Shenandoah Valley Area Wineries

Despite last weekend's rainy weather we went to visit North Mountain Vineyards, a colleague's Virginia winery.  Set in the Shenandoah Valley area of the Appalachians, this region's ancient limestone-rich soil provides ideal sites for growing grapes.  (Tablas Creek has a great explanation on the benefits of limestone-rich soil.)  North Mountain grows an impressive 10 varieties of grapes on their estate.  These include, but aren't limited to, Cabernet Franc, Chambourcin, Gruner Veltliner, and Zweigelt.  Not only was it my first time trying Chambourcin, but we were all introduced to the latter two Austrian grape varieties.  Verdict: more please!


After our tasting the winemaker gave us a tour of the barrel room and gave us a sneak peak tasting of three wines that will be bottled a few more months down the road.  They were absolutely delicious and I predict that these bottles will sell quickly!  They tasted wonderful directly from the barrel and I can only imagine how great they'll taste come bottling time.  Count me in for a bottle of each!


I also appreciated that the winemaker prefers to turn each grape variety into its own wine instead of using them for blending.  It makes for a great way to learn about the properties of the grape and how the wine made differs in taste from each vintage.  It takes a lot of courage to do that considering that there's always a chance that the weather might not work in the vineyards favor.  Major points for making varietal wines!

Next up we went to Cave Ridge Vineyard, which is about a 20-minute drive from North Mountain Vineyards.  Unfortunately I don't have any photos of this place as it rained the entire time we were there.  In continuing with the tradition of firsts in tastings, I tried my first Traminette (2013) and port style wine (Fandango 2011).  I loved their Traminette and thought their description of this wine was spot on with floral characters present.  As for the Fandango and I, we didn't really get along.  I discovered that I'm not a big fan of port style wines, or at least not those aged in bourbon barrels.  Then again, this makes sense as I'm not a fan of the taste of bourbon, brandy, or whiskey.  As a comparison in the future, I should probably try a port style wine that hasn't been aged in used bourbon barrels.

Our last stop was Shenandoah Vineyards, which, established in 1976, is the second oldest vineyard in the state.  While they have good wines, I was mildly disappointed that two of the tastings included a spiced wine (one of their red wines diluted) and a blend of Concorde grape concentrate with Seyval and Vidal grapes.  It was a little unconventional and didn't suit my palate, but that's only my opinion.  I did, however, enjoy their Riesling; apparently I wasn't alone in this as I heard several Tasting Associates discussing how little they had left to sell.


Shenandoah Vineyards does have a spectacular view from their vine-laden balcony.  I LOVED how they'd allowed some leafy vines to grow over the steps leading to the balcony.  I'm such a sucker for tree tunnels, vine tunnels, any sort of natural tunnel!

All in all even though the weather could have been better, I was really glad that we ventured out into a different Virginia wine region.  In comparison to the Northern Virginia Wine Region, it was interesting to see that the wineries we happened to go to in the Shenandoah all grew Cabernet Franc and Chambourcin; whereas in the Northern Virginia wineries I've been to so far I rarely see these wine varietals except in blends.  However, both regions seem to agree that 2010 was a great grape growing year and I tend to agree--those Virginia vintages always taste wonderful.

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