Sunday, April 28, 2013
Tasting - "Clos du Bois Chardonnay"
Tasting - "Barefoot White Zinfandel"
Tasting - "Prince Michel Cabernet Sauvignon"
Tasting - "Barefoot Pink Moscato"
Tasting - "Praia Vinho Verde"
Winery Visitation - Blacksburg Fork and Cork
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| Glimpse at the amount of people |
This past Saturday (April 27th, 2013) I went to the Fork and Cork event in Blacksburg, VA with my girlfriend. I was very excited to go to this event because I wanted to try out all the different wines around Virginia, so what could go wrong? Well, I'll tell you something that I wasn't really expecting at all. There were seas of people, like hundreds upon hundreds of people. I was really surprised by this. My first shock to this was at the entrance. There was a huge line at the entrance, so I started to make the line, only to find out later (maybe not even 3 minutes after I started) that this was the line if you didn't have any tickets. So since I had already purchased tickets, I was able to got to the "express lane" which was significantly shorter. After this, we were free to walk and go to wherever we wanted to go. You can look at the picture to the right to see just a few of the people that were here, all the people making huge lines to try the wines from the different wineries.
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| Fork and Cork Wine Glass! |
There were a lot of booths all over the place, some selling trinkets, food, and of course, those that were giving out free tastings of their wines. So we immediately decided to scout the place. We walked all the way to the back of the winery row, and decided to make our first stop at the Hilltop Winery.
Hilltop Winery
If I want to be honest, it wasn't that I was making this blog entry that I noticed that they had papers and pencils to take the tasting notes, and since I didn't notice this, I was taking said notes on my phone, and due to that, I wasn't able to take the notes as fast as I wanted, and even though I tasted all they had to offer, I wasn't able to write down my notes for all of them.These were the wines and meads that they had to offer:
Peach Wine:
"This is out signature fruit wine. Our peach wine is summer time in a glass! While it pairs perfectly with poultry or seafood, it can also be refreshing when served before or after dinner on a lazy summer day." $16.95 bottle/$5.00 glass
Cranberry Table Wine: $18.95 bottle/$5 glass
"Hold on to your taste buds. This wine goes well with baked or grilled chicken or with turkey during the holidays; makes a refreshing Cosmopolitan, Sea Breeze, cranberry lemonade or spritzer."
Dragon's Blood: $16.95 bottle/$8 glass
"This pomegranate mead has a great sherry like quality, is tart and slightly sweet. Pair with chocolate,spicy foods or red meat. Pomegranates and honey are good for you!"
Lavender Metheglin: $16.95 bottle/$8 glass
"Derived from the Welsh word "Meddyglyn", meaning healing drink, metheglin is mead with an herb or spice. Dried lavender flowers make this mead fragrant and delicious and gives it a citrus note. Pairs with duck, lamb, goat cheese, shortbread or mix in lemonade."
Hunter's Moon: $21.95 bottle/$7 glass
"This pumpkin mead ferments with pumpkin pie spices. Slightly sweet, it is pumpkin pie in a glass! Drink chilled or heat it up in a mug! It will warm you up! Enjoy it now or save it until Fall Holidays."
My Reviews:
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| Peach Wine |
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| Dragon's Blood |
Peach wine: This had a very peachy smell and taste (go figure!). It was sweet, and I thought that it was very nice, but I wouldn't buy it for that price.
Dragon's blood:
The nose of this smelled like honey, and it also tasted like honey to me, but on the finish there was a very distinct tart component to it. I liked this one a little more, and I would like to try it again, but I don't think that I would pay that much for it.
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| Hunter's Moon |
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| Pork Sandwich |
Overall experience at Hilltop:
All their wines were extremely interesting, most of them had very pronounced honey notes. I felt a little rushed through all their wines and the guy wasn't too informative. Even though I was only able to take notes on a couple due to how rushed I was, I understand with the amount of people that there were at this place. Also, all their wines had very distinct odd flavors that I had never gotten on a wine or mead before, they weren't bad, but definitely unusual. I wouldn't personally buy these wines, but they were definitively worth the wait for their unique and interesting taste.
