A Weekend in Nelson County (Day 1)

The weekend of October 9th-10th was a very entertaining weekend. We had planned to attend the inaugural music festival, The Festy, held at the fairgrounds at Devil's Backbone Brewing Company. At this event we filmed most of the performers, particularly Travis Book of The Infamous Stringdusters, his wife Sarah Siskind, and DBBC's brewer Jason Oliver for an episode of MyJoogTV. But just as importantly, we used the visit as an excuse to soak in the wineries located in Nelson County Virginia. Of the dozen located in the county, we had visited Veritas Vineyards and Hill Top Berry Farm & Winery, previously, so concentrated on the remaining field. And what we learned is that this little stretch of land adjacent to Route 151 is a mini-Napa Valley - a true micro-climate providing excellent Virginia wine.

I started off with the closest winery to the festival fairgrounds, Wintergreen Winery. This is the oldest winery in the county, owned and operated by Jeff and Tamara Stone since 1999. We had enjoyed their Cabernet Franc and festival whites (The Thomas Nelson White and Three Ridges White) at previous festivals. The Cab Franc was just as nice as before, a lighter bodied wine with plenty of cherry, but it was their Merlot which was really nice. Maybe has a point. For whites, the Viognier was what you would expect from a Virginia winery now a days but I really enjoyed their use of Petit Mengseng, both as a 100% varietal in the new Thomas Nelson White and as a replacement to Vidal in the Three Ridges White. Much more aroma and flavor than Vidal. This is another white wine grape that appears to work in the state.

While driving to check-in to our room at the Acorn Inn (highly recommended), I noticed a homebrew shop that advertised growlers for sale. Making a quick detour I learned that Mary Wolf and her son Danny Wolf were planning on opening the third brewery in the county, Wild Wolf Brewing Company. For the moment they provide local brewer's with quality homebrew supplies and will soon be selling growlers of their own production beer out of the store. The eventual plan is to build a full production facility nearby, complete with a brewpub. And to show how its done, every Saturday afternoon Danny gives a demonstration outside the store, complete with crushing the grain, boiling the mash, and kegging. Like I say, this area is a nice place to spend the weekend. We will be back for a brewery tour to include Wild Wolf, DBCC, and Blue Mountain Brewery.

After checking into the hotel, I took a shortcut to the one winery not located off Route 151, DelFosse Vineyards & Winery. The winery was having their own party - live music and food - which also proves that there are plenty of opportunities for fun - even with a large music festival nearby. I didn't stay long since I had plans for interviews at The Festy, so I sampled a few wines, starting with their Viognier Reserve. This is a classic, full flavored (apricots) with low acidity and a mid palette to boost. Nicely done. They also pour a 100% Petit Manseng - note to self; need to start studying wines from Jurancon. This wine is more acidic than the Viognier and has a peach flavor - a nice afternoon wine. For reds, there is no need to talk about any other but the 2007 Grand Cru Olivier. This blend of Cabernet Sauvignon, Touriga, and Petit Verdot is full bodied, low tannins, raspberry flavors and very drinkable. Yes, their Meritage is the big guy; but I enjoyed this one more.

After this visit, it was back to the music. Check back for Day 2 and few pictures at the WineCompass Gallery.

American Wine Consumer Coalition

Tom Wark, from Fermentation and lead voice on the effort to defeat HR 5034 sent us a link to a new source for wine consumers: American Wine Consumer Coalition. Their motto: The AWCC is a Coalition of Americans Giving Voice To the Unique Interests of Wine Consumers. JOIN THE MOVEMENT to raise the voice of wine lovers so politicians and policy makers hear you!

If you are worried about government regulators, the new Temperance Movement, and Wholesalers restricting your access to hand crafted wine, beer, and spirits - join this organization.

My Wine Story « WineSur

Like Argentinian wines? We do; who doesn't enjoy an Argentinian Malbec or Torrontes. Perhaps a Chardonnay ,Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon or Tempranillo. Yes, plenty of old world wines made in the new world. If you answered Yes, then check out this contest over at WineSur.

