Winery Visit - Attimo Winery

On Friday, April 4th I visited the Attimo Winery in Christiansburg, about 15 minutes away from Virginia Tech.  I went with a group of friends from school.  The reason we wanted to check it out was because a few friends of mine had visited it a few weeks before and said they had really good wines and a cheap tasting tour.

What I noticed the most once we all got to Attimo was how much smaller it was compared to the Williamsburg Winery.  The building was pretty but quaint, being fairly small and rustic in design.  The vineyards didn't occupy a great deal of acreage.  They also were still fairly sparse because it was March so most of the vines really hadn't started to grow yet.  While small, I still think it looked like a nice spot to visit for an hour or two.

Attimo Winery (front)

We did the basic wine tasting for $5 and also decided to try the extra reserve wines they had for $1 each.  Since the actual winery was so small, they didn't really have a tour to take but instead our hostess just gave us a general background on the history of Attimo.  It was started by two former VT students and opened to the public in 2011.  In addition to the vines at the winery, they also lease some in other places around VA like Charlottesville.  Very unique for a winery is the fact that they grow large amounts of blackberries and raspberries on site in addition to the grapes.  The inside of the winery was very pleasant, with wood furnishing forming a dinning room with a large fireplace and mantel on the far right of the room.  Views of the vineyards could be seen through all the windows in the dining area.  We got to sit at a table and relax while our server brought each wine out one at at time.  Below are some pictures of the room.

Dining Room Entrance

Dining Room Overlooking Vineyards

Now to talk about the actual wine \tasting.  We tasted 15 wines overall.  Every single wine we tasted was an award winning wine.  They are listed from lightest in body to heaviest.

Yesterday's Song (Chardonnay)

"Dry white, crisp, lightly oaked, pear notes." The smell reminded me of apple with just a little bit of pear.  The wine tasted of apple, honey, and vanilla but was dry and very light bodied.
Masquerade  (Chardonnay)
"Dry white, smooth and oaked."  This was the reserve Chardonnay.  It smelled of butter and apple, with flavor notes that were actually well balanced between the two.  Quite smooth and rich.

Sonnet 98 (Vidal Blanc)

"Semi-sweet white, tropical fruit flavors and floral aromas."  This was the first vidal blanc I have ever tasted.  The aroma was very floral and green.  The taste was crisp and light.  I can only really describe the taste as spring; the flavor you get in your mouth when you walk around in May on a sunny day right after the grass has been cut.  Very interesting wine.

Blaze (Vidal/Traminette)

"Dry, noble white (orange) wine.  Fiery and tannic."  This was the first "orange" wine I have ever had before.  It really was quite orange colored.  The skins of the white grapes are left on longer during the wine making process.  It smelled strongly of perfume, but in a pleasant way.  The taste held notes of flowers and orange/citrus fruit.  The wine was quite tannic with a burn that was noticeable toward the end.  Glad I tried this one.
Off-the-Cuff (Riesling/Chardonnay)
"Semi-Sweet white, fruity with mineral & citrus notes."  Aromas of mango and clover.  The taste is a mix of melon and citrus with a little bit of earthiness and mineral to it as well.

 Just Kissed Blush (Vidal/Raspberry)

"Semi-sweet blush, fruity; distinct berry flavors." Just like the description, this well smelled strongly of red fruit, particularly raspberry.  The taste followed suite with ripe red fruit, raspberry, and currant flavors.  This wine was one of my favorites.

After Midnight (Merlot/Blackberry/Zinfandel)

"Semi-sweet red, fruity flavors; velvety texture."  My favorite semi-sweet wine I have had so far.  The smell was straightforward with huge notes blackberry.  The taste was a mix of blackberry and raspberry along with other more subtle notes of red ripe fruit.

