Loudoun's Creek's Edge Winery - A Relaxing Destination

Question? Which community holds the two oldest standing houses in Loudoun County, is listed on the National Register of Historic Places, and is home to a new farm winery? The answer is Taylorstown, a small village two miles south of the Potomac River that was first settled in 1734 by Richard Brown who build a mill over the Catoctin Creek. The two oldest standing houses are "Hunting Hill" and "Foxton Cottage" - both located directly across the Catoctin Creek from each other.

The new farm winery is Creek's Edge Winery, which was established by Tedd Durden in 2010. The estate vineyard consists of 4.5 acres of vines such as Chambourcin, Chardonnay, Merlot, and Cabernet Sauvignon. The Amish structure housing the winery and tasting room is magnificent, even at night when we ventured over.  Although we missed the views of the estate, nighttime has another advantage, particularly Sunday night when the remain open until 7PM and occasionally live music. The winery charges $8 for a standard tasting and $15 for an expanded menu. I chose the standard and learned that most of the wine is Virginia grown except for the Riesling and Sangiovese which are sourced from Washington state.  The Virginia fruit is sourced from a neighboring Lovettsville vineyard as well as southern Virginia. The wines for the standard tasting are listed below (with my immediate thoughts) and the prices were pretty consistent within the Loudoun community.  Overall the wines were solid; I enjoyed the Pinot Gris the most . Add in the ambiance and Creek's Edge Winery is a relaxing destination in the Loudoun County Wine Trail. And theCompass Winery, Brewery, Distillery Locator Mobile App will guide you to historic Taylorstown.

• 2014 Pinot Gris ($26) - peaches
• 2014 Stainless Chardonnay ($26) - green apple
• 2012 Chardonnay ($28) - lots of butter
• 2014 Riesling ($25) - 2.5RS a solid wine
• 2014 Rosé of Sangiovese ($25) - strawberry acids
• NV Chambourcin ($24) nice fruit, slight pepper
• 2012 Cabernet Sauvignon ($30) - very smooth, light green pepper
• 2012 Merlot ($30) - slight earthiness, low fruit, black pepper

#UncorkColorado 2015 Governor’s Cup Case Rhone Styled Wines

The Colorado Wine Board wants you, the wine consumer, to know that the Centennial State produces quality wine. One marketing platform they are utilizing is an #UncorkColorado Wine Virtual Tasting Series which featured the twelve wines in the 2015 Governor’s Cup Case.  Seems that Colorado is a good fit for Rhone styled wines as five of these wines were included in the case with two Syrah wines tying for Best in Show.

For those unfamiliar with Colorado wine, almost all are gown in the western part of the state with the Grand Valley AVA accounting for 80% of the grapes are grown. The next largest region is neighboring Delta & Montrose Counties which include Colorado's other American Viticultural Area, the West Elks AVA. That being said, over half of the wineries are located in Colorado's Front Range, the longitudinal area where the plains meets the Rocky's in the eastern part of the state. These eastern wineries source most of their fruit from the western region and have the grapes picked in the morning and then transferred overnight in a refrigerator truck. Also known as the Mile High State, Colorado is home to the highest vineyard elevations in America. On the positive side this altitude enhances a grape's acidity; one the negative side crop loss from frost and freezes are common.

According to the Colorado Wine Board, planting records indicate that Bordeaux varieties are the most common grapes planted in Colorado, but Rhone varieties certainly stands out. And we are referring to Northern Rhone with Syrah and Viognier. Of the two, Syrah  dominates with 1,000 acres planted compared to just 30 acres for Viognier. During out tasting we sampled one Viognier, three single varietal Syrah wines and one Rhone blend. These wines were more than solid, very tasting and structurally sound - proving that Colorado is wine country.


BookCliff Vineyards 2014 Viognier ($16, 14.8%) - BookCliff  accounts for two of the 30 acres of Viognier that were originally planted in 1997. Yields in the 2014 harvest were low, still being affected by an early freeze in 2013 that damaged most vines.  This had the beneficial result of concentrating the flavors and with the vineyard's high elevation of  4,600 feet, enhanced acidity.  The wine starts with a unique lemongrass aroma followed by apricot flavors, with some levels of cream, and refreshing acids. 

Turquoise Mesa Winery 2013 Colorado Crimson ($28, 13.5%) - blend of Syrah, Mourvedre, and Viognier sourced from the Grand Valley. After fermentation the wine was aged in three American (Minnesota) oak barrels, one new, and two multi-year barrels. There is notable spice on the wine a mix of pepper and baking spices - most likely a result of the oak. Once the spices blow off, the dark fruit flavors appear and with the soft tannins a very approachable wine.

