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 If Decanter, Wine Spectator, Napa Living, Food and Wine or any one of dozens of lifestyle magazines had scripted this evening, we would have seen a gathering of the well-frocked on a perfectly cool summer evening. As each individual arrived, they would detect the slightly saline scents of the crushed oyster shell driveway and comfortably recognize the marble floors and fine grained leather chairs accented by richly polished dark woods that speak of the lifestyle of a wine connoisseur. Fortunately, we did not have any pretension of lifestyle, but just a thirst to assess some wine.Pulling up the crushed rip-rock drive, past the squat metal shed to an industrial-looking door, we found Jane Rouse making her way from a re-tooled bank barn to a low-slung, steel and concrete building. The pedestrian aluminum door led into the sharp, cascading florescent light of the fermentation room of Rockbridge Cellars as it readies for the anticipated harvest.  If
bees are the bane of grape harvest, then flies are the bane of an
empty fermentation room. The quick staccato buzzing of flies moving,
alighting and moving again was punctuated with the occasional WHAP!
of the flyswatter that Jane welded in one hand while balancing a
glass of wine in the other. The picnic tablecloths covering the
folding tables configured in a big square, the graveside folding
chairs and the stacks of cardboard boxes filled with empty bottles
and glasses aren’t likely to appear on wine magazines’ covers. But
then, real tasters don’t much bother with lifestyle mags for
suggestions on wine. We held no expectations of California glamour;
just confidence that our Virginia quest would be rewarded. |
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| For months
Chuck Smith of Washington Street
Purveyors in Lexington, Va., and I had discussed, in near
rapturous terms, what it would be like to visit the ten year old
Virginia wines. Since the rebirth of Virginia winemaking in the
1970s, no single year had seen an alignment of the planets like what
occurred in 1998. By that year, winemakers had identified some
better vineyards, growers had begun to identify better sites, the
industry had begun to identify some grape varietals with sites and
soils and winemakers knew better how to implement technology to
avoid winemaking errors. But most importantly, the Virginia weather
that year was most unlike Virginia. Hot, dry, dusty days left corn
scorching in the fields and apples shriveled on the limb.
Governor Gilmore sought to have the
federal government declare much of Virginia an agricultural disaster
area and ultimately declared a State of Emergency
(Ex. Order 36 (98)). But while farmers clamored for
assistance, grape growers grinned. They watched a vintage of
unprecedented potential develop in their vineyards and, ultimately,
in their cellars. And the fruit was glorious. The summer of ‘98 also saw a number of now well known Virginia winemakers come of age: Luca Paschina had been at the helm of Barboursville Vineyards for but 7 years while Michael Shaps (then of Jefferson Vineyards) had been making wine for even less time. For James and Debra Vascik of Valhalla, ‘98 marked their first estate vintage. None had seen a Virginia vintage like this. Different fruit requires different decisions. Any one of a hundred decisions they might make - beginning with a decision to pick the fruit - could ruin the fruit or ruin the juice that would become wine. Excellent weather and most excellent fruit: but were the winemakers up to the challenge?  Shep
and Jane Rouse, owners of
Rockbridge Winery,
offered the situs for this retrospective tasting and, as it turned
out, the glassware and other tasting accouterments. Aided by Shep,
Chuck and I selected eight representative red wines from the
vintage. As word of the tasting spread, interest grew; the
possibility of a tasting dinner diminished. We settled for a “mere”
tasting.To taste blind or not was our next hurdle. With Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, Merlot, a blended Cab that included a wee bit of Touriga Nacional, as well as Syrah all at the ready, a blind tasting lent itself to a bohemian air of a palate orgy. Just what the hell wine would be in one hand while you cupped another in your mouth? But if not a blind tasting, then would the safety of knowing who was in your glass lend itself to empirically knowing just what the ‘98s produced? After all, if we know Luca Paschina of Barboursville made wine #2 or Michael Shaps made wine # 6, would we really appreciate the wine for what it was or rate it more for who it was. The palpable regard for both Paschina and Shaps reaches a fevered pitch within some Virginia oeneophile circles. And with Shep and Jane in the room, would their presence color the tasters’ analysis of their wines, the Rockbridge Cabernet or the Desheil Merlot, one of the Virginia Governor’s Cup winners in the lineup? We opted for a single blind tasting, knowing the identity of the selected wines, but not knowing the pour order. In retrospect, it worked well. More on that later. With Shep setting out the tasting regimen - no talking, 20 point scoring, etc. - we plowed through eight Virginia reds, ordered as follows:  Jefferson
Cabernet Franc Glendower Estate Vineyard 1998The Glendower Estate is known and respected for the quality of its fruit. Michael Shaps was but then a new name on the winemaking scene, and this vintage helped make it one to be remembered. A brick to garnet rimmed wine. Drying tannins, like dried roses. Bing cherry and eucalyptus notes, but with an acidic bite. The finish is very short. A correct wine, but one that is just past peak. It easily ranks as the group’s least favorite and mine as well. Group Rank:8 BEB: 8 Find Jefferson Vineyard wines
This appeared as yet another bricked rimmed
wine that might be well past peak as it sat before me. It wasn’t. It
struck me as somewhat initially bretty in the nose. But fortunately,
whatever it was blew off. In its place followed blackberry, smoke,
smoked meats, plum, spice (cedar, maybe), pine and chocolate. A bit
of mint perhaps appeared on the finish. This was not Syrah, but I
wasn’t sure which other wine it could be. Whatever it was, it
floated on the palate with a bit of a lighter mouthfeel that I would
have preferred, but I liked it nonetheless.
Contact Boyce
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Barboursville
Cabernet Franc 1998
Valhalla
Cabernet Sauvignon Reserve 1998
Rockbridge
Winery DeChiel Merlot 1998
Barboursville
Cabernet Sauvignon Reserve 1998
Linden
Hardscrabble White (100% Chardonnay) 1998
Rockbridge
Winery Chardonnay Reserve 1998
The
absence of endless, individual parsing over distinctions without a
difference pleasantly marked the evening. The collective, general
uniformity from the tasting group’s comments, individual wine
rankings aside, made the event that much more remarkable. A French
wine intern working for Rockbridge Winery,
Vincent Benezit, best summed up the consensus, “These are
some excellent wines.” The weight of his comment came not so much
from what Benezit said, but what he did not say. He never qualified
the wines by saying, as is sometimes heard from the national wine
press, “good for a Virginia wine” with the backhanded compliment
fully intended to insult. The absence of any qualifier emphasized
the wines’ quality. The wines represent not just good wines from
Virginia. They represent excellent wines. Period.
