Last Week's Tasting
Fine Virginia Wine
August 27, 2025
Thomas Jefferson Tried - Michael Shaps Succeeds. Tasters thought the wines extraordinarily good.
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Tasters thought the wines extraordinarily good. While there was some division about the reds, each of the whites had strong supporters. The Roussanne has sold out but the honied Viognier and fascinating Petit Manseng are still available.
Thomas Jefferson loved wine. When he was ambassador to France, he took a long tour around that country, making a point to visit major wine areas and buy wine to ship home to his cellar. He believed that Virginia's climate was similar to that of some classic French regions, and it should have its own vineyards that could rival the best in France. He formed a partnership to grow vines at his Monticello estate.
But his vines died. Unbeknownst to anyone, American soil harbored phylloxera, a louse that sucked the vitality from the European vines that made the bordeaux and burgundies that Jefferson wanted to emulate. The method to combat it was not discovered until a century later.
In the early nineties, after studies at the Lycée Viticole de Beaune and an apprenticeship with a Burgundy negociant, Michael Shaps returned to Massachusetts to make wines here for a local winery. His wines were better than the grapes promised. They impressed me enough to offer them at Federal.
Michael moved to Virginia, and we lost contact. He became the winemaker at the revival of Jefferson’s vineyard, then left to start his own., When a distributor offered his wines to us last spring, I ordered a small quantity, which I have not tasted.
After trying them, I wish I had gotten more.
I had chosen wines from very distinctive grape varieties. The Shaps versions proved serious wines, beautiful expressions of their grapes, inviting and easy to love. They are also moderate in alcohol, most in the 12 – 13% range.
White
2022 Roussanne Honah Lee Vineyard
Roussanne makes full fleshed round wines in the southern Rhone. In its north, and in Switzerland, its wines are spicy and tangy. This version strikes a nice balance between the two with a lightly herb-inflected tropical fruit. It's yummy.
Color: light gold; Aroma: at first light smoke, then floral with heady tropical fruit, rich spice, fleshy tropical fruit, deep plum, savory, Mouth: fleshy and full, good acid, ripe, nice intensity, bright and intense bright on the attack, full, expressive of the grape; Very Good - Excellent SOLD OUT
2022 Viognier Virginia
Most new world viogniers are flat and flabby without the vivacity of the grape’s home in the northern Rhone. This is lively, fresh, and inviting, a better version of the grape than most I have tasted outside France.
Aroma: ripe and forward, intense, savory, a mineral note, pretty fine acidity; Mouth: balanced and relatively rich, intense, nicely concentrated, fine acidity, very firm, balanced and long; Very Good - Excellent $32; Case, $26.99
2022 Petit Manseng Honah Lee Vineyard
Petit Manseng comes from the French foothills of the Pyrenees, where dry versions are usually spicy, but thin and acidic. Shaps shows that it can bloom in Virginia. His wine has the grape’s characteristic spice but fleshes out in the glass with deep, full tropical fruit. Here, its unique flavor is very appealing.
Aroma: heady with deep cut, it evokes pumpkin pie; Mouth: fleshy, lower acid, dry, but with pumpkin again with a touch of clove, long finish, rather intense; Excellent $32; Case, $26.99
Red
2022 Cabernet Franc
A good Cabernet Franc, a bit lighter and softer than those from the Loire Valley, but with all its mature spice. Young, it needs an hour or so of air before drinking, but then it fleshes out very rounded and mouth-filling.
Color: light red-black; Aroma: light, toned, deepening to round dark fruit, piquant, finely delineated; Mouth: firm, very dark and deep, juicy, rounded, fresh, firm, tannin, relatively firm, elegant, finely herbal, forward; Very Good - Excellent $35; Case, $29.95
2022 Petit Verdot
Found most often in Bordeaux blends, Petit Verdot is well colored but can be hard and unyielding on its own. Shaps brings out its softer side. The wine has deep, dark, black cherry fruit and is full in the mouth.
Aroma: heady and savory, rather intense ripe rounded fruit, lavender, dark fruit. Mouth: rutty, fine acid back, fleshy & clean with dark purple fruit, fine and long; Very Good - Excellent $35; Case, $29.95
2021 Tannat
Tannat is the grape of Madiran in the French southwest, where it was traditionally impossibly tannic and long-lived. Now, winemakers often soften it to the point of bland fruitiness. Shaps’ version captures a golden mean. His wine keeps Tannat’s herbal spice with just enough fine tannins to give it definition and cut. Decant to drink now, but it will age nicely for a few years.
Color: very purple; Aroma: deep and dark, with lots of reserved substance and bright cedary notes, herbal; Mouth: fine tannin, well-structured, with savory fruit, young and very fine, not too hard, but it shows a classic structure, with excellent potential for short-term aging.; Excellent $35; Case, $29.95
In stock, limited quantities
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