dmwine

Here's a description, at least from three years ago. I would say that space camp sounds like a once-in-a-lifetime thrill, while winemaking is likely the start of something very time consuming and expensive.

Could this be more contradictory? The rich former airline pilot (?) vs. the "mom and pop" winery ... And "passion" is as much a cliché as the "adversity" rich athletes face when the ball bounces the other way. 3. Love a good tale. These consumers like wines that are made with "passion" and have a "story." The story often goes something like this: "Former airline pilot/teacher/CEO starts his or her winery on a patch of land like no other in search of the perfect bottle." This generation likes to know who's making their wine and its members often favor mom and pop wineries. This allows them to know more about what they are drinking, ...

Andy Myers of CityZen, and Jarad Slipp of RdV Vineyards, ex-of CityZen, became Master Sommeliers today. This is a remarkable achievement that both have worked for over many years, and well deserved for both. They join Kathy Morgan and Keith Goldston, both of Range, as DC's Master Sommeliers. (Fran Kysela, now a wine importer based in Winchester, is also a Master Sommelier.) Last year, Carlton McCoy of The Little Nell in Aspen became an MS - and he had worked at CityZen, with Andy as his mentor. Eric Ziebold and the folks at CityZen should be proud to have had three Master Sommeliers emerge from the exceptional wine program at this restaurant. Andy mentored with Kathy and Keith, and has mentored several other DC somms who are working their way through the Court of Master Sommeliers program. We have several who are Advance Sommeliers, the third of four levels, who hopefully will become Master Sommeliers before long. It's a very rigorous course of study that requires dedication, time, expense - investment in all senses of the word. That so many DC-area somms are working through this is a testament to the professionalism of DC's restaurant scene and wine service in particular. Three cheers for Andy and Jarad!

I'm sure glad you two weren't pissing at each other over the table during lunch!

The RdV Salon tasting includes both the 2009 Lost Mountain and the Rendezvous.

Gerry - We met several years ago at a wine dinner at the late, lamented (by me, at least) Café Atlantico. I've enjoyed this thread and am eager to taste your wines when they become available in the DC area. If you pass through, please let me know. Your discussion above on Rioja and the earlier quotes from Josh Raynolds bring to mind Paul Lukacs's new book, "Inventing Wine." The last few chapters sum up the evolution of wine's modern "invention," as he fancies it, into an international style characterized by flamboyance, fruitiness over earthiness, and potent alcohol. I'm simplifying here, of course, but the main factors driving this evolution are modern technology and viticultural practices, which have had several effects: Good, as in technically sound, wine can now be made anywhere. Dramatic improvements in wines from around the world (South Africa, Argentina, Chile, New Zealand). And perhaps a similar expansion of quality wine within classical winemaking countries (Languedoc, Priorato, and some of those tiny "new" regions on Don's bull head? Celebrity status for winemakers - the technology gives them tools and makes their choices in the winery as important, if not more, as choices in the vineyard. Because there is so much technically sound wine, wine is democratized - more people can afford it, so it becomes a more popular drink. Therefore ... Celebrity status for wine writers and critics, as consumers need someone to tell them which wines to choose from among the multitudes. The result of all this is that modern wines tend to taste alike. Lukacs calls this a triumph of style over terroir. "Wine's newfound ability to come in styles that can transcend both region and grape variety is the most important aspet of the current era of globalization," he writes. "For many consumers, a wine's ability to be true to a style even more than either a region or a grape has become a defining mark of quality." That's a thought-provoking discussion of why it can be hard to distinguish a modern Rioja from a Napa cabernet. I hadn't thought to blame Francois Freres, though! (A shameless plug: I reviewed Lukacs's book, along with another about wine in biblical times, for today's Washington Post. It's my first appearance in Book World, and I'm pretty darn excited about it.) Cheers, Dave McIntyre

I don't really, and now I think advancing age may have tripped me up when I wrote that - I believe the Old House was a vidal blanc (dry and quite good). Linden and Breaux still make nice seyval, as does Boordy in MD. Leesburg Vintner might have some, I suspect.

