Amidst the many couples that appeared at Tarara on the 14^th of February, two unanticipated young women walked into our tasting room.  When serving these women, they revealed that they were sisters maximizing their time together before the younger sister headed off to L.A. to film school hoping to become a movie director.  Our conversation led to the older sister informing me that she worked for a perfume company and how there are parallels between the wine industry and scent world. 
 

We started throwing out the comparisons between wine and perfume.  People have the need to describe sensory experiences with descriptions for both wine and perfume that can have overlapping words like fruity, floral and citrus.  Then there is an unlimited variety of scents or wines that can be chosen based on gender, season, age or PRICE!  The one sister’s particular perfume company also encourages blending aromas to achieve the perfect scent.  Physically, the tongue taste receptors and the nostril intake paths go in different arched directions but their destinations both end at the smell and taste center of the brain.  Interestingly enough, at Tarara, servers do not wear perfume so as to avoid a conflict with the olfactory properties of wine. 
 

As the closing hour of five o’clock approached and couples left to return home or continue on to dinner, the sisters remained.  Their laughter and enjoyment of each other was too charming to rush them out the door.  I couldn’t refrain from joining in on their conversation which ended with my insisting that the first movie of the youngest sister’s premier be held at Tarara. Then the sweet smell of the unexpected was shown in the form of gratitude. For Tarara’s hospitality, fourteen perfume samples were left as a tip. 
 

Let me also use this opportunity to remind you that it’s not just on Valentine’s Day that we want you to show-up with someone you love.  Come any day of the week.  Make time to linger here.  Inside we have the tasting room, bistro, Vine Club Lounge and soon to be opened, Greenhouse Garden.  Outside on our 475 acres there is a deck overlooking the Potomac and picnic tables around Shadow’s Pond. Saturday nights can be spent at our concerts starting June 3^rd.  We have a wine for every palate and a place with unlimited possibilities for perfect unanticipated moments.
 

Thank you Sophie and Sarah, you made my Valentine’s Day unexpectedly wonderful!

~ Jordan

My winter holidays continue on December 21^st, the shortest night of the year!  This is a night for family and friends, and lots and lots of food; so, I’ll be serving a lot of different wines. There will be Charval 2013 for those friends who like the whites with a crisp acidity, and the Bin #4 Red for the red lovers. The main course is venison, and I’m serving our Boneyard Cabernet Sauvignon 2011, a big, full red that pairs beautifully with game.   And, of course, more Bubbles to toast out the dark and celebrate the lengthening days with some sparkle and shine.

What are you serving this holiday season?
 

 

Now that the pessimist in me has been allowed to express itself, it is again still too early to tell how the year will turn out.  The rains we have been having really are only a big deal to our Chardonnay harvest at this time, as it is the only variety on the cusp of being ready.  In fact we are picking our first block today (more on that below). 
The good news is also that our vineyard manager Kevin Goolsby has kept our vines in the best shape I have seen in my now-about-to-be-8^th vintage in Virginia.  Because he has kept the vines in such great shape, we still are not rushing to pick based on rot coming from the rains.  The fruit all still looks great.  Looking at the forecast there is some sun coming and we think many of the Chardonnay blocks will be able to hang into that sun and really get some stunning character.  All other varieties certainly will make it.

The block of Chardonnay we are picking today is our oldest vines and they are being picked simply because they are ready.  They do not seem to have lost concentration or flavor over the last week, but numerically they are just starting to slow down so there is little benefit to hanging these grapes any longer.  I do think they will turn out quite nice in the end, as it is always a more advanced block, and this year’s crop might be the most concentrated and complex we have picked from it.  Part of the earlier pick is that we are aiming to accentuate the acidity a bit more this year than in years past.  Right now we are loving where the sugars and acids are working together.

Tomorrow will be our second day of harvesting and it will be as interesting one and a first.  We are going to do our first pass on our Road Block Chardonnay.  It will be the trickiest harvest we have done in a while, as the ripening on this block is fairly uneven form the winter.  For that reason we have called in the big guns, Tim Kish (Asst. Winemaker), Kevin and myself to go pick only the clusters we want today and leave the rest to continue ripening.  Should be a fun day picking.  Haven’t personally done that in quite some time.

