You’ll rarely find a Virginia wine that’s six years old. Most aren’t built to age and, even f they are built to age, the bottle get popped long before they collect much dust in the cellar. I picked up the Kluge Estate New World Red after it won my BWIT at the Virginia Wine Showcase earlier this year. This weekend it was time to drink up with a bowl of hearty pasta with meat sauce.
The fruit has faded a little bit, and I still picked up some oak and alcohol. Otherwise, the wine wasn’t balanced badly. Back in February I wrote that the wine was “the most elegant of the wines I had at the VWS.” That is still the case. The elegance found here, while nothing of note on a worldwide scale, is rare in Virginia and nearly unheard of in Maryland.
The Kluge website has the 2004 New World red listed at $32 (I paid $25 at the VWS). However, the fact sheet for the wine has the suggested retail up over $50. The wine isn’t worth $50. Under thirty dollars the New World Red is a marginal QPR. If you can find it in the low to mid twenties, it’s a decent wine for the money.
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