Lasagna Lunch at Naked Moutain

/ Paul / Leave a comment

Last weekend our friends Jill and Michael (wine club members) and their son invited us to join them for a tasting and lasagna lunch at Naked Mountain Vineyards. Each year we try to get to Naked Mountain in the winter time to enjoy the lasagna lunch. We were happy to accept their invitation.

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We tasted the current line up of wines before our lunch. From the tasting we all decided our favorites were the 2013 Barrel Fermented Chardonnay and the 2012 Raptor Red. We were also surprised by how much we liked the 2013 Birthday Suit. We weren’t looking for a white wine to sip on on a warm spring day but this wine made us think of just that. It was crisp and fruity.

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After our tasting we sat down to enjoy the lasagna lunch. We all agreed to enjoy a bottle of the 2012 Raptor Red with our pasta. We noted blueberry, spice, plum, and toasted oak. It paired deliciously with our lasagna. If you haven’t been out to Naked Mountain lately, be sure to get there during the winter so you can enjoy the lasagna lunch. And when you do, tell them Virginia Wine Time sent you!

Happy New Year!

/ Warren and Paul / Leave a comment

margauxEvery December 30th for the last 6 years many of our wine friends have gathered at our friend Susan’s house for a final wine dinner of the year. Last night we enjoyed a wonderful dinner with friends and some amazing wines.

The star of the evening was the 1990 Chateau Margaux. It had a brown, brick edge in the color, due to age. Warren noted on his first impression tobacco and earthy elements; third swirl and air revealed cherry on the palate with sweet tobacco and good acidity. Paul and Bruce noted cranberry while Sylvia caught a whiff of geraniums. It was a wonderful wine that everyone enjoyed! What a great way to end the year!

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Happy New Year to all our readers! Thank you for continuing to return to our blog and read about our wine adventures! Cheers!

Tree Decorating and A6

/ Paul / 2 Comments

A6One of our traditions at this time of the year is to spend a Friday evening decorating my Christmas tree. We plan to have ham, yams, and cranberry sauce. And the wine we try to have every year is the A6 from Cardinal Point Vineyard.

The A6 is a blend of viognier and chardonnay…two of our favorite grapes. The Viognier spends time in oak and the Chardonnay is stainless steel aged. This blend creates rich fruit at the beginning and a long, crisp finish. It paired well with our ham dinner. Unfortunately this was my last bottle. We’ll have to plan a trip to Cardinal Point to pick up a few more bottles. This isn’t a problem though. We always enjoy visiting Cardinal Point and getting to visit with Sarah Gorman.

Do you have a tradition of wine and tree decorating? What wine do you enjoy while decorating your tree? If you haven’t tried the A6 recently, we recommend you pick up a bottle or two and enjoy it at this time of the year. And if you visit Cardinal Point, be sure to tell them Virginia Wine Time sent you!

Lodi Comes To Virginia

/ Warren / Leave a comment

LodiWell, not quite. We recently savored a bottle of Oak Ridge Winery’s 2012 OZV (Old Zinfandel Vines) with a hearty beef dish topped with sautéed mushrooms and served beside herb-roasted potatoes. This sort of dish was just what the doctor ordered on a chilly night, and we decided to go outside of our Virginia wine comfort zone to try something new. Wait—we actually tried something old. Oak Ridge Winery is located in the Lodi region of California, and the old zinfandel vines that crafted this wine were over 50 years old. Like old people, old vines do struggle a bit more to get by; older vines also tend to produce smaller, more delicate clusters. However, despite their age, old vine wines still have much to offer. With this in mind, we opened the 2012 OZV an hour before dinner to give the old timer a chance to breathe for a spell. The 2012 OZV proved to us that old timers still rock! (To a couple of 50-somethings, it was quite inspiring!)

So on to the wine. We appreciated its dense color and notes of dark cherry, all spice, and vanilla. Flavors of brambleberries dipped in chocolate and fall spices filled the mouth and complemented the herbed dishes quite well. The finish was quite lengthy to boot. Braised dishes should also pair well with the Oak Ridge 2012 OZV; however, I would not relegate this oldie but goodie to winter menus. I’d serve this with any grilled meats topped with barbeque sauce on a warm summer’s day. Old yet charming and quite versatile, we enjoyed the Oak Ridge Winery 2012 OZV.

