2019 Governor’s Cup Gala

In the Virginia wine world, February means something very exciting. No, it is not my birthday month.  That is August, just in case you are wondering, and I wear a size yummy in treats. What February is known for is that it is the month when the Virginia Governor’s Cup announces all of the award winning wines AND it is the month when the Governor’s Cup Gala is held.  This fantastic event gives wine lovers around the state the perfect opportunity to taste all of the gold medal winning wines.

Sherry Williamson, tasting room attendant at B&C. Photo by S Pence

When I say wine lovers, I should make it clear that invitations to the gala were not extended to me, Winston the Wine Dog!  Hummmppph. I suppose someone had to work the tasting room, and it was up to Sherry and me to do just that while everyone else headed to Richmond to celebrate the night away.  

Mom and Dad were too exhausted to talk to me much about it when they got home, but Erin made sure to give me a ring and fill me in on all of the details before they got back.  

Viognier, my mom’s favorite, surprisingly made very few appearances in the gold medal category, but the judges said that it was a great year for Chardonnay, Petit Manseng, Cabernet Franc, Petit Verdot, and Tannat. Sparklings also made a good show in this year’s competition.  

510 wines were entered from 102 different vineyards from around the state, over 100 bottles of Meritage were entered, and more than 50 bottles of Petit Verdot (Taylor’s favorite) were entered as well.  Of these 510 wines, 13% won gold medals (60+). As always, 12 wines were selected for the Governor’s Case. If you want to learn more about the judging process, click here for my prior blog about it.

Barboursville Vineyards had an excellent 2017 Vermentino Reserve that was dry and citrusy with a lingering minerality. Early Mountain Vineyards’ 2016 Eluvium was a Merlot and Petit Verdot blend that was aged in new French oak for 18 months and full of dark fruits.  Glen Manor Vineyards had a 2015 Cabernet Franc that was fierce and delicious. They don’t filter any of their red wines.

King Family Vineyards made an impressive show this year with their 2016 Meritage and their 2016 Mountain Plains.   Both blends were aged for 18+ months in French barrels (one in new, and one in 45% French). Paradise Springs Winery made a strong showing with their 2015 Meritage.  It was full-bodied and brimming with possibility.

Our very own Michael Shaps absolutely stole the show with five of his wines placing in the Governor’s Case.  His 2016 Eltham for Hamlet Vineyards is a Merlot and Petit Verdot blend that was aged in 50% new French oak and bold and flavorful.  Michael’s 2014 Zachariah for Upper Shirley was a blend aged for 18 months with a well-rounded palate. Three of Michael Shaps own brand made the case, as well.  His 2016 Petit Manseng was dry and delicious with pleasant acidity and tropicality. Michael’s 2015 Tannat had great structure and fruity notes. It is definitely one to pick up for the cellar.  To finish it off, the 2016 Michael Shaps Raisin d’Etre is the perfect dessert for your evening. Full of peach flavors, this late harvest Petit Manseng expands your view on how versatile this grape can be!  

Horton Vineyards‘ 2016 Petit Manseng won the coveted Governor’s Cup this year.  At 0% residual sugar, it is deliciously dry and has a wonderful lingering acidity.  We especially appreciated this awarding because Horton Vineyards has done so much to advance the Virginia wine world.  Just over a year ago, Dennis Horton passed away and left a legacy in his wake. What a fitting honor for his vineyard to be awarded this year.

Erin also made sure to tell me about the food spread – she knows the way to my heart.  The event was hosted by Mosaic again this year, and it had another delectable spread of nouveau Southern cuisine.  Platters full of pimiento cheese, smoked shallot and gorgonzola spreads, roasted veggies, hearty Italian deli meats, and sweet potato biscuits stuffed with country ham were scattered throughout the tasting hall.  There were also stations with delightful treats such as she-crab soup and prime rib with roasted and mashed red potatoes. Yumm! Dessert was an array of tarts filled with nutella, sweet potato, key lime, and pecan.  I think this spread alone is why Mom and Dad never invite me along.

They think I don’t know how to control myself, but the only thing I don’t know to control is my love for them!

The Making of Dessert Wines

It’s hard to believe that our vineyard finally has something on the menu that is as sweet as I am.  When we released our dessert style Petit Manseng, Lil Em, last week, I have to admit that I didn’t know a lot about dessert style wines.  Over the past week, I have undergone an investigation, and I have sniffed out enough information to share a basic understanding with you. Much like me, dessert style wines are highly sought after and popular with most palates.

