decanted

you never know...

We've always been skeptical of Virginia wines. But we recently read some positive reviews by a local wine blogger, Allan of CellarBlog, whose posts we enjoy and respect. Also, our friends Karen and Luis invited us to spend this past weekend out in Virginia wine country. We took both occurrences as a sign that we should revisit our long-held and much-cherished, but possibly unfair, prejudice against all American wines not made on the West Coast.

So we stopped in at beautiful Linden Vineyards in Linden, Va., for a tasting. (Forgot the camera, unfortunately, so you'll just have to imagine it.) A very nice woman poured us

a 2008 Seyval (made from a French-American hybrid grape, Seyval Blanc), a 2006 Claret, a 2006 Petit Verdot, and 2008 Vidal Riesling. The Seyval and the Petit Verdot, in particular, surprised/impressed us. The former had well-balanced fruit flavors of grapefruit and lemon, and its bright acidity made it very drinkable. The meaty Petit Verdot smelled and tasted of coffee and earth, with a long, satisfying finish.

We didn't buy either of these because, at $20 and $28, we felt they were slightly too expensive for what they were. However, we would be happy to drink them again and felt encouraged about Virginia wines in general. Going to one vineyard once doesn't give us a complete view, obviously, so we plan to try more eventually. Stay tuned. 

so fresh and so clean

Our last Riesling-related post was about a sweet Riesling. But as we mentioned then, these wines aren't always sweet. In fact, the 2006 Domaine Weinbach Riesling Schlossberg we had over the weekend turned out to be anything but. We were shocked by its incredible cleanness and crispness. It was a very structured, well-formed wine that tasted of flowers and minerals. Tart, green apple flavors came up, too, somewhere in the middle of its impressively long finish.

Among the Weinbach's many other charms is its distinctive scent--an elegant combination of perfume and freshly baked bread. Its texture is pure and fine, almost watery. We were amazed at the complexity of this wine, considering how lightly it sits on the palate. We'd recommend drinking it as an aperitif or with mild fish or chicken dishes. Be careful not to pair it with strongly seasoned food, or its delicate sensibilities will be lost.

A little pricey at $37.99, but well worth the "pre-post-recession" splurge. We'd give this one a 9.0 out of 10.

sweet ride

Rieslings tend to be thought of as sweet wines, but that reputation is a bit overblown. Many fall more on the dry side of the palate, and it's really mostly the late-harvest ones (used as dessert wines) that fit the sweet category. Both are tasty. However, the sweetness myth means Rieslings are sometimes not taken seriously as wines to enjoy with food. We find this unfortunate.

Just to confuse matters, we're going to tell you about a 2007 Selbach-Oster Zeltinger Sonnenuhr Riesling Kabinett (10 points for memorizing that) from Germany that isn't officially a dessert wine, but that actually is pretty sweet. The richness of this one is definitely not for everyone. It's got strong notes of pear and honey and a lemony finish. But the sugar flavors don't overwhelm the wine, because they stop before your sip is over and leave you with that nice, tart end. The Selbach-Oster (like other, typically drier Rieslings) would be especially good paired with barbecue or Asian food. While we usually believe it's hard to excel at two different things (see Michael Jordan's baseball career) this $23.99 wine is an exception: It could work equally well with dessert. We rate it a 7.0 out of 10.