Bull Frog Symphony (Bordeaux Blend)
"Dry red blend, peppery, eclectic."  I found this wine very similar to an old world style red.  Smells of black pepper, oak, and earth were very prominent.  The taste followed very much the same profile, with maybe a little more of a fruit aspect on the initial taste.  The finish was long and tannic.  A good wine, but not really my style of wine.  Server suggested it with Italian food.
Deep Silence (Cabernet Franc)

"Dry red, intense berry flavors and light smoky pepper finish."  The aroma of this wine was cherry and smoke centered.  Strong hints of cherry on the taste faded quickly to notes of earth, pepper.  Ok, not my favorite.
  Aviator (Cabernet Franc)
"Dry red, rich distinct mocha flavors with oak."  Another of the reserve ones.  The smell was woody with strong aromas of saddlebags and leather.  On the taste, a dry oakiness immediately comes across with notes of fruit.  It was very tannic.  The aftertaste was strong and carried notes of coffee/chocolate that I really enjoyed.
Vertex (Cabernet Sauvignon)
"Dry red, rich with black currant flavors and French oak notes."  This wine was a reserve wine.  Strong notes of blackberry and oak on the nose.  The taste leaned more toward red and black currants rather than blackberry with a large presence of wood/oak.

AD 325 (Chambourcin)
"Dry red with bold flavors and cherry undertones."  The smell reminded me of fresh, ripe cherries.  When I tasted it, the cherry was present but it faded to a more earthy, almost limestone like quality.  the texture was smooth and velvety with a medium tannin structure.
Sweet Berry Sunset (Raspberry/red blend)
"Sweet red, intense berry and fruity flavors."  This wine was a dessert wine but it was awesome.  The nose smelled like I was about to sample pure raspberry juice.  The flavor followed very closely; it was almost like drinking an extremely watered down raspberry syrup.  All I wanted to do was pour it on some ice cream, matter of fact I might in the future.
Sudden Downpour (Apple/white blend)
"Sweet, apple wine with bourbon notes and earthy tones."  The smell of this wine is almost like an extremely aged chardonnay; huge notes of apple and butter with a hint of cinnamon.  The taste was better than the smell.  Notes of cinnamon apples cooked in butter come first but then fades to a more bourbon enhanced apple.
Seduction (Tinta Madera/Touriga Nacional/Souzao)

"Sweet, fortified red, ruby port style wine.  Distinct raisin flavors with hints of cooked fruit."  This port wine smelled very strongly of brandy and raisins.  On the taste, it came across as very fruity and sweet with a distinct raisin element that I really didn't actually like (probably because I don't like raisins).  Overall, a pretty decent port made from grapes imported from Portugal.

I will definitely come back to Attimo for their wine again.

Tasting - Altas Cumbres Cabernet Sauvignon

Name: Altas Cumbres Cabernet Sauvignon
Variety:  Cabernet Sauvignon
Region: Argentina
Country: Argentina
Year: 2010
Price: $6.95 (Sale for $15)
Winery Review:
"Intense red color with violet highlights, with clean, fresh and complex aromas of berries, plums, figs and pepper.   Strong personality is in perfect balance with a medium body and pleasant tannins.  Ideal for: red meats, cheeses and strong sauces."

 My Review: 
The smell of this wine immediately reminded me of cherry jolly ranchers because of the strong berry and plum notes.  There was also a hint of pepper too.  On my first taste, I notice fig, plum, and cherry fruit flavors.  In the mid palate, I get a good hint of pepper.  The finish is fairly clean with just a little bit of dryness lingering.  The texture was medium and it had a medium tannin structure.  I did not try this wine with food.

Tasting - Bricco dei Tati Rose

Name: Bricco dei Tati Rose
Variety: Barbarra
Region: Italy
Country: Italy
Year: 2013
Price: $9.95
Winery Review:
"Fresh with aromas of strawberries, cherries and rose petals.  This is ideal with shellfish, salads, chicken, and with appetizers."