WineSur created this contest with the aim of spreading Argentinian wines through the web around the world. The idea is that Argentinian wineries present the story of their wines, telling something new, amusing and original in less than 100 words. For instance, how the wine arose, the origin of its name, its meaning, etc. These stories will be published in our website www.winesur.com and in our social networks (Facebook and Twitter). Moreover, the stories will be also spread by wine blogs, specialized journalists and media from all over the world. Readers themselves will vote the story they like most.

Just send the story of your wine together with the picture of the bottle or label to valonso@areadelvino.com.

For further information, please check here.

October: Virginia Wine Month

October is Virginia Wine Month and the winery's are hosting numerous events throughout the month. We kicked off the month at Boxwood Winery's Reston satellite tasting bar for their 2008
Topiary Release Party. Rachel Martin, Executive Vice President, was on hand to pour the new release and explain how it differs from the previous vintage. In brief, 2007 was hot and dry - thus allowing the vines to produce full flavor grapes; while 2008 was cooler and wetter, resulting in a more European style, earthy wine. The Topiary is made in the right bank Bordeaux style - thus a Cabernet Franc based wine and the 2008 vintage provides a greenish, peppery, food friendly wine. What's nice about the Boxwood tasting bar's is the enomatic system - where you can sample vertical tastings of the Topiary as well as Bordeaux wines crafted by wineries where Stephane Derenoncourt consults.

Next weekend we are heading down to Nelson County for The Festy music festival - held at award winning brewery Devil's Backbone Brewing Company. In between we plan on visiting a few of the area's excellent wineries and the other brewery in the county: Blue Mountain Brewery. Let us know which wineries you suggest we visit.

• Afton Mountain Vineyards
• Cardinal Point Vineyard & Winery
• DelFosse Vineyards & Winery
• Democracy Vineyards
• Flying Fox Vineyard
• Hill Top Berry Farm & Winery
• Lovingston Winery
• Mountain Cove Vineyards
• Veritas Vineyards
• Wintergreen Winery

State Attorney General Submits Testimony on HR5034 Drafted by the National Beer Wholesalers Association

Utah Attorney General Mark Shurtleff testified before the House Judiciary Committee this week in support of HR5034 and it now surfaces that his testimony was drafted by the National Beer Wholesalers Association. How do we know? Check out this article by the Salt Lake Tribune. The electronic MS Word document he submitted unfortunately for him contained "ppisano” as the author. Who's "ppisano”. None other than Paul Pisano, general counsel for the National Beer Wholesalers Association. While Shurtleff is ranting that we need to minimize lawsuits or perhaps to "protect the children" by passing this law, he is just covering up his affiliation with the NBWA. And that begs the question, "why is a state Attorney General so close to a wholesaler organization"? Does Congress need anymore evidence that this legislation is just a power grab by wholesalers? Not when the wholesalers are dropping $10k into their campaign funds - regardless of party affiliation.

Paradise Springs Winery Wins 2010 Governor's Cup for White Wine

For those who pay attention to the Virginia Wine scene, this is already old news, but for those of you who don't, last night Paradise Springs Winery was awarded the 2010 Governor's Cup for their 2009 Chardonnay Reserve! That is the white wine version. (The red wine version was awarded to King Family Vineyards for their 2007 Meritage last winter.) This is a notable achievement for Paradise Springs, not only because they are such a young winery, and because it the first time since 1991 that a Chardonnay has won the award, but more importantly its redemption for the painful process they endured when opening the winery. We will let them re-tell that story or read about our previous visit here. Congratulations to Ms. Knicheloe, Kirk, and the rest of the crew.

Hearing for HR5034 Today

The House Judiciary Committee responsible for voting on the anti-consumer, anti-winery HR5034 occurs today. You can watch live here (RealPlayer), or check out the Twitter feeds for #5034.

