I was asked on Substack recently what I thought of the recent “Old World, New Roots” event at Le Cordon Bleu in Paris – where Virginia wines were paired with French counterparts in blind judging to see who came out on top. Spoiler alert: Virginia Wines hit it out of the park and were among the top three in every category, with only the Cabernet Franc category having only one Virginia Wine in the top three. Here is a nice summary by Paul Vigna I read on Substack. Barboursville’s 2021 Octagon, as you may expect, was the only wine to receive a perfect score in the judging. Governor’s Cup winning Valley Road 2023 Cabernet Franc Reserve was the only Virginia Cabernet Franc in the top three. I am holding both of these for I don’t know what yet, but they’ll get opened and you’ll get a report soon.
I’m gratified to see Virginia wines showing so well, and I’m impressed by the creativity and thought that went into putting the event together. Blind comparison tastings are always a blast. The results however, do not surprise me at all. I suspect many Virginia wine fans saw the results and nodded, saying “of course they did.” I’m not downplaying the amazing competition and results. I’m saying that this is just more confirmation of what some of us have been saying for year.
Virginia wine, for the past 15 or so years, has been knocking it out of the park, frankly. By around 2010, there was thirty plus years of wisdom from experience farming wine grapes available and growers like Jim Law and Gabriele Rausse along with scientists like Lucie Morton were sharing insights amongst the winemaking community, coming to grips with what it means to grow grapes on this land in this climate (and there are many types of each in this state). While there were early strong examples like Barboursville, Linden, and Horton, by 2015 the Monticello AVA and Northern Virginia area were booming with producers delivering incredible wines. As I started exploring more deeply in 2017, I found so many great wines (and wine clubs) to choose from.
Here is another opportunity for Virginia Wine marketing to capitalize on high level recognition and promote wine and wine tourism. Napa and Sonoma, Paso Robles, the Willamette Valley, Yakima and Finger Lakes get tons of press and therefore wine tourism. I don’t see lots of push for people to tour the Monticello AVA or Northern Virginia wine country – with package deals involving hotel/bnb, guided tours of various wineries, etc. Now granted, I’ve been living in the middle of this and I already spend thousands of dollars per year on Virginia Wine, so I am not their target audience – I’m just a cheerleader for the growers and makers. But it strikes me that the 2023 Wine Enthusiast Wine Region of the Year award given to the Monticello AVA was a missed opportunity to go out and heavily promote Virginia Wine on the national stage, to build and push distribution across Virginia and the Eastern Seaboard. Now that we no longer attempt to emulate Napa, why don’t we set up comparison tastings – subtlety, texture, and storytelling against gigantic bold expression – I’m pretty confident we will show well.
After this event, put together by Tom McCune and Frank Morgan, Virginia has a great story to tell the world – Thomas Jefferson thought we could be Bordeaux, but his grapes didn’t make decent wine. Now though, we understand our soil and climate and we make incredible wines, that just recently beat Bordeaux in blind tastings. Come see how Virginia wine is showing up today, and experience the beautiful settings producing some of the most amazing wines. That’s an ad campaign that would captivate and hopefully bring wine drinkers to see what made those judges rate our wines so highly. Thanks to Tom for DM’ing me the question yesterday and inspiring this post.
At the end of the day, you know I am not swayed by competitions. While I aggressively sought the last few bottles that took the Governor’s Cup home, and I am beyond overjoyed that AJ Greely took home the Monticello Cup for Hark’s 2023 Cabernet Franc, the judges and I rarely align. And that’s what is most exciting about Virginia Wine – there truly is something for everyone here. It truly is about finding what you enjoy, and sipping it.
What Virginia Wine are you loving right now?
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