Showing posts with label Breaux Vineyards. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Breaux Vineyards. Show all posts

Friday, May 25, 2018

Nebbiolo is Still King at Breaux Vineyards

Breaux Vineyards opened in 1997 when it was only the fifth winery in Loudoun County and the 50th in Virginia. Today Breaux is one of the largest of the 43 wineries in Loudoun and statewide (270 wineries) and its success can be attributed to several factors -- starting with their location at the western foothills of the Blue Ridge and Short Hill Mountains. The 104-acre estate benefits from plenty of sunshine from late morning to sunset and consistent breezes that help alleviate mildew.

The second factor occurred when founder Paul Breaux and original winemaker Dave Collins (owner of Maryland's Big Cork Vineyards) not only heavily invested in new state-of-the-art wine making equipment but also planted a pioneering set of vinifera grapes. These grapes include the standard Bordeaux varieties but also Virginia's signature grape Viognier and Nebbiolo. In fact, to this day Breaux is still only the third winery in the state to plant this Italian grape (known as The King of Wine) and it has become the winery's signature wine.


Third, Vice President Jennifer Breaux and her team are skilled marketers, active on social media and hosting multiple events including the annual Cajun and Key West festivals. To illustrate how savvy Jennifer is once I tweeted that I was heading out to Loudoun and Jennifer replied quickly to stop in for a free tasting. Invitation accepted.

Finally, and most importantly, Breaux Vineyards has succeeded over the last 21 years because they produce quality estate wines in each successive vintage. That was on display when I visited recently to discover a huge, renovated tasting room with abundant inside seating to handle the summer humidity. There is still plenty of space outside for dogs, children, and picnicking with outside food. Tours of the new facility are available weekends for $5 and the tasting fee is $15 for half a dozen wines. The charitably staff member also poured me their 2012 Nebbiolo ($59) as I had mentioned that I was unable to attend a special vertical tasting event the next day. This wine was for sale only because the winery had discovered several cases hidden during the recent renovation and the bottle aging had tamed some of the tannins and acids. But not all. There's still plenty of chewy texture and tannins to accompany the dark plum characters and fresh acidic finish. This showcases why Breaux = Nebbiolo. Here is a quick rundown of the remaining wines in the general tasting. Cheers.

2016 Sauvignon Blanc ($25) - Light and refreshing with more grapefruit than lemongrass.

2016 Viognier ($28) - 10% was aged in neutral French oak with another 5% in large Acacia Puncheon barrels providing additional depth to the traditional tropical and stone fruit flavors.

2016 Rosé ($24) - A blend of five Bordeaux grape varieties, obtaining color from two hours of skin contact, and providing a refreshing strawberry and melon flavors. The wine for dinner that evening.

Equation Red ($20) - Another blend; this a kitchen sink of Merlot, Petit Verdot, both Cabs, Chambourcin, and Malbec; is a juicy fruit forward easy drinking wine in-spite of or because of 18 months aging in American and French oak. The approachable tannins made this a clear second course for dinner.

2012 Cabernet Sauvignon ($42) - A second wine bottle aged in addition to 18 months in American and French oak this wine is excellent - texture, fresh juice, hints of chocolate, but just a tad pricey for our budget.

2013 Meritage ($43) - Another higher priced wine with a pedigree of being in the 2016 Virginia Governor's Cup Case Club. This blend of Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon, Petite Verdot, Cabernet Franc, and Malbec showcases structure and integrated tannins, yet I preferred the varietal Cabernet Sauvignon more because of its edginess.

Wednesday, August 19, 2015

Intriguing Virginia Wine Festival Alert: Epicurience Virginia 2015


For those interested in local wine and food, you will want to check out Epicurience Virginia, a multi-day festival culminating with a grand tasting on September 5th. This final event occurs at Morven Park in Leesburg and offers both an early entry VIP ticket ($145) as well as a reasonable general admission ticket ($85). At face value you may not think this price is reasonable, but wait until you read the details.

