Category: Monticello
WBC11 – A Conference for Wine Bloggers
I’ve been meaning for a week now to write something about the Wine Bloggers Conference (WBC11) that was held in Charlottesville July 22-24. It was a well-planned, well-executed conference, but what I think was most important about it for the purpose of this blog is the way it showcased Virginia’s wine industry. Some 325 bloggers from around the country attended, and they were all exposed in a variety of ways to Virginia wine.
While I was gathering my thoughts, I had occasion to read two really terrific posts from Frank Morgan on his blog, "Drink What You Like." I started to respond to the post, and my piece turned out to be too long for a comment – probably too long for a blog post, for that matter – so I decided to submit a trimmed-back version to his blog and run the extended piece here. If you haven’t yet seen Drink What You Like, trust me, it’s well worth a visit.
What’s great about these two posts (A View from the Punt, I and II) is the perspective it provides from “the other side of the bottle” – the views of those who were pouring their wines at this conference. I had actually been wondering what the winemakers, vineyard managers, marketing directors and others who poured during the conference thought about the event and about the bloggers. They pour (sorry for the pun) their lives into their wines, then pour the wines for people who sniff and swirl it for a few moments before rendering judgments that can be generous in their praise or critical to the point of being mean-spirited. Continue Reading–>
A Trio of Virginia Wineries
I'm planning to add some reviews of the wineries I like, but that will take a bit more time than I have today. So, for now, I'm just going to offer a list of three wineries in the Monticello AVA that I am particularly fond of. And there is a theme here: these are the three wineries who came together to make a wine they named (appropriately enough) "3."
Emily Pelton of Veritas Vineyards stands behind bottles of "3" wine
Each of the three contributed one of the varietals to the blend. Pollak Vineyards provided the Petit Verdot, Veritas Vineyard and Winery supplied the Cab Franc, and King Family Vineyards contributed the Merlot grapes. In theory, they planned to blend one third each of the grapes, but in practice, I think they realized that a blend required some judgment, and would likely end up being something other than one-third each. When blending wines, as I learned from King Family winemaker Matthieu Finot, you spend a lot of time experimenting and tasting. In this particular blend, I'm guessing that the Petit Verdot was very powerful, and they may have decided to use less of it and more of either of the other two grapes.
No matter. The wine was fabulous, and since they only made 150 cases, it sold out quickly. Each customer at Veritas was limited to three bottles at $33.33 each — yes, they carried the 3 theme pretty far — and I personally think this one will age quite well. So my three bottles are stored in my EuroCave wine celler, waiting for that perfect moment in the near future when they will achieve perfection.
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