Wine on a Weekday

Went to James River on Fri. They have a lot of wines and many I like. Their tasting room is surprisingly small considering their location - get a lot of traffic. Very nice servers. LOVE the Chambourcin. It is good cold, room temp, and hot! Bought 3 bottles.
Next New Kent. We'd heard at James River that they were for sale - but not true. Love their White Merlot. Bought 2 bottles - Gave one to Nathan's girlfriend's parents.
Then on to Saude Creek. They had a small tasting room in Wmsbg over a year ago and we went there. The wife served us and we really liked her. Met husband 2x at festivals. The most recent time, I mentioned having been to their old tasting room and looking forward to seeing their new one. He barely responded to me. Not a great way to treat repeat business. Anyway, the building is beautiful and they have a view of the Pamunkey River. Nice tasting room and places to sit out back.

An Unofficial Wine Trip

On Friday, with Deb and Mike somewhere in PA, Diane and I decided to make a short day trip to a couple of our closest wineries. We started out for Saude Creek to visit their new tasting room. Unfortunately, we missed the exit, so we decided to go all way to James River, about 30 minutes up the road. Our first visit to James River was at the end of our very first wine weekend, and we weren't impressed. But that was so long ago, before we really knew anything about wine. We had a wonderful visit, sampling of about a dozen wines (with nice size pourings.  Our favorite is the Chambourcin, a slightly sweet red wine, great for this time of year.  We also made a return visit to New Kent Winery, about our 10th time.  Again, for this time of year, we love a slightly sweet wine -- their white Merot.  We ended our trip at Saude Creek, which we had some trouble finding.  The new tasting room is beautiful with plenty of places inside and out to sit back with a glass or bottle.  However, by that time, we were about spent, so we enjoyed the tasting and headed home.  This was a great 3-stop trip for us, with minimal driving and lots of worthy wine choices.

Sharing VA Wines

We loved sharing (and drinking) a few of our VA wines with our out of state family guests this weekend. Narmada Cab Franc and Mattaponi strawberry, though polar opposites, were the top two choices.

No wineries this weekend but lots of VA to be shared at our sons' belated graduation party today.

Berry Hill

When we realized that Berry Hill only served Cab Franc, we didn't have very high expectations for this  by appointment only winery.  Boy, were we wrong.  David Hilty, the owner and our server, was wonderful.  His tasting room was inside one bay of a large garage.  We loved what he did with this small, but comfortable room.  We stood around a barrel with a round, glass table top.  He told us stories and shared his experiences.  Yes, he only had Cab Franc (sort of), but we enjoyed our vertical tasting of large sample sizes.  We started with the 2007, his first year of production.  Then, we had the 2009, which was rich and bold.  Next, he took us into the barrel room and we tasted the 2010, which was still in the barrel.  He also shared his 2010 Petit Verdot.  Finally, we mixed the 2010 Cab Franc and Petit Verdot.

We all agreed this was one of our top ten visits.  David was so warm and welcoming.  He was generous with his wines, his time, and his stories.  And we all loved his wines -- even the girls, who aren't usually big Cab Franc fans.

A Word About This Blog

Honestly, keeping a blog has not been a priority for us.  Although we love our winery visits, and we keep fairly extensive notes, this has not translated into keeping an up-to-date blog.  We realized that part of this is that we had no focus for this forum.  It has been a bit of a journal, but that in of itself doesn't make it worth reading by others.

We are proud of how our knowledge and tastes have changed over the last three years, but we do not consider ourselves wine experts.  We know what we like, and we'll share that with others, but as the saying goes, it's the journey, not the destination.  The focus of this blog will be the people and the settings of the wineries we visit.  Don't expect us to slam a wine that someone has put their heart and time into, but don't be surprised if we slam someone for not being welcoming or for being snobby. 

We've had so many wonderful experiences, and we've met such delightful and generous people.  This is what the Virginia wine experience should be, and we'll celebrate it when we see it and wag a finger when we don't.  We want everyone who visits a VA winery -- whether it's one that produces tens of thousands of cases of wine a year or just a few hundred -- to leave saying, "Boy, did we have a fun time . . . and that wine was pretty good too."

Beyond One Hundred

We resumed our quest by returning to Gray Ghost for a second consecutive visit. We were well received by our gracious host/owner, Cheryl Kellert (love your knockers). From there we proceeded to #101 (Gadino), #102 (Berry Hill -- more about that later), #103 (Granite Heights), and #104 Molon Lave. All visits were nice, and each winery was unique in its own way. We're set to go out to hit 105-107 later today. More to come...