On the way home from Mediterranean Cellars I saw that there was a new winery open just outside of Leesburg. Quattro Goomba’s Winery calls itself a micro winery -- they source their grapes from wineries around the world and make the wine locally on site.

The process appears to be similar the process I use to make wine at home, but on a much larger scale and with much more control over the selection of the grapes used. Quattro Goomba’s Winery uses grapes from California, Chile and Italy in their wines and because of the way they are set up they offer some unique wines.

For example, they offer their Vino D'Ana in both a Californian and Chilean variety. The same varietals, and wine that is made in the same fashion, but from two different regions. The resulting wines are very different (my preference was for the Chilean version, it had more kick).

The owners swarmed around the tasting room offering advice and happily talking about their wines and the winemaking process. A great experience and one that gives hope to all of us amateur winemakers who dream of one day opening their own vineyard :).

I know I promised to catch up on older posts, but I wanted to mention the two wineries I went to today.

I've said before that Fall is my favorite season to visit Virginia wineries, and today was a perfect Fall day. The temperature was in the high 60s, the leaves are changing colors and there were no clouds in the sky.

The wine club went to Mediterranean Cellars this afternoon. This is a perfect fall winery. It is nestled between rolling hills densely populated with trees and it has a patio that looks out over the vines and offers clear views of the countryside.

In addition to the usual complement of wines: Chardonnay, Merlot, Vidal Blanc, Cabernet Franc and Cabernet Sauvignon, they also had a Chambourcin and a Rechina. The Chambourcin was unique because it was naturally fermented, no additional yeast was needed. It had a strong peppery taste that lingered on the palette. They also had a blended wine, Romance, that was a lighter wine, more fruit forward with a hint of black cherries.

Good wines, combined with an excellent view, make this a must visit winery.

That's the last of the Seattle/Alaska posts...which means I am only two months behind :).

After the cruise we spent an extra day in Seattle to finish doing touristy stuff and we found this great place called The Tasting Room Wines of Washington. Unnecessarily long name aside, this place is really cool. It was put together by six different wineries as a way to showcase their wines.

Word of warning: It is a little difficult to find. It is in the Pike Place Market but it is pretty well hidden down an alley, it is worth the effort.

The two women manning the tasting room were knowledgeable about the wines but what was really cool was the way they organized their wine flights. If, like us, you don't know anything about these wineries or wines they've set up the flights to allow you to sample the best wines based on mood. For example, they had a flight of "Rainy Day Reds..." that consisted of 4 blended reds (some Bordeaux-style, others with really unique varietals) from the various wineries.

If you are in Seattle, you should check it out.

Hey, Dr. Vino wrote a book. You can pre-order it now, it is scheduled to be released on November 11th.

Our last port of call before returning to Seattle was Victoria. We took a tour of the city that included seeing some flowers and then a stop at Church and State Wines for a wine and chocolate tasting.

The winery was absolutely beautiful, with a dimly-lit, but well laid out barrel room and a really well-designed tasting room. The wines were also really nice. The highlight of the wine tasting was the Quintessential. A traditional Bordeaux-style blend that is a complex wine with hints of plum and smoke. A very good wine!

Is it a winery or a reality show? In the case of Notaviva, it's both. Speaking of that, I have a review of their winery coming soon!

Don't forget that October is Virginia Wine Month, and now is a great time to get out to your favorite winery, or discover a new one.

Seattle is one of those cities I have always wanted to visit, so when i found out that our cruise ship was leaving from there, i figured it would be a great opportunity to stay couple of extra days in Seattle and get to know the city. Of course, there was no way I could be in Washington and not visit a couple of wineries.

We booked a wine tour that took us to Silver Lake Winery and Chateau St. Michelle.

Our first stop was Silver Lake winery. In addition to Silver Lake wines, the winery also wines under the Hoodsport and Blind Date labels. The tasting room is located in what appears to be a converted warehouse and it feels more like a wine shop than a tasting room.

As part of the tour package, we were able to taste 7 pre-selected wines. That was a bummer, because I really wanted to try their Cabernet Franc. The whites we tried were their Chardonnay and their Sauvignon Blanc. The Sauvignon Blanc was nice, not specatular, but a good wine. Of their reds, the only one that stood out was their Merlot. it had hints of cherries and a peppery taste that really made it stand out from most Merlots.





Chateau St. Michelle was a completely different experience. While the tasting room, and the grounds, were huge they were also very charming and it made the experience that much more enjoyable.

We were also limited in the wines we were given to taste (one of the downsides of using a tour), but the wines we tried wee unique and our pourer was very engaging. The standout wine was the Artist Series Meritage. This blend of Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Malbec and Petit Verdot was a complex wine that was extremely flavorful with a long finish.

There are a couple of wine festivals coming up you should know about:

1. Cecile's Wine Cellar is having their annual tent festival this weekend. One of their featured wines is St Francis Sonoma Red, one of my favorite sub-$20 wines. This one is free.

2. Th Wine Tasting Association is having their Holiday Wine Tasting on October 25th. I've been to this the last couple of years, and it is really nice...and they always have a great selection of cheese.

Hmm...its been a month and a half. You think I should post something?