Another Winery, Another Shot
 
Wine journos capture people, places behind the bottles

By Warren Rojas

Daphne Larkin and Charles O’Rear
Courtesy of Ten Speed Press

According to the dust jacket of their latest tome, “Wine Across America,” wine lovers Charles O’Rear (photography) and Daphne Larkin (text) traveled approximately 80,000 miles over two years to snap photos and harvest information about the thriving U.S. wine industry.

“We encourage anybody to do just what we did—get out there and explore wine country,” states O’Rear, prodding fellow oenophiles to “have fun and appreciate the wine revolution and the American spirit at work.”

The dedicated wine chroniclers estimate that there are roughly 5,000 wineries in the U.S. that attract more than 20 million visitors each year, adding that domestic producers utilize everything from traditional grapes to pineapple, rhubarb and honey to make their personalized wines. Their handsomely photographed travelogue is peppered with snippets of wine trivia (on the heels of France and Italy, America is the world’s third-largest wine-consuming nation) and historical tidbits (Missouri became the first officially recognized U.S. wine region in 1980).

They also provide nuggets of touristy information, touting the Biltmore Estate in Asheville, N.C., as the most visited winery in the lower 48 (the Biltmore website claims they receive approximately 1 million visitors per year).

Should you happen to go, Suzanne McGrath recommends sampling their non-vintage Biltmore Estate Blanc de Blancs Brut ($18), which she sees as a “fresh, clean and dry” sparkling wine, or the Biltmore Estate Century ($15), a “relatively dry” but “very aromatic” gewurztraminer-riesling-muscat blend.

O’Rear and Larkin devote more than a few pages regaling folks about Virginia’s booming wine trade, producing lovely spreads and candid shots from vineyards near and far, including: Barboursville Vineyard (Charlottesville), Boxwood Winery (Middleburg), Farfelu Vineyards (Flint Hill; now closed), Horton Vineyards (Gordonsville), Jefferson Vineyards (Charlottesville), Kluge Estate Winery (Charlottesville) and Oakencroft Winery (Charlottesville).

“The countryside of Virginia brings to mind the saying, ‘Is wine made in beautiful places, or do beautiful places make wine?’” O’Rear gushes about his journeys through the Commonwealth. Though he declines to pick a clear favorite, he does posit that “the Charlottesville area is a must for anybody wanting to experience the heart of Virginia winemaking.”

Meanwhile, O’Rear also includes a quaint little photo of former National Geographic colleague, William Garrett, working a hand-cranked Italian wine press outside his home in Great Falls.

“His was the only home winery we photographed in the U.S.,” swears O’Rear.

“Wine Across America: A Photographic Road Trip.” Charles O’Rear and Daphne Larkin. Ten Speed Press with Wineviews Publishing, 224 pgs. $35.

(January 2008)