Petit Manseng is an ideal grape for making dessert wine: it has a longer than average ripening season, it is high in acid, it is thick-skinned, and it grows in loose bunches on the vine.  All of these elements combine to make a grape that is perfect for late-harvesting. When grapes are harvested past the ideal picking season, they begin to shrivel on the vine. A process called passerillage by French grape growers, this drying on the vine helps to concentrate all of the flavors, aromas, and sugars. Because the grapes are so loosely bunched, Petit Manseng is able to escape fungus infestation better than other varieties.  When the climate doesn’t allow a late harvest, vineyards can also choose to pick grapes at their prime harvest time and dry them before pressing them for juice. You can learn more about this grape by clicking here.

Another option for producing dessert style wines is to do an ice harvest.  In this method, grapes hang on the vine past harvest time waiting for the first frost of the season.  When the frost hits, the grapes are picked before dawn and pressed before they can thaw. The lower moisture content of these grapes helps to concentrate the flavors even more than typical late harvest grapes, and ice wines are often some of the sweetest dessert wines on the market.  

The final and most prestigious method of making dessert style wines is by hoping/allowing your grapes to get Noble Rot.  In this method, the Botrytis Cinere bacteria infects the grapes and thins the skins until they are porous. The water evaporates through the holes in the skin, and the remaining fruit has more concentrated aromas, acids, and sugars.  Characterized by tastes of ginger and honey, wines that are made via this method are typically higher in cost since the risk factor is large, and the vines produce less juice this way than normal. On average a vine might produce one glass of wine via this method versus 2-3 bottles of dry wine using typical methods.  

Dessert wines are sweeter not just because of the harvesting methods, but also because the fermentation of sugar into alcohol is stopped before the majority of sugar is changed over.  This process can be halted in one of two ways: the wine can be fortified with brandy or it can undergo a super-cooling. Both of these methods produce an environment in which yeast can’t survive.  The actual term dessert wine can be used to refer to any wine that has an alcohol percentage of 14% or higher and it is typically used to describe fortified wines such as our Six Penny Postscript Port Style.  Because our Lil Em is 11.5% alcohol, we call it a dessert style instead.

All dessert and dessert-style wines pair best with foods that are as sweet or even sweeter than the wines themselves. They also pair well with foods that are salty enough to combat the sweetness of the wine. Me, on the other hand, I pair well with anything, but especially with those two chairs by the fireplace!

 

A Perfect Wine Glass?

Winston doing research for his blog. Photo by Erin B

Boy, oh boy- I have missed this keyboard.  Before I talk to you about the importance of using a wine glass when drinking wine, I wanted to catch you up on my last month.  Several weeks ago, I had a sore toe. I licked it until it felt better, but all of a sudden my toenail popped off! Mom and Dad took me to the vet, and it turned out that I had an infection in my bone.  We decided to amputate the first bone of that toe, and I have been easing back into winery life ever since. Luckily for me, the now absent toe has done nothing to distract from my classic good looks, and Mom has even gotten me a black glitter wrap for my foot that perfectly matches my dazzling personality.  

The only thing my foot has slowed me down with is the “on the ground research” needed for this blog.  While I was laying around waiting to join all of you back in the tasting room (and here online) I was able to read several fascinating stories about wine on the news.  My favorite story was one about a woman riding around a parking lot drinking wine out of a Pringles can. Is she a genius or what? Pringles are delicious, wine is delicious; it must be a match made in heaven.  I quickly decided that I would pull together a plan for Mom and Dad to convince them that we should be using the cans in the tasting room in place of the wine glasses we currently use.

Good thing I did some research.  It turns out that the wine glass is actually a pretty important element in the enjoyment factor of drinking wine.  Now, wine glasses come in all sizes, but the basic shape of all of them is similar.: the glass is wider in the middle and narrower at the top.  This shape is for a very important reason. First, the widest part of the wine glass usually tells you exactly how high to pour the wine. Second, the surface area between the widest part and the narrower rim provides lots of room for swirling, which exposes the wine to air and releases all of the delicious smells that are jam-packed into wines.  Finally, the narrow rim helps trap all of those smells inside the glass, allowing the wine drinker a well-rounded drinking experience.

Wine glasses all have different shapes and sizes but they all have these same features meant to enhance your drinking experience. Glasses meant for red wine are wider and rounder which allows for more surface area since the aromas matter so much more with those.  The fuller bodied the wine is, the fuller in shape the glass should be. White wine glasses are typically taller and narrower since that helps the wine stay chilled for longer, but you might also use a wider glass for more complex whites like our Chardonnay. Glasses meant for sparkling wines will be even taller and skinnier in order to prevent loss of the effervescence.  Dessert wines are typically served in smaller glasses with very narrow rims to help concentrate aromas and to keep the alcohol from evaporating.

After doing this little bit of research, I guess it wouldn’t make much sense for us to switch over to Pringles cans instead of the stemmed tasting glasses we already use.  I would be lying if I said I wasn’t a little disappointed that my research didn’t go as far as getting to sniff all the different Pringles cans, but my mom was especially glad that the research didn’t go as far as taste testing the Pringles!