Just in Case You Want the Best Wine in Virginia

Main Street Station
Richmond, VA

Representatives of the nine wineries in the Governor's Cup Case await Governor Ralph Northam's announcement of the winner of the 2019 Governor's Cup.

With upwards of 300 wineries in Virginia, sniffing out the cream of the crop is no easy task, even for the most seasoned Wine Dog. Virginia’s Governor’s Cup Competition assembles a distinguished panel of judges under the direction of Master of Wine Jay Youmans to help shine a spotlight on the top-producers in the industry and on emerging trends. A Wine Dogs “paws up” to each of the nine wineries whose 12 wines make up the Governor's Cup Case this year.

York (serving as stunt double for Ecco at the Governor's Cup Gala) consults with Jay Youmans, judging director for the 2019 Virginia Govenror's Cup Competition.

A few observations from this year’s case. Red blends continue to be palate pleasers. This year’s top Reds include six blends (with Merlot the dominant grape in five of them), along with a Cabernet Franc and a Tannat. Petit Manseng is living up to expectations as a rising star in Virginia, claiming two spots in the case as a pure varietal (including the Governor’s Cup winner from Horton) and a third spot as the base of a desert wine. Vermentino rounds out the case.

The man with the golden touch, Michael Shaps (Virginia Wineworks), with a view of his gold medal winners.

As noted in an earlier post, Michael Shaps has become King of the Golds in Virginia. He crafted five of the wines in the case (and 22 of the 68 gold medal winners), including wines for case first-timers Hamlet and Upper Shirley.

If you are looking to sample Virginia's finest, follow the Wine Dogs' lead and put these on your list.

Barboursville Vineyards earned four golds this year, claiming a spot in the case with the 2017 Vermentino Reserve, which the Wine Dogs predict will be a fabulous summer sipper.

Barboursville’s associate winemaker Daniele Tessora treats York to tastes of Barboursville’s golden wines, including the signature Meritage blend, Octagon (the 2009 vintage won the Governor's cup in 2013). 

Early Mountain Vineyards blended Merlot from some of its oldest vines with Petit Verdot for the case-winning 2016 Eluvium, one of the winery’s four gold-medal winners.

Early Mountain General Manager Dave Kostelnik and Associate Winemaker/Vitaculturist Maya Hood White let York compare the 2016 Eluvium to the 2015 vintage, a repeat gold medal winner which also made the case last year.

Glen Manor Vineyards claimed a spot in the case for its 2015 Cabernet Franc (the most planted red grape in the Commonwealth and a Wine Dog favorite) and brought home gold for the 2015 St. Ruth. Glen Manor won the Governor’s Cup in 2012 for its 2009 Hodder Hill Red blend.

Glen Manor owner and winemaker Jeff White shares a taste of the 2015 Cabernet Franc with York.

Horton Vineyards chose to make a completely dry Petit Manseng from its 2016 vintage, earning its first-ever Governor’s Cup for the effort. Founder Dennis Horton helped introduce Petit Manseng to Virginia. Read the Wine Dog report here.

Horton’s Gilta Sekhri and Josh Sabatrinic can’t wait for the Wine Dogs to visit - and show off their wines.

King Family Vineyards claimed two spots in the case this year for Red blends –the 2016 Mountain Plains and the 2016 Meritage. The 2014 Meritage won the Governor’s Cup last year.

York congratulates King Family Winemaker Matthieu Finot on an impressive two wines in the case and four gold medals in the competition.

Fairfax County’s only winery, Paradise Springs in Clifton, produced an outstanding Meritage from four of the Bordeaux noble varieties, leading with Petit Verdot.

Paradise Springs’ Yorkie-loving founder Jane Kincheloe serves York a taste of the Meritage on a silver platter.

New to the case this year is Hamlet Vineyards in Martinsville. The 2016 Eltham is a blend of Merlot and Petit Verdot produced by Michael Shaps. That the wine’s name is an anagram for the winery is purely coincidental.

