Author: Paul

Cleve Is A Winner!

/ Paul / 4 Comments

https://inteligencialimite.org/2024/08/07/8izg7l96 Last Saturday we were invited to Philip Carter Winery for the release of their big Bordeaux red, Cleve. As part of the release party, they conducted a Twitter taste off of their current wines and the new Cleve. A few other wine bloggers joined the fun. Rob Cox, the newest member of the winemaking team at Philip Carter, conducted the Twitter Taste-off.

https://merangue.com/y0r0r619

We began with the 2008 Chardonnay. This one got our gold star. It’s been their solid white for a while now. It’s the white wine we always go for when we visit Philip Carter. We always note the crispness, the fruit, the hints of lemongrass with a touch of oak. It’s also a winner. It’s gathered a handful of medals. Next up was the Governor Fauquier 2008. We tweeted nutty, off dry, tropical fruit, and melon flavors. We noted it has 1% residual sugar.

Real Xanax Bars Online

https://homeupgradespecialist.com/f16ymaw We then moved to the reds. We were looking forward to trying the Cleve but first we had the 2008 Cabernet Franc. This was not of our favorites but we did note it had a nice color for a cab franc. We tweeted it had an acidic nose, with black cherry and pepper on the palate. We then moved on to the Cleve! The Cleve is a Bordeaux style red with 50% cab franc, 35% petit verdot, and 15% cabernet sauvignon. Again, we tweeted extracted fruit on the nose, smoke, violets, bramble berry, big fruit, lengthy finish, and that you can chew on it awhile. We declared Cleve was a winner! We could see keeping this one on your rack for a while. It will on get better with time. Philip Carter Winery certainly has a winner on it’s hands with Cleve! Nice job winemakers!

Ordering Xanax From Canada The last wine we tasted was the Late Harvest Vidal 2008. It’s 8% residual sugar but isn’t overly sweet. We noted baked apple and honey. Perfect ending to the taste off.

Cheap Xanax Online

https://polyploid.net/blog/?p=6dtudxahvo After the Twitter taste off we had a chance to chat with Rob Cox. We always enjoy chatting with Rob Cox…we’ve followed him from winery to winery. We chatted about the Philip Carter wines and the wine industry in Virginia in general. Rob noted how many Virginia wineries are employing professional winemakers to help develop the wines they want to produce. He said, “The days of owner made wines are numbered.” He went on to say, “Virginia doesn’t need more wineries making wines, we need wineries making better wine.” He certainly has his opinions about the future of Virginia wines.

Philip Carter Winery is again teaming up with Luxury Cruise Counselors to plan a spectacular cruise to the Mediterranean in August 2011. Check out their website for more information. You simply must plan a trip out to Philip Carter Winery to taste that Cleve. And when you do, tell them Virginia Wine Time sent you!

Weekend Happenings

/ Paul / Leave a comment

There are lots of wine events coming up this weekend. We suggest you check out the Virginia Wineries website for a full listing of events. Piedmont Vinyards, Philip Carter, and Barrel Oak are three that we might be attending. What are you doing this wine weekend?

https://mandikaye.com/blog/9ayde3m3 At Piedmont Vineyards and Winery:

https://aiohealthpro.com/6rdc3fjoc At Philip Carter Winery:

Buy Pfizer Xanax 2Mg May 29: Anniversary of American Wine – the 248th Anniversary Celebration of American Wine Festival, a three day event. Join hosts, Mr. Thomas Jefferson and Mr. Charles Carter, for our third annual 1762 Gold Medal Ceremony and discover why the Carter family is recognized as the first family of American wine.

It’s a day of fun in wine country for the entire family. Be there for the release of “Cleve”, a full-bodied red Bordeaux that is both complex and sophisticated, and enjoy the modern day juxtaposed to the eighteenth century! Hear the voices of Mr. Jefferson and Mr. Carter as they speak of their personal connection to wine in young America.

Link-in to the Philip Carter Virtual Tweet-up & Tasting that will explore each Philip Carter wine, including Cleve, during the event, and bring Twitter, Facebook & Foursquare fans together.

https://polyploid.net/blog/?p=eotcejvez Activities include live music, delicious foods, hay rides and moon bounce, and much, much more. Author, Marc Leepson returns. and, as always, all well behaved canine friends are welcomed. Gates open at 11:00 a.m. – 8:00 p.m.

https://oevenezolano.org/2024/08/wpdtwp9xqt1 https://blog.extraface.com/2024/08/07/gjqhheoram At Barrel Oak:

It is Barrel Oak Winery’s 2nd anniversary and we are celebrating this Memorial Day Weekend in several amazing ways! We are:

https://www.psicologialaboral.net/2024/08/07/7pb6fewl18b 1. Releasing our most popular wines this weekend: BOWHaus White and BOWHaus Red as well as our highly anticipated Rose.
2. Opening the new art show by Ben Roeder: “Traces of Memory, an Abstract Introspective”.
3. Featuring great live music Friday, Saturday and Sunday nights!
4. Giving a Golden Ticket to every purchaser of a case of our wine. These Golden Tickets contain the gift of a free tasting for two, a combo platter, a bottle of wine, or a membership in our BOWClub. These gifts range in value from $18 to $175.
5. Raffling off TWO Aged Barrels with memberships in our Barrel Club. Each membership has a value of over $1300. Everyone tasting our wines will receive a raffle ticket.

Additionally, on Saturday and Sunday we will have awesome food service from Local 647, serving the best locally sourced farm-fresh organic foods and runners up winners of ABC Weekend’s 2009 Best Food Cart in America Competition.

https://solomedicalsupply.com/2024/08/07/6eybadgz There will be great music Friday from 6-9 with Demetrios and Curtis and dancing to the sunsets on Saturday 6-9pm to local favorites eNVee and Sunday 6-9pm to the Fabulous Exaggerations! And Sunday we will have old-timey music during the day with Poor Ellen Smith.

https://nedediciones.com/uncategorized/vks7myhhi We have seating for over 400 guests and of course as always, dogs, kids and picnics are welcome!

https://inteligencialimite.org/2024/08/07/48dae9eo Please join us at BOW for the perfect blend of Farm, Family, and Fun!
———————–

Alprazolam 1Mg Online Have a great weekend!

Return to Corcoran

/ Paul / 1 Comment

We recently visited Corcoran Vineyards. Corcoran happens to be one of our favorites. We always have a good time and enjoy chatting about anything wine with Jim and Lori Corcoran. The day we visited Jim Corcoran was on hand and we had a great conversation about wine and the wine industry.

https://udaan.org/anb0xriwu.php We started our tasting with the whites of course. We tasted the 2008 Chardonnay. We noted green apple, peaches and a hint of a floral nose. We then tasted the Seyval Blanc with it’s lemon-lime flavors and sweetness, we know this one is a favorite of many. We were disappointed to find out the 2008 Viognier and the 2007 Traminette were sold out.

https://foster2forever.com/2024/08/9m1hucat.html Onto the reds we started with my favorite, the Malbec. We noted its dark fruit, smooth tannins, and medium body. Warren noted some cedar and oak. This has been a favorite of mine since it was released. I know there aren’t many cases left. We moved on to the Meritage. Descriptors that we wrote down were dried fruit, raisin, fresh herby quality, and deep rich color. We can see this one becoming one of our favorites. We ended the reds with the 2007 Mary’s Cuvee. This one is a collaboration between Lori Corcoran and Mary Watson. It consists of Merlot, Cabernet Franc and Tannat. We noted the fruit right up front. It has smooth tannins with a hint of spice. Nice job Lori and Mary!

Xanax Buy Cheap After our tasting we enjoyed a bottle of the Malbec with our lunch. While finishing the bottle we were joined by Jim Corcoran. As I mentioned earlier, we had a great conversation about all things wine. We could sit and chat with Jim (or Lori or both) for hours and hours. Before long we had to get moving. We thanked Jim for a wonderful afternoon and headed home. If you find yourself in Loudoun County be sure to stop at Corcoran Vineyards or Hunters Run Wine Barn which features Corcoran wines.

Spring Wine Festival

/ Paul / 4 Comments

https://eloquentgushing.com/qyj7pi7 Today we went to the Spring Wine Festival at the Plains. The weather was cool and cloudy but the sun came out a few times. We had the opportunity to sample many wines from wineries all over the state of Virginia. We also had some delicious foods, participated in a California versus Virginia Twitter taste off, and heard some great music.

We were able to tasted wines at 15 different booths. We took lots of notes but couldn’t possibly let you know about each and every winery. Here are highlights from today’s tastings. We picked out a few to share with you. We’ll list the winery and the wine we noted.

Rockbridge-Pinot Noir
Castle Gruen-The King’s Red
Unicorn-Slightly Embarrassed
Abingdon-White Pinot Noir
Cooper-Viognier
Hiddencroft-Dutchman’s Creek
Virginia Mountain-Traminette
Aspen Dale-Consistant quality-we loved all their wines
Stone Mountain-Traminette
Pearmund-both were good
Kluge-Blanc de Blanc
Del Fosse-Reserve d’Oriane
Miracle Valley-Sweet Michelle
Vincent’s Vineyard-Cab Franc
Delaplane Cellars-Honah Lee Viognier

There were several other wineries in attendance but we didn’t have time to get to them all.

