Yes, Virginia, There Is a Wine Country

Whenever I fall in love with a place, I check out the local real estate listings. What would it be like to live on an estate with sweeping mountain views or in an 1810 home in a quaint small town? Those were just a couple of options I considered during my trip to Virginia wine country last month.I spent a week in Virginia talking and tasting with winemakers and vintners as the very first Early Mountain Vineyards Wine Writer Fellowship. The fellowship enabled me not only to spend time with Early Mountain’s winemaking and tasting room team but also to visit nearby wineries, vineyards and restaurants to get a full(er) picture of the local wine scene.Although I’d visited Virginia several times before, it had been just over a decade since my last visit to the Charlottesville area and I was heartened to see how little had changed. There were no luxury hotels, no sprawling housing developments or Michelin-starred restaurants, and my drive from the Charlottesville airport to wine country was absurdly stress-free compared to, say, traveling from SFO to Sonoma or Napa.Because Virginia wine country is also horse country there are nearly as many pastures and stables as there are vineyards and wineries in the Charlottesville area — which rendered it yet more idyllic to a horse lover like me. Indeed, both the place and the weather were so beautiful that I found it hard to believe winemakers’ stories of a calamitous spring. (Apparently a disastrous spring frost had devastated many of the state’s vineyards -a fact that became a frequent topic of conversation during my visit. Some winemakers said they’d lost 90 percent of their crop.)The author with Early Mountain Vineyards Head Winemaker Maya Hood White. Lettie TeagueHappily that wasn’t true for all Virginia winemakers as circumstances can vary widely from one estate to another; one vineyard escapes unscathed while another might be devastated. The state’s wine regions are also quite far apart; winemakers near the coast experience very different weather and conditions than winemakers in the state’s far western edge.This wide range of climate, exposure, and soil type in Virginia means that some grapes are more successful in some places than in others while certain grape varieties grow well nearly everywhere – notably Cabernet Franc and Petit Manseng. The former is a minor red grape of Bordeaux; the latter is a white grape from southwest France rarely found outside France. Cabernet Franc has proven remarkably successful in Virginia — adaptable to challenging conditions and soils — it’s currently the single-most popular red grape in the state. Petit Manseng, for its part, may not be quite as popular as Cab Franc but is almost as beloved. Easily reaching 14.5% alcohol or more, Petit Manseng has very high natural acidity and relatively high sugar, requiring a winemaker with patience and skill. Fortunately Early Mountain Vineyards head winemaker Maya Hood White has both in spades along with an almost-unreasonable fondness for this sometimes most-unreasonable grape.Early Mountain’s Petit Manseng. Early Mountain VineyardsMs. Hood White’s love — and skill — were particularly evident in the EMV Petit Mansengs I tasted, especially in her gorgeous 2021 EMV Petit Manseng — a lush, full-bodied white with aromas of lemon and spice balanced by plenty of acidity and polished to just under 14% alcohol.Ms. Hood White, who holds a Master of Science (M.S.) in Viticulture and Enology from the University of California, Davis is so mad for Manseng that she makes several editions of the grape: a “regular” Petit Manseng, a demi-sec (sweet) version, a Petit Manseng-Sauvignon Blanc blend “Intention” and a multi-grape white blend containing PM called “Five Forks.”Emily Hodson, head winemaker of Veritas Vineyard, also produces Petit Manseng, but may be a touch less enamored of the grape. “Petit Manseng is a very important grape for Virginia but it’s a very extreme grape to work with,” she said. I didn’t get to taste the Veritas Vineyard PM but I did taste the 2024 Cabernet Franc, a lithe, savory red that impressed me — and showed how well the grape does in Virginia. “Cabernet Franc just likes being here,” Ms. Hodson said, and her wine — and the Cabernet Francs of others — offered proof of that fact. There were other wines that surprised and impressed me as well. One example was the polished and beautifully balanced 2023 Lost Mountain Vineyards Lost Mountain, a Cabernet-dominant blend that Lost Mountain winemaker Joshua Grainer mused “might be the best wine we’ve made to date.” Another was the Nebbiolo from Barboursville Vineyards winemaker (CEO and President) Luca Paschina. Nebbiolo, a native of Piedmont, Italy (like Mr. Paschina himself) isn’t an easy grape to grow but Mr. Paschina made a Barbaresco-like example of the grape with his 2021 Barboursville Goodlow Vineyard Virginia Nebbiolo — an earthy, supple and savory red.Early Mountain Brut. Early Mountain VineyardsVirginia winemakers certainly proved to be a source of many unexpected delights. Nebbiolo? Why not? A high-alcohol white? Yes indeed. A red grape from Bordeaux? Absolutely, in fact. Happy surprises can be found throughout — although I’m not sure I want the rest of the world to find them. I’d rather keep its country roads quiet and Michelin-starred restaurants and luxury hotels out. But you, dear reader, are now in the know.From Lettie Teague’s Substack “Wine in Words”

Yes, Virginia, There Is a Wine Country

Yes, Virginia, There Is a Wine Country

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