We were visiting wineries with friends on Memorial Day weekend and stopped at Granite Heights Winery along the way. It was great to see owners Luke and Toni and catch up with them.

The day we were there they had 8 wines on the tasting menu. Our tasting was conducted by Matt, Luke’s brother. The wines were all poured in little plastic cups and placed on a tasting sheet with descriptions of each wine. Even though the wines were poured in small plastic cups, they did give us glasses to taste the wines. We tasted four whites and four reds. The favorite of the whites was the 2018 Chardonnay. It’s a dry chardonnay fermented mostly in stainless steel but also spends time in French and American oak. The favorite red was the 2012 Evening Serenade. It’s a blend of merlot, cabernet sauvignon, cabernet franc and petit verdot. We noted red fruit, raspberries, gripping tannins and a smooth ending. It’s holding up really well. We have one bottle of this left on our rack. However before leaving we picked up another bottle to add to the collection.

After our tasting we were treated to a barrel tasting with Luke, the winemaker. He treated us to barrel samples of the 2020 Barbara (from stainless steel!), the 2020 cabernet franc, the 2020 petit verdot and the 2019 cabernet franc that will be part of the blend for their Humility red blend. All of the barrel samples were amazing! My favorite was the 2019 Cabernet Franc for the red blend.

After our barrel tasting, we enjoyed a bottle of the 2018 Chardonnay with our friends on the front porch. We had a chance to catch up with Toni while enjoying the chardonnay. Before leaving we picked up half a case of our favorite wines. We always enjoy our time with Luke and Toni at Granite Heights Winery. We’ll be visiting again soon! We recommend you visit them soon! And when you do, tell them Virginia Wine Time sent you!