Thursday, August 7, 2014

Savor the Flavors of Virginia’s Best Wine, Beer, & Cider at Epicurience Virginia

If you are staying at home this Labor Day weekend (Aug. 29-Sept 1) and want to enjoy a complete farm and wine to table experience then check out Epicurience Virginia - which brings a one-of-a-kind edible showcase that brings Virginia’s award-winning wines and farm-to-table cuisine to the grounds of historic Morven Park."  This event is a partnership with SAVEUR Magazine and connects attendees directly to the winemakers and farmers.  During the main event on Aug. 30th, - from noon to 6pm - Virginia’s finest wine, beer, spirits and cuisine will be available in the Grand Tasting Tent.  The tent is sponsored by VirginiaTourism Corporation, and attendees can watch celebrated chefs cook up culinary creations and attend seminars on Virginia’s wine and cider scene in the education tent sponsored by Virginia Wine. These chefs include TV host, author and chef Nathalie Dupree, Todd Gray of Equinox Restaurant (DC), Shannon Overmiller from The Majestic (Alexandria), Scott Drewno of The Source by  Wolfgang Puck (DC) and Jason Alley with Pasture  & Comfort (Richmond & Charlottesville). Ingredients for the demonstrations are being sourced from Ayrshire Farm.


One of the coolest events during the Saturday Aug. 30 Grand Tasting at Morven Park is the Speed Blending Competition. People interested in participating can enter the code EpicBlend when purchasing tickets and up to 48 winners will be randomly selected to participate. Blending sessions will run from 12:30 p.m. to 4:30 p.m., with each session lasting one hour. During that time, participants will get to work with one of Loudoun’s winemakers to taste and create their own unique blend using three randomly selected Loudoun wines.A winner will be selected from each group and entered into the final competition set to kick off at 4:30 p.m. LWA members and VIPs from the community will select one winner who will get to spend time over the next year working with a Loudoun winemaker to help create a wine to be released at Epicurience Virginia 2015. How cool is that?

General admission tickets cost $85 per person, whereas a VIP ticket is $125 per person includes a food and wine pairing at Early Mountain Vineyards’ airstream, modeled after its tasting room, and the VIP tent furnished by Bella Villa and featuring exclusive tastings.

Additional culinary events will take place throughout the weekend at Loudoun’s wineries and historic estates including wine and cocktail pairing dinners, farm-to-table picnics and the opening night event at the Marshall House. One such event is the Catoctin Creek Distillery dinner at Magnolias on Sunday August 31st. Information for these events can be found at Epicvirginia.com.See you there.

Wednesday, April 30, 2014

Annual WineMaker Magazine Conference set for Virginia Wine Country in 2014


Do you make your own wine or our thinking about starting? Then...
"Join fellow hobby winemakers from across North America in Northern Virginia's wine country for three days packed with seminars and special events to help you make your own great wine. "
From June 5-7th, WineMaker Magazine is hosting their annual conference at the Lansdowne Resort, Leesburg in DC's Wine Country - Loudoun County Virginia. The conference includes workshops, seminars, and a keynote address from Doug Fabbioli of Fabbioli Cellars. There are also several boot camps lead by consultant Tom Payette; Wes Hagen of  Clos Pepe Estate; Daniel Pambianchi of Maleta Winery; Chik Brenneman from UC-Davis; Robert Herold, Winemaker for M&M Wine Grape Co.; Tim Vandergrift, Technical Services Manager for Global Vintners International; and BobPeak, Partner in The Beverage People home winemaking retailer shop.  The conference also includes a day trip to a few Virginia Wineries and admission to the 2014 WineMaker International Amateur Wine Competition Awards Dinner as well as the Friday night Wine Share & Tasting Party. That's the event I want to attend; but sounds like an informative weekend. Cheers.  


