Winery Visit: Sunset Hills Vineyard

On Friday March 15, 2013 I went to the Sunset Hills Vineyard to take a tour of the facilities and to do a wine tasting with my mom while I was on Spring Break. Sunset Hills has to be my favorite vineyard back home, so it was a great experience to get to see how everything was done and how it all comes together.

Stone Monument that marks Sunset Hills entrance on Route 9

First off, I would like to say that the site is absolutely beautiful. This vineyard is located right off of Route 287 in beautiful Purcellville, VA. Sunset Hills was started in 1999, with the restoration and transformation of an old farm into a tasting room that was put together by an Amish woodworking group, the Stoltzfus Builders. They started with only 10 acres of property. Their first harvest in 2001 consisted of 6 tons of grapes. Since that time, Sunset Hills has expanded to 150 acres of land and more than 300 tons of grapes every year, elevating them to becoming the 5th largest vineyard in Virginia. They have developed a reputation of using minimal to no pesticides/herbicides on their fruit, but still produce outstanding quality and amount. Sunset Hills wines have won more than 40 medals, both nationally and internationally. They have also built quite a name for themselves in the solar energy and green business practices. They are the largest producer of solar power in Loudoun County and one of the largest solar winery areas in Virginia and the eastern coast.

Picture of  the completion of solar paneling on the main tasting building that I got off of the Sunset Hills website. 

The grounds and renovation of the buildings that predated the vineyard creates an atmosphere of calm country living mixed with the decadence of upper-class sophistication. Most of the buildings have been converted or modified from the existing buildings on the land so that they look like modernized farm homes or barns. The main building where they give wine tastings mostly resembles a barn on the outside, complete with a silo off to the left as you approach the main building. However, when you get inside, the interior of the room is decadent and well designed to put people at ease and allow you to settle in and be comfortable. There is also a double tiered porch on which you can take your wine and sit to overlook the rolling hills of grape vine crops. I like the view from the porch because you can see the sun set over the Blue Ridge Mountains. It is one of the most beautiful things I have seen.

Main Tasting Building

Me in the tasting room, standing next to this years award winning wines. 

There are many acres of grapes grown on site, adding up to 150 acres. The entire drive of the vineyard is lined with grape vine crops. Then once you get to the parking area and main tasting area, even more vine crops can be seen. 

Vine crops beside the parking area

Vine Crops beside tasting building.

After taking a tour of the grape crops, production area, and storage area, me and my mother finished off our visit with a wine tasting. I talked to our the lady that poured our wine at the tasting, Christine, and after telling her about the fact that this was a project for class, she provided me with a lot of information concerning the different wines we were tasting. She went very into detail and was very informative about what types of foods she believed went well with the wine and how the wines were produced. Also, she did a fantastic job of being sociable and nice to me and my mom.  Here are the wines we tasted and my thoughts on them all.

2012 Chardonnay

• crisp, clean, light and refreshing
• not buttery or heavy like many of the chardonnays that I have tried in the past, which I liked about it
• speachy and melon like with a slight bite

2012 Sunset White

• higher acidity with a sweetness to it
• semisweet wine
• sweet smell, slightly floral mixed with fruit
• light and sweet taste
• no weird aftertaste or bite

2012 Sunset Rose

• used 0.5% citrus sugar
• vanilla cherry and strawberry smell
• slight citrus taste mixed with a prevalent berry flavor
• acid bite to it

2010 Merlot

• dryer growing season
• tannin, spice and body
• berry scent
• heavy smokey taste
• light berry taste. 

