They Make Wine? Viginia Edition

Photo: williamsburgwinery.com

Welcome to my new series entitled "They Make Wine?", where we explore both domestic and international areas not usually associated with grape growing and winemaking. Today we'll explore Virginia.

In November I was a part of the #VAWineChat virtual tasting. VA Wine Chat described by its founder Frank Morgan (of the Drink What You Like blog) is: a monthly winemaker interview series and virtual tasting focusing on the wines, winemakers, and wineries of Virginia. The intention was to post this blog in December, but alas Unit 3 studying started soon thereafter and all writing time was put on hold until NOW!

Super quick history lesson: Virginia, one of our original colonies, was settled in 1607. There were many native grapes grown in early America, but they were not necessarily used for winemaking; mostly just for table grapes. In 1771 Thomas Jefferson planted the first v. vinifera grapes in Virginia. Unfortunately they didn't take and not one bottle of wine was made. Since then, native grapes have been grown in Virginia and for a large part of the 1800’s and 1900s the wines were virtually undrinkable. Fast forward to 2017 and there are 230+ wineries in Virginia making a broad range of wines, including some quality ones! The downside is that all but 3% of the total Virginia wine production is consumed in Virginia. In other words, it is difficult to find Virginia wines outside of Virginia. I consider myself lucky that i got to enjoy 3 lovely wines from Williamsburg Winery in Williamsburg, Virginia!

The Williamsburg Winery, founded in 1985, lies on the Wessex Hundred, a 300-acre farm in Williamsburg, Virginia. The make wines from both hybrids (i.e. Vidal Blanc and Traminette) and v. vinifera (i.e. Merlot, Cabernet Franc, Chardonnay, Viognier, Petit Verdot, and Albarino).

The 3 wines I tasted are below:

2015 Reserve Chardonnay 11.6% ABV ($32 SRP)
This wine is made with 72% new french oak and 28% concrete egg. What in god’s name is a concrete egg you say? A concrete egg is a vessel that is used for the fermentation and/or aging of wine. Other, more common, vessel options include oak barrels and stainless steel vats. The concrete allows for oxygenation similar to oak barrels, but does not impart any oak flavor.

My notes: Unabashed oak on the nose and palate, bright fruit, with a clean finish. A delightful Chardonnay.

Winemaker Notes: The 2015 is showing some wonderful upfront tropical characters of pineapple, orange and banana with some apricot and plum to round out the fruits. There is a very clean creamy lemon note with some vanilla. The minerality of the wine is nicely balanced with the fruits. The oak is not overstated and blends nicely with the fruit and minerality of the wine. The finish is luscious with many layers and complexities. An elevated classic Chardonnay that will pair well with a lobster or ribeye steak.

2015 Viognier 12.7% ABV ($24 SRP)
Fun fact: Viognier is the state grape of Virginia!

My notes: Good fruit concentration, stone and tropical fruit on both the nose and palate, very youthful and approachable. A refreshing salinity on the palate with a hint of baking spices.

Winemaker notes: The 2016 Vintage (note the vintage I sampled was 2015) is showing a wonderful balance and finesse. The freshness of the fruits (pineapple, pear, apple, banana, peach and strawberry) are well integrated with the fresh herbal/flower tones along with a hint of minerality/chalky characters. The lemon nuisance is a nice segue into the crisp acidity of the wine, yet there remains the creamy rich texture.

2015 A Midsummer Night’s White 12.6% ABV, 59% Traminette/32% Vidal Blanc/9% Viognier ($14 SRP)

My notes: White flower and perfume on the nose, a hint of residual sugar (sweetness), and ripe pear on the palate.

Winemaker Notes: A lovely floral, tropical bouquet offering many layers of orange, tangerine, banana, pineapple and a bit of lemongrass. There is a very soft honeysuckle and vanilla that offers an additional richness to the wine, along with a touch of minerality and spice. The finish is rich and creamy with an elegant mouthfeel that blends well with the brightness of the wine.

I hope you learned a tidbit or two about Virginia wine! My goal is to help people learn more and have FUN with wine. There is so much wine to enjoy in this world and from many unexpected places. Who knows, maybe your next bottle of wine will be from the great state of Virginia!

Check out the articles below if you want to learn more about winemaking in Virginia:



Jancis Robinson "Virginia's New Star"

Wine Mag "The Old Dominin's Upswing"

Food & Wine "A Road Trip Into the Heart of American Terroir"

Washington Post "Vineyards That Are Putting Virginia on the Fine Wine Map"

Holy Exam Batman!