 My Review: 
This rose wine had a very alluring aroma that combined strong notes of strawberry with a little bit of rose water as well.  The taste itself was quite interesting because it combined many aspects of a white wine with a little bit of a berry addition.  Characteristics of apple, light tropical fruit, and strawberry were all blended well together.  The wine was light bodied with a crisp texture.  A pretty good rose overall.  I did not try this wine with food.

Tasting - Frascati Volpetti

Name: Frascati Volpetti
Variety:  Malvasia, Trebbiano, Greco
Region: Italy
Country: Italy
Year: 2012
Price: $7.95
Winery Review:
"Staw yellow in color with a soft, delicate perfume, fruitful flavor, dry and harmonious taste.  Perfect with appetizers, soups, fish."

 My Review: 
This wine smelled very similar to other whites I have had before, aromas of apple that dominate with a hint of perfume and melon.  The taste was crisp and clean, with light fruit flavors like apple coming through but balanced well with some acidity.  There was no aftertaste whatsoever.  I did not try this wine with food.

Tasting - Heinz Eifel Shine

Name: Heinz Eifel Shine Riesling
Variety:  Riesling
Region: Germany
Country: Germany
Year: 2012
Price: $9.95
Winery Review:
"This drier-style Riesling is bright, fruity and floral with crisp acidity and clean flavors of apple, pear, and peach that compliment its stony minerality and earthy complexity.  It serves well as an apertif and matches a wide variety of foods, like lighter salad dishes, shellfish, cream sauces and also anything with a touche of spice."

 My Review: 
This was on of the most unique Riesling wines I have ever smelled.  With strong profiles of apple, pear, and butter on the aroma that smelled more like a Chardonnay.  The flavor was more floral with with hints of apple and peach that have a bit of a mineral aspect to them.  The body is light and it has a very clean, crisp finish.  I did not try any food while tasting this wine.

Tasting - Georges DuBoeuf Beaujolais Nouveau

Name: Georges DuBoeuf Beaujolais Nouveau
Variety:  Gamay
Region: Beaujolais
Country: France
Year: 2013
Price: $14 (Sale for $3.95)
Winery Review:
"Balanced and lightly creamy, offering pretty flavors of plum sauce and raspberry coulis threaded with hints of ground spice.  Elegant, with a floral finish.  Drink now."

 My Review: 
I really enjoyed the aroma given off by this wine.  It was very ripe and fruity with an emphasis on cherry and plum.  Although it was a red, the taste was actually quite fruity with strong attributes of cherry and raspberry.  After the fruit, a bit of spiciness comes that balances the flavor a little more.  The texture was smooth and somewhat creamy with very little tannins.  The aftertaste carried a floral finish.

WInery Visit - Williamsburg Winery

On Friday, March 14th I visited the Williamsburg Winery with my girlfriend over spring break this semester.  We were looking for something new to explore and she lives in Newport News (which doesn't exactly have the most exciting attractions during March) so it made sense to go take a tour and taste some of the wine.  This was both of our first times visiting a winery in person so it was an interesting experience.  Ok, so on to the actual winery visit...

The first thing I saw as we approached the winery were the grape vineyards.  Even though I was sad to see they hadn't really started to grow yet (which makes sense because it was March), it was cool to see them for the first time.

After  we got the the building, I was most surprised by how big the actual building was when I saw it.  We entered into a small store that was a part of the main building (there was a small cafe across the street from the winery).  We were able to take a general winery tour and wine tasting for $10.  

Vineyards at the winery

Winery itself

The tour/tasting was about 45 minutes long.  We started with a quick intro video for about 5 minutes that talked about the history of the winery.  The Williamsburg Winery was started during the 1980s and was one of the original ones of Virginia making it one of the oldest in the state.  From there we were taken into the cellar downstairs that was used to both store and blend all the red wines.  The cellar was quite large, holding hundreds of barrels.  One of the more interesting facts our tour guide talked about was the use of not only French and American oak but Hungarian as well.  This particular wood had a grain texture in between both of the other two so they use it often for blended red wines.  She also told us that most of their grape harvesting occurred during the early weeks of September, with the white varieties always being picked first.  