Boulder Creek Winery 2012 Syrah (14.4%) - sourced form Talbott Farms/Diers Vineyard, Grand Valley AVA and aged 14 months in 2-year old Hungarian oak barrels. Sadly this winery closed down this month after 13 years in the industry after losing their lease. It appears the a side affect of the marijuana industry is escalating rents and the cost-benefit analysis for continuing just didn't add up. That's doubly sad because this is an excellent wine, a healthy wine was my initial exclamation, with big flavors and tannic structure yet finishing softly.

These last two Syrahs were tied as co-Best of Show in the 2015 Governor’s Cup

Turquoise Mesa Winery 2013 Syrah ($35, 13.5%) - sourced from Talbot’s Mountain Gold Block 19 Vineyard, Grand Valley AVA and aged in three American (Minnesota) oak barrels, one new, and two multi-year barrels. Like the Colorado Crimson this wine starts with plenty of pepper and spice which eventually subsides to reveal very dark fruit, some chocolate, earthy tannins, and decent texture.

Canyon Wind Cellars Anemoi 2013 Lips ($35, 14.4%) - Syrah; 100% Cliffside Vineyard, Grand Valley AVA; aged in all new American oak for ten months. The name refers to the Anemoi who were the four wind gods in Greek mythology and acknowledges the winds that regularly flow through Canyon Wind's vineyards. This was my favorite wine of the evening, simply delicious dark plummy fruit, a slight cola flavor mixing with tea and wood, then some velvety cream, finishing with acids and backbone. One complex and tasty wine. 

#WineChat Delivers Left Coast Cellars Pinot Gris & Pinot Noir

Last week winemaker Luke McCollom of Oregon's Left Coast Cellars appeared on #WineChat in order to present two new offerings from the winery, 2014 The Orchards Pinot Gris and the 2013 Cali's Cuvee Pinot Noir. This presented a ideal opportunity to continue learning about the Willamette Valley and specifically Left Coast Cellars. The winery was founded by Suzanne and Robert Pfaff in 2003 and market themselves as "one family, one vineyard, one brand." And the vineyard is quite unique in that it is the largest contiguous estate in the Willamette Valley covering 350 acres with approximately 150 planted with vines. Since the estate is so large it spans several micro-climates and allows the winery to showcase the diverse climates of the valley. One common aspect is the Van Duzer Corridor, the main passage of air from the Pacific into the Willamette Valley. And Left Coast Cellars feels the full affect (enhanced acidity) of the cool ocean breezes and fog as the estate sits at the head of the corridor. The Estate's soil is a refection of the entire valley as it consists of the three major soil types: marine sediment, volcanic sediment at higher altitudes, and loess from the Missoula Floods.

Luke McCollom joined Left Coast Cellars at it's inception after previously working at Harlan Estate Winery in Napa and at Meridian Vineyards in Paso Robles. Although he received abundant experience at both establishments, McCollom readily acknowledged that neither provided adequate incite in the fickle Pinot Noir.  And probably the most interesting conversation during #winechat was his discussion of the soils and the preponderance of marine fossils from sea shells and snails, but also a Mastodon fossil.

2014 The Orchards Pinot Gris ($18, 14.2%) - 146 & 152 clones harvested from The Orchards vineyard, an estate block that was originally planted with pear and cherry orchards. The wine showcases citrus and green apple flavors, a creamy center, and plenty of refreshing acids at the tail.  A perfect example why Oregon Pinot Gris forced me to rediscover this grape.

2013 Cali's Cuvee Pinot Noir ($24, 13.5%) - named after the family's left handed daughter Cali this wine is a blend of the Dijon, Pommard and Wädenswil clones. Loads of plum and red cherry mingle with subtle wood spices and easy, easy tannins. Simply delicious.

#VABreweryChallenge - Loudoun Brewing Company (#26)

The #VABreweryChallenge gets more complicated as Loudoun Brewing Company opened it's doors recently. Located in downtown Leesburg, the nano-brewery augments the Loudoun County Beer & Wine Trail with a diverse portfolio of rather tasty beers.  The brewery is generous in its hours by opening at 11am on weekends which presented an opportunity to visit before preceding to Corcoran Vineyards & Cider. Owner-brewer Patrick Steffens lead me though a tasting of the seven beers on-tap as well as beers on deck. The healthy menu ranged from a standard Loud and Brewing IPA,  The Dogs Bullocks Dry Stout, and Blind Squirrel Brown Ale to the creative Thankful Belgium Cranberry Stout, The Bee's Knees Honey Wheat Ale, Jalapeno Business Jalapeno Saison, and Orange You Glad I Didn't Say Banana Belgium Quad. The Jalapeno Saison is a nice representation of a pepper beer as the heat comes early but does burn at the finish. My favorite two were the Dry Stout and Brown Ale, the later because it tasted more like a Porter than a brown ale, the former because of it's simplicity. It tasted just as expected. There's more good beer in the pipeline as Patrick hopes to release a Milk Stout on nitro as well as a Cinnamon Porter perhaps this week. Cheers to that.