Next time you hear from me I should have far stickier hand pounding this key board and will be making up new words from my lack of sanity caused by sleep deprivation.  Cheers!    

One of the most common questions we are asked is what to drink in the hot, stinky days of summer.  Well, as we passed Labor Day weekend we still have not seen those days.  We have hardly even broken the 90 degree mark and 100 degrees is unheard of in 2014.  Now that I have said that, I will have jinxed the year and September will be record-breaking heat and all of our air conditioning units will break.

What do we do?!?!?!?!  Drink!!!!  The real answer to what to drink in the heat is really quite simple.  It is the same answer as to what to drink in the winter: whatever you like.  That said, I am going to tell you what I drink in the summer since I feel like a know-it-all and everyone should copy me.  I still hear people coming in asking us what our richest red is, telling me they want something similar to Petit Sirah or Zinfandel all summer.  My first feeling is one of being caught off guard, since that sounds like masochist talk to me.  If you dig it, we have some wine for you; but, me personally, I avoid high alcohol, heavily extracted wines most of the summer.  There are times on those cooler evenings when celebrating life, but generally I want refreshment.

This is my favorite time of year (other than harvest of course).  Local farms are bountiful and the sun is shining.  Every day is a day to wake up happy knowing that there is a wealth of great food and wine to be enjoyed in the most blissful surroundings.  I love pairing summer wines and summer foods.  They tend to work too!  Remember on major food and wine rule of thumb, high acid works with high acid.  That means those beautiful heirloom tomatoes you picked up at the farm market will be awesome with the Charval 2013 you grabbed from us.  I don’t know why but I find acidity within reason to be very refreshing.  I also find fresh flavors and aromas refreshing and want them to be as powerful as the marigolds planted beside me to work in harmony. 



With all these thoughts, I find myself reaching for the same wine ever so often this time of year.  I keep grabbing at the Charval and Rose.  The 2013 Charval is also by far my favorite yet for this time of year.  It is bone dry, fresh and aromatically abundant.  It is just a joy to drink.  It pairs well with simple grills and salads so it really is the best choice for me in the heat of the summer.

That said, so far this vintage is looking much better than I once anticipated.  We had an extremely late spring and the spring/Early Summer been also very wet.  We had constant concern about the health of our vines and were nervous of a repeat from 2013 which turned out some nice wines but the volume was miniscule.  This year dried out just in time around the end of May/start of June.  This was when flowering was in full force from the late start to the year,  thankfully.  The result was a very good fruit set on all varieties except for Viognier and Tannat, which both have minor cold damage from the harsh winter.  The damage is not long-term, just that both threw more secondary clusters than primary, so the yield is lower and even ripening is challenging.  The rest look great.

I was concerned about Cabernet Sauvignon and Cabernet Franc being able to ripen in the time we had given the late start, but I am becoming less and less pessimistic daily as I watch everything start to catch up.  If we get an extra week at the end of the season than normal without frost they could even turn out to be better-than-normal, which would be great given our track record of late for having some of the best Cabernet Franc in the State.

Our more major varieties in Nevaeh, however, could end up having the best season I have seen since arriving here in 2007.  At this point we have the best acid/sugar balance I have seen.  Again, that could all change with one crumby, named storm, but I am getting more optimistic for sure.  If all keeps on this path we will be able to harvest many of the varieties including our top stuff, Merlot, Syrah, Chardonnay and Viognier (what little there is), with cooler temperatures preserving freshness.  The fruit looks as clean as we have ever had it this time of year and the forecast looks promising.

All and all, we are getting anxious now, but more of excitement than fear at this point.  We just hope nothing catastrophic comes up the coast and we could be looking at some of the most exceptional wines to date.  We will keep you posted as you go.  

We knew the wine had to be special.  We knew we could not take the approach of just buying some cheap grapes or bulk wine from some underperforming appellation.  We wanted to apply our same exacting standards to the wine as we always do.  Our answer was actually quite simple.  We decided to source some of the best grapes we could find from appellations I also enjoy drinking and have a better understanding of their terroir.  To start we have gone toward Washington State with a major emphasis on Walla Walla, Horse Heaven Hills and Red Mountain with some also coming from the larger Yakima and Columbia Valley AVA’s.  These won’t necessarily be the only places we source over the coming years, but this is where we started.  It also gives me the opportunity to go out to see some incredible vineyards just to make sure our fruit will be matching our standards.  In fact in only 4 days I am on my way there for an inspection at veraison getting ready to harvest.  So far the 2014 vintage looks great.

