Today on CityCast D.C., it's the last installment of our fall guide, and we're talking
wineries and vineyards.
You might not realize the DMV is a place that grows award-winning wine, but Dave McIntyre
of The Washington Post is here to tell us which we should try for ourselves.
Today is Wednesday, September 27th.
I'm Julia Karen, and here's what D.C. is talking about.
All right.
So Dave McIntyre of The Washington Post, you have the coolest job title I've ever heard
of, possibly one I want to steal, which is wine columnist.
How does the DMV stack up when it comes to producing wine and making good wine?
This stacks up really well, and it's getting better every year.
And I'm really looking forward to trying some of the 2023s, because the harvest is underway
now.
And if you visit wineries this time of year, you'll see all the activity, of course.
But the growers are really enthusiastic about the crop so far.
So it sounds like 2023 is going to be a banner vintage in Virginia and Maryland, as long
as we don't get any hurricanes coming through in the next couple of weeks.
Yeah, are there particular types of wines from particular vineyards that you're excited
about?
Well, sure.
If you're new to Virginia and Maryland wine, really wants to look out for red wines would
be Cabernet, Frank, is a variety that does really well here in the mid-Atlantic.
And a lot of Virginia and Maryland wineries specialize in that.
And I hate to pick favorites, but just to name one on each side of the Potomac, Barber's
ville vineyards, which is down near Charlottesville, just north of Charlottesville, makes a wonderful
Cabernet, Frank.
And in Maryland, the one I've had recently that just blew me away was from low vineyards
in Mount Erie, the 2021 vintage was just superb.
Now for white wine lovers, V&A has a reputation, especially in Virginia, but it's become a
little eclipsed lately by a great variety called Petite Mansang, which is really exciting
and it's very unusual.
You don't find it elsewhere in the world in large numbers.
And it gives you a very sort of tropical, fruity wine, both bone dry and a really great
sweet dessert wine, depending on how the wine maker wants to do it.
So it's very versatile and it does very well in this humid mid-Atlantic climate.
Another white, great variety to look for would be Alburino, and even Sauvignon Blanc, which
is a little more, probably a little more familiar to many wine drinkers.
A lot of the wineries around here are doing really well with that.
All right, Dave.
So what's a good way to get started and head out to a vineyard around here?
Going to the local wineries is, it's an experience.
So the best thing I would recommend is pick maybe two or three wineries that you would
like to visit in one day.
That's plenty.
And look at their websites.
So know what wines they make, match them with the styles you like, know if they're having
any events that day, like live music or food trucks or anything like that.
And when you go, you might need to make a reservation so the website will tell you that.
Be respectful.
This should be obvious, but don't be trying to just smash back as much wine as you can
in an outing.
Don't be borish.
Remember that a winery is a private business.
It's not a public park.
A lot of people show up and think they're going to have their wedding there or their family
reunion picnic.
And it's really not appropriate to do something like that.
It is perfectly fine to hang out for a few hours and buy a glass or a bottle of wine
to share there with your family and friends.
But remember, too, that it's not a playground for your kids.
If you are taking kids, be sure to look for kid-friendly wineries, the same with pets.
And look after your kids.
If you take them, don't just let them run around.
And the vineyards are not a track for them to run around in and play in or everything.
Especially at harvest time, because there might be a lot of activity going on.
So there's a safety issue there, too.
So we are getting to the time of the year, obviously, when people want to get out a little
bit more, maybe want to explore.
Tell us about some of the wineries in the region you're a fan of.
Which places in Virginia are you excited about that people should go to?
Oh, there are so many.
Well, Virginia has basically, roughly speaking, two main wine regions, northern Virginia
and central Virginia.
So think Loudon County, but also Fuckier and Prince William have a few good wineries and
Fairfax even.
And then Charlottesville would be the other area of focus.
And you could concentrate on that.
You can do a day trip to Charlottesville.
It's about two and a half hours from the beltway, depending on traffic.
And the new lanes on I-66 make that a lot more easier than it used to be for several
years during the construction.
So if you were doing Charlottesville, you could do it in a day or you could do it at overnight
and do it on two days.
