Discover Virginia Wine (The Monticello Wine Trail)

Monday October 25th, we were privileged to participate in the inaugural Virginia wide Taste Live twitter event, Discover Virginia Wine (The Monticello Wine Trail) tasting. Our good friend Dezel from @myvinespot and My Vine Spot organized and moderated the event. He invited me to participate at his house along with several other wine bloggers, all who have a better palate for wine then me: @grapevine4wine from The GrapeVine; @Alleigh from A Glass After Work; @SuzieLin from Runningwinegirl's Blog; and @elizabethdehoff from Crushworthy Wines. I learned from just listening to their commentary. Participants tweeted from all corners of the county, from the great northwest, to New York, south to Florida and regions in between. In Charlottesville, CBS 19 also broadcast the event after visiting some of the participating wines. And finally, throughout the evening, the great Virginian wine grape - Viognier - trending on twitter. Which is ironic in that at our table, the Keswick Vineyards 2009 Viognier was the least popular wine.

The tasting involved five wines from central Virginia. We started with theKluge Estate 2007 SP Rose, which I thought slightly off-dry; but my tasting partners corrected as completely dry. The sparkling wine is made in the traditional méthode Champenoise using estate grown 95% Chardonnay (95%) and Pinot Noir (5%) and aged on the lees for 21-24 months. The result is a complex wine, alot going on - plenty of sour cherry; I may have mistook fruit flavors for sweetness, but in general this is a nice sparkler. The only issue is the price; is it worth $25-$30; we shall see.

The aforementioned Keswick Vineyards 2009 Viognier followed and received mixed reviews. Some enjoyed it; others didn't - the presence of oak probably contributed to that outcome. I, along with Dezel, were the contrarians and enjoyed the wine, although I don't think its as good as many offered in the state. Keswick's winemaker, Stephen Barnard, crafts many wonderful wines, this just didn't seem to be his best.

Since our visit to Jefferson Vineyards over two years ago, we have been extremely impressed with Andy Reagan's wines. Normally we prefer his reds, but tonight we sampled his 2009 Reserve Chardonnay. The grapes were sourced from a few different vineyards, 30% were estate grown - harvested from 25 year old vines. The wine starts with a toasty nose, followed by a slight oak flavor ending with nice acidity in the tail. Not only did we think it was a fine wine, but it recently received a Gold Medal at the 2010 LodiWine Awards. Nicely done.

The next wine was a real surprise; the Afton Mountains 2009 Gewürztraminer. We didn't taste this wine on our recent visit to the winery, but it was a hit during the evening - surprising in that an off dry wine was praised by several wine "experts". Gewürztraminer can be translated into "Spice Traminer"or "Perfumed Traminer" so its not a surprise that this wine had a little spice flavor. About a third of the wine was aged in barrels that previously housed their eiswine style dessert wine. I think the acidity makes this wine - it tones down the sweetness and allows the fruit flavors to dominate.

We then moved on to reds, starting with Kirsty Harmon's Blenheim Vineyards 2009 Seven Oaks Merlot. Since becoming winemaker a couple years back - she is finally able to release her own vintages. Now, the first thing to know about this wine is don't fear the screw-cap as Blenheim is one of two Virginia wineries to use that enclosure device on all wines - red and whites. The second is this grapes are 100% Merlot harvested from the Seven Oaks Vineyard near Crozet. After fermentation, 50% of the wine is aged in stainless steel, the other half for 9 months in new French barrels. This is another nicely done wine; complex, but fruit forward and a smooth tail. Maybe Merlot is a Virginia grape.

The final wine for the evening was the Mountfair Vineyards 2008 Wooloomooloo. We had just visited Mountfair and were well aware of this wine. It is primarily Petit Verdot (60%), with Merlot (30%) and Cabernet Franc (10%) added to make this an interesting Bordeaux style wine. The wine is then aged 2 years before bottled and released. And "Wooloomooloo" - that's evidently a spirit that roams the Blue Ridge Mountains. Like any wine composed of Petit Verdot; this wine has some tannins - but the other grapes must contribute enough structure and fruit to tone these down. Regular readers know how much we prefer blends so its no surprise that this is one of my favorite wines tasted this year from Virginia.

Thanks Dezel, the participating wineries, and Taste Live for an entertaining evening.

Discover Virginia Wine (The Monticello Wine Trail)

I've checked in at Dezel's place getting ready for the Discover Virginia Wine (The Monticello Wine Trail) Taste Live tasting. The handles: these handles on twitter: #WW #ttl #vawine @keswickvineyard @benatmountfair @MfVvinotweets @th_jefferson @KlugeEstate @BlenheimWines @AftonMountain @vawine. The wines:

a) Kluge Estate 2007 SP Rosé

b) Afton Mountains 2009 Gewürztraminer

c) Keswick Vineyards 2009 Viognier

d) Jefferson Vineyards 2009 Reserve Chardonnay

e) Blenheim Vineyards 2009 Merlot

f) Mountfair Vineyards 2008 Wooloomooloo

A Weekend in Nelson County (Day 2)

