Tag: Virginia Wine Month

Virginia Wine Month Weekend

/ Paul / 1 Comment

We are continuing to celebrate Virginia Wine Month! We started our Virginia Wine Month weekend by heading to Glen Manor Vineyards. It had been a year since our last visit so it was time to taste some new wines and find out how things are going at Glen Manor.

Jeff White’s wines are so popular that there weren’t many wines in stock to try. We should have visited sooner. We missed the Sauvignon Blanc, the Rosé and the Cabernet Franc. We were able to enjoy flights of the wines they did have available. We tasted the 2015 and 2016 St. Ruth, the 2014 Hodder Hill, the 2017 Petit Verdot and the 2017 and 2019 Petit Mansengs. All of the wines we sampled were wonderful but the 2014 Hodder Hill stood out as a favorite.

For lunch we enjoyed a bottle of the 2015 St. Ruth with different cheeses, crackers and prosciutto. It paired nicely with our lunch items. After lunch it was off to the Skyline Drive to view the fall colors but not before picking up a case of our favorite wines.

After our drive along the Skyline Drive, we headed to Gray Ghost Vineyards. We needed to pick up a case of Reserve Chardonnay we had on order and taste some new wines. It’s always great to see Amy, Cheryl and Al and catch up. We chatted about all kinds of things while enjoying a tasting of their current line up. Before leaving we enjoyed a glass of the Reserve Chardonnay. It was perfect with the beautiful weather. We also picked up that case of Reserve Chardonnay and then headed to Warrenton.

Once we reached Warrenton, we checked in to our hotel and then went to Claire’s at the Depot for dinner. We love the Claire’s! We both selected beef for dinner and Warren selected the 2016 Hardscrabble Red from Linden Vineyards to enjoy with our meal. The pairing was perfect and so was the meal! We recommend Claire’s if you are looking for a great place to eat in Warrenton.

The next day we headed to Muse Vineyards to meet some friends. It was another gorgeous day so we were able to sit outside on the second floor deck. Our fiends are club members so they made reservations in advance. Muse doesn’t serve flights on Saturdays so the group decided to order a bunch of food items for lunch and a couple different wines to pair with the food items. We selected the 2020 Gamay and the 2019 Urania. Both are reds with the Urania being an Italian blend of Teroldego, Sangiovese, Aglianico and Merlot. We found both wines to be very nice and paired well with our food. We were also quite surprised by the 2020 Gamay. It was bright and fruity and finished smooth. It was also just slightly chilled. It was the favorite among the group. We did not realize the winemaker is Tim Rouse. That explains the amazing wines at Muse.

After an amazing weekend of Virginia wine and fall foliage, it was time to head home. We left Muse with half a case of our favorites and headed home. It was a great Virginia Wine Month weekend! If you haven’t been to these wonderful wineries, we suggest you plan a visit soon! And tell them Virginia Wine Time sent you!

October Is Virginia Wine Month

/ Paul / 1 Comment

Happy Virginia Wine Month!

We started Virginia wine month with a harvesting experience at Gray Ghost Vineyards. Besides COVID 2020, we have harvested grapes at Gray Ghost for 15 (Paul) and 20 (Warren) years. It’s always great fun! We usually harvest the chardonnay grapes but this year we decided to harvest the Cabernet Sauvignon grapes. Here are some pictures from the day.

Al Kellert, the winemaker and owner, starts off the day with a lesson on how to harvest grapes.

The Cabernet Sauvignon grapes were gorgeous this year!
Here Warren is showing us how to snip the vine and capture those beautiful grapes.

We had a great time filling up the yellow bins with grapes.

What a great way to start off Virginia Wine Month. Please catch up with our social media to see what we are pouring and enjoying throughout the month. Are you planning on visiting any Virginia wineries this month? If so, tell them Virginia Wine Time sent you!

October is Virginia Wine Month!

/ Paul / 3 Comments

October is Virginia Wine Month! To kick off Virginia Wine Month, we joined several other bloggers and wine industry people for the October #VAWineChat hosted by Frank Morgan of the Drink What You Like blog. The event was held at Flight Wine Bar in Washington DC.

