Review of WineMasters Class: New York – Virginia – Texas

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We have reviewed a number of WineMasters.TV productions over the years: France, Italy, and Rioja, Spain. All have been quality documentaries about those regions where they showcase the wines and some wineries in those countries. They then added a WineMasters Class video series that is ranked above WSET level 3 for all wine students, professionals, and food & wine enthusiasts. I purchased the WineMasters Class about New York, Virginia, and Texas.

The WineMasters Classes are shorter in length than the regional documentaries. This episode is hosted by Christy Canterbury MW, and Marc Almert, Best Sommelier of the World 2019. We learn that Christy was born in Texas but lives in New York now.

The first region discussed in this episode was New York. Most of the wine regions are near bodies of water such as the Great Lake’s Lake Erie and Lake Ontario, the Finger Lakes, and the Hudson River. Initial attempts at vineyards in the Hudson River area in the 17^th century were not successful. Dr. Konstantin Frank emigrated from Ukraine to the Finger Lakes region in the 1950s and showed that some grapes could do well in the cold of New York, primarily Riesling.

The hosts did a battle of the Rieslings by comparing a Riesling from Germany’s winery Van Volxem and the Finger Lake’s Hermann J. Wiemer Vineyard. They then suggested a chicken piccata to pair with the Rieslings and showed a recipe on how to make it.

Some of the New York vines were transported from America back to Europe by botanists, and along came phylloxera. Phylloxera is a microscopic insect that feeds itself on the roots of grapevines. Since the European vines were not resistant, a huge devastation occurred in European vineyards. American vine species had already developed some resistance to phylloxera. Horticulturist T.V. Munson from Denison, Texas, discovered a grapevine rootstock resistant to the phylloxera louse. The roots of vines native to Texas were sent to Europe and saved the European wine industry. As some people say, every glass of European wine you may drink contains some part of Texas.

The next discussion was about Virginia. Most of the vineyards are located east of the Blue Ridge Mountains although the large Shenandoah Valley crosses the mountains into West Virginia. Virginia is home to the Norton grape which is considered one of the better red hybrid varieties.

French grape varieties like Viognier, Petit Manseng, Cabernet Franc, and Petit Verdot proved to do well, but Viognier was the grape that became very popular. In 2011, Viognier was designated Virginia’s official signature grape.

Now on to Texas, the hosts even commented how Texas is larger than France. Discussion of the history of Texas wine was given including the mention of the Texas AVAs.

Christy commented, “Texas is home to more grapevine genera, the plural of genus, than any other place on the planet. Texas has a warm continental climate, like many regions of southern Europe.” She then went on to describe many of the red and white grapes grown in Texas.

The Texas High Plains are at the same altitude as most of Mendoza’s vineyards in Argentina. This provides the diurnal shift, warmer temperatures during the day with colder nighttime temperatures, that allows grapes to maintain higher acidity.

The show was recorded in Europe, and Christy had brought a wine to Europe from Texas. Marc was given the wine blind and he deduced that it was probably a Tempranillo, but not like he had before. It turned out it was a Tempranillo from William Chris Vineyards using Parr Vineyards fruit.

They then finished the show drinking a Viognier from Virginia.

Overall, it was an impressive show that featured Texas as a valid wine producing region. This episode of the WineMasters Class can be purchased for only $4.99. There are other options available for WineMasters productions for all content access, just the WineMasters Class, or individual episodes. The quality of the shows and features are excellent, and I can highly recommend WineMasters.TV.