Stanburn Winery
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| Stanburn Winery |
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| Guy in Stilts |
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| Chardonnay |
"Contains 100% Chardonnay. Fermented in stainless steel and aged in 3-6 year old barrels. Mango, pear, tropical and citrus notes with peach stonefruit. Smooth, creamy texture from aging on lees. Crisp acidity and a pleasant finish. Pairs well with creamy pasta seafood dishes, poultry, and soft cheeses."
My Review: I was actually surprised by how dry this wine was, the nose was a typical white Chardonnay. I also thought that this wine was a little spicy on the finish.
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| Bull's Blush |
Bull's Blush: $15 bottle
"Contains Chambourcin, Cabernet Franc, and Vidal Blanc. Fermented in stainless steel and aged in neutral barrels. Sweet raspberry and strawberry notes with melon and peach aromas. Fruity and crisp upfront with a smooth and creamy finish. Pairs well with Spicy Mexican and ethnic dishes. Great for picnics."
My Review: This wine had a plain nose, the finish was quite smooth with a hint of spices. I liked this wine a lot, but I would say that it would be great if it hadn't been as plain as I felt it to be.
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| Poorhouse |
"Contains 100% Chambourcin. Fermented in stainless steel and aged in neutral barrels. Black cherries, raspberries, blackberries, and chocolate notes. Nice smooth, fruity palate with a fresh fruit finish. Pairs well with cheese cakes or death by chocolate desserts."
My Review: On the nose I got a hint of plum, but very distinct tobacco like I've never smelled before on a wine. On the mouth it was slightly sweet with more plums coming through, and a cherry finish. i really liked this wine. This was my favorite wine of that day because I had never had something quite like it, and it was really enjoyable. All the tastes and smells were more pronounced than what I'm used to, but they were all very nice.
Traminette: $15 bottle
"Contains 100% Traminette. Fermented and aged in stainless steel. Floral notes of rose and white blossoms, with a sweet honeysuckle finish. Smooth, soft mid-palate with balanced, crisp acidity on the finish. Pairs well with fruits, salads, and spicy dishes."
My Review: Tobacco on the nose again, slightly dry and acidic. I didn't really like this wine all that much.
Chambourcin: $16 bottle
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| Chambourcin |
My Review: Even more tobacco on the nose. This was very dry with hints of spices and it also had slight tannins, but they were not very pronounced.
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| Cabernet Franc |
"Contains 100% Traminette. Fermented and aged in stainless steel. Floral notes of rose and white blossoms, with a sweet honeysuckle finish. Smooth, soft mid-palate with balanced, crisp acidity on the finish. Pairs well with fruits, salads, and spicy dishes."
My Review: Tobacco on the nose. This wine was the driest of all the ones that I tasted, it wasn't all that good in my opinion.
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| Big A Red |
"Contains Cabernet Franc and Chambourcin. Fermented in stainless steel and aged in neutral barrels. Aromas of strawberries and cream, red raspberries, blackberries, and violets. Soft, creamy palate with a fruity mid-palate. Fine, dusty tannins, with earthy hints. Smooth and persistent finish. Pairs well with grilled meats, raspberry cheesecake, BBQ, and medium to hard cheeses."
My Review: More tobacco on the nose, but it also came with some plums. Slightly dry and spicy with the plums on the mouth again.
Meadow Breeze: $15 bottle
"Contains 100% Vidal Blanc. Fermented and aged in stainless steel. Sweet and fruity. Aromas of peaches and tropical fruits, with a crisp, clean finish, A great porch wine. Pairs well with desserts. Perfect for lazy afternoons or summer cookouts."
My Review: Flowers on the nose, very strongly so. It was quite sweet, and also tasted like flowers probably do. It was pleasantly great, this wine was one of my favorites.
