Southern wine might seem like a bit of an oxymoron. But wine, after all, is merely taking fruit juice and converting the sugar into alcohol. Though Florida does indeed have a wine industry, it largely consists of tropical, citrus and berry wine. For the most part, the rest of the South doesn’t fare much better when it comes to vino made from the common European “vinifera” grapes that you know from fine wine; these grapes just have a hard time in most southern climes.
But, there are a few exceptions.
West of Austin in the Texas hill country is the Lone Star State’s premier wine region, which spans some 14,000 square miles north from San Antonio, making it the second largest American Viticultural Area (AVA) supporting more than 85 wineries.
There are also two dozen or so serious vintners in north Georgia an hour out of Atlanta and 40-plus in the Yadkin Valley AVA of North Carolina, west of Winston-Salem. But if you’ve ever tried the wines at Asheville’s fabulous Biltmore Estate, you know they’re a triumph of packaging. Wine tasting is a big tourism lure — even if what’s inside the bottle leaves a lot to be desired.
The wine industry in Virginia west of Washington, D.C., is a good example. Fancy tasting rooms with panoramic views have sprung up all over counties outside the Washington Beltway. Most of the wine is, sadly, mediocre.
Luckily, there are some wonderful options.
Linden Vineyards is a must-do stop if you ever get to D.C. and want to explore the beautiful Virginia countryside just an hour out on I-66. Winemaker/owner Jim Law produces terroir-driven wines yet discourages casual visitors looking for a buzz. However, Linden is the place if you want to taste some serious wine and enjoy a selection of local artisan cheeses and proteins that pair wonderfully with the wines. Warm days and cool nights retain acidity, enhance aromas, increase color and help produce silky tannins. The wonderful deck overlooking the vineyards is limited to the winery’s “Case Club” members on the weekends, so be sure to plan a weekday visit. Don’t miss the Hardscrabble Chardonnay, Late Harvest Vidal or one of the sumptuous single vineyard reds.
South from D.C. is the Monticello AVA, a viticultural region envisioned by Thomas Jefferson. It was not successfully planted until 1976, when Gianni Zonin, whose family boasts two centuries of winemaking in northeast Italy’s Veneto region, created Barboursville Vineyards. The original 150 acres of vines on the historic 1820 estate of Virginia governor James Barbour have now grown to 900. The gem in winemaker Luca Paschina’s portfolio is Octagon, a blend building on superior lots of merlot and cab franc prominent in Bordeaux’s Pomerol region.
Paschina believes “wine is made in the vineyard,” matching varietals to the soil, reducing the crop to ripen fewer clusters to express true varietal character — “to find the most beautiful thing that can be drawn from the earth.”
These Virginia wines are world-class.
This article appears in Feb 18-24, 2016.