At its recent grand opening, New Kent Winery unveiled its first wines for the public, and winemaker Tom Payette didn't disappoint.

In fact, across the board, his six wines can stand with most in the state -- and beyond.

Among the White Norton, Chardonnay, Chardonnay Reserve, Vidal, Merlot and Meritage, the 2004 Chard Reserve stood out -- and for a reason beyond its nice fruit flavors, hint of oak and terrific finish. This appears to be Payette's baby, one he nursed along for a much longer aging period than most whites go through.

"A minimum of three years sur-lie, stirred, in all-new premium American Oak barrels sets this apart," Payette said. "I know of no other winery, especially in the East, if not nationwide, that has done this extended lees aging."

Sur-lie (pronounced soor-LEE) is a French term that means "on the lees." Lees are dead yeast cells, seeds, pulp, stem and grape-skin fragments. Sur-lie allows the wine to stay in contact with these materials longer than normal and change or increase the taste of the wine.

"It is very youthful despite the time aging, and it carries such a long, fruit-led, butterscotch rounded finish," Payette said. "Toasty oak chimes in late in the finish to just have one say -- 'Wow!' This wine has that something special."

He's right. It tastes like a $40 wine but carries a $22.95 price tag.

Payette also has come up with a wine he calls, "so very, very unique."

It's the White Norton ($15.95), which is fruity and fragrant with a touch of sweetness that won't turn off even the most passionate red wine drinker.

"We kept the pleasant aromas of Norton within the wine without them becoming overbearing," Payette said of this native Virginia grape.

"This centers on how we harvested and treated the fruit after harvest just before pressing. A certain pleasant native foxiness is kept without some of the potentially overbearing portions of the characteristics some see in the Norton grape.

"This wine is actually complex but very user-friendly and one that everyone enjoys regardless of their sophistication in wine. It's just a fun wine from the vineyard to the sip -- and beyond."

The Meritage ($18) is a blend of 72 percent Cabernet Franc, 26 percent Merlot, less than 2 percent Cabernet Sauvignon with touches of other grapes.

The blue-bottled Vidal ($15.95) has 2 percent residual sugar and will become a deck night favorite.

The Merlot ($17.50) and Chardonnay ($15.95), along with the other four, are available only at the winery, which is in the burgeoning residential community called New Kent Vineyards. It's an easy 30-minute drive east from Richmond (Exit 211 off Interstate 64).

The winery itself is worth the visit. It was built with more than 70 percent reclaimed historic materials, including 40-foot heart pine trusses from the early-1900s Southern Railway Depot in Richmond.

Richmond's warehouse district provided pre-Civil War brick. Wood used in the building includes cypress salvaged from the waters of Florida's rivers and other exotic woods.
"Vines & Wines" appears alternate weeks in the Food section. Contact Jack Berninger at jberninger@timesdispatch.com.