Up Next for the Capital Wine Festival: Clos Pegase

The Capital Wine Festival is now in full swing. The weekly wine and dinner pairings have already featured winemakers from the Russian River Valley and Tuscany. Tomorrow, the wine will hail from Napa Valley and the winemaker will be Clos Pegase’s Richard Sowalsky. Richard has a unique background for a winemaker. He began medical school only to realize that he didn’t want to practice medicine. He then went through culinary school and realized that while he liked to cook, he didn’t like working the line at a restaurant. He finally discovered winemaking and has been making a name for himself – as well as really good wines – ever since.

Richard has worked for some of the biggest names in the American wine industry, like Robert Mondavi, and now oversees winemaking for Clos Pegase, a 450-acre estate vineyard in Napa Valley. We discussed his approach to winemaking, issues facing the industry, and of course, tried some of his wine during our meeting. It was a fascinating conversation, and Richard will no doubt leave the attendees at the Winemaker Dinner impressed with his knowledge, his enthusiasm and the wines that he makes. On a side note, he is of the opinion that Syrah is the most under-utilized grape in California and raved about the Syrah that Clos Pegase makes. It is, however, only available at their tasting room and to wine club members.

The two wines Richard brought with him were the 2009 Mitsuko’s Vineyard Chardonnay and the 2007 Cabernet Sauvignon Napa Valley. The Chardonnay was more yellow than clear in color with hints of citrus, melon and vanilla on the nose. The thing that impressed me the most about this wine was that it didn’t finish in an overly oaky way. Instead, the 2009 Mitsuko Chardonnay left a hint of something more akin to toasted pecans lingering on the pallatte. It was a nice – and surprising - finish to a well-balanced Chardonnay. If you have any friends who have been turned off to Chardonnay because they have had so many overly oaked, overly buttery ones, this wine would be the perfect antidote.

As for the 2007 Cabernet Sauvignon, it reminded me why I became such a fan of Napa Valley Cabernets in the first place. There is a rich, fruity and mellow smell to Napa cabs that distinguish them from other wines, and this one is no exception. With a medium to full body, this wine is gives off flavors of dark cherries and dark chocolate, blackberries and a mix of herbs and spices on the finish. It is a smooth wine that is dry, but not too dry, on the finish.

We discussed everything from the role of a winemaker – Richard sees himself more as a caretaker ensuring that the grapes reach their full potential – to issues facing the wine industry - both in Napa and globally – to his thoughts on the Virginia wine industry. His prediction is that as the locavore movement continues to gain in popularity, locally sourced wines will become more and more popular, too. Napa is starting to pay attention to Virginia wines insofar as their reputation is growing, though it is difficult to find Virginia wines in California. Still, the state’s potential is luring talented people from California back East. Clos Pegase’s former cellar manager is now at Hillsborough Vineyards in Loudoun County.

Capital Wine Festival is Underway!

As the popularity of wine continues to increase, so too has the popularity of wine festivals. A Google search of the term “wine festivals” will return more than two and a half million pages. That’s a lot of wine festivals - with many of them following the same formula: invite as many wineries as possible, throw some food and crafts at the attendees along with a complimentary tasting glass, and price the festival reasonably enough to make sure that said attendees will descend on the convention center/hotel ballroom/park, etc. in droves.

Not that these wine festivals are a bad thing – I enjoy going to them, meeting people from the wineries and tasting the regional food – but it is nice to have a bit of variety. The continuing popularity of wine is a great thing, and big wine festivals help make wine even more approachable and accessible to those who may have an interest in wine, but still want to explore their options.

My point is that it is difficult to create a successful wine festival that breaks out of this tried and true mold. The Capital Wine Festival strives to do just that by creating a more intimate experience for both the wineries and the participants. At the Grand Opening Reception, there was great wine and great food, but gone were the schwag bags, free tasting glasses and regional folk art. Instead, attendees got an evening that focused on wine – good wine – where they could talk to the new executive chef at the Fairfax Hotel at Embassy Row and learn about what they were drinking at a leisurely pace. People did not need to be rushed from tasting stand to tasting stand because of a line four-deep of people more interested in getting drunk off of free samples than tasting and enjoying the wine. The people pouring the wine, in this case some of the DC areas’ top distributors and wholesalers, were happy to tell the guests about the wine they were serving and which food items from the buffet would pair best with it. In essence, the Grand Opening Reception sought to be small, intimate and wine-focused. It succeeded.