The Twitter Taste Off was described like this:

“You be the judge! Come into our wine laboratory and blind-taste your favorite Virginia varietal from several wineries side by side! Brandon Walsh, of Hosted Wine Tasting, will add a non-VA wine to each flight just to make it interesting. Varietals for this exclusive tasting includes Virginia’s best Chardonnays, Viogniers, Cabernets, Merlots and Bordeaux-style Blends.”

It was exactly that. We tasted a viognier from California and Virginia. The Delaplane Cellars Honah Lee Viognier beat the California viognier. We then tasted cab franc from both and the California cab franc won. The last tasting of merlots was a toss up. Half liked the California and half liked the Miracle Valley Merlot. Warren and I were split as well. I liked the California and Warren enjoyed the Miracle Valley.

We ended the day with some biscotti and a glass of the Delaplane Cellars Honah Lee Viognier while listening to Bianca Merkley on the music stage. It began to rain so we called it a day and headed home. We were pleased with the wines we were able to taste today. We highly recommend the wine festivals at the Plains. There’s something there for everyone.

Gadino Cellars

/ Paul / 1 Comment

On our way home from Sharp Rock a few weeks ago, we stopped at Gadino Cellars to see what was new. We were lucky enough to have Stephanie conduct our tasting. Stephanie is the assistant winemaker and tasting room manager. She’s always so informative and helpful when she conducts our tasting.

We started with the whites. We tasted the 2007 Barrel Select Chardonnay, the 2008 Sunset, and the 2008 Moonrise (which is actually more of a rose’). Our gold star went to the 2007 Barrel Select Chardonnay with it’s hints of apple and pear and nice nutty finish. Stephanie informed us the 2009 Pinot Grigio, the 2009 Viognier, and the 2009 Barrel Select Chardonnay will be released soon. The 2009 Pinot Grigio is already in the bottle. She let me buy one but I promised not to open it until July. I have it in the fridge waiting for July. I’ve been a fan of the Pinot Grigio for a long time so I’m really looking forward to this one.

We then tasted the reds. We tasted the 2008 Cab Franc, the 2007 Petit Verdot, the 2005 Reserve Merlot, and the 2008 Imagine, which was new to us. Even though the Imagine has 3% residual sugar you’d never know it. It’s a blend of chambourcin, cab franc, and cabernet sauvignon. Our gold star went to the 2005 Reserve Merlot. It has a nice cherry nose, smoother tannins which are integrated well. This is another of my favorites. I still have one bottle on my rack that I’ll be holding on to for awhile.

After our tasting and chatting with Stephanie, we decided to enjoy a glass of the 2007 Barrel Select Chardonnay on the deck. It was an unusually warm day for early May. The cool chardonnay hit the spot. Believe it or not, I was so caught up in the tasting, I didn’t take any photos! Next time I’ll be sure to snap some photos. Plan a stop at Gadino soon and tell them Virginia Wine Time sent you!

Wine Festival at the Plains

/ Paul / 1 Comment

What are you doing this weekend? We’d like to suggest the Spring Wine Festival at the Plains. There will be over 250 Virginia wines presented for tasting. There will be fine art, fancy food, culinary seminars, musical entertainment, and the opening night of Twilight Polo.

We attended this event last fall and loved it. Many of the wineries we are unable to get to, taste their wines at this festival. It’s a great way to taste some wines you’d never get to taste unless you made a trip to their tasting room.

Check out the website and get your tickets now! We’ll see you there!

My Blends

/ Paul / 1 Comment

Warren shared his blending experience with you in the last post. I’ll share mine in this post. I will agree with Warren about Al’s malbec. It’s one of the best I’ve tasted. It reminded me of Lori Corcoran’s malbec. Maybe in the future Al will plant enough to produce a stand alone. It’s definitely a great addition to the pieces he uses for blending.

My first blend was made up of 30% Cabernet Sauvignon, 30% Merlot, 15% Cabernet Franc, 15% Malbec, and 10% Petit Verdot. I really liked the stand alone versions of these grapes and thought larger amounts of merlot and cab sauv would make a nice wine. Well, in the end this first blend had too much spice for my taste. I didn’t understand that because I only had 15% of the cab franc which were I thought most of the spice would come from. Al explained to me that when you put them all together, they bring out different characteristics and my blend just happened to bring out more spice. Of course I needed to change the percentages in my second blend.

