It was just a short drive from Elkin Creek. The drive into the vineyard was also very nice, there are some rolling hills with a few ponds. Grassy Creek also has a few cabins for rent on the vineyard grounds. The tasting room is located in a remodeled barn. They did a great job on the barn, the tasting room is open and roomy with a large bar, a huge stone fireplace and a neat fountain. I was slacking and didn't get any pictures of either one so here are a couple from their website:
Today they were tasting their 2006 wines: Chardonnays (stainless and barrel), Red Barn Blend, Merlot, Barbera, Cab Franc and Cabernet Sauvignon. They also have two wines under the Klondike Farms label: 2007 Golden Guernsey and the 2006 Guernsey Red.
The Klondike wines have a unique bottle that is styled like old milk bottles. It is cute and goes along with the farm theme. Both wines are fairly sweet, the red is a blend of Cab Sav, Cab Franc, Syrah, Merlot, Noble and Carlos grapes and wasn't half bad for a sweet wine. The white however seemed to have that odd taste that I seem to pick up in most North Carolina Chardonnays. I'm not sure if it is a fungus, mineral or what but it leaves an odd taste in my mouth that I'm not overly fond of. Both their stainless and barrel chardonnays also seemed to have this present.
Onto the reds... The Red Barn Blend, Merlot and Cab Sav weren't bad. None were particularly impressive but all were ok. The Cab Sav was their first release so I would expect it to improve some as the vines develop. The Barbera was a nice surprise, I'm not as familiar with this grape since I don't see it much in Virginia. It had deep color with notes of currant and black cherry, it was smooth with a lasting finish. The Cab Franc was probably their best wine, the host had us taste it with some really good dark chocolate and it paired perfect. It had notes of blackberries and cassis with some berry fruit on the finish. I'm usually not a big Cab Franc fan, but I'm warming up to it, especially if I run across a few more like this.
One other interesting thing they had in the tasting room were table glasses made out of recycled wine bottles. I haven't ran across these before but they were really well done in several different styles.
Driving out we went by the cabin area with a beautiful view of the larger pond. They offer a couple of different sized cabins at rates comparable to the local Bed & Breakfasts.
No comments:
Post a Comment