When Wine Surprises You

Isn’t it great when I a wine surprises you! The 2007 Veritas Viognier did just that a couple of weeks ago to Megan and I and the surprise was a good thing. Megan and I had picked this up at a tasting at Veritas Vineyards here in Virginia back in May as the result of finding nothing better on the tasting menu. Why would we buy anything you ask? Well at the time Veritas had just started a new tasting fee structure, $10 for the whites and $10 for the reds, and you got the tasting fee refunded with at least one purchase of each. So in order to not feel like were getting cheated, we purchased the Rose and the Viognier after perusing our tasting notes to see which ones were favorable. The Rose was actually quite good and the Viognier was a not so close second. 

 

I popped this open, really in the mood for a Viognier and hoping that the couple of months in my cellar put some extra love into the bottle. Well it did, or something happened because both Megan and I were shocked when we drank it.  It could have been various things, such as drinking a regular sized glass vs. a minute pour, or just being in our own comfortable house, or an actual transformation in the bottle.  Too many variables to pin it down, but nonetheless, it was a vast improvement.

 

There isn’t any info regarding processing on the Veritas website but if I remember correctly it was aged in all stainless steel takes and is all from estate grown grapes.

 

*sorry no picture of the bottle! Shame on me.

 

My Tasting Notes

Nose – Apricot, honey, peach nectar

Taste – Mineral, spice, canned pear, peach and honeydew melon

Mouthfeel – medium to full body, balanced acidity and good rich viscosity

Finish – medium length, honey and peach flavors lingered

 

All in all a very nice Viognier, and very typical of the Virginia style of producing the varietal.  At $20 it is a bit pricey, but again typical for what Virginia wineries are selling their Viognier for, some of whom are charging close to $30. Yikes!  Despite my lack luster description of their other wines, they do have a beautiful vineyard and tasting room, and is worth a visit just for the views. You can purchase this from their website if you don’t feel like making the drive or don’t live in the state.

 

Cheers!

 

Check back during the month of October as I try to review more Virginia Wines in celebration of the 20^th Anniversary of VA Wine Month.

New Post Category – Price Ranges

$$$$$

Coming off a suggestion from my friend Allison I have started tagging my posts with a new price category.  So now you can select from 4 different price ranges from the “post category” drop down menu on the left side of the page.  I am in the process of re-tagging all my old posts so currently there are only a few in the list but soon all my old posts will have the ablility to be sorted by price.

Thanks for the suggestion Allison!

Cheers!

2005 R. Stuart Big Fire Pinot Gris

I have become a big fan of Pinot Gris this summer. I wasn’t ever averse to the varietal, but it has never had much real estate in our cellar for some reason.  Done right, they are crisp, yet full bodied, great with spicy foods (which we eat a lot of) and you find really great deals like the 2005 R. Stuart Big Fire Pinot Gris for $11.

 

R. Stuart winery is located in a converted granary in downtown McMinnville Oregon. I think the below “House Rules” sums up there philosophy quite nicely.

 

 

The 2005 Big Fire Pinot Gris is 100% of the varietal, fermented and aged in stainless steel tanks, coming in at 13% Alcohol with 7.2 g/L of acid and a pH of 3.35. After a demanded somewhat schizophrenic 2005 vintage in Oregon, the hard work and attention of winemaker Rob Stuart paid off in this classic expression of the Pinot Gris grape.

 

My Tasting Notes

Nose – Apple, pair, raw pumpkin, chalk

Taste – pear, almond, aloe, coconut

Mouthfeel – smooth and round, medium to high acidity and a hint of spice

Finish – short to medium in length kind of disappeared quickly

 

I really enjoyed this wine and $11 I think it is a great value.  The only disappointment in the wine was the finish. IT was quite short and escaped the palate with little to show for all the effort it puts in at the front end.  We drank this with home made Pad Thai with Tofu and it paired very nicely. It is distributed quite well and you should be able to find at your local shop, I picked mine up at the Wine Cellar in Midlothian.

 

Cheers.

For Those Tell Tale Purple Lips

Don’t you hate it when you get purple lips and teeth after you have visited a few wineries? I got an email from this company Wine Wipes that has the solution for you. It seems they are marketing primarily to the ladies with their compact style carrying case, but it seems like a cool gizmo for any wine lover.

