Raffaldini kindly sent me a bottle of their 2007 Sangiovese Reserva. They must be pretty confident it’s a good wine, because I am notoriously critical of Yadkin Valley / Swan Creek red wines (not so much the whites).

My wine “reviews” are simple affairs.

1) I prefer dry wines over many of the artificially sweetened wines so popular in this area to make the wine palatable to local wine drinkers.

2) I hate the “green” taste that seems to work it’s way into almost every NC red wine due to poor viticultural and winemaking practices

3) I really dislike wineries that vehemently argue that their wine is good. Even when all it would take to discover the opposite is a simple anonymous feedback card in the tasting room, or followup their visit to the winery with an email opinion request. It just makes no sense to put out junk wine.

4) I am better suited to reviewing red wines because I’ve got a lot more experience with tasting red wines from all over the world and all price points.

Raffaldini has always seemed dedicated to proving that good to excellent wine can be produced in North Carolina. At considerable cost, they’ve removed several varieties that weren’t well suited to their area and experimented with others. They are never satisfied and are always striving to better themselves, their understanding of grapes and their wines. And all of that is evident from the time you set foot on their property…from the amazing views, to the old style villa winery, to the beautiful gardens and culminating in many of their wines.

That brings me to my initial impression of the 2007 Raffaldini Sangiovese Reserva. The nose was very satisfying. It was robust and filled me with happiness. Who cares what comprised the nose, just be happy that the wine presented itself well. Even writing now, 10 hours later, I am looking forward to having another glass this evening and hoping that the wine is complex enough to actually get better after 24 hours of being opened.

The wine itself was one of the best North Carolina red wines I have ever had. I really enjoy Chianti, and have some very nice bottles in my cellar. So, while I don’t have nearly the experience with Sangiovese that I do with other varietals, I’ve drank enough of it to appreciate when the wine has done the grape justice.

Some times I will have a favorable impression of a NC red wine, only to be a little let down later in the evening when I’m left with a residual yeasty taste in my mouth. This has evened happened once or twice with my own wine. I am not sure still what causes this. I’ve read various opinions from others. And in my own experience it’s not always there…the other night I had a bottle of Ella that was just fabulous, and left no yeasty impression in my mouth. But several weeks before I actually poured out a bottle of my own wine after experiencing it. Maybe it results from unfiltered wines at times? Needless to say, none of that from the Raffaldini Sangiovese Reserva on this night.

Tomorrow night I am going to take this bottle over to some friends to get their opinion and to try it again on a different night. I have a bottle of the 2005 Raffaldini Sangiovese I might bring it along and have them blind taste test each of them to get their opinions on each.

What’s also great about this wine, is that it’s priced reasonably at $17.00. I think it’s worth $17.00. At $17.00 it’s a very nice showcase of the best that North Carolina can offer. I don’t say that very often!

If you are a winemaker and thinking that I say nice things when the wine is free, please think twice about sending me your wines, I don’t like to drink too much North Carolina wine. I’m not sure it’s healthy in most forms. Plus, if I don’t have nice things to say, for the most part, I am not writing anything at all. With so many wineries struggling now, they don’t need me piling on them…people seem to be figuring out which wineries are putting out some decent wines and which ones aren’t. It’s not that difficult.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Ronda, North Carolina

Villa Raffaldini Italian Tasting Room Breaks Ground

Date: December 4, 2007

Contact: Susan Lyons 336.835.9463

susan@raffaldini.com

The construction firm of Hendrix-Corriher of Mocksville broke ground today, the coldest day of the year to date, for Villa Raffaldini, a 5600 sq. foot Italian villa-style tasting room and event center scheduled to open in the late spring of 2007. Raffaldini Vineyards is located in the Swan Creek Valley region of the Yadkin Valley wine appellation.

Jay Raffaldini, managing partner of Raffaldini Vineyards explains, “Villa Raffaldini is reminiscent of the ancestral Raffaldini home in Mantua, Italy, dating back to the year 1348. The architectural design of the new vineyard villa is traditional Italian – weathered stone and rustic terra cotta roofing, large open rooms with expansive views and a second story balcony.

The open floor plan creates an environment that encourages families to live together in happiness and harmony. This building will accommodate over 250 people, upstairs and down, inside and out.”

Villa Raffaldini’s aspect in the foothills of the Blue Ridge features offers breathtaking views of mountain horizons from both the interior of the two-story building and the exterior courtyard.