New Jersey Wineries Coming of Age

Check out this article on the state of New Jersey wineries. Apparently they are flourishing; time to head to the Garden State.

Jack Tomasello checks Cabernet Sauvignon grapes Sept. 8 at Tomasello Winery in Hammonton.

Photo by: Michael Ein

Wine Club Zone

A new wine social networking site called, Wine Club Zone, has just launched. By registering with the site you can keep informed of activities in your region, rate wine clubs, and view various blog postings. This site is the first we are aware that allows users to rate wine clubs - not a bad option considering the amount of money people spend at these sources.

MyJoogTV Episode 4: soihadto & Brewer's Art

Next door at MyJoogTV, we just released Episode 4 which features the band soihadto in a discussion of beer and music while sipping beer from Brewer's Art. Never heard of soihadto? For you Foodies over at FoodBuzz, this band includes Chef Duff from Charm City Cakes and the Food Network's Ace of Cakes. However, the band is just not Duff; it includes several talented musicians that play a blend of funky, jamming, psychedelic, rock - whatever that is. Nevertheless, its music worth listening to - and Resurrection Ale merely enhances the sound and doesn't compensate for it (watch the intro). During the episode we discussed beer, Baltimore, touring, and much more. The video is available at MyJoogTV or by download at Tunes and for Windows Media Player.

Virginia wineries back liquor privatization proposal (?)

So says the title to this article regarding the proposed privatization of state liquor stores. But do they? Privatization was a major campaign plank for Governor Bob McDonnell (R) and he hopes to generate anywhere between $300 million and $500 million for the state’s transportation coffers. Now the Governor and First Lady have been outspoken advocates for Virginia wineries, so it is reasonable to conjecture that the The Virginia Wineries Association endorsement of the plan was a political decision rather than a decision on whether the plan actually benefits its members. On the contrary, I would suggest that individual wineries would prefer stability over the instability caused by privatization - particularly when privatization enhances the power of the - already too powerful - wholesalers oligopoly. In addition state liquor stores may be the only retail outlets (beyond the tasting room) for some Virginia wineries; now these wineries will have to rely on the three tiered market.

Now we at the libertarian WineCompass would normally endorse a decline in government's role in private industry; but not in this instance, when the government is simply transferring power to a government created oligopoly. And with HR 5034 resurfacing, the wholesalers may get even more powerful.

2010 Great American Beer Festival Winners List

For those like us who couldn't attend the 2010 Great American Beer Festival, here is the list of winners. A special shout out goes to two Nelson County breweries we plan on touring for MyJoogTV during The Festy - held October 9th-10th. Blue Mountain Brewery (Afton, VA) was awarded a Gold in the American-Style Wheat Beer category for their Sandy Bottom and a Bronze in the German-Style Kölsch category for their Kölsch151.

Neighboring Devils Backbone Brewing Co. (Roseland, VA) was awarded a Gold in the Coffee Flavored Beer category for their Baltic Coffee; another Gold in the American-Style or International-Style Pilsener for their Gold Leaf Lager; a Bronze in the English-Style Mild Ale category for their Ale of Fergus; and a second Bronze in the South German-Style Hefeweizen for their Wintergreen Weiss. Now that's a showing. Can't wait to try these beers next month.

Vincent's Vineyard - Lebanon Virginia

While attending the Bristol Rhythm and Roots Reunion, I noticed one winery present among the various craft vendors: in Vincent's Vineyard from Lebanon Virginia. The vineyard is located on a 6 generation family farm that previously cultivated tobacco. In 2001 vines were planted (mostly hybrids, Traminette, Chardonel, Chambourcin) and the fruit sold to neighboring wineries. In 2008, a winery was constructed and completed so that the estate fruits could now be converted to wine on the premise.

