Hey Anything Wine Blog fans...sorry there has been a slight delay in the posts. I have been out of town for work lately and have fallen behind a bit.

Coming soon:

• several wine reviews
• Woodland Vineyard Harvest Notes
• Harvest News from around the US

Thanks for your support.

John

Linden Vineyards 2001 Glen Manor Red

Decanted for 30 minutes - served ~ 62 degrees

Nose: Blueberry, Slight Anise, Raspberry and Cedar

Taste: Blackberry, Chocolate, Cinnamon

Mouthfeel: Medium to full bodied with an intial smoothness that gives way to a great tannins all the way to the finish

Finish: Long and slightly spicy.

This wine was fantastic....what a great Virginia Red. We picked this wine up in the beginning of spring after tasting it in the Cellar Tasting at Linden, in addition to a Cab Franc and thier Avenius Sauv. Blanc. The wine is very balanced as all of Jim Law's (owner/winemaker) wines are with lots of fruit layering from start to finish with the added complexity of cedar, chocolate and cinnamon with a delightfully long finish. I apologize that I don't have the blend posted but I believe it was Cab Sauv, Cab Franc and Petit Verdot. I know they are probably sold out of this by now but if you get a chance to buy it, please do. Also, as many of the VA wine bloggers have mentioned it is a great place to visit with an attentive/knowledgable staff, great wines and great views.

Swirl, Sniff, Sip

2001 Arbios Cabernet Sauvignon

Origin: Alexander Valley

We decanted the wine for about 30 minutes and served at around 62 degrees.

Nose: Black Cherry, Green Olive and Coffee

Taste: Raspberry, Strawberry

Mouthfeel: medium to full body with just the right amount of tannins providing a pleasent velvetiness on the tounge

Finish: Long and lucious

This wine was one we tasted at a benefit wine reception and just absolutely loved, so the next week we picked it up at our wine shop. At $35 it isn't an every day drinker (at least not for me) but it is worth every penny. As I mentioned above we did decant it for about 30 minutes, not that we had to but that is what the tasting notes are based on. A very fruity Cab with lots of complexity, that I feel is very approachable and doesn't need to be paired with food, although it did compliment our pasta that evening very nicely.

Weekend of wine tasting

Last Saturday we decided to meet our friends Stephanie and Russell out in the Afton mountain region for a fun day of wine tasting.

First on the day was Afton Mountain Vineyards which Megan and I had not been to. Driving up they have a beautiful setting, with great views of both the mountains and the vineyard. They have 12 acres of vines and grow everything they produce except for the Riesling. On the white side our favorites were the unwooded Chardonnay showing flavors of tropical fruit and coconut and was nicely crisp and tart, also the Gewurztraminer was very impressive with a rose and apricot aroma with a rich, smooth and barely sweet finish. On the red side our favorites were the '05 Sangiovese with chocolate, raspberry, nice tannic structure and a great finish, as well as the 04 Cabernet Sauvignon displaying raspberry, cherry, slightly vegetal on the taste and a nice smooth finish. Afton was great, beautiful setting, nice wines and a informative staff. If you haven't been I definitely recommend it.

Second on the day was Cardinal Point, always a favorite of ours. In the past our favorite has been the Barrel Select Chardonnay and the Cab Franc this time we found a new favorite, the A6. A6 is a perfect blend of Viognier and Chardonnay combining the floral fruity nice with tart crisp fruit of chardonnay, with hints of toasted oak on the finish. The tasting room was bustling with activity and we discussed the harvest which was weighing heavy on their minds with recent rains that have struck the area, ending an almost perfect season of weather. Cardinal Point always has good wines and we always recommend this one as well.

Third, and last on the day was King Family Vineyards who was also a bustle of activity setting up for a polo match later that day. All of us we very excited to tasting the new vintages since it had been a year since we last visited King Family. The 2005 Viognier was great, slightly effervescent with floral notes on the nose and apricot and honeysuckle on the taste. The 2004 Meritage was also great with raspberry, chocolate, cinammon and earth on the nose with raspberry and bell pepper preceeding the long finish. The 2004 was definitely different from the 2003 but still delicious. Something else that we found great was the Late Harvest Cab Franc with 3% residual sugar and 17% alcohol. The Late Harvest is not fortified, and the high alcohol is acheived from hand selecting and raisining the grapes. Very yummy!! For lunch we decided to have Cab Franc to start and finished up with the Viognier. The Cab Franc went great with our rosemary manchego, pita, hummus and mixed nuts along with a nicely toasted baguettes.