General Admission Tickets
  1. There will be forty exhibitors providing Virginia wine and food samples. 
  2. The event features local chefs Chris Edwards from Salamander Resort & Spa, Jason Lage from Market Table Bistro, and Bonnie Moore from Willowsford. Each will provide cooking demonstrations throughout the day. 
  3. Live music throughout the event from Justin Trawick, Todd Wright, Andrew Tufano, Tommy Gann, Bruce Parker, and Dusty Roads
  4. Virginia wine education programs featuring individual sessions on Get to Know Virginia Chardonnays, Virginia Dark Horses (Petit Manseng, Tannat, Albariño), Think Pink: Virginia Rosés, and Virginia's Native Grape: Norton
  5. **Ultimate Winemaker Experience: team up with Loudoun Winemakers for a Speed Blending Competition! Winemakers and participants will have 30 minutes to sample blending components and complete their blend entry. The last 30 minutes will be used to judge and announce the three finalist for the session. You must purchase admission into the event before entering the random drawing of participants. Click here to be selected.
VIP Tickets
  1. All of the above
  2. Exclusive Beer Tasting featuring never released, limited production beers from Lost Rhino Brewing Company
  3. Epicurience Virginia Wine Blend Sneak Peek: get a sneak peek of the 2013 Epicurience Virginia Red Wine Blend created from wines by Bluemont Vineyards, Breaux Vineyards, Sunset Hills Vineyards and Tarara Winery.
  4. Cocktail Samplings
  5. Chef Joy's VIP Tasting
  6. Premier Wine Tastings from Stone Tower Winery
Now that sounds like an informative and entertaining outing. Visit Loudoun can recommend lodging options and take a look at the theCompass mobile app to find wineries, breweries, distilleries, and cider houses in the area. Cheers.

Thursday, August 25, 2011

2011 Wine Bloggers Conference Pre-Tour: Loudoun County (DC's Wine Country)

One of the best kept secrets of the 2011 Wine Bloggers Conference was the Loudoun County Pre-Tour sponsored by Visit Loudoun. This two day tour was available to the first 25 bloggers who registered and consisted of visits to four wineries: Tarara Vineyard & Winery, Breaux Vineyards, Chrysalis Vineyards, and Boxwood Winery. Each winery rolled out the red carpet with the winemaker greeting the participants and providing tours and tastings of their regular offerings as well as reserve and barrel wines. These were very intimate engagements where the participants were able to discuss Norton or Albarino with Jenni McCloud and Alan Kinne at Chrysalis; Bordeaux with Rachel Martin and Adam McTaggart at Boxwood, Terroir with Jordan Harris at Tarara; and Nebbiolo with the Breaux crew. These wineries may be familiar to the larger group of conference attendees since they participated in many of the WBC11 events in Charlottesville, either as sponsors, the twitter tastings, the Other 46 tasting, and the Monticello dinner.

Check out the video below, which includes audio from Stacey Sheetz of Visit Loudoun discussing the wine region, to see why this area is one of the top wine destinations in Virginia and considered DC's Wine Country. The video also features Tara Nevins (Donna the Buffalo) "Beauty of Days Gone By" from her new solo release: Wood & Stone. And below is a list of blog posts concerning the Loudoun pre-tour and WBC11.

Dallas Wine Chick: Loudoun County Wine Pre-Trip
Tarara Winery: WineBloggers
Wine Biz Radio: X Does WBC ’11
The Wine Hub: Why Terroir Matters – Blog by: Jordan Harris – Tarara Winery Winemaker

Wednesday, June 1, 2011

WBC11 Preview: The Foreign Invasion

With the 2011 Wine Bloggers Conference (July 22-24 in Charlottesville Virginia) only seven weeks away, we decided to post a few articles previewing the conference during the month of June. These articles will focus on a few aspects of the Virginia Wine Industry or the conference itself. The first article discusses a trend we have noticed during the past several years: the influx of foreign born winemakers into Virginia. They could have chose other wine areas, but something attracted them to the Commonwealth. We asked four of this group [Matthieu Finot - France (King Family Vineyards), Sébastien Marquet - France (Doukenie Winery), Stephen Barnard - South Africa (Keswick Vineyards), and the newest incoming winemaker, David Pagan Castaño - Spain (Breaux Vineyards)] to explain this attraction.

