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Patricia
Kluge puts Virginia wine in the spotlight
Related
stories:
- Is the cork finally off Virginia's
wine industry?
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Publisher's Profile —
agriculture
by
Paula C. Squires
Virginia
Business
November 2003
She’s
rich, remarried and on to something new. Patricia Kluge,
Virginia’s well-known socialite and philanthropist,
has turned vintner since her divorce from billionaire
John Kluge Sr., founder of Metromedia International
Group.
In
her quest to build a world-class winery, Kluge, 54,
and new husband William J. Moses, 56, plan to spend
about $25 million to develop 200 acres of vineyards
and an expansive winery-retail operation. Forty acres
on her sprawling 1,200-acre Albemarle County estate
are already under vine and another 150 acres have been
planted. Construction begins next year on a $5 million
French-chateau style winery that will complement an
existing winery and rustic farm shop. Last month, the
couple opened Fuel, a restaurant-deli-gas station in
downtown Charlottesville that will showcase Kluge’s
wines.
Her
splashy foray into winemaking is the talk of Virginia
wine circles. While the amount of her divorce settlement
isn’t known, Kluge is a multi-millionaire businesswoman
who brings connections and deep pockets to the state’s
fast-growing wine industry. “If we didn’t
think anything good was coming out of Virginia, we wouldn’t
have gotten into this thing,” she says. “We
feel it has huge potential on the East Coast.”
Kluge’s
staff says she’s deeply involved in the winery,
having a say on everything from labeling to the hiring
of famed French consultants to advise on winemaking.
One of the stars is Michel Rolland, whose client list
includes such wine icons as Robert Mondavi, who happens
to be a personal friend of Kluge’s.
Located
a few miles from historic Monticello — where Thomas
Jefferson unsuccessfully tried to grow wine grapes more
than 200 years ago — the winery has been featured
in several national publications, including USA Today
and Wine & Cuisine. “The kind of attention
Virginia has gotten since the release of our wine is
huge,” Kluge declares, referring to last year’s
release of her 2001 New World Red, a pricey Bordeaux
blend that sells for $58 a bottle. Also in her line
up: a $32 sparkling wine and a $26 fortified Chardonnay
aperitif called Cru. Next year, Kluge plans to release
a wine for the “shopping cart market” —
a red blend named Albemarle House that will be sold
through grocery store chains for less than $20.
Kluge
describes the winery as very much a joint venture with
Moses, a lawyer and former IBM executive who received
his undergraduate degree from the University of Virginia.
“I create the product and market it. He’s
the CEO who runs the company.” She describes the
couple — who met at a board meeting in New York
City and married in 2000 in the chapel on Kluge’s
estate — as “deeply in love. My husband makes
me laugh.”
Some
of her neighbors and fellow Virginia vintners aren’t
laughing, though. To help finance the winery’s
growth, Kluge and Moses want to develop 28 homes among
their vineyards. Two-thirds of a 511-acre tract would
be set aside as protected conservation lands; the six-acre-lot
homes would be situated on the remaining acreage. Some
neighbors oppose the project, fearing the mix would
set a precedent for future development in agricultural
districts, although under current zoning Kluge could
put as many as 43 homes on the site.
Meanwhile,
vintners fear that all this exposure will backfire if
Kluge’s wines aren’t top drawer. She hasn’t
entered them into competition, preferring to have several
vintages under her belt before they are rated by experts.
People who have tasted the 2001 Old World Red say it
has the potential to be a great wine, but it’s
not there yet. “It’s a lighter-style red.
She will at some stage produce true Bordeaux in Virginia.
It will take a while to do, because her grapes are young,”
predicts Mike Potashnik, a veteran of wine tastings
here and abroad and cofounder of the Virginia Wine Guide.
The
nonprofit online monthly newsletter offers information
and rankings on Virginia wines. For Virginia’s
wine industry to take off, Potashnik says it needs a
continuing commitment to quality, a reasonable price
point and more exposure. “The only way for the
industry to grow is for people to taste the wines.”
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