On mornings like today, I find myself waking up, having a Nespresso, checking the news (translation: scrolling through Facebook), and cuddling with the kids (translation: Zoe, my dog and Ziggy, my cat). Next up, I go to the gym and work my tail off, then put in a full day at work. Around 6:30pm I come home to the kids (see earlier reference) and look around. I can see the walls. There are no stacks of notes, books, and maps everywhere. I almost feel guilty. Even bored. Do I really not need to read that Alsace flip chart for the 10,000th time? I took my FINAL exam on June 14th and since then I haven't known what to do with myself. Ironically, I'm missing the process. Is this what Empty Nest Syndrome feels like? The kids are all gone and mamma's got nothing to do. I used to wake up on work days at 6am and get in 2 hours of studying before work, work all day, and come home and study until bedtime. Wash, rinse, repeat.

It’s been 6 months and I am just now coming up from the dungeon called the WSET Diploma Unit 3 exam. For those of you who have experienced this exam, you know exactly what I mean. To give context to those not familiar with the program, from the month of February through the exam in June, I logged 300 hours of study. That counts study only, and does not include class time, tasting groups, and theory study groups. To say that I am mentally pooped is an understatement.

Let's recap. In June of 2015 I embarked on a 2-year adventure known as the WSET Diploma program. This program consisted of 20 in-person classes, 6 exams, and 1 research paper on topics including the wine business, viticulture (grape growing), vinification (winemaking), spirits, fortified wines, sparkling wines, and still wines of the world. Leading up to the last exam on June 14 I passed all 5 exams I attempted and passed the research paper. Only 1 exam separated me from my WSET Diploma certification: the dreaded Unit 3 exam. This exam is (roughly) 4x the size of the other exams. It consists of 12 blind tastings and 5 essay questions. However hard you think this exam is, I'd say to multiply that by about 5. It's an unreasonable amount of information to prepare for and to retain for this one exam.

With that being said, the exam is over! June 14 came and went. That day was a whirlwind of emotions. Waking up anxious and ready to go. Arriving onsite and making sure I had my pens, white out, and ID. We started with the first half of the tasting exam: 6 wines to blind taste in 1 hour. It was stressful. Opening the exam book and getting my bearings. Not feeling like there was enough time. When time was up, my heart was racing and I felt like I had an out of body experience. How did I prepare so much and yet feel so unprepared? I stepped outside with my classmates and many of them felt the same way; we got a bit tripped up and flustered. The group stayed positive and vowed to do better for the 2nd half of the tasting exam. What a difference an hour makes. We went in there and killed it. Not killed it in the sense that we all called the wines correctly. But we killed it because we went into that room, took a collective deep breath, and wrote those tasting notes with confidence and purpose. This time we were not in as much of a time crunch, and many of us felt more confident walking out of the exam room. The difference is that we knew what to expect after having completed the first tasting exam. We were calm and in control. Next was our lunch break and then the theory exam, which is the toughest part of the day.

The theory exam is 3 hours of essay writing with only 5 minutes to plan each essay. This part of the exam is a test of strength. Your hand feels like it's going to fall off from fervently writing for such a long amount of time and your brain feels like it's about to explode from the endless facts you need to pull out of it. It is certainly a marathon. A wine marathon (hmmmm......there's an idea). The topics of the exam included: the Pinot Noir grape in Germany and Australia, the wine region of Alsace in France, climates in Chile, red wines of Valpolicella in Italy, and winemaking in Spain. Surprisingly enough there were NO questions on Burgundy, which is crazy. Also, there was only a small mention of Bordeaux. I figured we'd have to write in depth on both regions, but the thing about WSET is that you never know what they're going to ask.

After the exam I was a flurry of emotions. Relieved (it was over), happy (that I did it!), sad (it was over), and frustrated (of the things I forgot to write that I remembered immediately after the exam). My husband (and my dog) picked me up when I was done. We were packed and hightailed it to Palm Springs for a couple days of R&R in the desert. Both nights, I kid you not, I woke up in the middle of the night frustrated with some error I made on the exam. I am still beside myself that I wrongly called 3 of the wines. My gut upon initially smelling the wines was that they were all from the Loire. As I got through my notes I doubted myself and talked myself out of it. Moral of the story: trust your gut.

I am close to 1 month post-exam and am still struggling a bit with what my life looks like now. Coming home from work with a clean slate: no studying to do, no reading, no flash cards, no map study. I can come home, cook dinner, do a load of laundry, or just watch TV. I'm back to normal! For those who know me, this is a far cry for how I have existed since January. No social time, no going out. Only work and study.

I've got 2 more months to go until our results come from London. Every person who attempted the Unit 3 exam in the world, took it on the same day. Exams, which are all handwritten, are sent to London (where WSET is based) to be graded. We should hear back sometime in mid-September.

That's all I've got for you now! I am looking forward to getting back into the writing groove. You can expect to hear a lot more from me in the coming months.


CHEERS!