Where the Sidewalk Ends
Seriously, this is how you bring people into your winery? Where do we go? Knowing there’s wine in there- and not knowing how to get to it- I feel like the “I smell bacon!” dog from the TV commercials.
Ok, I’m out of negatives about Phillip Carter Winery in Hume, VA. Yes, it’s stupid that there’s no sidewalk to the entrance. However, we really enjoyed the wines, and it is a great space.
We’ve been here before, so we had a sense that the wines were decent, but we had forgotten how much we enjoyed them. The Chardonnay is great- the oak is really gentle, with some great fruit flavors coming through. The Governor Fauquier is 100% Vidal, and it rocks- sweet, fruity, with a great mouthfeel. The Chambourcin is one we’ve bought in the past; it’s light, fruity, and yet has a lot going on. We left with a bottle of their smooth, bold Meritage.
The Late Harvest was a pretty nice white dessert wine, and I particularly enjoyed the earthiness of Sweet Danielle, the red dessert wine. The only “meh” vote went to the Falconwood. It’s a white blend that we were told is getting phased out, to which I say “Phase away.” It just can’t compete with the other offerings.
The tasting room staff was friendly and a lot of fun, and the made sure that we got to sample the mulled wine before we left. Our tasting room server kept lamenting the fact that there was no cab sauv for sale, possibly because the staff drank it all. Given the other offerings, we’ll be back as soon as it’s out!
The Where the Sidewalk Ends by Swirl, Sip, Snark, unless otherwise expressly stated, is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.
This is only the second time we’ve been to Philip Carter, but both times I’ve left impressed with the quality of their offerings. I thought their chardonnay was nice, but I liked it less than did my partner in crime. The chambourcin, cab franc, and meritage were my favorites. We’re fairly stocked up on wine for the time being, so we’re trying to taste more and buy less for a while, so we had a hard time making our decision on what to take home with us. Really, not a bad problem to have. FYI, if any of you remember Stillhouse Vineyards, this is the same place under new ownership. They’re actually trying to move some of the leftover Stillhouse reds as mulled wine where you buy the wine and get a packet of appropriate mulling spices. The mulled wine was fine, but nothing special which leads me to believe those wines weren’t great. Mulled, however, they could be just the thing for a holiday party.
I visited before the winery was sold (I believe it was Stillhouse?). The wines were terrible and the vineyard was in bad shape. I look forward to revisiting with the new ownership and sampling their new lineup. Cheers!