Tarara tastes with the Worlds most prestigious

This past week has had a couple of events that have been both fun and very educational. I have always been a firm believer that the only way to make the best wine in any given region is to not only understand that region, but understand the whole world of wine.



I have been lucky enough to be a two events this week that have either showcased Tarara on a grand scale or have had a chance to better my own knowledge in order to make better wine for you.



On Saturday night, my wife Jen and I joined our facility manager Dan Patterson at a lovely gala event to help raise funds for Langley School. We arrived to be greeted with some lovely hosts that really helped showcase Tarara throughout the entire event. At first, when I saw the other fine wines being served I was a little taken back. Most of the wines being auctioned or given as prized were one with long track records of being some of the worlds finest. When I say long track records, I mean centuries in many cases. The wines along side ours wine First Growth Bordeaux, top vintage Chateauneuf du Pape and so on. What was extremely exciting though was the great response I had in regards to our wine. Surrounded by some of the most astute palattes I have been around for some time, there was many people that commented on not only how great Tarara is to visit, but also how great our wines are and how Virginia is producing fabulous world class vintages. The wines we had the opportunity to showcase included: We thank Langly School for working with us and promoting local wines as much as we like to see our local youth gaining great education.



The next event I had the experience of attending was at the Kennedy Center with Steve Hubert (son of Whitie and Margaret-the owners of Tarara) and one of the Hubert's and Tarara's dear friends Jamie Sanchez.



Jamie is a partner in two of Washington's busiest, most exciting and tasty restaurants. Both Cactus Cantina and and Lauriol Plaza offer incredible Spanish and Mexican cuisine at a wonderful value. If visiting though try to make it early as both can be some of the hottest spots in the city.



We all made our way to the Kennedy Center (my first time in the building, and wow...stunning) to taste the portfolio of Winebow. The portfolio included many great wines from all around the world that I was able to taste and compare to what we have here at Tarara. Which was interesting given the Steve and Jamie were two of the original people to taste my first blends at Tarara. There were some great wines, but the more I tasted the more excited I got about some of our current and up and coming vintages. Two that kept coming to my mind were our up and coming Syrah and Viognier.



Our Viognier 2007 will be released during our Winds and Wine Festival in May and our Syrah is still resting in barrel awaiting perfect harmony. Our 2006 vintage of Viognier is almost gone. The Syrah is available as a future product only right now and due to it's limited quanitity (75-100 cases) may only ever be sold as futures and will be the official Tarara 20th anniversary release in 2009. It is also the first Syrah Tarara has ever produced. If you would like to order some Syrah please contact Kathy Swanson or Lisa Nicholas in our retail store at (703)771-7100 or via email at lisa.nicholas@tarara.com or kathy.swanson@tarara.com



The Viognier is currently showing lovely floral notes and lush tropical fruit and a little cedar on the incredibly intense nose with a lush palate of mango and honeysuckle and a warm long finish. This is going to be great wine this summer.



The Syrah (out of barrel samples) is dark violet with a huge nose of blackberries, white pepper and charcouterie. Yes, I said charcouterie (deli meats) and it is wonderful adding complex notes and is very common in great Syrah. The palate is rich and full with huge but silky tannins and load of blackberries and plum and a finish that doesn't end.



The whole experience at both venues this week really reasured to me that what we have at Tarara is really special. Our wines and our property are truely a sign of what Virginia is. It is beautiful, bold and absolutely world class.