Richard Childress Vineyards

 When one thinks of North Carolina, images of tobacco and barbeque tend to come to mind. Wine? A novelty at best. Thankfully, I learned I was wrong when we visited Richard Childress Vineyards. First of all, the vineyard is absolutely beautiful. The building looks like it came straight out of Italy, and up on the hill, you just see grapes for ever and ever. Breathtaking. The interior of the building is just as stunning as the exterior. Turns out, we showed up about 15 minutes before a free tour began. Yes please.

We enjoy the tour, which was nice, but I felt like I saw (and learned) more about the process of making wine on the tour we took to Williamsburg Winery. After the tour, we opted for a tasting. We had the option of the Cellar Select Tasting ($12 gets you a taste of 8 "basic" wines and a souvenir wine glass) and the Barrel Select Tasting ($14 for 8 premium wines and a Bordeaux wine glass). Since we visited the RCR museum earlier in the day, we each received $2 off the tasting...and the more expensive tasting came with a much bigger wine glass. Can you guess which one we did? Here's a run down of the wines we tasted:


2009 Vioginier- Very nice and light, definitely a summer wine. The description includes pineapple and peach flavors, which were very prominent. On sale for $12.95, and certainly worth it.


2006 Syrah- Another great wine. I was a little apprehensive that this would have "intense raspberry, chocolate, and tobacco flavors" as described, but the tobacco flavor was very savory. Heavy for the summer, but a great wine.


2009 Sangiovese- A light red, this would go well with burgers or in general grilling out. I enjoyed it, it was nice, but not my favorite. For $19.95, there are other less expensive wines I like just as well.


2009 Reserve Chardonnay- I wasn't completely aware of the butterscotch and vanilla influences, but this was a very buttery and smooth wine. Very satisfying.


2007 Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon- Nice, enjoying, but nothing too exciting.


2006 Signature Merlot- I've heard it said before that life is too short to drink cheap Merlot, and while I like Merlot, this wine helped me see what I've been missing. Very dense with a bit of a spicy finish. Would love a bottle, but I have troble drinking $29.95...even if that is marked down from $39.95.


2007 Signature Meritage- Nice, but if I couldn't stomach the price of the Merlot, I certainly didn't think this one was worth $49.95.


Late Harvest Viognier - I am not typically a fan of dessert wines. Most are just too sweet for me. At first, I was afraid this one was going to go down like perfume. It started that way, and then calmed down. It is a dessert wine I could enjoy with friends, but not one I would choose on my own.

Three- Did you notice I said we would taste 8 wines and yet this is the 9th one I am writing about? That's because I'm a brat-well, not really. This wine is a blended from the Chardonnay, Viognier, and Pinot Gris grapes, and a signature of the vineyard. It is included in the basic tasting, but considering it was such a signature wine, I felt compelled to ask to try it. I was willing to swap out one of our other wines for it, but they said it wasn't a problem to throw it in. I was happy. And I was happy about the wine. Very smooth, very easy drinking, and sadly, I didn't buy a bottle. Of course, I can't find it in any grocery or wine stores around here. I'm sure this is going to be a sad quest to now find it.

The best part of the tasting: We came home with these lovely (and huge) crystal wine glasses. Score!

A Taste of New Kent Wine Festival, Round 2

After taking a short break to look around at some vendors (boring), enjoy some overpriced bottled water, and realize that our picnic blanket and chairs were set up in a tick infested clearing, we went back to enjoying some wine.

Vault Field Vineyards- This winery seemed to be a bit smaller than some others there, as they only had a variety of 5 different wines. I did really enjoy 2 of them, though. Their 2008 Conundrum, which is a fruity blend, was quite enjoyable, as was their 2008 Red, a blend of merlot, cabernet sauvignon, and chambourcin. I was a little disappointed with their rose, whoever; it was rather bland and I was hoping for something a little more bite.

Rockbridge Vineyard- I have experienced wines from this vineyard before, and have previously purchased a bottle of their St. Mary's Blanc and Jeremiah's Blush. I enjoyed those once again, but also found that I liked their Riesling Reserve, Tuscarora Red, Cabernet Franc Reserve, and the VD'Or, an excellent dessert wine. I'm a little sad I didn't purchase another bottle of the Jeremiah's Blush.

New Kent Winery- I was thrilled to experience this winery's goods, as they were the host vineyard. I found that I enjoyed the their Chardonnay, and Meritage wines, but I was most excited by their White Merlot. I am not afraid to admit that I love some good old Sutter Home White Merlot, but really how good could it be. I was ecstatic to find a "real" winery with a white merlot, and it did not disappoint. I was really surprised to see that it was a very light, almost clear color, as opposed to the bright pink that I've experienced with Sutter Home. I purchased a bottle of this wine, and am very excited to enjoy it soon.

Davis Valley Winery- This was the last winery we visited, and honestly, I think we were a little done by this point. I did enjoy their Davis Valley Red table wine, as well as their Chardonnay. Their Virginia Breeze Red was nice, but the white version was waaaaaaaaaay too sweet for me. Then they did something a little unconventional-they combined both the white and red together. Many of the tasters with me enjoyed it, but to me it was just a ridiculously sweet wine. 