Before you get to try the 2014’s we are now just starting to release our some 2013’s.  The grapes were immaculate and we decided to start with Riesling, Muscat (dry Alsatian style, not Moscato), Roussanne, Marsanne, Mourvedre, Grenache, Syrah and a small amount of Cabernet Sauvignon.  The whites this year are all being bottled as varietal wines but the reds will all be blends except for one exceptional Syrah from Yakima Valley.  The wine is juicy, rich and full of character.  They were a pleasure to make.  Have I ever mentioned I love Rhone style wines? 

This year we will not be getting any Cabernet Sauvignon but we will add on some Sauvignon Blanc, Semillon, Gewurztraminer, Pinot Gris, Tempranillo and a cool field blend of Touriga Nacional, Tinta Cao, and Souzao.

Ultimately, we weren’t happy about not being able to supply only Virginia fruit, but the result does please us.  Tarara and Boneyard wines will always be 100% Virginia grown, but this gives us a cool opportunity to do some new awesome styles while keeping you happy.

So why does any of this matter to you, friends of Tarara?  Because the whole reason I was invited to attend one of the most exciting events in our nation’s capital was to introduce political figures and their families from all over the world to Tarara.  “World, this is Tarara.  Tarara, meet the world.” 

That’s right, Tarara Winery was selected by State Department Executive Chef Jason Larkin as the only winery to attend and represent its wines at the evening’s festivities.  

How did that happen, you ask?  I met Jason a few years ago while I was pouring wine at the DC Wine Riot at 11:00 on a Friday night.  While at the time all I could think of was how sore my feet were and how badly I wanted to be home on my couch watching a Mad Men marathon, today I’m awfully glad that I wasn’t.  We kept in touch over the years, as he made a point to visit the winery periodically to try some new wines as they were released.   Lucky for us, he liked them!  So it’s settled - you’ve all got great taste in wine!
 

It was obviously a huge honor for Tarara to be invited, and it was such a perfect night in every way.  From the impossibly beautiful weather, to the perfectly executed, old-timey American street-fair themed event featuring a simple, but uber-amped up BBQ buffet (including some of the mac and cheese I’ve ever had), separate root beer float and S’mores stations, and passed “hors d’oeuvres” like warm pretzels and cones full of French fries and popcorn - all set against the stunning backdrop of gorgeous antiques and other national treasures – it was surreal and perfect.  To say that they thought of everything is a huge understatement.   Oh yeah, those fireworks were ok, too.

However, it goes without saying that the thing that really turned it to 11 was our wine (of course!). Guests enjoyed our Long Bomb and our partner winery Boneyard Wine's Bad to the Bone Bubbles, Chardonnay and Rose.

 The local folks were excited because they knew who we were, and all of the “out-of-towners” were excited because they had no idea who we were!  They were so genuinely and pleasantly surprised to discover a great new wine region.  It was so fun and such a privilege to be able to share Tarara’s story with such a diverse, curious, worldly, and enthusiastic audience.  

 And while all of the wines were a hit and seemed to pair perfectly with the BBQ extravaganza, the bubbly was the real belle of the ball.  Who doesn’t love bubbles?  The Long Bomb was up there, too; in fact, there were a couple LB repeat-repeat customers.  (You know who you are!)

As the event died down and most of the guests left, Jason and I, along with my husband and some new friends, sat down and enjoyed a few laughs and a drink.  There was one last bottle of Bubbles left.  We had to deliver a glass to someone important who didn’t get a chance to try it during the party.  But we all shared what was left before we headed our separate ways for the night.

I really didn’t think it could have gone any better.  The party was fun, and people loved the wine.  I would have been happy enough with that.  But I guess I didn’t realize just how much they loved the wine until the next day when I got a text from Jason telling me that he was sitting on the deck at the winery enjoying a couple bottles with some of the folks from the night before. 

Turns out he brought the world back to Tarara.  Looks like we’ve all got some new friends!