1) What factors lead you to relocate to Virginia?

Matthieu Finot: I was coming back from South Africa, and I was planning to stay only 6 month and then to go in New Zealand, it was in 2003 and this vintage kicked my ass! It was the worst vintage that i've ever had and I've been making wines since 1994. I didn't want to give it away. I liked the challenge, I liked charlottesville and decided to give it another try. I never made it to New Zealand! Instead of 6 month I've been here for 8 years now! I've stayed at this wine area the longest for several reasons: (1) it's a young and dynamic wine region, (2) there is lots of room for improvement and experimentation, (3) challenging weather, and (4) Charlottesville.

Sébastien Marquet: After visiting Doukenie Winery in May 2007, I quickly understood that Virginia had big potential to become a world class wine region. The high motivation of the new winery owners, and the professional organization in the state, showed that the winery owners were well organized. The Owners were not seeing this as just a hobby but really wanted to succeed in the industry. I wanted to be part of the development and bring my 22 years of experience to Doukenie Winery. You can't have good wine without motivated people and hard work. My experience in Burgundy, South France; Martinique (Tropical Weather); and the understanding the American palate from working four years in California really gave me the knowledge to create technics required to adapt to Virginia weather conditions, and helped develop a good marketing and sales strategy for Doukenie Winey.

Stephen Barnard: The first reason was that it was so different to what I was used to. Norton, Touriga, Verdejo and Chambourcin were grapes that I never had experience with and I thought that I would learn a lot more by coming to Virginia and exposing myself to new things. The plan was not to stay here, but instead to move to other areas after being here a year or so, but I met my wife and fell in love with both her and the potential for the area. I was always told that Virginia can make decent white wines but not reds, we have proved that theory to be wrong in the last few years here and I see the future as being especially bright. It is a very close knit community with a common interest in wine, and a willingness to share and exchange ideas to ensure the continued growth of the wine industry.

David Pagan Castaño: Love is the main factor. I met my wife Nicole almost five years ago through a connection in a program run by the University of Virginia. She is from Virginia and a true lover of wine. We taught each other about the wine regions of our homes, and I learned about the emerging wine region of Virginia. She works in Business Development, and so to fulfill our needs as a family, we targeted various regions of the world to relocate from the Canary Islands where we were living. Knowing about the evolving quality of Virginia wine, and with DC so close, this area was one of our top choices for its emphasis on business and rich wine growing region. When she was hired by the DC Women's Business Center, I was excited to join the Virginia wine world. You might even call it destiny...

2) How does Virginia compare to other appellations?

Matthieu Finot: It is a challenging region because of the weather that is very unpredictable. I had the rainiest harvest (2003) and driest and ripest harvest (2010) in my winemaker's experience. This means that the winemaker has to be versatile and flexible. Every year will be different and we never really know what to expect! (a good way to stay humble.....) In some ways it remind me Burgundy and in general, Virginia is closer to Europe than California or Australia. The style of wine and and the variation between vintage is more old world style than new world. (This may be why one European winemaker likes to work in VA.)

Sébastien Marquet: Since 2007 we've won Gold and Silver medals at the San Francisco International Wine competitions. Our wines are complex, the alcohol is balanced, the flavors and aromas are very attractive. The vineyard management technics are being adapted more and more to the weather conditions. Our biggest challenge is to be consistent in the vineyard year after year. It takes time to increase quality, be consistent, and built a high reputation, Virginia winemaker are working hard to increase quality. Our wines are different from California wines, and different from French wines. The soil is different, the sun is different, and the people are different. We have our own terroir here in Virginia, and we must be proud of that. Promoting our wine for their specificities will make the success of Virginia Wineries.