The Capital Wine Festival is modeled after the Boston Wine Festival that was started by Chef Daniel Bruce 22 years ago. The festival is really a series of winemaker dinners over the course of several months. The idea, which is still the driving force behind the festival, is to invite winemakers or winery owners to showcase their wines for a small gathering of participants. The wines are paired with a dinner prepared by the host restaurant’s executive chef. Some of the wineries participating in this year’s Capital Wine Festival are Martinelli Winery, Continuum Estate and Silver Oak Cellars. Wines from each of these wineries – as well as the others featured this year – can proudly stand on their own merits. Having them paired with a menu created by the Fairfax Hotel’s new executive chef means that attendees will be in for a special evening.

My favorite wines of the evening were, by far, the Chateau Montelena 2007 Cabernet Sauvignon and the Hess Vineyards 2007 Mt. Veeder Cabernet Sauvignon. Both of the Cabernets were smooth, full-bodied Cabernets. The Chateau Montelena had a deep, purple color with lots of plumb, chocolate, cassis and licorice on the palate. The finish was velvety and dry with well-balanced tannins.

The Hess Mt. Veeder Cabernet was a little less robust than the Chateau Montelena, but still had a nice, full body with flavors of dark cherries, oak and dark chocolate throughout. Both wines were fantastic, and a downright steal compared to some other high-end wines I have reviewed recently. The wines, like the Grand Opening of the Capital Wine Festival itself, are definitely worth experiencing. Better than experiencing them on their own would be savoring them well-prepared meal.

That Wine Costs HOW much!?

Everyone has a threshold for how much they are willing to spend on a bottle of wine. My parents, for example are solid $10 - $15 a bottle people. They know what they like to drink, have their reliable favorites and will use this price-point to try other things.

Caitlin and I are more $10 - $20 rangers for the most part, occasionally spending $30 or so on a bottle and even more occasionally spending $60 on a really nice bottle. From a winery we have visited. After a wine tasting. That was preceded by other wine tastings. The point is there is wine to fit every person's budget, and there is a limit to what people are willing to pay for fermented grape juice.

I recently got to taste some of the wines produced by Bevan Cellars. Their wines are in the $150 range. Bevan Cellars has a sizable cult following and I was able to try their Cabernet Sauvignon, a couple of proprietary blends and a Merlot. It was obvious that all the wines were all complex and well-made, but I did not see what made these wines so superior to be worth the price.

The most inexpensive of the wines - the Merlot at $75 - was by far my favorite. It could, in fact, be one of the best Merlots I have had. A full-bodied, ruby-red, rich, complex wine with lots of berries, chocolate, tobacco and more chocolate, this would be a great wine to serve to someone that claims to hate Merlot.

The Cabernet was way to dry for my taste. If I were to ever spend triple digits on a bottle of wine, I don't want to have to chug a glass of water after every sip. That would defeat the purpose of drinking and enjoying the wine. The blends were both very well-balanced, full-bodied and interesting, though they were not necessarily to my liking. If I didn't know how much they cost, I might have enjoyed them more.

Perhaps it comes back to price point. If I am considering spending $150 on a single bottle of wine, it had better be spectacular. I was underwhelmed by Bevan's wines, just as I was underwhelmed by Opus One when Caitlin and I were in Napa last time.

The line between prestigious and pretentious is so thin when it comes to wine that it can be extremely hard to make the distinction. I certainly got a good mix of both when I tried both the Bevan and the Opus One.

If you know what you like, and you know what you are comfortable spending, all the prestige and the pomp won't make a $150 bottle taste any better if you can't justify the price.

Snow Wine and the Seven Corks

Snowmageddon it is not, but snow is falling and will continue to fall throughout the night. As it is DC, that means that some kids will be off with a snow day tomorrow, the Federal Government will likely have a liberal leave policy, and the half an inch of snow will guarantee that the soup, bottled water and toilet paper shelves of the area's supermarkets will be bare.

Wine shelves, too. And why not? Regardless of how much or how little snow is left on the ground in the morning, snow offers a good excuse to make (or turn on) a fire, open a bottle, and enjoy the snow. Our choice for the night is a Bridgman 2008 Cabernet Sauvignon.

The Bridgman is more medium-bodied than Cabernets from Napa, yet it still has the characteristic aromas of a heavier-bodied Cabernet. With a lot of cherry and liquorice up front, the Bridgman has a lot more tannins on the finish than one would expect. The balance between the up front flavors and the dry finish makes the Bridgman a nicely balanced wine that could accompany anything from steak and lamb to Nutella on bread during a light snowfall. I can speak very confidently about the latter paring.

Half Price Wine Bottle Saturday at Ramparts in Alexandria

Caitlin and I met some friends at Ramparts in Alexandria on Saturday night. Much to our delight, Saturday is half price wine bottle night. Even more delightful is the fact that Ramparts has a very good wine list for a neighborhood bar

Ramparts does what it does well. Although its recent renovations give it a bit of a sterile atmosphere, it still has the feel of a very unpretentious, neighborhood hangout - a neighborhood hangout that has a good wine list. And good food, too. If you ask for a burger medium rare, it actually comes out medium rare.