The 106 acre Raffaldini Vineyard site was chosen for its unique terroir, aptly suited to growing central and southern Italian grapes. General Manager Stephen Lyons remarks,

“Grapes don’t like to have their feet wet. Our locations receive about 40% less rainfall than the flatland vineyards of the Yadkin Valley and cooling afternoon breezes coming off the mountains keep our grapes comfortable during the hot summer months. The weathering of the Brushy Mountains over the millennia has deposited rich minerals and stone schist, the perfect soil composition for growing Italian varietals.”

Raffaldini Vineyards produces Italian varietals such as Pinot Grigio, Vermentino, Montepulciano and Sangiovese. An intensive crop selection process restricts case production to 4,000 cases but affords that only the best grapes go into the bottle. Winemaker Stephen Rigby explains, “This extensive sorting weeds out the good grapes from the not so good, so, in the end, what we get is the best, most clean fruit. Good wine comes from the vineyard.”

Took the in laws to Raffaldini’s this weekend. Turns out Raffaldini was unveiling their 2005 Sangiovese. It was very busy. The wine was very enjoyable. I’m not sure whether it was because we were having a great time, enjoying the view and the snacks or whether the wine was actually that good, maybe a little of both – exactly as it should be! Seriously, the wine was well balanced, had some interesting burst of flavor and a nice nose. I bought two bottles along with a bottle of their award winning Vermintino.

The owner, Jay Raffaldini was in town and I got to spend a few minutes with him. He’s an interesting guy. Job in Manhattan, rich family heritage and a love for fine wine. As I’ve said previously, if anyone is going to produce decent wine in North Carolina, consistently, it will be Jay. Everything I rail against, Raffladini doesn’t practice. They have lots of cash or at least enough that they are not afraid to rip out varietals that aren’t working and experiment with others. They bought their land to grow grapes, they didn’t just happen co own a bunch of land and decide to grow grapes on it. They seem to practice sound viticultural and wine making practices and finally, the only knock I have consistently not understood is why slap a trailer on such a nice place and use it as your tasting room?

 I think I finally have an answer that makes sense to me. Patience. Patience is what I didn’t understand. I think Jay has the cash to build whatever he desires. But he’s also a smart business person and my guess is that he wasn’t sure if the whole grape thing would really work out. And my guess is that if he is going to build tasting room, he wants to do it right. Therefore it made far more sense to throw up an inexpensive trailer, build a nice deck to enjoy the view and practice a wait and see approach, rather than investing millions in a tasting room that ultimately might serve up only marginal wines. He just doesn’t seem like the type to want to sell anything that was “marginal”. So, my guess, is that the tasting room will be well done and hopefully very unique. Hopefully it will reflect the beautiful site they have, while also providing an authentic experience…not just another commercial structure. Build something exceptional. That’s my advice. Really put up something that makes Raffaldini even more of a “must visit” than it already is…

And I am going to bury a remark, because even though I think it’s a very important discovery, ultimately, it’s just not that surprising…disappointing, but not surprising. We also visited another local winery on Friday afternoon and we had a nice time. We always do when we are with family! However, the wines threw me off, because they were completely different from the wines that were served when I was there last. I couldn’t quite put my finger on it, but as I left it hit me, nearly all of the wines had some sort of residual sugar in them! This was not by accident or an attempt to create some sort of dessert wine. This was a decision made by the owners to fortify their wines with sugar in an attempt to appeal to the local tastes for sweet wines. I left that place and felt ill because as a diabetic, I am not accustomed to drinking wines with sugar in them, unless I am drinking a dessert wine. My blood sugar was sky high and normal wine does not have that affect on blood sugar, if anything it drives blood sugar lower. In my mind, this winery sold out. Yes, it’s survival of the fittest. But to deliberately sweeten your wines, to mask the shortcomings of the grapes and the winemaking, well that’s a shame. You’ll start to see more and more of that in the Yadkin Valley. Vinters will start fortifying their wines with sugar, because that’s what North Carolinians want, sweet wine. We also visited Laurel Grey Vineyards, had a nice time on their porch and bought a bottle of their Merlot / Cabernet Franc blend, but only because we wanted to kill some time…the reds were not good and nothing jumped out at us with the whites either.

My sister and her friend Melissa came to State Road this past weekend to visit Jen and I.  We had a great time!  On Saturday afternoon we decided to visit a couple of local vineyards.

