Currently Drinking....

We haven't toured any wineries or breweries lately; instead, we've been clearing out our wine cellar. That means, drinking wine that we have purchased over the years and determining why we purchased it in the first place. Many were from our travels in Virginia. We had two bottles left from our friends at Corcoran Vineyards, their Viognier and Malbec. Both superb. In addition, there was Petit Verdot Veritas Vineyards and Jefferson Vineyards and White Hall Vineyards Petit Manseng from our Monticello WineTrail tour last year. We would purchase each again - no doubt - Petit Verdot is destined for Virginia's vineyards. We also had on hand the Valhalla Vineyards Alicante Bouschet. This grape is normally used in a blend in order to add color, but this winery choose to make a 100% varietal. And initially, we felt this was a poor decision - there didn't appear to be much flavor. But by the second day - the wine had breathed enough to come out of its shell - it turned into a decent wine - slightly spicy - similar to a Shiraz. In total - nice, but we prefer others. The last Virginia wine was a surprise, the Hill Top Berry Farm & Winery Perry- 75% Pear wine and 25% Mead. We were expecting an overly sweet dessert wine - but its actually made dry. The pear flavors take precedence with just a slight honey finish.

Of course we had to bleed through our Norton collection and found an abundance from Mount Pleasant Winery and Stone Hill Winery. These two Missouri wineries have mastered the art of eliminating the grape's inherent acidity and grapey flavor. The Mount Pleasant version was aged slightly longer so is a bit spicier and oak - but for Norton wines - these are perhaps the most consistent.

While traveling to Seven Springs we usually visit Glades Pike Winery - so there were several samples available. The Baco Noir was not very impressive and we are not sure what instigated the decision to purchase. The Diamond was good - we had to be in a sweeter mood - but this is perhaps the most drinkable labrusca grape. We also opened a bottle of their Mountain Mead - and although a little sweet - is a good honey wine. I also blended with Apple Jack made in North Garden for an interesting concoction - talking about keeping warm.

Finally we found a two wines that we should have bothered aging - we must have forgotten about them, but these wines are made to drink now: Marietta Cellars Old Vine Red Lot #44 and Gnarly Head Zinfandel. Sonoma's, Marietta Cellars wines are usually excellent and the Old Vine Red is an affordable everyday wine. The same holds for the Gnarly - there are others that have a better pedigree - but for the price - this is our Zin.

Hill Top Berry Farm & Winery

We have a goal of visiting the several Virginia meaderies so we traveled to Nellysford in order to visit Hill Top Berry Farm & Winery - home of dozens of excellent honey and fruit wines. And we mean dozens - and there selection continues to expand as the proprietors craft new and interesting blends. The winery started a decade ago when Marlyn and Sue Allen became one of the first Virginia wineries to produce fruit wines from their local "pick your own" orchard and fields. The family's philosophy should be mandatory reading for all wineries: use your land to grow produce (grapes or fruit) that are best suited for your environment. In addition to the fruit, the family also had an apiary - hence the introduction of mead. As the three Allen sisters took over operations, they had more production hours to experiment with the mead and start producing other styles: cyser, pyment, and melomel.



During our we stuck to the mead products, except for one fruit wine: their Three Sisters Elderberry Wine. This fruit is too tempting and is a new release for the winery. Elderberry wines are full bodied and can be made in any style: from dry to sweet. Hill Top's is made off dry with a full fruit flavor - as good as any grape wine. As for the meads, five styles were available for tasting. We started with the Rockfish River Cyser (82% apple and 18% honey) which is made semi-dry. It was good, but the apple flavor overwhelmed the honey and quite frankly we were interested in mead. However, for those more interested in apple wine, this is a great alternative - and quite different from the standard apple offerings. We next tried the Perry and this dessert wine is awesome. First, its probably the first wine with pear as an ingredient that we've tried - then combined with honey - it has the perfect combination of flavors. The Pyment (grape\honey wine) was served next and this concord grape-honey blend is truly unique. The concord provides the grapey aroma while the honey flavors triumph at the finish. This year Hill Top entered several wines into the San Francisco Wine Competition and the later two came home with medals. We finally got around to their Blue Ridge Mountain Mead, which we had previously tasted at several earlier wine festivals. The wine is made semi-dry and has a strong honey flavor and aroma. The mead is usually in short supply because members of the Society for Creative Anachronism use it for their festivals. The final wine made the trip memorable and is one of the reasons we visit less familiar wineries - to find truly original wines and at Hill Top we discovered our first fruit ice wine: Pounding Branch Persimmon Melomel. Melomel is honey wine made with fruit and for this concoction Hill Top picked frozen persimmons from off Wintergreen Mountain. The melomel is advertised as "Southern Ice Wine" - so we were expecting a sweet wine. Of course we were wrong - the wine is as dry as any white vinifera wine. But with a very unique flavor - spicy with hints of honey throughout. The judges in San Francisco were also taken - awarding it a Gold medal. Unfortunately, Hill Top's inventory is extremely low, so hurry over to purchase. But there are other concoctions waiting to take its place on the tasting bar. The Lavender Metheglin (mead made with spices), Blueberry Melomel, and Raspberry Melomel will all be available very soon. Then there's the fruit wine we didn't have time to sample. Blueberry, blackberry, cherry, cranberry, peach, plum, raspberry, par, and cherry - you name it, they probably vinify it.

