In 2019, Chris Pearmund worked with sixteen Virginia wineries to create a blended wine with grapes from each participating vineyard to commemorate the 400th Anniversary of Winemaking in Virginia. A portion of the wine’s proceeds were donated to museums and events that would contribute to tourism in the Commonwealth and foster a broader understanding of Virginia’s cultures and cuisines. This idea sparked another movement to celebrate through wine, and Cameo seemed a perfect way to commemorate the milestone moment in history.
Cameo Wine Collection was created to highlight women in Virginia, and the memorable events that have unfolded in the Commonwealth that lead to the movement to secure women’s right to vote. Raise a glass and toast the 100th Anniversary of the 19th Amendment. Cameo Rosé honors 12 of Virginia’s most influential women. Each bottle has a label depicting one of the chosen women, who’s contributions range from historic, business, entertainment, politics, and wine. The story of the suffrage movement in Virginia is an important part of the collective history. A variety of cultures and eras have been curated to share recollections of the fearless, passionate ways each woman lived so that a case of wine will contain twelve different individuals to celebrate. Women like Martha Washington, Pearl Bailey, and Ella Fitzgerald.
Cameo Rosé offers aromas of raspberry, strawberry, and peach. Dry on the palate, silky tannins and minerality are balanced by strawberry and orange zest flavors.
Pearmund Cellars Old Vine Chardonnay is made from 100 percent Chardonnay.
Warm buttery flavor, hint of pear and apple. Full-bodied and lush to the palate. Aged nine months in French oak
Pearmund Cellars Petit Verdot is made from 100 percent Petit Verdot.
Blackberry aromas with rich plum flavors. Well-rounded tannins and a smooth finish. Earthy, rustic, and warm. Limited production.
Pearmund Cellars Viognier Vinecroft Vineyard is made from 100 percent Viognier.
Explosive tropical fruit flavors: Pineapple and peach with hints of grapefruit. Powerful, yet feminine.
Sweet and ripe on the palate with peach, apricot, pineapple, and mango notes. Long and flavorful finish.
Philippe Milan Pommard AOC is 100% Pinot Noir
This wine has been aged in Oak (25% new Oak)
This is a little more structured and the style goes more toward the
"vin de garde", or wines meant to age. This wine needs some food, or sometime
in the decanter right now. It is well structured and reminds me of a Volnay. As
a matter of fact, the parcel is located right next to Volnay. The finish is
long and still quite juicy with chewy tannins lingering.
Opaque color. Very rich, dark chocolate aromas with some black cherry and mature fruit coming through. There is also a pleasing freshness to the port originating from its floral and cistus (rockrose) bouquet. The Quinta de la Rosa Vintage 2017 is a powerful wine with much potential but at the same time elegant and generous on the palate. Full of flavors, very complex with fine tannins that gives the wine a nobility and persistence. A great vintage made to give pleasure now and in the next few decades.
Review:
The 2017 Vintage Port was bottled a few weeks before tasting after spending 18 months in used tonels. It is a field blend, mostly Touriga Nacional and Touriga Franca, coming in with 98 grams per liter of residual sugar. Wonderfully aromatic and filled with flavor, this got plenty of aeration and didn't blink even a little. It was still vibrant and expressive. Aeration only made it more tannic. It is also delicious. This is potentially a great Port, and it seems like the best I've seen from La Rosa. This is sort of approachable in the near future, but it really needs (at least) a decade of cellaring. It has a lot of muscle and should age well.
-Wine Advocate 95 Points
Very floral in profile, with violet and lilac accents leading off, followed by a decidedly red-fruit spectrum of raspberry, cherry and red currant coulis flavors that race throughout. Has grip, but this is more reliant on acidity, showing a nearly piercing feel as the tightly focused finish zips along, leaving a mouthwatering impression. Delightfully idiosyncratic. Best from 2033 through 2050. 112 cases imported. — JM
-Wine Spectator 95 Points
This is a rounded Port, showing layers of black fruits, ripe tannins and spice. At the same time, it does have a solid structure that will allow it to age. The acidity comes through at the end. Drink from 2028.
-Wine Enthusiast 95 Points
Riebeek Chenin Blanc is made from 100 percent Chenin Blanc.
As the unofficial drink of the Riebeek Valley, the Riebeek Chenin Blanc is the perfect every day wine that offers uncomplicated quality for the novice and connoisseur alike.
Packed with upfront tropical fruit, the nose charms with an abundance of guava and gooseberries. The pallets follows through with fruit flavors, balanced by a crisp acid to ensure a fresh and fruity style of wine.
Grapes came from both bosstok and trellised vines with some of the vineyards as old as 46 years. Fermentation was done at lower than usual temperatures to capture the fresh fruit flavors.
