Shenandoah Vineyards

We visited Shenandoah Vineyards many years ago.  They are the oldest winery in the Shenandoah Valley and the third oldest in Virginia.  Shenandoah Vineyards, according to our tasting room staff person, first introduced Virginia to Chambourcin. It is one of the pioneer wineries in Virginia. 

The tasting room is on the second floor.  Visitors climb up the stairs under these grape vines to enter.
The tasting fee is $5 per person at Shenandoah Vineyards.  They were offering wine and small plates for $10 per person the day we visited.  Shenandoah had 12 wines to taste, plus a mulled wine made from their Shenandoah Ruby. 

Shenandoah Vineyards sells many other items in their tasting room, from honey to various wine-related souvenirs to the spices for their mulled wine.

With this visit, we completed our visits of the wineries in the northern Shenandoah Valley.  Although Shenandoah Vineyards had a variety of wines to taste, the only wine we purchased here was a bottle of the 2009 Johannisberg Riesling ($13.95), which was an acceptable semi-sweet table wine. 

Shenandoah Vineyards   
3659 S. Ox Rd.
Edinburg, VA 22824
540-984-8699

Delaplane Cellars Va Wine Blogger Barrel tasting

Deleplane owner Jim Dolphin and Va wine bloggers tasting the Melange Blanc

Jim and Betsy at Delaplane Cellars invited several Virginia Wine Bloggers out to Delaplane Cellars to preview the upcoming red wines straight from the barrel. We were thrilled to be invited.  We started first in the tasting room trying a bit of the 2010 Mélange Blanc, a very nice dry white blend of 62 percent Chardonnay, 27 percent Viognier and 11 percent Petit Manseng, as a palate cleanser. This is a great white wine and should be a popular seller over the summer.

Jim Dolphin at the barrel

The Delaplane wines are all vineyard designated varietals or blends of high quality.  Our barrel tasting consisted of of Delaplane Cellars' soon-to-be-released 2010 reds.  These included the first ever blend of our Delaplane Vineyards Estate Red, the Springlot blend, and Williams Gap blend, plus Honah Lee Tannat, and Shirland Syrah. We also tried the new Late Harvest Petit Manseng.

Jim with the sneak thief giving Craig from Craig's Grape adventure a sample

My favorite among these red blends was the Williams Gap blend.  This wine is a blend of 31 percent Cabernet Sauvignon, 27 percent Cabernet Franc, 30 percent Merlot, and 12 percent Petit Verdot aged in a Slovakian oak barrel.  This wine stood out to me as a potential Virginia Governor's gold medal winner should Jim enter it next year.

Jim has about four and half barrels of the 2010 Springlot blend.  I liked it, but my notes aren't clear about the blend, other than it is a Bordeaux style.

Dezel making notes

The 2010 Shirland Syrah is aged in new American oak and is an easy drinking red, already with great flavors.  The Honah Lee 2010 Tannat is 100 percent Tannat this year. The Tannat is awesome and should mellow with a bit more time in the barrel.

The new late Harvest Petit Manseng

The Late Harvest Petit Manseng is 100 percent estate grown with about ten and half percent residual sugar.  The wine is nicely balanced with acidity so, while sweet, it is not cloying.  There is a pronounced bouquet of pineapple. It is very good indeed.

Jim and Betsy were gracious hosts.  They offered us quite an assortment of delicious foods to pair with the wines.  We had a good time and were impressed with the dedication to quality at Delaplane Cellars.  We will definitely return to try these wines when they are released.

Delaplane Cellars   

2187 Winchester Road
Delaplane, Virginia 20144-1734

540-592-7210

Glen Manor Vineyards

We made it to Glen Manor Vineyards about 15 minutes before closing.  They were only tasting two wines this day, having recently removed the Governor's Cup winning Hodder Hill from the menu.  The tasting cost was only $3 for both wines though.  These two exceptional wines were the 2011 Sauvignon Blanc ($23) and the 2009 Petit Verdot ($30).  Both outstanding.  The Sauvignon Blanc was more a New Zealand style, but more grassy than expected.  The Petit Verdot offered dark plum fruit, good acid, and smooth tanins.  The tasting notes say intense.  I'd say restrained intensity. 

We have prior Glen Manor vintages of both the Sauvignon Blanc and Petit Verdot so we are planning a mini-vertical later this fall.  In the meantime, we are looking forward to winemaker Jeff White's upcoming releases of his semi-sweet and Late Harvest Petit Mansengs, Cabernet Franc, a Rose, along with his Vin Rouge.

Glen Manor Vineyards   

2244 Browntown Road
Front Royal, Virginia 22630

540 635-6324        

Vino Curioso

We have been trying to visit Vino Curioso for quite a while.  This past Saturday we finally did so. 

Vino Curioso has to have the smallest tasting room in Virginia.  Its nice enough, but don't show up with more than four if the weather changes.  We did enjoy a very warm welcome from Telly, the Australian Shepherd, as well as from Mike Sawyers, one of the co-owners.

Vino Curioso makes all their wines at their wine factory in Gainesville, VA.  They offer their wines, plus many others, for tasting at the Virginia Wine Factory in Ashburn, VA.

Vino Curioso makes primarily red wines, which are tasty and ready to drink now, with just low sulfur added.  They source grapes from many vineyards such as Breaux and General's Ridge, but their primary source is Ingleside.   They do make a couple whites, a Sauvignon Blanc and a Chardonnay, but we thought the reds are the better choice at Vino Curioso.

We picked up a couple of our favorites among these reds: the 2008 Sangiovese (which had just a touch of Chambourcin blended in) and the 2009 Cabernet Franc called Franc the Tank.  This will be the last vintage of the Sangiovese as the vineyard ripped out the vines.  We enjoyed the discount offered if you purchase more than one bottle. 


Vino Curioso   
1334 Perry Road
Winchester, VA 22602
703-447-0648