American Soldier is just following General's Orders...

Wow, it is going to be a crazy month for many reasons. Unfortunately, my blog will be the one that suffers most. However, this blog has been running through my head since the idea was presented Thursday. I have been working nights lately, and when I was to be relieved last Thursday it was abundantly clear I wouldn't be leaving on time. Turns out I was stuck doing almost a double shift and fought pure exhaustion on my 35 minute drive home.

Upon arriving home, I quickly passed out in preparation for my hard earned night off. I was awakened later than I had planned with a text from my wife. Quite simply it said, "Put wine in the fridge, Seriously!!!" We had pretty much given up during the week drinking as part of our pursuit to lose 50 Lbs this year, and for the most we have done real good. But seeing how the text came in almost an hour after my lovely wife was suppose to be off work, I figured it was one of those situations in which breaking the rules were in order.

As I perused our selection, I quickly sent a quick text to see if red or white was in order. I was told white via text. That was little tougher, tonight's dinner was to consist of spicy black bean burgers and homemade backed sweet potato fries, so I need something a little heavier with good acid to stand up to the planned dinner. I selected a wine from the Chesapeake Region, specifically the Northern Neck and a wine we had picked up earlier this year on our winter trip.

I put the General Ridge GRV White into the freezer to chill, while I headed out to pick up my better half from the metro. Arriving back home, I quickly got to putting dinner together, while my wife opened the bottle for a pre-dinner glass. My initial thoughts were a little lacking. There was no acid back that I was looking for and the wine itself was rather tasteless, but I felt it was a bit cold so I was optimistic that it would get better as it warmed.

With dinner prepared, I did some quick research on the wine as a refresher. It is a blend of chardonnel and traminette, steel fermented, with a light 1.5% residual sugar. A little warmer, I noted lush white tropical fruit on the nose. It tasted of straw and unripe pear with just a hint of sweetness and balanced acid finish. It went well with dinner and was a good mid-week wine. It was versatile enough it could pair with lighter picnic fair, but probably not big enough to stand up to cream sauce pasta.

After two tough work days, it was just what the general ordered to clear away the stress of the day.

Northern Neck Yields Rare Find.

Recently we visited Ingleside winery on the Northern Neck Virginia. It was bitter sweet day for me. On the one hand it had been more than 18 months for me since the last time I had been to the Northern Neck for wine tasting. If I only new that later that night I'd be in the E.R. it might make me rethink my choices.

Thankfully it was nothing life threatening, and with a little rest and recoup, I can now happily be wine touring and more importantly drinking good Virginia wine again, in moderation of course. But less about that and more about our trip. First Lessons learned:

1. Northern Neck is a summer time winery destination. Many of the wineries shutdown during the winter.

2. When visiting bring a DD, I'm previous trips I didn't realize how clustered the tasting rooms are. On this trip we only visited two, but drove by five in our short little day trip.

3. Ingleside plantation Vineryard is a day trip in and of itself. With three separate tastings "mostly whites" "mostly reds" and the "Full Tour." The first two are tastings themselves and the last one a combination of the first two, well if you go for the full tour, you are consuming almost two and half glasses of wine. You do the math.

We left Ingleside "like we usually do" with more than our fair share of wine, but the rare gem of the bunch was a wine they were still tasting from 2005. For those of you that travel to VA wineries regularly you know that most wineries don't produce enough wine that they can keep in the tasting room a year, maybe two and after that it is cellar collection at best.

Ingleside on the other hand, owns or controls so much acreage of grape vine that they grow the most unusual grapes, and can store it for you for at least the first three years. However even for Ingleside, a 2005 vintage is not common.

Most Virginia wineries say 7 years and a VA wine has peaked and starting to slide with rare exceptions. With that said, the night before we were heading off to NJ to sea concert of Eric Church and Brantley Gilbert, we decided it was time to open this rare gem and enjoy.

The Ingleside 2005 Cab Sav had a strong smell from the time the cork was pulled. It reminded me a really ripe black raspberry with a kiss of spice. It featured a smooth start with dark red fruit. It had light middle tannins and slight burnt tobacco finish. I think the light tannis says the wine is as good as it is gonna get, and my wife and I enjoy sipping it while watching upset night in March Madness.