Month: July 2011

Viognier Twitter Tasting

/ Paul / 3 Comments

Tonight we’ll be participating in the Virginia is for Viognier Virtual Tasting organized by the Virginia WIne Board Marketing Office. The purpose of this event is to showcase Virginia’s signature grape to many wine bloggers, wine industry folks, and many others. We’ll be tasting six wines and tweeting our impressions on Twitter. With the Wine Bloggers Conference coming up next week in Charlottesville, this is a great way to show people all over the country just how great Virginia Viogniers are! If you don’t already follow us on Twitter, please do so you can follow along.

The wines included in the tasting are:

  • Barboursville Vineyards 2009 Viognier Reserve
  • Blenheim Vineyards 2010 Viognier
  • Cooper Vineyards 2010 Viognier
  • Delaplane Cellars 2010 Maggie’s Vineyard Viognier
  • Horton Vineyards Non-vintage Sparkling Viognier
  • King Family Vineyards 2010 Viognier

    • The tasting begins tonight at 7:00 PM. You can follow the hashtags: #vawine #vaviognier and #wbc11

    2007 Cellar Selection Meritage

    / Paul / Leave a comment

    On a recent Saturday evening we found ourselves having one of our typical meals of filet and wild rice. What wine would select to pair with this meal was the question. Being a club member at Breaux Vineyards gives us access to some wines that we might not other wise get to experience. We perused the wine rack and decided on the 2007 Meritage from Breaux Vineyards. It’s one of the Cellar Selection wines. We thought it might be too soon to enjoy this one but no, it wasn’t.

    Some 2007s are still a bit young. Just to be safe we poured this one through our Soiree to give it some air since we hadn’t opened it too much before dinner. Right away we noticed the dark, rich garnet color. That was a good sign. On the nose we picked up concentrated dark berries and anise. On the tongue we noted concentrated mix of dark cherry, blackberry, and raspberry. We also noted a hint of black pepper and firm tannins. While it’s true that this one probably could have benefitted from some more time on the rack, it was too good to let that happen. It paired beautifully with our filets and wild rice.

    If you visit Breaux Vineyards anytime soon, tell them Virginia Wine Time sent you and think about joining the wine club to have access to wines like this one.

    On another note, if you’re a Google+ user, click on the +1 button below to share this post with all your friends on Google+.

    Dinner at Black Salt

    / Paul / 1 Comment

    Last week we went to Black Salt. Black Salt is a fish market and restaurant in NW DC. Michelle Obama and three friends dined at Black Salt back in April and enjoyed halibut, clams, and coconut cream pie. We decided to eat at Black Salt because they serve Virginia wines.

    From the menu Warren selected seared scallops with mushrooms and gnocchi. Our wonderful waitress Beth helped me select pan seared fluke flounder with roasted potatoes. With our meal selections, we went with the 2008 Blenheim Farm Chardonnay from Blenheim Vineyards. We noted apple and pear on the nose and in the mouth we noted a creamy mouth feel. It was the perfect selection for our meal. We are looking forward to tasting Blenheim’s Viognier during Viognier Night: A Virtual Tasting of Virginia Viogniers on Thursday night.

    Fourth of July Wines

    / Paul / Leave a comment

    I know the 4th of July was a few days ago but I thought we’d share what we enjoyed on our nations’s birthday. The 4th of July this year (as in many years) was hot and humid. We were looking for a cool sipper to enjoy before dinner and a wine to go with our burgers for dinner.

    We selected the 2010 Hildersham Sauvignon Blanc from Aspen Dale Winery for our pre-dinner sipper. It had a light straw color with a floral nose with citrus notes and a hint of grass. On the tongue we noted large citrus flavors, minerality, crisp acidity and some stone fruit. We paired this with manchego cheese, crackers, and strawberries. It accompanied our food selections nicely.

    For dinner, we decided on the Red Table Wine from Blenheim Vineyards. This is a blend of 66% Merlot, 16% Malbec, 14% Syrah, 4% Cabernet Franc and aged in stainless steel. On the nose we noted berry fruit and hint of violets. In the mouth we picked up more berry fruit and very smooth tannins. This light bodied red sipper went perfectly with our burgers. We did not want a big heavy red with our burgers and this was the right choice. What did you enjoy on the fourth? If you visit Aspen Dale or Blenheim anytime soon, tell them Virginia Wine Time sent you!