Kurt & Carol of
Wine About Virginia graciously invited me along to
Delaplane Cellar's pre-harvest celebration for club members in late August. Since it was my first visit there and we were a tad early we started with the standard tasting upstairs. It was a foggy day in the mountains, but we still had great views from the wall of windows in the tasting room. For $7 you can taste 5 quality wines.
First up was the 2011 Maggie's Viognier which is a great, crisp wine named for Maggie's Vineyard in Loudoun County where the grapes are grown. The 2011 Barrel Fermented Chardonnay was a smooth white aged in neutral French oak. The 2011 Cabernet Franc is a lighter version than what I'm used to, but it was still an enjoyable peppery red, perhaps because just before bottling it was blended with 8% Cab Sav and 4% Petit Verdot. Next up was the smooth yet full bodied 2009 Melange Rouge a Bordeaux style blend with 56% Cab Sav, 30% Merlot, 8% Petit Verdot and 6% Cab Franc. We finished with the 2010 Williams Gap Reserve, another Bordeaux style blend of 31% Cab Sav, 30% Merlot, 27% Cab Franc and 12% Petit Verdot; this blend was a deeper wine with a berry nose and 15.1% alcohol after resting in a mix of oak barrels for 20 months. I enjoyed all of the wines with the exception of the Chardonnay, which is not uncommon for me, a Chardonnay has to really knock my socks off for me to love it.
After our tasting we meandered downstairs for the club tasting. The tasting included the 2011 Maggie's Viognier, 2010 Springlot, 2009 Melange Rouge and 2010 William's Gap Reserve. The 2010 Springlot being the only different one than what was in the tasting room was a Merlot dominate blend (47%), along side 33% Cab Sav and 20% Cab Franc which we did enjoy. There was lots of mingling and a plethora of cheeses, dips and small bites for all the club members to enjoy.
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