Cheers! Or: Mountfair Vineyards

We weren’t actually going to go to Mountfair Vineyards on this trip. It’s not that we didn’t want to try their wines, it was that we had a chance to get a sneak preview of other vineyards that wouldn’t be open again for some time. As it turns out, Moss Vineyard, the second not-yet-open winery scheduled on our tour, just didn’t happen. The road was washed out, and there was no way were were going to make it. We actually turned around with the intention of heading back to White Hall to let them know about the road, then realized we could actually make it through to Mountfair.

Mountfair is a modest looking place. It’s nice, but it’s not a hoity-toity kind of place. We instantly loved it! As we walked into a once-again-packed tasting room, the rain had broken and it was getting somewhat pleasant outside. Inside, it felt like Cheers. By this third winery on the tour, we had been tasting with practically everyone in the tasting room. We bellied up to the long tasting bar, and were greeted by the winemaker and owner, Fritz Repich, who had glasses out before we even finished settling in. He was a great person to taste with: not only did he (obviously) know a lot about the wines, but his enthusiasm and overall friendliness made this feel like a second home.

They were, tragically, out of the Wooloomooloo. I say tragically because I’ve been reading about this wine on twitter for months, and I am dying to try it. It has it’s own hashtag, for heaven’s sake. Is there any other VA wine has it’s own hashtag? Every time someone tweets “Popped a bottle of #wooloomooloo,” there a bazillion replies about how jealous everyone is.  I have no idea when the next vintage comes out, though I know Fritz told me–I just didn’t get it written down. They’re also sold out of their Engagement.

The thing about Mountfair is that they want to do what they do very well. They produce small amounts, as few as 100 cases of some wines, with care. Everything here is a Bordeaux style, and Fritz clearly would rather produce small amounts of wine he’s proud of in a style he loves than a lot of wine that’s just okay. I really admire that.

As we chatted, he poured us some 2008 Belated ($25). This is 60% Merlot, 30% Cab Franc, and 10% Petit Verdot. The nose has tobacco, some black pepper, and deep red fruits, mostly cherry. You can taste the Petit Verdot red fruits here, too, despite it being a small percent; but, they’re really well balanced wit the oak. I also got tack room on the palette, and I mean that in a good way: old and well-loved leather, hay, and general earthiness.

Next up was the 2008 Indigenous ($25). This is 100% estate-grown grapes, half Petit Verdot and half Cab Franc. The swirl showed a royal color, it was gorgeous. Lots of smoke on the nose and palette, and again the red fruit, this time more pronounced. Strawberry and some lavender registered for me. Overall, this was what I’d call an earthy wine, and was probably my favorite of the wines here. I could drink this alone, because I like big reds that make me think, but it would stand up to most foods. I didn’t write down a specific pairing.

The first single varietal was the 2009 Merlot ($20). As reds go, Merlot is generally just kind of “meh” for me. This one is a blend of 80% Merlot and 20% Cab Frac. Lots of plum and vanilla on the nose, with a hint of green pepper and tobacco. This was surprisingly fruit forward while still being nice and dry, with notes of black cherry, green pepper, and some leather, all of which lingered nicely to the medium finish. This wold go well with any kind of BBQ, from grilled chicken to seared London Broil. It was a very solid Merlot, and better than many I’ve had in the same price point. It didn’t knock my socks off, but then again, few Merlots have that effect on me.

The last wine was the 2009 Cabernet Franc ($20). I’m a general fan of a well-produced Cab Franc. This had a lighter nose than I was expecting, and didn’t have as much of the green pepper as the Merlot, which was weird since that’s a characteristic I normally associate with Cab Franc (and yes, I know that debate about whether it should be there or not, but I LIKE that flavor in my Cabs Franc, thank you). I didn’t get a lot else on this wine, really. It was a solid, drinkable Cab Franc at a reasonable price, but I preferred the Merlot, which is just plain odd for me.

While we were tasting, Fritz rounded up the winery’s social media guru, Jacqueline Pullman, and we got to talk twitter and marketing, as well as wine tours and tasting. If you get a chance to pick her brain next time you visit, you really should. And, make sure you follow them on twitter. She’s fun and informative. We ended up in the caravan to glass House together, and she as one of the wonderful folks waiting on the other side of that wash out to make sure the rest of us got through alright.