Since I really enjoyed the malbec as a stand alone, I decided to make that one of the major components of my second blend. I went with 30% Malbec, 30% Cabernet Sauvignon, 30% Merlot, 5% Cabernet Franc, and 5% Petit Verdot. This second blend was so much better than the first blend. The spiciness was gone and replaced with some nice fruit and decent tannins. I was ready to bottle this blend. Warren said he enjoyed it as well.

Al explained how they create 15 different blends, make a gallon of each one, and taste them at three different time intervals. The blend for this year’s Ranger Reserve is 29% Cabernet Sauvignon, 24% Merlot, 20% Petit Verdot, 15% Cabernet Franc and 12% Malbec. We got a chance to taste it and of course it was wonderful. We had a great time at the blending class and look forward to blending again in the future.

Spring Wine Festival

/ Paul / 1 Comment

Looking for a Spring Wine Festival? We’d like to suggest the Spring Wine Festival at the Plains. There will be over 250 Virginia wines presented for tasting. There will be fine art, fancy food, culinary seminars, musical entertainment, and the opening night of Twilight Polo.

We attended this event last fall and loved it. Many of the wineries we are unable to get to taste their wines at this festival. It’s a great way to taste some wines you’d never get to taste unless you made a trip to their tasting room.

Check out the website and get your tickets now! And if you see us there, say hi!

Drink Local Wine Conference

/ Paul / 5 Comments

Today we attended the Drink Local Wine conference at Lansdowne. We had a great time meeting fellow wine bloggers and meeting members of the Virginia wine community.

The first session we attended was a panel discussion about the grapes that work best for Virginia. The panelists were Matthew Meyert from Williamsburg Winery, Jennifer McCloud from Chrysalis Vineyard, and Matthieu Finot of King Family Vineyards. The moderator of this discussion was Richard Leahy of Vineyard & Winery Management magazine. The discussion centered around grapes that work best in Virginia. Both hybrids and vinifera were discussed. It was interesting to hear all the different grapes that each winemaker thought worked best in Virginia.

Our second session was all about social media. The panelists were Lenn Thompson of the New York Cork Report, Jennifer Breaux Blosser from Breaux Vineyards, and Jeff Siegel, the Wine Curmudgeon. The moderator was Michael Wangbicker. This session started with a great discussion about how social media is part of any marketing plan for a winery. We learned that many wineries have seen increases in customers and sales. The discussion got a little heated at one point when it became print media versus online media. Everyone has their opinions. I shared mine. You can probably guess which side I am on. This was my favorite session. I really enjoyed the discussions. All the panelists did a great job!

After the social media session we had lunch. Here’s a photo of the new named “Wine Mafia” having lunch. It was great discussing wines and blogging with these guys.


Pictured: Anything Wine, New York Cork Report, Drink What You Like, and The Other 46.

After lunch we had a session about drinking local and eating local. The panelists were Mary Watson-DeLauder from Lansdowne Resort, Andrew Stover, Chef Wino, and Todd Kliman from Washingtonian magazine. The moderator was Dave McIntyre of the Washington Post. This one started out slow but by the end was pretty interested. I found myself Twittering more than listening until discussion began to peak my interest.

The final event of the day was the Twitter Taste-off. There were 20-some Virginia wineries pouring a red and a white. Participants were to go around the room stopping at different tables to taste the wines each winery brought. We then tweeted about our tastings. At the end we were to vote on our favorites. If you follow us on Twitter, you know we tweeted a lot about the viogniers we tasted. We tried to start with all the whites and then move on to the reds but as we were tasting we ran into so many wine friends that we had to stop and talk. By the time we go to the reds we were running out of time. We had to get our ballets in. After a few more tastings we turned in our ballets. We then waited for the results. The winner of the reds was Breaux Vineyards 2002 Merlot Reserve. The winner for the whites was the Chrysalis Vineyards 2008 Albarino. We enjoyed both of these selections and were pleased to see they won.

While others headed off to dinner after the taste off, we were headed home. We had a great day and thank everyone at Drink Local Wine for the wonderful hospitality. It was also great to meet all the bloggers we chat with on Twitter. We met so many people today! What a great way to promote Virginia wine.


Pictured: Sip, Swirl, Snark, Drink What You Like, and Anything Wine

Warrenton Wine and Arts Festival

/ Paul / Leave a comment

Warrenton Wine and Arts Festival-For the second year in a row the Warrenton Wine and Arts Festival will take place this weekend, April 24 and 25 at St. John the Evangelist school in Warrenton Virginia. At the festival you’ll be able to taste wines from about 20 Virginia wineries, hear music from local musicians, see and purchase art from several local artists, and browse the merchandise from several local and regional vendors.

Be sure to check out the website and get your tickets now. We attended the festival last year and really had a great time. We tasted some wines we couldn’t taste unless we visited the wineries.