What Happens in the Cellar Stays in the Cellar
For the most part, Grape Envy Guy and I tend to prefer limited production wineries. The wines at these places tend to vary more from year to year resulting an ever changing tasting experience. Despite this, we tend to find ourselves returning to Horton Vineyards once a year or so. Horton is one of the 4 or 5 largest wineries in VA. They produce tons of wines (48 being offered for tasting on the day we were there) and have special distribution deals for even more wines through Total Wine and Mount Vernon. We’ve always found their wines to be fine but not outstanding. Given this, what keeps us coming back for more? The event days with cellar tours!
Horton is a big over the top kind of place; this means that big over the top event days are the best time to visit them. While they normally offer free tastings, you pay a nominal fee on their event days, participate in tastings, take a cellar tour, try barrel samples, and eat chili and clam chowder. It’s a lot of fun, and it’s good to remember that you don’t always have to take wine seriously.
Now, if you decide to go to one of these days, you’ll have to plan a bit. If you taste all the wines, you’ll be smashed. Pace yourself with food and water. Again, they provide chili and chowder, but we also tend to pack a picnic and hang out with friends at picnic tables, if the weather is nice, or in the winery assault vehicle, if the weather is not. They don’t mind you going in and out a few times as carrying a glass indicates you’ve already paid your admission fee. Now, you still likely won’t want to try everything. Grab a tasting sheet and do some advance planning. Figure out what’s most interesting to you, and don’t be afraid to wave off a sample if it’s not one you’re interested in. The staff won’t be offended. Finally, know where the wines are located. The whites, sweet wines, fruit wines, and dessert wine (except for the ports) are all served at the first floor tasting bar. The reds and ports are served in the loft upstairs to help with the crush of people that can sometimes occur.
Finally, make sure you take part in a cellar tour with Neil. Ask lots of questions; he’s happy to extend the tour and talk, just don’t ask to buy the wine you taste in the cellar as it’s not yet ready for sale. It is fun to taste wines in process, however. This time around, we tasted a Chardonnay that was just beginning to go through malolactic fermentation, a malbec from this year’s harvest, a cab franc from last year, and a touriga-based port that was only 1 month in after having additional alcohol blended in to stop the fermentation.
So, other than these wines that aren’t yet for sale, what did we think? Well, I generally think the whites here are better than the reds. I like both the viognier and the sparkling viognier they offer. Horton’s viognier is not my favorite of this varietal, but it’s still quite good. Dennis Horton was the person who initially brought viognier to VA, so it makes sense that they do well with this grape which is now doing so well throughout the state. They also offer an Rkatsiteli (and an Rkatsiteli Reserve made for their 20th anniversary). I preferred the reserve to the regular one, but it’s not a wine I’m going to be out looking for any time soon. It is, however, a variety you rarely see grown, so it’s worth checking out to see if it works for you.
As for the reds, some were fine and a good value for money if nothing that made me say “wow” (e.g., the Mourvedre and Iberia). Others appealed to some but not to me (e.g., the Malbec and the Norton). Some were just harsh or boring. The red I liked best was the DIO made from Touriga Nacional, but I balked at $25 for this wine. While I frequently pay that much for a wine, I’m not sure if this one was worth that.
Horton also offers a number of dessert wines and ports. I didn’t care for any of the ports, although the non-traditional pear port may be worth trying just for the novelty of it. I preferred the late harvest rkatsiteli to the late harvest viognier, although both were fine. They’ve also started to offer a chocolate dessert wine, XOCO made with touriga nacional. I’ve now tasted 4 of this type of wine, and this one’s not bad. I still prefer Cooper’s Noche, however, which is made from Norton.
Finally, Horton offers an array of fruit wines bottled under the tongue in cheek label of “Chateau le Cabin.” I always return to the same three of these as my favorites. The pear wine could be a nice light patio sipper. The Raspberry and Cranberry are much more full flavored but also fun. I still think of recipes I want to use them in every time I taste them…and one of these days I’ll actually get around to making them.
By this point you’re likely a bit overwhelmed. Horton is that kind of place. There’s definitely a wine for everyone, although you may not decide to take much of it home with you. You will leave with some fun memories, however, and likely a belly full of some good chowder and/or chili.
The What Happens in the Cellar Stays in the Cellar by Swirl, Sip, Snark, unless otherwise expressly stated, is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.
VA Wine Diva’s spot on- the whites definitely outshine the reds. Two whites worth pointing out are the Stonecastle White and Stonecastle Blush. While they’re not rockstar wines, at ten bucks a pop they’re something I would take to a party.
As for the XOCO- definitely not a bad novelty wine. I’d put it a decent second to Cooper’s Noche.
Horton is what it is- a large scale producer of a huge variety of wines. If people are going to be introduced to VA wines by one of the big boys, Horton is not a bad introduction at all.
I’ve had a few Horton wines I liked, but going there feels like going to WalMart — too big, too much and, in our experience, too rude. I’ll continue to try their stuff at wine festivals, but our tasting room experience was not pleasant. I hasten to add that we were the ONLY people there on a Tuesday morning in April but the staff was still not interested in us.
Sorry your experience was so poor. I’ve never been to Horton except on event days, and the atmosphere then is chaotic but energetic. I can see where it could have a big box store feel otherwise.
I agree with Tammy. There is just too much going on, and I didn’t get a sense anyone doing the tastings knew a lot about what they were pouring. Barboursville is an assembly line, but every time I’ve gone the pourer (is that the word?) seemed familiar with the aging process and was open and honest about what they did and didn’t like.
Horton is what it is, but if you go in expecting some insanity, it can be a lot of fun. We haven’t had the same positive experiences with Barboursville that you seem to have had. Maybe it’s time for a re-visit.