A few weeks back, America’s one-time president (and also guy who is running again though clearly not fit to) Donald J. Trump was indicted and charged with 34 felony counts of falsifying business records. It should come as no surprise he pleaded not guilty to every single one. On a personal note, I found the timing of Trump’s indictment, arrest, and arraignment in New York City rather interesting since just days prior I’d received two bottles of wine from Trump Winery.
They sat on my counter as I watched the recent drama surrounding this very dramatic man-baby unfold — a bottle of sparkling wine and a red blend scripted with the Trump name just sitting in a box, waiting to be opened. I had so many questions about them. Why did I receive these wines? Who sent them? Sure, I receive a lot of wine for work but also… if feels like if you’re doing PR for Trump you might check in with folks to see if they want these Horcruxes in their homes, right?
And then — because I am a journalist by nature — my curiosity started eating at me. I started to wonder the same things every other millennial I know and have talked to about this matter has wondered: “Wait, Trump makes wine? Is it trash? I assume it’s trash? Must be trash, right?”
Before committing to further digging, I had to ask myself, “Am I really going to subject my tastebuds to something associated with a man who literally makes my skin crawl?” Because therein lies the question (which opens the door to so many others). Was I really going to taste these wines? Pitch a story on them? Get approved for writing that story? Write it? Send it to my editor for publication?
*Gulp* …Promote it?
I’m not the first to wrestle with these matters. I’m sure there were similar articles to this around the time of his presidency. A quick search shows me another writer wrestling this issue after a visit to Trump’s winery on this very site, back in 2016. So why do it again? Why put myself through that?
I guess, for me, because 2023 Trump seems so much more like an unintentional comedy figure than a political figure (though I suppose that’s what got America in trouble last time, too). And also my “why” is more straightforward than many journalists — I’m a wine enthusiast and writer, by trade. Actually tasting wine is central to my job reviewing, researching, and recommending bottles and reporting on the industry. Because of that, I like the idea of knowing if Trump wine sucks a lot more than assuming.
So… After what was obviously a lot of thought, I put my feelings towards Trump’s politics, persona, racism, sexism, horrible conduct, the MAGA cult, his role in the Jan 6 Insurrection, and all that other stuff aside (briefly!), pulled out a corkscrew and my favorite wine glass, and poured two glasses.
As the wine breathed, I discovered that Trump purchased the Charlottesville, Virginia property, previously the Kluge Estate Winery and Vineyard, in 2012. The winery has since been registered under the name of Eric Trump Wine Manufacturing LLC, and Trump’s son Eric Trump is listed as the winery’s president. According to a legal disclaimer on the Trump Winery’s site, the property is “not owned, managed or affiliated with Donald J. Trump, The Trump Organization, or any of their affiliates.”
In a Trump Winery video, Eric Trump claims he’s involved in every aspect of the winery, from “the construction, the rebuilding of the whole property, to the winemaking, to the branding, the marketing, the distribution, and everything in between.” However, he is not the winemaker. That position is held by Jonathan Wheeler, who brings a wealth of experience to the brand. Wheeler worked with grapes from the estate long before the Trumps got involved. He has experience working in some of the world’s most celebrated wine regions, from Sonoma and Monterey in California to the New York Finger Lakes and even Marlborough, New Zealand.
I also learned — begrudgingly! — that the wines in the Trump portfolio are critically acclaimed, with many receiving top accolades at wine competitions across the country. It’s worth noting that the grapes used for the wines are 100% estate grown in Montecillo, meaning the vines are cultivated on Trump Winery property. With continued, enthusiastic disgust aimed toward the family that owns the property but slightly more hope for the product itself, I nosed my first glass…
Trump Winery Monticello Sparkling Blanc de Noir 2016
ABV: 12.5%
Average Price: $55
The Wine:
This wine is made with Pinot Noir grapes from the foothills of Carter’s Mountain in Monticello. It’s made in the Méthode Champenoise — otherwise known as the traditional method — which is basically the style winemakers in Champagne use to make sparkling wine. The winemaking style works to the winery’s benefit, resulting in a vibrant bubbly full of freshness and richness that has won the hearts of many. The bottle has won several awards, including the highest titles at the San Francisco Chronicle Wine Competition, Virigina’s Governor’s Cup, and Critics Challenge Int’l Wine & Spirits Competition.
Tasting Notes:
Aroma: The aroma is big, big BIG! You can smell pear, ripe yellow and red delicious apples, freshly baked bread hot out of the oven, sliced and smeared with decadent salty butter, vanilla, and a faint hint of citrus.
Palate: This wine is bright and energetic on the palate. Vibrant, tiny little bubbles fizz in the mouth and evolve into an almost creamy texture. Overall, it’s fresh on the palate and has well-balanced acidity, but it also has a richness that’s detected at first sip.
Finish: The finish is long and strong, baby. I could still taste the flavors of the sparkling wine coating my tongue and cheeks at least 40 seconds after swallowing a sip.
Bottom line:
This is a quality sparkling wine. It has all the attributes bubbly lovers look for in a glass: persistent bubbles, punchy aromas, plenty of flavor, and a finish that goes on and on and on.
Trump Winery New World Reserve 2019
ABV: 13.6%
Average Price: $54
The Wine:
Yet another big-time competition winner, this Bordeaux-style ruby red wine is made with a blend of Merlot, Cabernet Franc, Petit Verdot, and Malbec. It’s a big wine — the type of wine you want to drink at a chic, dimly lit restaurant while tearing your way through a ribeye or some extravagant cut of perfectly-cooked red meat.
Tasting Notes:
Aroma: The black fruit fragrances are singing in this wine. You can smell them oozing from the bottle as soon as the cork is out. Give it a swirl in the glass, and more aromas emerge, like black cherries, purple plum, vanilla, toasted oak, and even a bit of cassis.
Palate: This wine is full-bodied — there’s no doubt about that. But it feels incredibly silky and smooth in the mouth. The fruit nuances are decadent on the palate at first. It’s almost as if you can taste actual berries, even though it’s obvious that no berries are involved in making this wine. Then it rounds out thanks to a touch of oak and pillowy-soft tannins that adds complexity.
Finish: This wine has a long and robust finish layered with fruity nuances and a bit of acidity.
Bottom line:
It has body, structure, and complexity. Even still, the price is a little on the high end for what it is, considering that there are some truly outstanding wines from Bordeaux, France — the region this blend is modeled after — for around the same price. That said, the wine is still quite tasty and worth a sip. Except…
Final Thoughts:
Yes, it pains me to admit that the wines in the Trump lineup were pretty damn good. Both bottles exuded the type of quality that both aficionados and neophytes can recognize. I’d be lying if I said my palate didn’t enjoy performing this taste test. So… that’s that.
But also…
By the time I was done enjoying Trump’s wines (yes, the whole bottles, let’s not be wasteful here), I returned to my original questions armed with new information. Though our ignorant, careless, racist, misogynistic, insurrection-fomenting former president may not be explicitly calling the shots at Trump Winery, his son is. And if Succession teaches us anything it’s that apples don’t fall far from trees and family finances of the mega(MAGA)-rich are murky. This is all to say… the brand is too closely tied to a human I find repulsive to endorse, regardless of the fact that it’s pretty good.
There are too many outstanding bottles of American-made red and sparkling wine to give a cent of my hard-earned cash to a distillery even loosely connected to a man so hellbent on division when wine, at its core, is intended to bring people together.