Four wines from Virginia in the USA
I tried these four wines from Virginia in the USA. It’s a state that is quite challenging for viticulture, with hot humid summers. But the quality is there, if these four bottles are anything to go by. There are 300 wineries and 1600 hectares of vineyards, with 75% Vitis vinifera and 25% hybrids. This is a significant presence. I liked these four wines quite a bit.
Website: https://rosemontofvirginia.com/
Rosemont of Virginia Kilravock 2023 Virginia, USA
14.3% alcohol. 44% Merlot, 28% Cabernet Franc, 28% Petit Verdot, aged for 18 months in a mix of French oak and a bit of American). This is such a smooth and harmonious wine with sweet cherries and berries, some floral notes, and well resolved tannins. Smooth, elegant and expressive with lovely purity and finesse. Red cherries, plums, and even some sweet strawberry. There’s such an ease to this wine, but also a bit of spicy, tannic bite (but not too much) framing the sweet fruit well. This is really good, and it’s really pretty. 93/100
Website: https://shop.smvwines.com/
Southwest Mountains Vineyards SMV Merlot 2023 Monticello, Virginia, USA
This is beautifully elegant, with smooth, soft black cherry and blackberry fruit with very soft tannins and an ease on the palate. Nice concentration with nice texture and a core of very sweet strawberry and cherry fruit. It’s pure with a core of sweet, smooth fruit, with just enough tannin to hold it together. It’s so nice, in this ripe, smooth, balanced red wine space. 93/100
Website: https://www.bbvwine.com/
Barboursville Cabernet Franc Reserve 2023 Virginia, USA
10% Petit Verdot in the blend. This is smooth, floral, silky and elegant with mellow blackcurrant and berry fruit. There’s a lovely purity and texture to this wine, and it is deeply satisfying and smooth. Such purity, with fi2e-grained chalky texture under the fruit. This is a really beautiful expression of Cabernet Franc showing ease and elegance. Such harmony, and amazing value at $25 in the USA. 92/100
Website: https://www.domainefinotva.com/
Domaine Finot Turk Mountain Vineyards Petit Verdot 2023 Montecillo, Virginia
12.5% alcohol. Whole cluster fermentation with wild yeasts. No added sulfites. There’s a spicy, savoury framing to the nose with sweet cherry and berry fruits. The palate is quite structured with drying tannins under the sweet berry and black fruits. There’s a lovely balance to this wine. The no-added-sulfites has made the tannins stick out a tiny bit – the immense phenolic strength of this wine protects it from oxygen, but at the costs of the tannins going quite dry. But it’s really voluminous, delicious and gastronomic. I have no idea where I’d place this if I tasted it blind: the fruit is ripe and sweet, but then there’s this grainy, grippy structure. I really like it. 93/100 [Note added later: on day 2, this had started to show signs of mousiness, so open it and drink it in one sitting!]
