Wine Review: Kluge Estate

This wine review is a sad one because a few months after we received the samples, Hubby and I found out that Kluge Estate Winery and Vineyards went into foreclosure. We had good memories of visiting there during our wine trip to Virginia in 2008, although we were a little put off by the wine tasting being served in a test-tube tray (sorry, no pictures). We also got to try some Kluge wine as they expanded distribution into Georgia last year and found it to be better than we'd remembered.

I'd wondered whether to even post this review since the winery has gone under. It's kind of like reviewing zombie wine, but I would imagine that there's still some hanging out in warehouses and with distributors. Even though the sparkling and Viognier are listed as "Sold Out" on the Kluge website, they may still be available somewhere and are worth a taste before they're gone.

We saved the 2004 SP (for sparkling) Blanc de Noir for our anniversary and weren't disappointed with its toasty notes and very slight berry undertones. It paired well with the view from the porch at my parents' cabin in Blairsville:




We tried the 2009 Albemarle Viognier in November. It had the Viognier peachy nose and floral finish, but I expected more in terms of body. It has an acidic bite instead of a smooth texture, almost like a Pinot Grigio. However, the shrimp risotto we paired it with brought out the stone fruit character of the wine, which enhanced it.


Finally, the 2009 Albemarle Sauvignon Blanc was also quite acidic, but good with food. Citrus and melon were the predominant flavors with a little grassiness. This is the only one still listed as available on the web site.

If nothing else, I hope this review serves as a reminder that we need to support our local wineries. Yes, I realize that Kluge got caught with their financial pants down in a tough economic climate (recent article here), but I hope that other local wineries won't disappear as well. As consumers, the best things we can do are to ask for local wines in restaurants and wine retailers and to visit our wineries regularly. And, as a wine blogger, I will try to review samples in a more timely manner. I'm finally getting my writing routine down, so that should help me to post more regularly.

Disclosure: All wines in this review were received free of charge for sampling purposes. This did not impact my review.

Tasting Notes: Pink Stuff at JavaMonkey

I was going to put this post off until after I covered some of the Wine Bloggers' Conference material as well as the post-conference adventures. However, Dave Kell of inDecatur made a cameo appearance tonight to sample some wine, so I thought I'd go ahead and get the notes up for the full lineup. Conference posts forthcoming this weekend, I promise!

I'll confess, I have an ambivalent relationship toward rosé wine. One of the first wines I ever liked (note the past tense) was White Zinfandel, you know, that syrupy sweet stuff that you could get in the grocery store. My friend (whom I will not name to protect the guilty) and I would go to the old Vincent's in Birmingham, load up on chocolate pastries and a bottle of white zin, and go to the house of whoever's parents weren't home, watch girly movies, and have a giggly sugarfest. Yes, I was supposedly the "responsible" one at 21, but hey, we weren't drinking and driving. I still remember doing that with A Midsummer Night's Dream the summer after I graduated from college. Now that friend has two kids, and I'm jaunting around the country drinking wine... Who's the responsible adult now?

That's a rhetorical question. You really don't have to answer it.

So, back to the pink wine... Rosé wine is so much more than white zinfandel now. We even brought back some from our recent travels. Hubby is very picky about his pink wine because, as one of our tasting compatriots once noted, "If you're gonna be a dude drinking pink wine, you've gotta be prepared to take some..." You can fill in the blank.

Here's the lineup. For visualization purposes, I've included the exact (according to me) shade of pink for each selection.

2007 Kluge Estate SP Rosé (Albemarle County, VA): 95% Chardonnay, 5% Pinot Noir
You may remember this one from the last post. It's still good, kind of tart at the beginning of the tasting with overtones of butterscotch.
Rating: Good to Very Good
Shade: Blush pink

2009 Sauvion Rosé d'Anjou (Loire Valley, France): 80% Cabernet Franc, 10% Gamay, 5% Pineaud d'Aunis, 5% Grolleau
Smooth, light, and fruity, this one stood up well to food. Maybe it was the power of suggestion, but it did have some pear notes with some citrus in addition to the expected rosé berries.
Rating: Very Good
Shade: Cooked Atlantic Salmon

2009 Artazuri Rosado (Navarra, Spain): 100% Garnacha
Raspberry nose, a little flat on the palate with a buttery finish.
Rating: Okay
Shade: Pretty in Pink

2008 Saddlerock Rosé (Malibu, California): 100% Syrah
I liked the 2006 vintage from last year's Pink Stuff tasting better. This one had some mustiness on the nose, some floral and melon in addition to the "chewy" fruit on the palate.
Rating: Okay
Shade: Barbie Shoe Pink (c'mon, ladies, you remember them, the two-toned pink and white Barbie shoes!)

