Tags
DLW10, DLW11, Glen Manor, Jim Law, Jordan Harris, Linden Vineyards, Tarara Winery, VaWine, Veritas Winery, Virginia, Virginia Wine, WBC11, Wine
Virginia Wine Top 20 Summary and Analysis – What Does All This Opinion Goodness Mean (if anything)?
As a follow up to my previous post and the current ‘top 20’ post-a-thon going around the Virginia wine blogosphere, I’ve done a little analysis on the data to highlight a few items I found interesting. (NOTE: Post Updated – During my original recap/summary, I missed two other Top 20 Virginia Wine lists – from Kurt at Wine About Virginia, and from Nancy & Rick at Virginia Wine In My Pocket. My apologies.)
Since the source data for this analysis only includes ten discrete inputs I realize this is far from scientific, but I do feel this data provides a reasonably accurate representation of larger views on Virginia wine. Included in the raw data for this analysis are ten different ‘top 20 Virginia wine’ lists from:
- Virginia Wine Diva at Swirl, Sip, Snark
- Grape Envy Guy also from Swirl, Sip Snark
- Frank The Tank from Drink What You Like
- Allan from Cellar Blog
- Tarara winemaker Jordan Harris
- Chris who posted his Top 20 at Swirl, Sip, Snark
- Paul & Warren from Virginia Wine Time
- Kurt from Wine About Virginia
- Nancy & Rick from Virginia Wine In My Pocket
The information presented below is simply a cursory analysis of the available data. No doubt, more time can be spent analyzing the raw data for more interesting corollaries and conclusions. I look forward to others sharing their analysis on the data.
Most Popular Winery:
The most obvious result is the fact that Linden wines represented about 10% of all wines in the top 20 lists. Breaux Vineyards was the second most noted winery with 12 wines listed, followed by Glen Manor 11 wines listed. Collectively, these three wineries represent 20% of the all the wines included in the ten Top 20 lists (41 wines out of a total of 200 wines listed). There are over 180 wineries in Virginia, yet three wineries represent 20% of ten wine enthusiasts most favorite list. Interesting. (An example of the Pareto Principle?)
The Jim Law Effect:
The fact that Linden finished well ahead of all other wines is interesting, but not surprising, and worthy of further study and discussion. What do these arbitrary rankings say about Linden wines (if anything)? On the whole, are Linden wines better than offerings from other Virginia wineries? Does this small sample size provide enough data to conclude that Jim is the ‘best’ winemaker in Virginia? Note: Obviously this is impossible to determine no matter how much data we have.
If a large group of wine enthusiasts with a reasonable level of familiarity with Virginia wine were sampled, I feel strongly that Linden would be at the top of most lists. Informal discussions with other Virginia wine enthusiasts have indicated that Linden wines are at the top of most ‘favorite Virginia wine’ lists, and Jim is at the top of many ‘top winemaker’ lists.
Since I know next to nothing about farming and winemaking I’m not the best source for a conclusion on this subject, but my opinion is that Jim does poses one of the best overall skill sets in the Virginia wine industry. ‘Best overall skill set’ defined as experience with his land, serious knowledge of agriculture, benefit of many vintages, and raw knowledge of the process.
Given all of the amazing talent in the Virginia winemaking crowd, ‘I’ do not feel that Jim is the ‘best’ Virginia winemaker. Again, this would be impossible to reasonably conclude. However, someone could make the case that the popularity of his final product – Linden wines – does suggest that he is one of the very top winemakers here in Virginia, if not the top (either that, or he’s been very lucky for a long time). I do feel Linden wines, on the whole, are one of the top two wine lineups in the state (Chester Gap being the other). This is simply ‘my’ opinion – feel free to disagree.
The Jim Law effect reaches further than just Linden wines – he has worked with (trained?) a number of the winemakers represented on this list.
Most Popular Wines (without vintage):
Linden Hardscrabble Red, 5
Linden Hardscrabble Chardonnay, 5
Glen Manor Sauvignon Blanc, 5
Delaplane Honah Lee Viognier, 4
Chester Gap Viognier, 4
Chrysalis Albarino, 4
Most Popular Varietal:
- Viognier was the most popular varietal with 26 different listings (representing over 10% of all wines listed).
- Petit Verdot wines were noted 13 different times.
- Cab Franc wines were noted 17 different times a well.
