World’s Most Distinguished Master of Wine Revisits Barboursville |
|
Michael Broadbent MW Tastes Wines at Lunch with Luca Paschina
The English wine critic, Michael Broadbent MW, revisited Barboursville Vineyards for
lunch with winemaker Luca Paschina in June, for the first time since spending an
evening at the winery 6 years and 79 columns ago. A wine expert so internationally
respected that the term, “authority” rings hollow and dull, Broadbent trained as an
architect but went immediately into wine sales, in which he briskly staked out a
career as an enormously trusted arbiter of age-worthy wines, with resolutely
unwavering standards and a palate memory steeped in the most privileged tasting
notes in the industry, now spanning more than 50 years.
 This critic with an architect’s eye for structure, elegance and longevity in wine is the
founder of Christie’s Auction Wine department (1966), consultant to collectors, 3-time
winner of the Glenfiddich Award for writings on wine, Decanter Man of the Year in
1993, and writer of Decanter’s “Tasting Note” column, month after month for more
than 32 years. Broadbent’s first visit to Barboursville reported on his discovery of
Virginia Cabernet Franc as “seriously good,” favourably competitive with St Emilion,
and resulted in this historic bit of advice to winemaker Luca Paschina: nobody will take
this excellent wine, Octagon, seriously, until you produce it as a vintage wine.
Six years later, Octagon vintages have won the Monticello Cup twice (2006 and 2009),
the World Wine Championship at Beverage Testing Institute (2009), more than 25
Gold Medals and numerous other awards of merit. And, above all, the gracious
comments of Michael Broadbent’s Tasting Note 387 for Decanter, dated this August,
furnish an encouraging update on what became of his advice: “State’s Evidence:
Virginia, 1, California 0.”
Just as importantly for Barboursville, and for all of Virginia winemaking, is Mr.
Broadbent’s nuanced and emphatic Five Star rating of two vintages of Luca Paschina’s
Malvaxia Passito, the only example of a Passito-style dessert wine known to us in the
Eastern United States, and his praise for Luca’s age-worthy Viogniers, possessing “the
quality and flavour to match -- even exceed -- Rhône’s finest Condrieu.”
|
2006 Vintage Wins Octagon’s 2nd Monticello Cup |
|
Cabernet Franc Reserve 2007, Gold Medal, in Close Pursuit
The annual Monticello Cup Wine Competition convened on June 29th this year, and within hours it was announced that the panel of judges, consisting of several leading sommeliers of Virginia, had awarded the top prize to Octagon Ninth Edition, 2006, from the region's most competitive field of entries in both red and white wines. Voted a Double Gold Medal in addition to the Monticello Cup, itself, Octagon 2006 followed in the footsteps of Octagon 2004, which took the Cup in 2006, and Octagon 2005, which recently bested every other red wine at Beverage Testing Institute’s World Wine Championships in Chicago. As in 2006, Cabernet Franc Reserve (2007), followed Octagon closely in the rankings, winning the Gold Medal.
This was the first presentation of the new Octagon at any wine competition, and placed it in the company of such other great vintages from this winery as Barbera Reserve 2001 and Cabernet Sauvignon Reserve 2001, Monticello Cup winners in recent years. Octagon 2006 will be introduced to the public in the winery’s third annual Octagon Feast, Saturday, October 17th, and released for sale approximately the 1st of the year. Reservations for the 17th are still available through Palladio Restaurant at (540) 832-7848. |
Octagon Outranks all Red Wines at World Wine Championships |
Beverage Testing Institute Awards the Gold Medal and 93 Points to Octagon 2005
Important news from the Beverage Testing Institute interrupted winemaker Luca Paschina’s office chores in February, lending further luster to Octagon’s selection for the Inaugural gala (see below). Octagon Eighth Edition, 2005, was named as the Best Overall Red Wine in this Chicago competition, and was cited as a Cellar Selection for holding several more years. Earning an “Exceptional” rating, this vintage of Octagon was praised for its “nicely structured claret style, made for aging or present enjoyment with a porterhouse.”