 

Apparently the wipes are coated with Orange Blossom that does not affect the perception of wines that are tasted post use (wouldn’t everything taste orangey?). Recommended use for lips, teeth and even tongue to refresh your palate for the next swirl and sip. And the little case even has a mirror in it to check your mug and make sure you are all nice and clean.

 

Gimmicky I know but it seemed cool, and definitely something my wife would use and at $7 for 20 wipes it isn’t too expensive.

 

Cheers!

My Skull Runneth Over!

*disclaimer – I was sent this bottle of wine by Twisted Oak Winery as a media sample

 

River of Skulls, wow what a name for a wine.  The name alone (besides the daunting Skull on the bottle) immediately congers up images from Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom.  You know the scene, it is the one in the fire pit where the guys heart is been ripped out of his chest.  Well never fear the 2006 Twisted Oak River of Skulls won’t rip your heart out per se until you are deeply saddened by the fact that you have reached the end of the bottle.

 

Twisted Oak Winery is located in Vallecito California in Caleveras County where lead pirate El Jefe crafts some booty worthy wines in their top-notch gravity flow facility.  Grapes coming to the wine come from any of the 13 vineyards that Twisted Oak either owns are partners with in the surrounding area.  Although being pirates by nature I am not sure if they pay the other vineyards for their grapes or just loot them by moonlight. J

 

Coming from the wineries Dalton vineyard that lies near the Calaveras River (River of Skulls) the wine is comprised of 90% Mourvedre and 10% Syrah.  After harvest the Skulls went through a 19 month oak program consisting of 40% New French, 10% New Eastern European, and 50% Neutral Oak. 

 

My Tasting Notes

Nose – Tobacco, red currant, cranberry sauce, spiced meat

Taste – Cedar, blackberry, boysenberry, herbs, leather

Mouthfeel – medium body, decent acidic backbone, leathery tannins

Finish – slightly spicy, long with red currant flavors lingering

 

Until death do us part my dear Skulls! This wine was a rocking blend of dark fruit and earthy, meaty goodness. The tobacco on the nose was really powerful which I love, so that got me jazzed from the get go. The tannins were still a little firm, so this would probably be tasting even better in another few years, if I can hold on to my other bottle for that long.  We ate this with Tofu Parmesan which I am sure will not be the pairing for most of my readers but El Jefe recommends Lamb and Pork (and dead people) as other good pairing options, but it did go very nicely with our dinner.  Also, the Skulls bottle will make an excellent candle holder for all of your spooky Haloween parties.

 

Even Max the wonderpup got into the action!

 

If you dare, run on over to Twisted Oaks webpage so you can get on their mailing list to purchase a case or two of the River of Skulls. Also make sure to check out El Jefe’s winery blog El Bloggo Toricido for all the action at the winery.

 

Cheers!

Do Scores and Medals Equal Each Other?

You hear a lot of talk about ratings and scores these days. That they don’t really mean anything, that they over inflate prices, etc. You hear a lot less about wine competition medals. Do medals and ratings have the same value?  If I made a wine here in Virginia and it won a gold medal at the State Fair wine competition, would it get the same “respect” as a wine that got a 90 point score from Wine Spectator?  Personally I don’t think so, but is that because it was the Virginia State Fair, and it doesn’t have the same prowess as Wine Spectator (insert any wine mag)? So what if it was the San Francisco International Wine Competition, one that garners a little more prestige, no offense to the Virginia State Fair.

 

I don’t think they do, and I think part of the problem is because of the discrepancy between competitions is so high. I have known wines that have won accolades from International competitions here in the US but have only gotten a bronze medal or not even at the Governors Cup here in Virginia.  I know that there is a huge discrepancy between wine publications and their ratings as well but I don’t think it is as rampant. (maybe it is and I just don’t know)

 

But maybe it is not about disparity between competitions but more about scale. Obviously, the only way one might know that I (wannabe winemaker) won a Gold Medal at the State Fair of Virginia would be through my wineries webpage, and through a few local papers that picked up the event. Wine magazine X, has quite a larger distribution than say the Richmond Times-Dispatch.  Plus, I can honestly say that I have never seen “won X gold medal” next to the price tag of a wine at a wine shop, but see plenty of score shelf talkers tacked up.