Well, I AM aging, which of course .... beats the alternative ... (rimshot) ... though I'm actually more and more appreciative of nuance in wines. What I was responding to in that Norton piece was the plain fact that the winemakers are getting better at what they're doing. I'm intrigued by Alan Kinne's idea that using gentler techniques more common to pinot noir (from his experience in Oregon) might produce Norton wines that are less ....well, let's just say less over the top and more nuanced. At the risk of getting wonky, which I don't like to do in my columns, the problem with Norton is the combination of high acid and high pH. To lower the pH, you need to add acid, but there is already too much. Without lowering the pH, the wine can be unstable and susceptible to brettanomyces (the bad yeast that leads to "barnyardy" or "band-aid" aromas and flavors) and other funkiness. What producers such as Jenni McCloud and others are finding is that with vine age and careful vineyard techniques, they can influence the acid/pH balance favorably - in other words, "the wine is made in the vineyard." That plus careful, gentle handling in the winery can produce a balanced, tasty wine. You've probably heard that before - it means that Norton in this respect is no different than other grapes. Like Don, I used to be a "viti-racist," preferring vinifera over all others. I still DO prefer vinifera - the world does, with good reason. But winemaking is getting better throughout the United States. Stone Hill Winery in Missouri makes some very nice Nortons (and is the same winery that won the gold medal in Vienna, Austria, for a Norton in the 1870s.) Personally, I think Missouri does an even better job with dry Vignoles, a French-American hybrid grape that makes very tasty white wine. I only know about these because DrinkLocalWine.com, a website I co-founded four years ago, held its annual bloggers conference in Missouri in 2011. I don't go there and I won't mail order them for direct shipping, but I like the wines and recommend them to anyone visiting Missouri. Closer to home, I've been impressed with the Old House Vineyards 2010 Chambourcin and 2009 Seyval Blanc from Virginia, two very stylish wines made from hybrid grape varieties. I agree with Don about finding a critic you can relate to and "calibrate" with your palate. Just like my parents used to avoid any movies recommended by the newspaper reviewer, because they invariably hated them. We have tastes and preferences that come with a certain perspective, but that isn't always the same POV of the average consumer. (That's one reason we do this, after all.) Too much for tonight - work to do! Another column to write ...

Look for soon-to-be-released estate wines from Granite Heights (Opal, VA, b/w Warrenton and Culpeper - not a stunning view, but very nice wines, jams and honeys!). Also, in Maryland Boordy should soon be releasing their 2010 Landmark reds from their newly replanted vineyards. Also, the 2010 Syrah from Elk Run in MD is quite good.

Your words, not mine. It could also be that they taste a wide variety of wines and are having their first real exposure to VA in that context (which is what the organizers wanted), while some of us who drink the wines more often can relate to the wines more closely. For example, those wines that I gave my highest scores to - to be honest, I'm responding in part because they did seem to set themselves apart from the crowd as Virginia wines. The MWs on the panel might have been comparing them to first growth Bordeaux, something I don't taste often enough.

Impossible to say. Remember, there were 15 judges, so 15 disparate scores to average. Some of these judges had had little or no exposure to Virginia wine before; this MAY have prompted them to score more cautiously, but that's simply speculation. I know I gave more than 13 gold medal scores, and most of those were in the 90-92 range, with a few that really excited me going over the 94-point threshold. But I hate point scores, so whaddo I know? The judges were not informed afterwards as to which wines were which, so I don't know what wines I would have included in the Governor's Case. But I think my distribution would have been similar, in that the Bordeaux blends (meritage) category was strongest.

Some interesting things to note here: The prevalence (5 of 12) of Bordeaux blends, including the Glen Manor, Delfosse, Potomac Point and Veritas. No petit verdot or viognier (though the Tarara is apparently 40% viognier) Most are from the Charlottesville area The new format will not only allow the industry to spot its star wineries, but also which vineyards produce the top wines, as many of the medal winners may purchase grapes from the same sources - that way the growers will get recognition too. In all, 13 golds, 137 Silvers, and about 215 bronze medals, from about 400+ wines entered - shows fairly high overall quality.

Congratulations, Jeff! Well done! The Governor's Cup was revamped this year to give it more credibility, by bringing in some top judges (two MWs - with a third, DC's own Jay Youmans, organizing the competition - and an MS (Kathy Morgan) among the judges. Most of all, a requirement that the wines be made 100% from Virginia grapes.

Justin - I was impressed with their rosê and some of their reds they were pouring at the Silver Spring Eat-Drink-Local event last month. They are an estate winery with a large vineyard, so they could have some real potential. I mentioned them in my Maryland feature last month as well. Dave Mc

I'm not sure about the original Long Bomb, but Jordan Harris, the engaging young Canadian winemaker who joined Tarara in 2007, has insisted that the winery use only Virginia fruit. His other changes include screwcaps for all wines and vineyard-designated blends instead of labeling by grape variety. Thus he has the Neveah White or Neveah Red blends (the vineyard name following in the winery tradition of spelling things backwards).

