Strawberry Street Vineyard Richmond, VA

During a recent visit to Richmond, VA I had the opportunity to check out a great wine shop there called Strawberry Street Vineyard.

 

It is located at 407 N. Strawberry Street in the heart of the Richmond, Virginia's beautiful Fan District.

They offer a great selection of local, American and international wines.

Met the proprietor, Henry Reidy, who welcomed us into his shop with a warm hello, and a very real offer of advice.

We were looking for a couple of Italian wines to go with the take out dinner we had just ordered at 8 1/2, the superb Italian kitchen a few doors down the block.

Henry offers many good wines in a range of good price points. He showed us an Umbrian red that looked good but then we settled on a wine from Piedmont called Canavese Acini Sparsi by Orsolani.

"Canavese is a subalpine geographical and historical area of north-west Italy which lies today within the Province of Turin in Piedmont. Its main town is Ivrea and it is famous for its castles." Wikipedia

"This blend of Nebbiolo, Barbera, and Uvarara is one of our most popular wines, thanks to its approachability and its great price. Orsolani calls it Acini Sparsi or 'scattered grapes' because the winery sources the fruit for this Canavese from different estate-owned vineyards “scattered” across the appellation. While the Nebbiolo gives the wine structure and rich aromas, the Barbera and Uvarara help to soften the Nebbiolo’s tannin and add nice acidity, making this wine an excellent food wine. A classic expression of the appellation." Vino

The wine shows a brilliant ruby red color and nuances of garnet red, moderate transparency. The nose reveals intense, clean, pleasing and refined aromas which start with hints of blackberry and black cherry followed by aromas of violet, raspberry, plum, tobacco and hints of lavender. In the mouth has good correspondence to the nose, a slightly tannic attack and pleasing crispness, however balanced by alcohol, good body, intense flavors, good tannins, agreeable. The finish is persistent with flavors of plum, black cherry and raspberry. This wine ages for 6 months in bottle.

Unfortunately the wine is hard to find in the Northeast.

We also had an old favorite Anselmi San Vicenzo

The famous Jamie Goode reports "Roberto Anselmi is widely regarded as one of Italy’s leading white wine producers. Frustrated by the low quality and general lack of ambition in the Soave region, in 2000 he chose to leave the Soave DOC, and his wines are now labelled as IGT Veneto. He takes a quality minded approach, starting in the vineyard with densely planted Guyot-trained vines and corresponding low yields (the typical pergola-trained vines in Soave can produce absolutely heroic yields, and correspondingly dilute wines).

Anselmi took over running his family property in the 1980s, and his wines are very impressive in quite a modern, forward style. The San Vicenzo is a favourite of mine: lovely fruit quality unobscured by oak, and at around £8, very good value. Prices for the Foscarino and Capitel Croce are also pretty sane, at around £12, and the sweet I Capitelli is lovely." 

Anselmi San Vicenzo

Nice soft, herby white which is quite beguiling with its soft texture. There’s a good concentration of fruit here with a straw-like character. Satisfying stuff. Very good+ 89/100

This wine is available everywhere and at a great price. vinquire.com