Ewan McNay > wrote:
: 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.


: 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+

Ewan,

I was here last year and had similar impressions to you: that most
of the wines being offered were of the easy-to-drink school with nothing
profound (or even truly excellent). I bought a Rkats, since it seemed the
best of a bad bunch and I want to see how it ages vis-a-vis a Finger Lakes
example. What disappointed me most was their Viognier, which was nearly
always excellent in the past (often besting CA ones). The only reds that
showed potential were some odd ones, because I don't have notes here, I
can't say with certainty but I think it was the barbera and malbec.

Skieks!

Mark S