Shenandoah, Ho! Wisteria, Narmada, and Gadino
No sooner did I formally break ties with Virginia than I found myself in the Shenandoah Valley tasting some of the wines that Virginia wineries have to offer.
Wisteria Farm & Vineyard is a small operation where our tasting room pourer was also the owner and winemaker. That’s the kind of operation I like. I was a fan of the whites and took home a bottle of Traminette and a bottle of Pinot Gris. The Pinot Gris was made as a rose, strange until you remember that Pinot Gris is pretty red for a white grape. Also learned an interesting tidbit that Viognier is relatively new to Virginia. For some reason, I was under the impresssion that Viognier had some deep rooted history in the state. Good to know.
After the tasting, the kids ran around the farm and chased sheep around in circles.
Philosophically speaking, Narmada Winery was about as far from Wisteria as one could get. Narmada is the Napa to Wistera’s Sonoma, big in every way. Inside Narmada you’ll find a large, open tasting room, a semi-public barrel room with big imposing fermentation tanks, a woman playing the harp, and a long polished tasting bar. It is a big operation, top flight all around.
The wines didn’t agree with me. I stopped writing notes after the first few because I got tired of writing the word “oak” over and over. It was like I’d take a sip of wine, then our pourer would smack me in the grill with a tree branch. However, I was in the minority among my tasting group peers. All three of them liked the wines, and The Wife declared that they were among the best Virginia wines she’d ever tasted.
Fair enough. I’m sensitive to oak and don’t like it to be featured in a wine. Many, many people don’t mind it or even prefer those sorts of notes in their glass.
Our final winery stop was Gadino Cellars. They had a good fire going to warm us from the downright miserable weather. Wines were good but were up on the high end of the price band. My favorite was the reserve Merlot (gasp, Merlot!) but at $33 it was a no-go.
All three are recommended if you’re in an “in the area” sort of thing. Wisteria is a bit of a hike from other wineries, which the owner said is both a good and bad.
January 23rd, 2010 at 6:20 am
Finally made it by The Wine Source in Hampden last week for their Rhone Rangers tasting. The Wine Source runs these things all the time: five or six wines poured for free in store. While tasting, I wandered around the store snapping pics on my worthless cell phone camera.
The requisite Avalon Cabernet. This is the good stuff, not the plonk.
A vast selection of half bottles ranging from $9 to over $50. My wine heart has found a home.
If Champagne isn’t classy enough already, now you can drink it out of a can! Sofia Sparking Wine isn’t bad, actually, but I’ve only had it out of a bottle so I can’t speak to the aluminum can version. I imagine it can only get better when drank out of a can with a straw.
The Rhone Rangers weren’t bad but nothing moved me enough to take a bottle home. I did pick up a half bottle of Brunello and a Rose Champagne to sip on.
Coming up this week they have a winemaker’s tasting from Château de la Tuilerie and a tasting of spring sparklers. Wonder if the cans of Sofia will be popped.
The Wine Source
October 18th, 2010 at 10:22 am
My husband and I recently came across Wisteria Farm and Vineyard over Columbus Day weekend and fell in love with the place. It’s exactly what we would love to have some day: a cute little farm and vineyard with a cozy, chummy tasting room. I loved the Traminette in that it wasn’t as sweet as one would expect. The floral nose on it was just amazing. Our favorite, however was the Norton. We will be saving that for a special occasion. Anyway, so glad to see the winery getting some attention, as it certainly got ours.