My boyfriend and I made the trip to the Williamsburg Winery
after visiting his father’s house in Virginia Beach. It was a damp and dreary
day as we made our way through the vine filled landscape up to the vineyard. Luckily
we made it just in time for the last tour of the day at 5pm. The tour began
with a short video that must’ve been made in the eighties or nineties judging
by the poor quality. Then our guide rescued us from poor quality video hell and
brought us into the basement of the winery after a quick sweep through their
main room. The guide explained to us how the owner of the winery is Belgian and
he tries to impart a European arcuitectural style into this area with replica
chandeliers and fireplaces rescued and reconstructed from the Bordeaux region
of France. At the risk of sounding like a snob, having been to Tuscany and one
of the oldest wineries in the Chianti region, this was a far cry from the old
European architecture I believe Mr. Duffeler was trying to emulate.
Williamsburg winery ages their
grapes in French, American, and Hungarian oak barrels. The barrels weight about
60 pounds empty and roughly 600 pounds full. They are used 7-8 times before
they are retired and offered to the Williamsburg Winery club members for
purchase. The retired barrels run about $125 each. Our tour guide excitedly
exclaimed that she recently bought two of the old French barrels to use as
tables in her home. The new barrels are initially used to age the varietals in,
after that they are used for blended wines. They age their reds in oak barrels
for at least 3 – 6 months , the red wine oak barrel room is much larger than
the room for the whites. They use a P to designate Hungarian barrels, an A for
American, and a T for French.
The wines are tasted every day by
their head wine maker Matthew Meyer. I do not think this is necessarily best for
the wines though, as every time the barrel is tasted a rubber stopper at the
top is removed which will let air into the wine causing for an unevenly
oxygenated product depending on which barrel is taste tested each day.
The wines are bottle in house.
Everything is done by machine in the Williamsburg Winery save for attaching the
aluminum to the canister. Their bottling process can produce roughly 800
bottles in one hour. They spray air to get dust out of their bottles, then
clear the air out from the bottle with a spray of nitrogen gas, then the bottle
is filled, and sprayed again with nitrogen gas. Then it is corked and is ready
for the aluminum application. The owner is very committed to keeping some old
traditions within the wine so he refuses to have an aluminum screw top on his
wines.
All Williamsburg Winery bottles are either corked with natural cork or
with plastic. The wines are then packaged top-of-the-bottle down so the cork
will stay moist and it allows the wine to breath slightly while imparting some
of the oak cork flavors into the wine. This is also why you should store your
wine on it’s side.
In the white wine room there were
about half the barrels of that in the red room. The tour guide explained this
was because often the oak will overpower the light tastes that come from a
white grape; which is why most of the whites are aged in stainless steel
containers.
The white wine room also had a very interesting concrete egg they
were aging the Chardonnay in. The tour
guide told us that the egg was a conjunction of old and new world styles; old
European wineries have been using concrete to age their wines in for years to
impart a mineral taste to the wine, however the egg like shape of the container
was considered new world. She also told us that the concrete aging process was
a new thing they were trying and they had not yet produced any wines available
for tasting that had made it through the concrete aging process.
After the white wine room, we
climbed a spiral staircase to a viewing room where we could see the gigantic
stainless steel vats the white wines were aging in. There were also giant
stainless steel vats outside that the reds were in. She explained that they
freeze the wine in the stainless steel white wine containers to prevent a
differential in taste should the wine accidentally be frozen at home by a
customer. Most of the time the wines are aged at approximately 55 degrees. The
outdoor red wine containers also have cooling bands around them to help
maintain their temperature.
Next we were lead into a small room
lined with different old bottles and things that were excavated from the area
that the settlers used to store their wines and other liquids in. Our guide
explained how the divot in the bottom of a wine bottle helps rid the glass of
wine of sediment when it is poured. If a flat-bottomed bottle is poured and
there is sediment on the bottom, that sediment would come rushing forward and
would cause you to have a rather gritty glass of wine. With the divot, however,
if the wine is poured slowly from the bottle to the glass, much of the sediment
can be prevented from falling into the glass. She also spoke about the cork
used for the wines. In previous years the vineyard attempted to plant a tree to
produce the oak cork but apparently this was a fail as now they import all
their natural cork.
Now onto the part I was actually
excited for: TASTING!