Having never been in the new Raffaldini tasting room, we decided to begin the tour there.  Jen is always a little nervous when we make the rounds to the various vineyards.   While she generally agrees with the reviews I post to this blog, she sometimes disagrees with my delivery.   It’s a valid criticism and one I have promised to work on.  Not all business owners are skilled at taking criticism.  The skilled owners approach criticism as an opportunity to address what may be a shortcoming in their model.  They LOVE the challenge of seeing their business as it’s seen through the eyes of another.  But most get defensive,  it’s those business owners which I’ve seen fail, time and time again.  I’ve raised millions of dollars in venture capital, both for my company and others, I’ve seen hundreds of businesses come and go, it’s not hard to pick out those who will be successful.   They think differently and are not afraid to embrace change or to take risks.   Criticism and confrontation are new opportunities for education and new directions.  I just have little tolerance for ignorance, and am quick to call myself out when I fall victim to it.

On the surface, I’ve always thought that Raffaldini has a good chance at being successful.  They have a great site and are experimenting with 20 some varietals to try and find their niche.  The owners and managers seem level headed and are working diligently to make fine wine.  They understand the romance surrounding wine and have built out a simple, but effective tasting room that allows the visitor to enjoy their wines while also taking in the beautiful surroundings.

My past criticisms (if you want to call them that) of Raffaldini have centered on their wine making process and also on their desire to break away from the Yadkin Valley AVA and form the Swan Creek AVA.   I’ve addressed those issues in the past, and while I see both point of views, ultimately I am going to leave it alone.  I respect their skills as business owners and managers and wish them the best in whatever methods they chose to make wine or market their business.

On this day,  we went to Raffaldini to enjoy the view, and drink some nice white wines to provide some relief from the heat.  The tasting room was functional.   It’s a beautiful double wide trailer.  I imagine it’s meant to serve as a placeholder until the real tasting room is built.  Why they invest all that money in 40 acres of grapes and then choose to build out a trailer — well that decision must have been made by someone far more intelligent than myself.  I can only guess it was to buy some time, and that I do understand.  It’s far more sensible to wait until you’ve got a feel for what will work, what the needs are of your visitors and staff, before you plow forward with building out a million dollar plus tasting room.

At this point we are in the tasting room.  It’s small, so Stephen Lyons graciously clears off a table and we gather around to sample the wines.  The tasting fee was $5.00.  The pours were gracious.   Stephen was knowledgeable.  I was surprised he knew who I was without an introduction.  My picture in the magazine looks different than I do now.  He’s a smart guy, guess he put two and two together. 

A somewhat surreal moment came about when I went to taste my wine and somehow collided with Jen and my wine went all over me.  It’s like time stood still for a moment and I swear a small smile formed on Stephen Lyons face.  But he was gracious and offered me a napkin with some white wine.  It almost rattled me, but I’ve been in far worse situations..so we moved on. 

The wines were good.  I would say all their wines were superior to most of the wines in the Yadkin Valley.  I can only imagine they will get better.  The reds were just ok.  Last year I really enjoyed their Dolcetto, this time it didn’t stand out.   But there was a general consensus that their 2003 Bella Misto was very pleasing.  It had a nice initial burst of fruit and finished nicely as well.  We all enjoyed their whites.  I don’t know enough about whites in general, but it didn’t surprise me that their Bianco and Pinot Grigio were exceptional.  I’m taking a wine tasting course so maybe next year my reviews will be more detailed. 

We carried our wines out to the beautiful patio and enjoyed an hour or so on their huge deck.  They did a nice job with the patio furniture it was comfortable and aesthetic. 

Even though we didn’t purchase any bottles of Raffaldini’s wine, they appear to be headed in the right direction.  A couple weeks ago we enjoyed Laurel Gray and to a lesser extent Buck Shoals…there’s no question that we’d head to Raffaldini first.  It will be interesting to see what evolves at Raffaldini.  They have the opportunity to be successful, hopefully they’ll continue their pursuit of producing fine wines at higher price points.  My opinion is that success over the long term lies less in trying to market to North Carolinians and more in developing a premium wine which can be moved through the premium channels.   It’s a beautiful site with a unique terroir, it will be interesting to see if they choose the road less travelled. 

I now rank #2 on Google for the term “Raffaldini”, noticing similar movements for the other vineyards. I’m close to a deal to acquire another very old wine guide website. If I were to close on this deal it would give me a lot of pull leverage the ago of that domain to really rank high for all things wine in North Carolina. My stated goal is to outrank all winery, vineyards, wine trails, chambers and wine for sale sites in the state. Once that is complete, I become the gatekeeper for North Carolina Wine and Tourist Sales on the Internet.