Red Wine Cellar

Reserve Cellar

Next we quickly went by the reserve cellar that contained the specially aged wines that needed greater aging in order for the perfect flavor and complexity level to be reached.  It was pretty much just a small basement building that was actually barred off from the rest of the hallway like a jail cell.  Interesting method of separating the expensive wines, but effective I guess.  Next we got to look at the bottling part of the winery.  I had never seen any machines like these before so I thought it looked quite impressive.  They produce around 15,000 bottles a year of wine, with around 2,000 reserve wines (pretty much red wines) and use mainly cork tops for their wines.

Bottling Machines

Old Wine Bottles

Fermenting Tanks

After the bottling portion of the basement, we took a quick trip through a very small white wine cellar that was used mainly to age the Chardonnay variety.  We then went back upstairs and down a hallway to see the large stainless steel fermenting tanks they use for the wine juice.  Believing that it helps the wine process, the winery actually plays Mozart and Beethoven for the wine as it ferments in the tank.  Not sure if it works, but it can't hurt I suppose.  We then explored a final room that briefly covered artifacts of the wine consumption in the area back from the colonial times.  A skeleton was actually uncovered from the site the winery was built.  We also got to see some of the old style of wine bottles that used to exist (all of which were still 750ml bottles).

Now to the best part, the wine tasting.  We tasted 8 wines overall. They are listed from lightest in body to heaviest.

 2012 James River White

 This wine was a Sauvignon Blanc aged in stainless steel with fresh, fruity flavors.  The main notes I remembered from this wine were of melon and apple, with a very dry, acidic bite.

2011 Matthews Chardonnay

Medium bodied with some aging in oak.  It smelled like an interesting combination of cheese and butter.  It tasted mainly buttery with a bit of apple tartness.  Slightly sweeter than the first but still fairly dry.

2012 A Midsummer Night's White

My favorite wine of all the ones we tasted here.  40% Vidal Blanc, 40% Triaminite,  20% Viognier.  It held aromas of fresh fruit, mint, and flowers.  The flavor was unique with mint, fruit, and herbs coming across to taste like what immediately reminded me of a mojito.  Awesome.

2012 Susan Constant Red

100% Sangiovese aged in stainless steel. Described as light in texture, it was very fruity smelling with plum and cherry coming through the most to me.  The flavor was light, with very little tannins and unripe strawberries coming through the most.

2010 J. Andrewes Merlot

 Light bodied, fruit forward Merlot.  For me, the aromas included smoke, cedar, and sour raspberries.  When tasting, I first noticed raspberry and plum that faded to a more bitter, tannic finish.  Light bodied for a red wine.

2011 Lord Botetourt Red

Blend of red Bordeaux varietals with an emphasis on Petite Verdot.  The color was a very rich purple/red.  The smell reminded me of freshly dug up earth and soil with just the slightest hint of red fruit in the background.  Once I tasted it, the oak aging was very obvious.  It tasted woody and earthy, with a smokey flavor as well.  The texture was smooth and rich with strong tannins.  Good for this type of wine but not really my favorite type.

Hening's Statute Cabernet Franc

This was the first Cabernet Franc I had ever tried.  It was described as having a berry nose and smooth texture.  To me, it smelled strongly of both cherry and oak.  The flavor profile followed similarly with notes of cherry that faded to a more cedar taste.  Medium bodied, medium tannin structure. 

My girlfriend and me outside the winery shop.

Overall, it was a fun time and an informational tour.  Even better, they ran out of simple tasting glasses that came free with the tour so we got their $12 reserve wine tasting glasses for free.  Perfect timing? Who knows.

Tasting - Toso Moscato

Name: Toso Moscato
Variety:  Moscato (Muscat)
Region: Italy
Country: Italy
Year: 2008
Price: $9.95
Winery Review:
"This Moscato is reminiscent of honeysuckle and rose petal. The quality is equivalent to a top level Asti Spumante DOCG.  Sweet sparkling wine obtained from a careful selection of the Moscato grapes. It has a pale straw yellow color with fine foam and bubbles. Tropical fruit flavors, refreshing.  Excellent to match desserts, fruit and dried pastries".

