On Saturday we attended a vertical wine tasting dinner at Gray Ghost Winery. We were treated to 10 years of Cabernet Sauvignons from their wine library. None of these wines are available for sale. We enjoyed foods that paired well with the cabernets.

The first flight of wines was from 1998 to 2002. From that flight the 2002 stood out as an exceptional wine. Even though it is considered young for a cabernet, it was full of fruit flavor and exhibited signs of becoming even better in the future.

The second flight of wines was from 1993 to 1997. As you might guess, the 1993 was amazing. It’s holding up very well for its age. The tannins have smoothed over the years and the fruit flavors still shine.

We plan to write more about this event and others at Gray Ghost in a future article for the Daily News Record.

On a side note, we are off to New Orleans on Tuesday to visit Warren’s family. While in New Orleans we plan to visit Pontchartrain Vineyards. We will write about our visit there when we return.

On Saturday we attended the barrel tasting at Gray Ghost Vineyards. We enjoyed seeing how the wines are developing in the barrels. Amoung others we tasted the 2005 Merlot. It’s bursting with cherry! We can’t wait for it to be released later this year. Barrel tasting is always a treat. Below is a picture of wine maker Al Kellert filling Warren’s glass right from the barrel.

On Saturday we took a trip to Charlottesville to attend the Mardi Gras event at Horton Vineyards. It was a rainy day but that didn’t dampen our spirits. With your admission you got a logo glass, Mardi Gras beads, seafood gumbo, chili, and traditional Mardi Gras cake. We enjoyed all of these while tasting many of their wines.

After our tasting, we joined a tour of their tank and barrel room. We were able to taste several of their wines right out of the barrel and a few out of the tanks. It was interesting to taste what the wines are like right out of the barrel. You can taste where the wines will be in the future. Here’s a picture from Horton’s cellar.