At the same time, once again, the Cabernet Franc -- Reserve 2006 -- “shone through” in its outstandingly consistent way, coming in only 4 points behind Octagon 2005, to establish Barboursville at the forefront of this important competition in red wines. Already holding the Gold Medal from the Critics Challenge International competition in California, this vintage -- the House red wine at The Inn at Little Washington, our region’s most distinguished culinary destination -- also promises substantial shelf life.
To celebrate these Cellar Selection awards, the winery announced the extension of the Case Discount -- 10 percent off for purchases of as few as 6 bottles of Octagon 2005 through May 2nd. The same celebration discount, 10 percent off 6 bottles or more, is extended to Cabernet Franc Reserve 2006 for the same period. This offer is available through our Tasting Room only, and in view of its short duration, can apply to purchases made only in person, via e-mail -
This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
- or telephone (540) 832-3824.
|
|
Barboursville Wines chosen for The Inauguration Conservation Gala |
The Inauguration Conservation Gala planned for Monday evening, January 19th,
to honor President-elect Barack Obama and Mrs Michelle Obama at the historic
Andrew W. Mellon Auditorium in Washington, DC, has announced its selection of
Barboursville Vineyards Octagon Eighth Edition 2005 as the red wine for the
formal dinner, and Barboursville's Cabernet Franc Reserve 2006 as the red wine
for the reception preceding. Winemaker Luca Paschina will attend on behalf of
Dottore and Mrs Gianni Zonin of Gambellara, Italy, founders and owners of
Barboursville Vineyards since 1976.
This vintage of Cabernet Franc has already won the prestigious Critics Gold
Medal in the Critics Challenge International Wine Competition in California last
summer, and has become the house red wine of the internationally acclaimed
Relais & Châteaux destination, The Inn at Little Washington. Octagon, the winery's
flagship, has previously been served by Governor Kaine to Queen Elizabeth II on
her State visit in 2007, and has won the Governor's Cup Gold Medal and the
Monticello Cup, among more than 20 other gold medals. A wine Barboursville
reserves for creation only in excellent growing seasons, Octagon is the most
consistently honored red wine produced in the Eastern United States.
An occasion benefitting the global conservation work of the International
Conservation Caucus Foundation, it is notable that these wines were selected
from the centuries-old estate of James Barbour, Governor of Virginia during the
War of 1812, which the winery has preserved as a historic landmark while
restoring it to its original agricultural prominence. |
|
Estate Boosts Sommelier Designation per Capita |
| Barboursville, VA Crashes the Book of Records (Again)
 With Oklahoma having legislated the official State Meal -- chicken-fried steak is front and center -- and the Grand Prix of the City of Paris having designated the daily bread for the President of France, it isn’t surprising that the Republic of Italy has lent its recognition to a distinguished society, which confers the rank of Sommelier and Sommelier Professionista only upon the successful completion of an intensive and inter-disciplinary curriculum in the analysis of wine and food. With the support of the Italian Embassy in Washington, this training was brought this Fall to the United States -- and among its first graduates were winemaker Luca Paschina and Palladio Maître d’ Alessandro Medici (Sommelier Professionista) and associate winemaker Francesco Baravalle (Sommelier). As they say in Rome, “When in Barboursville...“
 The Associazione Italiana Sommeliers emphasizes the culinary evaluation of wines, not merely the recognition of their distinctive qualities as beverages. The curriculum adopts innovative models of analysis for appraising food and wine pairings, much beyond other established systems for training masters in the profession. It would be bizarre not to hold a Commencement from this training, without a proper Italian feast, for which the Associazione booked Palladio Restaurant on December 14th, the new graduates remarking that they’d been served the finest Italian food they had ever tasted away from home.
|
|
Presenting a Splendid New History of Barboursville |
| Winery Founders Host Celebration of a Publishing Milestone
Gianni and Silvana Zonin hosted a memorable celebration September 6th at the winery they founded 32 years ago, on the publication of the first serious history of Virginia viticulture as seen through the life of this centuries-old estate.
 This sumptuously illustrated and vividly narrated history, written and photographed by Chiles T.A. Larson, Barboursville Vineyards: Crafting Great Wines Inspired by the Spirits of the Past, is available at select Charlottesville bookstores and at the winery and our online shop.
