Vinous Musings

10/21/2023

Just a regular Saturday night tasting wines from St. Julien.

The Wines of Saint Julien - Bordeaux, France with Jay Youmans MW

1) 2019 Chateau Gloria
65% Cabernet Sauvignon, 25% Merlot, 5% Cabernet Franc, 5% Petit Verdot
2) 2016 Chateau Saint-Pierre - 4th Growth
75% Cabernet Sauvignon, 15% Merlot, 10% Cabernet Franc
3) 2018 Chateau Lagrange - 3rd Growth
67% Cabernet Sauvignon, 28% Merlot, 5% Petit Verdot
4) 2016 Chateau Langoa-Barton - 3rd Growth
55% Cabernet Sauvignon, 37% Merlot, 8% Cabernet Franc
5) 2016 Branaire-Ducru - 4th Growth
64% Cabernet Sauvignon, 27% Merlot, 6% Petit Verdot, 3% Cabernet Franc
6) 2016 Chateau Talbot - 4th Growth
55% Cabernet Sauvignon, 39% Merlot, 6% Petit Verdot
7) 2018 Admiral de Beychevelle
62% Cabernet Sauvignon, 27% Merlot, 11% Cabernet Franc
8. 2019 Chateau Beychevelle - 4th Growth
48% Cabernet Sauvignon, 47% Merlot, 5% Cabernet Franc
9) 2019 Chateau Gruaud Larose - 2nd Growth
69% Cabernet Sauvignon, 29% Merlot, 2% Cabernet Franc
10) 2016 Chateau Leoville Barton - 2nd Growth
86% Cabernet Sauvignon, 14% Merlot
11) 2019 Chateau Ducru-Beaucaillou - 2nd Growth
80% Cabernet Sauvignon, 20% Merlot
12) 2019 Chateau Leoville-Las Cases - 2nd Growth
79% Cabernet Sauvignon, 11% Merlot, 10% Cabernet Franc

10/21/2023

Hey friends! I’d appreciate your vote below. My photo is the second one and was taken at the wonderful Ankida Ridge Vineyards.

The Virginia Wine & Country Photo Contest is open for entries October 1-15, 2023. Celebrate Virginia Wine Month 2023 with the Beautiful Winery Vista Photo Contest.

10/21/2023

My friend and filmmaker Matthew Corrigan just completed this wonderful piece on Jim Law of Linden Vineyards.

Fabulous job Matthew!! 🙌🏻🍷❤️🎬

Jim Law started making wine in Virginia in the early 1980's. 40 years later, he has become one of the legacy of "terroir pioneers" who continue to produce e...

04/16/2023

Attended the Breaux Vineyards 2023 Nebbiolo Vertical tasting and lunch yesterday. Amazing food and wine!

Welcome treat and then 6 amazing courses along with a trip through vintage Nebbiolo!!

Outstanding food by The Polished Foxx

Awesome wine by Breaux Vineyards
Aperitif wine: 2021 Viognier
Nebbiolo Vintages: 2010, 2012, 2014, 2015, 2017, and 2019

I’m a big fan of Breaux’s vertical tastings. Vertical tastings give people the opportunity to see how a wine evolves over times and how each year’s growing conditions affect the wine. Also it should be noted that among these vintages, there were three different winemakers.

Photos with text by Sonya W**d. Others by moi.

04/15/2023

Rich and I stopped by Endhardt Vineyards yesterday. He hadn’t been there yet and I had visited there once before.

We decided to try all the Endhardt Vineyards wines along with chocolate pairings. I’m not usually a big wine and chocolate pairing fan but this was quality chocolate with fascinating flavor profiles.

We brought home 2 bottles of Fervor, one bottle of rosé and their white blend. I already had their Sauv Blanc, Merlot, and another bottle of Fervor at home.

Thanks to Jason!

Keep your eyes out in the future. Endhardt will be making two Sauvignon Blancs. One from each of their two plots. The soils are virtualky the same, the vines are the same clone of SB, and wines made the same way using the same yeast. So what you’ll be tasting is the impact that the differences in altitude, aspect, wind, etc.

04/14/2023

A new Virginia winery alert for the Keswick area with wine made by a well-seasoned winemaker from South Africa.

Southwest Mountains Vineyards

Esteemed winemaker Boela Ge**er has decided to leave Groot Constantia after enjoying a 22-year stint at the award-winning South African winery.

04/14/2023

Interesting article from Virginia Tech.