We followed Day 1 in Nelson County by started Day 2 by hitting three wineries located on the north end of Route 101. We had a scheduled appointment to film an episode of MyJoogTV at Devil's Backbone Brewing Company at 1:00 PM, and fortunately we were able to start the day off early since Afton Mountain Vineyards accommodated our schedule by opening at 10:00 AM. And we were not the only visitors that early. This winery is the second oldest in the county and is currently owned and operated by Elizabeth and Tony Smith. Upon acquiring the enterprise, the Smith family relocated the tasting facility to the former's owner's residence - providing an expansive view of the valley below. Almost all the grapes are estate grown and with the estate's long history, they have been able to test and cultivate several non-traditional Virginia grapes: Pinot Noir, Sangiovese, Gewurztraminer and Muscat. During a tasting there are two alternative routes, a regular or reserve tasting. We chose the Reserve tasting we allowed us to enjoy a sparkler to start the day - the 2006 Tete' de Cuvee - a traditional blend of Pinot Noir and Chardonnay disgorged after aging two years on its lees. This was followed by their Estate Chardonnay and a single varietal Pinot Noir that is only produced in years when yields can accommodate both the sparkling and still wines. Single varietals Sangiovese and Cabernet Sauvignon followed - although the cab includes some Merlot. The finale was the Super-Tuscan 2008 Festa di Bacco comprised of Sangiovese, Cabernet Sauvignon, and Petit Verdot. This wine is the bomb and shows why we seem to prefer blends over single varietals. There are plenty of tannins from the Cab and PV; but the majority Sangiovese provides enough smooth red cherry flavor to make this one drinkable now. If its not included in our October 25th tasting of Monticello Wines - I'm bringing a bottle with me.

After a short drive directly across Route 151 we arrived at Cardinal Point Vineyard & Winery, home to the wines of Tim Gorman. Before starting the winery in 2002, Gorman was an acknowledged grower in the region - sourcing grapes to several area wineries. This experience provided Cardinal Point with a clear advantage when opening - an established estate vineyard. Combined with several interesting blends, this may become one of our favorite destinations. We started off with the Cabernet Franc based Rosé, followed by several other easy drinking whites: The 2008 A6, 2008 Barrel Select Chardonnay, 2009 Viognier, and 2009 Quattro. The common ingredient to most of these wines was Viognier - which showcases this grapes versatility from the dry single varietal to the semi-dry Quattro. These are the type of wines you want to keep stocked in the cellar to bring out on any occasion. The reds were just as good. The Rockfish Red is an easy drinking light-bodied Cabernet Franc. The Cab F. + Vio. (yes that's the actual name of the wine) is an interesting concoction since the Cabernet Franc and Viognier are co-fermented; not blended. This means that the grapes were dumped together and fermented instead of the traditional approach of fermenting and aging the varietal separately and then tasting different percentage of each to craft a blend. The result is an incredibly smooth and drinkable wine. The vineyard designate Clay Hill Cabernet Franc followed which comes from the vineyard located near Ivy in which Gorman helped plant the vines. This is a full bodied wine and was my favorite until trying the CS+PV+CF - yes another screwy name. This is a master Bordeaux blend, on the one hand fruity, but also earthy and peppery - plus plenty if tannins for aging. That's what ours is doing. And their Oyster Roast scheduled for November 13th & 14th looks very enticing.

By this time we were running very close to our scheduled appointment at DBCC, but chose to stop off at the tasting facility for Flying Fox Vineyard since it as right off the road. The estate is located closer to Afton Mountain Vineyards with some wine made from grapes grown at a family vineyard (Ridge Run Vineyard) in Stuarts Draft - near Stanton. Two wines made from this vineyard's grapes were very good, the single varietal Viognier and Cabernet Franc. This is another example how these two grape varieties excel in most corners of the state. Our favorite however, was easily the Trio, their Bordeaux blend of Merlot, Cabernet Franc, and Petit Verdot. Balanced, texture, tannins for aging - this wine is the complete package. Maybe we will forget about aging and taste along with the super blends accumulated from the previous visits. Now that would be a tasting event.

We had to rush out in order to meet Travis Book of The Infamous Stringdusters, his wife Sarah Siskind, and DBBC's brewer Jason Oliver for an episode of MyJoogTV. This also allowed us to sample the beers from the Devil's Backbone Brewing Company - many that were awarded medals at the 2009 & 2010 Great American Beer Festival as well as the 2010 World Beer Competition. For our tasting we started with the Gold Leaf Lager, which could be Oliver's most prized brew. Why, because in a lighter style lager and there is nothing to hide mistakes - it is what it is. he must be doing something right since it repeated this year as a Gold Medal winner at the GABF. Next was the beer of the weekend, The Stringduster, made specifically for The Festy. Most musicians aspire for fame and Grammys, but not many can claim a beer brewed in their honor. This beer is a harvest styled ale combining barley and wheat malt with flaked oats. The beauty with this beer is that it really does pair well with music. Sometimes festival beers are too hoppy or too malty for the heat of the day - this one has the perfect balance. We finished with the gold winning Baltic Coffee which combines the Danzig Baltic Porter and locally roasted coffee beans. However, the beer exudes just a hint of the coffee which meshed well with the chocolate overtones of the porter. I had to return later in the day for another one of these - and next time I'm bringing a growler. DBBC provides several other styles - so there is something for everyone and although we didn't indulge - the locals inform us the food is really good. We will be back.

This weekend showed why Nelson County is becoming our favorite Virginia destination. Next time we will venture further south into Lovingston to visit Democracy Vineyards, Lovingston Winery, and return to Virginia's oldest continually operated winery, Mountain Cove Vineyards. Plus there's the new Virginia Distillery Company that will be producing Scottish styled single malts sometime in 2011. There is something in the water down there.

And thanks again to the Acorn Inn for the hospitality and for promptly mailing my cell phone charger. As usual, more pictures are available at the WineCompass Gallery.