Stephen Barnard: Virginia has it’s fair share of challenges. We have the threat of late season frost, a season that could be wet or hot; and humid with late season rains, so ripening fruit can sometimes be an issue. We also do not have a long history of growing grapes and making wine so we are not quite sure what to plant and what to focus on. Our demographic is starting to get into wines and there is this wonderful curiosity of wine which is a whole new market waiting to be tapped which is exciting. We are not restricted by a certain style so we have room to experiment and play around, which for me, is very exciting.

David Pagan Castaño: Virginia is in the process of establishing itself as an important wine growing region in the U.S. I am excited to be a part of this rapid development, and I hope to bring a new perspective to the table that will put us on the global wine map. In this dynamic moment for Virginia, it is difficult to compare it to other wine growing regions of the world. It definitely has the potential to produce consistently high quality wines, and it will require a lot of collaboration to identify and take advantage of the characteristics of the region's terroir.

3) Where do you see the Virginia wine industry in the next 5-10 years?

Matthieu Finot: I've already seen so many changes in 8 years that I hope it won't stop here! Quality is up and will keep rising. We know more about which grapes grow well and how to manage the vineyard to so that premium grapes are brought into the winery. Time, knowledge, experimentation, and detailed focus will keep pushing up opportunities to craft high end wines. I think Virginia produces more and more world class wines; we need now to convince the world about it!

Sébastien Marquet: Coming from Burgundy (where wineries have existed more than 200 years) 10 years is a very short period of time. I am sure that the numbers of wineries will double and that the quality will be more consistent. We are lucky to have people who are supporting the wine industry and I am particularly thinking of Professor Bruce Zoeckklein, Professor Tony Wolf, and Governor Bob McDonnell and his wife (First Lady Maureen McDonnell).

Stephen Barnard: The future is no doubt bright. I see more consumers focusing on Virginia wines, once they get over the perception that we cannot make good quality wine at an affordable price point. We have a responsibility to ensure we keep raising the bar and promoting our product, not only our wines at Keswick, but the rest of the Virginia wines. I see the wineries streamlining their products and focusing on specific varietals and wine programs, not trying to make 30 different wines; hopefully we will have clearer understanding of what will give us the best chance to be competitive year in and year out. I think you will see Virginia wines and the area being spoken about as a quality wine producing state. You have got some young winemakers, who are extensively trained and knowledgeable, crafting some exciting wines that will wow the consumer.

David Pagan Castaño: If Virginia continues to work on its cooperative efforts, it will not only be a fantastic destination for wine drinkers, but its wines will also be in high demand in regions all over. The recent decision by the Virginia Wine Board to promote Virginia Viognier is an example of this type of cooperation. By concentrating efforts to improve and promote this varietal, the whole region can "get behind" a common goal that could eventually lead to a true appellation or regional standard that raises the quality of all wines. As in rugby, teamwork is essential to the success of any team. If we work as a team, Virginia will be a major player in the wine world.

Tuesday, August 24, 2010

Virginia First Lady visits several Northern Virginia Wineries

For the first two days of this week, First Lady Maureen McDonnell will conduct a series of wine tours in Northern Virginia as a part of The First Lady’s Initiatives Team Effort. The group will visit Chrysalis Vineyards, Breaux Vineyards, Tarara Vineyards, Pearmund Cellars, Rappahannock Cellars, Philip Carter Winery. No doubt she will be able to sample some excellent Viognier, Cabernet Franc, and Petit Verdot - grape varieties that do very well in the region.

