2008 Virginia Wine Festival

This past weekend we visited the Virginia Wine Festival after a one-year hiatus (not our desire, that's just the way it worked out last year). This year's festival switched venues to the Prince William County Fairgrounds from its former home in the Plains, Virginia. The change is distinct. Instead of rolling hills amidst rural beauty, the festival is on a grotty fairground lot near Manassas's old town. The good innovation was the advent of larger tents to provide shelter from the rain. We visited some old favorites (Keswick Vineyards, Chrysalis Vineyards, and of course Barboursville) and discovered a couple of new ones (West Wind Vineyards).

Keswick only brought a few of their wines, but we were impressed by the 2007 Touriga and the 2007 Les Vents d'Anges Viognier. Virginia produces some excellent white wines -- West Wind's Pinot Gris really shone, as did many of Barboursville's chardonnays. Cardinal Point makes a really good, dry Riesling, but also does wonderful Cabernet Franc, probably one of the most successful of the red grape varietals in Virginia's soils. We of course came across some nasty wine, many with weird smells, but overall the quality is improving. Barboursville continues, however, to blow the competition away with consistent wines on both the red and white ends of the spectrum (the brut, for example, is delectable). The Italian sensibilities have drawn wonderful flavors out of cabernet sauvignon, nebbiolo, cabernet franc and even sangiovese.

Kluge is an inconsistent vineyard (the blanc de blanc is too sweet and the Cru -- a fortified chardonnay aged for a time in Jack Daniels barrels -- is just bizarre), but their Abermale Rose continues to impress. At $6 a bottle it's also a steal!

We were disappointed to see that Veritas decided to skip the wine festival again this year. We've finished all the wine we bought from them in 2004 during our trip to Charlottesville. Perhaps a return trip is required. That would give us an opportunity to patronise Jefferson Vineyards as well, which has done wonders with Gewurztraminer, among other white varietals.

Overall, it was a successful day (despite the traffic jam on the Beltway coming home). We even discovered great peanut and pistachio brittle made by Red Rocker Candy!

Rye? Rye!

Jim Beam is of course renowned as a giant of the bourbon world, but I couldn't resist picking up a bottle of their Rye Whiskey when I spied it in the local Montgomery County Liquor Store. At $10 a bottle, I thought it was well worth a try. Rye whiskey is made from at least 51% rye. This one is aged four years in oak barrels and has great sweet and sour nose, spice and even some caramel. Definitely worth the price.

The Un-Islay Islay?

Islay malts are renowned for their peat and smoke. Bowmore, Laphroaig, Caol Ila, and especially Ardbeg are known as the peat monsters. But not all the Islay malts are the same. Bunnahabhain doesn't have quite the same fanatical following (I could be wrong) and prides itself as the gentle Islay (and the spiritual home of the Black Bottle, but that's another story). In my steady quest to try as many of the active distilleries as possible (about 1/3rd down), I picked up a bottle of the 12 year old. It's a light-colored, almost straw-like. The nose without water has sea salt, some sweetness, almonds and a little like Talisker. Adding water yields baked goods, sweeter smells. Maybe prunes and a slight hint of smoke. It is quite thick and coating. A pleasent dram, definitely a change of pace from the rest of Islay. Would I buy this again? I don't think so. It's a fine enough malt, but lacks the character I am looking for in a scotch. For my money, I'd replace it with a good blend (Dewar's being my favorite) rather than rely on this single malt.

Head-to-head Scotch Tasting: Glenrothes vs Aberlour

As a friend pointed out, I have been a little delinquent on my posting, so I was determined last night to rectify that and hauled out some nosing glasses and two newer purchases to compare. Are these fair comparisons? I don't know. I'm not exactly scientific here at Epi-Q, but it's always fun to pitch whiskies against each other. Or for that matter compare Michel Richard Central's fried chicken to Popeye's (hmmm, I think Popeye's might come out on top).

For this tasting we will look at two Speyside Highland malts. Both are aged at least for a portion of their lives in sherry casks. In terms of price, the Glenrothes is more expensive (by about $20). Glenrothes has made a cottage industry out of vintage bottlings. This one is the 1991 vintage, aged 15 years and bottled at 43% ABV in 2006. The Aberlour 12 year old is the new standard entry-level Aberlour from the distillery for the US market, replacing the excellent 10 year old. The Aberlour is double cask matured, spending a good chunk of its life in traditional oak casks and then finishing in sherry casks. How long it spends in sherry is a good question. Their website doesn't give much information.

The two whiskies have nearly identical deep gold-amber color, which is rich and enticing. The Glenrothes has a subdued nose without water followed by sharp nose prickle from the alcohol. I thought I detected a faint bit of taffy in the background. On first taste it is very oily and coats the tongue. The Aberlour has a brighter nose than the Glenrothes with faint honey and flowers. Its taste is slicker but also coats well. Adding water, the Glenrothes opens up with toffee, hazelnut, faint vanilla and maybe even strawberry, whereas the Aberlour almost dies off. It is herbal, straw, maybe soap or lavender, but with more time it comes back a bit. Its taste is now sweeter with some oil and a long finish, while the Glenrothes is still a little sharp and less coating.

I let both sit a bit longer and I think the Glenrothes gains more sweetness and rounds out as it is exposed to air. The Aberlour is a little disappointing compared to the old 10 year old, but I will have to revisit it again in the future before I pronounce definitively on it.

Bourbon ***

I owe a couple of posts, which I will get to at some point, but I wanted to enter a few quick notes on Bourbon. You get no points for guessing this place's specialty. Hans and I went there last night for some drinks and dinner, our second visit to the Adams Morgan outlet. I won't give detailed tasting notes on the drinks, but we had the Elmer T. Lee Single Barrel from Buffalo Trace, Heaven Hill's Rittenhouse Rye, and a third that replaced the Four Roses the place was out of. I think it was Elijah Craig, but I forget at this point.

The drinks came in tumblers, which are not the best to drink out of if one is interested in getting the full experience, but I recall last time that drinks did come in nosing glasses. That said, this night was not about discovering the finer points of the drinks. The range of bourbons and whiskies is impressive and reasonably priced (many are in the $6-$9 range). The food is also very good. The veggie sliders -- house made -- are excellent, as was the bison burger and the ostrich burger. An excellent choice for drinks with friends.