Very accessible and suited to almost every occasion, the Riebeek Chenin Blanc never disappoints.
Riebeek Cellars Merlot is made from 100% Merlot.
Grapes were cold soaked overnight. Inoculated with selective yeast. Fermentation took place at 24 - 26 degree Celsius. Wine were pressed at
above 2 degree Balling. Malolactic fermentation finished in stainless steel tanks. Oak maturation include French oak chips, French oak staves and 2nd and 3rd fill barrels. All blended together to perfection.
The style is elegant with distinctive red berries and well-integrated wood flavors on the nose. The pallet is velvety and smooth with an aftertaste that lingers with the juicy flavors of abundant berries.
At room temperature or slightly chilled. Enjoy with pasta or light meat dishes.
Riebeek Pinotage is made from 100 percent Pinotage.
The color is an attractive bright, ruby red with a purple rim, typical of a young Pinotage. The flavors of this unique South African cultivar are complex and exciting with ripe plum and fruitcake all beautifully integrated and then finished with subtle oak for a lingering aftertaste.
Lovely with rare beef, barbequed lamb and casseroles. This versatile lighter style of Pinotage is also a lovely combination with spicy chicken.
Riebeek Sauvignon Blanc is 100 percent Sauvignon Blanc.
Made in a definite herbaceous style, this Sauvignon Blanc also offers tropical undertones of gooseberries that add fruit to the palate. Well-balanced with zesty acidity; fresh & crisp.
Treated as reductively as possible. Juice settled for 2 weeks at -4 Celsius to give green lees contact. Blocks fermented separately to ensure a complex flavor profile after blending. After fermentation was completed, various wines were blended to obtain the best characteristics of each wine.
Very refreshing on its own and lovely with crisp salads, light seafood dishes, tapas, steamed green asparagus and aioli.
Riebeek Sauvignon Blanc is 100 percent Sauvignon Blanc.
Made in a definite herbaceous style, this Sauvignon Blanc also offers tropical undertones of gooseberries that add fruit to the palate. Well-balanced with zesty acidity; fresh & crisp.
Treated as reductively as possible. Juice settled for 2 weeks at -4 Celsius to give green lees contact. Blocks fermented separately to ensure a complex flavor profile after blending. After fermentation was completed, various wines were blended to obtain the best characteristics of each wine.
Very refreshing on its own and lovely with crisp salads, light seafood dishes, tapas, steamed green asparagus and aioli.
Very complex nose. Elegance and finesse. A surprising aromatic complexity. A bouquet of aromas dominated by honey, brioche and notes of dried fruits, hazelnuts and sweets. Perfectly matured.
Juice exclusively 100% Grand Cru from Chouilly, chalky soil and subsoil.
It matches magnificently with foie gras!
Kershaw Chardonnay Deconstructed Lake District Bokkeveld Shale CY95 is made from 100 percent Chardonnay.
The inspiration for this Chardonnay stems from my belief that the Elgin region has both a signature grape as well as particular terroirs within its demarcated boundary that reflect regional credentials. This Chardonnay was selected from a sub-region of Elgin from a specific vineyard and an individual clone.
Tasting Notes: Sourced from a parcel in the Western part of Elgin the 95 clone is known for its excellent quality creating wines that are aromatic, fuller bodied and rich yet tightly structured, well–balanced with length of flavor, managing to show restraint and mouth-watering passivity with a great line through the palate and fruit veering towards white peach flesh and nectarine. On Bokkeveld Shales it brings amplified perfume on the nose and persistence and elegance to the palate.
Winemaking:
Grapes were hand-picked in the early autumnal mornings, placed into small lug baskets and tipped directly into a press before being gently whole-bunch pressed up to a maximum of 0.6 bar or until a low juice recovery of 580 liters per ton was obtained. The juice gravity-flowed directly to barrel (no pumps were used at all) without settling. The unclarified juice had no enzymes or yeast added to it and therefore underwent spontaneous fermentation until dry, with malolactic discouraged. The wine rested in barrel for 4 months prior to judicious sulfuring and a further 7 months’ maturation in barrel before racking and bottling.
Review:
"Minerals and a hint of flint on the nose. The expressive minerality of this wine also shows on the palate with complementary light stone fruit notes. Aged in 50% new 228L oak aging for 11 months."
- International Wine Review (Richard Kershaw Lifts Elgin To New Heights, February 2019), 95 pts
Each year, Sea Smoke's goal for Southing is to create the ideal marriage of complexity and elegance. The ever-changing nose of the Southing exhibits fresh currant, slight strawberry and rose aromas with notes of dried fruit, fennel, clove and nutmeg. The fine tannins and minerality are enhanced by the estate vineyard's characteristic cool climate acidity.