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Posted: 2026-09-23 10:00
Last week I attended a Wines of Georgia seminar and tasting that intentionally or not tied the Republic of Georgia’s wine identity to its indigenous grape varieties, many of which have been cultivated for millennia across diverse climatic and geological zones. Among these is Kisi -- a white grape native to eastern Georgia and historically associated with the Kakheti region. It is valued for its ability to produce both classical European‑style wines and traditional qvevri wines, each expressing the grape’s naturally aromatic profile, moderate acidity, and textural depth.  Georgia's landscape hosts ten officially recognized wine regions and these viticultural zones span a range of elevations influenced by the Greater and Lesser Caucasus Mountains. This creates distinct microclimates from humid western regions to the drier continental east. Eastern Georgia, where Kisi is most prevalent, experiences warm summers, cold winters, and significant diurnal temperature variation. These conditions help maintain acidity in white grapes despite high sunlight exposure. Soils vary by valley and slope position but commonly include alluvial deposits, loam, gravel, and pockets of calcareous material. These well‑drained soils support moderate vine vigor and steady ripening. Georgia’s long‑standing use of buried clay qvevri vessels also affects the final wine profile by enabling stable fermentation temperatures and extended maceration when desired. Kakheti is characterized by a dry climate, abundant sunshine, and the influence of cool air descending from the Caucasus foothills. Vineyards are typically planted between 400 and 800 meters in elevation, with soils composed of alluvial layers, loam, and gravel that promote drainage and root penetration. These conditions support consistent ripening and allow growers to choose between early harvesting for higher acidity or later harvesting for fuller aromatics. Kisi has been traditionally grown in limited quantities but the grape is currently experiencing a modern revival surrounding its historic home in the Alazani Valley and surrounding foothills. Here growers value the grape for its moderate acidity, aromatic potential, and adaptability to both traditional qvevri and modern European‑style winemaking. The grape typically produces wines with stone‑fruit and citrus characteristics in stainless‑steel or neutral‑oak fermentations, while qvevri vinification with extended skin contact yields amber‑colored wines with firmer tannins, dried‑fruit notes, and increased textural weight. I tasted examples of both of these styles at the Wines of Georgia tasting.  Orgo Winery is known for its emphasis on traditional qvevri winemaking and its use of older vineyards in Kakheti -- many with at least 50 year old vines. The winery is a project of the famous Georgian wine maker Gogi Dikishivili, who is often referred to as the "godfather of qvevri wine". He was one of the first winemakers to ever bottle and export qvevri wine and is universally acknowledged a pioneer of the revival of the qvevri wine technology in Georgia. Following this process, the Orgo Kisi 2024 underwent fermentation and aging in qvevri, resulting in an amber wine with a notable tannin presence and extended skin‑derived phenolics, plus surprising salinity. Orgo wines are available in the United States through the Georgian Wine House.
Koncho & Co Winery is based in the Kvareli area of Kakheti, where vineyards benefit from the Alazani Valley’s alluvial soils and the moderating influence of nearby mountain ranges. The winery was established using the foundation of the Konchoshvili wine cellar (dating back to 1737) with the goal to "find and cultivate extinct and endangered Georgian indigenous vine varieties and produce the exclusive wines from grapes harvested in these vineyards". Their Kisi Qvevri 2019 ($28) is naturally vinified through spontaneous fermentation by wild yeast. The wine remains on grape skins and stems for six months in buried clay vessels, developing tannin structure and extended phenolic depth, and is then aged an additional six months in oak barrels. The wine is available in the United States through Qvevri Wines online store.  Ashaneli Winery operates in Kakheti with a focus on indigenous varieties and a combination of traditional and modern techniques. Their wines generally follow a fruit‑forward, European‑style approach that emphasizes freshness, moderate alcohol, and clear varietal aromatics. The Ashaneli Kisi Kakheti 2024 $17.99) reflects this style, produced through controlled stainless‑steel fermentation to preserve primary fruit character and maintain balanced acidity. Ashaneli’s vineyards benefit from Kakheti’s warm, dry climate and well‑drained alluvial and loamy soils, which support consistent ripening. This wine demonstrates how Kisi can be expressed without extended skin contact while benefiting from the regional terroir associated with eastern Georgia. Ashaneli wines are available in various retail outlets in a dozen states.
