Archive for the ‘Chambourcin’ Category
Varietal: Blended Red Wine (72% Chambourcin; 22% Cabernet Franc; 6% Merlot)
Region: Virginia – USA
Cost: $18
Deep red in color with aromas of fruit notes of blackberry and jam. Flavors of bright fruit with soft tannins and slight oak and a mild smokiness. Pairs well with pastas, lighter meats, and cheeses.
Recommendations: My wife picked up this bottle a couple of months ago at the Carytown Food & Wine Festival while I was pouring for Grayhaven Winery. I was familiar with Delfosse having visited them a few times at various Virginia wine festivals, but couldn’t remember this specific wine.
The wine was a dark red in the glass, and I did get berry and fruit aromas on the nose. In the mouth I got none of the oak or smokiness described in the tasting notes, but I did get the bright fruit flavors and a touch of acidity. Read the rest of this entry »
Varietal: Viognier (53%); Chardonnay (43%)
Region: Virginia – USA
Cost: $20
Tropical fruit and pineapple on the nose with citrus and floral notes in the mouth. Pairs well with appetizers before dinner or with seafood, grilled white meat, or spicy food.
Recommendations: The more Viognier I drink, the more I like it, especially when blended with Chardonnay. Because of that, when my wife and I visited several Virginia vineyards back in March, our stop at the King Family Vineyards offered up a great combination of just those two wines.
The Roseland offers up just enough floral notes from the Viognier to make it a nice sipping wine for a hot day, but has enough body from the Chardonnay to make it a great wine to pair with dinner. It short, it’s a very versatile white wine. Read the rest of this entry »
So this past weekend my wife and I decided to take a mini-vacation to get out of the house and spend a few days in Virginia wine country. A number of vineyards and a case and a half of wine later and we returned home to return to our 9-5 jobs. However, I would be remiss if I didn’t share the highlights of our trip.
Our first stop was Keswick Vineyards, and while I have nothing but good things to say about all of their wines, I do have to recommend their 2008 Consensus. Each year, Keswick brings in the members of their wine club and they spend a day mixing wine that was either left over, wasn’t what Keswick was looking for, or that they didn’t get enough yield from to have a single varietal.
After spending the day mixing and breaking for food, the members all come back and taste each of the wines that has been made, voting on the best one, which Keswick then releases as their Consensus. Because of that, each year the wine is different and this years blend of Cabernet Sauvignon (60%), Chambourcin (28%), and Petite Verdot (12%) is enough to make me want to join their wine club.
Dark cherry flavors mix well with a finish that is smooth thanks to the Petite Verdot, and yet gives you the hit in the back of the mouth that you would expect from a good Cabernet Sauvignon. A great wine worth picking up. Read the rest of this entry »
Well, the 3rd Annual Virginia Wine Expo has come and gone. I found some new vineyards and visited some old favorites. Here’s the long and short of my experience.
Athena Vineyards (http://www.athenavineyards.com)
Athena Vineyards is worth going to just to check out their unique bottle designs. Owned by former nurses, Athena Vineyards offers a great deck wine in their Lighthouse White and a nice Meritage with a good pepper finish.
Potomac Point Winery (http://www.potomacpointwinery.com)
I’ll be the first to admit that I went to Potomac Point just to pick up a few bottles of their La Belle Vie 2008 for when the weather turns warm. This year they’ve introduced a La Belle Vie Rose that was enjoyable, but not as good as the original. Read the rest of this entry »
Varietal: Red Table Wine (merlot, cabernet franc, chambourcin)
Region: Virginia – USA
Cost: $16
Medium to Full-bodied, the Galena Creek Red from West Wind Farm Winery is a dry red featuring berry flavors that lead into a very dry finish with high levels of tannins.
Recommendation: I paired this wine with a steak, and it’s a good thing I did. The tannins on this wine give it a very dry finish that is perfect for pairing with juicy red meat such as steak or lamb, but would probably be a bit overwhelming by itself unless a very dry wine is something you like to enjoy by itself. At $16 it’s just slightly pricy for an every day red table wine, but it’s still a good value and an excellent substitute for a dry chianti to pair with a meal of pasta and meat sauce. If you’re not a fan of wines with a dry finish, this probably won’t appeal to you, but if you like a red wine that hits you in the back of the throat and isn’t shy about its tannins, this is a wine you should try to get your hands on.
Varietal: Claret (50% Merlot; 20% Touriga; 15% Cabernet Franc; 8% Chambourcin; 4% Petite Verdot; 2% Tannat; 1% Cabernet Sauvignon)
Region: Virginia – USA
Cost: $15
A medium-bodied wine of ruby/garnet coloring offering flavors of herb and berry, most notably raspberry. A slightly dry, tannic finish is reminscent of Chianti, but the overall smoothness of the wine allows it to be paired with a wide variety of foods.
Recommendation: My wife and I enjoyed this wine with a pair of steaks, and it was a great compliment to them. The wine didn’t overwhelm the meat, but the slightly dry finish was a great balance to the juiciness of the steaks. Even after the meal had been finished, I still enjoyed finishing the bottle by itself, a quality I find desirable in any wine I drink – being able to be enjoyed without food. What I liked best about this wine was that while the dryness on the finish worked great with juicy steaks, it wasn’t so dry as to require something like that, and would compliment a dryer meal as well. While I won’t go so far as to say that this is a substitute for Chianti if that’s where your tastes lie, this is a great blend to serve for guests when you’re not sure where their tastes lie. Definitely worth picking up, particularly at this price point.
