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Improvement in N.C. wine noticeable at Salute!
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Published: May 13, 2009
Saturday was a day for white wine in more ways than one.
I tasted my way through as much wine as was prudent at Salute! The North Carolina Wine Celebration in downtown Winston-Salem. The warm day made whites the better choice because they are more refreshing when the temperature is 86 degrees. (A downpour after 4 p.m. cooled things off considerably, but that caused the wineries to shut their booths down early.)
Whites also proved a better choice, in general, because North Carolina wineries continue to do a better job with whites than reds, at least when it comes to dry wines.
That's not to say that this state isn't turning out some good reds. And if you like wine sweet, the state has more than enough to satisfy anyone.
But the whites are becoming more reliable every year. Walk into any North Carolina tasting room, and the chances of finding a decent, if not enjoyable, chardonnay are pretty good.
Many reds continue to be too light or too tart, or to have off flavors.
But there's more to taste
Reds I enjoyed Saturday include cabernet sauvignons from Childress Vineyards and Raylen Vineyards. And Raylen's Category 5 Bordeaux blend is consistently good. I also enjoyed the Ring of Fire red blend from McRitchie Winery and Ciderworks in Thurmond and Winemaker's Blend from Raffaldini Vineyards in Ronda.
But like last year, I encountered more good whites. Riesling, in particular, is gaining momentum, in popularity and quality. It may well overtake viognier, which many people had thought a shoo-in for North Carolina's signature white.
Shelton Vineyards in Dobson, Raylen, Childress and others are producing nice rieslings. Most are off-dry with nice peach flavors -- perfect for a summer's day.
White blends are also becoming more popular. Good examples include Childress Trio, Raffaldini Fiori, McRitchie Fallingwater and Shelton Madison Lee White. Shelton also makes a Harvest White, a second-label wine, in 1.5-liter bottles, and a Harvest Red companion. Each cost just $10 -- a good value.
I also encountered more rose wines this year, though made in many different ways. Raffaldini's Chiara blends white and red grapes. Childress makes its rose with cabernet franc. McRitchie uses sangiovese to make a dry, still rose and a frizzante (slightly sparkling) rose. Speaking of sparkling, McRitchie continues to produce a delightfully bubbly hard apple cider.
And I'd be remiss without mentioning some of the many enjoyable semi-sweet and sweet wines. Some of my favorites were actually fruit wines or fruit wines blended with grape wines, such as the blueberry wine from Hanover Park Vineyard in Hamptonville, the Edisto Black blackberry and merlot blend from Southern Charm Winery in Lincolnton, and the Shortcake strawberry wine from Shadow Springs Vineyard in Hamptonville. Shadow Springs also has a white merlot blush wine called Shadow Mist.
I also had an interesting blush from Benny Parsons Rendezvous Ridge in Purlear -- perhaps the first-ever blend of cabernet sauvignon and muscadine. Made by Mark Terry of Westbend Vineyards (which didn't participate in Salute! this year), BP's blush has the distinctive musky aroma of muscadine and plum and cherry flavors from the cab, with a good balance of acidity and its 3 percent residual sugar. Not for everyone, but it's an interesting experiment.
More tastings ahead
If you missed the Salute! festival, have no fear. Two more wine festivals will be held this month.
The Yadkin Valley Wine Festival will take place from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday in the Elkin Municipal Park.
Unlike other wine festivals, this features wines only from the Yadkin Valley American Viticultural Area. About 25 wineries will participate this year.
In addition to wine tastings, the festival includes food, live music and wine-related crafts.
Advance tickets cost $16 and are available at participating Lowes Foods stores. Tickets cost $20 at the gate.
For more information, visit www.yvwf.com or call the Yadkin Valley Chamber of Commerce at 526-1111.
The North Carolina Wine Festival at Tanglewood Park in Clemmons will be May 30.
I'll have more details on this later. Or if you can't wait to know more, check out www.ncwinefestival.com.
■ Michael Hastings, the Journal's Food editor, can be contacted by phone at 727-7394, e-mail at mhastings@wsjournal.com, or mail at c/o Winston-Salem Journal, P.O. 3159, Winston-Salem, NC 27102. His most recent columns can be read on our Web site at www.journalnow.com.
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