Top 100 red wines of Virginia - Page 3
Discover the top 100 best red wines of Virginia as well as the best winemakers in the region. Explore the varietals of the red wines that are popular of Virginia and the best vintages to taste in this region.
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: Zinfandel
From Croatia where it is called crljenak kastelanski or pribidrag. According to genetic analyses carried out by Professor Carole Meredith of California University in Davis (United States), it is related to the Croatian plavac mali and Zinfandel. It is also found in South Africa, New Zealand, Chile, Brazil, Germany, Bulgaria, Albania, Italy under the name of Primitivo, Malta, Greece, Portugal and to some extent in Croatia. In the United States (California), it is one of the most widely planted grape varieties, having been introduced in the 1830s well before Primitivo. In France, it is registered in the official catalogue of vine varieties on the A1 list under the name Primitivo.
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 game (deer, venison), spicy food or beef such as recipes of duck breast with apples, salmon steak on a bed of leeks or caramelized beef with onions.
