Bogati Bodega & Veramar Vineyard

Back in December Kurt & Carol of Wine About Virginia invited me to join them on a tasting. It was great! For once I didn't have to plan out a route, they have much more experience with the Virginia wineries than I do so they said where and when and we were there. 

We headed west all the way to the mountains where we passed a bit of snow to get to Veramar Vineyard. We got there just before they opened and were the first customers to belly up to the bar. It being December the tasting room was decked in festive holiday decor and a great fragrance from the mulled wine they had simmering. Our server was pleasant and friendly, but unfortunately the wines were not some of the best I've had in Virginia. Most of the whites were a bit sour with the exception of the Riesling/Vidal and their D'Ora a Vidal dessert wine with 6% rs. They had 3 reds for tasting and while the Mourvedre and Cab Franc were a bit too light for me as far as reds go, I did like the Rooster Red which was a bit drier and darker than the others. We had a full day a head of us so we neglected sitting and sipping and headed to our next stop.

A few miles down the road was Bogati Bodega & Vineyard. Bogati and Veramar are sister wineries, they have the same wine maker and even use the same grapes, but their wines were quite different. It just goes to show that the process of wine making can turn good grapes in to poor wine or poor grapes can make a decent wine. Bogati was also decked for the holidays and instead of backing up into the hills like Veramar it rested next to a lazy river. I think everyone in the group had a favorite wine at Bogati and I enjoyed all the wines we tasted. My highlights were the Seyval Blanc which is 1/2 steel & 1/2 oak aged, the Viognier and Cabernet Franc. They also had the most interesting Syrah/Mouvedre which we were told was very earthy, but when I tasted it I definitely tasted bacon! Of course being the holidays we also had some mulled wine  which was a combination of cider and Syrah.

There were no other visitors while we were at Bogati and both staff members were very helpful and entertaining from the moment we walked in the door. They also have a great looking tapas menu that Lori & I agreed we need to go back and sample while sipping and watching the river flow. It was a great visit and I'd definitely recommend stopping in to Bogati.

Veramar's Views

The "goods" at Veramar

Bogati's Wall-o-Wine

Bogati's Tasting Room