Gary, it’s so sad to see you so sad! Chin up big guy!

Remember what you always say: As long as you and your family are healthy, nothing else matters!

Gary – So I work at a shop in Virginia, and while I’m no great champion of Virginia wines across the board… really, I’m not… I have to say that there are a handful of stunning chardonnays out there, and viogniers. As for the chards, though, I would recommend, and in a serious way, the Linden Hardscrabble Chardonnay. It’s brilliant. The 1999 is still drinking well, believe it or not. As for the wines you chose, none are really taken seriously by serious Virginia wine drinkers. I live in Charlottesville, in the heart of this little industry. I’ll host you if ever you want to come and seriously check it out.

QOTD: By far, the worst wine I’ve tasted was from Carolina Vineyards in Myrtle Beach, SC. I can’t think of anything that I would want to call out as the best but I did enjoy several wines I had at a tasting from Childress in North Carolina.

the Cab Franc from Cape May Vineyards in NJ is very good…nice and smoky
or some wines from Chaddsford Winery in PA.

QOTD: Paradocx Vineyard’s Reserve Chardonnay, Chester County, PA. From what I remember, it was steely, floral, fruity. Very nice. $18.99, so considering it’s a small winery, and how much I liked this wine, I think the price is fair.

It is a shame people sent you chardonnays from Virginia. Virginia has a lot of good wine. Pretty much none of it is chardonnay. And all of it is more expensive than wine from California. They just don’t have the volume that is needed to make the wine less expensive.

I know Al and Cheryl from Gray Ghost, they make some decent reds and a really great dessert wine called Adieu.

QOTD – Ummm… Old Mexico? Our 51st state, the one next to New Mexico. Actually I’m not sure.

Disappointing outing from Virginia, but I have some friends who live there and they tell me that Chardonnay is definitely NOT the best wine in the VA.

QOTD: A tough call because I have had some very interesting wines from my home state, Ohio. However, I will go “off the board” a little and say that I had 2-3 Colorado wines a couple of years ago that were surprisingly decent, although perhaps a little overpriced. I see that in Ohio as well. The QPR just isn’t there yet outside of the Big Four.

Rieslings from Leelanau Peninsula area in Michigan.

There was an interesting blend from RayLen Estate in North Carolina – part of the Yadkin Valley AVA. It was called “Category 5” – kind of a neat play on the hurricane classifications. It is a Bordeaux style blend with the five primary varietals.

Decent wine…

VA Chardonnays definitely not the best grape to choose from. Would echo previous comments that the Viognier and Cab Franc grapes are much stronger here in Old Dominion. If you want something good to try, I would also recommend:

Veritas
Barboursville
Keswick
Kluge

Personally I am not a fan of Horton, especially since my wife and I went to their tasting room and had to dodge the cigarette smoke being blown from the guy handing out the glasses.

Cheers!

QOTD – I don’t know if it is the BEST wine I have ever had, but I think Horton Petite Manseng is a real treat and very unusual. Would love to see your review of it! And I will echo everyone’s comments on Linden and winemaker Jim Law – amazing!

Gary,

I’m from Virginia and the best wine I’ve had outside of the “big four” is a ’99 Merlot from Breaux Vinyards.

You are NOT tasting Virginia wine by tasting 3 chardonay’s. I agree that our wine is overpriced, but I was recently in New York and I think our wine is much better than what I tasted up there. I would stack Breaux’s merlot against anybody’s.

John
Woodbridge, Va.

SHOUTOUT to Valhalla Vineyards in Roanoke, VA. Give them a try. Check out theur website for some very interesting wines, esp the best of barrel Valkyrie and the Alicante Bouschet. GaryV, ever had this grape??

http://www.valhallawines.com/

I live in VA and in all honesty the wineries here are still up and comming and as other posters have said the wine is not worth the money that they charge for it. The reds are to light and have no length to the finish. I still go and visit some of the wineries from time to time, but it is to just help support the local people, not because I think the wine is great

QOTD: There is a red blend called Octogon that I tried last year that was a decent wine, but way to expensive at $35 or I would agree with the previous post that the Gray Ghost’s Adieu is a decent desert wine, but neither are special.

Probably the Barboursville Cab Franc from VA. Also, Augusta Winery (MO) makes a Reserve Norton that I feel pretty good about.

QOTD: 2001 Royal Tokaji 5 puttonyos. It was amazing. It had a smoked meats on the nose which I had never smelled in a wine before and the sweet flavors knocked my doors off. My parents arent big on sweet wines and they liked it if that tells you anything. Sorry the wines didnt do it for you today, you looked awful compared to Monday’s show. And I do believe you have given two previous 50 – 59 point ratings to wines on the show in the past when you went on some major rants.

qotd: tabor home (iowa) niagra… It was obviously very swwet and desserty, but since it wasn’t a grape I expected much from it could just be what it was which was fun memories of childhood grabbing wild grapes off of a neighbors fence.

Wow………
As a native Virginian, I’m feeling pretty low now. But,
when you do another show on our wines, I know we will do better, because you will have samples from Linden and Barboursville, which are pretty darned good.

Qotd: There's a few, including some petite verdot's out of Virginia that are dynamite. Yep Gary, varietal petite verdot's and they are great. I can't think of any specific winieries right now so I'll go with another state. Black Ankle wines out of Maryland are really good too, specifically their “Crumbling Rock” red blend, and their Leaf Stone Syrah. They are a bit pricey, but with Maryland's b.s. wine laws prohibiting shipping, it's the only way a Maryland winery can get the capital to make a quality wine. You should try it especially since you've never had a Maryland wine on your show (and that swill you had from Basagnani doesn't count, that's not wine.)

I'm not surprised you weren't crazy about those chard's. Kind of how I wasn't surprised when the shiraz I had from India wasn't good. It's not really the best place for that varietal. I hope you try some petite verdot's, viognier's, or cab franc's from VA, they have some really good ones there. Some wineries are making some pretty good wines out of that varietal norton too.