Route 9 Barrel Tasting Hillsboro Winery

We started our route 9 Barrel tasting at Hillsborough winery. We are familiar with Kerem Baki, the wine maker at Hillsborough, from an event we did with him last year when he gave a tour through his vineyards. I did a small series of blogs based on that event that I encourage you to review, it was the in the vine series of blogs and the first one can be read here here. During this event, we got to sample fresh grapes before harvest from all over his 36 acres of vines. We were very excited to try wine that was still in the barrel. Upon arriving, our friends made their way to the regular tasting bar for their current vintage tasting, while we were directed down to their production facility. It was a small bar about 100 yards from their tasting room. We had seen it several times out the window from their tasting room and never knew the number of barrels that were stored down there.

Upon walking in, we were surprised by the large group of people already well into their barrel tasting. The room was stacked ceiling to floor with barrels from different grapes, years, and of course blends. In the back left corner were three barrels with labels on them describing the wine within, a table with crackers and a sign in sheet, and of course drain grates for any wine you didn't enjoy.

We opened with a 2011 single varietal chardonnay done not in traditional oak but in Acucia wood barrel. It keeps the fruit as the key flavor and takes away the buttery taste that happens with California chardonnays. We found this quite young still and needing a little more time in the barrel, but showed great promise.

From there we moved on to his 2010 Cab Sav. This too was quite young. It was still quite acidic and needed time to mellow and develop, but with several more months on the barrel it should be delicious.

The last on the scheduled tasting was the 2010 Petite Verdot. We are kind of home bodies for Petite Verdot. I always lobby that Virginia needs to change its signature grape from Viognier to Petite Verdot, but unfortunately my voice is small in the grand sea of Virginia wineries. This wine was great as it was. It was well balanced with equal parts fruit and oak. I was ready to buy futures of it right there, unfortunately they were not being offered so I instead just made this sample last as long as I could while Kerem answered more questions on the 2011 vintage, growing grapes, the starting of the winery, and of course what was in the rest of the barrels surrounding us.

Kerem knew he had a group of red wine lovers with him and he took advantage to let us try his 2010 Tannat. It showed very well, but more was the love that Kerem showed in telling why it does so well in Virginia and the pain staking care it takes to grow. Tannat is one of the last grapes he harvests so although October was very wet this year, Tannat still did quite well because it hung on the vine well into November.

Lastly, Kerem climbed high into his barrels to allow us to try his 2011 Fer Servadou. It is a lesser known grape from France that is only grown in three vineyards in the U.S. in which Hillsborough is the largest one. It was a bit pasty for me for some reason, but I know the end product will be quite delicious when blended bottled in the final product.

After finishing off our last sample and thanking Kerem for his time, my wife and I headed back to the tasting room to collect our friends. It was at that time I realized that this event wasn’t going to be for the faint of heart, and why I was glad they had extended it over two days. This many wineries in one day would not be an advisable undertaking, unless of course you have a limo. The walk back to the tasting room was all up hill and gave me a chance to enjoy the scenery surrounding Hillsborough winery.

Route 9 Barrel Tasting: 8 Chains North

By popular demand, I’m not following the chronological order of my recent visits during the Route 9 Barrel tasting event hosted in Loudon Country Virginia. Instead, I’ll be sharing our experience at 8 Chains North Winery first. This was our second stop on our tour of the day. In our group was my wife and two of her girlfriends. My wife and I were the only ones actually doing the barrel tasting on that day. Her girlfriends had never been to any of the Loudon County wineries so while we were enjoying tasting future releases, they were soaking up the current vintage releases.

We arrived to find cars parked on both sides of the small parking lot at the front of 8 Chains. Not surprising, they had two tasting bars up and running and there was a good crowd at each.

After checking with the Ben’s Fiancée behind the main tasting bar, we found out Ben had a group in the back and that we had enough time to do a regular tasting with our friends before the next barrel tasting would start.

Well, I guess she twisted our arm’s into it, but today’s run down consisted of their 2009 Sauvignon Blanc done in the fume style which for those your who don’t know means fermented on the leafs. Predictably I noticed a green flower smell on the nose, and had very green flavor. I thought it was a bit cold and that was hurting its flavor as I didn’t find it appealing at all. In past visits I had like this wine much better. From there we moved on to the 2010 Loco Vino. A semi-dry blend of Traminette and Vidal Blanc, this wine has a .05% of residual sugar. That is slightly less than the previous year’s vintage which allowed more of the spiciness of the Traminette comes through on the palette. This a popular seller in the summer and good patio wine year round. From there we moved on to the 2008 Merlot. This had a very delicious bouquet of red fruit and smoky essence. Although it tasted only o.k. the nose was a sign that this could get better as it gets another year of two in the bottle. After the merlot we moved on to a wine that is from another winery that Ben is the vineyard manager for in Loundon County, Otium Cellars. This was the 2009 vintage of their Dornfelder. Please feel free to follow this link, to find out all you care about the Dornfelder grape. We all agreed this was a unique wine for the Virginia region, and great day-to-day drinking wine that can be paired with food but doesn’t require it. From there we moved on to the 2009 Furnace Mountain Red. Unfortunately it was at that point that it was time to go back to the cellar and start our cellar tasting so after quickly downing the sample without enjoying it, we were off to the cellar.