- There were nearly 35 red blends listed.
- Eight Virginia sparkling wines were listed.
- Chambourcin wines were listed five times.
- Somehow Norton found it’s way on the list six separate times. Ugh. My own personal disdain for Norton prevents me from making any further comment regarding this weed, er, um, grape. Repeating, I respect the opinions of others, I respect the opinions of others, I respect the opinions of others…
Random Odds and Ends:
- I was disappointed to see that only one wine from Virginia’s Eastern Shore was represented on the lists – the Chatham 2009 Steel Fermented Chardonnay.
- Jordan Harris made the most notable and declarative statements of this ranking exercise with the following, ‘Delaplane Syrah 2007 – possibly the best wine ever mad in Virginia.‘ Wow – this is a very, very strong statement, and a huge endorsement from a talented winemaker like Jordan. I clearly need to taste this Syrah. I’ve tasted a few of Delaplane’s wines, but clearly missed this one.
In reading other’s lists, I’m motivated to get out on the wine trail and revisit several wineries – King Family and Chrysalis in particular. And, of course taste that Delaplane 2007 Syrah.
At the end of the day, all of this information is just a bunch of opinions – that’s it! Doesn’t much matter what wines I like, or what wines Paul or Warren or Jordan like. What matters is what wines ‘you’ like – Drink What You Like!
_________________________________
Questions, Comments, Complaints, Random Observations? Contact Me Here
__________________________________
Drink What YOU Like 
WOW….great analysis of all the lists! Nice job. You are right on with the Linden/Breaux effect. I’m with you on the Norton…but Warren enjoys many of them. It’s still growing on me.
Should we do a bottom 20 list sometime? hahaha
Thanks, Paul. A ‘bottom 20’ would be quite interesting, eh? Maybe we’ll discuss on the 12th. 😉
Eh! Hve you been spending some time in Canada? I would like to pull myself from the bottom 20 competition.
Jordan – Yes, was recently in Kanata (pronounced Can-Nat-Uhhhh), eh! 😉 he he. You are NOwhere near the bottom 20 list – not even close! I’ll be in Toronto next month for a couple of days… brrrrrrr…
Pingback: Virginia Wine Time » Blog Archive » Live on Twitter!
Hi, I’m the Chris mentioned that posted on Swirl Sip Snark’s website. Glad to see I got a shoutout here 🙂
I think your’e right about the “Jim Law effect”. He’s a rockstar in the Virginia wine world and I think its hip to say that you like his wine…and the prices it commands. For me, Law’s Hardscrabble red conveys the best example of terroir(something that I struggle with in my wine tasting adventures) in Virginia wine. I drink his wine and feel like I am running through the forests of Faquier County.
I too don’t care enough for Norton to make my personal favorites list, but I enjoy some Nortons, just not enough for my top 20.
To me what is telling in this analysis is a particular vaunted wine that gets a lot of buzz…and is missing from the recap. I know Jordan Harris mentioned Octagon but it doesn’t look like others are mentioning it as their favorites. That’s very interesting to me!
Hi Chris! Thanks for stopping by to comment. Wow, you do raise a good point about the Octagon. Interesting indeed. I do like the Octagon vintages I’ve had, but definitely not one of my favorites (this week, anyway). I actually need to set aside some time to revisit Barboursville as well to taste through their entire lineup. I have been there since last November, and I was in a big hurry so I rushed through. Overall, I would have expected a few more Barboursville wines (and I expected to see a lot more Mountfair references). Cheers!
I will say for Barboursville Octogan, the tasting room is not the best place to taste it. I have very seldom enjoyed it there and have been convinced elsewhere. Maybe the stemware? I don’t know. At home everything gets the same treatment so I tend to make my assessments from there and Octagon has shown well.
That said there are some many wines that could have been added to the list had more been able to speak up or depending in date. Wine really is fun. One that is not a top 20 wine, but it is a top 20 attempt is Linden’s Seyval. In my opinion he is the only person in the world that has been able to really show some of the Sauv Blanc parentage. This is not one of his terroir wines, but it is impressive.
Most importantly, the reason I thought this would be interesting is the varietal piece. Cab Franc did show better then I thought it would, but 35 red blends makes me wonder. I know in a bit of analysis on my own, of the red blends, Cab Sauv dominayed wines made up for a huge portion, I think the same amount as Cab Franc varietal wines. Since these blends tend to be the “Top end” wines of the winery, I ask what has more value? I am just not sold on Cab Franc and am trying to figure this out. Then again i am all for Syrah which only got two votes, so clearly I am a minority there.
