John Marshall Chapter of the American Wine Society

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John Marshall Chapter

JUNE MEETING: Picnic South of France with a Virginia Slant, presented by Guy and Jan Beakley with George Wilson

The premise seemed reasonable: Take a bunch of Virginia Gold Medal and Governor’s Cup winners of the past decade and see how they’ve improved with age. The answer that emerged that night was, for some, not so well. The wines selected were five to seven years old, and the consensus at the end of the evening was that several of these wines should have been consumed within four years.

But, the wines could have been exceptional and no one would have noticed that night, as ambience stole the show. The setting – in Jan and Guy’s back yard, with umbrella tables scattered around the lawn – was spectacular. White table cloths, stemware, real dishes and silverware, Provence linens on the head table – it was a fashion shoot for Pottery Barn. The foods brought in by everyone were fabulous. And, the weather could not have been nicer: balmy, breezes, zero humidity, a stunning sunset. Plus, we had fireflies. For what else can ye ask, I know not. Wine, shmine – it was a gorgeous evening start to finish. Jan and Guy, Gahblesshu both, we really appreciate!

George Wilson came out of retirement to MC the event and was masterful indeed. The man was born into the limelight. He had personal insights into just about every one of the 10 wines tasted that nite. They were, in no particular order, as shown in the table below. Because your humble scribe was so enjoying the evening, he forgot to take wine notes. Hence the list is submitted without comment. Just remember to drink those Virginia wines sooner, not later.

Year	Producer	Varietal	Year	Producer	Varietal
1999	Tarara	Pinot Gris	1998	Barboursville	Viognier Reserve
1999	Breaux	Viognier	2000	Chrysalis	Viognier
2000	Breaux	Viognier	1998	White Hall	Merlot
1998	DeCheil	Merlot	1998	Tarara	Cabernet Franc
1998	Jefferson	Cabernet Franc	1998	Rockbridge	V’Dor

JULY MEETING: Wines From the Heartland, presented by Mary Anne and Mike Wassenberg (PLEASE RVSP if you plan to attend!)

Mike and Mary Anne love to spring surprises on us. They show up with a box of wines from some forlorn corner of the earth like Lebanon or Missouri or – hold your breath – New Mexico. You expect that you’re going to just focus on Jennifer’s foods, but the wines turn out to be wonderful! How can this be? They do it every time, and they’re going to do it again come Sunday.

This time they have put on their overalls, cocked their cowboy hats, and ventured out into Indiana, Ohio, Kansas, Missouri – all those red states we all heard about last November. They have returned with, appropriately enough, red wines, and a few whites. Probably not many pinkos though: folks round those parts don’t cotton much to pink, ’ reckon. But what they do cotton to is, as they say, pretty up-and-walkin’ good. The Wassermanandwoman are staking their reputations on it.

Come forth and be amazed with us Sunday as the red states redeem themselves. The hoedown starts at 6:30 p.m. at the John Page Turner House on main street of De Plains, Bahz, De plain. Bring an open mind and an empty belly: Mary Anne and Jennifer have some food fun planned also. Think picnic at the John Page Turner House.

Directions:

From D.C., take I-66 to Exit 31, The Plains.
At the first stop sign, turn right.
Go 3 miles to the stop sign at the T-intersection in downtown The Plains.
Turn right, then go one block.
It's the building across from the BP station.

Your RSVP is like that purple pill on telly: it just works, ask your doctor. It makes for better planning and portion control and heals the damage. So do it. Mary Anne has automated the process. Simply click on this link and be whisked to where all you do is enter an email address with your member name(s) and guest name(s).

AUGUST: 99-Point Picks from the ’90s, presented by Robert S. Parker, Esq., The God of Wine

You read it right: Wine Advocate Robert S. Parker selects nine 99-point wines of the ‘90s and he’s bringing them to – Not Us. Sorry. I was jivin’ you; he has much better things to do, I am sure, and so do we. Everyone here is taking the month off. Take a trip. Go fishin’. Play a little polo of a Saturday nite. Work in the yard, get sweaty. Picnic on the deck listening to cicadas. Drive out in the country, visit a winery listening to cicadas. In fact, do anything listening to cicadas. There’s no getting away from them suckers. Nor would we if we could; they are the essence of August.

Whatever we do next month, we won’t come to The Plains on the second Sunday. Instead, we will mark our calendars and plan to report to John Page Turner House on – ta da – Sunday, September 11th. Yes, it was a dark day in hell once, but that’s all past now. September 11th is being rehabilitated and our first meeting of Fall 2005 is part of it. There will be a great program, and we’ll all have whoppers to tell about our summer vacations. It’ll be swell, you’ll see. As the Nike man said, Just do it.

Well, the clock has struck one and this mouse has run down. Time for a catnap before we dodder off to work again. Do your RSVP even as you finish reading this tome. and come to The Plains for a great evening of Americana.

See you this Sunday at 6:30 p.m. Also, keep in mind an evening of polo on Saturday nite, July 23rd. More on that later.

Your humble scribe,

~ Bruce ~

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