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| Nice welcome sign upon entering the tasting room. |
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| One angle of the vineyard. |
Over Spring break I convinced my family to visit a vineyard, we choose to visit Veritas Vineyard and Winery in Afton, Virginia. It was a beautiful place with views of the Blueridge Mountains and the grape vines all around. I was happy to hear that one of the winemakers graduated from Virginia Tech's Enology program, unfortunately her daughter graduated from UVA, but you just can't help some people I guess. Anyway the winery visit was way cooler than I had expected it to be and more crowded than I thought, there had to be 30 people in the tasting room when we arrived.
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| My man Stu. |
We walked part of the vineyard, which was massive. I wish I would've asked the acreage of it but I forgot, unfortunately. After that we got to tour the the winemaking room and meet the Hokie, which I enjoyed since I was unhappy we traveled so close to Hoo-ville. The do import some of their grapes and I was surprised to hear they imported most of them from New York instead of California. After seeing all these fun things we went on to the fun part, the tasting room. My Mom and I tasted the wines. Unfortunately I could not convince my Dad to partake, but it was his loss all the wines we tasted were fantastic. In total we tasted 9 wines and we had a funny pourer named Stu that was very wine-smart, but had a hard time remembering anything else. He told me that when he moved to Virginia 18 years ago there were 41 wineries in Virginia and now there are over 200, go Virginia.
The wines that I had the pleasure of tasting:
Sauvignon Blanc 2012:
Stu informed me that this wine was designed to be a New Zealand style unoaked Sauvignon Blanc. I've got to say it did have a hint of cat pee smell to it, but maybe it was just a subconscious thing. Anyway once I got past the smell of the wine it actually tasted pretty good. There were flavors of citrus and lemon-lime, overall a really refreshing wine that I would recommend for a hot Summer day.
Viognier 2012:
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| 1300 corks, someone did work on last year's yield. |
I was excited to get to taste a Viognier since I had just taken my quiz on Viogniers for class, and on top of that I now know that Viognier is one of Virginia's best grapes. Right off the bat I had high hopes for this one it started off with a very nice floral nose. This wine was also unoaked so fruity flavors of peaches, oranges, and pineapples came through really well. Great fruity wine, definitely what I like in a light white wine.
White Star:
This is Veritas's white blend that includes Petit Manseng, Traminette, Chardonnay, and Vital Blanc grapes, it also has 1% residual sugar left in it. This was a good wine it was obviously sweeter than the others I had tasted so far, and it had tastes of apricot and honey. This wine would be a good one to share with friends, it has something that everyone would enjoy.
Ros
é 2011:
Ros
é made from Cabernet Franc, Merlot, and Petit Verdot. Floral scented wine with hints of cherries on the nose. It had tastes of apples, pears, and citrus fruit. Overall a good Rosé, and another well made wine for a hot Summer day.
Harlequin 2011:
What a cool name for a wine, but it would have been cooler if it were named after the Batman villain. Anyway this was an oaked Chardonnay, it spent 7 months in new and old French oak barrels. You can smell the oakiness of right right from the start especially after tasting 3 unoaked wines prior to this one. True to form the are definite buttery flavors and a spicy finish to this wine. I really enjoyed tasting this one, because it was the first time I really got to see the major difference oaked wine has from unoaked wine even though the other I tasted weren't Chardonnays.
Claret 2011:
A Bordeaux blend with 55% Cabernet Franc, 28% Petit Verdot, 12% Cabernet Sauvignon, 3% Malbec, and 2% Merlot. Ruby red color with a nose of raspberries and currants. Deep flavors of currant and blackberries and a nice smokey finish. Probably my favorite of the tasting, and my Mother's least favorite.
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My Mom trying her best to get my Dad and sister to at least
look like they're enjoying themselves. |
Red Star:
A red blend of Cabernet Franc, Merlot, and Chambourcin and like the White Star has 1% residual sugar to sweeten in up. This wine was made from grapes in the 2009 and 2010 seasons, which I was informed were much better growing years for grapes in Virginia, and you could tell this was a very tasty wine. There was a nose of currant and tastes of cherry and tangerine, an exceptionally smooth wine to drink.
Mousseux:
A dry sparkling wine with a light pink hue made from Cabernet Franc grapes. Unlike the rest of the wine I tasted this one had a distinctive strawberry flavor and a nice tangy quality from the carbonation. Fun wine to start or finish off an evening.
Othello 2010:
I was excited to get to try this one because it was actually a Port made from 61% Touriga Nacional and 39% Tannat grapes. Much to my surprise is was silky smooth and had flavors of red velvet, berry, and plum. Delicious wine, I'm glad this was the first one I was able to taste because it really surprised me in a good way.
This was a great experience, I felt like I learned a lot and I got to get my Mom a little tipsy, which is always a funny experience.
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| Proof. |