Monday, May 10, 2010

A Day in Loudoun: Spirits and Wine

This past Saturday (May 8th) we visited Catoctin Creek Distilling Company, Loudoun County's first family-owned distillery since prohibition, to witness a bottling day. Becky and Scott Harris had recruited about a dozen volunteers to manage the bottler, cap, label, and stock cases of Catoctin Creek Organic Roundstone Rye. This whisky is made from 100% organically grown rye - no neutral spirits added - and aged in oak barrels. They also bottle the distilled rye without barrel aging under the Catoctin Creek Organic Mosby's Spirit label. This spirit was just awarded a bronze medal in the American Distilling Institute 2010 Whiskey Competition in Louisville, KY. Thus the underlying spirit in the Roundstone Rye has already proved itself - an oak aged version should only be better.

The bottling operation looked quite efficient - even for a 100% manual process. The assembly line was in full capacity - someone passing empty bottles to a filler, then to a capper, then to the labeling table. Here the batch number were written on the labels by hand and after applied to a bottle, inserted into a case - with its own label. Not bad for a group of volunteers.

After watching the process, we ventured to a few wineries outside of Purcellville on Route 9. Our first stop was Breaux Vineyards - which we haven't visited in a few years. Their 2002 Reserve Merlot was selected as the top overall wine poured at the DrinkLocalWine.com Twitter Taste-off last month - so why not a re-taste. Not so fast. This is a popular location - at noon the tasting room was packed - two to three people deep. Nice to see the traffic - but right now... Instead we walked around the vineyard and admired the vineyards against the mountains.

Our next stop was Hunter's Run in Hamilton, which is a joint operation with Corcoran Vineyards. Without having to wind through the gravel roads leading to the winery, the Hunter's Run Barn provides a location to taste the wines - right off of Route 9. Plus they host live music on weekends. Today Lenny Burridge was in the barn - wanted to see him for a long time. Hunter's Run is a great location for families bringing their kids along. The upstairs loft contains toys and games that will keep them entertained while parents frequent the tasting bar. The only downside; the Corcoran Viognier is out of stock. Need to find another outdoor alternative.

Our final stop was Village Winery in historic Waterford. For some reason I had a craving for their Apple Wine. I don't know why because in general I prefer their Viognier and Petit Verdot. But the Apple Wine is made dry and sometimes you just need something different. Plus they offer a non-alcoholic sparkling Elderberry which the little boy is now asking why we didn't bring home a case. Kent Marrs has really turned into one of our favorite winemakers - always crafting a consistent product. We need to return more often.

Tuesday, April 13, 2010

DrinkLocalWine.com: DLW conference schedule

Along with several popular wine bloggers, we will be attending the 2010 DrinkLocalWine.com conference set for Loudoun County, Va. on April 25. Registration is open to the public and will set you back only $65, which includes three seminars, lunch, and the Twitter Taste-off. Plus its held at the famous Lansdowne Resort. Questions? Call (978) 276-9463 or send an email.

Wineries from both Virginia and Maryland will be participating including Breaux Vineyards, Chatham Vineyards, Chrysalis Vineyards, Fabbioli Cellars, Ingleside Vineyards, Jefferson Vineyards, Keswick Vineyards, Potomac Point Winery, Rappahannock Cellars, and Veramar Vineyards from Virginia. The Maryland wineries participating are Black Ankle Vineyards, Serpent Ridge Vineyard, Sugarloaf Mountain Vineyard, Elk Run Vineyards, Cygnus Wine Cellars, and Fiore Winery. That's a good representation of the various wineries in the two states and Keswick Vineyards, Rappahannock Cellars, and Black Ankle Vineyards are recent Governor’s Cup winners in their respective states. We hope to see you there.

Schedule:

Conference registration, 8:30 a.m.

Thomas Jefferson was right: The grapes that work best for Virginia: 9:15 a.m.-10:15 a.m. Moderator: Richard Leahy, Vineyard & Winery Management magazine. Panelists: Matthew Meyert, Williamsburg Winery; Jennifer McCloud, Chrysalis Vineyards; and Matthieu Finot, King Family Vineyards.

