June 15, 2018

JEFFERSON VINEYARDS Viognier 2016

(Charlottesville, Virginia) $30

Lovely and fresh with just the right edge of delicious bitterness. Thomas Jefferson would have been proud.

What well-known wine region boasts a famous wine named after a Boeing plane?

A. Wachau, Austria

B. South Australia, Australia

C. Walla Walla, Washington

D. Rheingau, Germany

In 1964 in South Australia, Penfolds created the “Bin 707” cabernet sauvignon, naming it after the iconic Boeing 707 jetliner. Today, at $500 a bottle, “Bin 707” is Australia’s most expensive cabernet. The massively structured, intensely flavored wine is aged 20 months in 100% new American oak “hogshead” barrels and is considered one of Australia’s most age-worthy cabernets. As for how it came to pass that the wine was named after an airplane, when the first vintage of the “Bin 707” was released in 1964, a Penfolds board member was also on the board of Qantas, an airline which was releasing a new Boeing 707 at the same time. The Boeing 707 was thought to be the aircraft that would better connect Australia with the rest of the world. Inspired to do the same with their collection of wines, Penfolds named their wine “Bin 707.”

Ava Winery

A San Francisco start-up called Ava Winery has produced synthetic “wine” according to New Scientist magazine. The process, which requires no grapes and takes about 15 minutes, involves combining ethanol (alcohol) with other molecules like… Continue reading

JEFFERSON VINEYARDS Viognier 2016

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