Saturday, April 26, 2014

Local Beer & Wine Pouring at the 7th Annual Wine and Food Festival at National Harbor

One Spring event I always anticipate is the annual Wine and Food Festival at National Harbor, now in its 7th year - held May 3rd & 4th. The reason: always a wide selection of wine, beer, spirits, cigars, fresh food (oysters), as well as numerous cooking demonstrations and food. Lots of food. There will be also be plenty of wine, beer, & spirits options (over 150) including local options from Boordy Vineyards, The Winery at Olney, Detour Vineyard and Winery, Fenwick Wine Cellars, Far Eastern Shore Winery, Harvest Ridge Winery, Fordham Brewing Company, Heavy Seas Brewing Company, Bold Rock Cidery, Devils Backbone Brewing Company, and Starr Hill Brewing. And the night before the festival, on May 2nd, the Old Hickory Steakhouse is hosting a wine dinner featuring Barboursville Vineyards. On Sunday I am looking forward to Theo Rutherford - Craft Whiskey Specialist for Beam Global presentation, but over the course of the weekend there will be presentations from Shannon Shaffer, Executive Chef, Design Cuisine; Michael Schlow; Victor Albisu - Del Campo & Taco Bamba; Scott Drewno - The Source by Wolfgang Puck; Chef Bryan Voltaggio - Volt | Lunchbox | Family Meal | Range; Chef Rahman “Rock” Harper; and Mike Isabella - Graffiato, Washington D.C.. Here's the promotional video from Drink.Eat.Relax:

 

Monday, March 31, 2014

Corcoran Brewing Re-opens in Purcellville


This weekend Corcoran Brewing Company reopened at their new Purcellville brewery, after outgrowing their Waterford barn next to the family's winery: Corcoran Vineyards. The brewery had been idle for the past four months constructing and moving to the new location, yet all that has changed is the volumes of beer - the selection is the same and the increased capacity means inventories will remain more constant. Although looking at the picture, Saturday may have depleted quite a bit of inventory since brewer Kevin Bills mentioned it was their biggest sales day ever. Whereas the standard lineup is intact, a new beer added to the menu is the John Champe, an English style barley wine coming in at 9.7% abv. Despite the high alcohol, the beer is quite smooth with a nice malt-hop balance. Also, the brewery continues the tradition of including detailed information in the tasting sheets such as style, ABV (Alcohol by Volume), IBU (International Bittering Units - hops), and SRM (Standard Reference Method for color). In the future expect food trucks, an outdoor seating area, and perhaps some local live music. And as always, theCompass Winery, Brewery, and Distillery Locator app can guide you to Corcoran's Brewing Company and the other area wineries, breweries, and distilleries. Cheers.

Monday, March 10, 2014

A Much Belated Return to Willowcroft Farm Winery

This weekend I realized that it had been almost eight years since I last visited Willowcroft Farm Vineyards, located just southwest of Leesburg in Loudoun County Virginia. Don't know why the long hiatus, but Sunday night we used theCompass mobile application to navigate to the winery.  Good timing, since the winery is celebrating it's 30th anniversary in 2014 - one of the oldest in the Commonwealth. Once a space opened at the tasting bar, our tasting room rep, Lydia, guided us through the winery's portfolio and history.  (We also found a couple books in the tasting room that describe the history of the properties on Mt. Gilead.)

All the wines we tasted were harvested directly from the estate, except for the Petit Manseng which is sourced further southwest in the Shenandoah Valley.  We sampled most of their wines, and in general, I was quite impressed. Almost all possessed the characteristics you would expect from each grape.  The estate grown Albarino was my favorite white (floral with nice acidity), followed by the Harmony and Cabernet Blanc. The former is an semi-dry blend of Petit Manseng, Vidal Blanc and Traminette (great acidity to balance the sugar); whereas the later is a lightly pressed Cabernet Franc that tastes of the lighter side of cherries. Moving on the reds, the Petit Verdot was medium bodied with mellow tannins; the Chambourcin was also medium bodied with a spicy tail, and the Merlot was full bodied - very smooth and tasty.

I plan on returning very soon, particularly when the medal winning Cabernet Franc and Apple wine are released to the public. Lydia almost talked me into the Wine Club, and I think I can be persuaded on my next visit. Since the strength of their portfolio encompasses the breadth of the wine selection, I think I can be assured that every two months I'll receive a wine I enjoy. Cheers.

Sunday, March 2, 2014

A Taste of Science at Doukenie Winery

The first Saturday of every month Doukenie Winery (Hillsboro, VA) hosts a very informative and interesting event: A Taste of Science at Doukenie Winery. Led by geologist Leanne Wiberg, the program starts with a tour and wine tasting in the depths of the facility followed by a vineyard tour of the winery's experimental vineyard. After a year of urging I finally found a free Saturday to participate. The tour costs $18.00 for general public, but free for  Heritage Club members, and starts with an overview of the winery's Greek Heritage: Doukenie=Dutchess.  Once in the basement we then learned about winemaker Sébastien Marquet and his Burgundian background followed by a tasting of eight wines. Most of these wines were made from estate grapes with the others sourced from a vineyard near Fredericksburg. And the wines were quite pleasant, with the Riesling, Pinot Grigio, "Le Vin Rouge", and Cabernet Franc selected as the group's favorite. In fact, the Pinot Grigio, was the nicest I can remember tasting in quite some time. After the tasting we learn about the winery's use of oak and the source of their French oak barrels.

