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.