Overall Experience at Stanburn:
They were really nice, and they had pencil and paper with the list of the wines of their tasting options, and with blank space for you to write down your notes. The lady was extremely nice, she was very informative, and she would wait for me to finish writing down my tasting notes before she went on serving the next wine. They seemed to have a couple of base wines, and then they made different blends from those base wines. I really liked this place, and I thought that it was worth the wait (even if my feet were hurting a lot by the end).
Trump Winery
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| Me in front of Trump Winery |
Blanc de Blanc 2008: $25 bottle
"Brut sparkling wine made from 100% Chardonnay, using the traditional French method Champenoise. Nose of green apple, brioche and slight pear. On the mouth there is crisp acidity with citrus notes. Aged 22 months on lees. Pair with mild cheeses, sushi, or served as an aperitif."
My Review: Obviously, this wine was fizzy, crisp with hints of green apple, which made the wine feel very acidic, the wine was also dry.
Chardonnay 2012: $17 bottle
"90% in stainless steel and 10% in French oak barrels. Vibrant grapefruit, pear and citrus aromas that are lush and crisp on the palate, finishing with a subtle creaminess. Refreshing, crisp and clean, this wine is easy to drink by itself and stands up well by itself to food. Pair with gazpacho, caprese salad, and quiche."
My Review: It was kind of fruity, but also plain. I wasn't a fan of this one, didn't like it at all.
Rose 2011: $10 bottle
"Dry rose blend of Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, and Cabernet Franc. Nose of strawberry and flowers. Raspberry and grapefruit on the palate. Excellent balance between acidity and volume. Pair with anything off the grill, pizza, charcuterie, and cheese."
My Review: Very floral on the nose and mouth. It didn't really have much else going besides that.
Simply Red 2008: $17 bottle
"48% Merlot, 26% Cabernet Franc, 21% Cabernet Sauvignon and 5% Petit Verdot. Lightly toasted aromas of black currant, blueberries and cherries. Smooth, medium bodied with flavors of black cherry and cocoa with a long period. Pair with chicken, pork tenderloin, and soft cheeses."
My Review: Spicy and tobacco on the nose, which were also present on the mouth. The finish was medium in length, but with a very distinct peppery finish.
CRU: $28 bottle
"100% Chardonnay juice fortified with brandy, and then aged in bourbon barrels. Try it on the rocks, or mixed for a sweet treat with a kick. 14% rs."
My Review: This wine smelled almost like whiskey, but it was surprisingly sweet, but it came with a lot of heat on the finish.
Overall experience at Trump Winery:
They were really nice and they also had a paper and pen with the list of their wines that they were letting us taste, and it had a brief description of each individual wine. They were a little more rushed than Stanburn Winery, but not too bad. Their wines were all mediocre in quality in my opinion, didn't really like any of them enough to buy for myself, which seeing the prices doesn't really help.
Overall Experience at the Fork and Cork
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| Me at the water station sign |
I thought that it was very neat that they had a water station were they were giving away water for free, and you could also put on sunscreen if you wanted, I really liked that component.
Sunday, April 21, 2013
Zeppoli's Wine/Food Pairing
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| Front view, outside the restaurant |
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| My plate with food |
2. By the time we had served our plates, there were no more seats left in the small sitting area. So what we ended up doing was having one of the tables scoot a little, and me and my friend were forced to sit at the end of the table, with barely enough room for our dishes, wine glass, and glass of water (I was forced to take notes on my lap, and I could not back up because there was someone directly behind me). You can see my food on the picture above and how little space I had.
The food I was able to serve myself included bread, a small salad, a couple of cheeses, and one cracker (all of which were pretty standard taste to me). Then there also was what I assumed was something like a stuff shell made with marinara sauce. This item in particular was outstandingly awesome tasting, I really liked, probably the most of what I was able to eat, made me really wish I could have had more of it. The second best thing was the rice, which I thought was going to be bland, but it was explosive with flavors, and also had a small piece of chicken. Then the last thing there was was some meatballs with what I initially thought were potatoes, but was actually pineapple to my surprise. The meatballs were a little too sweet to my taste (to be honest I had never had sweet meatballs, which took me by surprise the first time I tried it), which made me not really like it.
