This time Debbie, Kelly, Jon & Dan piled in and we headed due west from DC towards Front Royal and Linden. I mapped out a sandwich shop in Haymarket on our way out there. The 5 of us inundated this poor guy at his shop right as he was opening and getting his ice cream delivery, it was a small town and he obviously wasn't ready for an 11am rush on a Saturday; though he did whip up some good sammies under pressure.
Our westward drive was very nice, that route is very green as it heads up the into the mountains and there was hardly anyone else on the road. When we got to
Chateau O'Brien the tasting room sat just above the level of fog, it was a beautiful view. O'Brien had a lot of bold reds, one of which I still have on my shelf. It was spicy and strong and would be best served with a really good steak, any takers? O'Brien had a small tasting room and there were about 6-8 wines on the standard list, they also had a reserve tasting in a separate room that we passed on. Outside they had a great covered patio that looked out over the vineyards and hills so we opted to eat our lunch there. I really enjoyed this winery, the staff was friendly, they have a mascot "Buddy" the bulldog, its just off the main road, but feels a world away from anything. I think it would be great to go back to in the fall for the view and their rich reds would be more enjoyable then.
Stop number two was a few miles up the road at
Fox Meadow Winery. I picked this place and weekend for two reasons, one Jill's boyfriend lives right up the road so they could join us and two they were hosting a vertical wine tasting. Unfortunately Jill was sent to Florida to work for a few months, but Brad was still able to meet up with us at Fox Meadow. The drive was windy road weaving up the mountain that almost reminded me of driving up to McCall in Idaho, but much foggier. Once there we did the standard and vertical tastings. The vertical tasting was great, when you start you have 4 of the same wines from different years in front of you. In this case they were all Le Renard Rouge from consecutive years 2005 to 2008. The owner walked us through the different years and had us taste each then go back to compare. 2005 and 2007 happened to be drought years and you could definitely taste the difference, these were my least favorites. I think I liked 2006 the best, but was outweighed by the crew when purchasing time came around as everyone else voted for the 2005.
The standard tasting included 5 wines with pairings. The most interesting was the Pinot Gris served with a rice crispy treat! It was a good combo, but the Gris was not my fav. They had a Viognier that I liked the best, go figure, and the grapes were actually grown at Berryhill Vineyard and then processed at Fox Meadow. I did like that they told you where the grapes were from, which were grown onsite and which were purchased from other vineyards. I'll probably head back to this for a visit because the fog was so thick we didn't get the mountain top view and Dan & Debbie, the little devils that they are, added my name to their email mailing list so I keep getting info about their upcoming events.
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| The Crew at Chateau O'Brien |
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| Ladies lunching! |
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| Dan posing for the perfect portrait |
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| Looking out over O'Brien |
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| Vertical tasting in the cellar at Fox Meadow |
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| Sipping on the deck |
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| Looking out over the deck |
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| Walking past the vines |
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