At this point, we decided it was about time to wrap things up. Of course, we couldn't leave without experiencing the joys of deep fried Oreos. (How deep fried Oreos end up at something like a wine festival, I'll never understand.) We also decided during the festival to invest $5 in a wine glass holder. It may look a little ridiculous, but it was really helpful when trying to keep up with tasting papers, my purse and other such items.

At any rate, we had a fabulous day out at New Kent, and are excited to enjoy some new wines.

A Taste of New Kent Wine Festival, Round 1

A friend of ours invited the hubs and I to attend this wine festival with her today. Since the hubs had off work, and I had nothing going on, off we went went.

It started at 11, but in typical lazy Saturday fashion, we showed up about noon. Even with 14 different wineries to sample, we figured we had plenty of time to enjoy all the festival had to offer. We started out working a bit backwards, and several of these wineries I've had the pleasure of experiencing the before. Unfortunately, we had had enough wine well before we hit all 14 wineries-we really only made it about 9-but we certainly had our fair share to drink. Below are some of my thoughts on those wineries:


First Colony Winery- None of us were particularly impressed with this winery. None of the wines were bad, but none super excited us except their Cabernet Franc. That was one I would have gone back for. It was particularly fruity, with a little bit of a coffee after taste. Even the non-red drinkers in the group enjoyed it.

Horton Cellars- There were several wines we really enjoyed here. The whites I particularly enjoyed included Rkatsitell ("Off-Dry Georgian/Russian Variety) and their Black Cat Chardonnay. They had a semi-sweet red called Eclipse that was also quite enjoyable, and their Sweet Concord was the perfect sweet, fruity wine for non-wine drinkers (i.e. my mother-in-law). But their Blanco XOCO (White Chocolate Wine) takes the cake. They also had a red chocolate wine, but the white is so smooth, rich, and chocolatey-we had to bring home a bottle. They had several fruit wines available, and while I enjoyed the pomegranate that I tried, I have trouble enjoying fruit wines with food, so I don't get too excited by them.

Chateau-Morrisette- This has quickly become one of my favorite wineries, and my initial attraction was based on the dog on the label. I enjoyed their reds, but I am a big fan of their Liberty blend, which I have previously written about. Their semi-dry wines were great-I enjoyed both The Black Dog and the Vidal Blanc, and I liked both of their semi-sweet wines (Our Dog Blue and Blushing Dog). What's best about this winery (for me) is that several of their wines are available in our local grocery stores, so I don't have to wait to see them at a festival to enjoy them. This winery is one that I would love to have the opportunity to tour...maybe someone this summer we'll make the 3-4 hour trek out there.


James River Cellars- I also encountered this winery back in September, and even purchased a bottle of their Chardonnel. Apparently, though, that was the only wine of theirs that particularly appealed to me. Nothing of their 9 wines today excited me. It made me kind of sad.

Cooper Vineyards- This was the last vineyard that we visited during round 1. First of all, I loved all the staff members I spoke to. Very warm, friendly, and knowledgeable. They also informed us ways the vineyard is attempting to become more eco-friendly, which is super cool in my book. Their mascot is a dog named Lucy, and next weekend is a fundraiser for the SPCA called Lucy's weekend. Free music, tastings, a paw print wine glass, and four legged friends are welcome! I wish that the hubs was free-it would be an awesome day trip. I enjoyed a lot of their wines, particularly their Reserve Norton 2008 (red), Rhapsody (sweet white), and Sweet Louisa (another sweet red, mother-in-law favorite). Their Noche is a wonderful red chocolate wine. While I enjoyed the White Chocolate from Horton, I definitely preferred Cooper's Noche to Horton's Red Chocolate wine. Finally, I was quite tempted to purchase their Sangria pack, which consisted of three different wines, which you then mix with frozen orange and limeade concentrates. It was phenomenal.

That's where we ended round 1 of our tastings. With about 10 wines per winery, we were certainly starting to feel it.

Farm Fresh Wine Tasting

Farm Fresh is a local grocery store. It has come a long ways over the last 5 years or so...It is now a pretty high class store. There is one about 15 minutes from us that has these huuuuuuuuuge wine tasting galas about 3 or 4 times a year. We just returned from one. There were at least 10 tables with 3 or 4 wines at each one. A few had beers, too. It was phenomonal. It sounds a bit trashy to get free wine at a grocery store, but it's a nice event. I even ran into my high school calculus teacher there. Sadly, it was quite busy, and I didn't get to write down everything I liked to take a lot of notes on why I liked them.

Here are some notables:

Ghost Pines Merlot and Cabernet Sauvingon: Both very smooth going. Excellent wines for novice red drinkers. I believe it was $16.88.

Twin Vines Vinho Verde: Great white wine, has a bit of effervescence to it that almost seems sparkling. $6.96
Penasol Sangria: Very good Sangria in a Bottle (which just recently became legal to sell in Virginia). On sale, 2 for $10.
Chimay: Nice smooth Belgian Beer. About $11 for a liter bottle or so. Sierra Nevada Pale Ale and Anniversary Ale: I really liked the pale ale (I'm not much of a beer drinker), and I really enjoyed the Pale Ale. The Hubs and our friend really liked the Anniversary Ale. It's intended to be a fall beer, and has a little bit of a bite to it.