In Bristol, their booth was usually busy as festival goers wither sampled the wines or lounged in recliners after purchasing a bottle. We started with the 2009 Cabernet Franc - yes a very young wine, but one they wanted to get out early. It was a little light, but had enough cherry flavor to make it drinkable. And for fruit grown in that location, it probably is a very good wine. The hybrids are the winery's strength. The Angler's Choice is an off-dry wine made from Chardonel. It is flavorful,which isn't the case with most wines made from this grape. The Traminette was even nicer, slightly spicy but with even more fruit flavor. This may have been my favorite. Even though its made semi-sweet, you can't really tell. You can tell with the semi-sweet, Chambourcin based Make Me Blush. Lots of cherry flavor, but too sweet for my taste. The sweetest wines are the Shepherd's Red and Shepherd's White. The later is a blend of Chardonel and Vidal, while the red is pure Chambourcin. And that one was quite good - not over the top sweet. For a young winery and for making wines to fit a sweeter palette, these were decent wines. And nice to see them in Bristol.

Mountfair Vineyards - Crozet, Virginia

Our friend Dezel, from My \Vine Spot has been touting Mountfair Vineyards for a year now so we finally took his advice and visited the winery during a trip to Afton. The drive to the winery was quite interesting as we bailed out of route 29 and took the back roads from Madison, twisting and turning along country roads, past pastures, and the Walton Homestead, and into north Crozet. It was construction day as the staff was building and painting a patio for special nuptials planned for next week. But fortunately they had time for visitors.

The winery and tasting room at Mountfair are located in an old horse barn, adjacent to a row of Tannat. The Blue Ridge Mountains are clearly visible, not only from behind the winery but on the wine's label. The estate vineyards are planted with classic Bordeaux varieties as are the other fruit they source. For this winery makes wine not only just from these grape varieties, but only red wines from the classics. And excluding a soon to be released series, the wines are classic blends. In honor of next weekend, we started with the 2008 Engagement - a blend of 65% Merlot, 25% Cabernet Franc, and 10% Petit Verdot aged in neutral oak. This is an easy drinking wine - smooth and fruity. The interestingly named Wooloomooloo 2008 was next and this Petit Verdot dominate wine is a much bigger wine, from the nose to the tail. Yea, its also aged a little longer, but even with the extra tannins, its still relatively smooth. Two nice Bordeaux blends, Dezel is right - this is what makes wines from the Monticello AVA so appealing.

Being in the trade, they graciously brought out three upcoming releases. The 2008 Indigenous is a 50-50 blend of Cabernet Franc/Petit Verdot harvested from the estate. This is a special wine, only 75 cases available, and believe me, they will go fast. Even with the bottle shock, this is already a delicious wine - give it a couple months - and..... - buy it now. The final two are single varietals (Cabernet Franc and Merlot) especially made for the restaurant market but will be available at the winery - think UVA tailgates. The wines are prices slightly lower than the blends and, are actually blends themselves (80-20) - although state law allows then to be designated single varietal. These are nice wines, obviously not as complex as the other brands - but still good wines. This entire portfolio and the easy going style of the team makes this a destination worth the crazy drive. Actually, if one starts from Charlottesville, the drive is quite easy - just be prepared for a slow trek coming from the north. By either direction, we will return.

MyJoogTV Release Day: Thursday, September 9th

Thursday morning, the first two episodes of MyJoogTV will be released. MyJoogTV is a collaboration between Wine-Compass and MyJoog where we pair our favorite musicians with makers of fine wines, brews, spirits, or anything else that is fermented. The first two episodes feature Cadillac Sky at Tarara Vineyard & Winery and Holy Ghost Tent Revival visiting Flying Dog Brewery. The episodes will be available at MyJoogTV.com using the MyJoogTV tag as well as on iTunes. The iTunes podcasts can be downloaded to any ipod or viewed using the iTunes desktop application.

2010 Maryland Governor's Cup Competition

The Maryland Wineries Association just released the results of the 2010 Maryland Governor's Cup Competition with the cup going to Fiore Winery for their Sangiovese 2007. Plus their apple wine must be pretty good. Congratulations. The official presentation will occur during The 27th Anniversary Maryland Wine Festival®, September 18-19 at the Carroll County Farm Museum, Westminster, Maryland.

