Wine Enthusiast has nearly one and a half million subscribers – presumably people who are passionate about wine, and their editorial staff rated areas strong in viticulture to proclaim leading regions for wine. At the Charlottesville-Albemarle Convention and Tourism Bureau, Brantley Ussery says there was keen competition between finalists.
“The others were Provence, France, Lambrusco, Italy, a wine region in South Africa and a wine region in Australia. All those other regions that I mentioned of course significantly older, more established win regions, and we still took home the top prize.”
The judges chose the Monticello Viticulture Area, citing a strong spirit of cooperation between wineries, great products and an intriguing history.
“Thomas Jefferson, of course, called this area home had a vision that this could be a place that could really produce some top quality wines, but he failed at it," Ussery says. "He did not successfully produce wine here in Virginia, but some 200 years later, when we got the right grapes in the soil, things really began to take off.”
The judges did not single out any particular vineyards, but wines produced by the King Family, Barboursville, Keswick and Southwest Mountain Vineyards were served at an awards dinner in Miami.
“The viognet is a wine that is very special here in Virginia," says Ussery. "Another wine that does really well in the Monticello AVA is the cabernet franc, which has a nice, peppery sort of aftertaste and does really well in the soil and the climate that we had here.”
He considers this an important victory for Charlottesville but also for the state which now boasts more than 300 wineries.
