There's an Owl House Over Yonder

For any DC-area wine lover who hasn't been to Red White and Bleu in Falls Church, I highly recommend a visit. It's the type of neighborhood wine and cheese shop where you can really learn a lot about what you are buying, have a personalized shopping experience with their knowledgeable staff and walk away entirely satisfied every time.

They also have weekly wine tastings and jelly bean wine kits. Want to know what you're going to drink before you buy? shell out a couple of bucks for a little packet of jelly beans that replicate the flavors. Believe it or not, it really works. 

I mention Red White and Bleu because drinking local is more than just supporting Virginia wineries. It's also shopping at local wine shops where the owners are also neighbors and really care about the customer experience and the wines they sell. Red White and Bleu is one of those shops, and every wine I have ever purchased from them has been well worth the trip. 

Owl House Red is just the most recent example. A red blend that is on Red White and Bleu's $9.99 rack, it's a dry and complex wine that is a steal at the price and goes just as well with appetizers and junk food as it does with steak or lamb. As a blend of Rhone varietals and Bordeaux varietals, it is also one of those wines that a local shop is happy to carry but a grocery, chain or big box store might not - it just doesn't fit into their classifications and can't be produced in large enough quantities to meet the demand. 

While drinking local and eating local is great - and I really do believe that Virginia wine is making huge gains - it also means supporting local merchants who really care about their community and have a passion for their products. They are also great places to try wines that may be a bit too off the beaten path for the big stores.

In Praise of Mutts

The name of this post is not just a shameless excuse to put up a picture of our dog Kopek, as appropriate as it is. Rather it is to highlight a few of the really nice red blends we have had recently. Until recently, I have been more interested in the single varietal wines. I want a Cabernet that tastes like a Cabernet because it is a Cabernet - Sauvignon or Franc. In my attempt to stay true to my misguided one type of grape in one bottle philosophy, I was missing out on some really spectacular wines.

Blends are, essentially, mutts. Take a little Cabernet, a little Merlot, throw in some Syrah and see what happens. This is, of course, an incredibly naive oversimplification. Bordeaux wines are blends, with Cabernet Sauvignon being the dominant grape for wines from the Left Bank and Merlot being the dominant grape for wines from the Right Bank. Recently I have started familiarizing myself with Bordeaux wines and domestic Bordeaux-style blends more and more. I have been skeptical of developing too much of a Bordeaux habit, and have also been skeptical of the Meritage movement for domestic blends. Recently, I have come to terms with the fact that even though it is a made up term, there are still some great Meritage blends out there. There are other blends that don't use the Meritage label that are worth trying.

Two that I have enjoyed recently are the Courtney Benham 2009 Paso Robles Lucca Red and the other is Sobon Wines' Vicious Red Blend. Even though I was drinking the Lucca Red as I watched an embarrassing Bears loss to the Green Bay Packers for a trip to the Super Bowl, I still really enjoyed the wine. It was a powerful, full-bodied, yet elegant blend that had a nice balance between the fruit-forward flavors of blackberry, cherry and boysenberry and the vanilla and oak flavors on the finish. Who knows if I would like it even more if I drank it while not being distracted by a football game.

I really liked the Vicious Red - especially for the price. Another full-bodied wine, it had a bit more fruit up front than the Lucca Red did - black and red cherries along with a hint of anise gives way to a nice, soft finish that has vanilla, oak and earth accents. I could see this becoming our new house red if there weren't so many other great wines out there that I haven't tried yet.

Blends no longer intimidate me, nor do I immediately brush off blends right away. Like mutts, when blends are done well, the best attributes of all the different components shine through.

8 Chains North: A New VA Winery that's not yet a 10

If you have ever asked yourself what wine and old refrigerators have in common, your answer can now be 8 Chains North winery in Waterford, VA. What struck me first about one of Virginia’s newer wineries is that it is decorated in two very distinct styles: one could be called “Cost Plus World Market Floor Model” and the other design theme is old refrigerators. The first one I can understand. Who hasn’t walked into a Cost Plus and thought: “I like all of these styles of furniture. I’ll take them all and decorating will be a cinch!” Putting all of them in the same space, unless it is in the store, feels a bit confused and jumbled.

8 Chains North in general is very much like its tasting room. There are a lot of good ideas but the overall execution is a little confused without any real purpose. And seriously, why all the old refrigerators?

I give a tremendous amount of credit to anyone who opens up a winery. The amount of time, effort and money needed to start a winery from the ground up is daunting. Yet the more wineries that open, the more good wine will be produced which will add to Virginia’s reputation as a wine-producing state in general. Like the tasting room, I felt that the wines being produced at 8 Chains North could use a little work.

Of the wines that Caitlin and I tried, their Furnace Mountain Red was the most enjoyable. With a pleasant aroma of blackberries and a hint of vanilla, I was expecting a bigger, heartier red than the light, soft one that it turned out to be. The body is on the thin side and the pleasant aromas give way to oaky hints that lead to an unexpected sourness on the finish. Like the winery itself, I was expecting one thing and got something totally different when I tired this blend.

The other wine worth mentioning is their LoCo Vino white. Like their Furnace Mountain Red, LoCo Vino is a blend, using traminette and vidal blanc grapes. As Virginia whites go, I could see drinking this one again. It had more complexity that I was anticipating, with a floral aroma that opened up nicely into a pleasant, albeit thin, body that accentuated its citrus and grassy flavors. This would be a good wine to take to a BBQ, or a picnic.

With so many things wine, experiences can change from sip to sip or from trip to trip. 8 Chains North does have a great space that could easily be modified to become a more welcoming tasting room. The views are beautiful, and I could tell that the person working the wine bar was very enthusiastic and excited about the winery. Also like wine, with a bit more aging and maturity, I know that 8 Chains North will reach its full potential.