Virginia vintage guide: 2019-2021 plus the top reds to try

Today, vintage variation and prices challenge the Virginia wine industry. This is exacerbated by the fact that the region is a gateway for many new American wine drinkers. The region’s producers deserve legitimacy, and they’ve earned it.

Still, cultivating a loyal clientele willing to pay $40-$60 (£31-£47) per bottle year in and year out remains challenging in a developing market.

Scroll down for tasting notes and scores of Virginia red wines from the 2019-2021 vintages

Differing vintage conditions, avoiding for the moment generalisations about the impact on quality, has long been accepted in Europe’s great wine regions.

However, America’s east coast producers contend with a few domestic problems: competition from the wealth of reliably ripe and consistent red wines streaming out of the West Coast and the high local cost of production. These domestic concerns are further compounded by the amount of qualitative and quantitate international reds coming into the country from South America (Chile, Argentina) and the Mediterranean (Italy, Spain, France).

This makes vintage variation, which can swing wildly given the humid growing conditions on the eastern seaboard, a challenge for a wine region attempting to gain a foothold and create for itself a sense of style. Especially because so many of their clients are still getting to know the subtleties of wine.

Virginia’s key regions either sit close to Washington D.C. and its corresponding cost-of-living sprawl, or they lay near the gentleman farms and equestrian estates of old money elites found south of Middleburg down to Albemarle County near the University of Virginia. It’s just not a cheap place to make wine – it’s too beautiful, too historic and too wealthy.

Virginia’s last few vintages detail this conundrum with clarity.

Style remains elusive

For many, 2019 proved one of those rare seasons of warmth and aridity that lowered the collective blood pressure of the industry. At the same time, it allowed winemakers the freedom to hang grapes longer and take liberties with oak, extraction, and style. Some of the best wines from 2019, tasted for this report, made the top list. Many of them also ring up at over USD 50 a bottle.

Consumers were finally sold on Virginia’s rightful place at the peak of the quality pyramid, willing to pay premium prices for structured, complex red wines from 2019. Then 2020 hit with frost and rain. Now they had to be coaxed into appreciating lighter, softer, luminous styles immediately after. Given that restraint and elegance are trending in wine tastes, that’s not an impossible pivot.

Virginia winemakers must work hard, stay vigilant, and remain agile. Fortunately, the state can ripen myriad varieties with its warm climate and mix of altitudes, exposures, and soil types, allowing producers to hedge against vintage unknowns. Varietal Tannat, Petit Verdot, and Blaufränkisch look especially promising in a sea of classic red Bordeaux varieties. Several examples stood out in this tasting.

Some vintners would argue that knowing one’s soil and topography comes first in the quality pursuit, while climatic influences fall second. To that point, one winemaker spoke about the arrogance of 2019’s lovely weather. Observing how ‘we pushed the fruit too far, let it hang too long. That was a luxury, and I revelled in it. But we learned from our mistake in a great vintage how to make better wine in a less desirable vintage.’

Here’s a brief look at the current three vintages on the market.

Virginia: Regional Profile plus the 10 best wines to seek out

The 2019 vintage

Following a notoriously fraught harvest in 2018 (heavy rain, hurricanes, tornadoes, and flooding), winemakers welcomed the relatively easy conditions in 2019. Spring arrived without the bite of frost ushering in drier weather throughout summer and fall. Warmer weather led to fuller, structured red wines. Firm and velvety with ripe tannins. Many hailed it as a superb vintage. Now, with several years of maturity, that proclamation seems true. The 2019 class, especially the Bordeaux-style red blends, show remarkable integrity and longevity.

The 2020 vintage

Producer fears of a warm spring triggering early budburst, then decimated by a late frost, were realised in 2020. There was damage throughout Piedmont, in some cases severe. Overall, the growing season was cooler than in 2019. It was a robust tropical storm season, with 13 storms reaching hurricane strength. They ravaged southern Piedmont and the southeast, while Shenandoah Valley remained relatively dry. Overall, this should be an excellent vintage for white wines.

Red wines fared differently by region and appellation but also by site-specific vineyards and grape variety. Tayloe M.B. Dameron, wine director for Upper Shirley, located in the newly formed Virginia Peninsula AVA, says they had a dry season. This let them hang fruit longer for perfect phenolic ripeness, despite their location in the southeast between Richmond and Norfolk.

Upper Shirley grows Tannat, a disease-resistant grape showing great promise as a flagship for Virginia due to its full-body, dark and earthy flavours, and age-worthiness. As proof of its staying power, the 2017 Upper Shirley Tannat made this list, still bearing primary fruit and tannic grip.

Melanie Natoli, the winemaker for Cana Vineyards in Middleburg, dealt with more challenging conditions, noting heavy rain in August, with high winds and hail. More rain came at harvest, coupled with disease pressure. ‘Each season, it gets a little less scary. Learning to work with mother nature is the key to success since we’re making wine together.’

Despite the personal challenges of winemakers, I had a clear line in my notes: the best red wines of 2020 were more mid-weight in body. They offered freshness, fruity brightness, and youthful accessibility with lower alcohols. Essentially, they’re an expression of style, not a reflection of good or bad quality, and they are well worth seeking out.

The 2021 vintage

Generally, the season was hot and dry, with several storms of notable severity. The aridity helped offset the spread of downy mildew, which thrives in Virginia’s humid clime. Several regions calculated modest losses after late spring frost. Overall, yields fell, but quality, for many, matched the 2019 vintage.

Though just bottled, the red wines ‘show great promise and balanced profiles,’ according to Natoli.

Only a few 2021 red wines were submitted for this report, but what I tasted hit the sweet spot of energy and purity. Keep an eye out for this vintage to hit the market.

Vintage reports offer a mere glimpse at the big picture. If anything, they serve as insight into vintners’ struggles to marry the business and labour of wine with artistry in the cellar.

Dameron says they get creative with blending during vintages with less fanfare. ‘We try different oak regimens and try to hold the red wines back in the cellar longer. We are just now experimenting with co-fermentation with Viognier,’ he says.

This brings the story back to managing consumer expectations. Most Virginia wineries are small and needn’t court big markets to sell inventory. Direct-to-consumer (DTC) remains an important sales channel. Still, it’s also the closest a winery comes to connecting with the end consumer, emphasising the development, and nurturing of those relationships.

Emily Hodson, winemaker at Veritas Vineyard, believes wine drinkers have matured in two positive ways. ‘The “go local” movement and evolving consumer appreciation for wine as something “grown, not made,” have helped in less desirable vintages,’ she says.

‘I think consumers are much more understanding of vintage-to-vintage variation and are enjoying the story more than about everything being the same all of the time,’ she says. 

As the region continues to develop and the consumer base alongside it, there is a strong potential for the challenges that Virginia’s vintage variation presents to become a strength.

Vintage Virginia 2019-2021: top red wines to try

Related articles

• Willamette Valley Pinot Noir 2019: vintage report and 30 wines
• Napa Cabernet 2019: full vintage report and top-scoring wines
• New York State’s Pinot Noir potential and 18 wines to try