The long and winding road to finally get to the BOXWOOD Estate Winery this past Monday with Bruce of ProWineTours driving me there on April 29th, 2013. It was a lovely trip, cool and very damp with a constant gentle drizzle this morning as we left Shirlington and the Curious Grape food and wine store where we met, five strong! It was an animated conversation between Bruce and me and we both had plenty to say and to offer in response to each other's comments and the drive through these gentle rolling valleys and hills and picturesque towns here in northern Virginia - way, way, beautifully away and awash in the splendor of Virginia's countryside filled with farms and signs of agriculture, horses and cows and green stretches of young produce starting to thrive and flourish, kissed ever so gently thousands of times over now, even just on this one morning by a thin gauze of the smallest ever rain drops, points of life-drawing moisture. Wow, I would have taken more pictures of all of this if not worried for a memory card that might be almost finished?!? Argh, the toils and traumas of practical consideration, for I could have taken hundreds of pictures on this day , and probably should have! .I..
It's part of life, you can plan and plan I did for this day but the timing and the amount of time I had just did not always coordinate and arrange itself into ways that I could fit everything I needed to do into getting ready for my day in Virginia visiting three wineries and getting to see all three for the very first time and soak up all that I could to enrich and add a more complete picture for me of a state that already has two hundred-plus wineries now. Wow, that's amazing all in itself and hard to wrap my thoughts around. But I was was going to give it my all and do all that I could to make this the greatest experience possible for me as it was the first-time ever that I was seeing BOXWOOD Estate Winery, BREAUX Vineyards and PARADISE SPRINGS of Clifton Winery. ...
I was excited and ready for whatever. Talking with Bruce that was driving us and finding out that he had worked for both Touton Selections and Elite Imports was a great way to get the ball rolling. Then finding out that bruce was working on writing a book on the wines of Virginia and getting it done and ready to publish by this September-October 2013 really did get my juices flowing. I told him that he could not forget including the past and how we have arrived here where we are today. I mentioned names like Gabrielle Rausse and I was about to mention Lucie Morton's name but we got side-tracked in our conversation. I know that at some point we got to talking about the three vineyards that we would be visiting. I know that bruce told me that he visits each winery before he takes people to them. I know that he knew many of the wineries like BOXWOOD already and had visited many of them. I know that he promised that he would get us special tours with special attention. I liked hearing all of this. I was getting psyched and loving it. ...
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Bruce would tell me and everyone about the landmarks and a bout the vineyards, the local restaurants and landmarks, and it got more interesting and animated as we approached our first vineyard which was the BOXWOOD Estate Winery nestled beautifully and snug in one of those gentle rolling valleys surrounded by lush baby-tender shades of green all around. Little would prepare me or surprise or please me more than when we got to BOXWOOD and I waved to the lady that Bruce had just spoken to at the gate, Amanda was it ( ? ) as we approached the door on the left side, I opened it and there I saw standing in front of me, first Rachel Martin inside the circular tasting table in the center of the room with, I had to take a quick double-take, and then another - was it, could it be, yes, it was I believed, I was surprised, I was elated, I was amazed, pleased, starting to overflow with emotion and happiness - yes, it was Lucie Morton that was greeting me, that I was greeting, both of us smiling, I regaining my composure, hugging, with Rachel Martin smiling broadly all the while as she witnessed our splendid greeting! Rachel, I am sorry that I saw and recognized, but did not acknowledge, as I spoke first to Lucie, Rude, I apologize. But I was so happy! ... ...
It's time for me to got to work so I will continue this later today or tomorrow as I still have a whole lot to say. ... ... ... ...
Vive Virginia, vive Virginia wines, so glad to have finally arrived here to see you Rachel " sur place, chez toi " at BOXWOOD Estate and to have Lucie Morton here, too : where the whole story started for me years ago when I read the Washington Post newspaper story announcing your arrival and the name of my old friend Lucie Morton that helped you all decide on which vines and root stocks to plant, and then to plant them, too. I had in these first few moments at BOXWOOD Estate come full circle, I could not believe or imagine this, my great luck and good fortune. And all because Lucie was already there and when she was about to leave you mentioned I would be arriving soon and she waited to see me! That alone made the whole day for me, everything else would be icing on the cake. Anthony ( TONY ) Quinn Thursday morning, May 2nd, 2013 here at home in northern Virginia
... The pictures I am using here so far are from earlier days when I was driving in Virginia and not on this Monday. I still have to download those pictures and so they will have to wait for another blog entry. Sorry. They will come, I assure you. ... ...
