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Encounter Wine Fair will take place Sunday, Nov. 12, at the Institute for Contemporary Art at VCU, with over a dozen related events around town.
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Encounter founder and Pizza Bones owner Ashley Patino
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Patino says Encounter grew from a Pizza Bones-hosted event at Thanksgiving called Bonesgiving.
Like any industry, in the world of wine, trends come and go. What’s fashionable to have in your glass one year may be passe the next. But over the past decade, the natural wine movement, which champions biodynamic farming and low-intervention production methods, has proven that it is anything but a trend. Now Virginia is getting its first ever natural wine fair, welcoming devotees and novices alike: Encounter, a tasting event featuring dozens of producers from all over the world, will make its debut at the Institute for Contemporary Art at VCU on Sunday, Nov. 12.
When Pizza Bones and Friend Bar owner Ashley Patino was living in San Francisco and working as a baker at the renowned Tartine, she was drawn to the natural wine community. Each year she marked her calendar for Brumaire, a now-defunct natural wine fair held in Oakland, California. After returning to Richmond and opening her business, Patino decided she wanted to bring something similar to Virginia.
“Wine producers come to Richmond on occasion, and they’re like, ‘Why are you sending me here?’ But then they come, and they have the best time and they love Richmond,” Patino says. “I want everybody to love Richmond as much as I do. So I was like, ‘How do we get them to come to Richmond and not just [to] New York or LA or California?’”
The answer was to offer out of town vendors and smaller producers a stipend, something Patino learned was almost unheard of in the world of wine festivals. The idea worked, and Patino and her team of distributors and fellow local business owners — including Perry D’Angelo of Plant Wines, Sean Eubank of Native Wine Selections, Second Bottle owner Erin Keene and Sub Rosa Bakery’s Evrim Dogu — started mapping out the event, which they dubbed Encounter.
“It’s called Encounter because it’s meant less for industry people and more for the consumers who come to our wine tastings every Thursday. It’s just like that, but on a much bigger scale,” Patino says. “Education and awareness that natural wine comes from agriculture is the whole mission.”
Participants will receive a pen, a glass to take home, a spit cup and a pamphlet (designed by nonprofit beneficiary Studio Two Three). They’ll have access to taste wines from 35 unique producers, with an opportunity to buy limited quantities of bottles to take home. The pamphlet will also point visitors toward shops around Richmond that carry these and similar wines. Tickets are $45 per person for the tasting, which takes place from 1 to 5 p.m. For an additional $10, guests can sit in on a panel discussion called “What We Talk About When We Talk About Natural Wine.”
The discussion includes some impressive names in the industry, including author and “queen of natural wine” Alice Feiring, as well as Mads Kleppe, beverage and wine director for the past 14 years at the acclaimed Copenhagen restaurant Noma. Wine professionals Lee Campbell and Tim Jordan, cider makers Patrick Collins and Danielle LeCompte of Crozet’s Patois Cider, and VCU professor Jesse Goldstein will also contribute to the discussion.
In addition to the programming at the ICA, Encounter is also supporting more than a dozen satellite events around town leading up the event, at wine-centric spots including Penny’s Wine Shop, Adarra and Alewife. Those pre-festival activities range from casual tastings to multicourse dinners at area restaurants and other vino-friendly establishments. Reservations for each event are managed by the host venue.
Patino says tasting and talking about wine is the key to developing a broader understanding of the industry, something she hopes Encounter will facilitate. “You learn more by tasting more, whether you can put words to it or not,” she says. “I want consumers to understand that wine is an agricultural product. It comes from the ground. If you care about eating organic produce, maybe you’ll also care about drinking organic wine.”
Encounter Satellite Events
Saturday, Nov. 11
- InWine Presents Queer & Femme Wine Industry Professionals at Alewife: A tasting and roundtable discussion with wine pros including Lee Campbell of Commonwealth Crush, Summer Wolff of Hootenanny Wines, Nuria Avinyo of Nuria Wines and winemaker Evan Lewandowski. Noon to 2 p.m. $30.
- Virginia Ciders at Afterglow Coffee Cooperative: Chat with the owners and makers of Patois and Troddenvale ciders from 3 to 5 p.m. Free.
- An Afternoon with Botanist & Barrel at Union Market: Pours from North Carolina’s Botanist and Barrel and Natural VB from 1 to 3 p.m. Free.
- Austrian Wine Tasting with Martin Arndorfer at Metzger Bar & Butchery: Taste three wines and nosh on snacks from chef Em Taylor. 3 to 4 p.m. $25.
- Catalan Wine & Cheese Happy Hour at Laura Lee’s: Taste four wines from Catalan winemakers, along with snacks and charcuterie from 2 to 4 p.m. $15 in advance, $20 at the door.
- Dexheimer at Adarra: Stop by the restaurant for flights, glasses and bottles from low-intervention German winemaker Max Dexheimer. Starts at 5 p.m. Prices vary.
- Holiday Market and Bubbles at Sefton Coffee Co.: Sip on bubbles while checking out local vendors. 5 to 8 p.m. Free.
- Caprera Wine Dinner at Jubilee: Four courses paired with wines from Abruzzo, Italy. 6 to 8 p.m. $100.
- Wonderwerk at Stella’s Grocery Westhampton: Disco wine dinner with four courses inspired by the ’70s and pairings from LA-based Wonderwerk. 6 to 8 p.m. $150. Post-dinner dancing is free and open to the public.
- Oro and The Trifecta at Pizza Bones: A family-style al fresco feast by Oro with wine pairings. 7 p.m. Tickets on sale soon.
- Late Night With Ruth Lewandowski at Penny’s: Dubbed one of the most unconventional winemakers, Evan Lewandowski will be pouring wines from 8 to 11 p.m. $15; includes four tastings. Small-plate specials will also be available. Call to reserve a table or just pop in.
- Signoraginni Takeover at Stanley’s: Party with Giorgia Salierno, the visionary Tuscan winemaker from 9 p.m. to midnight. Free and open to the public.
- After Hours With Vino di Anna at Second Bottle: Guided tasting with winemaker Anna Martens featuring snacks from 8 1/2. 8 to 10 p.m. Call 804-505-3150 for reservations.
Sunday, Nov. 12
- Raclette Sunday With Andi Mann at Truckle Cheesemongers: Get extra cheesy and hang with German winemaker Andi Mann. 5 to 7 p.m. Open to the public.