 My Review: 
Much like other Moscato wines, the aromas of this wine are mainly floral with strong peach notes.  At the first taste, I notice how creamy and smooth this sparkling wine is with its texture.  The flavors that come through are of tropical fruit like pineapple with a light floral element lingering in the background.  A little sweet but overall a strong wine.  I did not try this wine with food.

Tasting - Thorn Clarke James Goddard Shiraz

Name: Thorn Clarke James Goddard Shiraz
Variety: Syrah (Shiraz)
Region: Australia
Country: Australia
Year: 2011
Price: $7.95
Winery Review:
"The outstanding 2011 James Goddard Shiraz (aged 14-16 years in American and French hogshead) delivers considerable value and flavor authority.  Its deep ruby/purple color is accompanied by notes of blackberries, black currants, licorice, graphite and subtle barbecue smoke.  Rich, fleshy, and dense, it is best consumed over next 3-4 years."

 My Review: 
On the nose of this wine I smell mainly plum and spice with a hint of woodiness.  The taste follows similarly to the smell of the wine.  I taste blackberry and red fruit that fades away into a smokey, oaky flavor.  I did not try this wine with food.

Tasting - El Sierro Tempranillo/Cab

Name: El Sierro Tempranillo/Cab
Variety: Mix of Tempranillo & Cabernet Sauvignon
Region: Spain
Country: Spain
Year: 2011
Price: $7.95
Winery Review:

"Dark ruby in color with rich aromas of red fruit and light spices. It is a real knock-out with delicious flavors of dark cherries, blackberries and vanilla all perfectly integrated. The Tempranillo provides wonderful spice and fruit, while the Cabernet Sauvignon gives structure and depth with the beautiful use of oak."

 My Review: 
The El Sierro wine was a very dark red color with aromas of blackberry and pepper on the nose.  The flavor is quite similar to the aroma.  I notice aspects of cherry, blackberry, spice, and just a little hint of sweet vanilla present.  The wine was dry and medium bodied with a decent tannin structure.  Not a bad wine but not my favorite so far.  I tried this wine without food.

Tasting - Atlas Cumbres Torrontes

Name: Atlas Cumbres Torrontes
Variety: 100% Torrontes
Region: Argentina
Country: Argentina
Year: 2010
Price: $5.95
Winery Review:
"Yellow colour with greenish nuances. Very intense aroma of fresh grapes, flower perfume and mature peaches. Fresh in the mouth. Light and easy to drink. Ideal with seafood, Thai and Chinese food."

 My Review: 
The aroma of this wine comes across as mainly floral with lemongrass and perfume.  The texture is very light with a crisp aspect bringing flavors of mainly green grape and flower.  Not a bad wine but similar to most Torrontes I have tried so far.  I tasted this wine without food.

Tasting - Avery Quinn Chardonnay

Name: Avery Quinn Chardonnay
Variety: 100% Chardonnay
Region: Napa, CA
Country: US
Year: 2011
Price: $6.95 (On Closeout)
Winery Review:
"The 2011 vintage marks a return to form for this great value Chardonnay.  The aromas feature creamy, mellow, golden apple, pineapple, fresh butter and a touch of vanilla.  Then rich, ripe, flavors of yellow pear, pineapple, fresh apple, cream and buttered toast swell up and fill your mouth before a juicy, apple and caramel inflected finish makes your mouth water (and smile!)."

 My Review: 
I really enjoyed the smell of this wine.  Apple and butter were most present but a subtle hint of tropical fruit and vanilla was noticeable.  After tasting it, I noticed apple, pear, pineapple, and just a little bit of vanilla.  The texture was very rich and creamy.  There was definitely a light caramel aftertaste to the wine.  I tried this wine without food.