Weekend Events 21-22 June 2008

This weekend there are two events featuring West Virginia Wines and Wineries.

The 10th Annual West Virginia Spring Wine Festival will be held Saturday June 21, 2008 at Daniel Vineyards. The festival will go from 11am-8pm. Admission is $10 which includes a commemorative wine glass, wine tastings and entertainment. Wineries that will be attending include Daniel Vineyards, Jones Cabin Run, West Whitehill Winery, Watts Roost Vineyard, Lambert’s Vintage Wines, and Forks of Cheat Winery. Also there will be local artisans, food vendors, and music by The Country Express. And if you are looking to adopt a dog, The Raleigh County Animal Rescue will be there. Soft drinks will be on sale to benefit the Women’s Resource Center. For more info go to www.danielvineyards.com

Morgantown is the place for the Arts on The River event. Come celebrate summer and enjoy artwork and crafts from West Virginia artisans. There will be live music on 2 stages including my favorite West Virginia band, The Davisson Brothers. Wineries attending will be Forks of Cheat, Kenco Farms, and Fishers Ridge. Do yourself a favor and pick up a bottle of Kenco Farms Raspberry Melomel (Honey Wine) if there is any available. This event is on Saturday and Sunday 21-22 June. For more info and directions go to www.artsontheriver.org         See You There! 

Kirkwood Winery Cabernet Sauvignon

According to the label on the bottle Kirkwood Winery is located on a beautiful country farm three miles north of Summersville West Virginia. Nicolas County’s first winery is owned and operated by Rodney Facemire. Over the past several years Rodney has acquired the patience and skills of transforming fruits and vegetables into delightful and tasteful wines. Kirkwood’s website is www.kirkwood-wine.com

I have tasted a few of Kirkwood’s offerings over the last couple of years, from the distinctive Appalachian Ramp (very different) to the ever popular Merlot. The Cab Sav carries on the tradition of a wine with a distinct flavor not found in wines from the big boys. When you open a bottle of the Cab Sav let it breathe and give it a smell before you taste and you will see what I mean. This wine is 11% ABV and is really sweet. Not as sweet as a port but not as dry as the wines that usually carry this name. I think with a little aging this wine could be very good! I picked it up at Bridgeport Krogers for around $11.

Stay tuned for my next post on weekend wine activities for June 21-22, 2008

 

Where can I get the wines?

I visit wines shops and stores around the North Central area of the state quite frequently. I am always looking for new wines from West Virginia to try. It seems that Kirkwood and Lamberts are the wineries that are getting their products out there. I find very little of the other wineries offerings on the shelves. Are these other wineries not producing enough to cover selling them at retail? I asked one of the workers at Rockos in Bridgeport when checking out and he confirms the production theory. He says they have tried to get other wineries besides the mentioned to stock their shelves but their production is not high enough. I would say the best way to get the other wines would be for you to visit the actual winery or most of them have a provision for ordering online. Tell me what you think.

Todays review will be of a wine that I tried long ago but recently bought a bottle to try again. It is the American Chambourcin from Lambert Vintage Wines in Weston. Normally when I want to review a wine I’ll check the website of the winery for a description of the wine and base my review on what they say the wine should taste like but alas Lamberts no longer list this wine on their website. I googled chambourcin and found some pretty good ideas of what to expect. The aromas of this wine were very good and got even better after about ten minutes of letting it breathe. I had a glass of this early in the day and then had another glass at supper and the second glass was by far much better. It seemed to take on a spicy taste which I enjoyed. I would recommend this wine with a pasta dish or even better with a good steak. There was no year marked on the wine so I couldn’t tell what year it was produced. The ABV was 12%.

Wine Events Next Weekend

There are a couple of wine events in the state next weekend. I plan on attending at least one and taking some photos. First there is the Mountain Heritage Arts and Craft Festival in Charles Town. There will be over 200 crafters at this festival. The wineries that are expected to be there are: Forks of Cheat, Kenco Farms, Kirkwood, Lamberts, Potomac Highlands, and West Whitehill. More info can be found at www.jeffersoncounty.com . The second event will be the Mountain Lakes Food and Wine Festival at Stonewall Resort in Weston on Saturday June 14. I will be attending this one and will post on the happenings there with hopefully some good pics. See info on this one at www.stonewallresort.com. Also entertainment at this one includes the Davisson Brothers Band one of my favorite local bands. See you there!

Welcome!

Welcome to the West Virginia Wine Review! This blog, as you can tell by the name, will be a review of wines made in West by God, stand up when you say it Virginia. It will include wines made in commercial wineries, wines made by eating establishments to serve to their customers, and homemade wines that I or some other West Virginian has made. Other subjects I will cover will be news concerning the wine industry in the state, wine events within the state (including photos), and wine tasting notes. Also I will be visiting as many wineries as I can and interviewing key people within them. As I am still in the beginning stages of creating this blog I ask that you bear with me while I make improvements. Feel free to make any comments and offer your ideas on improving this blog