Frank Morgan was joined by Caroline Hermann, Master of Wine, and Swati Bose, owner of Flight Wine Bar to taste and discuss Virginia red blends. We tasted along with them and Tweeted our impressions of the wines. Flight Wine Bar treated us well with lots of wine friendly foods and a beautiful room for tasting and Tweeting.

The wines we tasted were:

Glen Manor Hodder Hill
King Family Meritage
Williamsburg Winery Adagio
Rosemont Kilravock

In addition to these wines, we also tasted the soon to be released Virginia’s Heritage. It’s a blend of wine from 16 different Virginia wineries. All the wines were wonderful and really reflect what’s happening in red blends in Virginia.

Today VirginiaWine.org launched their updated website with a new logo and tons of information about Virginia wine. Check out their updated site! Thank you Virginia Wine.org!

If and when you visit any of these wineries or Flight Wine Bar, tell them Virginia Wine Time sent you!

Dinner Party Wines

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Saturday evening we had some friends over for dinner. Because October is Virginia Wine Month we decided to serve Virginia wines. Warren, of course, was the chef and also selected the wines for the meal.

We started with a salad course. It was a tossed green salad with a Dijon vinaigrette dressing. Warren selected the 2016 Rose from 50 West Vineyards as the wine to pair with the salad. Everyone thought it was the perfect pairing for the salad. The rose was was made with Sangiovese. It was crisp and refreshing.

The main course consisted of a healthy portion of filet mignon, parmesan oven roasted potatoes, and grilled squash. Warren selected the 2010 Meritage from Pollak Vineyards. Warren decided it needed to be decanted. 2010 was a big year for reds and while it’s been many years since it’s release, the Meritage was still pretty big and needed some air. We decanted it for more than an hour before serving. It ended up being a perfect pairing. It’s a blend of 41% Cabernet Franc, 41% Merlot, 18% Petit Verdot. This estate grown Bordeaux blend won the 2013 Monticello Cup. Warren noted concentrated fruit aromas with hints of anise and tobacco that led to flavors of black cherry, blackberry, and spice. Nice tannins too. He noted a subtle vanilla note at the end to boot. It was delicious!

So what have you been enjoying for Virginia Wine Month? Let us know! If you happen to visit either 50 West Vineyards or Pollak Vineyards please tell them Virginia Wine Time sent you!

October Is Virginia Wine Month!

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Virginia Wine Month logoOctober is Virginia Wine Month! Wineries and restaurants that serve Virginia wine will be having activities all month to help celebrate Virginia Wine Month. To help you plan your month, here are a few resources to look into. There are lots of activities for you to participate!

Nancy and Rick from Virginia Wine In My Pocket has put together “31 Days of Virginia Wine” to help you celebrate and enjoy Virginia Wine all month. Check out their ideas!

Virginia.org has put together a list of events happening at Virginia wineries for almost every day of the month. Check out their list and plan to attend some events!

Virginiawine.org also has a long list of winery happenings for the whole month of October. Check out their list and plan your celebration of Virginia Wine Month!

Be sure to follow us on Twitter and Facebook and check back on the blog to see what we will be doing for Virginia Wine Month. We’ll be Tweeting and Facebooking our winery visits as well as the different Virginia wines we’ll be enjoying this month. Happy Virginia Wine Month!

Hay-Adams and Virginia Wine Month

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vwm25smallTHE HAY-ADAMS PRESENTS A FALL WINE DINNER WITH BARBOURSVILLE VINEYARD

The historic hotel will host a Wine Dinner with one of Virginia’s premier vineyards

WASHINGTON, D.C. – The Hay-Adams, one of the world’s leading luxury hotels, is pleased to announce that on Thursday, October 24, 2013 it will host a Five-Course Wine Dinner in partnership with Barboursville Vineyard. The Hay-Adams Chef Jaime Montes de Oca, Jr. will pair signature Lafayette Restaurant dishes with Barboursville’s featured wines presented by Barboursville Winemaker Luca Paschina.

