Virginia Wines (2) (6/10/2014)

A few weeks ago I wrote a blog about some of the wineries I visited in the Tidewater of Virginia.  Wineries like Dog and Oyster claim they have a similar climate as the Bordeaux region in France and that they should therefore be able to rival them.  We'll see it that happens in my life time.

Today I want to deal with the wineries I visited in northern Virginia, and rank them as well. Rappahannock Cellars was the first of the wineries I visited in Virginia (2003).  While I already was a wine enthusiast and had tasted in Missouri, this was a fun first experience, and my very first impression with Virginia red wine, which I found very below par at that time.  Things have changed in the past few years, and I can tell you the reds made by Chester Gap Cellars just a few miles up the road are among some of the best Virginia reds I’ve tasted lately (2013 and 2014).

Here is my review of the wineries I visited in the northern area (the date in parentheses is the year I visited the wineries):

Old House Vineyards  (2013) - 4 stars - Interesting place with some interesting grape varieties (barberra).  Inexpensive to taste.  Great place for weddings.

Rappahannock Cellers - (2003) - 3 stars (this rating is probably out-dated) - My first tasting in Virginia.  It was fun, but I remember a very touristy tasting room.  I still own their tasting glass and drink wine from it every day.

Chester Gap Cellars - (2013 and 2014) - 5 stars - A great secluded winery with the produces some outstanding reds.  Try their Merlot.

Fox Meadow Winery- (2013) - 5 star - Location, location, location.  Love the place, good wine, I was impressed by their Riesling.

Aspen Dale Winery at the Barn (2013) 3 stars  A very charming place, wine was so, so.  Live music was too loud to really understand the host.  This winery was the first that served wine paired with food.

Glen Manor Vineyards (2013) 2 stars  Great location and very scenic looking towards the National Park.  Wine was mediocre

Breaux Vineyards (2014) 1 star  Rude staff, crowded and expensive.  See my review of last month.

The picture below was taking at Chester Gap late April of tis year.

Fort Monroe (6/6/2014)

D-day!  Actually there was a 70-year anniversary celebration concert at Fort Monroe.  In addition it was our 37- year wedding anniversary that day as well.  So what better reason to celebrate and listen to some good music, on the lawn.  It was a concert by the USAF Heritage of America Band, and it was fun.  We had a good time followed by a late dinner.

The photo below shows the Hampton Roads.  A ship is going over the tunnel while there was a guy in a fishing kayak in the foreground.  He had a hard time paddling, the current was very fast that evening.

Richmond (6/4/2014)

We had meeting in Richmond on Wednesday, and I went for a brief walk during lunch.  It was a nice day, but amazingly quiet downtown.  You would think more people would want to get out and enjoy the outside.

Yorktown (6/2/2014)

Early in the morning it was time to pay some bills and stick them in the mail box in Yorktown.  Coming down the hill there was cruise ship, a big sail boat, and a number of replicas of older sailboats docked in the harbor.  I took this picture from my sunroof, while driving down the road.  Just an idea of what was there.  Not the best picture I realize, but it gives you a good idea of an early morning in our sleepy little coastal town.

In that day, Yorktown was preparing for the arrival of the French.  This was a celebration of the Independence war and the help of the French with the war (La Fayette).  It seems that a French Navy vessel was going to stop by that day for a ceremony and a 21 gun salute.  Pity I missed it, being a working stiff and having to get going to Richmond.

Northern Neck (6/1/2014)

On Sunday morning we decided it was time to get the h… out of Dodge and to go explore something.  Sailing was not an option since it was blowing pretty stiff and it was actually cool.  So we decided to go explore the “Northern Neck” of Virginia.  On the way up we stopped in Mathews County at “Fort Nonsense”, or what we might call now “Fort WTF.”  It seems to have been a fort built by a local brigade to stop the advancement of the Union soldiers on their way to Richmond.  The problem was they never came; the Union soldiers went up the peninsula (Williamsburg etc).  So they never saw any action there.  Oh well.  I think I could have predicted that, the shortest way from Fort Monroe to Richmond does not lead through Mathews; hence the name “Fort Nonsense.”

We continued our trip to White Stone and we had lunch at Willaby’s café.  Really not bad, maybe with the exception that my poached eggs were poached a little too long and were more like hard boiled eggs.  After lunch we drove to Windmill point to walk the beach and take a look at the marina (a possible destination in our sailing adventures).

We ended our day in the Northern Neck with revisiting the Dog and Oyster Winery in Irvington for some tasting and relaxing.  In a previous blog posting I had given this winery 2 stars, and thanks to this visit I am going to revise it to at least 4 stars.  I wish I could make it 5 stars, but the wine was very expensive.  It was definitively good, in particular their Merlot, but I could not get myself to pay $45 for a bottle; which is the reason for the 4 stars instead of 5.

The photos posted here are from our visits, a shot from the restaurant, of Windmill Point and the entrance to the winery.  A fun day in just a small section of the Northern Neck.