Winery Visit - Barboursville Vineyards

On January 30, 2016, my best friend Samantha Stewart and I, who is also in the class, visited Barboursville Vineyards for a tour and tasting. This is probably my favorite winery in Virginia, but I had never done a tour or known much about the history of the property, so I was very excited for the tour. I will talk about the tour and history first, then the tasting.

Entrance to Barboursville Tasting Room.

The tour began in the tasting area and we moved throughout the public spaces learning about the history of the Barbour family. This winery was started by James Barbour, who was into politics and a local senator. He was close friends with Thomas Jefferson, who inspired some of the architectural elements on the property. The site includes The Barbour Mansion Ruins, the five-star restaurant "The Palladio," the 1804 Inn, the Library, and the Tasting Room. The Paschina family later bought the winery and property but kept the Barbour name. 95% of the grapes for the wine are grown on the property, which is pretty rare to find in Virginia. The reason they were able to do this was because of the technique of grafting. Grafting basically means they take Italian buds and attach them to the vines here. They are partnered with an Italian vineyard, Tenuta II Bosco, in Lombardy, Italy, where they import their Pinot Nior grapes are grown. Luca Paschina, the new owner, is very hands on through the whole process of the wine making.

Tasting Room Panorama.

After learning about the family and how the winery has been so successful - winning more awards than any other winery in Virginia - we moved through the barrel and tank rooms to learn about the process of making wine. Before any wine can be bottled, Luca tastes every single barrel to make sure the wine can stand alone on its own, and if not, he figures out the exact percentage of wine it should be mixed with and has always made it a success. 

White Wine Stainless Steel Tanks.

White & Red Wine Stainless Steel Tanks.

All of the white wines are fermented in stainless steel tanks, except for the Chardonnay Reserve, until it is ready to go into the bottles. The red wines and the Chardonnay Reserve are put in stainless steel tanks where they stay anywhere from a couple of days to two weeks. Then, the red wines are put into gamba barrels made from two very specific forests in France. The barrels can be reused, but Luca does not allow them to be reused more than once for their most prized wine, Octagon. The Octagon wine is a blend of four of their wines - Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc and Petit Verdot. 

Octagon Gamba Barrels.

The wine tasting included 22 wines and we also added on the Octagon 2010 because how could we not after learning about how great it was. I will talk specifically about 8 of my favorite wines that were tasted. 

Tasting Room.

Sparkling Wines:

• Brut - $24.99
• Brut Rose - $24.99 - The bubbly is only served on the weekends, which I was very happy about because I had actually never been here on a weekend to try it, so it was a new experience! This bottle is fermented with 100% Pinot Noir in the northwest of Italy. It's crafted very much like a french Rose. It was so crisp and refreshing. It had more complexity and a better finish than the Brut. 

White Wines: 

• Pinot Grigio 2014 - $14.99
• Chardonnay 2014 - $13.99
• Sauvignon Blanc Reserve 2014 - $19.99
• Vermentino Reserve 2014 - $22.99
• Viognier Reserve 2014 - $21.99
• Chardonnay Reserve 2015 - $15.99 - This is by far my favorite white wine, maybe because it is fermented like a red. Because it is aged in Hungarian oak for five months, it has such a rich, complex flavor. I smelled vanilla, spice and oak. It was very well balanced and left you with a robust feeling in your mouth. I loved that a white could have so much body!  
• Vintage Rose 2014 - $14.99
• Riesling 2014 - $12.99

Red Wines: 

• Barbera Reserve 2014 - $21.99
• Sangiovese Reserve 2014 - $21.99 - This wine is their tuscan wine, and it is my favorite, shocking. It smelled like dark cherry and sweet plums. It was more acidic and definitely more fruit forward on the palate. The finish lingered on and it had a full structure. 
• Petit Syrah 2013 - $24.99
• Merlot 2013 - $14.99 - This wine was very interesting. It is a blend of 92% Merlot and 8% Cabernet Franc. This is one of those wines that Luca thought needed a little something more. He did great with this one! I smelled butterscotch and berries. It was medium bodied and had really soft tannins. It didn't punch you in the mouth and left a really great taste for the finish. 
• Cabernet Sauvignon 2014 - $14.99 - The Cabernet Sauvignon is their most popular, and definitely one of my favorites (especially since I can get it at our local Kroger in Blacksburg). I smelled currant, a little bit of a mint and blackberry. The finish is tangy and leaves you wanting more. It has months of barrel aging which produced a well balanced structure with supple and refined tannins.  
• Cabernet Franc Reserve 2013 - $24.99 - This had the richest character in my opinion. So many smells, so many flavors and such a great taste. It's considered their "Virginia Classic." I smelled pepper, dark fruits, cherry, blackberries and plum. It's smell is described as layers and layers of ripe berries, plum, currant and cherry, perfectly woven together by the balance achieved through twelve months of aging in French Oak. It is that perfect combination of intense flavors with remarkable softness. 
• Petit Verdot Reserve 2012 - $31.99
• Octagon 2010 - 14th Edition - "The most honored Virginia wine from a great vintage." The reason this year was so great was because of the limited rain at harvest, making this wine go through ideal growing conditions. It smelled of black currant, cherry, blackberry, and mild spices. It is a blend of their Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc and Petit Verdot. It was very dry and acidic and left your mouth feeling happy! I definitely understand why it was one of the best years of Octagon.

Blush and Dessert Wines: 

• Cabernet Blanc - $9.99
• Rosato - $9.99
• Phileo - $16.99
• Paxxito - $31.99 - This was the sweetest of the dessert wines and I don't think I could drink a bottle of it ever, but I really did think it finished off the tasting in such an amazing way. It has their highest alcohol content, 13.5%, and has won the second-most awards behind Octagon. It has a very sharp smell with apricot, pear, pineapple and caramel. I usually do not like the dessert wines but this one was very good. It has a very slow, cool fermentation followed by extended neutral barrel aging produces an intense, rich, balanced wine of luscious sweetness and good acidity. 

Me & Samantha.