Today's wine is a 13.50% ABV white which I purchased on a whim at Irving Wines & Spirits in Mt. Pleasant. It's made by Glen Manor in Front Royal, VA, and is a single-varietal of the grape Petit Manseng. I touched a bit on Virginia wines off and on on the blog, and it's something worth investigating. Obviously the range of wines produced is not that of many other places in the world, but wines made in Virginia can certainly be intriguing. Most of the Virginia wines I've had are from Barboursville or those in Loudoun County; this one is to the west in Warren County.
I'd never heard of the winemaker nor the grape, so going in blind. But that's part of the fun!
It's a light gold color in the glass and gives of a mild, neutral floral aroma - sort of like flowers after a big breeze. In terms of taste, I'm getting some sweet Comice pear, a touch of grapefruit, and some white grape skin (cassis) flavors. There's a touch of butter on the texture that softens up the acidity...and that makes sense; in my research, it appears Petit Manseng is a late-harvest white grape grown mostly in France, where it's often left on the vine late into the year to produce dessert wines (think Saunteres). I don't think it's malolactic; the finish wasn't particularly coating, but wasn't thin either.
It's neat. I like it. It's middle-of-the-road in a lot of ways, but that is to its credit I think. Some folks look down on Virginia wines as bitter or rough, but I think that's a mistake; as the boom of craft wineries continues, you'll see more and more wines being made in Virginia and you might just find something new and neat. In fact, in 2020, Wine Spectator named Glen Manor's petit manseng as one of the top 100 wines to discover. So there you go! You can visit Glen Manor's website here.
