When wine and diplomacy come together, everything’s better. Or forgiven. Naturally. There was a great British embassy event the other night that started off with an incredible English traditional method sparkling wine, Ridgeview’s 2007 Bloomsbury. It was a classic Chardonnay, Pinot Noir, Pinot Meunier blend; well balanced, with a really nice brioche and fruit nose, complexity, and a fine mousse. It was a terrific example of how far modern generation English winemaking has come.
I am a big Champagne lover, and I have to say the wine appealed to me a lot. In fact, I went running to their website to find out more. I loved a historic tidbit it noted, about a paper presented to the Royal Society in London in 1662 that documented the process of making traditional method sparkling wines – 30 years before the method was documented in Champagne. Touché.
There was a great ecumenical note that evening too, in the various Virginia wines that were also being served. The real standout was a 2008 Cabernet Franc from Breaux Vineyards, one of the northernmost of Virginia’s 200+ estates. I know the property, but hadn’t had this wine. Black pepper, red fruit, great tannic structure. It is still evolving, but shows a northern Virginia profile that is really closer to Old World than New World, with a grape that is becoming one of the state’s standard bearers.
William McIlhenny is associate publisher of JamesSuckling.com. A former American diplomat and member of the Secretary of State’s Policy Planning Staff, he held a number of assignments in Europe and Latin America. He works in Washington, D.C.
