The best way to sell wine is also the best way to enjoy it: a personal experience with the winemaker, the wine, and the stories that connect the two and form a memorable bond. That’s why winery visits are so powerful.
Not everyone can come to the winery, however, so what’s the next best thing? By happy coincidence Sue and I have recently been involved in two efforts that succeed in different ways.
Willamette Valley: The Winemakers’ Lunch
The Willamette Valley, like many regions, sponsors periodic road shows where winemakers and their wines travel to meet media, the wine trade, and consumers in person. It is sort of an exercise in bringing the mountain to Mohammed, which in this case meant bringing Oregon producers to Seattle. There were walkaround tastings for trade and consumers, individual meetings with distributors, tastings at wine shops, and a media lunch at Matt’s in the Market that we were lucky to attend.
Sue and I were excited about the lunch both because we could taste the wines with food, which is one of our tasting preferences, but also because we could meet the winemakers in a small group setting and get to know them and their stories a little better. As good as the wines were, the people and the stories, especially about their relationships with their farms and their customers, were the best part. I have listed the wineries and wines we tasted at the end of this column.
The wines told stories both expected and new. Every winery brought a Pinot Noir, for example, which was no surprise since that is the Willamette Valley’s signature wine grape variety. Each was distinctive, all were delisious. The big surprise was the Pinot Noir wine from El Fille, which was white, not red, and packaged in a refillable bottle, part of a program to recycle and reuse bottles, not just recycle the glass. The wine was refreshing and, from a market standpoint, a smart development because white wines now outsell red wines globally.
The Willamette Valley is Pinot Noir, but not just Pinot Noir. That was one of the storylines, so each winery also brought something else that they are proud of, starting with Pinot Gris, the most-planted white grape variety, to Dry Riesling and Chardonnay, Trousseau and Gamay Noir. I think you could spend a weekend in the Willamette Valley without ever tasting Pinot Noir and have a great time because the other wines are so interesting.
People ask why this region doesn’t produce more Chardonnay since Pinot Noir and Chardonnay are best friends in France (this question actually came up at the luncheon)? Jancis Robinson and Linda Murphy give an answer in their 2013 book American Wine. The early Chardonnay vineyards were all planted with a Davis clone best suited to a much warmer climate. The wines made from these grapes lacked character and so Pinot Gris, better suited to cool climate conditions, won out. But eventually Dijon clones arrived on the scene and great wines with distinctive character appeared. You could probably spend a weekend tasting nothing but Chardonnay and not regret it!
Virginia: The Governor’s Cup Case
Oregon and Virginia have a few things in common when it comes to wine, but the differences are most important. Both wine industries took root about fifty years ago (this year the Willamette Valley celebrates the 40th anniversary of its AVA) and both were influenced by the international investment they attracted in the early days. The Drouhin family brought a lasting French accent to Oregon, for example, and Italy’s Zonin family’s 1976 investment in Barboursville Vineyards jump-started the modern wine industry in Virginia.
The Virginia wine industry organizes a Governor’s Cup competition each year, and hundreds of wines are entered by the nearly 400 wineries in the state (Oregon boasts nearly 900 wineries). For 2024, the Virginia judges tasted over 750 wines, awarding gold medals to 137 wines from 79 wineries.
A winning wine is named each year and a Governor’s Cup Case of wine created with twelve top wines, six from the Monticello AVA and six from elsewhere in the state. Monticello is like the Willamette Valley in that it is the center of the state’s industry, but a lot is happening elsewhere, too.
This year we were fortunate to be on the media list for a Governor’s Cup Case and to be invited to meet the winemakers via webinars hosted by the skillful Frank Morgan. We’ve met the people, heard the stories, and now we are slowly working our way through the wines.
Vive la Différence!
The obvious difference between the Willamette Valley and Virginia is that Virgina doesn’t really have a signature grape variety. There was one Pinot Noir wine in the case, but Pinot isn’t easy to grow in hot, humid Virginia. CrossKeys Vineyards gets away with it in part because its Shenandoah Valley (near the Blue Ridge mountains) location is friendlier to Pinot than is Monticello, but mainly because they harvest very early and make a sparkling wine.
We are working our way through the Governor’s Cup case (hard work, but someone has to do it) and learning a lot in the process. Matching grape variety to terroir is important everywhere, but perhaps especially so in a hot, humid region. The first white wine we tasted was a Petit Manseng from Paradise Springs Winery in Northern Virginia. The wine was fermented and aged in a concrete egg.
Petit Manseng is a grape variety most closely associated with Jurançon in Southwest France where it makes delicious well-balanced sweet wines. You find it in Virginia and even further south because it retains its acidity in hot weather and the loose bunches of thick-skinned berries can tolerate high humidity better than many grapes. That’s exactly what winemakers need in Virginia. The wine was delicious and very well balanced, enjoyed through the meal and even with Sue’s rhubarb upside-down cake dessert.