Vintage Virginia

Despite some nasty weather, on Saturday May 31st we were able to enjoy wine and music at the 27th annual Vintage Virginia festival. The festival highlights the growing Virginia wine industry - and over 50 wineries participated - pouring over 350 different wines. Virginia is best known for their Viognier and Cabernet Franc, but there are also excellent examples of Norton, Chambourcin, Chardonnay, Sparkling wines, fruit wines, and mead. Besides the wines, each year Across-the-Way Productions brings together awesome local and national acts and this year was no different. A review of the music is available at the MyJoog Blog.

The day started rather warm and we decided to start with white and rosé styled wines at a couple favorite wineries: Village Winery and Gabriele Rausse Winery. Village Winery was pouring an excellent Viognier and Apple Wine and Gabriele Rausse was pouring an excellent Viognier and a dry NV Rosé. We also sampled the Mead and cyser products from Hill Top Berry Farm & Winery in preparation for a winery visit this summer. Their mead is outstanding. Next door, at Rebec Vineyards, we tasted two interesting wines, The Landmark White a blend of Viognier and Rhatsiteli and the Sweet Sofia, a wine made from a Bulgarian recipe - also from Rhatsiteli and lots of spices. Our pal Dezel joined us and we proceeded to sample excellent wine from Wintergreen Winery (Viognier, Apple Wine), Chrysalis Vineyards (Viognier), Barboursville Vineyards (Rosé), Horton Vineyards (Petit Manseng, Rhatsiteli), Sweely Winery Estate (Viognier) -- then the storm hit. After a few bolts of lightening, we found shelter in the parking lot and then a second time, in a tent. What a mess: Lightening, tornado warnings, downpours.

And then, right when we were ready to call it quits, the sun came out. During the break, a fellow attendee had commented that Veritas Vineyards - particularly their - Vintner's Reserve was his favorite so we immediately proceeded to see why. We tried their entire selection, and yes, the Vintner's Reserve was very good. We also liked the Claret (Cabernet Franc and Petit Verdot), Red Star (Cabernet Franc and Chambourcin), and Rosé and for whites, the Viognier and Sauvignon Blanc. We might have to take a trip to Afton soon.

We then ventured to two new wineries, Sunset Hills Vineyard & Winery and Holly Grove Vineyards. Sunset Hills (Purcellville) was pouring a nice Viognier and Petit Verdot. Holly Grove is located on the eastern shore so this was a great opportunity to taste their products. The Chardonnay and Merlot are already multiple medal winners, but our favorite was the Sunset Rosé. This is the wine we finished the day with while listening to Ivan Neville's Dumpstaphunk. Before that, however, we did spend some time at Kluge Estate Winery's tent and we were impressed with their SP Blanc de Blancs and Kluge Estate Cru. The Cru is interesting in that the Chardonnay grapes are fortified with Virginia-distilled brandy, and then aged for six months in Jack Daniel’s® barrels.

Obviously, due to a long break caused by the erratic weather we didn't get a chance to visit most wineries; but the day was still a success - with great wine and music.

Virginia Wine Showcase - Finally Online

After a brief network hiccup, Dezel from My Virginia Vine Spot and I are finally online at the Virginia Wine Showcase's Bloggers Corner. Throughout the day we will be posting highlights of the showcase and the wines. There are a number of Virginia wineries that traveled a great distance to be here including Davis Valley Winery and Vineyard, Hill Top Berry Farm & Winery, Peaks of Otter Winery, and Savoy Lee Winery to name a few. The Bloggers Corner is situated right next to James River Cellars and Bluemont Vineyards so we should get good sample of their offerings. We are also looking forward to tasting a few new wines such as Cooper Vineyards Petit Verdot and Davis Valley Winery and Vineyard's Corot Noir. This is also a chance to taste the wines from Virginia's newer wineries, Acorn Hill Winery, Mattaponi Winery and Vault Field Vineyards. I'll be back shortly.