Before going to Tarara for Saturday’s jazz concert, we stopped at Village Winery to accomplish two tasks: a) to complete our Loudoun Wine Trail passport, and b) to sample Village Winery’s latest releases. Of course, we also enjoy catching up with Kent Mars, owner and winemaker.

The busy tasting room was a good indication that Village Winery’s popularity continues to increase. Once the room cleared a bit we were able to do a tasting and to talk with Kent about the new and upcoming wines at Village. New on the list was the Apple wine, and this unique fruit wine has a distinct chardonnay nose. While tempted to believe that this would be a sweeter wine, Village’s Apple wine was actually dry. Another unique fruit wine was the Elderberry wine with its enticing honeysuckle aroma. Warren commented that this wine would complement roasted poultry; Kent suggested a pairing with chocolate desserts. Paul was eager to sample the 2004 Merlot, and we were both pleased at how well this Merlot evolved since the last time we tasted it. Nice, dark cherry flavors now reveal themselves in the mouth, and we enjoyed a glass of the Merlot as we chatted with Kent. (Don’t miss the 2005 Cabernet Franc and the Cabernet Franc Merlot blend!)

Kent apprised us of this year’s developments, and he was very enthusiastic about the 2006 crop. Drought-like conditions produced bountiful fruit this summer; in fact, we were able to observe the rich crop of red wine grapes as we drove up to the tasting room. Kent will also be harvesting Petit Verdot this year, and Viognier will also be a future offering at Village Winery. Though currently producing about 1000 cases of wine, a tour of the barrel room revealed more barrels in anticipation of increased production in coming years. We cannot wait to report on these exciting developments at Village Winery.

Before leaving we turned in our Loudoun Wine Trail books and Kent presented us with signature Loudon County Wine Trail corkscrews. We also purchased a bottle of the Elderberry Wine and the 2004 Merlot.. We promised Kent that we’d return to tour the vineyards, and Kent promised to give us a taste of the grapes right off the vine. We can’t wait! And a big THANK YOU to Kent for the bottle of 2004 Cabernet Franc.

If you haven’t had a chance to visit Village Winery, you simply must. Kent is very friendly and more then willing to talk about the wines and the wine industry. We always enjoy our visits to Village Winery. And of course if you do visit Village Winery, tell them you read about them on the Virginia Wine Time blog.