“This is what I was meant to do,” owner Virginia Hamlet says of her conversion from architecture to wine. Hamlet is dog friendly and features a vineyard dog, Enzo.

The Governor’s Cup Case includes three wines under the Michael Shaps label – the 2016 Petit Manseng, the 2015 Tannat, and the 2016 Raisin d’Etre (the Petit Manseng that forms the wine’s base was air-dried in tobacco barns, essentially “raisining” the grapes, thus the name).

York photobombs Michael Shaps in conversation. The man with the golden touch may be shy about standing with dogs but stands behind his wines.

Completing the case is a second newcomer and another member of the Michael Shaps stable, Upper Shirley Vineyards in Charles City, with the 2014 Zachariah.

The Upper Shirley team, led by Tayloe and Susie Dameron (center), were bubbling over with excitement when they met York at Old City Bar before the Gala and continued celebrating all night.

68 Virginia Wines Strike Gold in the Governor's Cup Competition

We are days away from learning who will win the 2019 Virginia Governor's Cup. What we do know is that 68 wines earned gold in the competition. This year's spirited competition included 510 wines from 102 Virginia wineries. For a full list of medal winners, click here.

Paws up to Winemaker Michael Shaps whose Virginia Wine Works made nearly one-third (22) of the golden wines under his own label and for other wineries. Shaps purchased Shenandoah Vineyards, Virginia's second-oldest winery, in November. He believes the Shenandoah Valley has the state’s best grape growing potential and has thus far been under the radar.

Michael Shaps continues to be King of the Golds, besting his 2018 performance with 22 winning wines.

For the present, Central Virginia continues to dominate the competition, and Barboursville, Early Mountain, King Family, and Trump Winery each brought four golds back home to the region.

The Wine Dogs will be reporting from the scene next Tuesday night to let you know who wins the cup and who makes the case this year.

Wine Dogs Check Out What’s Smoking in Sonoma

Santa Rosa, CA

Virginia growers are used to contending with the uncertainties of nature: late spring frosts, summer droughts, tropical rains before harvest all come with the territory. California, on the other hand, enjoys predictable weather – yet 2017 threw a curve-ball at this state with a near-perfect grape-growing climate.

For three weeks in October, historic wildfires raged across California wine country. Arriving in downtown Santa Rosa for the 2017 Wine Bloggers Conference the following month, Ecco’s sensitive nose twitched as she picked up the lingering smell of smoke in the air. The million dollar question lingering as well – would it affect the wine?

The Show Must Go On

“Sonoma Strong” banners greeted the Wine Dogs and other bloggers, proclaiming the region’s determination to recover and move forward. The conference, which had been set in Sonoma over a year advance, embodied that spirit.

Ecco saw the charred remains of burnt-out wineries only in presentations by Signorello Estate and Paradise Ridge.

These were the exceptions. Only a small fraction of the area’s 425 wineries (around 50) suffered direct damage from the fires and only 5 percent had significant damage. “If you didn’t know, you wouldn’t know” was true for most of Sonoma – except that almost everyone knew.


The nighty reports took their toll on the wineries. The fires struck during peak tourism season – and continued to have an impact long after the blazes had been extinguished. So the first challenge was letting everyone know what Sonoma was still in business – even if for some it was not business as usual.

What About the Grapes?

In addition to the heroic efforts of firefighters and other first responders, the vines themselves could be considered heroes of the saga. It turns out grapes – with their roots that run deep and ability to hold moisture – serve as a natural firebreak.

The 2017 vintage was 90 percent harvested before fires, and winemakers were reported to be “very optimistic” about vineyard. What was left hanging on the vines was mainly cabernet – a relatively thick-skinned grape.

Will there be smoke-taint? It is still too early to know. Reds are still in the barrel. Ecco tried to find an early 2017 Sonoma white to sample as she wrote her blogpost. Nothing was available yet on the East Coast. She did, however, get her paws on a 2017 Napa Chardonnay, and it was excellent.

And the Sonoma Strong spirit endures. This year’s recently concluded Sonoma County Wine Auction broke records, bringing in $5.7 million dollars, almost half of which will go to fire relief. 