Without further ado, I present to you all the bottles of wine that we tried out during our tasting, four whites and five reds for a total of nine wines.
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| The wines we tried in their respective order from left to right |
Firesteed 2011 Pinot Gris Oregon: The guy serving the wines gave out a very interesting fact while serving this wine, he said something along the lines that it is almost an explicit law in Oregon, and you might offend someone if you call a Pinot Gris a Pinot Grigio in Oregon. Back to the tasting itself: on the nose I felt that it had a very floral and grassy smell. I really didn't like this wine when I first tried it (too floral and grassy on the mouth), but after I ate a little of the salad I felt like it eliminated some of the tastes I found unpleasant, and was a lot better, it was almost like extra dressing. With that being said, a lot of people seemed to like this wine a lot, but I didn't really like (even though it was a little better after the salad).
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| Lamplighter Chardonnay |
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| The White Knight Viognier |
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| Beringer Chenin Blanc |
Beringer 2011 Chenin Blanc California: This was the last white wine that we tried. On the nose of this last wine were hints of melon, but not overpoweringly so. It had a crispy taste to it, with typical white wine flavors and hints of apple, but it had a slightly spicy finish to it. It went really well with the chicken and rice. This was my favorite wine out of the wines (which wasn't really that hard since I didn't really like most of the other ones). There is a picture of this wine to the left, but I didn't realize until I got home that since I took it without flash, the colors wouldn't be as consistent with the other whites, but you can get the picture.
Reds:
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| Simple Life Pinot Noir |
Riven Rock Cabernet Sauvignon 2011: When I first saw this wine, I was really surprised by how light it was for a Cabernet Sauvignon. I got cherries on the nose. These got accentuated on the mouth, with an added hint of dark berries and leather. This wine was absolutely terrible with the sweet meatballs (starting to think I just disliked those meatballs).
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| Renwood Syrah |
Renwood Syrah 2008 Sierra Foothills: This wine was very jammy on the nose,
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| Me with the Renwood Syrah |
Cypress Vineyards 2010 Merlot Central Coast California: Sweet raspberry smells on the nose with a little bit of heat coming through. More raspberry on the mid-palate with a slight hint of leather, but what was rather surprising was the tannic and long finish. The dark berry tastes were significantly complemented and enhanced after stuffing my mouth with bread, cheese and crackers. This was one of my favorite wines up to this point.
Trentadue Old Patch Red' Lot #34 2010 California: On the nose I got hints of plum and blackberry. On the mouth I got a hint of what I would assume that tobacco tastes like. The bread eliminated the berry taste, and left it with only the tannic feeling, and not surprisingly, the meatballs made it absolutely terrible. Of note, the guy that was serving the wines felt bad for me and my friend because of our tight sitting, that he poured a little extra wine to us, which was awesome because this was my favorite wine out of all the ones that I tried.
Final comments:
The overall experience was nice, and informative. I got to try a bunch of wines with different foods. My only complaints would be the poor seating arrangement planning. Also, I feel that it would have been better if everyone was given a plate with food already served for them, and as the guy would be speaking, he could have recommended what foods might go well with each wine, because I was not really sure of what I was doing.
After the tasting, many people left, and other (like me) went to talk to the guy and got another serving or two of whichever wine they wanted to. I drank the Chenin Blanc again to remind myself of what it was like, and also the Cabernet Sauvignon because I couldn't help but comparing it to others that I have had in the past, and how different it was from those from Chile. I wanted to get another of the Trentadue (my favorite), but I felt like I had had enough for the moment. Afterwards I got recommendations of a dessert wine from the people at the restaurant, and ended up buying a bottle of Lambrusco at 10% off. I am excited to try a sweet red wine, which is why I got this one, even though they were recommending a Muscato more, but again, I wanted to try a new type of wine, and I've already tried the Moscato.Fin
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