 

This just came to me as I was reading about a new winery here in Virginia and how in their first year they had won over 90 medals on a select few of their wines.  My first thought was WOW, they definitely sent out a lot of bottles of wine to competitions. The second thought, was ehh, that doesn’t really mean much to me. Scores don’t really mean that much to me either these days, although 3+ years ago they did, before I knew my own palate and what to look for.  So I tried to travel back in time and think that if their website said, “3 of our wines score 90+ from 10 of the top wine publications” would I hold more esteem for them and I honestly had to say yes.

 

So blogosphere, what do you think? Do you competition medals and scores hold the same value? Or, are they all so subjective that neither of them matter that much?

 

Cheers!

Easy Drinking Cabernet

*disclaimer – I received this wine for review from the California Wine Club

 

I received the 2003 Century Oak Lodi Estate Cabernet Sauvignon from the California Wine Club about 2 months ago along with their 2005 Red Table Wine.

 

Century Oak is a 12,000 case, family owned winery located in Lodi California.  Situated just south of Peltier road and the town of Acampo, the Housley family has created a winery that is focused on quality not quantity.  After growing grapes for many years near the Stags Leap district of Napa, they Housleys decided they would like to put their grape growing talent into making wine of their own.  Their estate consists of a 56 acre property 37 of which contain estate grown grapes (primarily Cab), in addition they own several vineyards and get grapes in the surrounding Lodi area.

 

The 2003 Estate Cabernet is 100% of the varietal and was grown on the Century Oak estate.  After resting in a mix of French and American Oak for the approximately 20 months, it was released in October of 2005.

 

My Tasting Notes

Color – dark purple with hint ruby at the fringes

Nose – blackberry, black currant, anise

Taste – black cherry, cedar, thyme, custard, cranberry

Mouthfeel – medium body, slightly thin across the mid palate, firm tannins

Finish – medium in length and quite fruity

 

This is a very easy drinking, affordable Cabernet Sauvignon. Tons of dark fruit flavors and aromas, the 20 months in oak were not very present (a good thing for me) except for the nice cedar flavors that came through.  I think the release price was $17 but you can get it from the California Wine Club for around $11 which is a pretty great deal.  This didn’t knock my socks off but it was definitely a nice bottle of wine, especially if you are looking for a more fruit driven style of Cabernet Sauvignon.

 

I’ll end with the Century Oak motto: “Not all expensive wines are great and not all great wines are expensive”. Hear hear!

 

Cheers!

Wine Blogging Wednesday #49 End of an Era

This months Wine Blogging Wednesday theme is hosted by wine blogger and cartoonist dhonig from the wine blog 2 Days Per Bottle.  He asks us to consider what we will be drinking to toast the end of the Bush era?

 

Well, I am glad to see that President Bush will be leaving office this year and that alone is reason enough to open some fine growers Champagne or that magnum of Caymus Special Selection 2001 that I have sitting in the cellar.  But what if my candidate doesn’t win, will I need some high octane, way over the top juice to drown my sorrows come inauguration night? 

 

Hmm this is a toughy! If I focus on the title of this WBW, end of the Bush era, I think I would have to choose something that is celebratory in nature, and not something I would drink everyday, but also something that champions the process in which we get to “choose” our President.

 

I think I would choose the 2003 Pride Cabernet Sauvignon. First, this is not just your every day Cabernet, and deserves a special occasion to accompany its presence in your glass. And second, because even though I have not been remotely happy the past two elections, I have pride in the process that as a citizen, I have the right and duty to participate in.

 

I am not very political or at least I choose to avoid confrontation on the issue so that is all I have for you. J

 

Tune in after January 20^th to see the “WBW Special Release” where wine bloggers from around the world review their choices to toast the end of an era.

 

Cheers!

Special Wine Tastings Coming Up Around Town

In addition to the usual Friday and Saturday tastings around town this week there are a couple of special ones at some of the shops I frequent.

 

Tonight – Bella Vino Stony Point 7:00 – 8:00

Come taste some Swiss Wines and meet the winemaker for Delea 19. Talk it up, enjoy 4 of his wines and some Fondue.

 

Tomorrow – Barrel Thief at 5:00

If you can’t make it out to Bella Vino tonight, the winemaker from Delea will also be at Barrel Thief.

 

Two great chances to taste Swiss wines, I know I haven’t had any and figure most people probably haven’t.