On the way down in Madison County, look for early mountain vineyards is a great place
to go.
It's owned by Stephen Jean Case of AOL fame.
And their wine maker, Maya Hood White, is just doing spectacular work with a variety
of wines.
Their petite man sang in Cabernet, Franca, or just one's definitely to look for.
I already mentioned Barbersville, which has a wonderful restaurant and a small inn
that you can stay in if you reserve ahead, of course.
That's north of Charlottesville and nearby you would have Horton Vineyards and Keswick
are very close.
And on the other side, west of Charlottesville, I would recommend King Family, Veritas,
and Afton Mountain.
Vineyards especially, Stinson family vineyards is really good too.
And south of Charlottesville, around Monticello, you want to look for Michael Schapp's
wine works and several others.
Pippin Hill is a very beautiful facility that's making some good wines and has a good restaurant.
Loudon County, which of course is a lot closer.
They build themselves as DC's wine country.
There are many really good wineries and new ones popping up all the time.
Some of the older established vineyards would be Chrysalis, Boxwood, and Bro.
One of the ones that I really like is Walsh family vineyards and they just do or are
doing some really nice wines.
And they do an interesting thing too to look for every now and then on a Friday, they'll
do what they call a bar takeover.
Will they'll invite another wine maker to come in and pour his or her wines for their
guests.
So there's this good community spirit where the wine makers are helping promote each other,
which helps because with nearly 300 wineries in this state, it's hard to get to all of
them, especially in one weekend.
So there's a lot of things to look for, do some web research and plan ahead.
It's a little more complicated than just heading out 66 and down 29 and looking for the
grape signs along the road to point you in a different direction.
Oh, yeah.
No, you're not doing a road trip and drinking and driving.
You're not fans of that.
No, no, no, no.
That's another thing about tasting spit.
Use the spit button.
Don't be shy about it.
Don't drink from it.
Hmm.
Definitely.
So of the ones that you listed, obviously, they all sound like incredible.
I'm probably going to go check out the loud and county ones.
Are there ones that you think are kind of more affordable?
Say you're my age and you're 30 and you're like, hmm, maybe a trip out to Charlottesville
at an inn is a little bit out of our price range.
What would you recommend in terms of something a little bit on the more affordable side?
Well, as far as visiting wineries, I think you can do that fairly inexpensively at a lot
of places.
So again, internet research, look for the price that they charge for a tasting.
What do you get for a tasting?
Are you paying $15 to taste small samples of three, five, six wines?
Do they have different flights where you can try perhaps a little larger sample of three
or four wines, things like that, maybe just buy a glass?
Look for ones that have food.
Crystallous in Middleburg has what they call the egg center where they sell pizza.
They make the cheese there and everything like that.
So that's a lot of fun.
Early mountain also has a good restaurant.
I mentioned Pippin Hills restaurant.
Those aren't necessarily fine dining.
Some of them might be Barbersville is more fine dining.
So to buy a wine to bring home is not going to be cheap.
Unfortunately, the economics of wineries around here don't allow them to make quality wine
and sell it for what most people would consider a reasonable price.
So you should expect to spend $25 and up on a bottle of wine to either to drink there
or to bring home.
But I encourage people to do that and try them because it always helps to try a wine
after you've visited and you're not there.
You can get a better impression of it and whether it fits your style and your taste.
Awesome.
I definitely want to make a trip across the river to Virginia to try some of this out.
Let's talk about some Maryland picks.
Say you want to stay on this side of the river.
What would your recommendations for Maryland wineries be?
Sure.
There are a few actually kind of close in Montgomery County, for instance.
We have Wind Ridge vineyards, which in Darnstown, which has a great view of the Seneca Creek
sort of off to the Blue Ridge and very nice wines.
Also in Montgomery County, Sugarloaf Mountain vineyards.
If you're going hiking on Sugarloaf Mountain, you'll pass the vineyard to get there.
They make some very nice wines further up towards Frederick and Antietam.
Big cork is very good and in Mount Erie, I mentioned low vineyards, but you have Linganora,
which is famous for sweet, fruity wines.
