{"id":2691,"date":"2018-08-12T14:57:24","date_gmt":"2018-08-12T18:57:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/ncwineguys.com\/?p=2691"},"modified":"2024-04-21T16:56:54","modified_gmt":"2024-04-21T20:56:54","slug":"summer-2018-visit-to-blenheim-vineyards","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/ncwineguys.com\/index.php\/summer-2018-visit-to-blenheim-vineyards\/","title":{"rendered":"Summer 2018 Visit to Blenheim Vineyards"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"

Our group with Kirsty Harmon at Blenheim Vineyards<\/p><\/div>\n

We recently had the pleasure of traveling to Charlottesville, VA.\u00a0 We met up with fellow bloggers, wine tourists, and oenophiles, Brian and Dax Yost.\u00a0 Brian and Dax are known for\u00a0Wine Tourist Magazine<\/a>.\u00a0 Brian also writes The Virginia Grape<\/a> wine blog.\u00a0 Both are big advocates for East Coast wines.<\/p>\n

Brian was able to arrange some tours for us.\u00a0 We started with a visit to Blenheim Vineyards<\/a>.\u00a0 We had the pleasure of meeting Blenheim\u2019s winemaker and General Operations Manager, Kirsty Harmon.\u00a0 Kirsty is a respected Virginia winemaker.\u00a0 She describes her wine style as fruit forward and approachable.<\/p>\n

Blenheim does have a famous owner.\u00a0 Singer Dave Matthews<\/a> who has ties the Charlottesville area owns Blenheim.\u00a0 Dave and Kirsty have an agreement.\u00a0 She sticks to the wine and he sticks to the music.\u00a0 Dave does provide artwork for some of Blenheim\u2019s wine labels.\u00a0 Otherwise, Kirsty has pretty much free reign to create the wine she wants.<\/p>\n

Blenheim is unique in that all of its wines come in bottles with screw caps rather than the traditional corks.\u00a0 Some folks turn their noses up to screw cap wine, but it has a much lower failure rate than traditional corks.<\/p>\n

\"\"

A view of Blenheim’s Vineyards from the back deck<\/p><\/div>\n

Blenheim is a 30 acre estate with 17.5 acres under vine.\u00a0 They produce around 8,000 cases of wine a year.<\/p>\n

Kirsty picks her grapes for acidity rather than sugar.\u00a0 This is typically between 21 and 22 Brix.\u00a0 She also makes picking decisions by tasting the grapes.<\/p>\n

No wine is overly oaked. \u00a0Ten months or so is about all a particular wine might spend in oak.\u00a0 Kirsty uses a combination of French, American, and Hungarian barrels.<\/p>\n

Grapes are harvested by hand.\u00a0 They\u2019re also sorted by hand.\u00a0 A sorting table is used to find the best berries for wine making.\u00a0 The 3 ton bladder press is used to press the juice from the grapes.\u00a0 Kirsty using punch downs during fermentation.\u00a0 The winery sits just below the tasting room.\u00a0 Glass enclosures allow for a bird\u2019s eye view of the activity of the winery.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"\"

Tanks in the Winery at Blenheim Vineyards<\/p><\/div>\n

Kirsty let us taste a number of wines from the 2016 and 2017 harvests.\u00a0 Stand outs were the 2017 Albari\u00f1o and 2016 Painted White.<\/p>\n

The Albari\u00f1o was whole cluster pressed, fermented and then filtered. It had notes of peach and pear. \u00a0The nose was soft and floral.<\/p>\n

The Painted White whose label features a painting by Dave Matthews is a blend of 59% Sauvignon Blanc, 31% Viognier, and 10% Chardonnay. \u00a0It spent 10 months in predominately French oak. \u00a0It had notes of peach and honey with just a touch of oak. \u00a0The finish was crisp and clean.<\/p>\n

We highly recommend a trip to Blenheim anytime you’re in the Charlottesville area. \u00a0They’re always one our of favorite stops.<\/p>\n

Thanks to Kirsty for taking the time to show us around and taste some great wines! \u00a0We look forward to visiting again soon!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

We recently had the pleasure of traveling to Charlottesville, VA.\u00a0 We met up with fellow bloggers, wine tourists, and oenophiles, Brian and Dax Yost.\u00a0 Brian and Dax are known for\u00a0Wine Tourist Magazine.\u00a0 Brian also writes The Virginia Grape wine blog.\u00a0 Both are big advocates for East Coast wines. Brian was able to arrange some toursContinue reading →<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":2692,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[379],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2691","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-cellar","has-thumb"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/ncwineguys.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2691","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/ncwineguys.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/ncwineguys.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/ncwineguys.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/ncwineguys.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2691"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"http:\/\/ncwineguys.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2691\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2703,"href":"http:\/\/ncwineguys.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2691\/revisions\/2703"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/ncwineguys.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2692"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/ncwineguys.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2691"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/ncwineguys.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2691"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/ncwineguys.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2691"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}