Saturday, February 25, 2012
A group of friends and I decided to take a couple of days and visit a friend's home in Staunton, VA, and take the opportunity to visit King Family Vineyards, which is not too far from there in Crozet, VA. This was my first winery visit, and I was excited to see how everything works first hand.
View of the tasting room/store area
We walked up to a colonial style farm settled in the mountains. It was very pretty! When we walked in, we walked around the side porch and into the tasting room/storefront. They had a more rustic style of decoration on the inside, but I liked it. I even enjoyed the antler chandelier!
Chandelier made of antlers in the tasting/selling room
We started everything off with a tasting. It's good that we did, because it started to get crowded quickly after we got there! We had a very nice woman named Tara showing us the wines, and she told us a bit about the background of the winery/vineyard.
Tasting area
The owners, David and Ellen, had a polo field when they decided that they wanted a cash crop, so they tried alfalfa, which actually worked pretty well. Then one day, a group from VT knocked on their door and asked them if they wanted to grow grapes there, because the land was probably good for that. The idea was planted, and eventually they started growing grapes. They started out slowly, though, and they still don't use a big distributor. 95% of their profit comes through the winery!
We tried six different wines. They were:
Roseland 2011- "60% Chardonnay, 40% Viognier. There is peach, honeysuckle, and acacia flower on the nose with a hint of lemongrass. 40% of the volume is aged in oak. The mouthfeel is bright and fresh with good acidity reminiscent of a pear crumble. The finish is long and creamy. 770 cases produced. $19.95." (King Family write-up) To me, it smelled like honeysuckle, but slightly acidic, and with a hint of cheese. It tasted tart, soft, light, and tangy, with a bit of lemon.
Chardonnay 2010- "25% of the volume is fermented and aged in new French oak, the rest in older barrels. The nose bursts with white flowers, lemon, and pear. White peach, ripe pear, and lemon on the mouth with touches of oak and a smooth creamy finish. 100% malolactic fermentation. 575 cases produced. $21.95" (King Family write-up) Smelled cool and light, with a bit of apple. The taste started off light and fruity, then turned oaky, and then butter. The aftertaste is like toasted marshmallows and vanilla. Now I understand what a wine that has been through malolactic fermentation tastes like, and I don't mind it. It's like candy!
Crose 2011- "100% Merlot dry rose. Grapefruit and cranberry dominate the nose with a hint of redcurrant. The mouthfeel is crisp and refreshing with a slightly tart finish. 720 cases produced. $21.95." (King Family write-up) It smelled sweet, floral, and fruity, like grapefruit and jasmine. It tasted very different from how it smelled, which threw me off, a bit. It tasted dry, tart, and acidic, and kind of like a grassy grape. It wasn't too strong. I'm not sure if it was my favorite, but it wasn't bad.
Cabernet Franc 2010- "The nose offers fresh strawberries on the vine, anise, and a touch of oak. There are notes of vanilla, strawberry, raspberry, and spice on the mouth with soft tannins. The finish is soft with a hint of black pepper. 500 cases produced. $22.95." (King Family write-up) This wine smelled like plum, blackberry, and tart cherry. It tasted light and tart, and had a peppery finish. It was warm and a little oaky in the middle. Tara told us that they used larger barrels for this wine to decrease the amount of oakiness.
Seven 2009- "Named for the 7th chucker in polo, like the 19th hole in golf. Made in the traditional Porto style with an American twist. Dried fig, banana, and orage peel on the nose. Vanilla and nutmeg on the mouth with dark fruits, raspberry, and toffee. 3% r.s., 18% alcohol. 475 cases produced. $29.95." (King Family write-up) Tara told us they age this wine in Kentucky bourbon barrels for 2-3 years. It had a strong, smokey smell, with some cognac and candied fruit scents. It tasted very fruity at first, maybe a little cherry, and then it got smokey and oaky, then very buttery, toasty, caramel/toffee, nutty flavors at the end.
Loreley 2010- "50% Viognier, 50% Petit Manseng. Dessert wine made in the vin de paille, or "straw wine" style. Fermented and aged in barrel, there is white flower, tangerine peel, peach cobbler, and gingerbread on the nose and mouth. The mouthfeel is full and creamy. Drink now through 2018. 375 mL. 10% r.s. 320 cases produced. $24.95." (King Family write-up) It smelled very bright, light, and like jasmine and honeysuckle. It tasted peachy and like vanilla, with a soft and creamy finish, like peaches and cream. It was quite sweet, although not syrupy sickeningly so. I really liked this, and got a bottle to give to my parents.
Though these wines were more expensive than I usually get, they were also correspondingly more delicious!
Next, after the tasting, we started the tour! We began by looking at some of the vines, but we didn't stay outside too long because it was a bit cold outside! Our tour guide told us that the harvest lasts about 6 weeks, and they are working all day, every day during that time.
The vines had just had their winter pruning. The oldest vines there were planted in late 1997.
We quickly moved inside to the room where the fermenting is done. It kind of smelled like an oaky swimming pool. There were some large stainless steel vats, the largest of which can hold about 700 cases of wine!
Some of the stainless steel vats and oak barrels
Their winemaker is European, so they do a lot of thing old-world style, even hiring interns. Apparently, they had a Frenchman interning there, and he was the one who had to push down the caps, because he was the smallest one. It is apparently an unpleasant task, because it gets hot, and all of the CO2 being released makes it difficult to breathe. I suppose that is why the intern got to do it.
Anyhow, for our final stop, we moved into the storage room, where the wine is aged in barrels.
The smaller part of the room, which was completely filled with barrels.
The barrels are made of French oak, and the smaller ones can hold about 25 cases of wine, whereas the larger ones can hold about 50 cases. The middle of each barrel is painted red, because when the wine is tested, it can get messy. If they are just stained red ahead of time, it looks much more neat.
We all had a really nice time at King Family Vineyards. Everyone was very warm and friendly, and very knowledgeable about the wine and wine making process. I would definitely recommend stopping by!
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