Our burgers came out the way we wanted them to, and our friends ordered other standard bar food that was also well-prepared. For wine, we ordered a bottle of 2007 Hess Allomi Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon, which usually runs $60. It was a great deal for only $30 – especially since it is currently going for only $26.99 on Shopper’s Vineyard.

I am a fan of Hess Vineyards – particularly their Mount Veeder selections. Their 2007 Allomi Vineyards Cabernet Sauvignon is a deep, dark red color with the characteristically fragrant aromas of a Napa Valley Cabernet. You start smelling cherries and chocolate and plums almost as soon as you lift the glass off the table. The wine is full-bodied and loaded with flavors of dark cherries and spices with hints of oak and vanilla. It went very well with a medium rare burger, and since it was half price, I didn’t feel guilty drinking it with a burger rather than, say, a steak.

It wasn’t too long ago that I, like many other overworked and underpaid DC transplants, could rattle off which bars and restaurants has which food and drink specials on which nights. Being young and hungry and financially stretched meant that you could overlook the fact that your half-price burger would generally be small and overcooked compared to its full-priced brethren. And sure, paying $3.00 for a glass of Yellow Tail seemed like a great deal once upon a time. And while those deals will always serve a purpose, it is refreshing to spend a night at a place like Ramparts where you can get good food as well as a great deal on a great bottle of wine.

Spring Visit to Paradise Springs

I have said a lot about Paradise Springs in the past – about their battle with Fairfax County, about finally being able to open, and the quality wines that they produce. From what I was told on my most recent trip, the winery is doing great. They are doing so well,in fact, that they cannot accommodate all the groups that want to pay them a visit, which is a great problem to have. Although they are still new, Paradise Springs can do wine tastings well – they were able to accommodate a group of 50 of us without making us feel crowded, cluttered or rushed. We arrived before they opened, and even after their doors swung open for other people, the personal attention never wavered. In fact, I got the sense that the only reason our group left the winery at all is because we had a lunch and two more wineries to get to during the day. Otherwise, everybody would have been happy to stay put, drinking and buying wine and learning about the winery’s history – both recent (as a winery) and historic (as the land has been in the proprietor’s family for generations).

I have mentioned in the past Paradise Spring’s 2008 Viognier and their 2008 Cabernet Franc. I will add to this their Cabernet Sauvignon. While not as thick, bold and aromatic of Napa cabs, it is good for a Virginia Cabernet Sauvignon. It is a little thin, but still has a nice aroma to it – with hints of blackberries, currants and chocolate – with a nice raspberry taste on the finish. This is a Cabernet Sauvignon that goes down smooth, albeit with less body than I usually like. It is a drinkable wine, though at $32 is a bit overpriced. In terms of white wine, I would stick with their Viogniers and stay away from their Chardonnays, which get into the bad habit of spending too much time fermenting in oak, overpowering any other flavors other than firewood that would be present in the wine. That said, their Vidal Blanc, while not quite as intricate as their Viognier, is a very nice, fruit-filled wine with a sweetness that is well-balanced against spicier, heavier foods.

The first time I went to Paradise Springs, it was cold and snowy. The last time I was there, it was warm, sunny and crowded. It is great to see a winery that fought so hard to open its doors continue to grow its base of fans and supporters, as well as expanding the number of wineries in Virginia that are producing interesting wines.

Recap: Charleston Wine and Food Festival

I was pleasantly proven wrong, both about my perceptions of the Deep South and of Southern food, especially grits, when Caitlin and I traveled down to Charleston for their annual Wine and Food Festival. Both are worthy of praise, but the festival’s offerings were the main reason for our trip. Neither of the Carolinas have become great wine-growing states yet. North Carolina has a few notable vineyards, like Biltmore Estates, which was at the festival, but I still haven’t had too many Carolina wines that have impressed me.

Although Biltmore had a presence at the festival, this was not just a regional festival in terms of the wines that were available. There were plenty of importers, wineries and regional distributors on hand pouring samples. Many wineries from California made the trip across the country to participate…had I known that there would have been so many good Lodi zins, I probably would have paced myself on the shrimp and grits front…But I didn’t, and I don’t really have any regrets about it.

There were many great wine options to choose from – including some fantastic wines that are usually out of my price range. I can’t tell you how many times I went back to get another sample of the thick, jammy, fruity deliciousness that is Stag’s Leap Cabernet Sauvignon. Sonoma-Cutrer’s light, crisp, sweet, pear-heavy chardonnay was a great white wine standout. Same for Kim Crawford’s slate and citrus-laden, almost tart Sauvignon Blanc. Mr. Crawford is one the best winemakers in New Zealand, and I was happy to suggest that everybody I was with try some of his wines, especially the Sauvignon Blanc, which has done so much to put New Zealand wines on the map.