Among friends returning to Barboursville for the occasion were Governor Kaine and Mrs Anne Holton Kaine, former Governor Gerald Baliles, the Italian Ambassador, the directors of Monticello and of Montpelier, state and county leaders, distinguished winegrowers and members of the press, and numerous unofficial enthusiasts for fine wines, including a Justice of the Supreme Court.
As at all festive occasions at Barboursville, the evening was a spectacular showcase for Chef Melissa Close of the winery’s Palladio Restaurant, to present some of her most classic and inspired dishes -- a Piemontese “plin,” or petite hand-rolled ravioli, stuffed with ricotta and herbs and served in a savoury chicken broth; followed by an extravagantly luscious loin chop of lamb in licorice glaze from the Valtellina valley of Lombardy; and concluding with a dessert of flash-fried ravioli of fig honey and buttermilk blue cheese, served with Barboursville’s own fresh seedless grapes.
Fittingly, the wines selected for the evening included those which Governor Kaine had poured for Queen Elizabeth II at the Jamestown celebrations of 2007 - Barboursville’s signature unoaked Viognier Reserve, its Monticello Cup-winning Octagon, and the double-Governor’s Cup Gold medal-winning Malvaxia Reserve. |
|
Reds Set the Pace in California Competitions |
Cabernet Franc Reserve 06 Gold in San Diego
Nebbiolo Reserve 05 Gold in San Francisco
Cabernet Franc
The Cabernet Franc’s triumph this May, in an international competition of 1,700 wines judged by 14 prominent wine writers, worldwide -- from Saveur, Decanter, the Bloomberg Report, and the San Francisco Chronicle, among others -- marked more than just another vintage of gorgeousness, in one of our most widely esteemed varietals. It marked the 10th vintage in a row of the most conspicuous dominance in red wine of any varietal in the Eastern United States, capping a 30-year commitment to Cabernet Franc since the founding of this vineyard in 1976. Barboursville is the sole vineyard in the region to sustain successful production of 5 different clonal selections in this grape, always testing belief in its adaptability to this terroir, against the most enthusiastic pursuit of even more beautiful wines in the future. With this competition, we joined the select company of only 5 other producers, from Bordeaux to California, with one of the finest expressions in Cabernet Franc in this world.
Purchase this wine here.
Nebbiolo
 We have been admonished by very friendly and expert opinion in the international wine press, that it is unpromising to grow Nebbiolo outside of Piemonte, Italy, its home terroir. This advice reached us after the 1998 Nebbiolo Reserve won the San Francisco Gold Medal in 2002, and meanwhile, the vines flourished with rewarding impertinence. With the awarding this June of the 2008 San Francisco Gold Medal to the 2005 vintage, our recklessness is becoming unconcealable. And, if anyone should know better, it is our winemaker, Luca Paschina, who grew up in Piemonte in a Nebbiolo-growing family, and took his degree in viticulture from Piemonte’s leading academy in wine. The truth of it is, our terroir in the Virginia Piedmont is not any more inhospitable to the leading grape of Piemonte, than it is to the region’s leading winemaker. There were more than 30 gold medals for Cabernet Sauvignon in San Francisco this year, to 1 for Nebbiolo -- the ratio was 20:1 in 2002 -- but we are not entertaining advice to trade these unique Nebbiolo Gold Medals for any few dozen in anything else.
Purchase this wine here.
|
|
"A Tuscan Adventure in Virginia" |
Octagon Gold at Monticello Wine Competition |
| 2001 Vintage Sustains its Winning Ways
 The 2008 Monticello Wine Growers Competition, conducted at Keswick Hall near Monticello on March 25, awarded its Gold Medal to Octagon V 2001, continuing the spectacular history of this vintage of Barboursville reds at the most prestigious regional wine competition in Virginia.
In 2002, Barbera Reserve 2001 won the Gold Medal and Monticello Cup. In 2004, this achievement was repeated by Cabernet Sauvignon Reserve 2001. Now, 7 years off the vine, Octagon 2001 has capped an astonishing tasting career with its 10th Gold Medal in regional and national wine competitions. In its tasting of October 31, 2003, Wine Spectator had this to say about the red wine it favored above all others in Virginia: "Ambitious. Dark purple, with ample toast and spice notes, supple flesh and pure cassis and raspberry fruits for balance. Firm but ripe tannins drive the finish." With proper cellaring, we expect this wine to flourish into the 2010's.