Eight months after the fires, eight months after the fires, Signorello Estate unveiled a temporary tasting room and began pouring wine. Paradise Ridge has plans to rebuild their tasting room and events building, with a prospective reopening in the fall of 2019. In the meantime, you can visit them at their tasting room in Kenwood.

Wine Dogs Can Live it Up in Livermore

Livermore, CA
November 12-13, 2017

The Wine Dogs always look forward to the annual Wine Bloggers Conference (we are preparing for our 5^th), a highlight of which are the pre- or post-conference excursions where we can truly dig into a region.

2017 brought a trip to the Livermore Valley, part of the Tri-Valley (Livermore, Amador, and San Ramon) which bills itself as “The Sunny Side of the Bay” – a welcome change from days of gloomy weather with an occasional sun break in Sonoma.  

Chris Chandler of the Livermore Valley Winegrowers Association notes Livermore is very Dog Friendly.

As soon as she boarded the bus, Ecco knew she had chosen wisely. In her overview of the region, Chris Chandler, Executive Director of the Livermore Valley Winegrowers Association, noted the region is VERY dog friendly. A glance through the winery guide bears that out – with 30 of the 43 wineries listed including a paw icon indicating dogs are welcome. Paws up!

Check out Livermore Valley's Wine & Wags event on June 2, 2019. 28 wineries participated at the first annual event last year!

Ecco searches out the "Mother Vine,"  at Concannon 

Deep Roots: Livermore Valley’s roots as a wine-growing region run deep. English merchant Robert Livermore planted the first commercial vines in the 1840s. He was followed by the Wente, Concannon, and Wetmore families in the early 1880s. Concannon's "Mother Vine" is the source of 80% of all California Cabernet Sauvignon while Wente's clone 4 is the source of the majority of the 100,000 acres of Chardonnay planted throughout California. In 1889, Charles Wetmore's Cresta Blanca Vineyards won the Grand Prize at the International Exposition in Paris for his first Sauvignon Blanc vintage, putting Livermore (and California) wine on the world map.

Ecco helps Jim Concannon celebrate his 85th Birthday and Concannon's 134th consecutive Cabernet harvest

CEO Carolyn Wente is focused on rgw 5th generation now entering the family business.

Ecco brought home an outstanding Sauv Blanc from Murrieta’s Well, a property dating to 1884 and now owned by the Wente family where the bloggers enjoyed lunch paired with stand-out wines.

Ecco checks out the 1884 property that serves as a tasting room at Murrieta's Well

Climate and Terroir: The Ghielmetti Vineyard offered a perspective on the aspects of geography and terrior that make Livermore a great wine region – the high mountain valley (900 feet above sea level), rocky soil, and east-west orientation. The Altamont Pass keeps cool air from the Bay in Livermore, creating an excellent ripening climate characterized by warm days and cool nights.

Ecco explores the Ghielmeti Vineyard with winemakers Steven Kent (Steven Kent Winery), Mark Clarin (McGrail Vineyards) and Collin Cranor (Nottingham Cellars)

Urban Pioneers: Livermore also boasts a thriving urban winery scene. Arriving first was Longevity Wines, which features a funky tasting room filled with antiques. You will be welcomed by owner Phil Long and winery dog Press-ton, a Havenese featured as “Mr. November” in the 2017 SPCA Critter Catalogue. Next door is the Wood Family Vineyards, with their signature station wagon logo.

Ecco with Phi Long of Longevity Wines, Livermore's first urban winery.

Ecco with Longevity's Press-Ton, aka "Mr. November"

More to Do: Want to do more than taste? Check out the Wente Winemakers Studio. Ecco tried her paw at winemaking and came up with a lovely red blend while learning what goes into choosing the right grapes. 

Livermore also boasts the first Ice Cream Trail. Restaurants open their patios to four-legged diners, and downtown Livermore features the Smooches Pooches boutique – a Yorkie never knows when she’ll need a new bow.