Are Virginia Wines Under-appreciated?

Winemaking in the US did not start in California. But California is the state everyone thinks of when talking about American wine. Yet, allmost all American states produce wine. And not only California produces fine wine. I am a big fan of wines from the Finger Lakes in New York State. Among others, they produce delicious Rieslings. I like in particular the wines of Hermann J. Wiemer and Dr. Konstantin Frank. But there are many other producers of outstanding wines.

Dave McIntyre, the wine guru of the Washington Post, feels--and I agree very much with him--that the wines from Virginia, at the doorstep of Washington D.C., are under appreciated. To demonstrate that, he organized a blind tasting a few weeks ago. Indeed, the wines from Virginia did very well.

Dave concluded: "we cannot ignore that wines produced within a two-hour drive of Washington stood toe-to-toe with highly touted competitors from California and France. This result is a snapshot of what six judges thought about two dozen wines one July afternoon, yet it should send a signal to retailers, sommeliers and consumers that local wines can match the best in the world -- and they are beginning to do so. It's time to put our preconceptions aside and focus on the quality of these wines". I cannot agree more. When I am in Frankfurt, I go to the wineries of the Rheingau, in Washington DC, I go to the Virginia wineries.

The full Washington Post Article is here and Dave McIntyre's Blog is here.