Virginia Wine Guide

Forgot to post these photos from our mid-October (beautiful weather day!) visit to Three Creeks Winery in Loudoun County. Such a beautiful setting — we love sitting out on the upper deck and soaking in the view of the vineyards and creeks!

Another great autumn visit to Muse Vineyards!

Had a really lovely time on Saturday at Endhardt Vineyards, which hosted Chris Boustred of Remhoogte Wine Estate in South Africa for a tasting of their beautiful wines. Love the variety of events at our Virginia wineries! 🍷

Gluten-free pizza (which turned out to be fantastic!) tonight with three Bordeaux-style red wines from Virginia, same vintage (2020) but different regions. All went really well with our homemade pizza but the Sunset Serenade from Granite Heights Winery was the best, a bit lighter and with more bright red fruit which balanced well with the pizza sauce. Cheers!

Out at Slater Run Vineyards this afternoon to celebrate the news that I passed the WSET-3 exam (with a glass of their sparkling Blanc de Blanc). Perfect weather, perfect wines, perfect view.

Enjoying the wine, food, and view on this beautiful afternoon at 50 West Vineyards!

Homemade gluten-free cheese pizza tonight with dueling Virginia Cab Francs, one from 50 West Vineyards and the other from King Family Vineyards. Both are great Cabs but very different.

The one from 50 West is more a classic Virginia Cab, with dark cherry, dark plum, dark cocoa, vanilla, baking spice on the nose and palate, a bit more body and heft.

The Cab from King Family is brighter and lighter, red raspberry, cranberry, white pepper, and more minerality, definitely lighter and less alcoholic.

They were both really great with our pizza! (And, for what it’s worth, we are club members at both wineries.)

Cheers!
Donna

Ed and I went out this hot and muggy afternoon for a couple of winery visits, first to Sunset Hills Vineyard for our wine club pick-up and a glass of their great Gold Medal winning Shenandoah Springs Chardonnay. Our pick-up includes the new 2023 Sunburst!, an orange wine-style Chardonnay fermented for three months on the skins — very delicious and different! I think it'll be super to have very well chilled out on the deck on these hot afternoons. (And it was great to see you, Beth and Elizabeth!).

Then, on the way home, we stopped by 8 Chains North Winery for a tasting, since it had been a while since our last visit there. (And thanks, Emily, for a great conversation with you!) 8 Chains has wrapped up harvest for their white grapes and will begin harvesting red wine grapes soon. The summer was so warm that everything ripened earlier than normal.

Obviously, we stayed indoors at both places because 95° is just too hot, even in the shade!

Cheers!
-Donna

Great afternoon visits today at Shenandoah Vineyards and then nearby Muse Vineyards, where they were preparing a birthday celebration for owner Sally Cowal. So glad the weather has cooled down from the scorching July temps so we can once again sit outside at our favorite wineries! 🍷

Stopped by Paradise Springs Winery last week for a (shared) tasting. Lovely views, including from the covered back veranda!

We had a super time at Southwest Mountains Vineyards on Sunday afternoon, after stopping by Keswick Vineyards. It's just 3 miles from Keswick; like Keswick, Southwest Mountain is also on the 2024 Virginia Gold Medal Trail.

The winery property is on the site of a 19th-century farm called Castalia Farm, a stock farm, with two large barns. The winery tasting room is in the second barn, built in 1903. When current owners Paul and Diane Manning bought the property, they had the second barn renovated, which included repairing what could be repaired and replacing the rest. The result is absolutely beautiful, a lovely structure that is totally in keeping with the original structure.

Their 70-plus acres of vineyards were first planted in 2016 and wines first were produced three years later. The owners worked closely with Emily Pelton, from Veritas Vineyards, under the Castalia Farm label. (Nearby Merrie Mill Vineyards, for instance, sold Castalia Farm wines after their first harvest was damaged by the Mother's Day freeze several years ago.)

The new winemaker at Southwest Mountain is South African native Boela Ge**er, formerly at the renowned Groot Constantia, the very first winery established in South Africa in 1685. (Ed and I visited South Africa back in 2018 and were really impressed by their wines!)

We loved our visit at SW Mountain! The tasting room barn is expansive but with a personal feel from the nooks scattered around the perimeter on the second floor, where we were seated. I opted for the red flight tasting flight (four reds), while Ed chose the reserve flight (two Chardonnays, two Petit Verdots), which we shared. And we got a cheese/charcuterie board plus a crab fondue for lunch (we were famished after driving down from northern Virginia!). Ed is now on a gluten-free diet and Southwest Mountain did a fabulous job with both of the menu items we chose (thank you!!).

