Day Three

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One of the highlights from Day Three of the Wine Bloggers Conference was the bus trip to visit some wineries in the Charlottesville area. There were several buses visiting wineries but our bus went to Pippin Hill Farm and Veritas. We had not been to Pippin Hill Farm before so this added to our number of wineries visited. We are now up to 127 wineries. Here are some photos of our visit to Pippin Hill Farm. We will be posting more about our visit to Pippin Hill Farm in a separate post. Stay tuned for that! Enjoy the photos!

Evening Sippers

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The evening before we left for the Wine Bloggers Conference we took advantage of Wine Wednesday. Our sipper for the evening was the 2009 Pinot Grigio from Gadino Cellars and our dinner wine was the 2009 Rose from Linden Vineyards. They were both lovely and went with our nibbles and meal very well.

We had the 2009 Gadino Cellars Pinot Grigio with cheese and crackers. First off we noticed the light straw color and the aromatic nose of twists of lemon, subtle peach, and minerality. On the tongue we noticed the refreshing minerality and nice acidity. We noted lemon and the crisp feel and finish. It accompanied our cheese and crackers rather well on a very warm afternoon.

Our dinner wine was the 2009 Rose from Linden Vineyards. As we’ve noted before, you can’t go wrong with anything from Linden. This rose had a pale pink color and a strawberry, grapefruit, and melon nose. On the tongue we noted strawberry, melon, citrus zest, and refreshing acidity. We wanted a lighter wine for our chicken and pasta and this one filled the bill perfectly. Of course this means I have one less bottle of Linden Rose on my rack!

If you visit Gadino Cellars or Linden Vineyards anytime soon, mention you read about their wines on Virginia Wine Time!

Day Two

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The highlight of Day Two of the Wine Bloggers Conference was our trip to Monticello. Bloggers were able to meet winemakers and taste wines from 32 different Virginia Wineries. After a few speeches the wine tasting began. Here are some photos from the evening. It was VERY hot but the wines were cool.

Todd Haymore-Agriculture Secretary of Virginia

Keswick Vineyards

King Family Vineyards

Jefferson Vineyards

Gabriele Rausse

Glass House Winery

Cardinal Point

Annefield Veinyards

8 Chains North

Gadino Cellars

Catoctin Creek

Day One

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Here are some photos from our first day at the Wine Bloggers Conference in Charlottesville. We tasted a lot of wine and met some great people so far. The conference gets in full swing today with keynotes and wine tastings.

We started with the international wine tasting. We tasted wines from France, Spain, South Africa, and others.

After the international tasting we headed over to Sips on the pedestrian mall near the hotel to meet Virginia winemakers. We chatted with Kirsty Harmon from Blenheim, Steven Barnard from Keswick Vineyards and Fritz Repich from Mountfair Vineyards.

We finished the evening by tasting some wines from Jordan Winery in California. We really had an event filled day on day one of the Wine Bloggers Conference.

Wine Bloggers Conference

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Today we are heading to Charlottesville for the Wine Bloggers Conference. We will be tasting a lot of wine, meeting lots of people, hearing speeches, and having a great time. Tonight alone we have three different tastings to attend. We’re not sure we’ll get to them all but they all sound fun and educational. We will be posting during the entire conference so check back often for updates to find out what we’re doing. Also, make sure you are following us on Twitter because we’ll be updating our Twitter feed all the time during the next four days.

If you are a blogger, winemaker, or pouring wine at any of the events over the next four days, be sure to say hello and introduce yourself to us! We’re looking forward to meeting lots of new people and tasting lots of wine!

Everything’s Great at Linden!

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On July 4th weekend we invited some friends to join us for a tasting at Linden Vineyards. We also decided to sign up for the cellar tasting. We love the cellar tastings because you get to taste wines you would normally not taste on the tasting menu. At any given time Linden has five wines on the tasting menu. These change from time to time. Every once in a while Jim Law will allow the tasting crew to open up one of the library wines to taste. We didn’t visit on such a weekend.

I first thought I’d go through and describe all the wines we tasted and then I realized we loved everything on the menu! Linden is one of the few wineries where we enjoy every wine we taste. We can’t think of one we don’t enjoy. This makes it difficult to limit our choices to one case. Warren is a case club member and needs to purchase one case a year to have access to the deck. On this visit it was time to renew the membership and purchase a case. He made some very difficult decisions but was able to fill a case. While at Linden we decided to take advantage of Warren’s membership and enjoy some lunch on the deck. Instead of describing all the wines, I will instead post several photos from our visit. Just know that anything you taste at Linden, you will enjoy. And when you do go to Linden, tell them Virginia WIne Time sent you!

Dry Mill Sippers

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Continuing our quest for summer sippers we recently stopped at Dry Mill Vineyards and Winery. Dry Mill has a full list of wines on the tasting menu but we concentrated on those we thought would make nice summer sippers. After tasting all the wines we focused on three wines.

First up wass the 2009 Steel Chardonnay. On the nose we noted pear and apple. In the mouth we picked up citrus, grapefruit, apple and pear. This one would make a nice sipper for a warm afternoon or a pre-dinner sipper.

