By Jason Tesauro, Writer / Photographer / Sommelier
Growing up just outside New York City, my cousins and I spent weekends in the late-1970s and ‘80s at grandma’s house in Paterson, New Jersey. The neighbor’s granddaughter wanted to ride big wheels and run through the sprinkler with us, but she was younger and sometimes we ignored her. By the time we were all teenagers, though, we boys were racing to see who got to knock on her door first. To this day, I’ll stomach the shitty house wines at her family’s E & V Ristorante just to catch a glimpse of Christina and a taste of her excellent Tortellini in Brodo.
For years, decades even, sommeliers and retailers wouldn’t give the time of day to East Coast viniculture. And even then, only a slim fondness for Rieslings along the Finger Lakes maintained any wine relevance within 300 miles. New Jersey makes wine. So does Pennsylvania. Good luck finding them on DC and NYC wine lists then or now. Imagine the scene in May 1976: California announces itself to the world via Steven Spurrier’s Judgment of Paris blind-tasting, thrusting an already 200-year old wine culture onto the global stage. But back across the Atlantic, mere weeks before, Gianni Zonin signed the deed for Barboursville Vineyards on April 13, Thomas Jefferson’s birthday, igniting an achingly slow-burn toward international legitimacy for Virginia. Christina was still in diapers.
Something happened during the intervening 42 years. And I don’t just mean in the vineyards and cellars of intrepid (née foolish) producers in the Commonwealth. Something happened in the broader wine world. We opened our eyes and then opened them again. We regained our senses after the boozy, oaky heyday of Parkerized wines and an over-glorification of “international varieties.” We replanted our feet right where we stood, taking note of indigenous grapes and scores of obscure varietals that spanned from Abbuoto to Župljanka in Jancis Robinson’s Wine Grapes. We reexamined our relationship with ratings and reinvested in the practice of deductive tasting. As professionals, we traded trade tastings for plane tickets and took a hands-on approach to our craft and its traditions, eschewing snobbery for hospitality and fun.
Now, we find ourselves in a golden age of somm life. We are a more enlightened industry serving an engaged public possessing higher-than-ever food and beverage IQ. As millennials change the culture evermore, we see that everything they imbibe, from craft brews to cask-aged gin, is done so with an intention and self-awareness far beyond the reach of shelf talkers. They gravitate to what’s true, new, and right out the back door. They may not know the difference between 3ème Cru and 5ème Cru, but they can name five local breweries and three local distilleries without asking Siri.
Virginia speaks this language. She’s still growing, but she’s already grown-up in the most important ways. She knows what she’s got – Viognier, Petit Manseng, Cabernet Franc, Petit Verdot – and she knows to continue devoting acreage to the kind of exploration and experimentation that led to successes with Vermentino, Albariño, Nebbiolo, and Tannat. She knows that a developing region thrives when it collaborates more than it competes, transforming curiosity and camaraderie into projects like the Winemaker Research Exchange. She knows that grace, grit, and pioneering spirit, combined with a tireless commitment to understanding terroir, end up expressing something bigger than any one grape variety, winemaker, or brand. Some of you have known her all your life and many of you have brushed her by. Will you wait for her to call, or race to knock on her door? Either way, the girl next door is come of age. Meet Virginia. Maybe I should bring a bottle to Christina.
Learn more at SommCon Washington D.C. July 22-24, and join the session Iconic Wines of Virginia for an exploration of what Virginia wineries are doing to advance the quality of the region with Master of Wine, CWE, and Educational Director at Capital Wine Schoo,l Jay Youmans.
About Jason Tesauro: A writer/photojournalist/sommelier with three books, four cameras, and five children. Author of The Modern Gentleman series, he’s been Chief Sommelier for Barboursville Vineyards since 2002. As a frequent contributor of lifestyle content for Esquire, The New York Times, and The Washington Post, his work has been included in Best Food Writing 2016 and awarded Honorable Mention in the 2017 Chromatic Awards.