2011 Merlot

• waterlocked and rainy year
• low tannins, low spice
• smells like jam
• smooth taste
• smokey
• oak aged and lighter than the 2010 merlot

2011 Cabernet Franc

• would go great with some barbeque or earthy flavored foods
• smokey with a heavy berry flavor
• pepper
• there was a bite in the aftertaste

2011 Petit Verdot

• berry and thyme note to the taste
• harsh and aggressive wine
• I did not like this one at all, which is suprising in that I have never had a wine I didn't like from Sunset Hills

2010 Black 29 Cabernet Franc

• smokey buttery smell
• harsh acidity
• again, did not like

2012 Cabernet Sauvignon

• Berry jam smell, slightly sweet
• dry vanilla taste with a spiciness to it
• a slight acidity 

Mosaic

• made it into the Governor's Case
• buttery, jam smell that reminded me of butter and blackberry jam on buttermilk biscuits
• slight bite
• light and refreshing
• oak and berry flavor

I had a thoroughly enjoyable time at this vineyard and, considering it is fairly close to where I live, I will definitely be going back and possibly becoming a wine club member. My mom enjoyed herself too!!

Me and my mom during our tasting. You can see the entrance leading to the upstairs porch behind us and to the left of my head you can see the upstairs seating area. 

Wine and Dinner Pairing April 21st, 2013

Me and four friends decided to have a wine and Indian food night. It was delicious!! We started off the night with two of us cooking and the rest of us sitting around drinking some nice Merlot and eating chocolate. Despite the bottle of Merlot being just a cheap bottle we happened to pick up at Kroger, it was delicious with every chocolate we ate. You can see how much fun me and Molly are having just watching Azure and Ashlynn do all the work while we enjoy the fruits of their cooking labors....

Then after Ashlynn and Azure finished cooking the Indian food (because let's face it, if I had gotten in on the cooking the food would have been ruined), we popped open a bottle of Sauvignon Blanc, and put our plates together. I, unfortunately couldn't sample all of the food because one of the sauces had coconut in it, which I'm alergic to, but what I had was fantastic. 

Here we are settling down with our wine:

Here we are with our plates full of deliciousness:

My meal consisted of a bit of white rice, some naan bread, and a chicken and chick pea curry drizzled over the rice. I liked this meal paired specifically with this wine because it added to the spicyness of the curry. Don't get me wrong, the curry was plenty spicy on its own, but the wine gave it even more of a zing and kick. 

However, I did find that after I was done eating the curry and naan bread, the wine didn't hold as much appeal to me. I had to throw a couple of strawberries into the wine to make it appeal to my pallet. That might have had to do with the way the spices from the Indian food affected my taste buds and left a residual film in my mouth, so I needed the sweetness that came from the strawberries in the wine to counter it. 

I had a fantastic time pairing these wines with our meal. Overall, I think we made fantastic choices in how the Merlot we started with amped up the chocolate appetizer (for some of us), and how the Sauvignon Blancs we chose to have with the main course of Indian curry really set off the spicy flavoring. I did not like the way the wine tasted after the food was gone, but the strawberries straightened that right out :)

Loved this dinner event, especially since I didn't have to do the cooking!!!

~Heather

Wine Tasting April 18, 2013

This week when I went to the Vintage Cellar, I didn't really get anything out of the wine tasting. However, that was entirely my own fault. They had a great selection, and from what I could tell with the amount that they sold that day, it was well liked. I had a really bad cold/flu this week, so I could barely smell or taste anything. Soooooo take this wine tasting entry with a grain of salt... Here are my tasting notes:

Wilson Daniels Sauvignon Blanc 2010 $7.95 Central Coast, California	Orange blossom and citrus permeate the aromas. Alluring flavors of orange and grapefruit dominate the palate. Bright acidity balances the plush mouthfeel, resulting in a clean finish.
Chandon Sweet Cuvée NV $9.95 California	This wine is an innovative sparkling wine style revealing vibrant stone fruit and floral aromas with rich, luscious mouthfeel. This wine enlivens the senses and sparks spontaneous moments, complementing your passion for a good life.
Ksana Bonarda 2008 $9.95 Mendoza, Argentina	The bouquet is floral and lightly jammy, with berry aromas and a savory note or two. To the uninitiated, this is a great introduction to Bonarda. Finishes solid. Very sweet, berry smell with some rooty undertones. Kind of dry, makes your lips pucker.
Concannon Shiraz 2008 $7.95 Central Coast, California	This is an extremely rich, full-bodied wine with a dark fruit core. Aromas of blackberry, blueberry, cassis and dark cherry are followed by more berry fruits and chocolate and mocha on the palate.