They're a very old winery, but they're also doing some newer stuff with dry wines that
are actually very good, including one that I'm fond of from the Saperavi grape.
They're one of very few people in the Mid-Atlantic growing that.
In the same region, you have black ankle vineyards, which is very popular place to visit.
One of my favorites.
Don't miss Old West Minster winery, which obviously is a little further north in West
Minster.
They also have great pizza so you can hang around and have lunch and sip some wines.
They do get crowded on weekends.
I've noticed that, but the wines are terrific and there's a lot of variety there.
The vineyards of Dodon, which is near anapolis, they make some very good wine.
Their Sauvignon Blanc is quite good and port of Leonard Town, which is obviously in Leonard
Town.
It's only about an hour's drive from DC.
Very talented wine maker.
They're racking up some awards.
It's an unassuming little place right on the road, but a lot of character there and
very good wine.
Got it.
All right.
So say, baby, you don't have a car or you don't have a friend who has a car and you got
to be in DC proper, any recommendations in the diamond that you got for us.
There's district winery down in the yards near the Navy yard that makes its own wines
from obviously from grapes that are shipped in.
They don't have a vineyard right there.
There are DC's urban winery.
There are some places, some restaurants and wine bars too that are paying attention
to local.
And that is a great change just in the last several years because when I started as the
post wine columnist in 2008, there were articles that I wrote a couple of them too, complaining
that local restaurants didn't have any local wines.
That is changing, thank goodness.
And there are even some that specialize.
There's a wine bar on the H Street Quarter called Irregardless, two UVA grads on it
and they decided they wanted to specialize in Virginia wines.
I think maybe they've added a few non-local wines to appease some of their customers, but
they're maintaining that focus.
So that's an area to go to try some local wines.
In some of the restaurants are doing things too from time to time.
So they may not always have local wines on their lists, but they try to at least have
one or two.
Do you have a particular favorite that you go to year after year that you're just like,
I've got to go to this place in the fall, the food is good, the wines are really good.
It's just a good time.
I don't, but I will say the fall is a wonderful time to go because especially down around
Charlottesville, you're in the foothills of the mountains and the colors on the trees
in late October, it's just spectacular.
And it's so nice to get away from traffic and just take a leisurely stroll.
I like to go the back roads.
I like to get off US 29 and go the more scenic route where you'll see the signs for civil
war monuments and historical markers and things like that.
And maybe a little bit of Virginia that you haven't seen.
Dave McIntyre, thank you so much for these recommendations.
Hope to share glass of wine with you in the fall.
Well, that would be fun and I would just encourage all your listeners to explore local
wines because it's an experience that you can't really have.
You could still actually meet the wine maker at the tasting bar on a weekend or you won't
really find that out in California at many places anymore.
Yeah, thanks so much for coming on, man.
You're welcome.
Before you go, here's some quick news with a government shutdown looming at the end of
the month, the DC government is preparing for a possible surge in unemployment claims.
DC's Office of Employment Services says furloughed employees are eligible for unemployment
insurance, the day the government shuts down.
And that is when people should start submitting their applications.
Meanwhile, in more unfortunate budget and unemployment news, Metro warns layoffs are
hiring freeze and devastating service cuts are possible.
If the agency can't close a protected $750 million budget gap, Metro says it may have
to start making cuts this winter with them going into effect in July, the pandemic inflation
and a decline in ridership have put Metro in this dire financial position.
And lastly, Georgetown residents are calling for common sense readjustments to Georgetown
and street areas, like demanding certain design standards and guidelines for seasonal
removal of the outdoor dining setups, street areas were a prominent pandemic addition
to Georgetown.
Now, city planners are looking at ways to make them permanent, causing debates between
restaurant owners, diners and drivers.
We did a whole episode about this, listen to it, it's fabulous.
By the way, what do you think of this newscast?
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We're debating switching things up and we want your input.
Click the really short multiple choice survey in the show notes to weigh in, a promise,
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Thanks so much.
That's all for today here on CityCast DC.
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See ya.