Overall, I was really surprised by Mountfair. It’s this little secret winery that isn’t really a secret. Everyone who’s in the VA wine scene seems to know about (and own) several bottles, and from what I’ve seen and read everyone is excited about what they’re doing; but, the place is so unpretentious and welcoming it’s almost a surprise to get wine instead of beer.  While I like Veritas, Pollak, and several others in the area, this is a welcome change of pace. It feels and tastes artisanal, and like you’ve found this little spot that’s your very own–where everybody knows your name.

So, up to this point, I do have to say I feel like the “Rah Rah” squad for this wine trail. Honestly, and I’ll admit surprisingly, nothing sucked.  And there are wineries that do–I have a running list of “only if you’re making really sweet sangria out of it” and another list of “Never, under any circumstances” places and wines. There are some at all the vineyards on the trail that don’t blow my skirt up, and that I wouldn’t take home. But, unlike other trips, I didn’t have anything that ended with the tasting note “horse shit and acetone.” For which I am profoundly grateful, especially after the coconut-turned-lipstick incident. It took me days to get rid of that taste!

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Quatro Verdot at White Hall Vineyards!

White Hall Vineyards

Like all the other vineyards we visited this day, we arrived in the pouring rain. From what wasn’t under water and that  I glimpsed as I ran splashingly under the pergola, the outside of the place is nice.  The circular tasting bar was full, so we were nudged towards the “overflow” tasting table, where we got a chance to talk with the chef who was in charge of pairing the cheeses with the tastings for the event. I’m not going to go over the cheeses, but suffice it to say they were well-paired and really tasty. There were even two raw milk cheeses, which as a huge advocate, I was pleased to see.

I didn’t catch our splasher’s name, unfortunately, but she was pleasant and knew the wines. She was also very rushed, which I can hardly be upset by given the day, so we didn’t get much sense of what the personality of the winery was. I can forgive that completely, as the tasting room was just simply overwhelmed. No amount of staffing would have solved that–there’s only so much room!

First up was a their 2008 Chardonnay ($14.99). I think I’ve established that I am not generally a white wine girl, but I am not sure if I mentioned that I don’t like Chardonnay in particular.  This was one of a handful of Chardonnay’s I’ve even finished the sample of, and I loved it. It’s aged 50/50 in stainless and oak. I got pear and pineapple on the nose, and the pineapple stayed just a bit on the palette. The citrus was there, but I tasted more vanilla, apple, and melon. There was no butter, which was surprising to me given the oak aging. You can’t beat this as a white, especially not at the price point. I plan on going back and stocking up for summer.

The 2008 Cuvee des Champs ($29.99) is a blend of 5 grapes: merlot, malbec, petit verdot, and another grape I didn’t jot down. This is a big, big wine. The color is beautiful. There was spice and chocolate on the nose. The chocolate disappears on the tongue, but returns large in the finish. There was some very rich, though not jammy, dark fruit on the palette, with oak (thankfully, not too much). All around, this is a good wine, though I am not entirely certain it meets the price point expectations. It also really, really needs food. The cheese we had with it was great, but I see it with fire-roasted pizza. Not sophisticated, and this wine could stand up to sophisticated food, but the fire-roasted, smoky flavor would work really well.

Along with these three, or the Grand Opening of the Appellation Wine Trail, White Hall busted out the big guns with a 4 year vertical tasting of their Petit Verdot. We started with a 2006 (not for sale), which was my least favorite of the bunch. It had virtually no nose, though their tasting sheet says I should have smelled black cherry and blackberry. No one at our tasting station smelled anything at all, so I don’t think it was just me. There was some plum on the palate, and tobacco on the finish, but that was about all I got. It wasn’t bad, per se, there just wasn’t much too it.

The 2007 Petit Verdot (also not for sale) was my favorite of the vertical. I like big red wines, and this was huge. Cherry and black fruit on the nose, with some tobacco. A full, complex wine with raspberries, cedar, some leather, and a pleasant dryness. It had a medium finish of berry and leather.

A close runner up to the 2007 for me, the 2008 Petit Verdot ($19.99) was beautiful. Again, lots of cedar here, both on the nose and on the palate, but it’s balanced out well by some red fruits. Their tasting notes said chocolate, but I got coffee. It ended longer than the 2007, and less smoky.  This is a great wine, and I’d serve it with or without food. It’s on my list to grab for our cellar.

