Wine Bloggers Conference Day One Wrap-Up

Tom's house. Nice enough, for an older property

Day Two of WBC starts with a wrap-up of day one. After speed blogging and a general flopping onto my face for a nap, it was time to go out to Monticello, the original house of Thomas Jefferson, author of the US constitution and general amazing dude. Monticello itself is a five minute drive away from downtown Charlottesville and very much worth the visit. It's a gorgeous property and a very stately house--not only a national heritage site, but also the only home in America to be declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

An English Rose, beside a Canadian thorn

To my everlasting delight, I was seated on the bus next to one of my heroes, Jancis Robinson. Yes, Jancis Robinson, creator of the first television documentary on wine, editor of the Oxford Companion to Wine, writer, first person outside the commercial wine trade to become a Master of Wine, et cetera. Turns out she's not just your classic Oxford educated wine genius, she's also very gracious and generous towards great sweaty fanboys who get tongue-tied in her presence. I'd like to think my status as a contributor to the Oxford impressed her, but I think she's just generally a genial person.

Then we deboarded the bus and walked out onto the grounds of Monticello, and into a hellish blast of heat. And not a dry heat either: with the calculated heat index it was hot enough to render human fat, so I was in real trouble. Fortunately I stayed re-hydrated with plenty of water, and the occasional glass of wine.

Tasting tent, or was that basting tent? Hot!

Even though there were fans and a tent to keep the sun off, it was nearly too hot to drink--words I thought I'd never say. Fortunately I mustered a thirst and tasted some very good wines. Virginia seems to be specialising in aromatic whites, including a preponderance of Viogniers. The styles ranged from rather hot, cooked fruit versions to amazingly crisp, zesty iterations (guess which kind I like) and the majority were excellent. I also had the opportunity to taste a number of Nortons. It's a strange grape, with an interesting history--the kind of story of intrigue, heartbreak, twists and skullduggery that you just couldn't make up if you tried. The best one of the night was definitely Chrysalis Vineyards Norton. It was the new vintage, blended by a fresh winemaker who really knows his stuff. It was definitely its own grape, but unlike a lot of hybrid or native grapes, it didn't need a 'but' after any description of it. Amazing stuff.

Along with the tasting came some lovely comestibles--grits with shrimp, crab cakes, fried green tomatoes, some really great slaw, whole roasted tenderloin sliced and served with blue cheese horseradish cream and pork belly sliders, made from Polyface farms hogs. Excellently good, and I was pleased to eat something from a fully sustainable, local source.

After dinner it was time for a stroll around the grounds of Monticello.

Does anyone know what this flower is? Gorgeous.

More gorgeous

Got a chance to talk with TJ. Looks good for a three hundred year-old man

Of course, he was more about the ladies--nobody said the J-Meister was stupid!

Jancis was joking earlier about paparazzi, so I had to put in a candid shot

It was 40 degrees cooler in the cellar. Despite spending an hour there, I only got one picture

After that it was back to the bus and off to the hotel for a quick nap before 'The Other 46' tasting. It was a little sparsely attended, but that's to be expected, given the incidence of heat stroke and booze-exhaustion on the part of most of the bloggers. I had a great time hanging out with some of the wine folks afterwards, including my pal Todd Trzaskos, from Vermont Wine Media. Todd is a mensch, carrying the load for wine promotion in Vermont and spreading the lvoe all around. He was also the kind purveyor of some excellent Vermont beers that night. You can only drink so much wine before you need a palate-cleansing beer! Cheers, Todd--you're a life-saver and very generous with your time and beer.

After an undetermined amount of time, I retired for the evening, and collapsed in a heap. The heat here does not leave much energy for movement or extaneous work. Fortunately, I was all rested up for another big day . . .

Posted by Bloggity Dog AT 12:28PM 3 Comments Comments Post A Comment Post A Comment Email Email

Send this post to a friend