Independence Day Weekend

Happy belated Fourth of July!! I hope everyone had a wonderful time celebrating the USA's independence! :) Unfortunately, I forgot my camera and therefore wasn't able to document how I spent my holiday.  I did enjoy my time at Lake Anna, though, with my boyfriend and a lovely mutual friend and her family.  Smorgasbord galore!  I'm still full!

We drove back on Saturday and stopped at a couple of wineries on the way.  One of my favorite things to do is visit Virginia's wineries when given the opportunity.

Our first stop was at Gray Ghost Vineyards.  They have a cute set up with wrought iron chairs and tables from which you have a lovely view of their grape vine varietals.  They don't have a view of the mountains, which is always an added bonus, but I always appreciate when I can look out at the vines from which they pick their grapes and make their wine.  Since I prefer visiting wineries that grow and use their own grapes, the whole farm-to-table deal made me quite happy.

Their tasting room has vaulted ceilings and their staff was very friendly and genuine.  I must say, this winery really knows how to make fantastic wines.  I thought every single one of the wines on their tasting menu was delicious.  If I could I would have bought a bottle of each!  We ended up buying their 2013 Gewurtztraminer as that was my first time drinking this grape variety.  I loved their 2013 Sevval Blanc and their 2012 Reserve Chardonnay as well.  And though I don't usually drink dessert wines, their 2012 Adieu was amazing.  Their description that it contains "flavors of peach, honey, and dried apricot" is right on par.  It's sweet, but not sickeningly so.  Overall, I'd give this winery an A+ and would definitely recommend it to friends.

The second winery we went to was Little Washington.  The wines they offered were good, but we felt like the winery as a whole has an identity crisis.  From what we understood at the tasting (their website is a bit of a mess), they make a few of their own wines: Virginia Solstice Chardonnay, Old World Oak Chardonnay, George Meritage, and the Pink Cadillac Rose.  We couldn't figure out, though, if they grow their own grapes somewhere close by or if they buy their grapes from some other vineyard(s) in the area.  That in itself is not a big deal, but it's a piece of information that would be a nice fun fact for the amateur wine taster.

In addition, along with their own wines, Little Washington also has tastings of wines that are from out of state.  Apparently they have someone who travels around to find some of the best wines around the country; these wines are then judged by the winery's club members and those wines that score 9's or 10's are the ones put out on the tasting floor.  This concept was completely different from my other winery experiences I've had as I prefer going to wineries that focus on their own wines.  Again, nothing wrong with running a winery this way--it's all about personal preference.

However, they way everything was presented during the tasting experience was not very self explanatory.  They serve two tastings at once so that, in theory, you pick which one you like best out of those two before they move on to the next two tastings, and so on.  If Little Washington wanted to make this experience better, they could have the taster compare one of their Chardonnays with one from another state in order to better embrace the fact that they bring in wines from so many other states.  Also, this winery's main deal, or so we inferred, is to act like a distributor for wineries across the country.  In theory it's a great idea since not everyone can travel to those destinations.  But it's not so great when you find out that Little Washington has doubled the price of the wine.  For example, the Sawtooth 2012 Riesling (which is actually quite good) that they offer is sold for $24, but in reality is really $12 at the brick and mortar vineyard.  I don't know how much they've raised the prices for their other out-of-state wines, but this one in particular was quite a surprise when I Googled it.

Anyway, long story short, Gray Ghost Vineyards was amazing.  Little Washington, not so much.  They need to work on their delivery.  That said, there are plenty of wineries to choose from in Virginia.  I'm looking forward to visiting many more! ;)