Check out the pictures below of the wonderful day of wine tasting with our friends Stephanie and Russell.

John at Afton with Chardonnay in the background

Megan at Afton with a beautiful of the Mountains and of the Vineyard

Tasting the reds at Afton Mountain

Tasting at Cardinal Point

Stephanie and Russell discussing the wine

Getting an explanation of this years harvest and how it was going.

MMM, that is some fine Viognier

Enjoying some fine cheese, hummus and pita

James River Harvest Moon Festival

Saturday September 9th we attended the James River Harvest Moon festival. This time our attendance was a little different, we did not only attend as patrons but we attending as "pourers" with Woodland Vineyard. We (Woodland Vineyard) particpated along with James River Winery, Cooper Vineyards and Belle Mount. It was a blast, Megan and I along with a volunteer (John Paul) worked the booth the 1st half of he day. It was great exposure for Woodland being primarily a Richmond crowd, most of which had no idea there was a winery in Midlothian Virginia.

After we worked the tasting table for a few hours Megan and explored the festival for ourselves. It was great fun, we tasted from all the other wineries even sampling some of Coopers famous Sangria that they were giving tastes of, very yummy on the warm Saturday. We also picked up a bottle of their Viognier which was also really good. (Look back at my reveiw from Cooper a few weeks ago) We also really liked James Rivers Vidal Blanc which we picked up a bottle of to take home. Jackie from Cooper gave us a couple of complimentary glass of Sangria that we sipped on and explored some of the jewerly vendors and listened to the band Summerhaven.

Megan pouring at the Woodland Vineyard booth

Eric, Melissa and Megan working the Woodland tasting booth

The Cooper tent, pouring good wines and lots of Sangria

Belle Mount Vineyards

Megan explaining Woodland Vineyad wines to some thirsty patrons

We all had a great time enjoying the wine and the other vendors, it was a great fun small festival I recommend you all trying next year.

On a recent business trip to New Brunswick, New Jersey, I had the opportunity to dine out 2 of the nights I was there. Since my colleague and I enjoyed wine with both dinners I figured I would write about the 2 restaurants as well as the wines we enjoyed.

First up was Makedas, an Ethiopian restaurant in the heart of downtown New Brunswick. The restaurant was very nice with an art gallery adjacent that you had clear view of through the glass wall that enclosed one side of the restaurant. After my 1st two choice for wine this evening were out of stock I settled on Glen Carlou Grand Classique 2001.

Nose: Black Raspberry, blueberry, slight Coffee
Taste: Blackberry, Raspberry, Cinnamon
Mouthfeel: medium to full body with silky smooth tannins
Finish: Really long

This was a great wine, really impressive. Classic Bordeaux blend of Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Cabernet Franc, Malbec and Petit Verdot. I am not sure if it was the best wine to go with our selection of Ethiopian cuisine but was good none the less, as was the food at Makedas. If you are ever in New Brunswick looking for a great atmosphere with fun exotic food, give it a try.



The second restaurant that we we to (not in the same night of course) was The Frog and The Peach. The restaurant had an amazing wine list that being on the company tab I had to be careful. We went with a Benziger Cabernet Sauvignon 2002.

Origin: Sonoma, CA

Nose: Black Currant, Plum, blueberry

Taste: Rich Dark Fruit, Leather, Coffee

Mouthfeel: Rich and full bodied; chewy

Finish: Long and Lucious with slight pepperiness

This Cab was great showing excellent fruit up front with layered complexity of coffee and minerality on the finish. It was paired beautifully with our dinner. For our appetizer we had a black truffle gnocchi with a Local Spinach Chiffonade,Tomato Concassé, and Toasted Pine Nuts. The entree was magnificent as well with both of us choosing the Summer Mushroom and Goat Cheese Agnolotti with Local Greens, Sweet Corn Fondue, and Toasted Breadcrumbs. A side of sauteed asparagus accompanied the meal nicely as did the wine washing down every bited beautifully. The entire dinner was great, our server Amy, the meal, our Riedel stemware and of course the fabulous wine. The only thing missing was my wife.
Again a great restaurant if you are ever in the New Brunswick/Rutgers area.

