Anniversary # 34

Our involvement with Virginia wine dates back to anniversary # 20 – 3 days of VA vineyards, Bed and Breakfasts, and other tourist stops – thanks to grandparents staying with the kiddos. Over the years since, we have dabbled in VA wines (and other states as we passed through), but the current obsession can be traced back to anniversary #33. It was then that we really began our more frequent visits.

So we set out today to visit some new to us vineyards, and re-visit some others. Our anniversary gift was a Garmin GPS unit, so this was also the inaugural trip with that new toy.

Our first stop of the day was Vintage Ridge.

While we have visited many other vineyards in Fauquier, this is one we had somehow missed. (Maybe it is the $15 tasting fee). We had a good report from close friends, and since it was our anniversary, decided to go for it. 

We were warmly greeted and given the choice of inside or outside seating.We chose the patio, and soon were sipping the aperitif Maiden Voyage 2009, a delightful dry and fruity blend of Vidal Blanc and Mouvedre. Before our glasses were empty, the tasting plates arrived (the reason behind the higher than average VA tasting fees).



Vintage Ridge Tasting Plate



We jumped right into reds – our first pour was a 2008 Merlot. We were encouraged to sample the Manchego cheese and a spicy plum chutney. As I have said before, I am not a major fan of reds, but this one was very nice, and the food pairing worked quite well. The tannin level was low, and the fruit (black cherry) was right there up front.

The next wine up was a 2007 Syrah. This was paired with a spicy bruschetta on a French baguette slice. My first sip told me that this one I probably wouldn’t drink a lot of, but with the tomato bruschetta I did find it quite interesting. A very good example how wines change with food.

The final red was a big bold Petit Verdot 2007. We had 3 different food tastings with this – salami, (optional spicy mustard), Bellavitano Parmesan cheese and double cream cheese. Hubby liked the Bellavtitano cheese best. The wine was too intense for me – and while the food helped it was still too much tannin for my taste, but my husband was very happy with it. This was definitely the red meat wine.

Next on the tasting sheet we are back to the white side – this time Summer Night 2008, 100% Vidal blanc, with 1.5% residual sugar. This is back in my comfort zone, and I really liked the pairing with the goat cheese filled date.

Our final offering on the tasting sheet is the 2006 late harvest vidal blanc- again 100% vidal. Our server explained it was left on the vines until November and then frozen for several months before being pressed. We were given 2 food choices with this wine – spicy roasted pecans and a Danish blue cheese.

It wasn’t being offered as part of the tasting, but it was listed on the sheet for sale, so we asked if we could try the 2007 Cabernet Franc. The server said they had recently rotated it off the tasting to add in the Merlot, but he was glad to open a bottle and give us a sample (never hurts to ask!). Pretty standard for a VA Cab Franc, nice fruit and pepper finish.

We left with the Maiden Voyage and the Summer Night (which was on sale for September). It was a very pleasant start to our day, and worth another visit sometime in the future. Next stop: Linden vineyards.