Wine: 2007 8 Chains North Lo.Co. Vino



Review: A chain is a agricultural unit of measurement equal to 66 feet. 8 Chains North gets its name from the fact that it is 8 chains north of Colonel White's river fields (according to the bottle -- I can't tell you why that is significant) ;)).

This is a good summer wine and an excellent wine to enjoy with light cheeses. It is a blend of 50% Traminette and 50% Vidal Blanc. It is a light wine, very crispy with a very light aftertaste. It has hints of pears and honeysuckle. If you don't have any cheese around, it is a good sipping wine all by itself. You can pick up a bottle at Fabbioli.

Price: $18

Grade: 95

Hiddencroft Vineyards sits in a secluded spot near Short Hills Mountain. The trip to winery requires a long drive down a dirt road with only their signs to guide visitors, but it is worth the visit.

Hiddencroft opened its doors on May 3rd and you can tell from the sparse tasting room that they are a young winery. The owners are friendly and enjoy talking about their wines, so you can find out everything you want to know. And, while the tasting room may be sparse, the Gazeebo is beautiful and takes advantage of the cooler temperatures in the valley to provide a great place to hang out and drink wine.

The highlight of the visit is the Sweet Cherry wine. A great summer wine, its a full-flavored wine that is made from 100% sour cherries with 5% residual sugar. Its a great wine to pair with chocolate or drink by itself.

The 2007 Cabernet Franc is also excellent, it is a blend of 2007 with some leftover 2005. The more bland 2005 takes some of the edge off this young wine making it less tannic but still with pepperiness of a good Virginia Cabernet Franc.

Wine: 2004 La Crema 9 Barrel Chardonnay



Review: La Crema has quickly become my favorite California Winery. They make a wide range of high quality wines at reasonable prices. And, while the wines are readily available they are not so ubiquitous that they are available on every street corner, so they still make for a unique presentation.

To make the 9 Barrel Chardonnay the La Crema winemaker chooses the best 9 Barrels from their run of Chardonnay, ages them longer, individually numbers them and bottles them. The math geek was excited because I was able to get number 1609.

I like this wine becuase it does not taste a like a Chardonnay. it is a crisp wine with strong citrus flavors and a hint of mint. The barrel aging add a toasty finish, but not too oaky, the way many oak-aged Chardonnays are. Overall, an excellent wine.


Price: $40.00

Grade: 90

A Washington-centric cooking show? Capital Cooking with Lauren DeSantis is just that. You can even watch one of the episodes online.

If you don't get the show locally, you can check out her blog.

Thanks to several batches of brownies I have a couple of hours to kill tonight, so I am going to try something new. I have a bunch of posts that have been pending, so I am going to try to knock them all out tonite. But, I am going to use the blogger date and time thing to spread them out over the week, so I don't inundate you all all at once.


Wine: 2005 Afton Mountain Cabernet Franc
Wine: 2005 DelFosse Cabernet Franc




Review: I've mentioned before that I am not a big fan, in general, of Virginia '05 Cabernet Francs. They aren't bad, but they all seem to lack the pepperiness that is one of the defining characteristics of Virginia Cabernet Franc. Both Afton Mountain and DelFosse make good wines and these wines are good, just not excpetional. They are more fruity than a typical Cabernet Franc and very lightly tannined.

I tried both of these when they were initially released and had hoped they would develop more depth as they aged, but so far they have not.

Price: Afton Mountain: $23.00
Price: DelFosse: $23.00

Grade: 80

If you are looking to mix Virginia wine and summer today is the day to do it!! First, Breaux is having their Key West Festival from 11:00 to 6:00.

Then, from 7:00-10:00, Chateau O'Brien is having a Crab Boil.

Something I have not seen from a Virginia winery before. DelFosse is offering a Mediterranean Cruise. From the email I got:

Genevieve and I invite you to join us on the first ever DelFosse Vineyards & Winery cruise! We will be spending an extraordinary 7 days in the Mediterranean sailing aboard top-rated Crystal Cruises. Our itinerary features some of the best of the best, from Rome and Florence, to Monte Carlo and Barcelona. En route, we will be hosting a complimentary wine tasting, a discussion about wine making, and taking part in a very special food & wine pairing dinner in Crystal Cruises' exclusive Vintage Room, where tastings include some of the world's most extraordinary and most expensive wines.

The Vintage Room looks cool :). Bookings start at $3535 per person double occupancy, so that throws it way out of my price range. But, if you want to check out what looks like a really nice cruise you visit their partner and tell them to book you on the DelFosse wine cruise.

I couldn't find a link with the details on the DelFosse website, but I am sure you can email them for more information.