Virginia Wine Adventure

After my wonderful experience at Vintage Virginia, I decided that a trip to Virginia Wine country would be a great father’s day plan.  Since my dad is such a wine enthusiast I was more than a bit nervous, especially given the two hour drive to the first vineyard.  I was not disappointed.  Our first stop at Cooper Vineyards revealed wines that were as good and better than I remembered.  Cooper Vineyards is located about 96 miles from Washington, DC on a remote 14 acre plot of land.  The vineyard buys half of its grapes and grows the rest with only one person tending the entire crop.  The wine-making process takes place in a small green barn which is also used as a storage facility until the new LEED Gold rated tasting room is completed.  Do not be fooled by the small facility and plot of land, the wines are wonderful.

After stepping out of the car into scorching heat, a vineyard employee lead us to the wonderfully air-conditioned tasting room.  The tasting room is located inside the vineyard house adjacent to the kitchen.  The employee, a 24 year old Virginia native, was

very knowledgeable.  Not only about Cooper wines, but about wine in general.  My relief came immediately when we began the tasting and not only did my dad think the first wine (Chardonnay), was good, it was very enjoyable!  My worry and stress after planning this day continued to fade away as we tasted each Cooper Wine.  Once again, I left with a case of Virginia wine (that my dad so generously gave me on his father’s day), except it was not me that was surprised by the quality, it was my dad.

After choosing my case, we left Cooper Vineyards and headed to Barboursville Vineyards to the Italian restaurant Palladio for lunch.  Palladio’s menu looks as good as the food tastes.  Chef Melissa Close Hart does an amazing job of making a diner feel as though they are in Italy, from my Pappardelle al Sugo di Coniglio (papparadelle with braised rabbit), to my mom’s Carpaccio di Bietole (roasted beet carpaccio with goat cheese souffle).  They offer two to four course lunches for just $36-66 depending on whether you choose to pair wines with each course.  The service over all was very good, but slowed down dramatically towards the end of the meal.  It took us 45 minutes to order and receive our desserts (the entire lunch lasted over two and a half hours).  We were not in a rush, but even so, the lunch dragged on unacceptably long.

Unfortunately, Barboursville wines were not what I remembered from Vintage Virginia. We headed to the tasting room after lunch to an overcrowded, terribly structured tasting room.  There was a station for whites, reds and dessert wines.  The staff was not as knowledgeable, or at least the crowds prevented them from actually giving descriptions of the wines.

The crowds were enough to feed the stereotype that wrongly follows Virginia wine tastings and festivals.  They were there to drink, not to taste.  Even if all of these factors were the same, quality wines would have made up for them.  I did not like more than 2-3 wines the entire tasting and even those, I would not consider buying after visiting Cooper Vineyards.  Perhaps my misjudgment of Barboursville was due to the fact that it was a later stop of my festival tour, but I am certainly disappointed in the overall quality of wines that I tasted on Sunday.  Fortunately, beautiful grounds and Thomas Jefferson’s architectural ruins provided a nice end to our Barboursville visit.

Despite my Barboursville disappointment, with some help from the Cooper Vineyards employee, I was able to map out about 29 vineyards that I am told are the ‘do not miss visits’ in Virginia wine country, but I am always open to more suggestions!

Once again, Cooper Vineyards opened my eyes to the wonderful quality of wine existing in Virginia.  The knowledge that there are many great vineyards in this area has opened a whole new world of wine exploration for me.

**Thanks to my dad, Tom Leonardi for these wonderful photos!

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