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Posted: 2026-09-21 07:00
Last week I attended a virtual masterclass presented by Master Sommelier Evan Goldstein on European Wine Treasures -- a three-year European Union co-funded initiative designed to showcase wines from the ancient vineyards of Greece to the distinctive terroir of Jumilla PDO, Spain. The idea is to present two iconic (yet perhaps obscure) wine regions with one European story in terms of exploring the authenticity, heritage, and quality behind European wines with certified origin. The discussion on the Jumilla PDO focused on the region's basic terroir and then to its signature grape: Monastrell (which most of the world knows as Mourvèdre). The common factor is that this thick-skinned and late ripening grape thrives in Jumillo's limestone and dry farmed soils. The large diurnal temperature swings help retain freshness and the longer growing season slowly concentrates fruit and helps generate structured dark fruit and "Monte Bajo" -- a signature aromatic profile. The masterclass taught us that Jumilla’s terroir is built upon a high, semi‑arid plateau in southeastern Spain, where elevations from 400 to 900 meters (1300-2000 feet) create sharp diurnal temperature swings that help maintain acidity in an otherwise hot interior climate. The region receives little rain (under 300 mm of annual rainfall) making drought stress a defining condition of the dry‑farmed, bush‑trained vines. Its soils are predominantly calcareous—light, stony limestone and sandy loams with low organic matter and excellent drainage—which naturally limit vigor, encourage deep rooting, and historically provided resistance to phylloxera. Climatically, Jumilla sits at the intersection of continental and Mediterranean influences: intense summer heat moderated by altitude, cold winters, and periodic Levantine breezes that temper extremes. (The Levantine breezes are easterly winds that blow through the western Mediterranean Sea and along the southern coasts of Spain and France.) These combined factors produce an environment where vine growth is restrained, yields are low, and fruit develops with notable concentration, structure, and mineral expression -- all hallmarks of the region’s distinct high‑plateau environment.  is a late‑ripening, thick‑skinned variety whose parentage is completely Spanish in nature. Recent genetic work published in the Vitis – Journal of Grapevine Research (2015) indicate that it is a natural cross between Hebén and an as‑yet‑unidentified second parent. Its historical heartland is the Mediterranean arc of eastern Spain, where references to Murvedre and Monestrell appear in medieval agricultural records from Valencia and Catalonia ( Wikipedia). Jumilla became one of its most important refuges in the late 19th century: the region’s sandy, limestone‑rich soils resisted phylloxera, allowing vast tracts of ungrafted Monastrell to survive while neighboring regions were devastated. Francisco Pacheco planted the seeds for Bodegas Viña Elena in the early 1940s by purchasing a property in Jumilla’s warmest and driest region, that of northeast of Murcia. This early bodega included a wine press and thus Francisco began to make wine. By 1948, his son Paco had inherited the press and enlarged the facility to make and age wine with the addition of concrete vats and large wooden casks. Over the years the operation expanded and more generations joined the family operation where today the it is currently in the hands of the third and fourth generations of the Pacheco Family. The Bruma del Estrecho de Marín Vineyard Collection was conceived by Elena Pacheco and Isio Ramos aimed at making 100% Monastrell wines from select DO Jumilla vineyards with the goal to craft wines that reach their full expression with regard to microclimate, soil, location, and the age of the vines. One of these wines is the Paraje Marín -- 100% Monastrell sourced from a combination of different plots, located in the Marin Valley, southern sub-zone of the D.O.P. Jumilla. These grapes are also Organic certified, were dry-farmed, and hand harvested. In general, the grapes come from an area called Estrecho de Marín (where the Viña Elena bodega is located) that lies in a valley flanked by two mountains: Rajica de Enmedio in the east and Solana Sopalmo in the west. As stated previously, this is DO Jumilla’s warmest and driest region and the goblet-pruned vines used to produce the Paraje Marín are planted on both sides of the valley: "those in the east are subject to more shade and give the wine freshness, minerality and elegance, while those in the west are subject to more sunlight and give the wine the characteristic maturity and warmth of the Monastrell grape variety". After the hand harvest, the grape juice was fermented in stainless steel tanks with the grapes’ native yeasts, then malolactic fermentation carried out slowly in concrete tanks, where the wine was then aged for six months in the old 1948 winery. The result is a deliciously fruit forward wine showing layers of blackberry and dark cherry fruit, noticeable herbaciousness and spices.
