Winery Visit - Barboursville Vineyards

I visited Barboursville Vineyards this past Sunday, March 15, 2015 to participate in their wine tasting and tour their facilities. I had done wine tastings at wine/liquor stores before but never at a winery. I was also very excited to see how the process was completed. So now on to my first winery visit!

Barboursville Vineyards, Barboursville, Virginia

Barboursville Vineyards is located off of U.S. Route 33 in Barboursville, Virginia which is about 17 miles northeast of Charlottesville. The estate sits on 870 acres divided between two counties and 125 of that is devoted to the vines. Included on the site is two tasting rooms, an inn and multiple cottages, a restaurant, a Jefferson built mansion left in ruins, and processing facilities. 

Barboursville Ruins

The land was previously owned by former Virginia governor and US Senator James Barbour whom the winery and area bear his name. For a long time, from 1790 until 1884 to be exact, the only the Barbours lived on site in the 1804 Inn (then just a residence) and the Barboursville Mansion (of which Thomas Jefferson designed). The mansion burned down on Christmas Day 1884 leaving it in ruins. Eventually the land was passed around and sold to Gianni Zonin. He opened the winery in 1976.

The whole process from growing the grapes to bottling is done on site. After the grapes have been crushed, destemed, and possibly deskinned they are moved to these stainless steel vats. Here is where the grape juice is turned into wine. They are left to ferment in the vats. Once it reached the right point it is moved into a new vat via a pipe which leaves behind the debris. The red wines go through the same process but with two vat changes instead of one. After they are done fermenting they are then transferred to barrels for aging.

This room is connected to the room with the stainless steel vats. This makes it easier to move the barrels once they've been filled from the vats. Here is where the wines are allowed to age. They use primarily French oak with a little bit of American. They will rub a red substance around the middle of new barrels to signify that barrel is to be used for reds only. Eventually the substance will fade and that signals to the winemaker that barrel is pretty much used up and will not impart many flavors. 

A 2014 Cabernet Sauvignon from vineyard lot 337 in a new oak barrel

The Octagon Room

They had a special room dedicated to the aging of their signature wine called Octagon. Octagon is a Bordeaux blend of grapes and regularly retails for upwards of $50. This room is climate controlled and I could feel the difference in the air as soon as I walked in. 

The bottling and label machine

Foil machine

The labler

The next step is bottling the wine. The guide said that it is uncommon to find wineries that do their own bottling where the norm is having a company come out on a semi-truck and do it then. Barboursville uses Italian bottles to stick with their roots. The bottle moves down the assembly line where it's injected with nitrogen and filled with wine (the Pinot Grigio was to be bottled the next day) so that no oxygen would remain in the bottle. The bottle is then corked and foiled. Finally the label is applied to the bottle and it is put into a box to age longer before being shipped out. It takes 5 people to run this machine. 

Tuscan Tasting Room

The final part of the tour was getting to taste what Barboursville had to offer. I spent a long time learning about how the wine was made and now it was time to taste the fruits of their hard work. For $7 I got to taste 19 wines and keep the glass in which I was tasting. To my disappointment though the Octagon was not on the tasting list (though if I wanted I could spend $6 on just half a glass of it so that was a pass). 

• Brut Cuvee 1814 and Brut Cuvee Rose 1814: Collaborative effort from Barboursville and Tenuta II Bosco in Italy. Fruity nose but smells like a red wine (all Pinot Noir grapes). Really dry although the rose was a tad sweeter. They were just okay.
• 2013 Pinot Grigio: They called this their true Italian wine. Fruity and citrusy. Off-dry to sweet. Good flavors and not a bad little wine.
• 2013 Chardonnay: Stainless steel fermented creates a crisp Chardonnay. Lots of flavors working together with some acidity behind it. 
• 2014 Sauvignon Blanc: This came as advertised. Big aromas. Distinctive tasting notes including passion fruit. They is a really well made wine.
• 2013 Viognier Reserve: This was their signature white varietal grape. Aged in oak. It was light on the nose. Citrusy in taste and had light acidity on the end. I liked it but didn't think it was worth $22 price point.
• 2013 Chardonnay Reserve: Barrel fermented and aged for 8 months, this Chardonnay has really picked up some nice flavors. Oaky smell with light fruits on the taste. Big vanilla finish. I really liked this one especially more than the other Chardonnay. This was my favorite white wine that I tried.
• 2013 Vintage Rose: Light, floral nose. It was pleasant to drink. Not really memorable though. It was a three red grape blend.
• 2013 Riesling: Light and refreshing. Floral on the nose with citrus and orange coming through on the taste. This is an off-dry Riesling. Not a bad wine by any means but I kind of expected more. Good wine for the price point ($12) though.
• 2013 Barbera Reserve: This is where I think they really hit their stride. Earthy on the nose with hints of chocolate and plum. Raspberry and chocolate on the taste with a short finish. This was one of my favorites I tasted. Well crafted and worth the price point of $22.
• 2013 Sangiovese Reserve: They keep with the Italian motif here with the king of Tuscan wines. Vegetal and red fruit on the nose and a cherry taste. It is acidic on the finish. It was a good wine but was overshadowed by better wines.
• 2013 Merlot: Oak aged for a short time. Plum and cherry on the nose with a light, smooth, fruity taste. It had a short finish. I really liked this too and they do Merlot very well. Better wine than its retail.
• 2013 Cabernet Sauvignon: Oak aged. Nice wine. Herbal smell. Cherry and currants on the taste. Short finish. Quality wine. Kind of an also ran in the quest to be the best.
• 2012 Cabernet Franc Reserve: Here we come to the big boy. The red grape varietal that Virginia and Barboursville is becoming known for. I was excited to try this and was not disappointed. Cherry, plum, and fruity on the nose with a spicy, red fruit taste. The finish lingered. This was in my top two favorites if not the best.
• 2012 Nebbiolo Reserve: A very big red wine and a price to boot. Big, fragrant aromas. It has a taste of berries, tobacco, a light spice or herbal component. It finishes smooth. This was a fantastic wine.
• Cabernet Blanc: Enter the dessert wines. Fruity and citrusy on the nose. This blush wine was made from all Cabernet Sauvignon. It has a sweet taste that is pleasant. It has a crisp, short finish. Easy drinking, sit on the front porch during the summer evening sippin' wine.
• Rosato: Fruity smell. It has a super, super fruity taste. I also get hints of strawberries. The finish goes down smooth. 
• Phileo: This is where the line is drawn that separates the first two dessert wines from these two. Super fruity smell with an almost citrusy note. The taste is very sweet. It's like silk on the palate. The finish is very smooth. 8% residual sugar.
• 2010 Paxxito Malvaxia: This is a wine made from raisins. Grapes are set aside for 120 days to dry before crushing and pressing followed by 6 months of fermentation. This wine was absolutely HUGE. Big aromas such as apricot with the alcohol coming through. It had a super sweet taste which was similar to sipping liqueur. It was balanced and very smooth. 15% alcohol with 11% residual sugars. This was my favorite wine. 

Barboursville Vineyards was such a great place to visit. It is beautifully located and full of history. It truly is beautiful. It was a bit too cool and windy to venture out into the vineyards but they still looked nice from afar. I would like to go back at some point and taste more of their wine and eat at their restaurant. I had heard big things about this winery and they definitely lived up to it. I was highly impressed with Barboursville.