This year's Monticello Competition drew a very strong list of entries in Bordeaux-based red varietals and meritages, showing how hospitable Piedmont Virginia, and particularly the Monticello viticultural area at its core, is to the successful cultivation of Bordeaux wine grapes. We salute the King Family Vineyard for winning the Cup this year, with a young Petit Verdot from a list of several entries in this varietal, which is also grown at Barboursville for blending in Octagon and Cabernet Sauvignon Reserve.
Octagon V 2001 remains in very limited availability in magnum and double-magnum at the winery only. This vintage will be featured here at this year's "Octagon," a celebration feast scheduled for October 18, pouring different vintages of Octagon throughout the meal. Most famously, the 2001 was selected by the Governor of Virginia for hosting Queen Elizabeth II in Richmond, on her State visit in 2007 for the 400th anniversary of the founding of Jamestown. Octagon VII, which won the Monticello Cup in 2006 and the Double Gold Medal at the Taster's Guild International last year, is the current vintage, available at better wine shops throughout the region and here. |
|
Virginia’s Most Honored Wine Wins Virginia’s Top Prize |
| 3 Winery Standouts Lead Annual Wine Honors, Out of 350 Entries
Cabernet Sauvignon Reserve 1998, Virginia Governor’s Cup 2007
With the Governor’s Cup for 2007, this region’s most honored wine crowns an incomparable career as the Secretariat of Virginia viticulture, saturated in Gold. In infancy, not even two months in bottle in 2000, this wine was cited by the Beverage Testing Institute as its highest-rated red wine of any varietal from any State in the 1998 vintage, and quickly won international and regional Gold Medal after Gold Medal -- often twice in consecutive years against entirely new competitors. Thousands of fine wines have fallen to this one.
Its signature finesse and vitality had never left a doubt, from the validation it won for this growing region from The New York Times in 2000, to its citation as an Example of American Greatness, that the Virginia Governor’s Cup was simply bred into its destiny. This wine well earned the right, over the years, to recognition as Puccini’s Prince to the aloof Princess in Turandot confident that a secret locked in itself - il mio misterio è chiuso in me - would win her embrace at light of day. At 9 years off the vine, almost 8 in bottle, this creation remains in a class by itself, a historic turning point in our region, an inspiration, and a fundamental benchmark of our techniques and values in viticultural expession. Consult our Events Calendar for announcements of special dinners and tastings.
Nebbiolo Reserve 2004, Governor’s Cup Gold Medal 2007
To our Secretariat’s success was brought superlative proof of its example, by two wines bred by Italian tradition to be our Native Dancer. This vineyard’s regionally unrivalled success with Nebbiolo - the first vintage, winning the only Gold Medal bestowed for Nebbiolo at the San Francisco International in 2002 - had been resoundingly affirmed by the Critics Challenge International Gold in 2006, and the Tasters Guild International Gold in 2007, before this Governor’s Cup Gold Medal for Nebbiolo Reserve 2004. Its trajectory is only beginning.
Malvaxia Passito 2003, Governor’s Cup Gold Medal 2007
Shining perhaps brightest of all, is this back-to-back Governor’s Cup Gold Medal for Malvaxia Passito in the 2003 vintage this year, after the 2002 vintage last year. This brilliant adaptation of the classic Northern Italian vin santo style of winemaking joins our most consistently Gold Medaled varietals as an undeniable beacon for international acceptance of the Virginia appellation, drawing Louis Roederer Wine Critic of the Year and Decanter editor Andrew Jefford to cite it in Britain’s Financial Times as his decisive favorite in the famous Virginia Wine Experience in London this year. But Malvaxia Passito is as much about wine making as it is about winegrowing, and in this sphere, we look to our left, we look to our right, and find only one Luca Paschina. Fortunate is the man, Virgil had said, who knows the causes of things... that they may speak for themselves.
|
|
|
|
