Winery Wednesday- Keswick Vineyards

 This is one of our local wineries, just a jog down the road, but we haven't been since instituting Winery Wednesday. This Wednesday, though, I was tasked with taking a trip to my equine vet to pick up medication, and that is a prime opportunity to combine work with play. 

Keswick Vineyards is located on the Edgewood Estate. It was established in 1911 when one of the sons of the descendants of Nicholas Meriwether( ancestor of Meriwether Lewis of Lewis and Clark fame) inherited land across the road from the main estate of Castle Hill, and decided to make a grand statement.  I am enjoying learning about the history of this area, and if I can have some lovely wine with my history, even better. This property has both Revolutionary War and Civil War history in its soil. But it also grows some fine wine. 

You cannot really see the main house from the tasting room, but there is a rendering of the house on the logo, and you can glimpse the roofline and know it is there. There is a relaxing view of the Southwest Mountains, and a pond that has swans. The tasting room has covered and open patios, in winter a tented area for warmth and tables and Adirondack chairs that ramble down a hill sheltered by old hardwood trees facing the mountains. 

From April to October, there are live music events and food trucks. They have two levels of wine club worth investigating if you either live nearby, or like wine shipped to your door. Oh, and they have a fenced area dog park, the only winery where I have seen one of these. 

We had a flight of 4 wines. Huz and I split the flight, and the wine seller chose for us, two whites and two reds. She chose well, and we liked all 4 of the wines. I have purchased the chardonnay often both for drinking at home and as gifts, but ended up really enjoying the Rives White. Huz like his too, but gave top marks to the 2020 Trevillian Red. The tasting was $15, but free with the purchase of 3 bottles, so we brought home a few bottles. They do offer some light bites, but we just had wine. 

I am so glad we went, and reminded me about this treasure in my neighborhood!

Keswick Vineyards:

Wines: ***

Location/ Atmosphere: ****

Food : DNT

Winery Wednesday- Michael Shaps Wineworks

 We didn't make it off the property for a Winery Wednesday in January. It was a good month to hunker down! But, February started giving us peeks at decent weather, and so we were ready for a little adventure. The Random Winery Generator sent us to Michael Shaps Wineworks. This winery is south of Charlottesville, and we knew exactly where, as its nearest neighbor is the Thatch Winery, a Winery Wednesday adventure on October 24, 2021. 

This is an interesting winery, owned by Mr. Shaps, but made up of three different vineyards. There are two in Virginia, Shenandoah, north of Harrisonburg near I-81, and Honah Lee Vineyard near Gordonsville.  The third is in Burgundy, France, Bouzeron Les Clous.  So, in our tastings were both Virginia wines and French ones. 

At Michael Shaps, we had a tasting. This is different from a flight. A flight is poured for you, and you take it with you to a table. A tasting, is often smaller amounts and more variety, tried with the wineseller as a guide,  telling you about the wines. The tasting had both reds and whites, so we had one tasting, with Huz drinking most of the reds, and me drinking the whites. Then we both ordered a glass of our favorite to take to a table and enjoy. 

As for the wines, my favorite was the 2020 Aligoté, a wine from Bouzeron Les Clous in Bourgogne. Aligoté is a grape varietal and was a wine favorite we enjoyed when we were there in 2018. 

Huz also liked the Aligoté, but favored the 2019 Cabernet Franc, and the 2015 L Scott, a blend of Cabernet Franc, Merlot and Malbec grapes. 

The wineseller in the tasting room was knowledgeable and friendly, and there are a few inside tables, and an outside area that was plastic tented for warmth. But the views are not spectacular, and you are sort of right in the winery area with the stainless steel vats and equipment. The nicest view is blocked by a trailer type building. So, I think this is a good place to go, taste to decide your favorites, buy some wine and go somewhere pretty to drink it. 

Like, here:

Sunset from the sleeping porch at Foxcroft Farm. 

Or, go to Micheal Shaps, taste, buy and then travel back down the driveway, and swing into Thatch for another tasting, and your picnic. 

Michael Shaps Wineworks :

Wines: **

Location/ Atmosphere: *

Food: DNT, but they do advertise cheese, bread and charcuterie.  

Winery Wednesday- Pollack Vineyards

 We have reached the tipping point of February, when a day can dawn as either winter, or spring, and sometimes hit both seasons. After a rough January storm that brought down entire forests in our area- looks like a tornado- and had us without power for 5 days, I finally got back to renovation on the house. Outside we, mainly Huz,  have been cleaning up fallen trees, mending fences and cleaning up debris for a month, with still many days to go. I have been concentrating on three rooms at Foxcroft. The large room we call "Tod's Tavern" (named thusly as when we purchased the home it was set up as a party space, with pool table, bar and dart board, and wallpaper with a western cattle drive in winter theme) has been under renovation since September, but is turning the corner to final construction in the next two weeks. The reception room across from the snug is done now, but full of furniture from the third room currently in progress, a tidy little room that will be a creative space.

Living in a long term renovation feels like vivifying this old game. 

In order to get the "1" tile to the top left, all the other tiles have to get pushed around and out of place. 

What with a inhospitable weather January and a house organized like this puzzle, it was a good move to get back to going out for Winery Wednesdays!

But, let's return to December as I never blogged about our outing to Pollack!

In the lead up to Christmas, we had quite a gathering for Winery Wednesday, with 11 of us coming together for wine and snacks on the porch of the octagonal tasting room at Pollack Vineyards.

The flights are generous. The Red Flight is $20 and the White Flight is $16. Each flight had 4 different wines,  and it works nicely that Huz likes reds and I prefer whites, so we get to try them all.

 It was a December day, so pretty nice to be able to park out on the porch in the sunshine, but they also had some heaters going that were pretty nice when the breeze picked up.

We were the only porch patrons, so could spread out and enjoy the company. 

And the view. There is nice views from all sides with mountains and vines. We chose the side that also has a lovely pond. 

 Even though we were mostly socializing, I did manage to take down our notes about the wines!

Huz liked all the reds but the standout there was the 2018 Merlot. My favorites were the 2019 Chardonnay and the 2019 Viognier. The Viognier was the most unusual of the two, so took the edge with interest. 

Wines were good, but the company was the best!

Pollack Vineyards: 

Wines: ***

Atmosphere/location: ***

Food: brought our own picnic