Down in the Valley: Part I

The Shenandoah Valley of Virginia is one of the Commonwealth’s AVAs (American Viticultural Areas), and it’s easy to taste why. The soil drainage from the creeks and rivers leading through the Blue Ridge Mountains (to the east) and the Alleghenies (to the west) suits wineries deep in the valley well, while others in the foothills leading up to the mountain chains benefit from higher elevations that allow for varietals not typically found in Virginia, like Pinot Noir and Riesling.

An easy drive from several states in addition to Virginia (West Virginia, Maryland and Pennsylvania), the Shenandoah Valley is 100 plus miles of incredible views, charming small towns, and farmland. You don’t have to drive very far from the Interstate that bisects the valley (81) to find a quiet utopia here; in fact one of the seven covered bridges in the state is so close to 81 that you can hear trucks in the distance, just far enough not to disturb your quiet piece of heaven.

There are three towns you can designate as your home base, on the north end, south end, and in the middle: Winchester (north), Lexington (south) and Harrisonburg (middle). All three towns have numerous hotels, motels, and B&Bs, not to mention interesting and historical downtown sections.

Winchester is home to Patsy Cline and a famous apple industry. A pedestrian-only outdoor mall resembles the larger one in Charlottesville, and is dotted with restaurants and cafés offering local flavor.

Wineries near Winchester:
Valerie Hill, featured in a previous blog, features a tasting room in a home built in 1807. Open since 2012, Valerie Hill is typical for the Shenandoah wineries – rolling landscape and birds calling in all directions. Standout wines here are their Viognier, Chardonnay, and a Chambourcin/Cab Sauv blend.

North Mountain Vineyards is a blogger favorite, and has a storybook feel to it, right down to their tasting room building. A large deck and countless picnic tables dot the property, one of the original wineries in the region. Our favorite wines here are the Claret (a Meritage-like blend of Cabernet Franc, Cabernet Sauvignon, and Petit Verdot), Chambourcin, and Apple Wine (this is not far from Winchester, after all).

Shenandoah Vineyards is the oldest winery in the Shenandoah Valley, and is located near Shenandoah Caverns. Their tour is one of the most informative in the state. Best bet wines here are their Chardonnay, Reserve Chambourcin, and Rebel Red, an off-dry they tout as the “red wine for white wine drinkers.”

Wolf Gap Vineyard is named after the Wolf Gap that straddles the Virginia and West Virginia line in the Allegheny mountains. “Wolfgap Willie” is the name adopted by the owner/winemaker, Willard Elledge. Wolfgap Willie is a pure Virginia gentleman who may even take you down to the barrels for a private tasting, if he’s not too busy. Some of our favorites here are the mainstays: Cab Franc, Chambourcin, and Chardonnay. He offered a dry Riesling several years ago, and we hope he has another great vintage of that harder-to-find (in Virginia) wine.

Not far from Wolf Gap is the vineyard whose owner helped Willie get involved in the winemaking craft, Cave Ridge. The tasting building was designed with ski chalet in mind, using woodstain instead of paint. Viognier is the star here: At least three different versions are offered, from stainless steel aged to oak aged. All are delicious and offer distinctively different notes on the palate. The favorite reds is their blend: The bold Fossil Hill Reserve (Cabernet Franc, Chambourcin, and Petit Verdot), as well as their “Red Silk” Cab Franc, which is perfectly named.

Other wineries relatively close to Winchester:
Glen Manor Vineyards (near Front Royal, off Skyline Drive)
Veramar Vineyard (directly off route 7)

North Mountain Winery:


Wolf Gap Vineyards:


Covered bridge near Toms Creek, VA:


Part II will take us down to Lexington……

Video Clip: Valerie Hill Vineyard

Enjoy this short video from Valerie Hill Vineyard:

NEW WINERY SPOTLIGHT 1: Valerie Hill Vineyard

At least 15 new wineries are opening in the state this year, several in Loudoun County alone. For this post, we'd like to introduce you to a winery not in Loudoun, but Frederick County (Winchester area). Valerie Hill Vineyard is the first vineyards/winery to open in Frederick County since Deer Meadow shut its doors about five years ago.

Valerie Hill Vineyard is named after the house where the tasting room and events rooms reside. This house was built in 1807 and one of the family members working behind the tasting bar happily answer any questions about the house, and its history. Phil Newcome and his wife and sons preside over the proceedings. Currently the wines are made at nearby Veramar Vineyards, but the Newcomes have plans to undertake the winemaking in the next year or so.

Phil welcoming us to Valerie Hill:


The current star of their lineup is their 2011 Viognier, crisp and border effervescent. Two chardonnays are offered, one from 2010 (bone dry) and the other from 2011 (a more difficult vintage due to weather, thus more fruit forward). As for the reds, the chambourcin/cab sauv blend was intriguing and hearty. A few sweeter wines are offered as well (including a dessert wine). We can honestly say that we enjoyed the wine here more than the current base of Valerie Hill wines (Veramar Vineyard, which slightly disappointed us during our last visit in December).

