A Lucky Irish Vintner wishes a hardy congratulation….

My wife is starting a new job as a production editor and it seemed like everyone got to say congratulations and left me holding the bag. So I decided this Sunday I would make her a delicious dinner and let her relax on the evening before she started her new job. As a bonus, I would let her select any wine in our collection to pair with her dinner. No surprise to me she was sure she wanted a wine from a winery we discovered back on 2007 that sits up on the hill just of I-66 in Markham, VA.

We are big red wine fans so starting with our first visit we fell in love with Chateau O’Brien. The owner Howard O’Brien is a firm believer that all great wines start in the vineyard, and you can’t rush good wine. It shows in the quality from his standard collection all the way through the best in his cellar collection.

I was sure my wife would reach back and pick one of the bottles of his 2007 vintage bottles we have hiding in our cellar. So imagine my shock when a '08 came out, but as I studied the label and I saw it was his Petite Verdot it all made sense. I quickly dumped it into our decanter to allow it to start opening up while I watch the beginning of the New England vs Dallas football game. At half time I started the dinner (see picture below) assured that the wine would pair perfectly with the steak with blue cheese and mushroom sauce I was preparing.


With dinner ready it was time to enjoy some wine. I initially got a warm burst of deep red fruit almost black raspberry on the nose. With a few more smells there was a herbal quality that also accompanied the black raspberry smell. The initial taste was dark red fruit with a full body. It had an earthy finish with a pop of mild tannins on the back of the tongue. It paired well with the blue cheese and mushrooms. The second glass exhibited more red fruit and better tannin structure. It was very enjoyable to sip on a full stomach and paired well with chocolate nuggets that we had for dessert.

8 Ozs at 8 chains....

Well none of our own pictures today but had to comment on today's trip to 8 Chains North winery...In a few words...Why don't stop here more?


Our tasting include three whites and three reds. A informative funny tasting host...and topped off by a relaxing chat on their indoor couch while sipping on delicious VA wine.

Our overall thoughts was solid from top to bottom.

The first wine in their tasting was there 2009 Sauvignon Blanc-- It had a dandy lion wild flower nose. A nice flavor of flowers and greens with a medium heavy weight. It was a great sipping wine and my choice for relaxing with after our tasting. My wife and I both don't remember enjoying this wine last time we sampled it. We surely did this time.

Next up was there Loco Vino the 2009 the 2010 vintages. It is a fifty fifty blend of Vidal and Traminette. The 2009 nine exhibited great fruit with a spicy slightly acidic finish. The 2010 was more fruity and although drier tasted sweeter with less acid in the finish for me. Our pourer informed us the major difference and the reason the 2010 vintage has less residual sugar was that fact that during fermentation one of the two wines temperature elevated and couldn't be brought back down accelerating the fermentation process leading to a drier wine. Both wines were very solid wines, however I did enjoy the 2009 more than the 2010. However, good luck in finding the 2009 after this weekend.

From there we moved to the 2008 Merlot. This is blended with small additions of other grapes. This lead to a wine with big rasberry tasting wine with full body, and smokey earthy finish. A very different type of Merlot than you typically get in travels around Virginia.

After that we sampled a wine also made by the wine maker at 8 Chains North but labeled by another winery that is developing in Loudon county, Otium cellars. They specialize in German varietals made in traditional German style. This time we sampled their 2009 Dornfelder. This was very dark wine that almost requires food to fully enjoy. It had ample fruit and rounded out well with a oaky mouth field. Fully enjoyable but not recommend as a porch sipping wine.

Last on our tasting tour was the 2008 Furnace mountain red. This is their Bordeaux style red wine made from five Bordeaux grapes in different proportions each year. we remember the previous vintage being a real treat with a smokey finish and were excited this recently bottled vintage. The predominant grape in this vintage was Malbec. This exhibited big red early fruit followed by a heavy dose of tannins. Maybe a bit to much for me. It burned the mouth a little. However it had long lasting flavor and shows promise to mellow with age.

We have enjoy 8 chains wines for a while now, however their white wines were a lot better than we remember on previous trips. We are excited to continue tasting here as they show off the talents of their wine make in future vintages.

C-Ville, Cider, hiking, and fun....

Well at least I lured you in...actually the title is our weekend plans. I guess wine should be in there too as I plan on hitting a dozen or so wineries over the three day weekend. I'm so excited to blog about it. Follow me on twitter @bighunter_22 to keep up as I move place to place.

To warm us up tonight, the wife made a great variation of Spanish soup with spicy chorizo from Whole Foods, and we decided to pull out some wine. While cooking and cleaning before our meal we split a delicious bottle of the bubbly. This particular bottle "BeDazzled" was one we picked up earlier this summer while in northern Michigan. Overall, we didn't enjoy the wines or wineries as much as we do here in VA, but the bubblies from northern Michigan were the exception. We found several we did like and all that we tasted were good and worth the time to taste them.

"Bedazzled" from Black Star Farms winery was the bubbly of choice tonight. A light bodied bubbly made from the pinot noir, pinot gris, chardonnay, and pinot blanc grapes, it showed a crisp nose. Its taste was of light bodied small bubble wine. It showed light pear citrus fruit. Very crisp, but no harsh burn that can accompany crisp bubblies.

To go with our Spanish soup we pulled out "Trio" from our cellar. This was wine we picked up on our July trip to Charlottesville, VA, and a fitting way to start our Charlottesville three day weekend. Trio is a featured red wine from Flying Fox Vineyards, and boast being a blend of merlot, cab franc, and petite verdot. As I recall this was given a favorable review from one of my favorite wine bloggers swirlsipsnark recently, and it was one of only two wine we brought back with us from Flying Fox, their Viognier being the other, however the long hot summer ensured the Viognier didn't last past July. Excited for good red wine, I opened it about an hour early so it had a chance to open up.

With our first glass we immediately thought Italian wine. It had muted cooked herb-y earth-y nose. It had strong early tannins mixed with young ripe raspberry taste more herbs on the tongue and a light body. Opposite of what you might think, the strong early tannins did not translate into a harsh finish. In fact it was very smooth and rounded out what is a good table wine. Although it still showed very young, being a 2008, it is not one I would recommend cellaring. Drink now and enjoy.

These two wines were a good reflection of some of the wines we picked up on other wine trips this year, and prepared us well for us to enjoy VA Wine Month, on the Charlottesville Wine Trail. This weekends theme will first time visits to wineries with stops at Pippin Hill Farm, Stinson Vineyards, Castle Hill Cider, and Lovingston Winery planned.