Philip Carter Winery is a small estate vineyard in Rappahannock County. The proprietor is Philip Carter Strother, a descendant of Charles Carter, who was documented as having been the first person we know of to have grown grapes and produced wine from them in the then-colony of Virginia, in 1742.
Cleve was the name of Charles Carter’s plantation near Richmond on the James River. This wine is the estate flagship red, a blend of 50/50 Petit Verdot and Tannat. I opened this wine as the first snow of the season was falling. You might expect that to be pretty intense, but at five years, this wine is wonderfully elegant yet full of flavor, kind of a cross between an Old Vine Zinfandel and a southern Rhone blend, only with more acidity, less alcohol and perfectly balanced. Nose: ripe red and black fruits, black pepper and clove. Palate: more red and black fruit flavors, but moderate (13%) alcohol, fresh acidity, and smooth, ripe tannins in the background, with no obvious oak.
It’s rare to have a blend of two hefty grape varieties dance so gracefully across the palate, but hats off to the winemaking team, and let’s hope we see more of these kinds of wines (in this style) to get us through these gray, cold winter nights. This wine is currently sold out at the winery, and is only made in the best vintages and in small quantities for sale at the winery and to club members; the next available vintage (if you don’t already have one) will be the 2024, which is still a couple of years away, but worth making a mental note of.