Rachel and her staff did pour the 2012 BOXWOOD dry rose at the Natural History Museum on Thursday March 21st, 2013 from 7-9PM in the rotunda upstairs with the beautiful elephant after both the conversation and the book-signing with author Jancis Robinson ( c-authored with Linda Murphy : AMERICAN WINE ). I have included pictures of this event here with Rachel in them. It was a very momentous event and sadly, as we both discussed on this Monday morning at her winery, we did not see others besides myself from either the retail or the restaurant-side of the wine trade in attendance. I told rachel that it was probably not very well-publicized and so many of us in the trade perhaps did not know? Or that perhaps it was the $75 ticket price that deterred many from attending? I did not mind spending the money. I wanted to meet, at least once in my life, Jancis Robinson that has provided for all of us such invaluable information about vines, wines and grapes. ... ... 
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As a matter of fact I took my book called : VINES , GRAPES And WINES " that Jancis wrote for her to sign for me. When she saw it she was surprised, smiled and said that it had been awhile since she had seen it. It's my favorite book of hers and I am thrilled to own it and have it now signed by her. ... ...
SO : Lucie and I chatted a mile-a-minute and it was so much fun and so animated. I used to sell Lucie wines years ago when I worked at the Mayflower Wines & Spirits on the corner of New Hampshire Avenue and M. Street Northwest, Washington D.C. in the old Arnould & Porter office building, on the ground floor. What great times those days were. We would chat about so many things and Lucie knew that I being an artist had designed and drawn labels for both the Mayflower Wines & Spirits house wines ( a Chardonnay and a Cabernet Sauvignon bottled by ROUND HILL back in the mid eighties ). It was great to talk quickly about BOXWOOD and also about Rob Deford and his BOORDY Vineyards in Maryland as Rachel had also selected and planted more recently vines to grown there for Rob. It was way too quick : Lucie had things to do, places to be and so much still to do that she soon left me spinning in a nice place there in the tasting room at BOXWOOD ESTATE Winery. I did manage to get several pictures taken with us, and even with the two young male winemakers of BOXWOOD that would soon take us on a tour with Rachel Martin. I am only sorry that I did not think to have pictures taken with the three of us : again my loss. I will correct that the next time that I go. ...
... ( The picture above I took of Rachel talking with both Michael Kaiser and with Dave McIntyre : Michael is on the left and Dave on the right with Rachel in the middle, just in front of our famous elephant , there in the Rotunda of the Natural History Museum of the Smithsonian Institution on Thursday, March 21st, 2013 , just as the wine-tasting was started with wineries represented from Virginia, New York, Michigan, Colorado, Texas and California, too : but just one.
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I will talk more about the 2011 in stainless steel tanks- a very, very difficult vintage that took much time and care and real attention to detail: and 2012 - a glorious year in barrels in their circular barrel room that reminded me of OPUS ONE, Rachel quickly corrected me and said that they were quite different - vintages that I tried with Rachel and her two winemakers shortly. I loved the contrast : I found incredible strengths in both vintages and I would gladly drink either. I really do believe that BOXWOOD ESTATE is starting to grow into it's full self and identity. It's taken awhile, they have not compromised the quality or the wines. ...
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I am glad to have mentioned already the two books from Jancis Robinson. In her co-authored book with Linda Murphy they give Virginia many pages and include BOXWOOD ESTATE Winery and also Lucie Morton : and I am thrilled for that. Both deserve a whole lot of attention. ...
I am also thrilled to have found again and refernced on several occasions Lucie's old book : WINEGROWING In Eastern America by Lucie T. Morton - An Illustrated Guide to Viniculture East of the Rockies, published in 1985 by the Cornell University Press. I recommend that everyone get a copy and keep it handy. ALSO : Lucie says that she is working on her " new " book . I will have to ask her more the next time I see her. Lucie, you must tell me / us more : include it here in the COMMENT section at the end of this blog.
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I will write more soon so stay-tuned and enjoy what is here so far. It's now Friday morning here in northern Virginia at home on May 10th, 2013 and I have to get to work. Cheers, Anthony ( TONY ) Quinn
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