James River Cellars Winery Visitation

      Last week was Spring Break, and I headed home to Port Royal Virginia from some much needed R&R. My parents rewarded me for my good-daughter-ness by treating me to several fun adventures, including a trip to the James River Cellars, in Glen Allen, VA.

Leaving Richmond, you drive through a small town with concrete buildings- a place you would never imagine would lead to a few grape vines and a sweet little house. It is right next to a golf driving range, so we were a little concerned about getting hit, but it was a quite day at the range. If you continued walking around the house, there are a few tent-structures (you can almost see these in the road picture above) where they often held weddings in the area secluded by the trees. 

We walked in and were immediately greeted by two very enthusiastic workers, one of whom I believe was Sebastian Nagy, the Vineyard Manager (this comes in to play later).

The space was rather nice. I was spoiled by wineries that had much more open tasting areas, but it was still a bright, welcoming place (seen here -->).

...also my father and I accidentally wore matching colors. We're classy like that.

The wines we had were rather yummy, but not as great as some other wines I have tried. I would put the winery as a whole in the middle tier of the ones I've gone to as a whole. However, because of our timing, we did get some special treatment of said wine. There were two wines, a Vidal Blanc and a "Hanover White" that weren't on the tasting menu- but they had just been bottled and were looking for a few less-knowing tasters to give their description thoughts, Mr. Nagy was very pleased to hear when we would agree with him and when we would come up with ideas that were the opposite of him- it entertained him to see what unexperienced tongues could detect. Here are three of the ones I had fun reviewing:

Name: Chardonel
Variety: Chardonnay
Region: Chesapeake Bay 
Country: United States
Year: 2012
Price: $15

What they say:"Tired of the snow? Close your eyes and yearn for spring with this lovely hybrid of Chardonnay. It has been known to display aromas of pineapple, honey, and pear, even as its provocative nature tends to cause trouble. Chardonel attempts to burst through the gloom of the winter, so that it may party outside."
What I say: This was a fun wine, a combo of their own Chardonnay with Cornel University's (I think they have done this with a few wineries). Its nose is full of pear and other tropical tree fruits. The taste is like a pear slathered in honey- it reminded me heavily of a Riesling feeling. It had a sunny touch to it- very bright and cheery. 

Name: GewrÜztraminer

Variety: GewÜrztraminer

Region: Chesapeake Bay 

Country: United States

Year: 2011

Price: $20

What they say: "These grapes are harvested early in order to achieve the proper balance between acidity and natural sugar. There is citrus and floral essence to this wine, with honeycomb and green melon aromas, which can seduce the heart and confuse the senses. It smells sweet, yet has an elegant finish that is quite surprising." (They also told us this is the founding grape of this winery in particular)

What I say: On the nose there was a lot of red apple and honey, but I wouldn't say there was honey crisp apple. It had a huge smell of sweetness, and yet there wasn't a lot of sweet on the actual taste of it. There was more floral on the tongue than anything else- almost a pollen sweet. I enjoyed it, and would drink it on a picnic but I wasn't huge on it. 

Name: Montpelier

Variety: 100% Cabernet Francs

Region: Chesapeake Bay 

Country: United States

Year: 2012

Price: $15

What they say: "As a blend of two separate Cabernet Francs, this vintage refuses to play by the rules and looks to establish its own reputation. With stimulating flavors of cranberry, red apple, and freshly washed strawberries, this scandalous vintage conceals a well-structured backbone underneath rousing familiarity." It's a pink color, they said they left it with the skins for a much shorter amount of time than normal. It also never touched a barrel, but went straight to bottle after having sugar added to it.

What I say: The nose of this wine was fuuuull of sweet strawberry jam- a thick feeling of the fruit. The taste followed with the same strong strawberries but there were also some heavy notes of fresh cranberry. It tasted as if Thanksgiving took place in the summer (yes, odd but true). I could have had this whole bottle since it went down so smoothly. 

     Though this trip wasn't as formal as other ones that I've had, and perhaps not my favorite, it was a lovely experience and the people were very welcoming and sweet. I wouldn't order their wine, but I would go back to hang out with the cool tasters.