Just in time for Virginia Wine Month (starts tomorrow Saturday 1 October), I received my first shipment from the Virginia Wine of the Month Club!

I discovered this convenient service at the Virginia Wine Festival a few weeks ago. They’ve been delivering monthly shipments of Virginia wine to members for 22 years! Each month they hand-select one or two bottles of wine from around the state through their expert tasting panel. They seek out hard-to-find wines, especially those not widely distributed.

How does it work? There are no membership fees or obligations, just the cost of the wine and shipping each month. The prices are great…$15.95 for one bottle or $26.95 for two + shipping! You can chose one or two bottles each month then all reds, all whites or a variety. I went with two bottles, one red and one white.

Each shipment comes with The Virginia Wine Journal featuring in-depth information on the featured vineyard, the featured wines and recipe pairings with the wines. It also lists upcoming wine events and this month included several flyers on the events.Shipments are made the 4th Monday of every month.

This month’s offering? Chatham Vineyards 2009 Church Creek Steel Chardonnay and Church Creek Merlot. Ironically I have a bottle of this Chardonnay on my wine rack already…discovered this Eastern Shore winery in May at the Mount Vernon Wine Festival and really liked their Chardonnay. Looking forward to enjoying both!

Visit their website to place your own order (or as gifts). And each month I’ll share my wine arrival and tasting notes with you here.

Coming tomorrow…details on Virginia Wine Month.

Cheers!

Giampaolo could not be missed at the tasting table…his enthusiastic tastings of his family’s Tabarrini wines filled the 2011 Wine Bloggers Conference Meet the Sponsor room. You couldn’t resist stopping by to enjoy his wines and listen to tasting notes and stories of his winery and hometown in Montefalco, Italy (province of Perugia in Umbria region).

Four generations of the Tabarrini Family have tended to these vines… then in the late ’90′s, Giampaolo decided to continue the tradition in a new way by bottling their own wine. The results are fantastic!

If you don’t know much about Umbria wine, here are a few facts.

• Umbria is the region sitting next to Tuscany to the southwest.
• Wine regions include Orvieto, Torgiano and Montefalco Sagrantino.
• 850,000 hectoliters of wine produced each year…only a small percent of Italy’s production.
• Grechetto is the top white grape producing a full bodied white wine.
• Sagrantino, the typical red grape from the Montefalco area, is the hero of this region first appearing at the end of the 19th century. Traditionally this grape was only made in a sweet version and Sagrantino Passito DOC was authorized in 1977.
• In 1992 Montefalco Sagrantino Secco and Passito became the 12th Italian wine to be designated a DOCG (a controlled and guaranteed demonination of origin). This designation requires a minimum aging of 30 months before release.

Tabarrini is a leading producer of Montefalco Sagrantino. Half of their twenty-two hectares of vineyards are dedicated to the Sagrantino grape, used in five of the six wines they produce. The wine I’ve sampled the most, thanks to the Live Wine Blogging Session at the Conference and the gift bottle in our Welcome Bag, is their Montefalco Sagrantino DOCG. This wine is one of three under their Colle Grimadesco trademark used for their highest quality wines.

Montefalco Sagrantino, Colle Grimaldesco, DOCG 2004 & 2005

• 100% Sangrantino grapes
• 10-15 year old vineyards with sandy, muddy soil mixed with some clay and river pebbles
• Wine is soaked on the skins for over a month, aged 30 months in French oak then 6 months in bottle.
• Deep ruby red color
• Aroma is fragrant of blackberries and cassis
• BIG red full of berry flavor and spice… uniqueness and complexity of this wine comes through in every sip.
• Pair with roasts, braised meats, mature cheeses
• 14% alcohol.

Visit Tabarrini’s website for a look at their full wine line-up then buy them on line here. You can also ‘Like’ them on Facebook and follow Giampolo on Twitter.

And when you’re in Umbria, visit their cantina on the property. It represents Tabarrini’s innovation and tradition…three floors including one for fermentation, one for barrels and a cellar completely underground. On the first floor you can see the ritual drying of the Sagrantino grapes.

You don’t want to miss a chance to taste these special wines with Giampaolo himself!

Wine judging has been a bit of a mystery topic to me topic, but thanks to the Wine Judging Made Simple seminar at Sunday’s 36th Annual Virginia Wine Festival, I now have a great understanding of the process!