The second wine we selected was the 2009 Viognier. This one gets our gold star for the day. It’s aged in French oak barrels. We noted a floral nose and tropical flavors on the tongue with a hint of honey and a round mouth feel. We think this one would compliment seafood dishes. And since viognier is now the state grape, consider adding this one to your collection.

Most of our summer sippers have been white wines. However, our final sipper here is the 2008 Chambourcin. We selected this one because its lighter bodied and would go really well with summer barbecues. We noted cherry on the nose with tart cherry, herb, and spice on the tongue. This one would be perfect for hot dogs and hamburgers.

After our tasting we decided to enjoy a bottle of the 2009 Viognier. We brought some sandwiches to enjoy with our wine. The wine paired beautifully with our lunch items. Our search for more summer sippers will continue the rest of summer, but in the mean time be sure to check out these wines at Dry Mill Vineyards and Winery. And if you do, tell them Virginia Wine Time sent you!

Summer Sippers at Naked Mountain

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Naked Mountain Winery & Vineyards has been through somewhat of a renaissance in the past year. Randy and Meagan Morgan bought the winery last August and have been working hard to continue the tradition of Naked Mountain as well as introduce their own branding and ideas. There is a new logo, website, labels and winemaker. Seth Chambers is the winemaker at Naked Mountain. You might be familiar with his work. At one time he was the winemaker at Philip Carter. We were visiting Naked Mountain to check out the new wines and look for summer sippers. We found three!

The first sipper our our list is the 2010 Unoaked Chardonnay. This is 100% Chardonnay and didn’t go through malolactic fermentation. On the nose we noted apple, pear, and melon. On the tongue we noted green apple, lemon, and Warren jotted down banana. This is a nice crisp, fruity wine that would be perfect for a warm afternoon.

The next sipper was the 2010 Rose. It’s a blend of 73% Cabernet Franc and 27% Mourvedre. It weighs in at 2.5% residual sugar but you don’t notice it very much at all. On the nose we picked up strawberry and watermelon. In the mouth we noted melon and strawberry. We also got some cherry on the smooth finish. When we taste Rose`s we always think of a picnic on the lawn at Wolf Trap while enjoying a concert. This one would go well with picnic foods.

Our final sipper was the 2010 Riesling. It has 3% residual sugar but like the Rose it’s hardly noticeable. On the nose we picked up melon and peach. In the mouth we also noticed melon and peach but also noted lemon-lime. It has some nice crisp acidity as well. Another nice summer sipper.

During our tasting we were able to chat with Seth Chambers about the evolution of Naked Mountain and some of the upcoming changes taking place. We look forward to the new wines coming out soon and the changes in the labels. We love the new labels and logo. Nice job, Naked Mountain. So if you are looking for some summer sippers to add to your collection, consider the three mentioned here. And if you visit Naked Mountain anytime soon, tell them Virginia Wine Time sent you!

Tasting at Zephaniah

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On a recent trip to Loudoun County we decided to visit Zephaniah Farm Vineyard. We hadn’t been there in a few years and thought it was time to catch up with their wines and see what was on the tasting menu. As most of you know, our summer search is for sippers to enjoy during the summer. Having this in mind we were looking for white wines. Unfortunately Zephaniah was sold out of their Chardonnay. Instead, they were pouring the Glen Manor 2007 Sauvignon Blanc. After a quick taste we moved on to the reds.

We started with the 2009 Merlot. It’s aged in neutral French oak barrels for 16 months. We noted a big fruity presence that gives way to medium tannins. We noted black cherry and a lengthy finish. This is a food wine.

We then moved on to the 2008 Cabernet Franc. It’s aged in neutral French oak barrels for 14 months. We noted cherry, raspberry, black pepper, a hint of spice and light to medium tannins. This one got my gold star.

Next up was the 2009 Cabernet Franc. Aged in neutral French oak barrels for 16 months. This one starts out with some nice fruit up front but then the tannins hit you. We noted more spice on this one than the 2008. This one is also blended with a little chambourcin and norton. It’s a young wine and will benefit from time. Save this one on your rack for a good year.

The 2009 Chambourcin was next. This one is aged in neutral French oak for 11 months. We noted dark fruit…plums, current, cherry. We picked up some smoke up front and a medium earthy body. It had a very inky color as you would expect from a Chambourcin.

The final wine was the 2009 Chambourcin Reserve. This one is also aged in neutral French oak barrels for 11 months. We noted concentrated dark berry flavors with some smoke. We also noted the smooth finish.

After our tasting we had the chance to talk with Bill Hatch, the winemaker and vineyard manager. We were able to get a barrel sample of the 2010 Chambourcin. Right now it’s fruitier than the 2009 but it still has time in the barrel. He showed us the barrel room and explained their process from vineyard to bottle. You can tell Zephaniah has a passion for wine. They take their time during the tasting, letting you enjoy the wines and ask questions. You should plan a trip to Zephaniah Farm Vineyard soon and when you do, tell them Virginia Wine Time sent you!

Viognier Twitter Tasting

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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