There was a fog over the Blue Ridge and as it sometimes happens, the hilltops vanished and we couldn’t see most of the forest. It had been raining all weekend and a few days before that it had been relentlessly humid, which to me (but what do I know) does not seem like ideal conditions for growing grapes. Somehow, they’ve learned to work in this environment and develop local wines that require no apology. The varieties you see over and over include chardonnay, which often seems to produce dry whites; and viognier, which sometimes turns into a peach and pineapple wine that’s a bit like a grüner veltliner from below the Alps. For the red grapes, there is cabernet franc, cabernet sauvignon, petit verdot, and merlot, and you often taste a distinctive finish of pepper and cinnamon. I bought a red blend called Union from Cardinal Point winery, which they described as “not smoky but like a sweet pipe tobacco, as well as a lot of blackberry.” I can imagine Virginia wine going well with Southern foods like roasted or salted pork, or the white wine with oysters and shrimp and grits.
(Photo: Appalachian Trail, Shenandoah National Park.)
365 Days of Food 