The outdoor area borders the Allegheny mountain chain and is peaceful to the max. There is a chimney remaining from an old burned down house on the property which Phil intends to build a patio around.



Several tables and firepits have been set up behind the house, which makes Valerie Hill a great option for warm summer evenings (plus they are open until 9 PM on Friday nights - another big plus!) For cooler or rainy weather, an indoor seating area exists as well.



Now, more about the house. Valerie Hill estate served as a makeshift hospital during the Civil War. The Battle of Cedar Creek was fought nearby; this battle was not as famous as other Civil War skirmishes but it did have its share of gory casualties. And many victims were taken to Valerie Hill for treatment, and many died. The stories Phil told us about some of the operations that took place in this house are not for the squeamish and there are actual faint blood stains engrained in the main level hallway floor.

Of course the house is haunted, and a paranormal investigative team from Pennsylvania has visited the house on more than one occasion. It has been speculated that the house has at least three independent hauntings. One stems from Benedict, a child who lived in the house in the early 19th Century but was locked away for most of his life in the attic for being "socially undesirable" (he was mildly retarded).

The staircase leading up to the attic:



Other incidents have occured in the parlor room where many wine tastings are held. In fact the winery dog Buddy is a beagle and border collie mix; those dogs are usually feisty and friendly. But Buddy was high strung and actually growled at us a few times during our visit. Phil explained that Buddy tends to get edgy if he spends too much time in the house.

The parlor and Buddy:



We didn't expect to get a ghost tour during our visit, but it was fascinating. And the wine wasn't too shabby either. The family does not live in the house (for obvious reasons), and to date they have no plans to offer a Bed and a Breakfast inside Valerie Hill (for the daring or skeptical guests). We mentioned the idea to Phil, who pondered it carefully. Maybe some day......

In the meantime, enjoy this historic location with delicious wine.

Valerie Hill Vineyard

Loudoun County Videoclip 1: Notaviva Vineyards

Notaviva Vineyards is "wine paired with music." Located off route 9, about 2 miles from the West Virginia border on the way to Harper's Ferry, Notaviva is the labor of love for Shannon and Stephen Mackey, two musicians who decided several years ago to link two of their passions - wine and music - together. A musical note adorns their chosen logo on their labels, and their wines are musically named: "Vincerò" and "Ottantotto" (two Viogniers), "Cantabile" (Cab Franc).

Their winery was featured on the HGTV reality television series "Dream House" several years ago. Notaviva celebrated their fourth anniversary in 2012, and they are the perfect starting point for your Loudoun County vino tour: Washington DC's Wine Country.

Enjoy our short video shot in 2010 during a tasting on a quiet Thursday afternoon:

Remembering original Virginia wineries

As we launch into winery season, a pause to remember Virginia wineries that have shut their doors (by choice or otherwise) is in order. When the blogmasters started their winery travels in the early '00s, these spots were among the few to choose from. It really is hard to believe that in the past eight years alone, nearly 120 new wineries have opened in the state.

Here is a map of the state's wineries taken from a 1987 article from the New York Times. Of the wineries on this map, only Piedmont, Naked Mountain, Prince Michel, Burnley and Barboursville remain open. Montdomaine continues to make wine but does not have a winery open to the public:


Most of these wineries closed simply because the owners/winemakers yearned to retire; they had been making wine since the 1970s in some cases and certainly paved the way for the current crop of wine growers and vineyard owners in the Commonwealth. Others were not so fortunate and closed due to bad business decisions or, in one case, a media fueled scandal.

One of the original Virginia wineries was located near the center of wine action (the Monticello AVA): Oakencroft Vineyard. Owner Felicia Rogan is famous throughout the state as being one of Virginia's original movers and shakers. The vineyard and winery was located slightly northwest of Charlottesville and was the typical picture-perfect rural setting, complete with a pond in front that housed resident swans as well as the usual pond suspects (ducks, geese, herons).

Further north, off route 29 in Madison County, Christiansen Ridge winery made two admirable efforts in the winemaking business - the first in the early '00s and then later in the mid '00s. Unfortunately both attempts failed (the bloggers never got the full story, but based on discussions with other nearby wineries, the mistakes were financial). This was a winery complete with two guest homes - one was a large house perfect for weekend reunions or wedding parties, and the other was a small log cabin, absolutely inviting. This is a photograph of the grounds at Christiansen Ridge:



Close to Winchester, Deer Meadow Vineyard specialized in chardonnay and had a tasting room located past a potpourri of old home furnishings (we didn't want to label them "junk...") and was about as remote and over the hills and far away you could get in northern Virginia. Apparently the owners simply lost interest and zeal in winemaking and found the venture to be too costly.