Researchers in Virginia Tech’s College of Agriculture and Life Sciences are deploying teams of dogs and their owners to help detect spotted lanternfly eggs before they become a major threat to growers.

04/04/2023

Virginia wine getting some more press. This time (again) from VinePair.

Virginia wine that made this top 25 list are Pollak Vineyards Meritage and Early Mountain Vineyards Eluvium. Go Virginia wine.

Great to see Port of Leonardtown Winery and Boordy Vineyards repping Maryland wine!

Inspired by hits like Apothic, The Prisoner, and Ménage à Trois, red blends have many fans. These are 25 of the best red blends for 2022!

03/18/2023

With a spouse that works a completely different shift (overnights) from you, you have to make the most of the time together. Sometimes it’s a simple sit outside on the porch and it’s a bottle of wine, a cigar, and a friend and/or neighbors.

Our “porch parties” feature some amazing wines. The term “porch wine” takes on a while different meaning at the Wiedemanns.

This past Thursday, the temps were low 60s and it was time to sneak in a porch party. Hubby now works Saturday through Wednesdays so Thursday evenings and Fridays are our time together.

I received a text from good friend and neighbor saying he had some open wines to share so we set up the porch and ventured out.

Hubby Rich, ‘wine husband’ Richard, and I enjoyed a few hours in the fresh springish air.

We shared this amazing wine from Stephen Lagier and Carole Meredith of Lagier Meredith Vineyard. It was the 2015 Syrah from Mount Veeder in Napa Valley.

The wine was deep garnet in color. The nose and palate featured juicy black cherries, bramble fruit, to***co, purple flowers, baking spices, and pink peppercorns. Just beautiful.

10/09/2022

A late start with my Virginia Wine Month posts but here we go.

🍷 Let’s start with some hashtags 😉

🍷My first wine post and winery post of the month is the 2021 Rosé of Tannat from Stinson Vineyards in Crozet, Virginia (Stinson Vineyards & Virginia Wine)

🍷Tannat is a red grape with origins in the area in the foothills of the Pyrenees mountains as the Basque region which between France and Spain. These days most French Tannat comes from further north in France in the Madiran AOC. It has found a great home in Uruguay and - fan base here in Virginia.

🍷Tannat is a thick skinned grape with high tannins producing red wines that are darkly pigmented, providing lots of tannins, and medium to medium plus alcohol. The thick skin provides some mold/mildew protection and it handle cool weather and frost reasonably well.

🍷Did you know that one of the reasons that Tannat is more tannic and astringent is that each grape often has 5 seeds in it rather then the 2-3 normally seen in grapes.

🍷The 2021 Stinson Rosé of Tannat has a great balance of savoriness and fruitiness. For me, aromas and flavors of strawberries, watermelon, pink grapefruit, and bramble fruit with vibrant acidity.

🍷Aged sue lie to add more depth/texture to the wine. 350 cases produced.

🍷The wine is frequently on ‘best of lists’ in nationwide including Dave McIntyre’s column in Washington Post, Richmond-Times Dispatch, Tasting Table, Press Fraction, Delectable, Wine and Country Life, and Food and Wine.

09/11/2021

Have you had a 100% Petit Verdot from Italy?

The wine is Casale del Giglio from Lazio.

This was the wine from 09/09/2021 last night’s blind tasting via Field & Main Restaurant led by Neal Wavra. The tasting was held via FB live with lots of group comments and feedback so not an individual project but a community tasting.

I definitely thought PV from my initial view of color & aromas. I detected ripe red/black fruit, graphite, purple flowers, and roasted jalapeños.

On the palate - similar to aromas with quite ripe fruit yet restrained tannins for a Petit Verdot.

I knew from price point that this wasn’t a Virginia Petit Verdot. Plus fruitier then all that I’ve had and softer smoother yet present tannins.

The price point led me away from US. Wine didn’t seem to cry out France to me yet I felt it was old world with enough warmth to ripen very well. I had no idea if there was 100% PV in Italy but I wondered.

Others felt it was a wine from Italy and I couldn’t get past that thought. Not super rustic though.

I stuck with the weird thought that it was Petit Verdot and went with the Italy suggestion frsome of my fellow tasters.

Reading about the wine today from the vineyard, I see they did gentle punch downs to leave the tannins softer. I don’t think I agreed with their aroma/flavor descriptors but I will tell you this is a lovely PV.

I should comment that I had Petit Verdot from Virginia the night before so it was fresh on my mind and perhaps that was a good thing.