Last weekend we went to the Virginia Wine Showcase held at the Dulles Expo Center. There were many wineries in attendance and we visited many of them. We tried to focus on those we had not visited before or were too far away to travel to in a weekend.

We were able to visit and taste the current wines from:

Davis Valley Winery
Tomahawk Mill Vineyard and Winery
Delfosse Vineyard and Winery
Vino Curioso
White Fences Vineyard and Winery
Valhalla Vineyards
Rebec Vineyards
Williamsburg Winery
Bright Meadows Farm
Lake Anna Winery
New Kent Winery

Writing about each booth experience would make this post too long so we’ll just point out a few things we wrote down in our notes.

At the Valhalla booth we were able to do a reserve tasting. They had a separate area set up just for the reserve tasting. We walked up to the booth and saw our friend Susan. She was already tasting the reserve wines. We joined her and thoroughly enjoyed the wines Valhalla had on their reserve list for the day. It’s always fun to run into an old friend and enjoy some wine and conversation.

We tasted wines at the Vino Curioso and noticed a basket full of M&Ms, Skittles, lollipops, and goldfish crackers. We talked with one of the owners, Mike Matthews. We asked what this was about and he explained that they feel wines should be paired with fun things to eat as well as nice meals. Of course we spent a little time enjoying the wines with the pairings. It certainly made the tasting more fun.

One of the last booths we visited was New Kent Winery. We had heard of them before but have not had the chance to visit. We talked with Pete Johns about the concept and their wines. We heard previously that Tom Payette was working on a White Norton. We were pleased that we could taste this wine. The New Kent website describes the White Norton as follows and we couldn’t agree more. This is one that shouldn’t be missed.

“This unique Virginia rose wine was gently handled in a proprietary fashion unlike any other Virginia winery has done. Cool fermentation in stainless steel and blending finesse has made this light Virginia rose wine extraordinarily complex and sought after.”

The Virginia Wine Showcase always gives us the chance to taste wines we wouldn’t normally get to taste. Remember this the next time you are looking to sample many of Virginia’s finest wines.

Here are some pictures from the day.