2014 Fall Folliage Wine Trip

This past weekend, Becky, Shannon and I just wanted to get away, see some pretty leaves and taste some good wine.  We headed up to the Foothills Scenic Wine Trail.  It consists of only 2 wineries and one of those is an absolute gem!  Ducard Winery is tucked away in the foothills of Madison County, Virginia.  It is not a large winery, but it absolutely delightful.

    

 The gentleman doing our tasting was extremely pleasant, lots of fun and very knowledgeable.  You know from past posts that I am not a white wine person.  However, that being said, I did not taste a wine I didn't like there, including their whites.

   

 I particularly enjoyed the Cab Franc (of course!!) and a "port" (it can't officially be called Port because it is not from Portugal!  Did you know that??) called C'est Trop (port spelled backwards!  Clever!)  Oh my...it is made from Norton grapes - one of our favs-- and fortified with brandy!!!  It is 18% alcohol and it is awesome!!!  I have 2 bottles...come enjoy a sip of this fine wine!!!!

As usual, we packed a picnic - enough food to feed throngs - and braved the cool temperatures to eat outside up on the hill. Temps were hovering around 62 with a bit of a breeze.  It was a gorgeous fall day, clouds but no rain.  The company was exceptional, the food was quite good and the glass of their Cab Franc was wonderful.

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The drive through the country on the way home was so pretty and relaxing.  A perfect way to spend a fall Saturday.  I highly recommend this winery to you.  Pack a lunch, a jacket and head out to Madison County! 

WWW Travels to Rosemont of Virginia!

As you remember from the last blog, the 2010 Cab Franc from Rosemont was the winner of our great Cab Franc Showdown last month.

We traveled to the winning winery yesterday for a last hurrah before school starts again.  Rosemont is way down I85 south, exit 4, near Lake Gaston.  Sheila, Char, Lucy, Candee and I make the trek.

What a wonderful experience.  The winery is beautiful, and the winemaker and his wife and our server were so nice to us.  We descended upon the tasting room, picnic baskets in hand, with great anticipation which was not disappointed!!

Now I will tell you that I am a red wine person, so I can't really tell you about the white wines.  My friends seemed to enjoy them, but basically, we all prefer the reds, and we were not disappointed in what they had to offer.  My 3 favorites were the 2011 Syrah, 2011 Merlot and the 2012 Kilravock.  The Kilravock is one of the best wines I have had!!  It is full and rich with a very pleasant finish!  Because we were the only ones there, we had plenty of time to talk about the wines with Kendall, our server (or pourer.  Not sure what they are called!?)  She was so nice and patiently endured our goofiness!!

Picnic followed in the adjoining room with a beautiful view.  Trust me, WWW knows how to travel to wineries!  Picnic baskets are full of wonderful goodies to share and that will pair up well with most any red wine.  We chose to get several bottles of the Kilravock to enjoy with our lunch and spent a lovely, leisurely time enjoying the food, wine, setting and fellowship.  After we finished eating, we took the remaining wine out onto one of their porches to watch the approaching storm.

                                                                More photo bombing!!
We made it off the porch in the nick of time right before a torrential downpour began.  Gee...what a great place to be stuck during a storm!!!  What did we do...well...we had another glass of wine....duh!!!  This time we had a bottle of the Merlot.  I was afraid that after drinking the Kilravock, the Merlot would now be disappointing, but I am pleased to report that it was not.  We also had more time to talk with the winemaker, Justin and his wife, Aubrey. It was a lovely way to finish up the day's trip. 

All of us highly recommend this winery.  It is a ways down, so pack a lunch, enjoy the ride and spend some time there.  You will be glad you made the drive!!

                                          The tasting room bar is beautiful, as you can see!
                                  WWW on their best behavior (well, maybe not so much!!!)

         REMEMBER, THE WINE IS ALL ABOUT THE PEOPLE WITH WHOM YOU DRINK!!

THE WWW GREAT CAB FRANC SHOWDOWN

Coming Monday, July 14th!!!  Stay tuned!!
The WWW Great Cab Franc Showdown was a smashing success and way too much fun!!!  We had 9 WWW present along with our ever faithful WineMan and Server Extraordinaire!!!!!  We gathered at Chateau Belangia, home of Char and Keith, with each of us bringing a bottle of Cab Franc and a goodie to share!  Let me say right now that we will certainly never go hungry at one of our gatherings!! (It happened only once at a pontoon boat event...it won't happen again!!!) 

Once all the wines were presented, they were each decanted and numbered by our wonderful WineMan Extraordinaire and man of the house, Keith!!!! 

 

Then, the great wine tasting began.  Char had printed up wine tasting papers for us so we could comment on the nose, color, taste, other tasting notes and finally, our rating of that wine.  The tasting was interspersed with munching on our great assortment of food,  much laughter and, of course, conversations about each wine!!

          

 Of course, every group has their

PHOTO BOMBERS!!!

 

After all 8 wines had been savored and enjoyed, we each picked our favorite and Keith adjourned to another room to tally up the results.  We had quite a variety of quality of  within the Cab Franc group.  The "better" wines ( which is really a matter of personal preference) did seem to rise to the top! 

And the winner was ................

 

The 2010 Rosemount Cab Franc

brought by Sheila!!

 
And another totally successful gathering of the WWW came to an end! While the tasting was wonderful, the afternoon was all about friendship and fellowship!  We are truly blessed!!

