Scott Hendley is co-founder of NationalWineReview.com (NWR), an online wine publication based in Alexandria.
Photo by Darron Franta
October is Virginia Wine Month and the time is ripe for visiting Virginia wineries, learning about grape-growing and winemaking in the state and tasting Virginia wines.
It is also a good time to reflect on Thomas Jefferson’s dream of making world-class wine in Virginia and the extent to which Virginia winemakers have labored toward, and largely achieved, his vision.
Jefferson is the Patron Saint of Virginia wine. Ever the connoisseur, he visited the great wine estates of France, Italy and Germany, imported vast amounts of wine from Europe, assembled the nation’s largest (at the time) private wine collection at Monticello and established the White House wine cellar.
Jefferson revered European wine but nevertheless believed that America could become successful and self-sufficient in grape cultivation and winemaking. “We could in the United States,” Jefferson wrote, “make as great a variety of wines as are made in Europe, not exactly of the same kinds, but doubtless as good.”
Laying the groundwork for winemaking in America, Jefferson partnered with Philip Mazzei, Italian physician and horticulturist, to plant vineyards at Monticello. The two experimented with cultivating classic grape varieties (Vitis vinifera) using vine clippings Jefferson had collected during his European travels. They never succeed-ed in producing wine, however, because diseases and pests devastated the vines and fruit.
While Jefferson himself failed at producing wine, his advocacy for American viticulture left a lasting legacy that inspired the emergence of modern winemaking in Virginia. Virginia now has 3,500 acres planted to grapevines and just over 300 wineries.
The state is home to eight American Viticultural Areas (AVAs) – federally designated grape growing regions with unique characteristics. They include the Appalachian High Country AVA (shared with North Carolina and Tennessee); Middleburg Virginia AVA; Monticello AVA; North Fork of Roanoke AVA; Northern Neck George Washington Birthplace AVA; Rocky Knob AVA; Shenandoah Valley AVA (shared with West Virginia); and Virginia’s Eastern Shore AVA.
Most Virginia wineries are small to medium-scale operations but their collective economic impact is significant. Due to growth in wine production, expanding availability of Virginia wine in stores and restaurants, booming wine tourism and increasing direct-to-consumer sales across state lines, the Virginia wine industry has a $1 billion (and growing) impact on the state’s economy.
Success in Virginia winemaking has not come without challenges, though. As in Jefferson’s days the hot, wet and humid mid-Atlantic climate presents hazards to grapevines and crops. Abundant moisture late in the growing season is a major culprit as it attracts pests, causes excessive vine vigor and fosters powdery mildew, black rot and other destructive diseases that can result in poor quality fruit at harvest. Thanks to advances in vineyard management techniques and selection of grape varieties best suited to Virginia’s climate and soils, Virginia grape growers and winemakers are making progress in mitigating these menaces.
As far as Virginia wine itself, there is an abundance to explore. Virginia wineries produce a broad spectrum of wine varieties and styles – from dry table wines to elegant sparkling wines to sweet fruit and honey wines. There is no “signature” grape variety but there are a handful of varieties that are adaptive to (or at least manage-able in) Virginia’s climate and which are flourishing in quality and character. These include Viognier, Petit Manseng, Cabernet Franc and Petit Verdot.
Whatever your preferences in variety or style, October is Virginia Wine Month so pick-up a bottle of Virginia wine, pour a glass and enjoy – cheers!
NationalWineReview.com (NWR) is an online wine publication based in Alexandria. It is dedicated to exploring, evaluating, and reviewing unique wines from around the world. Hendley founded NWR in 2012 with fellow Alexandrian Richard Stone. scott@nationalwinereview.com
