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Surprising New Wine Regions
Janice Kleinschmidt October 18, 2007PAGES: 1 2
Great new wine tours from Tasmania to Texas
While California’s Napa and Sonoma valleys have attained status rivaling that of France’s Bordeaux and Italy’s Tuscany regions, other vineyard-rich areas have quietly gone about the business of building their reputations and are emerging as serious contenders in the competition for awards and tourists. Globally, they include Switzerland and Tasmania. In the United States, they include the home of 10-gallon hats, Texas, as well as the likes of New York and... Maryland? You read correctly.
Christine Ansbacher, a certified wine educator and author of "Secrets from The Wine Diva," likes East Coast wines so well that she talked Martha Stewart's personal chefs into featuring Italian varietals from Virginia, Maryland and Rhode Island at a wine dinner for 100 next month at Al Forno in Providence, R.I. “Emerging wine regions are more like Old World wines in that they have moderate alcohol and better acidity, so they’ll taste more lively and refreshing [than California wines]” Ansbacher says. California wines, she believes, can be “food bullies” because they tend to be heavier and more full bodied.
The Chesapeake State has teamed up with Pennsylvania to create the Mason-Dixon Wine Trail. And in Loudon County, Va., they can’t print wine guide brochures fast enough. What’s going on here...and in Oregon, New York State, and Texas? We took a close look, region by region:
See our slideshow of Best New Wine Trips
Texas
After a 21-day tour of the Bordeaux and Rhone regions of France, Susan and Ed Auler turned their Texas cattle ranch into a winery.
“We were the first ones to plant in the Hill Country in 1975,” Susan Auler says, referring to the land west of Austin. “We saw some growth early on. Soon there were three of us.” The real surge, she says, has occurred over the last five to 10 years. “The Hill Country has about 30 wineries and more coming on line all the time,” Auler says—and they’re attracting tourists. “I think our sales have been up 20 percent the last couple of years.”
The Aulers’ Fall Creek Vineyards is the third largest winery in Texas, producing 40,000 cases of 20 varietals annually. Hill Country has a proven track record with Chardonnay, Cabernet Sauvignon, and Malbec; and Fall Creek plans to make Tempranillo this year.
“We are certainly not shy people. We are can-do people,” Auler says of Texan winemakers. “We are concentrated, focused, and a convivial group of people; and perhaps that’s the best way to describe the wines.”
New York
If you think Lemberger sounds like something you’d pick up in a New York deli, you’re right if you’re talking about the liquor case. Lemberger is a red grape used to make wine in the state known more for Broadway shows and the Rockettes.
Seventy miles east of New York City are two wine trails: the North Fork and Hamptons. Since the first commercial vineyard was planted on Long Island in 1973, the number of wine producers on the peninsula has grown to 50; and while 30 percent of the acreage is planted in Merlot, Long Islanders have ventured beyond the quintessential Chardonnay to embrace lesser-known varietals such as Lemberger and Tocia Friulano.
Steven Bate, executive director of the Long Island Wine Association, says the area is garnering attention, including that of The Wine Advocate (Robert Parker), Wine Spectator, and Food & Wine, as well as British and Japanese magazines. “In 2000, we had about a half-million people that went through the tasting rooms,” Bate says. “By 2003, it was up to 940,000; and in 2006, 1.2 million people went through.”
The mid-state Finger Lakes region has a smaller, slightly younger wine industry. Celebrating its 25th anniversary in 2008, the Cayuga Wine Trail has grown from four wineries to 16. It, too, has piqued curiosity. The trail’s most popular event, spring’s Wine & Herb Festival, draws about 3,600 guests over two weekends. The region specializes in Riesling; Thirsty Owl Wine Co.’s 2006 Dry Riesling won the Governor’s Cup at the New York Wine & Food Classic in August at Copia in Napa Valley, Calif.
See our slideshow of Best New Wine Trips
Virginia
The Loudoun County (Virginia) Economic Development Department had to print a second run of The Loudoun Wine Trail guide after exhausting its initial 51,000 copies of this year’s brochure. There are now 15 wineries along the trail (now accepting guests by appointment, Notaviva Vineyards will open its tasting room next summer). The oldest winery, Willowcroft Farm Vineyards, began making wine in 1981.
“Back in those days, the [state agricultural] extension service told me I couldn’t do it, but they were wrong,” says Willowcroft owner Lew Parker. “I was aware of changes in the technology of grape growing that I thought would make it possible.” Now, he says, the Loudoun wine business is “skyrocketing,” with the growth of wineries attracting more and more visitors to historic properties with views of the Blue Ridge Mountains, most within an hour of Washington, D.C.
“The jury is still out on what will be Virginia’s signature varietal,” he continues. “Cabernet Franc is being very well received.” The area’s predominant wine is Chardonnay, and Willowcroft also enjoys success with Riesling.
See our slideshow of Best New Wine Trips
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