The grapes may get babied, but the tasters do not

Virginia Wineworks is a Michael Shaps production.  Shaps is a well-known winemaker in Virginia, and at this facility you get to taste a number of his creations.  Shaps’ own label is reserved for the grapes he has grown for him under very specific conditions by specific growers with whom he’s developed relationships – the babied grapes alluded to in the post title.  The Wineworks label is used for more affordable and approachable wines made from excess grapes he purchases from area growers.  The tastings are done in the barrel room of the production facility.  If you want a tasting room filled with dark woods, comfy chairs, and fancy fixtures, this is not the location or you.  If you understand that winemaking is a business that requires work areas and storage facilities, drive into the woods and enjoy a tasting of some very interesting wines in a working space.  It won’t win awards for ambiance, but the location matters so much less than the wines, and these wine definitely speak for themselves.

When we arrived, two large groups were in the midst of their tastings, but the couple working the “bar” were happy to squish our glasses in on a barrel at the end and include us in the fun.  We tasted 6 Wineworks wines and 6 Michael Shaps wines and enjoyed the fact that they were often presented as a point-counterpoint to each other so comparisons could be made.  (Of course, this means that the Wineworks wines sometimes suffer for the comparison to the more carefully crafted Shaps vintages.)

The whites didn’t rock our worlds, but they were all good.  There were viogniers and chardonnays to be tasted from each label.  As you’d expect the Shaps labeled wines were more complex.  The two Wineworks whites could be good all-around table whites to pull out for an impromptu get-together where you’re not really sure what people would drink or you don’t want to open an expensive bottle.  They would show well, work with a variety of foods, and generally not embarrass you.  There was also a Wineworks rosé made with cab franc that was fine for a summer sipper, but nothing special.

The reds, under both labels, were a lot more interesting to us.  I tend to shy away from merlots, but I found the Wineworks Merlot to be a basic fun, fruity red that would, again, be good as a general crowd pleaser.  The Wineworks Red (a blend of cab sauv, cab franc, and norton) was a lot of fun, and made it into the Winery Assault Vehicle for a trip home with us.  Grape Envy tends to enjoy the nortons while I’m still unsure how I feel about this very grapey native grape (I know it sounds weird, but wine grapes don’t usually taste grapey, and this one does).  The 15% in this blend gave it a great grape aroma without the wine tasting like jam.  The two cabernets seemed to temper the norton a bit.  A small amount of cab franc was also blended into the Wineworks Norton which resulted in a very grapey but somewhat subtle (for a norton) wine.

The Michael Shaps reds were definitely the standouts for me.  The 2007 merlot was a complex wine with a fair bit of oak and some really enjoyable spice elements as well.  As I mentioned, I’m not a big merlot drinker, but this one was interesting.  The 2007 cab franc was very smooth.  The pepper that is so often associated with this wine was there, but as a more subtle back note rather than the key flavor.  There was a lot more fruit in this wine.  The ’07 Petit Verdot is one that I may need to return to buy.  It’s still really young and could stand a few years of cellaring, but it had an amazingly complex aroma and great blackberry flavors.  Our tasting ended with the 2007 Raisin d’Être, the dessert wine made of petit verdot and cab franc.  I got an immediate earthy raisin smell and enjoyed the sweet but complex wine.  I like to do dessert wines as dessert, and this one is perfect for this.  It would be hard to pair with a food, but holds up well on its own.  We also took a bottle of this home with us.

By the end of our tasting, the groups had left, and we spent some time talking with the couple who typically run the “tasting room.”  They’re knowledgeable about the wines in the area, and we had a good time talking about wines and wineries we both liked and didn’t like.  While the space doesn’t overtly invite you to hang out and chat, the people do, and this is one of my favorite aspects of these smaller locations.  FYI, the 2009 Virginia Winery Guide lists this location as open by appointment only; it is actually open on weekends from 11am-5pm, so stop on by if you’re in the area.

Close

The The grapes may get babied, but the tasters do not by Swirl, Sip, Snark, unless otherwise expressly stated, is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.