I wrote about Barrel Oak Winery a few months back. Belated congratulations are in order to Brian and Sharon for the largest winery opening in Virginia.

I went out to visit them with the wine club a week after they opened and the winery is amazing. In his previous life Brian built houses and it really shows in the winery design, it is open an expansive with three floors, all of which will eventually have tasting stations.

In addition to a great interior, the stone patio is laid out nicely with great views of the rolling land behind the tasting room.

How do the wines match up to the winery? Very well. They have a wide range of wines to suit almost any palette. Three highlights of the tasting:

Seyval Blanc: A great summer wine. This was a light and fruity wine with hints of grapefruit and a clean taste that was easy on the tongue.

Tour'Ga Franc: This is a blend of 60% Touriga and 40% Cabernet Franc, an interesting idea with a cute name. Virginia Cabernet Francs tend to have a peppery taste to them, the Touriga helps to smooth that out and you get more of a cinnamon taste with a aromas of vanilla and plum. A very good wine.

Chocolate Lab: This port-style wine is a blend of Merlot, Muscat and Cabernet Sauvignon that is infused with cocoa beans. I am not really a fan of port, but everyone who tried the wine loved it. The wine has a unique taste, and the way the wine blends with the chocolate on your tongue creates a wonderful sensation.

Definitely check out Barrel Oak as soon as you get a chance!

I am almost embarrassed to post this because it happened so long ago, but I cannot resist telling you about some great wines. Back in April, Doug hosted a release tasting at Fabbioli. The release did not just include his wines, but also wines from two other local vineyards and all three winemakers were on hand.

Each wine was paired with an item especially prepared by Chef Aaron Daniels. There were 4 wines released: Fabbioli's Cabernet Sauvignon, a mild wine with strong flavors of oak that lingers on the palette and a hint of pepper. Fabbioli also released their Black Raspberry Port. If you are thinking, "Black Raspberry Port, can that possibly be as good as it sounds and where can I get some?" It was fantastic, so good in fact that Doug sold out of his entire production run that day.

From North Gate Vineyards we were able to sample their newly released Merlot. The Merlot was barrel-aged in French oak for 18 months, creating a flavorful, complex wine with the taste of cherries and an earthy feel to it. A very excellent Merlot, on par with what most wineries would consider their reserve.

Furnace Mountain Vineyards (no website) introduced us to their 8 Chain's North Lo.Co. Vino an excellent blend of Traminette and Vidal Blanc -- I'll have more details on this wine in a future review.

A great day and a chance to enjoy some really good wines.

A few weeks ago we went out to Three Fox Vineyards with the wine club. Three Fox has a very Italian theme and their wines reflect that. They offer two Sangioveses a regular (Il Volpe) and a reserve (Il Signor). The reserve is made from 100% Sangiovese, while the regular is a blend of Sangiovese and Cabernet Franc.

Between the two, I actually preferred the Il Volpe. the two varietals blended surprisingly well and created a spicy wine with a nice chocolate finish. They also had a good Cabernet Franc and a Chambourcin that was done in a port style.

The grounds are very impressive with several places to picnic, including a bench at the top of the hill that looks over the vines. It is definitely worth the trip out there.

Despite living so close to it, I had never visited Chrysalis. Part of the reason for that is their affinity for the Norton grape, but more than that it just hadn't been on my radar. Well, I finally corrected that a few weeks ago.

Their setup is a little unusual for a Virginia winery: The tastings are actually held in a large building that is separate from their "tasting room". The tasting room is very small, so this arrangement makes sense. They have three tables set up in the building where they do the tastings and they run group tastings at set times during the hour. So, you get your tasting ticket, go the table where the next tasting is going to start and wait until the appointed time.

Their wines make heavy use of Norton, so if you love that grape you need to visit this winery. In my case, I was impressed with their Petit Verdot and their Tannat, both grapes that are not seen often in Virginia and both excellently done.

I also enjoyed Sarah's Patio White and Red, excellent summer wines.

Looking to celebrate St. Patrick's Day at your favorite winery this weekend? You are in luck. Veramar is celebrating St. Patrick's Day with live entertainment and Irish Faire. On Sunday, you can go to Bluemont Vineyard has their Celtic Celbration on Sunday (and they should be releasing some new wines this weekend).

Whichever way you go, enjoy!

A new winery is opening over Memorial Day weekend later this year. The winery is Barrel Oak, and like any good winery they have a winery dog (two of them actually).

They also have an impressive list of initial releases, including:
Merlot
Cabernet Sauvignon
Norton
Reserve Cabernet Franc
Reserve Petit Verdot
Chocolate Lab Infused Dessert Red
Late Harvest Viognier Dessert
Seyval Blanc
Viognier

Chocolate Lab Infused Dessert Red? Is it possible that this wine is as good as it sounds?

If you want to find out about the opening and get more information on the winery visit their website and click on Contact Us.

Last week Kris and I went on a winery tour with some friends from work. We hit several of the old standbys, so I thought I would give you all an update:

We started off at Breaux. I've mentioned them enough recently, that I don't havbe anything new, but I do want to thank Jen at Breaux for arranging an area in the bottling room for us to eat lunch -- it was a great way to start the tour.



Next, we jumped over to Doukenie where we got a special treat, we were able to sample the next release of Hope's Legacy (formerly, their Raspberry Merlot). It is scheduled to be bottled on the 11th, and I would recommend picking some up as it is even better than previous vintages.

Our last stop was going to be Hillsborough, where the 2005 Garnet has aged really well and is a nice Brodeaux-style blend.

We finished up around 5:00 and no one was in a hurry to head home, so we stopped at Loudoun Valley Vineyards.



Loudoun Valley Vineyards was recently purchased and we got to meet the new owner/winemaker Bree.



