Winery Visit - Whitebarrel

I spent this rainy Sunday visiting the Whitebarrel winery with my friend. It was an interesting experience chatting with the folks who run the winery, and learning about their style and philosophy towards winemaking.

Entrance to the winery

I learned that one of the ways the winery owner tries to distinguish Whitebarrel from other Virginia wineries is through experimentation and the idea of "throwing things at the wall and seeing what sticks". We learned that in production, the winery likes to mimic traditional Georgian styles of winemaking.

An example of this is their Chambourcin, a wine made in a unique Kakhetian (a region in the country of Georgia) style. In this region, wine is traditionally stored and fermented in an underground concrete tank. To mimic this, Whitebarrel will allow a block of concrete to sit in it's Chambourcin while it ferments, absorbing it's flavor. I definitely tasted and smelled the concrete influence in the wine when I sampled it, and it was surprisingly very good. The wine had cherry components, a light body and few tannins, all mingled with an unmistakable concrete flavor. It was an interesting experience to be able to sample such an uncommon wine, and learn about the style of production.

Another example of the winemaker's experimentation is their Vidal blanc reserve, which is unique in that it is a white wine fermented like you would red grapes, allowing the skins to stay on. This brings out a bolder, more tannic flavor than I would expect from a white. I wasn't a huge fan of this wine, but I appreciate the different method of production.

Surrounding vineyards

The land Whitebarrel sits on has been used as farmland for about a century, but vines started being grown there in 2006. The winery grows both red and white grapes, and all the wines there this year are grown on site or at other branches of the same winery, not traded from other locations. A non-comprehensive list of all the grape varieties they grow includes Riesling, Chardonnay, Vidal blanc, Seyval blanc, Cabernet franc, Cabernet sauvignon and Merlot. It's incredible to think how many varieties can fit into one plot of land. We learned on our tour that one of the benefits of this particular location are idea rain and drainage. The hills allow for good drainage, and being situated in a "rain shadow" area allows the spot to get less rain than other local regions, which is ideal for growing grapes.

We were able to sample 11 wines during our tour there (10 included in the tour + 1 thrown in on the house). All of the bottles had the same labeling (besides the name), so I didn't take the time to take pictures of every bottle, but the wines I tried included: Chardonnay, Seyval blanc, BIN #997 (a semi-sweet white and raspberry wine mix), BIN #101 (an apple wine), BIN #214 (a red mix), Chambourcin, Vidal blanc Reserve, and 4 wine infusions in Peach, Mango, Cherry, and Black Currant varieties.

Chardonnay

Seyval blanc

 

Since I'm not usually a huge fan of white wines, I wanted to take this opportunity to sample as many as a I could and it paid off. I found 2 whites that I really enjoyed here: the Seyval blanc, which had an extremely earthy, oaky flavor, and an extremely tannic component (which I did not expect from a white), and their BIN #997, which had a pinkish/orangish tint to it, bold raspberry, and the perfect level of sugar to be sweet without overpowering. I enjoyed the latter wine so much that I took a bottle home with me.

My new favorite semi-sweet wine

Trying the wine infusions was a new experience. These are unique blends of table wine with fruit, all of which sit at a 10% residual sugar level. They had two white mixes (Peach and Mango) and three red mixes (Plum, Cherry, and Black Currant). While I like a peach flavor, I found both of the white mixes to be way too sweet for easy consumption, and I don't think I could've finished an entire glass of either. The cherry infusion was reminiscent of cherry medicine, or something like snow cone syrup, so it wasn't a favorite of mine. Both my friend and I loved the black currant infusion, however, which had a deep, rich scent to it that was delightful on such a cold, dreary day.

Another shot of the vineyards

Overall, it was a valuable and enjoyable experience to be able to speak to people working on a vineyard and learn about their approach to wine making. Seeing the land and area where the wine is grown and made allowed me to appreciate the uniqueness of each wine I tried. Whitebarrel was a worthwhile trip, and I'd definitely love to visit again.