Still Sipping?

April 2014, Fitz 8 weeks, Winery at Lagrange

It has been a year since my last post! A whole year! No wonder some of you were wondering if I
decided to kick the blog to the curb. I did not intend to, but it appears that way. I've been a social media slacker on the twitter too.

When I started this adventure I was frustrated with my job and ready to explore beyond the DC city limits. I decided that the vineyards of Virginia was a great way to explore, visit different counties and do so with a cost effective purpose (tastings are $2-$15).

Having made it to more than 70 of Virginia's 240+ vineyards in the past couple of years I feel like I made some serious progress. My blogging definitely started to scale back when my career picked up and writing on the weekends wasn't that appealing. Have no fear though I am still sipping at the vineyards.

October 2014, Fitz 8 mo with Aspen Dale's goats

I'd like to continue documenting my visits to "new" to me vineyards, but lately I've been at those that are tried and true. A few months ago I got an adorably energetic puppy whose first outing was to the Winery at Lagrange! He's also been to Rappahannock and Aspen Dale (two vineyards I've made a couple stops at in the past year). In addition to taking the pup out to those vineyards, I've been back to Corcoran, Fox Meadow and of course Chester Gap Cellars. Of course there are always new vineyards and at the top of my list right now are Stone Tower & Maggie Malick's wine caves...oh and Catoctin Creek distillery too!

Crossing County Lines

I cannot believe it's September! Way back in July, Kurt & Carol of Wine About Virginia, Anthony of Virginia Pour House, and I headed out for a day of tastings in Rapppanhannock County but found ourselves wandering to Fauquier and even up into Loudoun County. For the most part the day was a great success.

Chester Gap in the Blue Ridge Mts

We started with the most western stop of the day, Chester Gap Cellars in Front Royal. Its a drive out there, but it was so worth it. The tasting room is modest, decorated with local wild flowers and protected by a large black dog, Demon, but let that deter you, he's fenced in. We tasted 2 Viogniers, both from 2010 one steel aged and the other French oak aged. Viognier is my favorite white and one that convinced me to give other whites a second chance. These two Viogniers are a great example of how the barrels affect the outcome of the wine. The first, aged in steel, was crisp and light while the second, aged in oak, was creamier more full bodied with a hint of oak and peach. They were both great and that was just the beginning of our tasting. We also sampled a 2009 Merlot, 2009 Vintner's Red (53% Cab Franc, 27% Merlot & 20% Petit Verdot), 2010 Petit Manseng (5.5% rs), 2009 Petit Verdot, and a 2010 Roussane. While I enjoyed all of the wines my other favorite here was the 2010 Petit Mansang and while I'm not much of a sweet wine connoisseur, this was soft and not syrupy with a nice pineapple aroma. 

Sitting & Sipping

Next up was Rappahannock Cellars, this was one of my first visits back in 2007, five years later I can say the wine has definitely matured. We were seated for our tasting that began with the 2011 Rose, a blend of Cab Franc, Merlot & Cab Sav, it was light and a bit fruity, a summer wine for sure. We moved to the 2011 Noblesse Blanc a white blend that with only 1% was still a bit sweet for me. After there was no denying that the 2010 Chardonnay was aged in oak barrels, it was rich and buttery almost like buttered popcorn. Moving to the reds we tried the 2011 Noblese Rouge, a dry but smooth red blend, and the dry 2010 Merlot. Finally we finished with the 2008 Vidal Blanc, a sweet wine that I enjoyed more than the Noblesse Blanc. My overall favorites were the two reds and the four of us opted for a bottle of the Rose to enjoy over lunch. 

To Hume Tastings

Kurt & Carol wanted to make it to one more before they had to leave Anthony and me for a prior engagement so we headed to Hume Vineyards.  Younger than than Chester Gap and Rappannock its only two years old in a cute old barn, however I think the wines will improve with age as they were mostly 2011 vintages that we tried. We tried the 2011 Seyval Blanc, 2011 Viognier, 2011 Rose, 2011 Chamborcin, 2009 Detour (Bordeaux-style blend) and the 2011 Vendage Tardive. I think the overall favorite of the group was the 2011 Vendage Tardive, a late harvest Vidal Blanc with 5% rs. This was a quick stop and after Kurt & Carol left, Anthony and I were stumped on where to go next. After check the map and not wanting to double back to any recent vineyard visits we decided on heading north to Chrysalis Vineyards. 

Glen working hard! 

I have to say Chrysalis was one of the most entertaining vineyards visits! Our server Glen was a riot! It seemed to be a busy day out there and he was pouring 12 wines (for $10) outside for about 15 people in the July heat and he'd only just arrived to Virginia from France about 3 weeks before.  He kept his cool and had the group laughing the entire time, with phrases like "no strawberries were sacrificed for the production of this wine," in reference to the 2011 Mariposa that really tastes like strawberry wine! While still managing to make it around the bar to serve everyone in a timely manner. Since we tried 12 wines there was everything on the list from Albarino to Norton, with a few blends in between. The whites were a bit younger than than the reds ranging from 2011-2007.  My favorite wines at this stop were the 2010 Sarah's Patio White, a Vidal Blanc & Traminette blend, the 2009 Rubiana which had black pepper notes in this drier red and the 2009 Norton Locksley Reserve, a bold red with a great velvety nose of oak. 

Boxwood tasting room

The last stop of the day was at Boxwood Estate Winery in Middleburg at the vineyards and home of the glass enclosed "wine cave." We sat outside at a shaded picnic table, but it was still a pretty hot day. Here we sampled 5 wines, all blends: 2011 Rose (46% Merlot, 35% Cab Franc & 19% Malbec), 2010 Boxwood Estate Trellis (68% Merlot, 18% Malbec & 14% Petit Verdot) the Merlot really shines through on this one, 2010 Topiary (61% Cab Franc & 39% Merlot), 2010 Boxwood (50% Cab Sav, 43% Merlot, 7% Peitit Verdot) and the 2009 Topiary (64% Cab Franc, 35% Merlot, 1% Malbec). They were all decent, but my favorite was the 2009 Topiary, the 2010 was slightly more fruit forward than the 2009. Overall we had a long, but adventurous day winding through wine country. Not a bad way to spend a Saturday at all! 

Rappahannock Cellars: Fall 2007

As we started at Gadino I can't say that recall the details of Rappahannock Cellars too vividly. I do remember that I preferred Gadino, but it could have also been the experience. I recall long tables and large tasting rooms, not nearly as intimate as the wrap-around porch at Gadino. Oh I did buy mulling spices there and the vineyards surrounded the property which is quite picturesque.

With Kelly at Rappahannock

Nestled in the Blue Ridge Mountains