Sorry about your shoulder! One anecdote I didn't fit into the story: I visited Black Ankle's tasting room on Oct 1. It was a fairly busy Saturday, and I stood at the bar and did the regular tourist tasting anonymously. Whoever took care of me (I didn't get her name) was excellent and very knowledgeable about the wines. At one point, a young 20-something couple arrived and began the tasting next to me. When the server began explaining the first wine, the young woman asked, "Where is the fruit from?" This of course launched the discussion into the story of how BAV was Md's first fully estate winery and that they use only fruit they grow themselves. I thought it striking that the customer was concerned about this enough to ask. A fair amount of "Maryland wine" is not made with Maryland grapes - which may not matter to most people, though in my opinion it should be disclosed to consumers who think they are buying local wine. And of course, using only grapes they grow gives winemakers more control over the entire process and quality. Dave

Ahem. I told you about this guy seven months ago. And add Kathy Morgan, Jay Youmans, Mark Wessels and Panos Kakaviatos to the list of those impressed.

Thanks for these comments, everyone - I'm not so adept at quoting from various posts, so please bear with me as I try to respond to some of these interesting points. Don - You wanted Maryland? You got it! In tomorrow's Post. As well as three years ago, though you're right - it is becoming increasingly difficult to identify "local wine" solely with Virginia. And I'll stick with "locapour." I can't claim coinage, but I like the trite little rhyme with locavore, and "locachug" sounds a little too much like the bikers at the MD wine festival swilling the bottles of Basignani riesling. I agree with Dan Cole about supporting local product, though I also agree with Joe H that some - repeat SOME - of the local wines are superior, or at least world class. I like to think of Virginia wine as a pyramid, with a lot of crappy wine at the base, but an increasing amount of really good stuff near the top - the tip of the pyramid is widening, as it were. California is a yield sign - lots of good stuff at the top, but still some crap at the bottom. You can find really bad wine from California, Oregon, Washington, France, Italy, etc. And overpriced wine, too. The price argument doesn't hold water, even if the Piedmont clay does. Speaking of that clay - no one's planting there anymore. The clay soils afflicted some early efforts, but the growers figured that out and have looked for better sites - especially hillsides. Linden, Glen Manor, Chester Gap, Fox Meadow, Hillsborough, RdV, - especially RdV - all have impressive hillside vineyards with steep slopes. I can't speak to all their soils or their viticulture practices, but the sites give them an advantage. As for changing weather patterns along the I-66 corridor, those fronts and storms are often short-lived, and they don't usually spread over large areas. Growers are looking at those weather patterns for areas that are least affected, or best able to cope. New viticulture practices help ripen grapes too. Of course, this year's apocalyptic September was an exception (one hopes!). Please read my weekly wine blog post on All We Can Eat tomorrow for thoughts on how this harvest may play out. Vines don't mildew or grey-rot - grapes do. (Well, primarily the grapes.) And these can be controlled by changing viticulture practices. If you look at Linden's newer vineyards, or Glen Manor's, or RdV's or Hillsborough, you don't see the lyre trellising system or the sprawl of the Geneva Double Curtain that makes a vineyard look like a jungle. I'm not saying these systems never produce good wines, but vertical shoot positioning on well-chosen rootstocks in densely planted vineyards will give an advantage, especially in eliminating green, vegetal flavors. This is controversial, primarily because people have invested in the other way and it ain't cheap to replant - again, see my Maryland article in tomorrow's Food section for the story of one established winery that chose to start over. As for value - I had an email exchange today with a blogger who lives in Santa Barbara County. He mentioned that he recently had a Virginia viognier and cab franc that impressed him, and he was applauding "Regional Wine Week" (which is this week on DrinkLocalWine.com). Yet I thought of how he has some wonderful local wines to enjoy - artisanal, small production wines from Santa Ynez or Santa Maria valleys that probably are not available here in the East - and probably are rather pricey. We have something exciting here; we're in this at the beginning, where Napa was in the 60s or Burgundy in the 1500s (and we have plumbing!). No one's suggesting we should drink only local wines. Just that we shouldn't count them out. In addition to my essay on Why Regional Wine Matters, quoted above, I hope you'll read Jeff Siegel's on "7 Things You Should Know About Regional Wine." Cheers, Dave

Whichever, I am sure that - just like in school - I would be the last player chosen for either side.