The finale was the 2009 Petit Verdot ($19.99). This was a more basic example of a Petit Verdot. It’s not terribly complex, though still perfectly nice to drink casually.  I felt like it was the dumbed-down version of the 2008, though I suspect it was the growing season and not the winemaker. It had all the same elements of nose and palate, but they were kind of muted, if that makes any sense.

We finished off with the dessert wine, Soliterre 2007 ($16.99), which is prounced Solitaire (I checked, because I didn’t want to sound like an idiot talking about it). It was sweet without being cloying (I didn’t get a residual sugar percentage, sorry). Lots of passion fruit and honey. My interest in dessert wines is limited, since we rarely pop one open, but this was very nice and set at a reasonable price point. We almost never end up finishing a dessert wine when we open it, so it’s nice to have a selection that you enjoy drinking but isn’t going to break the bank if you end up making into ice cream.

Overall, I was pleasantly surprised by White Hall’s offerings. I hadn’t heard much about them. Now, I didn’t get to taste most of their regular offerings, but what we did taste was really drinkable, enjoyable wine at a really great price. They’re definitely on my “to visit more often!” list, and I can’t wait to go back and do a regular tasting. I will say that I also really appreciate that they refund one tasting fee for a purchase.

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Grab Your Life Jacket, And Triple A Card, We’re Going Wine Tasting!

First, I think we can all agree that I am no a wine blogger. I leave that to people much more talented and knowledgeable than me. At best, I sometimes blog wine or wineries, but mostly I blog food and food-related stuff. I’m going to keep it that way, so don’t worry that your foodie fix here has left you for a glass of pinot noir. This coming week, however, I am going to blog wine, because I have a great reason to do so. Well, two reasons: 1) we had an amazing time on the opening of the Appellation Trail and 2) I have a really light week due to some client vacations.

We made it to 4 of the 5 wineries on the trail: Stinson, White Hall, Mountfair, and Glass House. We also got a sneak taste of the Ankida Ridge pinot noir, which I’ll include with the Stinson review. The wineries are all going to get their own posts with my wine reviews. I’ll be doing one a day, starting on Tuesday and running through Friday. Why, you ask, didn’t we make it to Moss Vineyards for an awesome, one-day-only sneak preview of their winery & tasting room? Let me just say it wasn’t for lack of trying. And that’s why I’m not starting today with an individual winery post. You know the saying “Half the fun is getting there?”

We met up with our friends Renee and Brian around noon, so we could carpool the trail. We’ve never been tasting together before and decided kind of last-minute to meet up for the Grand Opening of the trail. I’d been planning it for a few weeks,  and was delighted that we’d all finally have a chance to taste together (we’d been talking about it for weeks).  Despite a call for rain and some pretty ominous skies, we headed out in their SUV. All I can say is I am so very glad that we made the (also last-minute) decision to take their car because mine’s just too darn small.

Stinson was our first stop. I was pretty geeked about Stinson, since they’re new and this was a special open day for them until their grand opening later this year. We pulled into an obviously-busy tasting room (this would prove to be the norm all day long,  which was great!), ran inside through heavy rain, and settled ourselves at one of the three small tasting bars.  You’re not getting a full run-down here until Tuesday (Stinson will be first-up on my reviews), but I will say it was a $5 tasting fee, which included the Ankida Ridge pinot noir. And, as it turns out, it also included a great little slider from Gyffon’s Aerie farm and a few homemade side dishes. This was a pleasant surprise.

Aside (scroll down if you could care less about foodie stuff)

Now, while I am not doing the wines here, let me talk about the beef. The beef was, in a word, fabulous. I didn’t get a chance to ask them if it was seasoned (and if so, with what), but it was excellent. I met the folks who run the farm two years ago at Monticello’s Harvest Festival, and have wanted to try their meat ever since. It was lean but juicy, flavorful without any hint of game. That said, it was $7/lb. You all know that I believe pretty firmly in paying more for quality meats, with a premium on local. But, $7 is way out of the market for this area. Davis Creek is $4.85/lb, and their beef is fantastic.  Our Father’s Farm is on the highest side of what I pay in the area at $6.50/lb, which I’ll pay because I love them to death, and it’s super-convenient because I can have it delivered with my milk share. 

