A Tour and Tasting with Matthieu Finot at King Family Vineyards

The Auction Prize

Dedicated readers might remember that I won a tasting and tour with winemaker Matthieu Finot at The Generous Pour silent auction. Today was finally the day to redeem it—and what a day it was. We met up with Matthieu in the production room at King Family Vineyards at 11 a.m. sharp. Despite being right in the heart of harvest season, Matthieu was very accommodating scheduling us, and we got to see some of the harvest work in progress.

Harvest in Action

King Family’s cellar team was in full swing, sanitizing equipment and preparing fruit. Cleanliness is everything in winemaking—every detail matters to keep unwanted microbes at bay. Matthieu handed us glasses and led us straight to the press, where Merlot juice was flowing, destined to become the 2025 vintage of their beloved Crosé Rosé.

Even this early, the juice was bright, sweet, and bursting with fruit. Hard to believe that in less than a year it will transform into one of Virginia’s most popular summer sips. King Family produces about 4,000 cases of Crosé annually, and after tasting the starting point, the early juice flavors show why this is so popular.

Barrel Samples: Whites & Sparkling

From there, we headed into the barrel room to sample wines from the 2024 vintage. Highlights included:

• Sauvignon Blanc aging on Chardonnay lees, showing remarkable texture and complexity.
• Viognier made in an orange-wine style—unexpected and fascinating.
• A Chardonnay base wine destined for sparkling—pure apple explosion in the glass, brimming with fruit now, yet clearly headed toward elegance.

Barrel Samples: Reds

Next came the reds. The 2024 Meritage already showed softness and refinement, while the 2024 Mountain Plains carried stronger tannins—structured now, but clearly built for long aging and complexity.

We also tasted Petit Verdot in two expressions: one for the King Family label – I don’t recall whether it would be a single varietal wine or a blending component, the other from Matthieu’s personal Domaine Finot label. His PV, made with whole-cluster fermentation and minimal intervention, was my standout red of the day—jammy, textured, and beautifully raw. This low-intervention tannic blast is definitely one I’ll be hunting down when it’s released.

Walking the Vineyard

Our tour continued outside, walking along the many rows of vines. Matthieu explained that between deer fencing and minimal bird loss, King Family doesn’t use netting—saving time and cost without sacrificing too much fruit. They don’t use netting much at all on this site.

We sampled berries straight off the vine, noting lower brix and a slower harvest this year. Cooler, wetter weather has delayed ripening compared to the hot, dry 2023 and 2024 vintages.

One fascinating stop was a small bucket at the end of a row, filled with fermenting Chardonnay grapes. Matthieu uses this as a natural starter for fermentation, a hands-on glimpse of how he weaves natural styles in with traditional wine-making methods to produce wines that are very true to Virginia.

We also peeked in on some Sauvignon Blanc that was fermenting in a bin. It’s not pretty, but the yeasty smell during this process is just great.

Bottled Wines Tasting
We headed back into the barrel room and Matthieu brought out bottles to taste. We began this part of the day with 2020 sparkling.

• 2020 Sparkling: crisp apple, bright acidity, delicious even at cellar temperature.
• 2024 Mountain Plains Rosé (club only): airy, pale, with stunning acidity and fruit—my absolute favorite. I brought two bottles home.
• 2024 Petit Manseng (unreleased): tropical, dry, beautifully balanced.
• 2023 Sauvignon Blanc: fresh and versatile, perfect everyday white.
• 2023 Domaine Finot Roussanne: creamy, textured, and built to age. This is one you really need to get your hands on soon.
• 2023 Mountain Plains White Blend unreleased(35% Chardonnay, 35% Petit Manseng, 30% Viognier): beautifully balanced, even winning me despite the Viognier component. While others may find Viognier to give tropical notes, I rarely do, and the tropical nature of Petit Manseng complemented the Viognier nicely here. Really nice weight and texture in this wine, and very enjoyable. No doubt goes great with nearly all food, but probably lovely with chicken and fish.
• 2023 Merlot: soft fruit, elegant, beautifully supple. I think 2023 vintage Merlots are simply incredible.
• 2022 Meritage (recently released): dark, rich, and steak-ready.
• 2021 Mountain Plains Red (flagship blend – 45% Cabernet Franc, 37% Merlot, 18% Petit Verdot): complex, approachable, and downright stunning. This wine is wonderful, and I enjoyed bringing the leftovers home.
• 2024 Domaine Finot Malbec (not released yet): fun, chewy, vibrant; best served slightly chilled. I grabbed a ’23 at Greenwood Grocery before coming so I’d have it for my upcoming beach trip.
• 2022 Domaine Finot Tannat/Petit Verdot(just bottled and not yet released, darnit!): dark, earthy, gripping; whole-cluster fermentation; built for tannin lovers. A 50/50 Tannat Petit Verdot and you know I’m loving that.
• Loreley 2021 (Late Harvest Petit Manseng): viscous, sweet, celebratory; perfect for holidays in small pours.

Dig this gorgeous label.

Harvest in Action, Part II

Between sips I watched as the team cleaned out a tank that had been collecting some Merlot juice for Rosé, moving the grapes into the press for further extraction. The juice had some time on the skins here for extraction and color, and then went to the press to get all the juice out and go ferment and turn into Crosé.

Takeaways on Matthieu’s Style

What struck me most throughout the day was how Matthieu navigates two winemaking worlds. At King Family Vineyards, his wines are polished, classic, and balanced—beautiful Virginia expressions that consistently win acclaim. With Domaine Finot, he experiments: whole-cluster fermentations, minimal intervention, edgy and raw wines that lean natural and adventurous. This is where things get fun.

Both sides reflect his philosophy: let the fruit speak, respect the vineyard, and balance science with art. This is what makes his wines pure Virginia.

Final Thoughts

Spending the day with Matthieu offered a rare look at Virginia winemaking from one of it’s rockstars, and showed traditional craft and bold experimentation coexisting in one winemaker’s hands. King Family’s lineup continues to impress, and Domaine Finot adds a fascinating personal edge. To top it off, Matthieu is a lot of fun. Great wit, a little self-deprecating, and a great wealth of experience add up to a winemaker who can walk you through his lineup with style and grace.

Considering the breadth of Virginia Wine and what it offers us, Matthieu is reflecting that—from elegant sparkling to grippy, natural reds—Matthieu Finot is a winemaker worth getting to know.