Delfosse Meritage 2004

Origin: Albermarle County, VA

Nose: Earth, Cherry, Mocha, Crushed Blackberry

Taste: Plum, Cherry, Clove, Green Olive

Body: Medium body, very smooth mouthfeel

Finish: medium in length with a spicy/peppery smooth finish

We purchased this back on memorial day weekend on a trip around Monticello. Delfosse has a beautiful setting that Megan and I enjoyed lunch and a glass of Cab Franc and Meritage. This Meritage was great, we enjoyed with Veggie Pizza which complimented the wine greatly. The earth and cherry came through very nicely on the nose and cherry came through again on the taste with a nice touch of green olive. I definitely recommend this as a fine example of a great RED done right in Virginia.

Gary Farrell 2003 Chardonnay- Star Ridge Vineyards

Origin: Russian River Valley

Nose: Granny Smith Apple, pear and Oak

Taste: Apple, Toast, Oak, Nuttyness

Mouthfeel: Medium bodied

Finish: Medium in length and buttery

Megan and I picked this up last year in Sonoma in the Russian River Valley. Gary Farrell winery sits up on a hill and offers great view of the valley if it isn't foggy like it was the day we were there. Stil, it isl a very nice winery and if I recall the winery staff were very pleasant. This wine itself was very one dimensional, apple, apple, apple! I probably wouldn't have been disappointed if wasn't a $40.00 wine, but the flavors weren't layered very well and the nose was pure Granny Smith. I didn't remember much about the wine prior to opening it last night, but I am sure our tasting was better since we chalked up the $40.00. I have heard great things about Gary Farrell so I won't not try his other wines, but I probably won't drink this one again. (Which I probably couldn't anyway because I think they are sold out, haha)

McManis 2005 Viognier

Origin: River Junction Appellation, South of Lodi California

Nose: Apricot, Peach, Floral Notes

Taste: Honeysuckle, Apricot, Mineral

Mouthfeel: Rich, Smooth, Slightly Effervescent

Finish: Medium

Another great Viognier recommended by Jeff at the Wine Cellar showing excellent layering of fruit, floral and mineral notes. A great Viognier that had a little bit of efferevesence on the tounge at the finish which was a nice surprise. I highly recommend this for all of you Viognier fans and at $11.00 it is a great value.

Old House Vineyards Merlot - 2002

Origin: Central Virginia, Culpeper

Nose: Black Cherry, Licorice, Cinnamon, Chocolate

Taste: Cherry, Earth, Clove

Mouthfeel: Medium body with nice silky smooth tannin structure

Finish: medium to long, very nice with slight pepperyness

We picked this up at Old House a few months ago, stopping by the winery on a whim. The merlot was the favorite of the day so we picked up a bottle. Honestly this bottle we opened was better than I remembered, not saying that what we tasted was bad, just that is was a decent merlot. This bottle was definitely better than average, yielding excellent fruit up front and a great mouthfeel with an excellent peppery finish. We enjoyed this with our friends Craig and Carrie who were up from Raleigh for the weekend. $20.00

Elyse Zinfandel -2003 (15.2% alcohol)

Origin: Napa -Rutherford

Nose: cinnamon, dark fruit, amaretto

Taste: Black rapsberry, dark chocolate, earthiness

Mouthfeel: slightly "hot", smooth texture with peppery finish

Finish: medium to long in length

This was a really good Zin recommended to us by our friend Hunter at the Wine Cellar. Although it was slightly "hot" due to the 15.2% alcohol it was quite good but did need a little food to tone it down. We ate it with homemade veggie pizza and it was a great pairing. Although the pricepoint is slightly high @ $30.00 I would probably go with a Ridge Zin (my favorite) but would definitely recommend this as one to try.

