Tasting At Old House Vineyards

About the Vineyard: Old House Vineyards offers 75 acres of beautiful country scenery at the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains.  As this is my first experience at Old House, I am going to refrain from providing too much information.  The experience at Old House was wonderful.  It is off the beaten path of Route 29 and outside of the Culpeper hustle and bustle.  The grounds contain a beautiful tasting room, which used to be a home.  The grounds also include other features such as a fireplace and patio, next to their lake.  While our day was outside was impacted to the weather, we did take a stroll through the vineyards and along the lake.  Old House has provided a bridge, which goes out to a small island in the lake.  This island is used for events, such as weddings.   After reading about Old House later, I discovered that they have a tradition of lovers hanging padlocks to the Love Lock chains at the dock off the wedding island.  After which time, the lovers throw the keys into the lake in a gesture of undying love.  This is actually a tradition born from Rome, which you can read more into on the Old House website.  

My Tasting Experience: Old House offered some of the best wines I have tasted in Virginia.  The hosting staff was very accommodating, knowledgeable, and focused on providing the best wine tasting experience.  One of the reasons I All of their wines on selection was Estate wines, at the time of my tasting.  There were 10 wines to taste, but I missed out on Rosie’s Rose because it was out of stock.  Again, I am going to refrain from discussing the wines too much until I do my next tasting.  I will comment on our top two choices, which were the Chardonnay and the Arctica.  I favor wines that are aged in oak, due to the buttery taste.  I certainly got that experience with this Chardonnay.  The Artica is one of the best late harvest wines I have tasted.  If you are looking for a rich dessert wine, this will definitely satisfy that need.  Let me end with the note that these two wines happened to jump out at us during this tasting, however all their wines are fantastic and it was a very hard choice.  Next time we may favor a different wine depending the mood of the day or our taste buds.  If you really want to find out about their wines, go taste for yourself and share your experiences back with me, on this blog.

Key observations I have taken away from my tasting:  I have found that the hosting staff of vineyards prides themselves in their knowledge of wine, the craft of making wine, their vineyard and often times the industry.   I have often noticed that people refrain from asking questions during tastings and at times hosts may be too busy to entertain many questions.  However, I enjoy wine tasting because I am offered an opportunity to learn about Virginia, to learn about a craft and understand the environment around me.  I have found that the best tastings are the ones where I can share dialogue with the hosts about the vineyard and wines.  Sure, going to a vineyard is about the wine, but it’s also about discovery and being a part of something.  Don’t be afraid to ask questions.   There is no right or wrong question and don’t forget it also part of the hosts job to steer conversations into a productive dialogue about their industry.  That opportunity will not arise until to take the first step. 

Website: http://www.oldhousevineyards.com/