Orchards & Vineyards, Oh My!

While my apple spice cake bakes I think its the perfect time to summarize last weekends trip to Stribling Orchard in Markham. Thank you Lori for getting me out the door to do the apple picking I had intended a few weeks before. Getting out to Markham was a chore, there was construction in DC, then Rock Creek Parkway was closed, then 495 was closed off of 66 causing major delays. Yuck! Once we got out of that bottleneck it was smooth sailing and the changing foliage was gorgeous. I just love getting outside the beltway to the fresh air. I suppose I could move out that way, but I'm not ready to endure that painful commute daily.

We both had a good time picking apples, however Lori insisted on gather as many different types that she could find which meant wandering around the very picked over trees with apples souring on the ground around them. Ok, fine. We did that for a bit, then it was off to this side of the orchard, then the other! She ended up with 20 lbs and I finished with 12 lbs. Not bad for a leisurely hour and a half. I was a little bummed that they were cleaned out of pumpkins.  After finishing and picking up some apple treats we were ready for lunch and wine. Lunch seemed harder to come by than wine so we were off for the latter. We were very close to Barrel Oak and I had some free tasting coupons, but Lori suggested checking out Philip Carter Winery.

The winery was just a few miles down the road, set back against the hills. It was beautiful to approach. It was also just as busy as the orchard. There were families picnicking outside on the lovely patio. It was a perfect day. There was quite a wait to get to one of the two tasting bars. After waiting for about 10 minutes one group was escorted to a one bar, while we continued to wait. I was bit disappointed since the hostess didn't acknowledge us or the other folks waiting, not even to tell us it was busy, she'd be right with us or there'd be a bit of wait. Eventually they set up an additional table for a tasting where we were set up with some other tasters. I must say our server saved the day. He was knowledgeable, engaging and entertaining. He chatted about the history of Virginia wine, told us how they had lost one of their grapes completely with all the recent rain we had gotten.

For such a large vineyard I expected them to have more than four wines (for $4), but with only 10 of their 27 acres in production that's what is yielded. We had the '10 Vidal Blanc a sweet, easy to drink white; '10 Chardonnay which tasted a lot like buttered popcorn. The reds were the '10 Cabernet Franc which wasn't too dry and lightly peppery, then the '09 Cleve a blend of cab franc, cab sav and petite verdot and that was a bit tart. They were all average wines, I think I liked the Cab Franc best and Lori favored the Vidal Blanc. Instead of enjoying the view we were still famished and headed to Flint Hall for lunch, which as the closest place was about 20 miles down the road. En route we passed the infamous Oasis Winery, Desert Rose and Berry Hill. We didn't end up stopping at any of those as we needed to get back to the city in time for dinner. It was a lovely day once the sun finally came out and as Philip Carter is very dog and kid friendly, I'd recommend it to families who want to let the kids roam outside while relaxing, but don't forget to bring snacks!

Stribling Orchard

Reaching! Gorgeous Foliage! 

Presses like this are still used in Eastern Europe for house wine

Breathtaking views

Capitol Vineyards: October 9, 2011

We decided to see if we could fit one more vineyard in after Apsen Dale. Capitol Vineyards was close and relatively new so we made it our target. Side note: the former English teacher in me just noticed this is "capitol" with an "o" rather an "a" and that seems off since it is near the "capital" city, but I guess they want to refer to the actual "capitol" building.

Anyways, moving along. This place would be very easy to miss, they usually keep an "open" flag on a near by tree as the small, white tasting room is just around the bend. Its a very modest structure and they had been hit by the crazy stinkbugs too, but at least the ones at Capitol were more sedated and not flying in your face. We met the proprietress who seem very tired, it was about 5 and closing time is 6, but they had a Living Social deal that expired that day so she had been slammed. It wasn't until we were getting ready to taste here, that I realized how much more my friends had drank than me-I had 2 glasses, lots of bread and cheese, while they polished off at least 3 bottles in the course of 4 hours. Maybe 2 stops would have been enough that day. Alas we were already there so we tasted their 5 wines, 1 white and 4 reds: Traminette, Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, Merlot & Meritage. Our favorites were the Cab Sav and Cab Franc. I think we may have each taken a bottle of the former home. When looking at the wines, you will notice their labels, drawn by the owner's former roommate they each feature the capitol building and a character indicative of DC, the Traminette looks like an intern, there is a military officer, professional (fed?) woman, professional (lobbiest?) man, and a student.  Most of the grapes for their wines have been grown in Charlottesville, but they are starting to grow some on the property surrounding the tasting room.

If planning a trip here, there isn't a lot of space to sit and enjoy a glass. There are some couches and chairs on the narrow porch and that is about it and the only restroom is a port-o-potty out back. I wanted to stay away from the bugs so we wandered across the property to a grassy spot where we settled down for a bit. It was cool and the air smelled so sweet. Its obvious that this is a young vineyard, still trying to get a firm hold on the business demands, but their wines were plesant so if you are in the Markham/Delaplane area I'd recommend stopping in for a quick visit.  Now, today, I'm off to head back in the Markham direction to hopefully get into those orchards I missed on the 9th!

The decorative lables

Views of the vines & tasting room from our grassy spot

Taking in a Shenandoah sunset