Through my love of wines, and some great events hosted by local wineries, I recently enjoyed a chance to take a walk in the vines with two people ankle deep or more in the VA Wine industry. Over the next six blogs, I plan on covering the wineries involved, the people who gave the tours, and share the awesome experience I had learning a little more about everything from vines to wines.
My 
first experience involved going to Hillsboro Winery in Hillsboro , Loudon County, Virginia. The evening hike in the vines with the Wine Maker, Kerem Baki, was offered to Hillsboro Frequent Winers, They wanted to give their winers a chance to learn more about the process, fruit, and people who make Hillsboro wines.The process started with me with learning a little history of the winery. Hillsboro winery was established and vines planted in 2002 on a great parcel of land. The combination of being located on a severely sloping side hill, having a southwest facing exposure, beautiful scenery in all directions led to an almost perfect sit-up for a vineyard. Lots of sun, quick draining soil, and protection from late season frost are ingredients for growing great grapes, and that is half the scenario needed to make good wine.
Part of establishing their winery meant refurbishing/renovating the on-site 1820’s stone barn into a beautiful tasting room
, that also host events, weddings, and of course afternoon picnickers for those on the VA Wine Trail.They incorporated a beautiful babbling brook
, pergola
¸ and plenty of covered and uncovered seating areas available for wine drinkers to enjoy a glass of their favorite Hillsboro wine. The best part their outdoor seating areas are how close you are to their grape vines
, and they do encourage you to go and take an up close and personal view of them. 
While waiting to start our tour with the wine maker, my wife and I enjoyed their outdoor seating area with a delicious glass of the Hillsboro 2009 Carnelian wine. This wine is made with 100% Roussanne grape. One of the many unique grapes grown at Hillsboro, you won’t almost anywhere else on the VA wine trail.Unfortunately for us this vintage was only an ok sipping wine. It had an almost pee color, and didn’t hold up well when it got only a little bit warm. It turned bitter and reminded me of homemade dandelion wine when the heat of the day got to it. But chilled it had floral nose, and a mixed floral pear flavor. It had a medium to heavy body for a white wine, and can stand up to a variety of foods.
In the next of this series, I’m going to cover the first part of the walk in the vines; it includes several different varietals and some little known facts of Vineyard management. I hope you all are waiting with baited breath….On a parting note, does anyone else have experience with a 100% Roussanne wine???