Walter Rachele, a graduate of the American Wine Society Wine Judge Training Program and judge in their commercial wine competitions, spent an hour with us on the basics of wine judging. After a brief helpful introduction, he led us through our first judging as a group using the standard U.C. Davis School of Oenology Scoring Sheet.  Then we judged three more wines at our tables.

Here’s how it works. The U.C. Davis Scoring Sheet is a 20 point system that judges wine on Appearance, Aroma(of the grape variety)/Bouquet (of the wine), Taste/Texture, Aftertaste, Overall Impression to get a total score.

• 18-20 are Extraordinary = Gold Medal
• 15-17 are Excellent = Silver Medal
• 12-14 are Good = Bronz Medal
• 9-11 are Commercially Acceptable
• 6-8 are Deficient
• 0-5 are Poor and Objectionable.

This is what the sheet looks like. To get you started on judging, you’re told what grape variety or varieties the wine is so you can judge appropriately.

I was extremely surprised how overall simple it is! It does require a basic understanding of each grape varieties classic characteristics (I used my cheat sheet on my iPhone from my session at the Wine Bloggers Conference in July) so you can accurately judge the wine. And you MUST leave your preferences at the door. I’m not an oakey chardonnay fan but I should still be able to judge the wine in the 5 categories above.

As the nose can get ‘tired’ smelling glass after glass, Walter shared a trick with us…run your nose along your arm to ‘clear’ the scents (note no lotions or perfumes are allowed).

Wine judging…a great way to increase your knowledge of wine, educate friends or even become a pro!

My goal at Sunday’s 36th Annual Virginia Wine Festival was two part…1) Buy a few great examples of Virginia wine for my upcoming girls’ weekend, and 2) Discover a few new Virginia wineries I haven’t tried.  Success on both fronts!!

The two-day event held in Centreville, Virginia (about 30 miles west of Washington, DC) brought together 40+ wineries sampling wine, workshops and seminars presented by the Atlantic Seaboard Wine Association, and 100 artisans and vendors. Sunday was a great day to attend … smaller crowds = tasting table waits.

After visiting 12 winery tents and tasting 75 wines, I bought 9 bottles to share with my girlfriends. The wines below should give them, many who are skeptical about Virginia wine, a great taste of our state’s offerings. This is also a great list for those of you new to Virginia wine!

* Montdomaine

This was a great new discovery….a winery with a long Virginia history re-introduced in 2008. The wines are made by Michael Shaps of Michael Shaps Wines and Virginia Wineworks.

• 2009 Chardonnay: Citrus aromas and taste, minimal oak, a result of the old French Oak cooperage. $20

* Breaux Vineyards

• Equation Merlot “X”: This Merlot blend with 12% Cabernet Sauvignon and 4% Petit Verdot is a fabulous wine! Red fruit aromas followed by a dark red fruit taste that’s round and smooth. $15

* Horton Vineyards

• 2008 Cabernet Franc: Aromas of violets pair with spicy, peppery, cassis flavor. $15

* Barboursville Vineyards

It’s hard to showcase Virginia wine without the great wines from Barboursville so I had to pick up some of their festival offerings.

• Barboursville Brut: This was my first time tasting their sparkling wine. A very nice blend of Chardonnay and Pinot Noir grapes. Fruit aromas and a great pear taste. $18
• 2010 Chardonnay: This wine is aged in stainless steel creating a crisp Chardonnay with apple aroma and flavor, and a touch of pear and lemon. $11
• 2010 Chardonnay Reserve: This is a great contrast to the regular Chardonnay as its aged seven months in barrel creating a rich and complex Chardonnay with heavier apple aroma and flavor now adding pear and vanilla to the mix. $15
• 2010 Pinot Grigio: True Italian style…aromas and flavor of apple, pear with a touch of pineapple. $15
• 2009 Viognier Reserve: Great example of Virginia’s official grape. Smooth tropical fruit and floral aromas and flavor.$22
• 2007 Cabernet Sauvignon Reserve: This wine is only created in the best vintages. Strong berry aromas combine with pepper and currant flavors. $30

(I’ll also take a few Virginia bottles from my wine rack this weekend…Blenheim Vineyards, Virginia Wineworks and Breaux. More to come after our tasting!)

