Showing posts with label Rappahannock Cellars. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Rappahannock Cellars. Show all posts

Saturday, August 15, 2020

A Little Spain and Croatia in the Blue Ridge Mountains

Over twenty years ago, John Delmare and his family planted the first vines on the historic Rappahannock County property they had purchased called Glenway Farm. This site in the Blue Ridge Mountains has been farmed since 1804 and is well suited for grapes with its high elevation (900' and 1200'); southeast aspect, with 10% grade; and rocky soil comprised of shale, limestone, and clay.  They initially planted a variety of varieties from vinifera to hybrids - one such French hybrid being Vidal Blanc. This grape is a cross between the Vitis vinifera Ugni blanc and another hybrid variety, Rayon d'Or, and is intended to be winter-hardy with high sugar levels with moderate to high acidity.

Rappahannock Cellars released their first vintage of wines in 2000 and since that date, they have held back a portion of their Vidal Blanc in each successive year.  They take that Vidal and siphon it into five-gallon glass casks and place on the winery's roof where it ages in the sun for 10 months. The direct sunlight and heat oxidize the wine which, when optimal, produces characters of cooked or dried fruit, nuttiness, and yeast. These casks are brought inside and aged over the winter and then back-blended with the previous vintages in their version of a Spanish Solara system. Each year the Solara gets older with a portion bottled for release - which they appropriately label Solera ($34).

This wine is dry yet very complex - similar to a Spanish Oloroso sherry with nuttiness and yeastiness immediately apparent. Since the wine is naturally oxidized it can remain corked for a few months so is appropriate for sipping or in cocktails - one is mixing with grape brandy from the winery's sister distillery Dida's Distillery.

The distillery honors the Delmare's great-grandfather Paul Mariani as Dida translates to Grandfather in Croatia and it was their Dida who immigrated to California and introduced the family to agriculture. Distiller Allan Delmare further commemorates their heritage by producing the Dida's Vintners Choice Immature Brandy ($40), a grape brandy in the tradition of the Croatian fruit brandies - rakija.  In rare instances, you can find oak-aged rakija and in Hungary, the best home-made palinka's are those with a little oak seasoning.   The Dida's has even more seasoning using 100% in new American charred oak barrels which smooth the rouge edges without overwhelming the fruit. I found my local rakija source.  Zivjeli!!.

Tuesday, August 24, 2010

Virginia First Lady visits several Northern Virginia Wineries

For the first two days of this week, First Lady Maureen McDonnell will conduct a series of wine tours in Northern Virginia as a part of The First Lady’s Initiatives Team Effort. The group will visit Chrysalis Vineyards, Breaux Vineyards, Tarara Vineyards, Pearmund Cellars, Rappahannock Cellars, Philip Carter Winery. No doubt she will be able to sample some excellent Viognier, Cabernet Franc, and Petit Verdot - grape varieties that do very well in the region.

Tuesday, April 13, 2010

DrinkLocalWine.com: DLW conference schedule

Along with several popular wine bloggers, we will be attending the 2010 DrinkLocalWine.com conference set for Loudoun County, Va. on April 25. Registration is open to the public and will set you back only $65, which includes three seminars, lunch, and the Twitter Taste-off. Plus its held at the famous Lansdowne Resort. Questions? Call (978) 276-9463 or send an email.

Wineries from both Virginia and Maryland will be participating including Breaux Vineyards, Chatham Vineyards, Chrysalis Vineyards, Fabbioli Cellars, Ingleside Vineyards, Jefferson Vineyards, Keswick Vineyards, Potomac Point Winery, Rappahannock Cellars, and Veramar Vineyards from Virginia. The Maryland wineries participating are Black Ankle Vineyards, Serpent Ridge Vineyard, Sugarloaf Mountain Vineyard, Elk Run Vineyards, Cygnus Wine Cellars, and Fiore Winery. That's a good representation of the various wineries in the two states and Keswick Vineyards, Rappahannock Cellars, and Black Ankle Vineyards are recent Governor’s Cup winners in their respective states. We hope to see you there.

Schedule:

Conference registration, 8:30 a.m.

Thomas Jefferson was right: The grapes that work best for Virginia: 9:15 a.m.-10:15 a.m. Moderator: Richard Leahy, Vineyard & Winery Management magazine. Panelists: Matthew Meyert, Williamsburg Winery; Jennifer McCloud, Chrysalis Vineyards; and Matthieu Finot, King Family Vineyards.

Social media: How regional wineries can get the word out: 10:15 a.m.-11:15 a.m. Moderator: Michael Wangbicker DWS, CWE. Panelists: Lenn Thompson, New York Cork Report; Jennifer Breaux Blosser, Breaux Vineyards; Jeff Siegel, the Wine Curmudgeon.

Lunch, 11:30 a.m.-12:45 p.m.

If local food, why not local wine? 1 p.m.-2 p.m. Moderator: Dave McIntyre, Washington Post. Panelists: Mary Watson-DeLauder, Lansdowne Resort; Andrew Stover, Chef Wino; Todd Kliman, Washingtonian magazine.

Twitter Taste-off, 2:15 p.m.-4:15 p.m. (Participants must be 21 or older.) Moderator: Kenton Fabrick, Twitter guru extraordinaire