Near Old Rag Mountain, Smokehouse Winery wasn't really a winery but a meadery, and based on comments by other winery fans as well as nearby wineries, Smokehouse was a one of a kind place with a one of a kind owner. Why he decided to get out of the business depends on who you talk to, but he was the first location dedicated to mead (an elixir made with honey), so for this reason alone we must raise a glass.

Oasis Winery, near Front Royal, was the location owned by the nutso Salahi family. These are the infamous "White House crashers." Even in 2004, when we visited Oasis, we were turned off the place. Their emphasis wasn't wine, but entertaining celebrities (pictures of celebs in their winery adorned their tasting room walls), and their limo business. As of 2011, the vineyards near the former Oasis tasting room were overgrown and sad-looking. Luckily, a few new wineries in the area opened since they shut their doors to make up for the loss, and perhaps Tareq Salahi will think about selling his vineyard to nearby Rappahannock Cellars or Desert Rose Winery.

Finally we must mention Farfelu Vineyards. Located near the aforementioned Oasis, Rappahannock Cellars and Desert Rose Vineyard, Farfelu, unlike Oasis, was a winery we sorely miss. The wine was excellent, well priced, and the grounds (complete with a nature trail and a pond, and bordering a lush evergreen forest) were perfect for daycations. From what we heard, Farfelu closed because the owners retired and apparently no one in their family wanted to pick up the reigns and continue with the wine business. They are missed. These pictures sum up the Farfelu experience:

Announcing the Middleburg AVA

Virginia’s presence in the wine world just got another notch: A new AVA (American Viticultural Area, generically known as an “appellation”).

Approved in September 2012, the Middleburg AVA (named after the famous, historic horse raising and fox hunting village in southern Loudoun County) is a ribbon that stretches from the Potomac River (near Hiddencroft Vineyards) southward to the Delaplane area of Fauquier County. Many Northern Virginia favorites dot the AVA and a sign unveiling took place in late March 2013 at Boxwood Winery. This brings the number of AVA’s in Virginia to seven. The others are the Shenandoah Valley AVA, the Monticello AVA, the Northern Neck/George Washington’s Birthplace AVA, the Eastern Shore AVA, the North Fork of Roanoke AVA and the Rocky Knob AVA.

What, exactly, is an Appellation? An appellation is a legally defined and protected geographical indication used to identify where the grapes for a wine were grown. In order to be designated an AVA, 85% of the wine must have come from grapes grown within the geographical AVA boundaries. For counties like Loudoun and Fauquier, the number of wineries and vineyards (including vineyards that do not have public tasting rooms) has quadrupled over the past ten years alone. An AVA designation similar to Napa, Sonoma, Long Island and Finger Lakes will only enhance Virginia’s (and Northern Virginia’s in particular) status in the wild world of wine. One of many benefits of an AVA designation is the ability of a winery in that appellation to put the AVA on the label, so expect to see “Middleburg AVA” on labels from many Loudoun and Fauquier County wine bottles beginning next year.

The wineries in the Middleburg AVA ribbon can be found here. Not all Loudoun County spots made the cut; only the wineries lucky enough to be located in the appellation ribbon. But that does not mean the wine from these non AVA wineries will be shabby. Just a few wineries located a few miles outside the AVA border: Fox Meadow Vineyards, Fabbioli Cellars, and Marterella Winery.

The designation of the Middleburg AVA is a major event for Northern Virginia vineyards, and the bloggers expect announcements of future appellations in the Commonwealth over the next several years.

Virginia White Grape Varietals to Watch

By now most VAVINO fans know our signature varietals: Cab Franc, Viognier, Norton, Chambourcin. But there are new wines cropping up in several tasting rooms throughout the Commonwealth that are poised to be the next big things in the state.

Albariño
Offered by several wineries in lieu of Viognier, Albariño is a Spanish white varietal, typically crisp and dry with notes of apricot. The wine produced is unusually light, and generally high in acidity with relatively low alcohol levels, making it a great hot weather wine.
Where to try it: Willowcroft Vineyards, Chrysalis Vineyards, Lake Anna Winery

Roussanne
Roussanne is a white wine grape grown originally in the Rhône wine region in France. It too is similar to Viognier, not only in its crispness and acidity, but also due to its vulnerability to mildew, poor resistance to drought and wind, and irregular yields. But some Virginia wineries are experimenting with it: North Gate Vineyard, Chester Gap Cellars, and Horton Vineyards.

Petit Manseng
Another white varietal that is taking many wineries by storm (even more so than the more difficult to grow Albariño and Roussanne). This is a semi-sweet, high alcohol wine, with origins in southwest France. Typical Petit Mansengs offer notes of pear and grapefruit. Some of our favorite Petit Manseng’s can be found at Paradise Springs Winery, Pearmund Cellars, and Lazy Days Winery.

Three unique whites to try in Virginia tasting rooms, with others on the way, such as Rkatsiteli and Chenin blanc. It will be interesting to see the public’s reaction to these wines, and if any will eventually replace viognier as the signature Virginia white.