Finally it was time for the vineyard tour and Leanne led us to the experimental vineyard where Marquet grafts various grape vines on another varying set of rootstock. Leanne described to the group the history of phylloxera and reason for rootstock and interpreted the different combinations of rootstock to grape vines.She then showed us geological maps of the area and described how Short Hill and the plateau to Leesburg were created. Then on to sunshine, rain runoff, soil, you name it; pretty interesting stuff - even in the cold weather. 

After the program I realized there was plenty to appreciate about Doukenie; the obvious being that they provide a geologist to host this program. The others is the dedication to quality - having an experimental vineyard - and even Marquet selecting the specific trees for the cooperage. And this reflects in their wines - as a whole they are much nicer than my last visit many years ago - and their are a few standouts that I'd like to partake on a daily basis.  Cheers to that.

Friday, February 28, 2014

Governor McAuliffe Announces Williamsburg Winery’s 2010 Adagio Awarded 2014 Governor’s Cup

~Adagio Joins 11 Other Fine Virginia Wines from 9 Wineries to Comprise Governor’s Cup~
Secretary Haymore Awarded Wine Person of the Year by the VWA

RICHMOND Governor Terry McAuliffe tonight awarded the 2014 Virginia Wineries Association’s (VWA) Governor's Cup to The Williamsburg Winery's 2010 Adagio, a blended red wine.  The Governor’s Cup was awarded Thursday evening, February 27 at the VWA’s Governor’s Cup Gala at the John Marshall Hotel.

Speaking at the Governor’s Cup awards ceremony, Governor McAuliffe said, “I am honored to award the Governor's Cup to The Williamsburg Winery, one of Virginia’s oldest and most prolific wineries.  It is no secret the Commonwealth’s wine industry has experienced tremendous growth both in quantity and quality in recent years.  Such growth has an enormous impact on Virginia in terms of economic development and job creation.  The Virginia Governor's Cup, now recognized as one of the nation's most stringent competitions, helps to raise awareness of the world class wines grown and blended right here in the Commonwealth.  My congratulations to The Williamsburg Winery for their long history of success and their most recent notable contribution to the Virginia wine industry."

The Williamsburg Winery's Adagio is a blend of 42% Cabernet Franc, 30% Merlot and 28% Petit Verdot. Aged in French, American and Hungarian Oak, the ratio is  43% new oak, 14% one year old oak; 29% two year old oak; and 14% three year old oak. The winemaker's tasting notes are as follows:  The 2010 Adagio is a very bold upfront wine with loads of jammy fruit.  The blackberries and blueberry notes are accentuated with some elegant mature darker fruit such as figs, dates and prunes.  There is a hint of spice (warm cinnamon) with molasses and soy.  The earthy notes come across with a touch of nuttiness.  The oak is very integrated into the weight of the wine and the tannins are smooth and graceful. The wine has a wonderful finish that lasts for quite awhile. 
            "It is very satisfying and very humbling to be with my peers and the others who have won the Governor's Cup.  The 2010 Adagio was unbelievable, exceeding all expectations for quality, and it was nice for Adagio to get that recognition,” said Matthew Meyer, vice president and winemaker of The Williamsburg Winery.  "Adagio, from the Italian ad agio, or 'at ease', is a musical term indicating the tempo of a composition that is meant to be slow and stately, so named in honor of the extraordinary depth, elegance and grace of this wine."
The 2014 Virginia Governor’s Cup Competition was conducted over three weeks of preliminary tastings, held at the Capital Wine School in Washington, D.C.  The final round of tastings was held at the Jefferson Hotel in Richmond in early February. The Governor's Cup award winner was selected from the 2014 Governor's Cup Case. The top 12 scoring wines of the competition, The Governor’s Cup Case, were selected from 410 entries of both red and white wines, from 96 wineries.

