3 Winemakers; 1 Wine Called 3

3 wine makers, 1 wine called 3

I had the opportunity to taste arguably the most unique of wine making concepts  in Virginia to date, the official launch of the wine aptly named 3. 

3 is  a blend of 3 different varietals, produced by 3 different wine makers,Emily Pelton of Veritas Vineyards, Jake Busching of Pollak and Mathieu Finot of King Family Vineyards. Just as a warning, I am going to be mentioning the number 3 a lot during this post.

The wine is a blend of one-third of each of Petite Verdot [made by Emily], Cabernet Franc [made by Jake] and Merlot [made by Mathieu].  These three wine makers are well-known in the winemaking community and in my opinion make very good, but very different wines. 

The various components of 3

Blended wines can sometimes be dis-jointed and I was interested to see how a wine made in 3 different locations, by 3 different wine makers would taste. The only criticism, it is young and needs time but other than that, no fault at all. It has an abundance of fruit on the nose ranging from cherry to plum. The palate is layered and complex, the tannins grippy but ripe and do not overwhelm the fruit at all. It should show beautifully in 1-3 years but could remain in the cellar for 5-8 quite easily.

The wine is good, not surprising considering the quality of the vintage and caliber of the wine makers.

The wine over delivered on quality but it was truly surpassed by the marketing and the sheer saviness of the project. The wine was released 3/3 at 3:30 in the afternoon, of course priced at $33. The wine was well hyped by the launch of the 3 Facebook page, with a clever biography on all the wine makers, and it showed with a packed tasting room on Thursday with many well-known winemaking figures and eager consumers.

A resounding success and my hat goes off to all three for creating something truly remarkable; I for one  hope we get to see a yearly installment of this wine.

3 great wine makers - and me

Congrats to all three

Stephen