Vintners

Vintners

taste the

difference

BLACKSBURG - Wine has made headlines lately, most recently with the news that the United , States has proposed placing stiff tariffs on white wine imported from Europe. Many fine restaurants in this country went into a tizzy, and some are stockpiling French whites before the tariffs go into effect.

Which prompts the question - Are French white wines all that different from Virginia whites?

To hear David Morrisette tell it, they’re really not. “We can produce a white wine that is very, very similar to that of Europe. ”

Of course, Morrisette, the business manager of Chateau Morrisette winery in Meadows of Dan, has a vested interest in seeing to it that connoisseurs everywhere take a liking to Virginia wine, particularly that made at Chateau Morrisette. There are some differences between New World and Old World wines.

Bruce Zoecklein, a Virginia Cooperative Extension enologist (wine chemistry expert) at Virginia Tech, said grapes grown in different regions produce wine that tastes difference because of their “terroir.” A wine grape’s terroir is determined by the climate and soil conditions under which it was grown. The age of the grapevine also is a factor.

“A winemaker in Virginia can use the same grapes and the same processing method as a French winemaker, and they’ll produce different wines due to the unique terroir of each,” said Zoecklein.

Virginia winemakers hope consumers will soon come to appreciate those subtle differences.

Zoecklein said though Thomas Jefferson is considered the first Virginia winemaker, the modern Virginia wine industry has been around less than 20 years. Zoecklein noted that Virginia wines have come a long way in that short time, and today win international competitions.

But the prospect of tariffs on French whites doesn’t have state wine marketers doing backflips.