For those of you who have never done a cellar tasting, what you taste out of the barrel is usually not what you’ll taste when it has been bottled. Being young the tannins and acidity levels usually haven’t had time to balance out so one or the other is usually very much present. However, what you do get is a chance to catch aromas and tastes you never get in the finished product as they ousted through the continued fermentation and aging product. The real value of these cellar tastings, at least for me, is the time you get to spend with the wine maker. I have done one other barrel tasting with Ben and knew what an engaging and open person he is. He’ll give you great answers to any questions and won’t hold anything back about the wine making process, wine industry, grape growing, and of course his personal expertise, vineyard management.

After greeting us and taking us back into his barrel room and production facility, Ben began our barrel tasting with his '11 Sauvignon Blanc. He explained how this would be the last year in which he does not use grapes that he personally manages as the basis for his wine. The vineyard he has planted behind his tasting room will be ready for their first harvest next year, although he will be keeping the yields lower than the final production because it will be their first vintage. He currently gets his grapes from Delfosse Vineyards south of Charlottesville, VA. The wine displayed the citrus characteristics you would expect although was still quite acidic. As mention earlier, he does in the fume style by fermenting them on the leaves which makes it very different the New Zealand style Sav Blancs that have gained much popularity in recent years in the U.S.

From there we moved on to a new wine that will be released by 8 Chains, it will be single varietal Chardonnay. An interesting story upon how he came upon getting chardonnay to make this varietal out of, but I’ll save that for when he does his release. For me, there were hints of fruit and vanilla on the nose, displaying a little heavier pallet with fruit and oak ever prevalent. It was just about as much oak as I like for an oaked Chardonnay and commented as much. Ben said he was a little concerned about that also as it will continue to age until May. While finishing our taste of chardonnay Ben answered questions on crop damage due to stink bugs and other nasty bug critters that rob what would otherwise be a great glass of wine for you. The key take away from that discussion was that through trial and error Ben learned that stink bugs are not alcohol soluble so as long as you are diligent of taking them out of your vats and barrels they don’t harm the taste of the wine as other insects can.

After Chardonnay, it was time to move back over into the barrel room and start in the two reds Ben was prepared to let us sample. The first red was the '10 Merlot which has been almost a year in barrel already and only has a couple more months before being ready to bottle. My first wiff of this wine came with a smell of toasted marshmallow with cherry fruit hints. Salted caramel was another popular smell from the group along with other toasted marshmallows. Ben took a sample and after giving it a swirl, agreed that was in the nose. It is strange that caramelized sugars would appear on the nose like that, but I guess that could be a byproduct of the warm fermentation process. This was a delicious wine in almost perfect balance of fruit, weight, and tannin. It was ready for bottling right now in my opinion. To go with this sample, our group asked questions on corks, natural vs synthetic, screw tops and how they will change the wine making processes, and a little on the use of glass corks. It was very insightful on how what type corks you will use needs to be thought about at the very beginning of the wine making process to ensure you get the consistent balance wine you are looking for in the bottle.

Next up was the 2010 Petite Verdot. PV is one of our personal favorite varietals, and a common wine tasted on the Route 9 Barrel tasting. Ben’s was very good, full bodied and left us excited for its release later this year. This initiated a conversation of Viognier being selected as the official wine of Virginia. Although Ben was not against the selection due to the great climate Virginia has for growing Viognier, but Ben commented on how he thought single varietal Petite Verdots would become more common across wineries throughout Virginia.

From there Ben was going to allow us to taste the 2011 Petite Verdot so we could compare what year of aging will do for a wine. Since our conversation had went toward emerging wines in Virginia he instead decided to share his Malbec with us as he believed Virginia was well suited to make some outstanding Malbec wines. In time Virginia might gain some notoriety for the Malbec wines produced here. His Malbec was silky smooth and delicious. It made us talk about becoming wine club members as Ben said this will only be released to his wine club members. Hopefully, if their feedback is positive it will one day be a staple in Ben’s tasting room.

That was the end of the barrel tasting, but as a gracious host Ben continued to talk to the group for about another 10 minutes. It was really enjoyable to talk to someone who is so passionate about not only wine production, but vineyard management, and the local wine industry as a whole. I predict more good things will come from 8 Chains over the course of the next few years.

Virginia Wine Goers Forced to Hike for VA Wine....

Although my wife and I are avid Virginia wine goers, for some reason or another, it had been a long time since the wife and I had made it to a new Virginia winery. With that in mind, the wife and I headed out this weekend with three first time visits in mind. So after filling up on caffeine and gas, my wife and pointed our VA wine tour mobile (also known as a 2006 Volkswagen Jetta) west on 66 to find our first destination of the weekend.