The first wine we tasted was a 2014
Dry Rosé. Williamsburg Winery says “This dry rose shows bright strawberry,
cherry, and kiwi along wit ha hint of grapefruit. These bright fruit nuances
are nicely balanced with the creamy vanilla and earthy character. The finish
has just a bit of minerality ot balance out the entire wine”. I am very
disappointed with Williamsburg Winery for not putting the proper accent over
the E on their tasting sheet, almost as disappointed as I was with this Rosé. I
love the sweet often sparkling and light fruity flavors of Rosé, but this one
was just lacking. It was dry to the point that the fruit just wasn’t coming
through the palate as much as it was through the nose. When smelling the wine,
I detected some very distinct kiwi and strawberry notes and a hint of passion
fruit. Tasting was a different story though, the best way I can describe the
taste of this wine is sucking the life out of an unripe strawberry. It was dry
and floral with an awkward creamy vanilla finish. I would agree there was a
mineral quality to the wine that attributed to the dry quality, but I can’t say
I liked it.
The second wine was the 2013 James
River White wine. The Williamsburg
Winery description is “A Sauvignon Blanc aged only in stainless steel to
emphasize fresh, fruity flavors. Consider pairing this wine with seafood or a
mixed green salad.” This wine was how I imagine colonist’s lives to be: they
started out on a journey they expected to be exciting but it turned out to be
boring and sad. On the nose I smelled a lot of pineapple and mango and was
expecting to be thrust into a realm of tropical flavors and over all
deliciousness. On a second whiff, I realized these smells could be a little
cough syrupy. Then I tasted it and realized that’s exactly what it was, a
light, dry, a floral cough syrup concoction that I would really rather not have
again. This wine brought back the aches and pains of my youth with a nearly
immediate headache after tasting this Lost Colony of Roanoke-level catastrophe.
The third wine was the 2013 John
Adlum Chardonnay. Williamsburg Winery describes the wine as “Our lightest
Chardonnay is aged primarily in stainless steel resulting in citrus and pear
notes. This wine will pair nicely with soups, salads and hor d’oeuvers. On the
noes I detected hints of pear under the larger smell of rubbing alcohol. On the
palate I tasted notes of orange, grapefruit, and asparagus.
The fourth wine was the 2012 Susan
Constant Red. The Williamsburg Winery describes the wine as follows “This dry
wine exhibits lush fruit character featuring rasberries and cherry with hints
of tobacco and cloves. Balancing the fruit are subtle earthy characteristics
and a bit of spiciness. Enjoy with turkey, barbeque, or grilled tuna.” I could
definitely see this wine bringing a lemony characteristic forward if paired
with tuna. On the nose I detected cherry, tobacco, cloves, and fresh cut grass.
On the palate, this is the closest I’ve ever been to drinking a lawn. The wine
had a strong tobacco finish to it: which I enjoyed, but the front palate was overpoweringly
grassy. I also detected some lemon and tart raspberries in the mid-palate. I
can’t say this would be a wine I’d kick back and relax with, but this is a fun
wine to ponder, as there are so many different flavors within it.
The fifth wine was the 2013
Cabernet Sauvignon. The Williamsburg Winery describes this wine as “This old
world style Cabernet has a nice balance between the fruit and the earthy
character. It best complements rich pasta dishes and grilled meats.” On the
noes I noticed cherry, pepper and blackberry. On the palate the cherry and
pepper came through, along with some cranberry and black currant (thank you
Smell-O-Vision for adding that one to my repertoire) with a strong tannin
finish.
The sixth wine was the 2012 Gabriel
Archer Reserve. Williamsburg winery describes this wine as “This reserve wine
represents our winemakers powerful skill at blending red Bordeaux varietals. It
pairs with most meats, and especially goes well with filet mignon.” I’ve never
really had a wine quite like this one before. On the nose there was a strong
umami meaty smell along with hints of walnut and leather. The wine sort of
embodied that “new car smell” in a liquid form. On the palate there was a lot
of cherry, tart blackberry, tobacco, and tannins.
The seventh and final wine was the
Vin Licoreux de Framboise, which is French for Red Wine with Raspberry. The
Williamsburg Winery description is “This dessert wine showcases the brightness
of raspberries with the subtle nuances of Merlot. Serve lightly chilled after
dinner or with chocolate or fruit based desserts. The server described the
grapes as 80% Merlot and the wine later being infused with raspberries to give
it that rich taste. She also mentioned that you could bake with it and use it
to replace water in a recipe to give brownies or cake a rich and fruity
dimension. I found white chocolate, raspberry,
and butter on the nose. On the palate it was very syrupy, with a strong
strawberry and raspberry jab taste with just a hint of black currant. I really
liked this one and might actually try that baking tip our server described.
And being the forgetful person I am, we nearly forgot to snap a photo of us! So here we are in the car leaving the winery (you can spot vines out the window!).