2009 Château de Ségriès Rosé (Tavel, Côtes due Rhône, France): 50% Grenache, 30% Cinsault, 15% Clairette, 5% Syrah
Strawberry pie in a glass with buttery fruit.
Rating: Good
Shade: Crayola Fuschia

2009 Castaño Rosado (Yecla, Spain):
Strawberry-raspberry juice, but I liked its straightforwardness.
Rating: Good to Very Good
Shade: Raspberry

2008 Hendry Ranch Napa Valley Rosé (Napa, California): Proprietary blend of Zinfandel, Cabernet Franc, Cabernet Sauvignon, Petit Verdot, Merlot, and Malbec
Strawberry, citrus, and pink grapefruit smoothed out by overtones of stone fruit.
Rating: Very Good
Shade: Prom Dress Pink

Before you take my color designations too seriously, please keep in mind that I'm not a girly girl and have maybe owned two pieces of pink clothing in my lifetime. I'm happy to say that I've moved beyond my white zin preferences and biases, so I hope that you will give the pink stuff a try, too. You might be pleasantly surprised.

Tasting Notes: State-Specific Drinking at JavaMonkey

I've gotten behind on my JavaMonkey wine tasting notes, probably due to that little jaunt to Texas at the beginning of the month and another to the Pacific-Northwest after the Wine Bloggers' conference. I do have thoughts to post on the WBC excursion on Saturday and then our subsequent adventures. I'll get to those this weekend. Oh, and tomorrow night is the next JM tasting, pink wine!

Wines from Oregon were featured at the May 27 JavaMonkey tasting. We felt it was a good warm-up for our recent trip, during which we tasted down through Willamette Valley. We've been to the area before, but just the wineries north of Dundee.

The wines of the evening (only region given since they're all from Oregon):

2007 Rex Hill Chardonnay (Willamette Valley):
Interesting tidbits about this one: it's now owned by one of the couples from the A to Z winery, and the stainless steel barrels used for 95% of the fermentation may have, at one time, been used as Coca Cola barrels. That makes it practically local!

Overall, a nice, mild Chardonnay with good depth and structure. Mineral-grapefruit flavors with oak smoothness.
Rating: Good

2007 Rex Hill Pinot Gris (Willamette Valley):
Lemon! But with a creamy texture.
Rating: Good
Wants: Fish in butter sauce with capers.

2007 A to Z Riesling (Multiple Valleys in 5 different appellations):
Mineral nose and backbone, still citrus but with a hint of tangerine. Some of the grapes are grown in blue slate soil, which supposedly gives it a hint of petrol. Yes, I'm thinking about my neurologist friend here. He found a hint of petrol in every white.
Rating: Good to Very Good
Wants: Pasta with prosciutto and lemongrass

2008 A to Z Pinot Noir (Slutty -- sourced from all 30 AVA's in Oregon):
A little earthy/funky on the nose. More earthiness with dark cherry on the palate.
Rating: Good

2008 Rock Pinot Noir (maybe Del Rio -- info not available):
Still cherry, but more tart with a long buttery finish.
Rating: Very Good

2007 A to Z "Night & Day: Southern Crossing" (Rogue Valley): 36% Cabernet Sauvignon, 26% Merlot, 20% Syrah, 10% Sangiovese, 4% Grenache, 4% Cabernet Franc
I can just picture them measuring this blend by the grape... My notes only say it's a "yummy red blend," and it would go well with steak. Apparently West Coast correspondent James Bassett also liked it (see previous post).
Rating: Very Good

Tasting in Texas seems to have been a good transition back to the East Coast because the June 10 tasting was all about Kluge Estate in Virginia. Hubby and I have visited there (mentioned in this blog post from our Virginia tasting trip), so we were curious to try the newer vintages. My notes on these are pretty sparse -- I had just flown in from San Antonio that day and was exhausted.

2007 Kluge Estate SP Blanc de Blancs (Albemarle County): 100% Chardonnay
A strong start with the bubbles. Citrus nose and well-balanced (not too citrusy, not too vanilla).
Rating: Very Good

2009 Albemarle Rosé (Albemarle County):
No notes for this one. As I recall, I didn't really get much from it.
Rating: Good

2007 Kluge Estate SP Rosé (Albemarle County): 95% Chardonnay, 5% Pinot Noir
Very elegant pink sparkling.
Rating: Good to Very Good

2005 Albemarle Simply Red (Albemarle County):
The name says it all -- a good red with nice fruit.
Rating: Good

2005 Kluge Estate New World Red (Albemarle County):
Earthy with some spice. Dark fruit and a little oaky.
Rating: Good to Very Good

Kluge Estate Cru (Monticello, Albemarle County):
Sweet -- could taste all components, but didn't really blend until I tried it with dark chocolate.
Rating: Good, Very Good with chocolate

So yes, Kluge Estate is worth a look if you're up there. I'm glad that more Virginia wines are making it into the Georgia market. Now if only Tarara would start shipping here... And according to the comments, they are! Thanks for the update! My monthly bugging them on Twitter must have worked. Never underestimate the power of social media.