My wife celebrated a milestone birthday over the weekend. We planned something special to celebrate-involving wine, of course. Our son, Sean, lived in Charlottesville, Virginia while completing his Doctorate at UVA. My wife and I loved visiting and have been missing that area. The Blue Ridge Mountains, greenery, and history all around you. Jefferson’s influence is ever-present-from the architecture and history of UVA and Monticello to the celebration of wine in Virginia. It is also home to some wonderful restaurants. In today’s post (a day later than anticipated) I will share a few of the highlights from our adventures on Thursday and Friday. Next week, I will share the highlights from our last two days in Virginia.
Thursday consisted of mostly driving, but we did our planning to include one of our favorite wineries in Virginia, Pearmund Cellars.
Pearmund Cellars
Pearmund Cellars is located in the rolling hills and back roads off of Route 29, in a town called Broad Run. They have won numerous wine competitions from the Sunset International and American Wine Society, to the San Francisco International Wine Competition, San Francisco Chronicle, and International East Meets West. They boast the oldest Chardonnay vines on the East Coast.
We selected to share three flights: a white flight and two red flights.
White Flight
- 2023 Twelve Pearls Chardonnay-Stainless steel fermented with crisp apple and pear notes
- 2020 Viognier-Attractive flowery aroma with a hint of grapefruit on the palate and a creamy finish.
- 2021 Old Vine Chardonnay-Our favorite white; oaked with lemon and apple flavors and rich body and finish.
Red Flight #1
- 2020 Cab Franc Reserve-Very good version with a medium+ body, a cherry aroma and pepper and raspberry on the palate.
- 2020 Ameritage Reserve-An excellent full-bodied wine with dark fruit flavors on the palate.
- 2020 Cabernet Sauvignon Reserve-Excellent full-bodied version with smooth tannins.
Red Flight #2
- 2020 Petit Verdot Reserve-An excellent version with robust, full-body and surprisingly smooth tannins.
- 8th Mission Black Ops-Very good red blend.
- 2021 Tannat Reserve-Very good full-bodied red with lots of structure; would likely benefit from some time in the cellar.
What a great way to start our celebration, even before getting to Charlottesville! Thanks to our wonderful server, for her great service, helpful ideas, and suggestions.
Friday, June 28
Blue Mountain Brewery
In addition to the many great wineries in Virginia, there are many great breweries. But we only had four days and this is one of our favorite breweries-not just for the beer. The views are gorgeous and the food is really good, too! I did an amazing sampling of 10 brews. I will just highlight a couple of those pictured below. Their Dark Hollow Imperial Stout, fermented in Bourbon barrels ,is our run away favorite. However, I also liked their Full Nelson IPA and was really impressed with their Kolsch. I’m not usually a fan of this style, but this one was quite good. Imagine tasting the brews below on a beautiful day with this view…
Veritas Vineyard
Veritas is one of the wineries we have never previously visited and when our server at Pearmund enthusiastically recommended we try it, we did just that on Friday. It is located in Afton, Virginia, close enough that it fell right into our plans. It was a revelation. Beautiful scenery and excellent wines! We decided to do two flights (four whites and four reds) on their deck, with the vineyards and the majestic Blue Mountains in the distance.
White Flight
- 2022 Reserve Chardonnay-Barrel aged in oak, from all three of their estate vineyards; rich and ripe flavor profile. Our favorite white here.
- 2023 Viognier-A very good version, with flowery aroma and subtle peach notes on the palate.
- 2023 Sauvignon Blanc-Very good version with lemon, lime, and subtle grapefruit notes.
- Momentarily Monticello White Blend-A nice white blend.
Red Flight
- 2023 Cab Franc-Classic Cab Franc with cherry and pepper notes.
- 2022 Petit Verdot-Tasty medium+ bodied red with dark fruit on the palate and balanced structure.
- 2022 Veritas Reserve-Our favorite red in the tasting; wonderful blackberry notes in this full-bodied wine.
- 2022 Claret-You don’t hear the term “Claret” much in this country (unless you are a Downtown Abbey devotee). It is a good Bordeaux-style red blend.
We had a great time at Veritas Vineyards and vowed to return. Later-Fridays at Five in the Downtown Mall in Charlottesville, minutes from our hotel. Time and space don’t permit me to detail our evening, but I’ll highlight a few quick points. Fridays at Five have been a “thing” at the Downtown Mall for quite some time. There is live music and the mall is full of great venues to shop, eat, drink, and be merry. After listening to a set of “Cherry Red” at the Ting Pavilion (shown below), we chose to have dinner at an old favorite, Himalayan Fusion. This is a wonderful Indian restaurant.
Coming Attractions
- Virginia Uncorked Part 2 & My NJ Wine of the Week
- Beneduce Vineyards Summer 2024
- Unionville Vineyards Summer 2024
- Angelic0 Vineyards Summer 2024
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