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Posted: 2026-08-24 08:29
 This spring and summer we've visited Paradise Springs Winery multiple times as its a convenient central destination for our friends living throughout NOVA. However after spending time with owner Kirk Wiles and winemaker Rob Cox at an event at Hawkley Brewing, we targeted visiting the winery for their annual Rosé Day. This day celebrates pink in all ways and in particularly the rosé wines from the winery's Fairfax and Santa Barbara locations.  We hadn't tried any of these left coast wines and fortunately there was a bottle of the Pink Ash Sparkling Rosé ($75) ready on our arrival. The wine is a 60% Pinot Noir - 40% Chardonnay, méthode champenoise sparkler - very fruit forward, lively effervescence and a long satisfying finish. Yet what immediately caught our eye was the beautiful artwork embedded in the label that obviously represented the traditional Paradise Springs logo. And the back label explained it was the work of actor-artist Billy Zane and that a third of all proceeds are donated to rebuilding communities affected by the 2017 Thomas Fire and later mudslides.  Later Kirk poured us a sample of their 2025 Pink Ash Rosé ($35) - where the inaugural 2022 vintage was the impetus to the Zane collaboration. They met at a dinner party and conversed about the Santa Barbara winery, Zane's art work, and eventually about the recent natural disasters -- and decided to act. The soon to be released rosé was crafted from grapes grown at the historic Sanford & Benedict estate in the Sta. Rita Hills, so at that location, Zane spread a canvas on the ground and created a label using ash and mud from the disasters -- plus a splash of rosé wine. See Billy Zane’s Righteous Rosé Label for the complete story. And we will provide a full review of the 2025 vintage once we open one of the bottles we purchased.  Finally, this visit illustrated once again the difficult, onerous, and expensive aspects of viticulture where rows of normally flourishing estate vines had disappeared or showed signs of vine death. These vines were lost during The April Freeze That Rewrote the 2026 Vintage and will eventually be replaced with Cabernet Franc. This is a tedious, time consuming, and expensive process that requires removing the dead vines by cutting the stems at soil level and excavating the root system. This involves digging a trench 2–3 feet from the stump to locate and extract the major roots, ensuring no bud-bearing chunks remain to resprout. Then replanting involves thorough soil preparation and careful installation of new vines. The soil must be amended with organic matter and deep plowed to break up compaction and improve drainage, potentially leaving it fallow for 1–3 years if soil-borne pests are a concern. This is a sober reminder that we need to support our local farms and vineyards. Vineyard life may seem glamorous, but in reality it is difficult, expensive, and prone to the whims of nature.