In addition to The Williamsburg Winery's 2010 Adagio, the other 11 wines in the Governor’s Cup Case are: 


The Governor’s Cup competition, revamped in 2011, is a result of a partnership among the gubernatorial-appointed Virginia Wine Board (VWB), the Virginia Vineyards Association (VVA), and the VWA, which owns and manages the competition. Any wine made from 100% Virginia fruit was eligible for the competition, while ciders and fruit wines had their own category and medalists. All entries included an affidavit with a certification of 100% Virginia fruit and vineyard particulars, including grower names and location, as well as information on alcohol, acidity or basicity (pH), and residual sugar.

            Wine included in the Governor’s Cup Case will be used by the Virginia Wine Board Marketing Office for marketing purposes in Virginia, across the country, and around the world.  A number of cases will be shipped to select wine media, promoting Virginia wines to a larger national and international audience.  The award winning wines will be used for education purposes at Virginia winemaker roundtable discussions to improve overall quality of Virginia wines.  Governor’s Cup Case wines will also be used by Governor McAuliffe on select domestic and international marketing missions and other events designed to promote Virginia wine and winery tourism.

            Jay Youmans, one of only of 31 Masters of Wine (MW) in the U.S., directed the competition. Youmans, who is also a Certified Wine Educator (CWE) and the owner and educational director of the Capital Wine School in Washington, DC, recruited wine judges from the professional wine buying and wine media community. The judges were compensated for their time for a rigorous schedule of judging to ensure the competition maintained the highest level of professional evaluation. There were 30 judges in the preliminary round and 15 judges in the final round. A list of the judges along with their bios can be found at http://www.virginiawine.org/governors-cup

One of the most important aspects of the revised competition is the educational component of the judging. After the competition, regional forums for the winemakers will be held with the judging director. Notes with the judges’ blind comments will be shared with individual winemakers, so that they will get direct feedback on how their wines were received.
            The Williamsburg Winery is located on Wessex Hundred, a 300-acre farm located in Virginia's Historic Triangle.  The winery has experienced continuous growth through an expanding portfolio of wines. The introduction of the 2007 Adagio was the culmination of a single-minded goal to produce the highest quality wines in the world. This is the second Governor’s Cup for Williamsburg Winery. The winery won in 1989 for its 1988 Chardonnay.
            "Winning the Governor's Cup is a testament to Matthew's talent and to the dedication of our entire team, whose focus is on excellence in wines made 100% from Virginia grapes. Our goal is to grow as a leader in the industry, developing wines that reflect the character of our Commonwealth, neither Californian or European, but displaying elegance and interesting flavors," said Patrick Duffeler, president and CEO, The Williamsburg Winery.

In addition to awarding Williamsburg Winery’s 2010 Adagio the 2014 Governor’s Cup, Secretary of Agriculture and Forestry Todd Haymore was named Wine Person of the Year for his contributions to this rapidly growing sector of the Commonwealth’s economy. 

As Secretary, Haymore works closely with the Governor, General Assembly, and key stakeholders on numerous legislative and budgetary initiatives to integrate agriculture and forestry fully into Virginia’s overall economic development and jobs creation platform. A dedicated proponent of the Virginia wine industry, Secretary Haymore has worked in partnership with Virginia’s wineries and vineyards to proudly showcase Virginia wines during domestic and international trade missions.  During his time as Secretary, Haymore has facilitated the first commercial shipment of Virginia Wine to China; helped to launch the Virginia Wine Summit, bringing national and international attention to Virginia wine; helped to almost triple the amount of funds placed in the Virginia Wine Promotion Fund for research, education and marketing; and worked with the General Assembly to establish a reimbursable tax credit program for the establishment or expansion of vineyards and wineries.  His strategic focus has led to new sales and opportunities for Virginia wineries that will continue the industry’s growth in the years to come.

Sales of Virginia wine reached a record high in fiscal year 2013 with more than 511,000 cases, or more than 6.1 million bottles, sold. Virginia currently ranks fifth in the number of wineries in the nation with 250 wineries. Virginia is also tied with Texas as the nation’s fifth largest wine grape producing state. According to a recently released economic impact study, the Virginia wine industry employs more than 4,700 people and contributes almost $750 million to the Commonwealth’s economy on an annual basis.

For a complete list of previous Governor’s Cup winners and information about the Virginia wine industry, please visit the Virginia Wine Marketing Office http://www.virginiawine.org/governors-cup/awards/ or call 804-344-8200.