Great analysis Frank!!! I will keep staring at it all and see what I can learn.
Jordan – Thanks again for your engagement in this! I believe you are on to something regarding the ‘tasting environment.’ The tasting glasses at Barboursville, like many wineries, leave a lot to be desired. The best I’ve seen (experienced) in Virginia are at Jefferson. Quite some time ago, I enjoyed a bottle of 2001 (I believe) Octagon and it was most excellent – but so long ago. There is something to this. I looking at other lists, and thinking a bit more about this subject there are so many more that could have been added – what a subjective black hole.
I’ve looked at the consolidated spreadsheet even more and spliced the data further – red blends do dominate but there are a few notable outliers that warrant further study (like Albarino). I’ve looked further at location of most noted wines – can’t ignore that ‘triangle’ formed by Linden, Glen Manor, and Chester Gap. ‘Why’ does this exist? Is this pure coincidence, or, is there more to it? What are the commonalities – soil type, shared microclimate, similar styles?
Lots of interesting work to do, eh? I wish we could get others like Dave Mc, or Leahy, and others to submit a list. Would be quite telling.
Thanks again for all you do for Virginia wine!
Holy crap, Frank. You’re an animal! Running an analysis of this… dude. You get a Charlie Sheen quote for that, so: you’re a Vatican assassin. With Adonis DNA. Winning!
I can’t do a bottom 20. If SSS does that it could be the straw that breaks the camel’s back and some winery owner is going to hunt us down. I like my kneecaps.
I think there’s something to be said for terroir, even though I know some folks consider it so much romantic BS. I’m an artist, what do you want? I think there’s also a LOT to be said for the fact that the top wineries have very well established vines. I love the thought of Linden as the hip wine.
Again – Frank, you rock!
GEG – Thanks for the comments, kudos and Charlie Sheen quote. I actually think these top 20 lists really say ‘something’ even with this small sample size. One, I think there is ‘something’ about the area marked by Linden, Glen Manor and Chester Gap, but just don’t know what it is because there are other wineries located in that same vicinity yet they were not represented as well on the top 20 list (some not at all).
More telling is the notable number of Viogniers and, in particular, red blends. What is the predominant varietal in the red blends? Me thinketh a story (and lesson) resides in that number.
I’m with you… no way on the ‘bottom 20’ – we’d all be ousted.
Cheers!
As always… winning! 🙂
I think the reason those three stick out is simple. They are not trying to be all things to all people. There terroir speaks because they understand the varieties that are suited to their site. The more we generalize Virginia as a whole with individual graoe varieties, the more bad wine that will be made.
Hardscrabble has great soil composition and a slightly cooler site for Chardonnay then a lot do. Everyone can make a good Chardonnay, but that is what they are “Good” Chardonnay. For them to be great or intriguing they need to be matched to the site.
At our Vineyard we are in a process of huge amounts of replanting. It is a shame because a lot of the vines we are pulling are over 20 years old. Vine maturity is important, but only if done right. I do not believe a lot of the older vines in Virginia make much of a difference. If you have clay soil (lots do here) it retains moisture and can become very compacted and hard. If there was any sufficient time that the hole the vine was planted in was left dormant it will be hard for roots to dig deep. Also, irrigated vineyards in clay and vineyards that have had sufficient rain fall without drainage installed will likely also have little old vine effect to show terroir. The roots need to dig deep to get added terroir advantages with age. The requires less surface area moisture so the roots need to dig to survive, otherwise they will take the path of least resistant and stay close to the surface. This can also be helped with cultivating inbetween rows, which is also seldom done here as it is recommended to leave grass to compete for vigor reasons.
Most important is the variety matching the site. Those three wineries have done a good job of understanding what is working on their sites. You will notice that Linden is using less and less Cab Franc. For us we are aiming at really pushing on Merlot, Syrah, and Viognier for our Nevaeh Bottlings (our Estate Vineyard). If I want to make something high end with other varieties, I have to go terroir hunting and find a great site elsewhere in Virginia.
Pingback: Blogger Favorites For Virginia Wine Week « Drink What YOU Like