 "Good Friends, Good Times and Good Wine!"  (and a good man!!)

 

THANK, CHAR AND KEITH for your fine hospitality!!!

There is going to be a followup to this event.  Our August outing will be to the winning winery for some more tasting and good fun.

I encourage you to start your own chapter of Wild Women on Wine and hope you find the dear friends and good times we have had the good fortune to find!!

   CHEERS!!!   CLINK!!!!

July 12, 2014:  Saturday Wanderings!

Becky and Shannon Farthing and I took off this morning ...destination.... Elk Island!  Got there only to find it was closed today. They are opened on the first and third weekends only.   So, we went next door to Byrd Cellars.  Both of these are located on Rt. 6 in Goochland County.  Had a great time at Byrd.  The owners son was training Eilene to do wine tastings and they were so much fun.  Their wines seemed to have matured since I was last there and they were very good!  Ended up buying 3 bottles and joining their wine club!  Highly recommend this place to you.  It is off the beaten path, so it isn't overly crowded like some of the other bigger wineries.  Give it a try.    http://www.byrdcellars.com/

Upon leaving Byrd we looked at the wine map and decided to try a little place called Thistle Gate Vineyards.  What a nice little gem we discovered!  They opened in 2007, served their first, young wines in 2010 and today we tasted their 2012 wines.  We were pleasantly surprised by all we tasted.  Their sweet wines were not overly sweet and their reds were very enjoyable.  I bought 2 Cab Francs.  We enjoyed a lovely picnic inside since it was hot as blue blazes outside, but they have a very nice porch to enjoy in cooler weather and have a couple of cornhole games set up.  A fun place to visit!!

2014 Summer Wine Trip

June 16 & 17 saw Marge, Sheila, Char and Noelle embarking on the 3rd annual WWW summer road trip. This year, we headed back to Loudon County up in N. Va. to try 6 new wineries:
Fox Meadows - Very nice place and people.  Wine is very good!  Their setting is one of the prettiest I have seen with a gorgeous view of the mountains off their tasting room deck!!

3 Fox Winery - Not good wine, don't know how to do business, left empty handed!
Delaplane - a spur of the moment ( and I mean VERY spur of the moment...like 25 feet from the driveway!!!) addition and an excellent choice.  We ate our picnic lunch there and had a great time.  Wine was also quite nice!!

Casanel - Another good choice.  The girl pouring our wine was so nice and their wines were very good.  I particularly enjoyed their Petit Verdot!!!

We stayed at the Holiday Inn...which was not the one I thought it was, but it was still very acceptable.  Last time, we stayed at the Best Western.  Was quite funny when Char and I checked in.  We were very confused and the guy behind the desk could only shake his head!!!!

Day 2 had us up relatively early, with breakfast at Starbucks compliments of Sheila before heading to our next 3 wineries:
Duekenie - Loved this place.  The setting was beautiful, the wine was excellent and the whole experience was lots of fun.  Highly recommend it!

   

Breaux - We then repeated a visit to Breaux.  We had visited this place on our trip 2 years ago.   We were after some specific wine.  They didn't have it available, but were VERY nice to us...Sheila especially!!!  And that's all I'll say!!!!  Very nice place, great wine, great owners!!

Barrell Oak - By far, our favorite of the trip.  This place is awesome.  Every wine we tasted was at least a 4 or of 5 in my book.  The people were very friendly and knowledgable and lots of fun.  They have plenty of room, and lots of inside tables (it was VERY hot outside) and allowed us to spread out and enjoy our picnic.  They were so nice, Sheila, Char and I joined their wine club.

While all of the wineries were wonderful (except for 3 Fox) Barrrel Oak was just such a great experience.  Please go if you have the chance!!

After lunch, we hit the road home with all our treasures and some more wonderful memories!!  Can't wait until some of our day trips this summer, our Christmas trip in Dec. and our next Summer Road Trip!!!  We have so much fun!!! Enjoy the pictures below!!  And stayed tuned for the next adventure of Wild Women on Wine!!!!  (and think about forming your own chapter of WWW!!)

        

Gauthier Vineyards

A friend of mine introduced me to Gauthier Vineyards in Barhamsville, Va.  It is new and only open on weekends.  It has become my favorite winery!!  Not only is their wine wonderful, but the owners greeted us at the door and took the time to talk with us and get to know us.  I felt like I left with 2 new friends.  If you have the opportunity, check them out!   Can'http://www.gauthiervineyard.com/t wait to go back!!

Wine Pairing Luncheon at Mom Speirs' House!

 

During our 2012 Summer WWW wine trip to Loudon Couty in Northern Virginia, Mother Speirs picked the brain of the winery folks, asking all kinds of questions about what food to pair with what wine.  Later that fall, we were treated to a lovely wine pairing luncheon at her home!  The food was delicious and the wines we had were quite wonderful!  However, it was the fun and laughter that was the best!

The wineries we visited that trip were:

Breaux Vineyards

Mediterranean Cellars

Sunset Hills Vineyards

Pearmund Cellars

Chrysalis Vineyards

The Winery at La Grange

We had such a good time during the 2 day trek.  Loved all the wineries.  We packed picnic food for lunch and for the hotel that night!

That's the great thing about wine....it's a good excuse to gather your friends and have some fun.  Try it!