Domaine La Bastide 2004 Syrah

Origin: Corbieres in southwest France

Nose: Blackberry, plum, leather

Taste: Raspberry, Dark Chocolate

Mouthfeel: Medium bodied, slightly tannic

Finish: medium in length

This wine was another wine we picked up a few months ago at a Friday night tasting at the Wine Cellar here in Midlothian. Not being Syrah fans usually, we really enjoyed this one so we brought it home. In drinking it again, it was very fruity and rich and what I would consider an easy drinker, which is not what I would characterize most Syrahs. (maybe I am wrong and I am probably merging the typical Shiraz vs. the typical Syrah). Great wine at a great price, $11.25.

Wines & Times

All you winery visitors out there need to check out this great site that helps keep you informed on wineries in almost all 50 states. Just click on the state and it will show you how many wineries there are in that state, then click on a winery, and depending on what information the winery has provided it will show you hours of operation, upcoming events and more. It is a great site, and it's free.

Check it out - Wines & Times

Alderbrook Chardonnay - 2003

Origin: Russian River Valley

Color: hay yellow

Nose: lightly toasted bread with apple butter spread (seriously)

Taste: Apple, melon, slight butter and nuttyness

Mouthfeel: smooth, medium body with nice acidic structure, "rich"

Finish: Good, I wouldn't say long but medium to long

We picked this up last December while we were in Napa/Sonoma and it was actually the first winery we visited. We have enjoyed several of their other wines and have not been dissappointed yet. This Chardonnay was excellent, displayed everything with balance and precision, definitely the best Chardonnay I have had in a while. (A+) $18.00

Cardinal Point Cabernet Franc - 2004

Origin: Afton Virginia

Nose: blackberry, blueberry, and pine

Taste: licorice, cherry, tobacco, green pepper

Mouthfeel: light-medium bodied

Finish: short to medium

We love Cardinal Point wines, and their Cabernet Franc is another fine example. As one of the top Cab Francs in the state (as rated by me), it is always a winner. (A-) can't remember the price...I think $17.95

Wineries of Louisa County

Saturday Megan and I decided to take a quick trip to Louisa county for some wine tasting. We packed up some cheese and fresh baguette and headed off. First stop of the day was Cooper Vineyards. We have been to Cooper before, back in March we went and were able to witness their mobile bottling truck in action.

Tasting is done in the Barrel Room at Cooper

John Tasting at Cooper

While at Cooper we tasted 8 wines, 2005 100% Estate Grown Chardonnay, Coopertage Blanc (20% Viognier and 80% Chardonnay), 2005 Viognier, 2003 Cabernet Franc, 2004 Merlot, 2004 Norton and then 2 sweet wines - Rhapsody (Chardonel and Viognier blend; 3% residual sugar and Sweet Louisa (Munsen, Norton, Concord and Roussane; 6% residual sugar). Of the whites our favorite was the 100% Viognier showing beautiful peach, apricot and honeysuckle; interestingly it was aged in French Oak for 8 months which gave the wine a little more roundness on the tounge, simply delightful. On the red side, our favorite was the 2004 Merlot, a new release at Cooper. We were lucky enough to do a small vertical with the 2003 Merlot which was only available for tasting. The 2004 had excellent fruit character of cherry with a smooth medium bodied texture.

Bird Netting on the vines at Cooper Vineyards

Next we headed a few miles up the road to Green Spring Winery. This was our first trip to Green Spring, and they are relatively new to the VA Wine Trail, opening their winery doors last October although the vineyard has been operating for 8 years. Green Springs winemaker is Gabriele Rausse who has a great following here in virginia, and the owner is Lewis Gioiosa who has run Gioiosa Vineyards for about 8 years. The winery is beautifully constructed with a great wide open tasting room, and a beautiful wrap around deck.

Winery

Megan at tasting bar with Lewis Gioiosa (owner)

We tasted 4 wines while at Green Spring, a Chardonnay, a Cabernet Sauvignon, a Cabernet Franc and a Rose with 6% residual sugar. All the wines were very good, even the Rose as we are not sweet fans. Our favorites were definitely the reds. The Cab Franc is from grapes grown at Redlands Vineyards in Albermarle county and provides excellent fruit character of raspberry and cherry with a smooth medium bodied finish, very good cabernet franc. The Cab. Sauv. was another good wine and is made from grapes grown in Lynchburg. The wines shows off Black Raspberry and chocolate flavors with a smooth spicy finish, again very good. We got a glass of the Cab Franc and a glass of the Cab Sauv to enjoy with our cheese and bread and enjoyed the beautiful scenery and the awesome weather. We took home a bottle of the Cab Franc, to enjoy later, and would've have taken home the Cab Sauv as well, but couldn't justify the $28 price tag, although it was a very good wine.

