA. 

We've visited Bristol Station Brews & Taproom a few times and it was great to see the brewery within the festival adjacent to the Piedmont stage.  Folk Soul Revival paired with the Piedmont Pilsner as fans are slightly bitter to their breakup and that matched the beer's profile. The Bristol Helle Raiser fit the Hayes Carll set and would have worked with 49 Winchester if we weren't late. It wasn't the Blue Mountain Steel Wheels ESB but the Bearded Goat Bock hit similar notes as the band's Rain in The Valley. And in the evening, give us the Wil's Lucky Dunkelweisen. 

 The BRRR will be back in our regular rotation. Look forward to visiting these and other area winery and breweries until then with theCompass Craft Beverage Finder. Cheers. 

Grape Spotlight: Dalmatian Plavac Mali

"Plavac Mali is used to craft some of the finest Croatian red wines, especially when it comes from the barren, steep southern slopes of Southern and Central Dalmatia facing the sea, from positions such as Dingac, Postup and Ponikve on Peljesac, Ivan Dolac on Hvar, Murvice on Brac, and Komarna and Konavle on the coastline.  These locales are the home of the most famous labels, wines that are often powerful, alcoholic, full-bodied, and rich. Further inland, Plavac is used to make fruitier, lighter, juicier, everyday wines to be enjoyed with a variety of cuisines." Wines of Croatia

Today, September 21st is International Plavac Mali Day, a celebration created by the Croatian Wine Alliance - a partnership between Anna M. Viducic (Aroma Wine Co) & Mirena Bagur - Win Burke (Croatian Premium Wine Imports).  Thus, it's more than appropriate to highlight Croatia's predominant red grape variety. It is grown throughout Dalmatia with the best-known plantings on the Peljesac Peninsula in the Dingač and Postup appellations. In fact, Dingač became the first protected Croatian wine region in 1961. However, my appreciation of Plavac Mali comes more from the newly created Komarna appellation through the wines available from Croatian Premium Wine Imports and our recent visit to Terra Madre Winery. Komarna wineries planted their Plavac Mali vineyards using best practices from the Peljesac Peninsula particularly planting on the south-southwest slopes.

That being said, there are some differences in wines produced in Komarna and Peljesac. According to Antonija Car, winemaker at Saints Hills Winery, Komarna is a lighter style of wine than Dingač and the cooler area is able to better preserve acidity. In contrast, Dingač is hotter with more quartz in the otherwise similar limestone soil leading to less acidity, more sugars, and thus higher alcohol.  In Peljesac, vines are planted very close together and trained as bush vines to avoid the harsh effects of the Mediterranean sun. 

The name Plavac Mali is derived from the blue color of the berries (plavac) and the size of these berries (mali). An interesting phenomenon is that the berries on any particular cluster ripen at different times as evident from this slide courtesy of Volarević Winery. This forces the winemaker to make a difficult decision during harvest to obtain a sufficient balance between pH and sugars. This pushes harvest back until the end of September to early October. 

The discovery of Plavac Mali's lineage offers another fascinating story thanks to Mike Grgich, the winemaker behind the iconic Chateau Montelena Chardonnay. Here is a short paraphrase but for the full story, we recommend this video of Grgich or our post Grape Spotlight: Croatian Tribidrag (Crljenak Kaštelanski, Pribidrag, Kratošija) aka Zinfandel. When seeing Zinfandel planted in California it reminded him of Plavac Mali vines from his native Croatia. He enlisted help from Dr. Carole Meredith of U.C. Davis who with assistance from Croatian researchers determined that Plavac Mali was related to Zinfandel but not an exact DNA match. Instead, Zinfandel was the same as its parent Crljenak Kaštelanski - with the other parent being the ancient Croatian grape Dobričić.

There are several Dalmatian Plavac Mali wines available in the United States with most providing the characteristic dried figs, raisins, and cocoa aroma followed by cherry flavors, spice, and solid tannins. Komarna grown Plavac Mali wines are available here along with a Dingač and Postup versions made by Miljenko Grgić, Saints Hills Winery, and Chateau Mario.