OK. There are too many arguments here for me to dispute, or quote, so just let me address a few. Back in 1997, when Tom Sietsema came back to DC to edit the SidewalkDC website for the behemoth Microsoft, he hired me to be his wine writer. One "innovation" we implemented - and I don't say no one ever did it before, but it certainly wasn't common - was for me to write a mini-review of a restaurant's wine list, which ran as a sidebar alongside his restaurant reviews. The Post was not doing this at the time. By the end of our run two years later, the Post was actually mentioning wine in its reviews. When Tom took over the Post reviews, he continued this by regularly discussing the restaurant's wine list. It may not be "30-60 words" (a very arbitrary standard, Jake), but he typically does give an indication in his reviews of whether a restaurant has given any thought to wine. As for Galileo - maybe Tom felt compelled to devote more ink to Roberto's rap sheet than his wine sheet - it's more relevant, after all. The thing to remember isn't that editors don't know anything about wine (you don't know what they drink), but that newspaper reviews are limited in space and ink; online screeds like those that appear here and in blogs are not limited in word count or "column inches", which quite frankly may be an advantage, or maybe not - it depends on the writer, not the medium. We can critique the writer's choice of what to include or leave out in any given review, but it is important to keep this in mind when dismissing someone's entire body of work. This site is not "the press" - it is part of a new creature, social media, that acts as a counterpoint to the press, and certainly has an influence on it. It may even be the future of "the press," God help us all. That would be anarchy. But then, the "press" often resembles anarchy in its own right ... so I imagine we'll survive. I grew up in a Washington Star family. I remember my dad expressing consternation that "Nixon lied to us." I took a "creative journalism" class at The Writers Center in Bethesda from the reporter who covered Watergate for the Star. He told us how he'd wake up every morning in dread, go to his doorstep and retrieve his copy of the Post, and learn what story he'd be chasing all that day. Yes, the Post has its faults - the conservative editorial page among them - and it hasn't figured out how to thrive in the Internet era. But it has a damn good Food section these days, which is going for a "three-peat" in the Beard awards, thanks to the vision of Joe Yonan and Bonnie Benwick, and the writing of Jane Black and now Tim Carman. And maybe some talented freelancers who are trying to do something more than the ordinary. That's something to be appreciated. (Says the "homer," who has been writing steadily for the Food section for two and a half of those three years ... and very proud to be part of that effort.) [Joe - you may include the suck-up bonus in my next check ... ] I'll go back to lurking now.

At least they had the good sense to nominate the Post Food section for the third time! Yay team! And kudos to Tim Carman on his nomination for the City Paper column.

Indeed, the alcohol percentage noted on the label tends to be imprecise for the reasons stated here. (They can also be hard to find, printed in very small type.) And I certainly would not have the chemical wherewithal to verify alcohol levels (I barely have enough time to write the darn columns!) I asked a winemaker once if there is a test-strip kind of device that would be an easy way to verify alcohol levels, like checking the chlorine in your swimming pool, but he wasn't aware of any way other than sending to a lab for analysis. Anyone know of an easy method? Don is not the only one who purposely avoids wines over a certain alcohol level. Given the wiggle room allowed by federal regulations, would it be useful to have the alcohol (as stated on the label) included in WaPo reviews, or would those who care simply make that decision at the store when they see the label in person?

I don't think Joe will let me quote you on this one, Don! Another question, then: Would folks find it helpful if I list the %ABV in my WaPo reviews?? I do usually list importers, especially if they are also the distributor. And yet people buy those wines by the Gallo(n). Thanks for all the insights - this is quite helpful!

Perhaps the most exciting aspect of buying wine in the DC-metropolitan area these days is the variety of small, boutique importers. But that's another story - and thread. Mark - thanks for your insights; I'm also planning a "how to read a wine list" column, and you touch on that from both the collector/diner and restaurateur viewpoints. Any other considerations on the label when buying retail? %ABV? Bottle weight? Do you look for bottling information (estate bottled)? Anything else?

I'd like to pose a question to the wine lovers in this forum: How do YOU read a wine label? What is the relevant information you look for when deciding whether to buy a particular bottle? And what is the fluff you look beyond? I'm considering a column on this topic, and while I know what I respond to on a wine label, I'd like to hear your perspectives. Obviously, the following are relevant, if not crucial: * The producer (Winery, chateau, etc., although this sometimes blurs into "brand" ... ) * Grape variety * Place of origin (Country, state, appellation, district, vineyard name, etc) * Vintage year - perhaps less relevant for $5 "California" wines, but more so for high-end bottlings. But what about some other information: * Pretty picture/artwork (critters) * Importer's name * Alcohol content * Back label blurbs * Government warning(s) * Ingredient labeling (if there - if not, should it be? By this I mean disclosure of additives, fining agents, oak chips, flavoring or barrels, etc.) What other things do you look for when sizing up a bottle on the store shelf? * Screwcap vs. cork? (No way to tell if it's a natural cork until too late, of course.) * Bottle weight?