The characteristics that make Petit Manseng a good grape variety for Virginia also apply to Petit Verdot. So it is no surprise that most of the red wines in the Governor’s case are either varietal Petit Verdot or include it in the blend. This was true of this year’s winning wine, King Family Vineyards 2019 Meritage, a blend of 48% Merlot, 28% Petit Verdot, 20% Cabernet Franc, and 4% Malbec.
The King Family Meritage was delicious, but not exactly what I was expecting. The Petit Verdot component lifted the wine and made it juicier than most other Meritage blends we have tried. This sort of red blend might be a signature style for Virginia (just as Cabernet/Merlot/Syrah works in Washington). It might not be an accident that there are four red blends featuring Petit Verdot in the Governor’s Cup case and a 100% Petit Verdot wine, too.
We tried the “Traditional Red Blend” from Afton Mountain Vineyards, for example. Although it followed a a slightly different recipe, the Petit Verdot came through clearly. You would not mistake it for a California BDX blend. When it comes to “traditional red blends,” Virginia is creating its own traditions.
Tannat is another wine grape that can stand up to warm contitions. It is famously at home in Madrian in Southeast France. It makes sense that it might work the right spots in Virginia, too. We were therefore excited to try the “L. Scott red blend” from Michael Shaps Wineworks. A Virginia appellation wine (because the different grapes came from specific vineyards in serveral parts of the state), this blend of 50% Tannat and smaller amounts of Merlot, Malbec, and Cabernet was terrific from start to finish. A fantastic example of what is possible in Virginia.
Take-Aways
Virginia and the Willamette Valley are about the same age in terms of their modern wine industries, but it is obvious that the Oregon region has matured more quickly. The Virginia winemakers we met on the webinar acknowledge that they are still experimenting with terroir and grape varieties (and probably in finding their markets, too).
Two things the regions have in common are quality and diversity. Tasting the Virginia Governor’s Cup wines demonstrated the quality of the best wines. The growing emphasis on grape varieties in addition to Pinot Noir shows the diversity of the Willamette Valley’s offerings. The Willamette Valley has embraced diversity by choice. They can grow many types of winegrapes and are exploring the possibilities.
Virginia is exploring new pathways both by choice and be necessity because of climactic conditions. The experiments are on-going and the best results are attention-grabbing. What fun!
Both regions have much to offer wine enthusiasts, with something new around every corner. Can’t wait to see what’s new next year.
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Willamette Valley Vintners’ Lunch wines
- Et Fille White Pinot Noir (bottled in Revino refillable bottles)
- Sweet Cheeks Estate Dry Riesling & Willamette Valley Pinot Noir
- Belle Pente Willamette Valley Pinot Gris & Willamette Valley Pinot Noir
- Resonance Découverte Vineyard Chardonnay & Resonance Vineyard Pinot Noir
- Hazelfern Trousseau Noir & Three Cedars Vineyard Pinot Noir
- Division Gamay Noir “Gala” & Willamette Valley Pinot Noir
- Winderlea 2019 Vintage Sparkling Brut & Winderlea Vineyard Pinot Noir
Virginia Governor’s Cup case: Monticello Region
- Afton Mountain Vineyards 2019 T: Monticello AVA – 42% Merlot, 29% PetitVerdot, 29% Cabernet Sauvignon
- Barboursville Vineyards 2019 Paxxito: Monticello AVA – 50% Moscato, 50% Vidal Blanc
- Hark Vineyards 2019 Spark: Earlysville, Monticello AVA – 46% Cabernet Franc, 30% Merlot, 24% Petit Verdot
- King Family Vineyards 2019 Meritage: Crozet, Monticello AVA – 48% Merlot, 28% Petit Verdot, 20% Cabernet Franc, 4% Malbec
- Michael Shaps Winery 2020 L. Scott: Charlottesville, Monticello AVA – 50% Tannat, 33% Merlot, 17% Malbec
- Mountain & Vine Vineyards: Faber, Monticello AVA – 100% Chardonnay
Virginia Governor’s Cup case: Other regions
- Bluestone Vineyard 2018 Petit Verdot: Bridgewater, Shenandoah Valley AVA – 100% Petit Verdot
- Breaux Vineyards 2019 The Fog Nebbiolo Reserve: Purcellville, Northern Virginia – 100% Nebbiolo
- Cave Ridge Vineyards 2019 Fossil Hill Reserve: Mt Jackson, Shenandoah Valley AVA – 60% Cabernet Franc, 20% Cabernet Sauvignon, 20% Petit Verdot
- CrossKeys Vineyards Blanc de Noir: Mt. Crawford, Shenandoah Valley AVA – 100% Pinot Noir
- October One Vineyard 2022 Albarino: Leesburg, Northern Virginia – 100% Albarino
- Paradise Springs Winery 2022 Petit Manseng: Clifton, Northern Virginia – 100% Petit Manseng
