Finally I score some 2020 Russ Mountain Merlot! And we get a new edition of amazing Virginia Chenin Blanc! It was a banner day at Walsh Family Wine last Saturday as I picked up my new club allocation.
Walsh has mastered the art of the pickup party. On this particular day, general manager Bryan led our pickup run-through of the wines and special sample from the production room. He was fantastic and fun and even showed us the “secret menu” that has wines Walsh has brought in from around the world. Walsh is such a great atmosphere, as they have a long history of doing “bar takeovers” where they bring in other Virginia winemakers (and sometimes wines from all over the world) and showcase their wines around a theme (sometimes the theme is just the winemaker). Today they also had a selection of bottles that had come in for the takeovers that they were selling at a deep discount to people there for the pickup. It was a great idea and an awesome special perk for club members. I love that they do stuff like this. I looked through the collection but decided not to take advantage of this deal – I have so much wine at home, and we are in club pickup season right now, so there is plenty more to pickup and add to my racks. They had recently become suspiciously bare……
On arrival we were greeted with a glass of Pet Nat Rosé. It appears they are down to their last case, and we are 2-3 months from the next release. It’s such a fun wine to have, and it will be lovely to have a new one out. This is the way to greet people you care about…. give them a good glass of bubbles.
This pickup party began with a wine that is one of my all-time favorites – their new edition of Bethany Ridge Chenin Blanc, the 2022 vintage. Bryan shared that it was a club only release as they only had 75 cases made from their single acre grown at Bethany Ridge. Some of this Chenin is likely reserved for a future iteration of their amazing Paeonia white wine (white blends, especially this one, are a new divine intervention for long weeks at work). As with the 2021 vintage of Chenin, this iteration is super-crisp and pleasant, with plenty of lemon and zing with each sip. I adore Chenin, and there is going to be more great Virginia Chenin coming available this spring from a variety of producers, as the grape appears to be picking up steam in Virginia. Celebrate! This wine will sell out. It’s a reason to join the club (if due to some lapse of reason or something you’re not a member) since it’s a club only availability – it will be gone within a few weeks, as it did last year. I took six home (well, I left one with my dear friend who hosted me for the night in Reston since we went about drinking waaaaay too much Virginia Wine).
In fact, every package will now have a club exclusive wine in it. This is a cool feature, and nice perk to add for members – give us a special wine that isn’t available to the general public. Chenin is a good choice – such a special wine.
Our second taste was the 2020 edition of the Russ Mountain Merlot. I was excited to get a new release of this wine. I still have a few bottles of 2019, two that I’m trying to keep for the long haul. The 2020 edition felt a good bit more oakey to me, even though it was only 25% new French oak. It had much of the depth I adore from the 2017 and 2019 vintages and some of the unusual for Merlot qualities that I love in this vineyard site – clarity of the fruit with a wonderful full mouth when you sip it – it’s simply unlike any other Merlot and always special. The pickup party group walked up to the production facility at this point, and we took a tank sample of the 2022 Russ Mountain Merlot. My soul was crying out for a sample of the 2023 (I’ve had two 2023 Virginia Merlots that knocked my socks off, and my money is on Russ Mountain being absolutely mind-blowing). Bryan mentioned that the Walsh team is planning on a Russ Mountain Merlot vertical tasting, and when that happens, I will move everything happening in my life to attend. The 2021 vintage is in bottle, and I am really looking forward to that one too. While 2020 was a milder growing season, 2021 was hotter and likely to produced more pronounced flavors.
Finally we returned to The Garden Room at the main building where we got a sample of the 2019 Late Harvest Petit Manseng. As much as I shy away from sweeter wines, this was actually a lovely dessert wine. I can see this as a great wine to share after a group dinner, just to let everyone savor the evening and continue the conversation. It had the tropical quality I like in dry Petit Manseng. I did trade my allocation for extra Chenin and some Paeonia White, since I rarely drink a sweet wine. Again, it’s not too sweet (I think we were told around 1% residual sugar), and if I were going for a dessert wine, this is the style I would want. But…. Chenin.
Walsh continues to rock their release parties and the tasting menu refreshes are incredible. My friend and I ordered some snacks and each had an extra pour of the Chenin and then a glass of Paeonia White with our lunches. As usual, a good crowd was starting to show up at the winery for the weekend afternoon – even though it was overcast outside and did sprinkle a bit, people wanted to get their good time at Walsh.
Check out their current lineup, and let me know what you like on their menu. If you can, get this Chenin before it’s gone!
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