 

Thursday – The Wine Cellar in Midlothian 5:30-7:30

From Jeff: “COME MEET ERINN BENZIGER FROM THE BENZIGER FAMILY WINERY AND TASTE THEIR WINES. BENZIGER WINERY IS LOCATED IN SONOMA, CALIFORNIA AND IS OWNED BY ERINN PARENTS, MIKE & MARY BENZIGER. WE WILL TASTE MOST OF THEIR WINE THAT NIGHT. DO NOT MISS THE FUN!”

 

Also, Next Thursday Bella Vino will be having another special wine tasting event, unfortunately it isn’t free but it sounds like a great time and $15 is still a steal.

 

From Brad: “The wines of Oregon and Washington State have slowly begun to emerge from the shadow cast by California. On September 25th John Cheski of Free Run Wine Merchants will guide us through a tasting of some fantastic wines from small producers of the region. In addition, we’ll celebrate the end of summer with live music and great food paired with the wines. Reserve a space to party with some great wines!”Menu:
Left Coast Chardonnay 2005
Brandborg “Or” Blanc 2006
Left Coast Willamette Valley Pinot Noir 2005
Brandborg Umpqua Valley Pinot Noir 2006
Palate cleanser: L. Mawby “Us” Sparkling Wine
Dr. Wolfe’s Family Red 2006
Terra Blanca Red Mountain Cabernet Sauvignon 2001
Terra Blanca Red Mountain Reserve Merlot 2002

PLUS:
Live music
Smoked Salmon, BBQ Ribs, and assorted cheeses

Tickets: $15 for one; $25 for a pair
($5 discount with Bella Vino Amanti tag)
(Further $5 discount if you attended the previous tasting)

 

 

Also, all next week Barrel Thief will be celebrating their one year anniversary to be sure to check out their events website for details on the happenings.

 

Get out and taste! Cheers

Good Evening. Would you like some Mozart with your Burgundy?

I was sitting around thinking of an interesting blog post topic and was thinking wouldn’t it be cool if there were music and wine pairings. In addition to putting your juicy filet mignon on the grill for your Cabernet Sauvignon, you would put some Bon Jovi on the stereo.  So I did some research on the internet and one winemaker has already come up with this theory, that certain wines taste better with different music genres. I am always, one step behind I guess.

 

Clark Smith of R.H. Philips and Vinovation believes that just as music has moods so does wine and has come up with some basic guidelines for music and wine pairing.  Here are a couple:

 

Example: 2003 St. Francis Sonoma County Cabernet
Tastes best with: dark, angry music
Such as: The Doors’ “People Are Strange”
Clashes with: Mozart

 

Example: Good burgundy from the Cotes de Nuits
Tastes best with: romantic or sexy music
Such as: Mozart’s “Eine Kleine Nachtmusik”
Clashes with: polka

 

Here are some more typical emotions and music sources, what wine would you pair with the following?

Grunge music – hostility, sadness, tension and fatigue

Country – depression (go figure)

Easy Listening – good feeling and uplifting

 

I would say for Grunge I would choose Zinfandel, Country I would choose White Zin and for Easy Listening I would choose Viognier.

 

Do you think music and wine go together, or that music the same as food, can enhance or detract from the sensory experience of a certain wine.

 

Cheers

PS You’re So Seductive…with your dark fruit flavors

My internet search to get some background on this North Coast Petite Sirah was quite unsuccessful, to the point I couldn’t find one drip of information. The only tidbit I did learn was that “armen” is the Swedish word for arm. So I’ll jump right into my tasting notes for the 2005 Armen Petite Sirah that we picked up from a wine tasting at The Wine Cellar here in Midlothian. A note on the 2005 North Coast vintage – it was preceded by a late warm winter, a cool wet spring and a generally even mild summer.

Nose – Raisin, fig, blackberry jam, campfire

Taste – Blueberry jam, black cherry

Mouthfeel – Medium to full body, a bit of heat at first but that calmed down after being open for a bit, firm dusty tannins

Finish – Long and fruity

All in all a typical fruit forward Petite Sirah and for $16 – $18 not a bad deal. New world all the way, the jammy fruit forward style that was Zinfandel in nature was a pleasurable drink but fairly one (1 ½) dimensional, although the length of the finish was quite surprising.  I will say the one to one and a half dimensions of fruit were all very real, nothing fake tasting or over extracted, very well done for this style of wine.