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Posted: 2026-08-20 10:04
Cabernet Franc is highly suitable for Virginia's climate because it ripens earlier than other red varieties, allowing it to avoid late-season rains and humidity that cause rot. Its thicker skins and looser clusters provide natural disease resistance in these humid conditions, and its cold hardiness allows it to withstand winter temperatures better than varieties like Merlot or Cabernet Sauvignon. Thus it is not surprising that it is the most widely planted grape in the Commonwealth with 610 acres planted. (See the Virginia Wine 2025 Commercial Wine Grape Report - pdf.) From what I recall, this Spring I tasted my very first Blanc de Franc wine at Capstone Vineyards and very soon afterwards tasted versions from the Shenandoah Valley's Cave Ridge Vineyard and our local favorite: Paradise Springs Winery. First, a basic primer. Red grapes contain nearly colorless juice so the dark color associated with red wines comes from extended skin contact during fermentation. However, Blanc de Franc is a white wine made entirely from red wine grapes - in this case - Cabernet Franc, produced by pressing the red grapes immediately so that the clear juice is separated from the skins before any color or tannin can be extracted. By eliminating the skin contact, winemakers obtain a pale, essentially white wine from a red grape variety. The production of Blanc de Franc relies on extremely gentle handling and pressing to avoid extracting pigment or harsh phenolics. Some producers use only free‑run juice, which flows from the grapes before any mechanical pressure is applied. Fermentation typically occurs in stainless steel to preserve freshness, and the wine may be fractioned or clarified without skin contact. During a recent excursion to Capstone Vineyards we were able to compare their 2025 Blanc de Franc ($44) with the Cave Ridge 2024 Blanc de Cabernet Franc ($27). And a week later we sampled the Paradise Springs Winery Blanc de Franc 2024 ($34) at their Rosé Day Celebration. We found that each wine was significantly different despite using very similar whole cluster pressing methods to avoid as much as possible introducing red pigment into the wine. For the Capstone, the pressed juice was a little pinker than they had wanted and they relied on the fermentation process where yeast can naturally leach remaining color from the juice. The finished wine is pale and provides more green apple and stone fruit characters with ample acidity. The Cave Ridge version has a slightly darker appearance, more citrus notes, and similar acidity that is tempered by a little residual sugar. Finally, the Paradise Springs release is the most complex, on the one hand a strong citrus profile that also joins with a few tropic notes. Lots of depth which made for a very pleasant fröccs. Cheers.
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Posted: 2026-08-24 11:28
 Recently I spent a couple days traveling the backroads of the Shenandoah Valley into the Appalachian Highlands visiting as many craft beverage establishments as possible. This endeavor included four wineries in the Shenandoah Valley, two breweries in the Appalachian Highlands, and a couple cider houses within both regions. Here's the story.  Monterey was our final destination as we wanted to visit the geographically isolated Big Fish Cider Co. The drive into Highland County crossed through high elevations, narrow valleys, and mostly livestock farms. The county’s geography differs from the rest of western Virginia, with farms situated along ridgelines and hollows that support these livestock as well as hay production and small orchards. Monterey developed as a service center for these agricultural communities and later became known for its maple‑syrup industry and outdoor tourism.  Big Fish Cider Co. operates in downtown Monterey and was founded by Kirk Billingsley, who began producing cider from locally sourced apples and expanded the operation into a commercial cidery as demand grew. The apples used in production come from Highland County and nearby mountain orchards, where cooler nights and slower ripening contribute to higher acidity and firmer structure.
One of these apples is the Harrison - an historically significant American cider apple documented in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. The apple nearly disappeared in the twentieth century before being rediscovered and reintroduced into modern orchards. It is known for its high sugar content, firm tannin, and suitability for producing full‑bodied, dry cider. The Big Fish Harrison ($19.50) is made off-dry with 1% residual sugar that is completely balanced by the apple's tartness and acidity. The apples were sourced from Glaize & Bros Orchard in Winchester, VA and provide sufficient tannin to ensure a full bodied palate. We did not have time to sample their complete portfolio as we looked at at 2.4 hour journey home, but if the Harrison is an indication, we will return, perhaps in maple syrup season. Cheers. Update: The text has been updated to reflect that the apples where sourced from Glaize & Bros Orchard in Winchester, VA and not Crimora farm. Big Fish uses Highland County apples when possible, and when the weather doesn't cooperate, they source apples as locally as possible. In addition, while Kirk Billingsley founded Big Fish and operated it for 10 years, last year it was purchased by cidermaker Joshua Corl.
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