Examiner.com - FWM
Fly across the Potomac to taste these value wines
If you’ve been shopping at Giant Food stores in Northern Virginia this month, you may have had a chance to taste one of our new favorite value labels, The Flying Winemaker by Cameron Hughes.
Giant in Virginia has picked up virtually the entire line of Flying Winemaker wines, and there have been free tastings at various stores all month long.
In addition to the 2008 Flying Winemaker Tempranillo from Spain and the 2007 Zinfandel from Lodi, California (our favorite), both of which we tasted last month at the Circle Wine & Spirits Chillin' and Grillin' Summerfest, Giant is carrying the 2008 Malbec from Mendoza in Argentina, the 2007 Cabernet Sauvignon from Maipo Valley in Chile and the 2008 Chardonnay from Santa Barbara.
Unlike the “Lot Series” wines from Cameron Hughes, which are one-off bottlings of excess wine from high-end winemakers sold under the Cameron Hughes label for a fraction of its typical price, the Flying Winemaker wines are sourced from vineyards on an ongoing basis, so they can be made each year from one vintage to the next. (The 2008 Tempranillo is the second vintage of that wine from the Campo de Borja region of Spain.) For more detail on Cameron Hughes, see last month’s “These ‘bulk’ wines are fine wines, great values.”
All of the Flying Winemaker varieties have won at least one Gold, Silver or Bronze medal at the various West Coast wine competitions, including the 2010 San Francisco Chronicle Wine Competition, the Los Angeles International Wine & Spirits Competition and the San Diego International Wine Competition. The Santa Barbara chardonnay and Chilean cabernet, both new to the area and only available in Northern Virginia for now, are the most highly decorated after the 2007 Flying Winemaker Zinfandel, which took Gold at the Critics Challenge 2009 International Wine Competition and the Denver International Wine Competition, plus Silver in the Dallas Morning News Wine Competition and the San Diego International Wine Competition.
And as we noted before, you can listen to Hugh Sisson and Al Spoler rave about the Flying Winemaker Zinfandel, along with other Cameron Hughes wines, on Baltimore NPR affiliate WYPR’s Cellar Notes show.
These are wines worth seeking out and trying for yourself. And even if you don't live in Virginia convenient to Oakton or Clifton, it might be worth a trip across the Potomac for the chance to take all five of these wines side by side.
Cheers!