All eight of the wines were really lovely! My favorites were the 2021 Chardonnay reserve (the 2020 was beautiful, but the 2021 was more my style), the 2019 Red Blend, and the 2021 Cab Franc. (The 2021 Red Blend was also the same blend as the 2019 — 60% Cab Franc, 30% PV, and 10% Merlot, more black pepper, red fruit, a little more savory on the palate — and was also a lovely wine.)

We'll definitely be going back the next time we're in that area!

Cheers! -Donna

We had a lovely time on Sunday afternoon at Keswick Vineyards to pick up our barrel club case (from 2023 — we're a little late there!), visit *our* barrel, and enjoy a lovely glass of Keswick wine, Viognier for me, Chardonnay Reserve for Ed. And we were thrilled to run into Stephen Barnard out on the front deck!

Keswick's new Four Seasons deck looks just amazing! It's still in the process of being constructed but will be absolutely beautiful. Looking forward to going back when it's done!

Cheers! -Donna

After visiting Molon Lave Vineyards on Sunday, we weren’t quite ready to go home so instead headed to nearby Old House Vineyards not far from Culpeper. This was the first time we’d gone to their Irish pub room instead of the “old house” where the wine tasting room used to be (and still is on Saturdays, evidently).

In addition to wine flights, you can also try beer flights or, in the distillery, their distilled spirits choices. (We’ve visited their brewpub in the past and really liked the beers!)

We enjoyed our flights very much. Ed opted for an all-red wine flight (Wicked Bottom, Cab Franc, Bacchanalia, and Merlot). I chose a mixed flight (Petillante, their gold medal winner, Chardonnay, then Bacchanalia and Merlot).

We came home with Chardonnay, Bacchanalia, and Petillante to add to our cellar. And we loved the Irish pub atmospherics, very cozy in front of the fire on a blustery Sunday afternoon, sipping great Virginia wines!

Cheers, all! -Donna

Great time this afternoon at Molon Lave Vineyards! We hadn’t been there in a couple of years so thought we’d go for a visit. We opted for the full house tasting, small pours of 10 different wines. Another option is to do a self-guided shorter tasting flight, but we wanted to check out a broader range of wines.

I really liked all the wines on the list, especially the 300 red blend (“300” from the battle of Thermopylae (think the movie, The 300) and also the Cabernet Sauvignon. Their Ariadne port-style dessert wine was really delicious paired with chocolates, which brought out the chocolate-cherry notes in the wine.

We came home with several wines, including their gold medal winning Three Muses rose.

Thank you, AJ, for such a great tasting and experience!

Cheers! —Donna

Lovely visit this afternoon at Delaplane Cellars for a relaxed tasting flight and unexpected meet-up with friends Kathy Lang Wiedemann and Richard Wiedemann! I really liked the two red blends, Duet (Merlot, Cab Sauvignon) and their 2024 gold medal winner, Rusticity (Cab Franc, Petit Verdot, Cab Sauv). Cheers! -Donna

After Narmada, we went to Magnolia Vineyards & Winery to catch up with Glen and Tina, to see what new wines have been released, and also to do our (belated!) club pick-up. It was such a great visit!

Since we hadn't been able to visit since last fall for various reasons, we did a tasting flight, which I love because each wine is paired with cheese or chocolate. My favorite white was the Viognier, which was super! And the Felice rosé (100% Cab Franc) was delicious paired with the sea salt caramel chocolate. I really liked both reds — Cab Franc Reserve and Hawkins Run Red — which are the kind of reds I tend to prefer, lighter bodied but lots of flavor. (And I was happy to see the Viognier, Felice, and Cab Franc Reserve in our club pick-up bag!)

And a visit to Magnolia wouldn't be complete without catching up with the winery dogs, Maggie (the senior dog), Vinnie, and Sangie. Vinnie and I had some quality time together, but then he knows he's my favorite. :) (Plus I had a doggie treat in hand, not that he's influenced by such things...)

We're so glad we're back out and about and able to get back to one of our favorite places to visit!

Cheers! –Donna

We had an absolutely super time last Sunday at the Germany-Austria wine tasting led by Somm Sara at Slater Run Vineyards! The wines were really interesting, from a sparkling German wine (from the unusual Muller-Thurgau grape) to German Pinot Noir (really nice!) and a lovely Austrian Grüner Veltliner. I love these Sunday afternoon tasting classes at Slater Run — a lot of fun and very informative!

Stopped by Williamsburg Winery last Sunday on our way home from the Outer Banks for a tasting flight. It's part of our tradition at the end of our beach vacations — to go first to Berret's Seafood Restaurant and Taphouse Grill and then to stop at WW afterwards. Really enjoyed the tasting (and I wish I could remember the name of the very gracious and informative young man who helped us!). Cheers!