What I did notice was surprisingly absent from the Charleston Wine and Food Festival were wines from Virginia. I tend to look for Virginia wines whenever I am at such an event. I noticed that they were glaringly absent from the moment we entered the tent…Actually, I noticed it after we each were treated to a breakfast brownie as our first food sample of the day. I thought that Virginia wines would want to take full advantage of a major food and wine festival to expand its regional reputation, but I didn’t see any wines, wine organizations, or wineries from the Old Dominion.

While wines from Virginia were themselves noticeably and unfortunately absent, I was happy to talk to some people from other wineries about Virginia wines and was shocked at how strong the state’s wine reputation is becoming. While Caitlin, her brother and his wife were getting their sample of grilled antelope – I am still upset I never got any – I spoke to Andy Wilcox from Lambert Bridge Winery in Dry Creek Valley, CA. After trying Lambert Bridge’s wines, where the peppery zinfandel which had a nice kick, plenty of tannins and a rich, molasses-like body was the standout (I do use “molasses-like” primarily because I was in the South) I asked Andy about Virginia wines. Andy was a good sport when I asked him to say, again, what he thought about Virginia wines when my iPhone camera didn’t record his statement the first time. The key takeaway is that Virginia wines are good, are getting better, and people in California are taking notice.

So often, I compare wines from Virginia and New York – where Caitlin and I do most of our tastings – to wines from more well-known wine-growing regions in California and overseas. Because of that comparison, I tend to find a lot of the wine we try flat and one-dimensional, especially reds (save for some really good Cab Francs from Virginia). So I say with no disrespect or ill will to Lambert Bridge that the Viognier I tried from their winery was less impressive than some of the Viogniers from Virginia I have discussed in the past. Virginia just seems to do Viogniers very well, and the state’s wine reputation continues to grow. Now if only Virginia wines would show up at festivals, such as Charleston’s Wine and Food Festival, even more people could learn about wines from Virginia.

RappAdventure

Although it is several weeks gone now, I am finally getting around to writing about Rappahannock Cellars, who was the gracious host for the inaugural TechAdventureDC event. Followers of Twitter, Flickr, Facebook and other social media platforms have probably already seen and read all that they need to about the event from the social media and techie perspective. I will add my three sentence write-up of the event from that point of view, then move onto the wine: It was a great way to continue online conversations offline and actually meet people face-to-face. I enjoyed receiving all of the positive feedback about the blog, and was surprised by how many people actually read it! It was a great way to get out of the city for a day, spending time in a beautiful setting, eating great food, listening to music in a barn and drinking some very good Virginia wines.

The winery was started by California transplants who moved to Virginia over a dozen years ago to start a family winery in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains. As a member winery of the Blue Ridge Wine Way, and a winery that produces over 8,000 cases of wine a year, Rappahannock Cellars is now one of the bigger wineries in Virginia. Despite the many challenges that growing wine in Virginia has compared to California, the owners, winemakers, vine-growers, along with everyone else involved in the production of their wines seems to welcome the challenge. The ultimate payoff, of course, is what ultimatly flows out of the bottle.

During the tour of the vineyard, we were told that chardonnay does not grow well in Virginia, though they devote some acreage to it. From what I tried, I would agree that it is not the best white that they make, but their 2008 Noblesse Viognier was quite good, with a nice, dry blend of citrus and mineral flavors throughout the body and a rich, golden color.

Like chardonnay, Virginia is not known for its cabernet sauvignon. Rappahannock makes a drinkable one, however. It is not, by any means the thick, full-bodied wine that California has become famous for producing, but it serves as a good table wine that is more that able to accompany red meats, cheese and even pasta dishes. A better red that they produce is their 2007 Cabernet Franc. Perhaps cabernet franc just grows better in Virginia, or maybe I just know what to expect with Virginia cabernet franc, but I enjoyed it more likely because the cab franc had the subtle taste of peanut butter and jelly in the finish.

I found their dessert wines way too sweet and thick, with jumbled, muddled tastes that didn’t really offer anything too distinctive. The best way I could describe their 2007 Red Dessert Wine is like diluting a jar of jam with water and letting it ferment. Not my favorite, but many people on the trip enjoyed it - further reinforcing the fact that every palate is different, everybody likes and looks for different things in wine, and all tasting recommendations should be viewed as guideposts more than anything else.

Overall, a big thank you goes out to the organizers of TechAdventureDC and to Rappahannock Cellars. I would strongly encourage you to take a trip out to the winery, spend a day tasting what they have to offer and exploring their grounds. You will leave happy, with some very good bottles of Virgina wine.