If Bree looks familiar, it is because she was the winemaker at Unicorn Winery. Well, now she is on her own and she has a lot of great ideas going forward. I know Loudoun Valley has a bad reputation in some corners, but it sounds like she is really going to turn it around. And the 2006 Vinera White was an excellent end to the day.

The wine club went to Naked Mountain Winery a couple of weekends ago. During the winter, Naked Mountain offers a lasagna lunch. For $16 you get your choice of either a vegetable or sausage lasagna and your choice of wine.

The lasagna is excellent, a great way to warm up on cold winter days and the selection of wines is very good. Naked Mountain is famous locally for their Chardonnays, they are currently tasting their 2004 and 2005 Chardonnays, both of which are good.

I opted for the Raptor Red which is a blend of 47% Merlot, 27% Cabernet Sauvignon, 19% Cabernet Franc, 4% Tannat, and 3% Petit Verdot. It is a strong wine, with pepper and cherry flavors and firm tannins. A good pairing with the slightly spicy lasagna.

I'd like to introduce you to Stephane Derenoncourt a Bordeaux "rebel" and creator of right bank garage wines (much like one of my favorite left bank wine makers).

What are the results of Derenoncourt's style? Check it out for yourself.

Why the interest in Derenoncourt? He is the winemaker at a new winery in Middleburg. One that has set out to make wines similar to those in Bordeaux.

We visited the Boxwood Tasting Room on Saturday, and it is impressive. The centerpiece of the Tasting Room is an Italian-imported tasting station that features a variety of left bank and right bank Bordeauxs as well as Boxwood's Topiary. Being able to sample their Topiary against a sampling of other Bordeaux wines really helped put it into perspective.

How does it stack up? Well, it is a medium-bodied Bordeaux that is a blend of 49% Cabernet Franc, 45% Merlot and 6% Petit Verdot. It has a deep color with hints of cherry and a subtle tobacco aroma. Considering that it is a 2005 it has soft tannins and a smooth finish. The Merlot does a nice job of offsetting the pepperiness of the Cabernet Franc, but making Cabernet Franc the primary grape gives it a unique taste and a strong flavor.

The tasting room is a very pleasant experience, and a great opportunity to sample a wide variety of Bordeaux wines in one place.

Over the weekend I got 40 comments telling me how great my writing is. Oddly, all of them were also advertising Viagara knock-offs. Needless to say, they all got rejected. The sad thing is this blog gets, on average, 25 hits a day so even if I did let the comments through chances are, no one would see them :).

The wine club recently went to the The Winery at La Grange. The winery at La Grange is one of Chris Pearmund's properties and has been around for about a year.

This is the only winery in Prince William County. The tasting room and the grounds are impressive, it is obvious that a lot of thought went into the user experience.

Because the winery is so new none of the wines are made from grapes grown at La Grange, instead the grapes are imported from all over Virginia and made on site.

The winemaker's focus is definitely on the reds. While they do make a good Pinot Grigio, the wines that shine are their 2006 Cabernet Franc, the Claret (a blend of Graciano, Tannat and Touriga Nacional) -- which is a great everyday wine, and their Meritage is absolutely fantastic.

We were up in Brandywine the last weekend in September to Brandywine Valley Harvest festival. The Brandywine Valley Wine Trail includes six wineries, all relatively close together. We opted to hit three of them.

The first winery was Folly Hill. Folly Hill is half winery, half wine merchandise shop...I know it seems a lot of wineries are that way, but this one really stood out. Their wines were nice, they have both an oaked and a stainless steel Chardonnay. I always enjoy the contrast between the two. They had a Syrah that was surprisingly good, it is not a varietal that you see a lot of in Pennsylvania, but it was well-done in this case.

The next stop was Twin Brook Winery. Of all our stops this one had the nicest tasting room and the most friendly, though overwhelmed, staff. They had a wide selection of wines including an awful Norton (of course, I think all Nortons are awful -- so don't take my word for it). Their Pinot Grigio was good, a nice light wine. Their Chambourcin Reserve was excellent. They also had a Cabernet Franc which was very smooth and an interesting contrast to the pepperiness of Virginia Cabernet Francs, it was almost like tasting a different varietal.

Finally, we ended the day at Chaddsford. Chaddsford is probably the best-known Pennsylvania winery. They produce 30,000 cases a year and distribute it throughout the Mid-Atlantic and North East regions.

They produce 18 different wines, ranging from fruity wines to a Meritage blend. There were a few wines of note. The Spiced Apple wine is an apple wine fermented with various spices. They also had a good Pinot Grigio and the oaked/stainless steel Chardonnay pairing. In reds, the Due Rossi was an excellent blend of Sangiovese and Barbera. The Miller Estate Chambourcin was also very good. On the other hand, the two Pinot Noirs were disappointing.

My son, Bruce, and I went out to Milwaukee to visit friends over the weekend. Of course, I cannot travel to a state without checking out at least one winery. Fortunately, Wisconsin has 34 to choose from. I dragged my friends, and their kids, to Cedar Creek Winery.

Cedar Creek is an urban winery in downtown Cedarsburg. They have a surprising variety of wines, a total of 15 whites and reds. Some of the highlights:

My favorite, by far, was Uncle Pierre's Beaujolais. The grapes for this wine are grown in France, the wine is also made there. It is a light Beaujolais with an almost fruity taste and almost no tannins. The Old Mill Red was also good. It is an Italian-style wine made from the Fochs grape. It is steel aged and meant to be drunk quickly.

A good summer wine is the Strawberry Blush. It is 90% Seyval Blanc and 10% Strawberry Juice. The strawberry juice adds a nice flavor to the Seyval Blanc, which is a wine I normally find bland.

I highly recommend checking out this winery if you are in the area...there is no tasting fee.