Top 100 red wines of Virginia

Discovering the wine region of Virginia

Virginia is a state on the eastern seaboard of the United States, located immediately South of Maryland and North of the Carolinas. The state covers 42,750 square miles (110,750 km2) of mountains, valleys and the Atlantic coastal Complex that forms its eastern border. From the Cumberland and Blue Ridge Mountains in the west to the coastal creeks and estuaries in the east, Virginia's topography and geology are varied, to say the least. The landscape around the Chesapeake Bay - a vast coastal inlet that separates the main state from its Eastern Shore - could hardly be more different from that below Mt Rogers (1,750m), 480km to the west.

The Shenandoah Valley is the largest AVA in the country. It stretches for 240 km at the foot of the Blue Ridge Mountains, the natural boundary that separates Virginia from West Virginia. The Monticello AVA is the oldest, formed in February 1984 and located around Charlottesville in Central Virginia. It has the honor of being the home of Thomas Jefferson, his extensive French wine collection and the state's first winery.

Discover the grape variety: Pinot noir

Pinot noir is an important red grape variety in Burgundy and Champagne, and its reputation is well known! Great wines such as the Domaine de la Romanée Conti elaborate their wines from this famous grape variety, and make it a great variety. When properly vinified, pinot noit produces red wines of great finesse, with a wide range of aromas depending on its advancement (fruit, undergrowth, leather). it is also the only red grape variety authorized in Alsace. Pinot Noir is not easily cultivated beyond our borders, although it has enjoyed some success in Oregon, the United States, Australia and New Zealand.

Food and wine pairing with a red wine of Virginia

red wines from the region of Virginia go well with generally quite well with dishes of beef, pork or game (deer, venison) such as recipes of provencal stew, paupiettes with tomato sauce or cassoulet with duck confit.

Organoleptic analysis of red wine of Virginia

On the nose in the region of Virginia often reveals types of flavors of oak, red fruit or black fruit and sometimes also flavors of non oak, earth or spices. In the mouth in the region of Virginia is a powerful with a lot of tannins present in the mouth.