On Saturday we joined Frank from DrinkWhatYouLike to visit some winemakers in Loudoun County. We began the day at Tarara Winery. We had the chance to taste wine and chat with winemaker Jordan Harris. He let us taste several wines including some that are no longer available for sale and some that aren’t even for sale yet. Warren favored the no-longer-for-sale 2008 Viognier while I really enjoyed the yet-to-be-released Nevaeh White. After our time at the tasting bar, we went to the cave to taste a few barrel samples. Jordan has some amazing wines developing in the barrels. We look forward to seeing how they turn out. Here are some pictures from our visit with Jordan.

We then traveled to 8 Chains North and had the chance to speak with winemaker Ben Renshaw. He conducted our tasting and guided us through the current selections. Warren and I both favored the 2008 Furnace Mountain Red Reserve. Once we finished at the tasting bar Ben showed us to the barrel room and let us taste several wines in the making. All are promising. During our time in the barrel room we had a great discussion about screw caps and corks. We began this discussion with Jordan but continued with Ben. It’s interesting how many different opinions there are on the screw cap vs cork debate. After our time with Ben we had some lunch and enjoyed a glass of the Furnace Mountain Red Reserve.

Our final stop of the day was at North Gate Vineyard. This is our 112th Virginia winery. We spoke with Mark and Vicki Fedor. They showed us around their garage winery as well as the new winery and tasting room under construction. The new winery will be a green building and have solar panels on the roof. They have been growing grapes since 2001 and have been making wine for several years. They were the winemakers at Corcoran at one point. We then had a chance to talk and taste their current offerings. They have a nice lineup of wines. However, we were really impressed when the brought out the 2008 Petit Verdot. This one really stood out. Here are some pictures from our visit to North Gate.

We ended our day at Tuscarora Mill restaurant. We met up with Allan from Cellarblog. We enjoyed some Virginia wine and some wonderful food. What a great way to end Virginia Wine Month!