Meet the Winemaker: April tastings at VWM

April 17th: Ben Jordan from Lightwell Survey (Virginia)

April 26th: Claire Hill (California)

April 27th: Reol Beaufort (Champagne)

There's really no better way to learn about wine than tasting it with the winemaker themselves.

 

We've got three pouring in the shop this month. These are free to the public and the wines will be 15% off. 

 

These are more informal tastings and are always a great opportunity to taste new things and see the face behind the bottle.

WEDNESDAY, APRIL 17TH 6-8PM BEN JORDAN

If you've been hearing more about Virginia wines and seeing them in more shops and restaurants, it's in no small part due to Ben Jordan. He was the winemaker at Early Mountain until recently when he decided to work solely on his own smaller projects, including Lightwell Survey, Midland, and Commonwealth Crush, which he started with Lee Campbell. Tonight he'll be pouring three wines from Lightwell Survey  that show off the terroir of the Shenandoah Valley and the enormous potential there for North American hybrid grapes like Chambourcin and Vidal Blanc as well as European varieties like Petit Manseng and Cabernet Franc. He's been featured in our wine club recently and is a terrific resource for the challenges and upsides of East Coast winemaking.

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FRIDAY, APRIL 26TH 6-8PM CLAIRE HILL

Claire Hill has worked with Martha Stoumen as well as some of the most well-regarded Santa Cruz mountain wineries like Rhys and Mount Eden; she's also worked with (in)famous Rhône Valley renegade Eric Texier. She has also been featured in our Direct Press and is an emerging talent we are completely enamored with and can't wait to introduce to more people. Her Chardonnay from the Lolonis Vineyard in Mendocino has become one of the staff's favorite wines.

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SATURDAY, APRIL 27TH 6-8PM REOL BEAUFORT

*CANCELLED DUE TO AIR TRAFFIC STRIKES IN FRANCE

Domaine André Beaufort has farmed organically since the early 1970s and, to our knowledge, the only grower rivaling Beaufort in long-time organic vine-growing in Champagne is Vincent Laval in Cumières. The philosophy of organic winemaking has been passed along to the younger Beaufort generation (nine in total), several of whom work within the family Domaine. Reol Beaufort will be here pouring some of the very limited bottles that are imported to the US.