Social media: How regional wineries can get the word out: 10:15 a.m.-11:15 a.m. Moderator: Michael Wangbicker DWS, CWE. Panelists: Lenn Thompson, New York Cork Report; Jennifer Breaux Blosser, Breaux Vineyards; Jeff Siegel, the Wine Curmudgeon.

Lunch, 11:30 a.m.-12:45 p.m.

If local food, why not local wine? 1 p.m.-2 p.m. Moderator: Dave McIntyre, Washington Post. Panelists: Mary Watson-DeLauder, Lansdowne Resort; Andrew Stover, Chef Wino; Todd Kliman, Washingtonian magazine.

Twitter Taste-off, 2:15 p.m.-4:15 p.m. (Participants must be 21 or older.) Moderator: Kenton Fabrick, Twitter guru extraordinaire

Tuesday, July 14, 2009

DC's Wine Country - Food and Wine Festival

On Saturday July 11th, we attended the first annual DC's Wine Country - Food and Wine Festival, not as an attendee, but as a volunteer. Good thing, because that evening was completely sold out - 1,500 people had purchased tickets. They had prepared to travel to beautiful Bluemont Virginia and enjoy about a hundred different wines from Loudoun County wineries. Along with fellow blogger Dezel from My Vine Spot and fellow wine drinker Brian, we poured wines for our friends at Corcoran Vineyards, perhaps the most popular winery at the event. Maybe it was a result of sponsoring the pre-festival dinner or merely of crafting excellent wines; but we were besieged the entire night. OK, a slight exaggeration; but we were busy.

Almost all the Loudoun County wineries participated in the event from the oldest, Willowcroft Farm Vineyards, the biggest, Breaux Vineyards, Chrysalis Vineyards, Tarara Winery, the smallest, Zephaniah Farm Vineyard, to some of the newest, Dry Mill Vineyards & Winery and Quattro Goomba's Winery. One noticeable exception was Notaviva Vineyards, who welcomed a new addition to the family earlier in the week. Congratulations.

Before our pouring responsibilities contained us, I was able to visit a few booths - couldn't taste - but I could see what was in store for the attendees. The Village Winery & Vineyards had their Apple, Elderberry, and a Petit Verdot, which I was very interested in trying - it seems most of these wineries had warmed to this grape. The aforementioned Zephaniah Farm Vineyard had bottled a Cabernet Sauvignon as a companion to their Cabernet Franc. Breaux Vineyards had produced a Nebbiolo Ice Wine, but since their booth was unoccupied at the moment - I couldn't confirm whether it was a true ice wine. And finally I learned that Hiddencroft Vineyards has some nice wines aging in their cellar - they should be expecting a visit later this summer.

Besides wine, author Ellen Crosby was available to autograph books. I was briefly able to discuss how Mrs. Swedenburg, the former patriarch of Swedenburg Estate Vineyard assisted her on her research. And in fact the winery was the inspiration for The Merlot Murders. Her latest in the series is The Riesling Retribution: A Wine Country Mystery; perfect summer reading.

Before exploring more, duty called and it was time to start pouring some Corcoran wines. Lori Corcoran had brought her stellar Viognier, the easy drinking Cabernet Franc, spicy Malbec, and full bodied Meritage - a blend of the first two reds plus a shot of Merlot. It was a real pleasure serving these wines, because we knew they were going to be popular - not a bad wine in the bunch. This statement was verified several times by other attendees who were quick to state that this was the only winery were they liked the entire selection.

And this was a wine educated crowd. A clear majority not only were familiar with grapes, but knew which were best suited for the Virginia climate. The most common misconception was that a few attendees were not aware that Malbec was a Bourdeaux grape and thought it was indigenous to South America. Many were even aware of Tannat, which Lori adds to the Malbec - maybe for some earthiness? Either way, Tannat and Malbec should be considered along with Petit Verdot as old world grapes suitable to Virginia. And in fact, all of Corcoran's grapes are grown in Northern Virginia, either at their estate or in vineyards surrounding Purcellville & Winchester. A little micro-climate.