Best of Class Awards
Best Red: Fiore Winery • Sangiovese 2007
Best Rosé: Knob Hall Winery • Rosé Reserve
Best Red Blend: Serpent Ridge Vineyard • Basilisk 2008
Best Off-Dry: St. Michaels Winery White • 2009
Best Fruit: Fiore Winery • Apple-luscious

Gold Medalists
Black Ankle Vineyards • Crumbling Rock 2008
Black Ankle Vineyards • Rolling Hills 2008
Cygnus Wine Cellars • Blanc de Blanc 2008
Dove Valley Vineyard & Winery • Gold 2008
Fiore Winery • Apple-lucious
Fiore Winery • Sangiovese 2007
Knob Hall Winery • Chambourcin 2009
Knob Hall Winery • Rosé Reserve 2009
Knob Hall Winery • Semi-dry Rosé 2009
Little Ashby Vineyards • Cabernet Sauvignon 2007
Little Ashby Vineyards • Super Talbot 2007
Serpent Ridge Vineyard • Basilisk 2008
St. Michaels Winery • "Martha" Chambourcin 2008
St. Michaels Winery • St. Michaels White 2009
Sugarloaf Mountain Vineyard • EVOE! 2007

Cruising in Adams County Pennsylvania

For the past couple years we've been following the Skyla Burrell Blues Band - seen them in Florida and Baltimore - but never at a regular stop in their touring schedule: Adams County Winery. Perfect for MyJoogTV; an awesome blues band and a venue that produces wine; but not the wine we are accustomed to in northern Virginia. Since 90% of their customers prefer sweet wines, that is the style the winery produces. There are some dry and off-dry wines to appease the owner's palette - as well as any other dry wine drinkers who visit - but the majority of wines range from semi-sweet to sweet. The grapes are not your typical vinifera varieties either. Yea, there's a Cabernet, a Chardonnay, and a Riesling; but most wines are made from native labrusca (niagara, concord, catawba, cayuga); hybrids (vidal and traminette); or fruit. For our tasting with the Skyla Burrell Blues Band, owner John Kramb chose their three best selling wines: Tears of Gettysburg (majority Niagara); Rusty's Red (Concord and Niagara) and Scrapple - a sweet cranberry\apple wine. Yes the wines were sweet; but not sickly so - just enough to enhance the fruit flavors. We also learned the production process in order to make sweet wines and we discussed the blues. Then we sat and listened to a great set - all original rockin' blues.

Since we don't make it out to Adams County too often we left before the second set to explore two other wineries in the region. The first was Reid's Orchard & Winery - new to the wine business but an operating orchard for the past 35 years. Some of the grape varieties were similar to those at Adams County Winery - but there was more viniferia - Pinot Noir Syrah, Zinfandel, and Sangiovese. And better yet, Mr. Reid blends these - not many single varietal reds available. That's what we like to see. And they are not bad al all - try the Trioka or the Reid's Red. And like Adams County Winery - they have a satellite tasting facility in downtown Gettysburg.

We intended to head to Appalachian Brewing Company in downtown Gettysburg - but saw a sign for Hauser Estate Winery. Why not. This is another new winery which we were vaguely familiar since the Skyla Burrell Blues Band plays at the venue on some Friday nights. And these must be fun nights - the view is fantastic - overlooking the historic Round Barn and the rolling hills into Gettysburg. Since we had one more stop, we limited our tasting to the ciders and lower end wines; the premiums will wait another day. The ciders were excellent - particularly those blended with multiple apple varieties. The wines - a little disappointing. Most were single varietals that lacked flavor and depth. Maybe we should have gone directly to the premium list. But we will be back one night when Skyla's on the patio.