Not sure, but I think Roanoke Valley is the only distributor bringing this in, at least to Virginia, so I am not sure of the distribution.

If you want a good dark fruit, jammy wine, that isn’t too over the top, give this one a whirl. Not sure if I can use “whirl”, has Gary Vee trademarked that yet!!

Cheers!

Triple M – Martin Ray Merlot

From the unpredictable 2003 Napa vintage comes this Martin Ray Napa Valley Merlot.  This powerhouse reminded me of some of the Merlots that I have tasted from Washington State with its dark round fruit flavors, good structure and firm tannic grip.  In a world that is finally starting to warm back up the shunned grape post the Sideways phenomena, this Merlot definitely delivers.

 

We had this last night with what we call “poor mans” casserole. It is a baked gooey goodness full of veggies, soy ground beef, noodles and cheddar cheese that paired very nicely with the Merlot. The 2003 is blended with 11% Cabernet Sauvignon and 10% Cabernet Franc sat in French Oak barrels for 30 months, but the oak was integrated very nicely into the wine and was barely present in the flavor profile.

 

My Tasting Notes

Nose – Blackberry, fudge, vanilla, anise, rhubarb

Taste – cherry, blackberry, leather, mint

Mouthfeel – smooth and round at the beginning with a quick change to fuzzy tannins

Finish – long with flavors of cherry and cola nut

 

This was a great value at $17, although I am not sure how much of the 2003 is still in stores and I was actually surprised to see this in our local wine shop. If you can find it give it a try!

 

Cheers!

4th Annual Richmond Wine Opener

The 4th Annual Richmond Wine Opener is coming this fall to the Rotunda at the Science Museum.  Thursday November 6th, the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation of Richmond will host a wine event featuring 150 wines from around the world and 10+ local restaurants serving up some of their finest fare for you to sample.  In addition musicians Noah Paley and Coyote will be on hand providing some great music to sip and savor to.  Also make sure to bring your checkbook, there will be great items up for bids in both live and silent auctions.

The event is $65 in advance and $75 at the door and it benefits the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation. ($35 dollars of each ticket is tax deductible)

I am trying to help build some awareness for this event through the blogging community here in Richmond, so I made the nice little badge you see to the left.  It would be great if you could snag it and put on your websites and blogs to help generate some buzz for this event.  Even if you aren’t a Richmond blogger, it would be cool if you can have it on your site, you never know what Richmonder might be reading.

An updated list of the wines being poured and the restaurants that will be sampling food will be out soon, and when it is I will post it up.

For tickets you can go to this WEBSITE or call Amy McCraken at 804.527.1500

Code for the badge – copy and paste the text below. When you grab the badge, leave a comment so I can know what sites have it. 🙂

<a href=”http://www.cff.org/Chapters/virginia/ChapterEvents/index.cfm?ID=8141&blnShowBack=False&idContentType=1546&Event=8141″><div align=”center”><img src=”http://www.woodlandvineyard.com/pictures/cf-image-for-blog.jpg”></a&gt;

If you have problems getting the badge on your site email me at vcuspoon1 at comcast dot net.

Cheers

My 2 Cents on Tasting Room Fees

As more and more Virginia wineries hop on the band wagon of charging tasting fees, it has brought the issue to the front burner again for me.  In Virginia the idea of wine tasting as a weekend event has really caught on over the past few years which has, in part, contributed to the boom in winery opens across the state (not a bad thing).  Virginia as with California and other states have the same problems of people treating a weekend of wine touring as they would a wine festival, or bar hopping, cruising from one to the next without much intent of purchasing wine.  Now I know this is not the majority but it seems that this type of “customer” ruins it for the rest of us both by disrupting the tasting experience and causing wineries to take action against unruly customers.

 

Wineries typically charge tasting fees for two reasons. The first and most obvious is to recoup on the lost juice that is poured in the tasting room each day.  The second is to limit the crowds in the tasting room, giving a better opportunity for the people that are there to learn about and enjoy the wine to do so. I completely understand both which is why I am always on the fence on this issue.

 

First and foremost, it is my opinion that a tasting room is somewhere the consumer can come, learn about the wine, and try before you buy.  The thought is, the more they learn about it, get connected with it and of course if the juice is good they will be more likely to buy it. It is the same with car dealers, if they actually get you in the car they have X higher percentage of getting you to but it, not that I want to compare wineries to car dealerships. (please don’t take that comparison that way) Secondly, it is a place for people to come and enjoy the surroundings, relax and of course drink wine.

