By Robey Martin
It takes most people many years to learn about wine, and even then the knowledge is so subjective and intense that it feels as though you’ve only scratched the surface. With upwards of 4,000 distinct grape varieties (or cultivars) in the world plus fruit wines, barley wines, honey wines, ginger wine, and rice wine, the fermented beverage is downright exhausting. While we can all learn a lot about wines by shopping on a website such as splashwines.com, it is almost impossible to know all that you can know about the prestine beverage.
How do you keep it all straight without losing your mind or depleting your wallet?
Try a tasting event. Lucky for us, Richmond has its cup overflowing with tasting nights all over the city.
“Honestly, every shop I work with has either a Friday or Saturday wine tasting each week. [Places such as] Camden’s Dogtown Market (Fridays), The Caboose (Fridays), and Vino Market (Fridays),” says David Witkowsky, a Virginia sales rep for Potomac Selections, Inc. He easily rattles off other spots around the River City that also include regular tastings, such as J. Emerson (Saturdays with special tasting seminars through the week), Olio in the Fan (Fridays), and Barrel Thief (Fridays). And this is just the beginning he says.
Witkowsky points out that wine tasting events in Richmond represent an inexpensive way for people to really get to know wine. He adds that in such settings, questions are encouraged, making it the perfect way to easily gain wine knowledge. Here, we highlight a handful of the many wine-tasting options that beg to be explored.
The Caboose Wine and Cheese of Ashland
108 S. Railroad Avenue, Ashland
In the summer, The Caboose hosts a Passport Series on Friday nights featuring a different country each week. Tasters can collect a booklet of stamps throughout the summer to track their wine travels. With each country you visit (wine tasting you attend), your passport is stamped. As the summer progresses, The Caboose awards coupons at different levels as your passport fills up. 12 stamps, for example, earns a 25 percent off coupon. Organizers of the event say that the goal is to taste wine from around the world to expand your palate. (Witkowksy will be there on August 28 with a variety of wines from France.)
Olio
2001 1/2 W. Main Street, Richmond
Olio, located in the Fan, is known for hosting theme tastings based on the season on Fridays from 5 to 8 p.m. At a recent event, Matthew Fraker, co-owner and wine buyer at Olio, featured Oregon wines, including a crowd-pleasing pinot noir from the Willamette Valley. Other themes have included a selection of bright rosé as well as wines for grilling. Not afraid to mix it up, Fraker has also offered popular beer and food pairings at Olio, which have included new releases from Hardywood Park Craft Brewery.
Camden’s Dogtown Market
201 W. 7th Street, Richmond
Camden’s Dogtown Market, located in Manchester, is known for some of the best tastings around, hosted from 4:30 to 7 p.m., on Fridays. Recently, Andy Howell, owner of Camden’s, arranged a tasting that featured a geography lesson with selections from the Iberian Peninsula, specifically Spain and Portugal, including a prickly, full-on Cava; a spicy Garnacha; and a blend with a cartoon rendition of GWAR on the bottle.
Vino Market
730 Winterfield Road, #300, Midlothian
Taking place on Fridays from 5 to 8 p.m., Vino Market in Midlothian knows how to throw a proper wine tasting. A recent stop at Vino Market offered an opportunity to sample a variety of wines from Cass Winery in Paso Robles, CA, and beer from Georgia’s Terrapin Brewery.
Emerson Fine Wine and Cheese
5716 Grove Avenue, Richmond
Starting early, at 2 p.m., J. Emerson stands out with a Wednesday tasting that always boasts a curated list ranging from the well known to the obscure. J. Emerson also offers classes that allow the winemaker to get up close and personal to discuss his or her wine. In a recent class, the winemaker poured a Gavalas Santorini white along with a new organic Cava, a rosé, and the perfect barbecue red.
Barrel Thief
5805 Patterson Avenue, Richmond
Since 2008, Barrel Thief Wine Shop and Café, located at the corner of Patterson and Libbie, has offered high-quality and interesting wine options that include more than 400 labels. At a recent tasting, Barrel Thief hosted Abby Costello of Mount Eden Vineyards in the Santa Cruz Mountains. Costello brought all of her seven Mount Eden wines for Richmonders to sample. Barrel Thief, which hosts its tastings every Friday from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m., centers each event on a maker, grape, or grower. And on the third Monday of each month Barrel Thief hosts a wine dinner featuring different themes and regions.