Down in Charlottesville last weekend, we stopped in at Horton on
the way back, to find that in addition to their usual spread they
were doing a barrel tasting of four wines.

Before that, though, we'd drunk a couple of other wines to note.
First, drunk alone and then with a baked brie, was the local
wine White Hall Cabernet Franc '02. Both then and on drinking a
second bottle last night (with the Easter ham etc.), this hits
with 'soft' as the cear adjective; not something I've encountered
before, it feels almost like there's a (very pleasant) pillow
filling the mouth. This is also a move (at least from the '00
which were the last White Halls I tasted) to a more
'French-feeling' style - forgive the lack of precision, I've not
drunk enough french to be more precise . Surprisingly acid,
especially with subsequent sips. We bought a lot of this, and
it's a case where I'd really like someone more expert to taste it
and tell me what I am actually experiencing! Anyway, at $12.99
it seemed very good value to us and a definite step up from any
other VA wine we've had. We really regret mot having made it out
to White Hall. I'd give this an A.

The second was the wine with dinner at Oxo, a C'ville restaurant
that turned out to be highly recommendable. This was Novy '99
Page-Nord Syrah; chosen on the rec. of the waiter (over a bunch
of French Syrahs that I don't recall) after our desired Zin was
not available, and drunk with a range of foods including lamb,
rabbit, and venison. Much pricier (I think $60 restaurant price)
and reasonably complex, would enjoy again but nothing special; on
the other hand, a good balance of fruit and tannin. Solid B,
brought down by price.

Horton tasting:

In contrast to the White Hall evidence, Horton have mostly
maintained their focus in making short-life, what seemed to be
almost 'tourist' wines. And a lot of them - they were offering
17 whites, 12 reds, four sweets and also some fruit wines. So
just the highlights.

'01 Rkatsiteli - a new grape for me, this was very citrus and
quite acid, very distinctive. Needs a couple of years, I think,
but may turn out very well. B+

'00 Viognier Reserve - this is the flagship wine, but I didn't
rate it highly (and especially not at $30). Too harsh and seemed
to need a bit of sugar for balance. C+.

'02 Stonecastle Blush - the best of several semi-sweet wines
aimed at picnics (or hot-tubs, as they promote!). Blend of Cab.
Franc, Syrah, Mourvedre, Nebbiolo and Touriga Nacional (and this
was by no means the most mixed - one of the reds, '00
Stonecastle, had 9 grapes; but ended up with *very* strong
tobacco which was overpowering). The blush had enough depth to
hold the interest, and nothing to distract, so well-targetted.
Solid B.

'01 Syrah - with 18% mourvedre, 6% pinotage. Not great value at
$20, but a reasonable drink; doesn't feel as though it will get
any better though. B-

'00 Nebbiolo - in contrast, this has a strong backbone which
feels (as ever, with the caveat that this is all probably
completely wrong!) as though it will tone down and become
smoother and more complex; great fruit. We won't drink the
bottle we bought for at least 3 years, but even at $20 seeems
good value. B+/A-

Other than the Nebbiolo, the 'best of show' were the sweets.

'98 Vidal late harvest ($6 for 375 ml) and Lot 99, NV Viognier
Late Harvest ($16) were both good, although we actually preferred
the cheaper (which is hence great value): slightly less complex
but better balance (right now) of sugar and acid. I suspect that
the Lot 99 may develop more (and the Vidal not at all) but for
the next year or so, we'll drink the Vidal. B+ and B- (although
we still bought both)

'99 Port - well, we're fans of their '96 port (apparently the
only VA port?) so were looking forward to this, and it came
through - dark, rich, deep, and powerful. Yummy. $20 and worth
twice that. A. I think this is better than the '96, but we need
to taste them alongside to confirm, and it may be unfair to
compare at different ages - especially in light of:

'96 Late Bottling Port, from barrel. Wow - this now smells and
tastes nothing like grapes; more soy sauce, leather, and wood. I
actually don't like it as well as I do the bottle-aged version,
but the chance to see what the extra years in barrel have done
was great.

[The other barrel-tastes were '03 Albarino, '01 Petit Verdot
(easily the pick, but not for me in the class of the Nebbiolo,
and they were only selling case futures so we passed) and '02
Tempanillo. Nothing outstanding.]

Enough typing .