We still decided to purchase some sausage from Gryffon’s Aerie, though, because we have a hard time getting local pork unless we drive to Charlottesville for the market (which we do, but we’re out right now). We were floored: $10/lb for sausage.  Babe in the Woods–very high-quality local pork–is $5.50 to $7.50/lb! We haven’t tried the sausage yet, and I’ll let you know how it is, but I have to say that it’s difficult for me to imagine what could make it $$2.50-4.50/lb better than Babe in the Woods.

Now, back to our trip!

We left Stinson and drove the 2ish miles to White Hall. The rain was coming down in torrents, but we dashed through it and into the tasting room. Note: pergolas, while attractive, do diddly for keeping you dry. Once again, we were welcomed into a tasting room practically bursting. It was great. This was another winery I was looking forward to because they were doing a special Petit Verdot vertical of 4 years, and pairing them with gourmet cheeses. We had to wait a bit to get started, but the staff was friendly and we got to talk to the chef who did the pairing.  And, we met another great couple who were into food and wine, and they were also doing the trail.

As we got ready to leave, we paused.  It was time to head to Moss, for which we’d be bypassing Mountfair. That had been kind of a hard decision for us, because I’ve heard so much good stuff about Mountfair’s Wooloomooloo that I was dying to try it (and the rest of their wines), but we weren’t going to have time to hit all 5. Mountfair was nixed, and Glass House was a “maybe,” at best. Except…

Wow, it was really, really raining out there. We decided to make a break for it instead of waiting for the rain to slow, and ran out to the car. I ended up, as Renee so succinctly put it, like a drowned rat; but, we were on our way.  Driving down 810, the river to our left was rapidly rising. In some places, it was submerging people’s driveway bridges, and water was running over the road from the uphill on our right. Renee navigated us around fallen branches, and onward we went, our newly-made friends from White Hall following behind in their truck.

Really, we were doing pretty good. It was fun. Until we saw the bridge ahead of us.  We didn’t get a picture of this. I really wish we would have.  The water was completely over the road bridge, forming what I swear was a lovely class 4 or so rapid, and the water was rising fast. Needless to say, we knew we had to turn around.  In that short time, that 1 or maybe two minutes, this is what happened behind us:

All photos courtesy of Renee and Brian Scott

Brian took the wheel:

Once clear, we made our way back towards White Hall to let them know the road was washed out, and then realized we could still get through to Mountfair, even though their bridge wasn’t too far from swmaped out:’

We arrived to another full tasting room, and ran into our new friends from White Hall, as well as a group of folks we’d been essentially following since Stinson. I got to meet the social media guru for Mountfair, and the winemaker himself, Fritz, was working the tasting room. You’ll hear more about this later in the week. We finished up there, and everyone–winemaker included–was heading to Glass House for the final stop of the day. So, we threw caution (and Thadd’s homework) to the wind joined the caravan.

Down a dirt road. In a storm that was flooding paved, higher roads. You see where this is going.

Aboout halfway to Glass House, the road was swamped out. People were out of their cars on each side, and one woman had made three attempts to drive her vehicle through the running waters. The cars in front of us were Jeeps, so they gave it a go anyway and made it across. We held our breath (because really, I’m pretty sure our only option on this road would have been to back down it), and our fearless leader Brian went for it. On the other side, the rest of the caravan (including  Jaqueline, the media manager from Mountfair) waited to pull us (and the rest of the caravan behind us) out of the car so we didn’t drown should the car get swept into the river.  I’m writing this, so we obviously made it, and waited and cheered for those behind us.

All of us accounted for, once again we headed to our final stop. Until two scared, wet dogs decided to wander into the road looking for help. Seriously, I can’t make this stuff up. The caravan stopped, and one of the dogs hopped into the lead car. Dog number two was less sure, but I think the eventually got it in. Off they went to return the dogs (who were wearing collars, fortunately) to their owners, while the rest of the caravan carried on.

Still wet and more than a little thankful to not have had to swim to safety, we arrived at Glass house, where the caravan got a table and swapped fish stories about the day. And, it all ended with this:

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