 

Wine Business Monthly did a study back in ’06 and I think it was around 50% of tasting rooms charged a fee and about 45% of those did not put tasting fee towards a bottle purchase. The second part is what frustrates me, if you have to have a fee to weed out the riffraff that are there to party that’s cool, but if I come to buy 3 or 4 bottles of wine don’t make me pay an additional $10 – $20 (me and wife) for tasting.  I know that I read a study a while back but can’t find it now that talked about tasting fees detracting from sales, which it completely does for me. No matter how awesome the experience was, if I wanted to spend $100 on wine that day, then only $80 of would be for wine if I had to pay said fees.  I guess to the bottom line of the tasting room it doesn’t matter because they got all $100 anyway, but when you factor in overhead costs of storing the bottles and the lost marketing aspect of having their bottle pulled out a party for 20 people to see, I think the winery would be losing out.

 

I know a lot of wineries, especially in California, use the appointment process to slow traffic and weed out party drinkers from the tasting room which I think is a better approach. You still get the serious consumer, but don’t penalize them. WIN WIN!!

 

Wineries are in business to make money, I understand that, but isn’t the point to sell wine in 750ml increments instead of 2oz ones!

 

Just my 2 cents!

 

Cheers!

 

PS My in-laws small winery charges a tasting room fee, refunded with purchase.

Playing Hooky Enjoying Virginia Wine Country

Friday, Megan and I had the day off from work so we decided to take advantage and visit some wineries that we had been talking about for a while. We visited 5 wineries on the day, 3 of which were new visits for us.  Today’s post will talk about one of the new (to us) wineries which also happened to be one of our top picks for the day. 

 

Glen Manor Vineyards is just a few miles from skyline drive in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia. You can actually see the thin line of Skyline Drive tracing across the mountain tops that surround the estate forming a natural glen that envelop the vineyards.  For fans of Virginia wines you may recognize the name Glen Manor, as vineyard manager and now winemaker Jeff White has been supplying grapes to Linden Vineyards since the vineyard was planted in 1995.  Jeff worked side by side with Jim Law for many years and Jim’s style of winemaking is evident in the wines that Jeff is producing now. But great wines come from great vineyards and Jeff’s passion for the land is evident, and you can hear it in his voice when he describes the different vineyards that are surround the newly constructed winery and tasting room.

 

There have been two major plantings of vineyards since Jeff has been managing Glen Manor Vineyards. The first six acres in 1995, at an elevation between 1000 and 1100 feet is comprised of Sauvignon Blanc, Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc and Petit Verdot.  In 2008 an additional 4 acres was planted on 25 acres of land that has been cleared with Petit Manseng, Merlot, Cabernet Franc and Cabernet Sauvignon.  This site is at a slightly higher elevation and will utilize a VSP trellis system versus the Open Lyre system that the original vineyard uses.  In 2009 another 4 acres of Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Cabernet Franc will be planted on the 25 acre site.

 

Currently in the tasting room Jeff only has two offerings, both of which were fabulous.

 

The first we tasted was the 2007 GMV Sauvignon Blanc coming from primarily 12 year old vines with about ½ an acre of 5 year old wines as well.  The grapes were whole cluster pressed and primarily the free run juice was used for the final bottling after fermenting and aging in stainless steel tanks.  On the nose were luscious citrus, apple, pear, and grapefruit notes with honey, spice, mineral and a hint of jalapeno on the finish. It was very Marlborough – esque in flavor and acidic profile but had much more minerality most likely coming from the rocky content of the vineyard soil.

 

The second was the 2005 GMV Petit Verdot coming from 8 year old vines from an elevation of 1100 feet. Double sorted both pre and post destemming before heading into French, Hungarian and Virginian Oak for 28 months before being bottled unfined and unfiltered. On the nose were notes of raspberry, cherry and smokey/leathery notes followed up by blackberry and cinnamon spice flavors that lead into a long finish with leathery tannins.

 

 

 

Before we left with our purchases of both wines, we decided to enjoy a glass Petit Verdot on the back patio of the winery and look over at the mountains that had finally peeked out from the clouds of a rather gray day.  Definitely give Jeff a visit, he is great to talk to and you will not be disappointed by the wines or the views.

 

Cheers