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Wine of the Week: Horton Vineyards Barrel Select Syrah 2016
Some may wonder whether Horton Vineyards can continue to push the envelope and make great, outside-the-box wines as it did for nearly 30 years under the late founder Dennis Horton. This iconic Syrah (on top of the Rose of Pinotage I reviewed last time) shows that they...
Wine of the Week: Horton Vineyards Pinotage Rose 2018
As we know, 2018 was a very difficult vintage for Virginia vintners, but despite that, the industry has been through bad vintages before and I've never seen such a bad vintage that people worked so hard through to get such surprisingly good wines from. One of these is...
Wine of the Week: Keswick Vineyards Signature Reserve Cabernet Franc 2017
Winemaker Stephen Barnard of Keswick Vineyards has earned a reputation for making some of the best Cabernet Franc wines in Virginia. In the 2016 Governor's Cup Competition, two labels of Keswick Cabernet Franc were awarded gold medals--the 2013 Signature Series...
A Tale of Two (Older) Rieslings
For this early September Wine of the Week, I actually present two wines, both Rieslings, and both over a decade old. The dry version is Fox Run's Reserve Riesling 2008 (Seneca Lake, New York AVA). Winemaker Peter Bell only makes a reserve in great vintages for...
What I Tasted on My Summer Vacation Part 3: Wines of the Lake Michigan Shore AVA
I enjoyed a pre-Labor Day vacation in St. Joseph on the east shore of Lake Michigan last year, so I decided to repeat the experience this year. Millicent Huminsky of the Southwest Michigan Tourism Council helpfully worked to set up winery visits in the Lake Michigan...
What I Tasted on My Summer Vacation, part 2: European Colleagues on Keuka Lake (NY)
The roots of fine (vinifera) winegrowing in the Finger Lakes come from two Europeans, Dr. Konstantin Frank, a Ukrainian of German descent, and Charles Fournier, a French sparkling winemaker, who demonstrated that cool climate vinifera grapes would grow along the...