Megan enjoying some wine with the beautiful Green Spring property as her backdrop.

Shot of the winery and part of the vineyard

Wine Stemware

What type of stemware do you use, and does it matter?

We here at the Witherspoon house have a mixture of Spiegelau and Riedel glasses for red and Spiegelau only for the whites. The red are the Bordeaux model and except for the actual stem of the glass you couldn’t tell the difference between the two visually. (Except for the etched logo on the bottom) I know internally, the companies use different crystal weights and mixture percentages that they both define as being the best.

Recently we have become more and more amazed with nice restaurants that use small goblet shaped wine glasses, especially for red wines. A friend asked me the other day if I would consider myself a wine snob and I said no just an enthusiast, but when it comes to stemware I would say yes. The stemware can really change the wine experience for me both at a restaurant and at a tasting room. I don’t care about brand names, but when a tasting room/restaurant has nice, “properly sized” stemware I think it makes a difference in my overall experience not to say necessarily on the taste of the wine.

Scientific studies have been done examining this very concept and found that when you take away the visual and tactile stimuli, negligible difference is found between the typical goblet style and the “proper” Bordeaux style Riedel glass. When you leave in the aforementioned stimuli there are significant differences between the glass types.

Okay, Wine Bloggers, let me know what YOU think!!

Last Nights Wine

2005 Yalumba "Y" Series Viognier

Origin: South Austrailia, Barossa Valley

Nose: Anise (licorice), peach, apricot

Taste: Apricot, slight citrus, mineral/earth

Mouthfeel: Rich, oily but not in a bad way--slick feeling on the tounge

Finish: Medium-Long

This is an excellent Viognier, and the second time we have tried it. Not too over the top on any of the flavors, but as you can see, displays the typical Viognier characteristics. It delivers these in a beautiful layered fashion that is exciting and delightful on each and every sip. (A) $11.95

Oberon 2002 Cabernet Sauvignon (100%)

Origin: Napa Valley

Color: Deep Red

Nose: Very Fruity empasized by Raspberry and Blackberry; There was also a richness to the aroma that I couldn't quite identify(maybe coffee) but it smelled awesome.

Taste: Wonderfully rich raspberry with cinnamon and earthiness rounding out the finish

Mouthfeel: Silky smooth with just enough structure to hold it together at the end

Finish: Medium in length

Megan and I picked this up about a month ago at a Friday night tasting at the Wine Cellar. It is a great Cab, not too tannic(could use a bit more), not too earthy, just right. A little fruitier than most cabs but a very good wine. We just tried their 2003 Merlot at last Friday's tasting and it was quite good as well. (A) $21.95

Gadgets that speed up the aging process

There are a few products on the market that claim they can smooth out tannins, evoke fruit character and generally “open up” a young wine in a matter of minutes. There are a lot of skeptics out there that say the gizmos don’t do what they claim to. But aren’t these devices just high tech decanters.

From Wikipedia:
“A good decanting process involves the wine trickling down the walls of the decanter, imparting fuller flavor while taking the unwelcome edge off the wine.”

I guess where a decanter and one of these gizmos differ it that the gizmo works in a matter of minutes, a decanter may take several hours or even a day to open up a bottle of wine. And I definitely don’t think you can age a bottle 5-10 years by putting it in a decanter which some of the gizmos claim they can do.

I love technical gadgets so don’t get me wrong, I think these “wine agers” are really cool, but I definitely find something more enjoyable about watching the wine gently flow down the inside of a decanter vs. slapping a magnet on the neck of the bottle.

This post was “sparked” by an article about one of the gizmos on winebusiness.com. Check it out HERE.

If any of you out there that read this blog have one of these gadgets let me know how well and if it works.


Last nights wine coming later today with Oberon 2002 Cabernet Sauvignon