Wine #1: Wilson Daniels

This wine both smelled and tasted a bit like citrus to me. I picked up some orange and some lemon with the wine. It had a nice acidic bite to it, but it finished very nice and clean. Overall, this was my favorite wine of the bunch.... Not a big surprise since i tend to like white wines best.

Wine #2: Chandon Sweet Cuvee

This wine had a sweet smell, but the taste did not fall in line with the taste. The taste was not sweet, but rather had a bite to it. I think the carbonation that came from the sparkling blush wine factor lended a hand to this bite. It definitely had some floral tones in the taste. I would say that this would be a good porch wine or a good wine to have with appetizers.

Wine #3: Concannon Shiraz

This wine had a smokey berry smell to it, I would say it was a cherry or a blackberry smell. It had an oak taste to it with vanilla flavor, and it also had some berry flavoring. This wine would be great to pair with just chocolates.

Wine #4: Ksana Bonarda

This had a sweet berry smell as well, with hints of strawberry and blackberry. I liked it at first with its sweet flavoring, but towards the end it finished dry and I could really taste the alcohol in it.

Overall, I think my cold ruined my sense of smell and taste and might have skewed my tasting notes a bit. Therefore, I look forward to getting rid of this cold and going back to try some of these wines at a later date.

~Heather

Wine Tasting April 6, 2013

I went to the Vintage Cellar yesterday to check out what their Saturday wine tastings were like. Overall, I liked the experience because it was far less crowded than it is on their Thursday tastings. However, I prefer the inexpensive wines on Thursdays to the more expensive wines that they had at the Saturday tastings. Here is the list of wines that I tasted at this particular tasting:

Dom de la Louvetrie Muscadet $15.95	Jo Landron's Mucadet Sevre et Maine is from a beautiful walled vineyard sloping towards the Sevre, with clay, sand and quartz stones over a bedrock of Orthogneiss. The vines average 40 to 50 years of age, the vineyard is certified organic and biodynamic and gives very low yields. Always one of my favorite Muscadets, the 2011 is superb with citrus, pear and herbals aromas with a bit of smoke and sea-salt. The palate is dense and very long with fabulous acidity. It will provide exhilarating early drinking and will be very interesting in 20 years as well.
Dom Vincent Dampt Chablis $21.95	Expresses our Chablis minerality and fruity so characteristic in its name. A wine with good balance and complex from old vines of our plot located between the coast and Vaillons Léchet. A wine for all occasions!
Villa da Filicaja Chianti Superiore $12.95	Chianti Superiore DOCG "Conte Andrea" is the product of first-choice Sangiovese grapes from our best vineyards. It rests for 12 months in barrels of white oak (Quercus Alba), producing a very special high standard Chianti Superiore wine.
Dom de Fenouillet Beaumes de Venise $23.95	One of the most rare Rhone wines you will encounter. Sourced from the oldest vines of the domaine (75 years old as of 2011) from a hillside “combe” in the shadow of the Dentelles de Montmirail and just over the hill from Gigondas.  The vineyard is a mix of clay and limestone and harvest levels are low, usually reaching at most 35 hectoliters per hectare.  The wine is aged in cement cuves for two years before being bottled unfiltered. The final grape blend is usually: 50% Syrah, 35% Grenache and 15% Mourvedre.
El Pedrosal Ribera del Duero $21.95	89 points, Stephen Tanzer Glass-staining ruby.  A fragrant bouquet evokes cherry-vanilla, violet and spices.  Juicy and open-knit, offering zesty red and dark berry flavors and a touch of vanillin oak.  Finishes smooth, gently sweet and long, with the cherry note echoing.  This is already approachable.

Wine #1: Dom de la Louvetrie

I think I liked this wine the best out of all that I tasted on Saturday. The wine smelled very fresh, clean and enjoyable, and the taste that followed didn't let me down. It had a bite to it that came from the slight acidity of the wine, but it was very invigorating. I liked the citrus taste to it. It was a nice clean and easy to drink. I would probably enjoy this wine while sitting on my porch in the sun.