We finally made it into Gettysburg and rolled in right next to General Lee's Headquarters. That's the location for the Appalachian Brewing Company. We had intended to head north into Harrisburg to their main brewery - but decided a shorter trip was more prudent. And the beers are the same - brewed in Harrisburg and shipped south. We chose a sampler - eight beers - which gave us a good representation of the brewery's portfolio. Interestingly we enjoyed all but the seasonals - threw them back. But the main line is good - just what you would expect from each style - except for the Pale Ale. That beer has subtle hops - which allows the malt flavor to dominate - no west coast pale ale here. But their IPA is the hop bomb and really cleans the palette. If trying multiple beers - be warned - drink this last or else the lighter beers will taste bland. When in fact, the lighter beers are perhaps the strength of their styles. The lager has more flavor then any lager we've had previously and the hefe - is quite nice. We look forward to heading all the way into Harrisburg - that's where the music is - and a hotel.

Poor, Poor Wine Corks

Boy, have times changed when screw caps were the ugly duckling. Take a look at this BBC report: Putting the screw on wine corks

Harvest Hosts: Something New for RV Vineyard Travelers

Courtesy of the Norton Travelers:

Disclaimer: The writer is a member, but not associated with the Harvest Hosts organizers.

Do you travel by RV (recreational vehicle) and enjoy visiting vineyards? This is the case for us. There have been long trips made bearable with vineyard tour breaks along the way. And there have been trips made specifically to visit vineyards in only one geographical area or state. Over the years we have stayed overnight at vineyards with the permission of the owners. This has been usually because of vineyard events, literally getting lost, or waiting for next day winery opening hours. Now there is a new RV vineyard travel venue provided by Harvest Hosts.

Already in Harvest Hosts? first year of operation, there are over 160 vineyards (with new additions each month) belonging to a winery organization that allows you to stay overnight with them at no cost. Sure, there are wineries sporting full service fee camping with water and electricity in Arkansas, Idaho, Virginia, etc., but with a Harvest Hosts annual membership you get a downloadable listing of select vineyards that will let you stay without hookups FREE. Since most RVs are self-contained units, the possibilities of wine tour travel is unlimited from Florida-to-Maine-to-Washington State-to-California and almost every state in between.

FREE does not come without some very easy to live with restrictions and a simple Harvest Hosts membership Code of Conduct which includes: courtesy; calling ahead for confirmation space; arriving during business hours; checking if the host allows pets; staying no longer than 24 hours; take all trash with you; etc. Realize that these selected vineyard sites are not campgrounds, but are hosts that invite you to stay onsite and visit their winery. Required calling ahead secures if an overnight site is available. Most vineyards are limited to 1-to-4 vehicle and not available during special events as reunions, weddings, business receptions, or when they may be seasonally closed.

Benefits have included sitting quietly at a closed vineyard by yourself viewing sunsets with wine in hand, meeting some truly interesting vintners after winery hours, sharing with others lovely wines and travel ideas, or eating evening gourmet meals at the vineyard?s restaurant and retiring comfortably to your nearby RV. If you can live without RV hookups, a few common sense rules, and enjoy visiting vineyards, let me encourage you to look into Harvest Hosts (http://www.harvesthosts.com/).

Sierra Nevada Brewing Company 30th Anniversary Jack & Ken's Ale

It's hard to believe but the pioneering craft brewer, Sierra Nevada Brewing Company is celebrating it's 30th Anniversary. To commemorate this longevity the brewery is offering a few anniversary beers - including the one I purchased: Jack & Ken's Ale. The beer was made in honor of and with participation from Jack McAuliffe, who was the first American "micro" brewer. "His tiny New Albion Brewery in Sonoma, California inspired countless dreamers to start small-scale breweries of their own" - including Ken Grossman and Sierra Nevada. "This Black Barleywine Ale is a nod to the legendary ales New Albion served at their legendary summer solstice parties". This is a barley wine, made strong (over 10% abv), dark and full bodied. It is extremely smooth however, and I finished the bottle after a 15 mile bike rode. Very refreshing for a strong dark beer. The reason - a nice balance of malt and hops.