The Frenchmen In Virginia Are Multiplying
Some friends suggested we meet them at Afton Mountain Vineyards for an afternoon of wine and music since they were having an event and none of us has much experience with their wines. Since the first (and last) time we visited was last summer right after an ownership change and before the opening of their new tasting room, we were game.
Since there was an event going on, there was a $10 a head cover charge. I’m used to this and have no real problem with it, but all it bought us at Afton was a glass (again – we don’t need any more) and entry to the property. Usually event admission includes at least the basic tasting fee, but not so here. You still had to pay $5 for the house tasting (8 wines) and/or $5 for the reserve tasting (5 wines). We were there to be social, but I think the overall cost of the day was too steep.
We all started out with the house tasting. It began with the ’08 steel chardonnay which was fine, if uninspired, with green apple flavors. The ’08 gewurztraminer was up next. I appreciated that this was a dry offering, and we ended up enjoying a bottle of this with our lunch since we all enjoyed the spicy nose and orange and stone fruit flavors. We then moved on to the ’08 cab franc (cherry with hints of earth and some still harsh tannins) and the ’08 cab sauv (lighter bodied and smooth with a bit of a barnyard nose but still not very interesting).
The sweeter offerings were next. These started with the Mountain Red, a blend of sangiovese and cab franc with 1% residual sugar (RS). It had a sweet berry nose and a bit of pepper came in on the palate, but I was still rather bored. The ’08 riesling also had 1% RS. It wasn’t a great riesling, but it had some enjoyable lime and floral elements in there. The Mountain White (2% RS) is a blend of chard, riesling, and vidal that is dominated by the vidal. There was some acid to balance the sweetness, but I’d definitely put this in the campfire wine category. The Mountain Rosé was the final wine in this tasting. I was getting something checmical along with the hint of sweet fruit and didn’t care to keep going with figuring it out since sweet pinks (2.8% RS) are not for me.
After lunch, one of our friends ventured back to the tasting room with me to tackle the reserve tasting. It began with what might be my favorite wine of the day: the ’06 Tete de Cuvee Brut (55%pinot noir, 45% chard). I prefer yeasiter to fruitier sparklings, but I did enjoy the crisp apple flavors with a hint of berries in this wine. The ’08 Estate Reserve Chardonnay was a fairly traditionally oaked, malolactic chard with oak, vanilla, and butter as the primary players. The ’07 cab sauv (16% merlot) was a bit boring but has a tannin structure to allow it to age (if you’re intrigued enough by it to do so). The ’08Festa da Bacco (sangiovese, cab sauv, petit verdot) offered a rich nose and plenty of rich fruit flavors flavors with a hint of earthiness. The final wine was the gewurtztraminer/muscat dessert wine – the Pentola D’Oro. This was a really smooth wine with elements of rose and honesuckle. I just kept thinking about really good baklava with the honey and rosewater flavors you typically find there.
At the end of the day (other than being annoyed that the basic tasting wasn’t included in the entrance fee), I had a good time. We had fun hanging out while listening to music and sipping on wine. I’m not rushing to get back to Afton Mountain for bottles of the wines we drank, but I am curious to see where the wines are in another year or two. We got to chat with the new winemaker, Lucien. (What’s with all the French winemakers moving to VA?) He’s only been there a few months, so he hasn’t had a hand in their current wines, but he’s quite excited about some of the wines currently in barrels – the ’09 cab sauv (which he plans to bottle in the spring of next year) was getting particular raves from him, so we’ll definitely be back to check that out.
The The Frenchmen In Virginia Are Multiplying by Swirl, Sip, Snark, unless otherwise expressly stated, is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.
I was intrigued to see what was happening with Afton, so I was on board with the plan to spend the day. After all, the photos of the new tasting room- now in the house!- had my attention. The wines here got an overall grade of “meh” from me, but then again, I didn’t do the reserve tasting. It was warm and comfy at the table, so we let the womenfolk taste without us. They came back bubbly, buzzed, and a little smitten with Lucien (damn accent). For the wines, I liked the gewurtztraminer, I liked the cab franc (if it was a bit basic), and the Mountain White really does have “campfire” written all over it. With new owners and a new winemaker, I’ll be curious to go back and see what develops.