Tomorrow an overview of the informative Wine Judging Seminar I attended at the Festival.

For our last summer getaway we headed to the beach in Stone Harbor and Avalon, New Jersey. Now the Jersey Shore doesn’t necessarily bring lovely beach vacation images to your mind, especially thanks to the show by that name. But at the very tip of the Jersey Shore, where the Atlantic Ocean meets the Delaware Bay, there is a beautiful stretch of beaches perfect for a low-key seashore vacation.

Stone Harbor and Avalon are part of the Seven Mile Beach located 34 miles south of Atlantic City and 20 miles north of Cape May on a lovely seven mile long barrier island. The land was purchased by Aaron Leaming in 1723 and for 100 years it was primarily used for cattle grazing. Then in 1887 the spot caught the eye of Philadelphia businessman Frank Sidal who headed The Seven Mile Beach Company and started to develop the area into a beach resort. It’s said Stone Harbor’s name comes from Captain Stone, a English Seaman, who sought refuge from a storm here around this same time.

My first trip to Avalon was in the mid-90′s and I loved it! Gorgeous beach, huge beautiful beach houses, lots of bike riding on the flat roads, great little restaurants and shops, huge Italian influence via Philadelphia, few hotels, not very touristy, sunshine…perfect ingredients. Last summer I returned for the first time in seven years, this time spending more time in Stone Harbor as my girlfriend has a condo there. Not much had changed…still the same perfect seashore destination with 122 blocks of tons to do!

Where to Stay

As I mentioned, not many hotels. The few nice ones are clustered around 80th Street and Dune Drive. We’ve enjoyed two stays at the newly renovated Concord Suites just on the ‘border’ of Stone Harbor and Avalon one block from the beach. All 90 suites have two double beds, bathroom, living/dining room, kitchenette so its perfect for a few days or even a week! There are also two pools and several sun decks. The Windrift is another option. They’ve ‘updated’ their look and feel to be a bit more hip. Right on the beach it’s also a great place for lunch, sunset drinks on their outdoor decks overlooking the beach or live music/bar at night. Main street Stone Harbor is an easy 15 minutes walk or 5 minute bike from both. Avalon town center is about a 15-20 minute bike ride. The other option is renting a house or condo through one of the real estate companies like Diller Fisher or Avalon Real Estate.

Things to Do

For us, it all starts with biking! That’s our preferred mode of transportation while here…and across the island there are 35 miles of paved flat roads. Rentals are easy from Harbor Bike or Hollywood Bike. Obviously there’s plenty of beach to enjoy (you will need a pass during high season…they sell them at most entries to the beach), surfing, fishing, crabbing, boating, golfing (regular and mini), tennis. I’ve been to two yoga studios and liked both…Stone Harbor’s Shape Wellness and Avalon’s Sol Luna Yoga. There are plenty cute beach shops in both towns and free weekend/family events in the summer. Stone Harbor Bird Sanctuary is a National Natural Landmark on 21 acres of forest, wetlands and ponds.

Eating, of course!

• Breakfast: Brian’s Waffle House (2408 Dune Drive) in Avalon is yummy!! Or pick up pastries from the Bread & Cheese Cupboard on Stone Harbor’s main street (96th) and grab coffee around the corner on at Coffee Talk on 97th.
• Lunch: Italian…pizza, hoagies, cheesesteaks…yum!! Stone Harbor Pizza and Circle Pizza in Avalon are great pizza spots. Bradley’s Steaks & Hoagies has delicious options! Golden Inn Beach Club is a great spot for a bite and live music / fun bar on the sand during the weekend days.
• Dinner: My recommendations are all Stone Harbor as that’s where we’ve spent most time of our time the last three trips. Marabella’s is always our first stop…low key Italian place with awesome food!! Quahog’s Seafood Shack is an awesome place to sit outside under cover. The Back Yard Restaurant is a cute place open for 25 years literally in someone’s backyard on 81st Street in Stone Harbor. A little more upscale and great food!  Also note most restaurants are BYOB so you’ll need to bring your own wine/beer to dinner. Fred’s Liquor Store is the spot in Stone Harbor and Avalon to pick it up if you don’t bring some from home.

It was the perfect spot for a last summer beach weekend!