Slightly off the beaten path from Marshall, VA, is a winery that first opened its doors in June 2011 Cobbler Mountain Cellars. Although it took some trust in the back roads we were following, we arrived to what we were surprised to find as a beautiful location for a tasting room. Driving on their private road, we drove by two different vineyard sites, along with a couple picnic areas, and a beautiful creek area that can be used by VA wine goers who pack picnics with them. The parking area is a big open field off the side of their road that greets wine tasters with a hike up a small side hill to their house which currently doubles as their tasting room. Although not up when we arrived, a sign is supposed to point you up to a parking lot closer to the house for winter wine goers and those who suffer from handicap situations.

Excited to try some wine, the wife and I eagerly hopped out of the car and made the short hike up to the tasting room for some wine. We were joined by the owner’s two kids and two dogs to make sure we had no problems finding the front door. Upon entering we had deja vous feelings of a day gone by with Fabbioli Cellars in finding an open rafter tasting room that although was small more than adequately covered all the wine tasting essentials. We were greeted by Jeff and his wife Laura; the owners for Cobbler Mountain cellars. They directed us to a bar made of an old wooden door on top of used wine barrels to start our wine tasting.

Cobbler Mountains current tasting consists of six wines and a hard cider that range from vintages of 09 and 10. Jeff started our tasting with his 2010 Chardonnay Reserve done in stainless steel. We noticed a pear montage on the nose, good fruit on the taste but had slightly bitter end for me. Jeff explained his background in wine during this taste. He got his start as a home kit experimenter in South Carolina and really enjoyed it. He continued to pursue wine making and eventually received formal training in wine making from U.C. Davis.

From there, we moved on to their 2010 hard cider. A blend of apples both local to the property and also nearby apple orchards. It presented a light honey taste, however I was left feeling it needed to be bit colder to bring out a little more of the crisp characteristics.

After the cider, we moved on to my favorite wine of the tasting, the 2010 Cobblestone wine. It is a blend of Riesling, Vidal Blanc, Seyval Blanc and Viognier. I detected a large smell of tropical melon on the nose and felt the characteristics of a good Viognier on the finish. This is a perfect summer sipper and would pair well with lighter fare. It got two stars from me and also found its way home with me.

With the whites completed, we transitioned to red wines and I become more inquisitive on the winery as a whole. Jeff gladly told me about how they broke ground on the vineyard on 2006. This site has been in his wife’s family since 1959 and that some of the vines in the front vineyard had been started in South Carolina and made their way north with them.

The first of the red wines was the 2009 Merlot. Like many Virginia merlots, I can say this wine is very plain. It displayed a lot of red berry on the nose, but was nothing fantastic. I found this wine to be a bit dry and had a weak finish. Nothing against the wine, I just don’t think it was my thing.

Moving forward, we were introduced to the 2009 Meritage. It was recently entered into the 2011 D.C. Wine Riot where it one the “People’s Choice Award.” It displayed nose of sweet cherry on the nose, but had a pleasant red fruit burst combined with complexity of green pepper, tannins and a full body. None of that is surprising when you learn it is a blend of Cab Franc, Petite Verdot, and Cab Sav. For those of you who are interested it is the Cab Sav that has made the move from South Carolina to Virginia with the wine maker. This wine too, somehow made its way home with me.

Next on our tasting menu was the 2010 Cabernet Franc. As many of you know, Cab Franc is a staple on many wineries tasting menus based on how well it does in VA. This Cab Franc had a tart red raspberry nose and was followed by and earthy dry red fruit taste. It displayed light tannins which makes it more approachable than some Virginia Cab Francs. However, it lacked a little on the finish which is what I use to judge the common from the exceptional.

From there we moved on the last wine in our tasting, the previously mentioned Cab Sav. They are currently pouring the 2009 vintage and have two different pairings to go with it, chocolate and cheese. As Jeff poured, Laura came down with a plate full of food to go with our wine. The plate consisted of two different type breads from Great harvest bakery, two cheeses from local cheese maker, including a Derby cheese aged in the Cobbler Mountain Meritage. They also suggested we taste the white bread with the local honey that sat is small pitcher to our right.

Jeff generously let us sample some of the wines again as we enjoyed the tasting plate that Laura has brought down to us. I asked him where he saw the winery going as they moved forward. He then eloquently described the Viognier vines that was recently planted just downhill from the tasting room. He also mentioned how they planned to build a barn type tasting room and production facility, and lastly he mentioned that next weekend they’d be releasing their Petite Verdot. I was slightly upset it wasn’t ready now as that is one of my wife and I’s favorite Virginia varietals, but as everything in wine, patience is a virtue.

Overall, I felt this was a young winery, and that it showed enough promise for a return visit. They had a few wines that were worth adding to the rotation, but not exceptional from top to bottom. As a destination though, Cobbler Mountain Cellars was a great stop. It's view is outstanding and I can imagine how that summer picnics on the grounds can be very enjoyable, even if an occasional bear might come by to stir things up.