Virginia Vintages That Can Hold Their Own

At her coronation in 16th-century England, Queen Elizabeth I was presented with the sweet spiced wine Ipocras, then considered a wine of the highest nobility. Queen Elizabeth II, at her enthronement nearly four centuries later in 1953, was presented with Traminac, which debuted in 1710 and came to be known as royal wine.

Wine's importance to England led its tastemakers -- and market makers -- to exert enormous influence globally over the past 400 years. When the first settlers from England arrived in Jamestown, Va., in 1607, one of their primary aims was to establish a wine industry in the New World. Indeed, all male heads of household were commanded by 1619 law to grow grapevines. While the settlers' efforts produced the first wine in the United States made from indigenous grapes, their mission was largely thwarted after many vines were destroyed by phylloxera.

But four centuries later, a new chapter is being written. While Queen Elizabeth II visited Virginia last week to mark the 400th anniversary of the founding of Jamestown, 65 wines representing 33 of Virginia's 119 wineries were showcased May 2 at the Virginia Wine Experience back home in London.

Held at Vinopolis, a wine-themed visitor attraction on the Thames a few miles from Buckingham Palace, the event was intended to show London's media and trade just how far Virginia wines have come. Today, Virginia is the fifth-largest wine-producing state, with its winemakers winning national competitions.

Are Virginia wines worthy of comparison to fine wines from other global wine regions? Richard Leahy, executive director of the Virginia Wine Experience in London ( http://www.vawineinlondon.com), believes so. And he says the May 2 event helped win over some prominent wine writers. "Steven Spurrier, who organized the 1976 Judgment of Paris tasting, deemed it 'an eye-opener for chardonnay and particularly Viognier,' " Leahy reports. "Hugh Johnson was visibly impressed with both whites and reds and was so delighted with the Veritas petit verdot that he took a bottle with him."

The Virginia Wine Experience in London is a project of six Virginia wineries: Keswick, Kluge, Pearmund, White Hall, Williamsburg and Veritas. Last month we visited Pearmund -- rated the state's most popular winery in the Virginia Wine Festival's ongoing online poll -- plus Barboursville and Linden, for a taste.

Pearmund, a 2003 newcomer, quickly managed to make a name for itself by producing award-winning wines and the unique Vin de Sol ($25), a sherry-style aperitif wine made in the sun on the winery's roof in Fauquier County. All winemaker Chris Pearmund needs to do to impress the British even further is to pour his stellar debut 2006 Pearmund Sauvignon Blanc ($19) with some fish and chips, or his 2004 Pearmund Ameritage ($23), a classic Bordeaux blend, with a traditional British Sunday roast.

In his most recent Sixth Edition (2002) of "Parker's Wine Buyer's Guide," Robert M. Parker listed five Virginia entries among "the best of the Mid-Atlantic": Barboursville, Jefferson, Rockbridge, White Hall and Willowcroft Farm. Barboursville, in Orange County, was established in 1976. It was the first of several winery openings prompted by the passage of the 1975 Virginia Farm Winery Act, offering tax breaks to Virginia wineries selling their wines in state.

In 1990, Barboursville winemaker Luca Paschina moved from his native Italy to the United States, noting that there were few good wines in Virginia at the time. Given the state's markedly hot and humid climate, Paschina focused his efforts on Viognier. "For a warm region, I thought this could become an important, ageable white wine," he recalls.

It's a food-friendly wine as well. The other week at the winery's Italian-themed restaurant Palladio, executive chef Melissa Close prepared a lunch that supported our contention that wines show best with food. The elegant 2005 Barboursville Viognier Reserve ($22) came alive with rounded pear flavors and light tropical fruit notes as it melded seamlessly with our tagliatelle pasta with morels, pancetta and Parmesan cheese. Barbourville's enormously impressive signature red Bordeaux-style Octagon ($40) was beautifully matched with braised short ribs, as was its vin santo-style dessert wine Malvaxia Passito ($30) with two Virginia-made pecorino cheeses.

Linden, in Warren County, was the only Virginia winery to make Tom Stevenson's 2007 Wine Report's list of the top 10 wine producers in the Atlantic Northeast. Finding the winery takes planning, however. We didn't notice any local signs directing spontaneous visitors its way. In fact, as we arrived at the winery's gravel road only after the local post office provided directions, one of its first signs warned off undesirables: that is, groups of more than six people, buses and limos.

But it's worth persevering. Stevenson rates the 2002 Linden Hardscrabble Chardonnay ($23) as the Atlantic Northeast region's "#6 greatest quality wine." Visitors are poured complimentary tastes of five wines; among those served to us, our favorites were a lemony 2005 Linden Seyval ($16), ideal for pairing with seafood, and a light-bodied 2006 Linden Vidal Riesling ($17), perfect for matching with lighter seafood dishes and Thai curries.

Each was proverbially fit for a queen -- so long as she didn't arrive in a limo.

Andrew Dornenburg and Karen Page are the award-winning authors of "What to Drink With What You Eat," the 2007 IACP cookbook of the year. They can be reached through their Web site,http://www.becomingachef.com, or atfood@washpost.com.