John Marshall Newsletter

AMERICAN WINE SOCIETY
A non-profit corporation

John Marshall Chapter

"Here with a loaf of bread beneath the bough,

A flask of wine, a book of verse – and thou

Beside me singing in the wilderness –

And wilderness is paradise now.

-- Rubaiyat of Omar Khyyam

One evening I was sipping a Cotes Du Rhone, it was after 5 pm (my mother’s reading this) and thinking why am I not supporting Virginia wines more. Shame on me ‘cause Virginia is on the wine world map with its head held high, thanks to Piedmont Winerys’ International Gold Medal Chardonnay from Meriwether Vineyard (there’s Chris again in the middle of quality). There’s an argument in favor of single vineyard varietal wines.

Instead of me getting in a self-made pulpit to espouse the virtues of Virginia wines, I think it is of greater value to note some newspaper coverage of chapter interest and the results of the Virginia Wine Honors.

The "Virginia Wine Gazette" in the Spring 2000 issue has a two page article on, Mr. Chris Pearmund, titled "If John Madden Were Selecting a ‘Pro’ Chris Pearmund Would be a Pick". As is his usual fashion, Chris shied away from the personal spotlight to tout the Virginia wine industry (and a plug for the wines made from Meriwether Vineyards’ grapes). The Sunday, May 7^th issue of the "Culpeper Star-Exponent" had a front page spread, ‘Unicorn Winery Opens With an Unusual Flair. There is a photograph of Mr. Brad Johnston doing his vineyard thing and another of the winemaker . . . Mr. Chris Pearmund. Chris highlighted the economics of a winery and some of the technical hurdles. And owner, Mr. David Whittaker told of his 30 years of spending time and money to finally reached his dream when Unicorn Winery opened in May. Is Fraunkinshteen a German varietal, Chris ???

VIRGINIA WINE HONORS – referred to as The Governors Cup.

Winner of the Governors Cup: Valhalla, 1998 Syrah

Gold Medal Winners

Breaux ’98 Cabernet Sauvignon - $22
Linden ’97 Fiery Run - $24
Linden ’97 Rush River - $19
Rockbridge ’98 Tuscarora Red $9
Rockbridge Vd’Or - $15
Shenandoah ‘ 98 Founder’s Reserve Chambourcin - $17
Tarara ’98 Cabernet Franc - $14
Valhalla ’98 Gotterdammerung - $24
Valhalla ’98 Syrah
White Hall ’99 Chardonnay - $15
White Hall ’99 Gewurztraminer - $15
White Hall ’98 Cabernet Sauvignon - $19
White Hall ’98 Merlot - $15

There were 32 Silver medals awarded and 45 Bronze medal winners.

Anyone, who is looking for good quality wines with unique style, I highly suggest sipping your way through the list of winners, you can’t go wrong!! My thanks goes out to all the winners and participants. They have given me many nights of pleasurable sipping, enjoying the signatures of Virginia terroir and the individual winemakers’ thumb print, and the list of good good choices is getting longer !

NEXT MEETING

Our next gathering is on Sunday, June11^th in the Parish Hall of Grace Episcopal Church. (as always, if the parking lot isn’t full of cars with wine related license plates then we’re up the street at the Turner House). Meeting starts at 7:00 pm with social commencing at 6:30 pm.

For Future Note, the July meeting will be as usual, on the Fourth of July at Chateau Pearmund (more info next month), August is our annual hiatus. September we will meet on the SECOND Sunday, September 10^th. Mark Your Calendars for this one , Folks ! George is hot, and I mean HOT on the trail of putting together what portends to be a far out, mind blowin’, are we still on planet earth, spectacular "Golds of Virginia" presentation on October 1^st. I’m sworn to secrecy (for anything less than a C note) but if ya know George, let your imagination run WILD. Stay tuned for the next issue ! !

For those who particularly appreciate New Zealand’s vinifications, the June meeting is a MUST attend. Mr. Tim Stevens was in New Zealand a couple of months ago, a country which he is intimately familiar with, and brought back some uuummm aaaahhhh good tasties. I hear he’s mixin’ it up with whites and reds, something to please everyone.

SUMMARY OF THE MAY MEETING

Well, Bob Dierker and Tim Stevens successfully tackled a unique theme for a wine presentation, "Paring Wine with Music". From the Virginia Wine Institutes (see Bob or Tim for membership details) write-up, "Much has been said and written about pairng wine with the right foods, but not about paring wine with the appropriate music.

The categories of music were:

Country and Western
Rock ‘N’ Roll
Smooth Jazz
Classical

The wines served were classified as:

Full-bodied, big, tannic red
Lighter, oak, & fruity red
Smooth, international style, expressive fruit red
Elegant, dry, well structured white
Sweet, easy drinking white

Social Wines

Chateau Mas Neuf - Rose $8
Chateau Grand Cassagne – Rose $8
Domaine De La Mordoree – Rose $14

The Foot Stompers ‘N’ Toe Tappers

Weininger – Gruner Veltliner - Austria $16
Baron de Ona – Reserva - Spain (Rioja) $18
Chateau Morrisete – Our Dog Blue – Virginia $11
Horton Vineyards – Cabernet Franc – Virginia $13
Peter Lehman – Shiraz – Australia $14

All I’ll say is ya just had to be there to understand how enjoyable an evening it was. Thanks, Bob & Tim. I’m sure without toooo much persuading the Virginia Wine Institute will pass along to us the results. Walt wants to know if we passed the test or not. The burning question is, of course whether or not there were any tabulated correlations between a particular wine and particular music style . . . drum roll, please.

Yea, there were a lot of chuckles with this one but guess what? The "Wine Spectator’ is interested too. Way to go Virginia Wine Institute ! !

Our Kweens of Kwizeen out did themselves at the May meeting. Bruce, take it away, man, tells us about it, " >&**# ^_@^*#<{} #$(&:+!^(# <)#&*%^ and it was orgasmic." Thanks, Bruce, I agree.

See ya on the 11^th !

Smile . . .

Fletcher