Ask for Oak Ridge Winery’s 2012 OZV at your local wine shop. Of course, this should be in addition to a purchase of your favorite Virginia wine. Just mention that Virginia Wine Time sent you!

National Beaujolais Day

/ Paul / Leave a comment

beaujolaisToday is National Beaujolais Day! We were sent a bottle of the Georges Duboeuf Beaujolais Nouveau 2014. In celebration of National Beaujolais Day we decided to open the bottle and give it a taste.

While we are generally not huge fans of Beaujolais, it does make for a simple sipper and pairs well with simple foods. We enjoyed our Beaujolais by itself. It has a cherry red/purple color in the glass. As the tasting notes suggested, we got lots of strawberries on the nose and on the palate. It’s a causal sipper that would actually pair well with light meals like a hamburger or even pepperoni pizza.

The 2014 Beaujolais Nouveau is on sale now for a suggested retail price of $10.99. You can’t beat that when looking for a light sipper to enjoy with some light fair. Will you be enjoying a favorite Beaujolais today? Tell us what you’ll be having in the comments!

Blogiversary!

/ Warren and Paul / 3 Comments

Today is our 9th blogiversary! Nine years ago today we started Virginia Wine Time. In that time we’ve visited 171 wineries in Virginia. We still have many more to visit. We have 878 posts about wine with 577 comments from readers like you! While blogs have lost some of their popularity over the years, we do plan to continue to visit Virginia wineries and post about our experiences here. So be sure to come back often to find out where we have been and what we think of the wines we tasted!

A HUGE thank you for continuing to check it and share our experiences. Without our readers, there wouldn’t be a point to the blog.

Thank you!
Paul and Warren

Blenheim Vineyards

/ Paul / Leave a comment

During our most recent visit to Charlottesville we stopped at Blenheim Vineyards to both pick up club wines and to taste what was new on the menu.

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Of the white wines we tasted we really enjoyed the 2013 Viognier. We noted apple, pear, tropical fruit, minerality, and a full mouth feel. Warren also enjoyed the 2013 Roussanne. I’m not a big fan of Roussanne but Warren enjoyed the orange and tangerine notes.

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We couldn’t settle on just one favorite red. Of the red wines we tasted we both really enjoyed the 2013 Cabernet Sauvignon and the 2012 Painted Red. The 2013 Cabernet Sauvignon presented plum and raspberry notes while the 2012 Painted Red presented notes of cedar, violet, smoke and tobacco. We decided to enjoy a bottle of the 2013 Cabernet Sauvignon with our lunch.

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Before leaving I picked up my club wines and purchased more of our favorites. Blenheim Vineyards is always on the list of wineries to visit when we find ourselves in Charlottesville. The next time you visit Blenheim Vineyards, tell them Virginia Wine Time sent you!

Breaking News!

/ Warren / 1 Comment

BREAKING NEW: VIRGINIA WINES HIT 90 POINTS IN WINE SPECTATOR!

Yes, the headline is correct. The current issue of the well-respected wine magazine reviewed nine Virginia wines in its current issue. Of the nine, one scored 91 points, three others scored 90 points, and the rest earned between 87-89 points. These results are excellent and prove what we have been writing about for almost nine years—Virginia makes excellent wines. So who’s on the honor roll?

1. 91 points Barboursville Octagon 2010
2. 90 points RdV Vineyards Lost Mountain 2010
3. 90 points RdV Rendezvous 2010
4. 90 points Sunset Hills Mosaic 2010
5. 89 points Barboursville Malvaxia Passito 2008
6. 89 points Barren Ridge Meritage 2009
7. 88 points Keswick Viognier Monticello Signature Series
8. 87 points King Family Meritage 2011 (yes, 2011)
9. 87 points Virginia Cellars Viognier Viognier Annefield Vineyards 2013

Congratulations to these talented winemakers who produced these stellar wines. Plan to visit these wineries soon to taste them for yourself, but mention that Virginia Wine Time sent you.