Before long, the three hours were finished. We were thirsty - no drinking in the booth. And there was no time to sample from the other wineries. Oh well; the only other disappointment was not being close to the music stage. Throughout the night I heard a few notes from Moon Music and Hard Swimmin' Fish (pictured on the left) - enough to peak my interest - but not able to hear the entire set. Fortunately they play regularly at local venues - perhaps On the Border on Thursday night.

From what we witnessed Saturday, this was a successful festival - well run and popularly attended. We look forward to pouring at next year's festival and actually plan to attend one of the other nights to taste what Loudoun County wineries have to offer.

Sunday, June 8, 2008

Notaviva Vineyards

From Hiddencroft Vineyards, we headed to our initial destination, the newly opened Notaviva Vineyards. We have been following the winery's progress, along with hundreds of others, from the winery's blog. Owners Stephen and Shannon Mackey documented each phase of development, from planting the vineyard, to building the winery and tasting room, to bottling the wines. This clever strategy created a brand following or loyalty, without a product. This loyalty increased, upon meeting the owners and hearing their interesting story.

While still dating and spending a day at Breaux Vineyards, they rhetorically asked, what type of people own wineries and why couldn't they. After a short period of quiet reflection, each asked the other, were you serious? Yes. And a week later they purchased the property in which their vineyards currently reside. They were in the vineyard\winery business with no farming or wine making knowledge. Oh yea, and they lived in Connecticut. Each weekend they drove 6 1/2 hours to tend the vineyard. If that was hard enough, then they got married. In the meantime, they made the move back to Virginia and used bonuses and savings to purchase farm and wine making equipment. Thankfully, Doug Fabbioli once again stepped in to mentor the couple, giving much needed advice and encouragement. Over 5 years of struggle, the winery was completed this spring and the Mackey's were in business; their "Dream, Build, Believe" philosophy had prevailed. We strongly encourage readers to visit the Notaviva Blog; it is a fascinating read.

In order to retain brand loyalty a company must offer a quality product and Notaviva is attempting this in both the wine and music spheres. Regarding the wine, this weekend they had just finished bottling their initial selection, and had two available, the Music Series Vivace Viognier and "Dream" Series Believe Tinta Cão. The Viognier is really good; it has possibly the strongest aroma of any wine we've tried. The wine has a strong grapefruit-citrus flavor and a refreshing acidic finish. Well done. The Believe Tinta Cão is a port wine without the fortification - the wine possesses the "robustness" of the grape and for those that like a good port - you won't be disappointed. In the coming weeks the remainder of their wine selection will become available which include the "Cantabile" Cabernet Franc, "Dream" Chardonnay, and "Build" Chambourcin. In the meanwhile Notaviva rounds out their portfolio with selections from Fabbioli Cellars Tre Sorélle and Raspberry Merlot, North Gate Vineyards Chardonnay, and Sunset Hills Vineyard & Winery Cabernet Sauvignon.

Notaviva refers to the Italian words nota - music note and viva - with life. The Mackeys hope to build an environment in which people will be exposed to a wide array of musical styles, be it celtic, world, bluegrass, folk.... Philosophically they believe that people with diverse cultural and political views can all appreciate the same music. Thus Notaviva Vineyards will host several diffuse acts this summer from Chelsea Lee and Todd Wright to Richard Barry, the Brogue Rogues, and Furnace Mountain. And in the future, expect performances for children in the morning, with a more adult flavor in the afternoon. We wish our summer plans could incorporate all these acts, but we will make a strong effort to attend a few.

Their trademark is appropriate. Notaviva Vineyards: Wine - Music - America.