On our way to drop Edie off at camp yesterday, we discovered a new winery literally next door. Of course we stopped in, because after dropping one’s only child off for the next three weeks, a drink is in order. Continue reading
Category: Monticello Wine Trail
Wines I drank – The Sharing Edition.
One fine Saturday, I came home from dropping Edie off at a slumber party to discover our across the street neighbor Charles had wandered over with a lovely bottle of merlot in hand, to share with us. It seems he had been given this bottle, and knowing it was a quality wine, immediately thought he had to skip across the street to share with me. Continue reading
Wine I drank, Random Summer Mix.
Here’s a few recent wines I’ve had the pleasure of drinking.
Wines I drank – Local Edition.
Have you heard of “3”? It’s the collaboration between the winemakers at Veritas Vineyards (Emily Pelton), Grace Estates (Jake Busching) and King Family Vineyards (Matthieu Finot). The 2012 release is a white, a blend of Viognier, Chardonnay and Petit Manseng.
Viognier is the primary grape in this wine, giving it tropical fruit & flowery notes, a hint of a buttery smoothness from the Chardonnay and the Petit Manseng balancing the wine out. This wine is produced in limited quantities (45 cases), so it was a lovely treat my friend Megan shared with me.
I’m not at all sure where this wine is available outside of the wineries involved. At $33.33, this wine is priced outside of my usual price point, but a splurge every now & again is nice. This would be one of those bottles worth the splurge.
I had brought my own bottle of local wine to sample as well – a bottle of Knight’s Gambit Rosé. Full disclosure – while this wine is relatively new to the shelves around town, I have been drinking this wine for a few years now thanks to knowing the owner of the winery, Paul Summers. I interviewed Paul for a piece I wrote about Virginia Wineworks for my former “In the Kitchen” column (I think maybe the September or October 2011 “Beneath the Cork”). I’ve known Philip Stafford & Michael Shaps of Virginia Wineworks for a few years through various connections that are the way of life here in Charlottesville. I have the utmost respect for Michael as a wine maker and while I like Virginia Winework’s wines, I never miss an opportunity to applaud their custom crush work and the helping hand it is giving so many small Virginia wineries, like Knight’s Gambit.
Needless to say, I was excited to see Knight’s Gambit on the shelves at the Hydraulic Road Kroger and as it was on special for $12.99, I snapped up a bottle. It’s a dry rose, with some creaminess to it. It was likened to strawberry shortcake as we sipped on it. Then again, that might have been the spread of strawberry jam, strawberry pickles, bread & cheeses we nibbled on influencing our palates. It is, after all, strawberry season.
Wines I Drank – The Front Yard Edition.
With spring and warmer weather comes our family doing more outside. Including happy hour every day we can. Is there really anything nicer than sitting outside on a beautiful day and just soaking it in? We think not.
It seems we have plenty of friends and neighbors who agree. From the first official outdoor happy hour of the season until we close it up for the fall, we have a steady stream of drop-ins. Why yes, it has been much commented that in some ways, we live similarly to how we did in college, only we now have a mortgage, a child and are a bit more responsible.
She just thinks that this is how people live. Jam session in the front yard and all. Continue reading
I got my wine geek on.
This past weekend, Barboursville Winery held a vertical tasting – where one could taste different vintages of the same varietals. Among the offerings were Cabernet Sauvingnon Reserve, Cabernet Franc Reserve, Nebbiola Reserve and Octagon. Tasting this way, you can see the differences aging can play in a varietal, as well as weather.
Octagon is a Bordeaux style blend known in this country as Meritage. These wines use the 5 standard Bordeaux grapes – Cabernet Sauvingnon, Cabernet Franc, Merlot, Petit Verdot and Malbec. There is a 6th Bordeaux grape, Carmenere, that was considered ‘lost’ for years until it was discovered to have been planted in South America amongst the Merlot also brought from France in the 19th Century. I tasted the 2008 Octagon vintage a few weeks ago and while I liked it, I felt it needed a few more years of aging before it would be ideal. Interestingly enough, the winery had the 2010 Octagon available for tasting as part of the vertical tasting despite the fact that it’s not yet bottled and not expected to be released for at least another 2 years. I found it highly drinkable now and in fact, next to the outstanding 2007 vintage, was my favorite of all the Octagons. Patience not being one of my virtues, I’m more than a little bummed I have to wait to bring home what I thought was one of the more superior vintages.
Among the other Octagons we tasted (2008, 2007, 2007, 2005, 2004, 2001 and 1999), I found the 2006 in need of further aging, while the 2005 was luscious now. (That’s the tasting note I wrote down btw – luscious). The lightest of the bunch was the 1999, which is not what one would expect from a wine that’s aged for 13 years.
I’ve tasted the same varietal from different wineries, but this was the first time I had ever sampled the same varietal from the same winery and winemaker over a series of years. To me, one of the most fascinating things about wine is how fruit from a plant can be so different from place to place, wine maker to wine maker, year to year. It was quite fun and if you like wine, I recommend trying a vertical tasting if you get a chance. (Virginia Wineworks has just announced a vertical tasting of Michael Shaps wines on December 1. I wasn’t able to find any information on their website this morning, but it is on their Facebook page. Reservations are required.)
Of the other wines we sampled, I found I preferred the 2004 Cabernet Sauvingon Reserve as well as the Nebbiolo Reserve to any other vintages of that varietal. (Confession – I found some vintages of the Nebbiolo undrinkable, which says something, because I find just about any wine drinkable.) I liked the Cabernet Franc Reserve 2007 vintage the best of that category, although the last few vintages, the 2008-2010, were also quite nice. I wasn’t as impressed with some of the older vintages, but we hit that group last and admittedly, some of them started tasting the same no matter how much palate clearing we did.
As we mingled around tasting, we found ourselves striking up conversations with fellow wine drinkers. While we often found ourselves in agreement with those we spoke to about what vintages we liked best, we didn’t always. There was one young man at the Cabernet Franc table who insisted that the 2004 and 2006 versions were hands down the best. Personally, I found at least one of them smacking of green pepper, not a flavor I care for in my wine (or in my food). It seems that just like terroir, one’s palate also makes a significant difference in your wine experience.
We came home and eased our way back from sampling $75 a bottle wine to something more in my budget ($10 a bottle) before cracking open the boxed wine. For while it’s lovely to explore fine wines, I also just like to drink wine of any type. I’m really not that picky for a wine geek.
Chicken Wire & Paper Flowers 