Montes de Oca’s creations for this special evening include First Course: Marinated Salsify, Pickled Mousseron Mushroom, Warm Baby Pullet Egg paired with Vermentino 2012, Barboursville’s newest varietal from the original 2012 award-winning vintage; Second Course: Wild Rock Fish, Smoked Potato Mousse, Watercress, Caviar paired with Viognier 2012, a generous concentration of subtropical aromas; Third Course: Crispy Sweetbreads, Kabocha Squash, Brown Butter Cider Sauce paired with Cabernet Franc 2011, a light-bodied, fully aromatic varietal; Fourth Course: Vaudavan Spiced Lamb Chop, Roasted Cauliflower, Almond, Dry Cranberries, Natural Jus paired with Octagon 2009, a complex, subtly spiced red blend; and Dessert: Poached Pear, Sweet Gorgonzola Ice Cream, Candied Walnuts paired with Malvaxia Passito 2007.

The collaboration of Montes de Oca and Paschina will provide both a delicious and entertaining evening. Born and raised in New York City, Montes de Oca is a 1990 graduate of The Art Institute in New York and has held posts at many highly regarded establishments as well as worked with celebrated chefs, such as Jean-Georges Vongerichten, Laurent Manrique and George Mendes. Piedmont-born, third-generation winemaker Paschina has earned many accolades while at the helm of Barboursville since 1990, including 2002 Wine Person of the Year. His creation and the hallmark of Barboursville is its most honored red wine, Octagon, which is among the wines served at this dinner.

For reservations for The Hay-Adams and Barboursville Vineyard Wine Dinner at The Hay-Adams Lafayette Restaurant on Thursday, October 24 at 6:30 p.m., please call Mina Aiken at 202.220.4825 by October 17. Cost is $160 per person inclusive of tax and gratuity. Limited seating.

Media Contact: Sherry Moeller, MoKi Media, sherry.moeller@mokimedia.com, 301-807-0910.

About The Hay-Adams

Located at Sixteenth and H Streets at Lafayette Park across from the White House, The Hay-Adams is Washington’s finest luxury hotel and one of the most historic and celebrated properties in the world. The Hotel offers 145 rooms and suites, many with White House views. It has won numerous awards for its impeccable service and is a member of The Leading Hotels of the World, an exclusive group of discriminating luxury hotels worldwide. For more information, visit www.hayadams.com and follow The Hay-Adams on Facebook, www.facebook.com/TheHayAdams and Twitter, @HayAdamsHotel.

About Barboursville Vineyard

Founded in 1976 by Gianni Zonin, patriarch of a seventh-generation Italian wine family, Barboursville Vineyard is known for its estate-grown fruit and minimal intervention cellar. The 900-acre Barboursville estate is nestled along the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains outside Charlottesville, Virginia with its historic 1814 Barbour mansion designed by Thomas Jefferson. www.barboursvillewine.com

Halloween Party

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October has been Virginia Wine Month. It comes to an end today. We’ve enjoyed many Virginia wines this month. As a way to bring the month to a close, we had a Halloween party over the weekend. We poured only Virginia wines. You can see the wines we poured below. Among the guests at the party were Kim, Kirsten, and Erica from Cellarblog as well as Kurt and Carol from Wine About Virginia. Most guests wore costumes and Kirsten from Cellarblog won the prize for the best costume. Some of the wines mentioned as favorites of the evening include the Chrysalis Chardonnay and Viognier, the Linden Claret, the Jefferson Vin Rouge, and the Pollak Cabernet Franc. The party was a great way to showcase Virginia wines and have one more celebration of Virginia Wine Month!




Virginia Wine Month

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October is Virginia Wine Month! There are lots of events happening this month to celebrate Virginia Wine Month. Whole Foods will even be having special tastings of select Virginia Wines. We’ll be busy enjoying lots of Virginia wines this month. We got started a little early. On Sunday we enjoyed the 2011 Seyval Blanc from Gray Ghost Vineyards. We enjoyed it with a picnic lunch at the Bishop’s Garden at the National Cathedral.


Our celebrating will continue this weekend when we head to Charlottesville to visit some of our favorite wineries. Stay tuned for more coverage of Virginia Wine Month! And if you visit any wineries, tell them Virginia Wine Time sent you!