Wine #2: Dom Vincent Dampt

 This wine was also a very pleasant one. It had a nice fruity smell and a good balance to the wine. However, there was a slight alcohol taste that I was not very fond of. Out of all of the wines I probably liked this wine the second best. It was pleasant but it didn't wow me.

Wine #3: Villa Da Filicaja

This wine had a very berry-like smell to it, so I was expecting it to have a berry flavor to it. However, it was very spicy and heavy  to the taste. There was also a hint of vanilla or butter taste to the wine that came from the oak barrel aging. This opinion might come from the fact that I do not like red wines, but I really did not like this wine. I felt like it was too heavy on my pallet.

Wine # 4: Dom De Fenouillet

This wine has a heavy smell to it. It smells like a combination of wood and metal combined with cherry to me, but I picked up a couple of other smells that I just couldn't put my finger on. The wine has a smokey flavor to it with a prevalent berry taste.

Wine #5: El Pedrosal

This wine was made 100% Tempranillo. It has a sweet berry smell but it does not taste as sweet as it smells. It had a spiciness to it that over powered the vanilla and dark berry tastes. This wine's flavor also lingers for a very long time. Not overly unpleasant, but not pleasant either.

This tasting was very nice, but I think I will stick going to the Thursday wine tastings. The wines selected for the Thursday tastings are usually better tasting and for a good price. I guess it just goes to show that just because it is high in price, does not mean that it will taste good.

~Heather

Wine Tasting 1/24/13

I recently started going to a Thursday wine tasting at a local wine and beer store in Blacksburg, Virginia called The Vintage Cellar. My overall experience was fairly pleasing. Even though I went at a "rush" time, where there were tons of people and lines going out the door, the staff was very accommodating to every customer. They took the time to talk to each customer they are serving at the wine tasting to explain each wine, where they come from and what kind of grapes are used to make the wine.

Here is a listing of the wines that they served this Thursday January 24, 2013. 

Wine #1:

Overall, I liked this wine. It was crisp and light while still being a little tart because of the acidity. I liked the hint of fruity taste it had to it. I detected a little bit of peach and citrus flavor. This wine also had a nice aftertaste. Most times, wines leave a bitter taste behind, but this one just left a fruity aftertaste behind which was very pleasant. This was probably second favorite wine of the five we tasted.

Wine #2:

This wine took me by surprise, and not in a very good way. The wine smelled sweet, kind of like a dessert wine, but it did NOT taste anything like a dessert wine. It was overly acidic with a horrible, pungent aftertaste. It also tasted like it drew some of its flavor from honey or a honey-like food. None of these traits are things I look for in wines, so I would probably not purchase this wine for myself. 

Wine #3:

This red wine smelled very buttery. It kind of made me want to bust out the popcorn. I did not like this wine at all after tasting it. The wine had a smokey flavor that carried over into the aftertaste. I had to choke this wine down after the first sip. This was not my favorite wine of the tastings, at all. 

Wine #4:

I was excited about this wine, because it smelled like berries. However, when I tasted it the flavor was extremely rich and the liquid itself was very heavy. I still got the berry flavor which I liked, but I could not get over the richness or the heaviness to it. This was another wine I had to choke down and was one of my least favorite wines that I tasted. 

Wine #5:

I absolutely loved this wine!! It started off on the right note after smelling it. It smelled like a combination of strawberries and cherries. It followed through with a sweet taste that reminded me of the blackberry jelly I use on my peanut butter sandwiches. I loved it!! I could barely taste the alcohol in it. It was my number one choice out of this tasting. I even bought a bottle at the end of the night. 

Out of the wines, this is what I would rank them in order of my favorite (1) to my least (5):

1. Opera Prima Sweet Red 2010

2. Encostas do Lima Vinho Verde 2010

3. Maipe Sauvignon Blanc 2011

4. Montes Alpha Syrah 2009

5. Coreto Tinto 2010

I look forward to what they have in store for me next week!! 

~Heather