Blending with Bill Virginia Gold 2007

Saturday, April 24^th kicked off the first of the blending workshops with our winemaker, Bill Swain. The wine being blended was our future Virginia Gold 2007 vintage. Virginia Gold is our Bordeaux blend of Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, Malbec, Merlot, and Petit Verdot, all of which are grown right here on the Ingleside estate. This wine is only made from premium vintage year harvests, the last being 2002. Winemaker, Bill Swain, notes that 2007 was a “wonderful vintage year… bad for the farmers but good for the vineyards.” What constitutes a good vintage year for a wine is that the weather was warm and dry well into the harvest season, allowing the grapes to ripen to perfection, giving our reds an intense flavor.

At this blending workshop, participants worked hard along side of Bill for over five hours to develop the best blends of these grapes for the future 2007 Virginia Gold release. Each grape variety is done in different styles of barrels leaving each barrel with a different taste. Of the five wine varieties being used, 100 barrels were tasted. Participants unanimously stated that “It’s so amazing how the same wines in different barrels can taste so different and in a positive way!” The wine blend is not yet finalized but they have narrowed it down to three blended candidates in which Bill will choose and bottle next month. Though the pressure is on us to release our new Virginia Gold as soon as possible, perfection takes time and could bottle age for as much as a year.

The next blending workshop is Saturday May 1^st 6 – 8 pm where the winemaker will be barrel blending the Petit Verdot 2007. Space is still available. Call 804.224.8687 or visit our website www.inglesidevineyards.com for more info. 

Spring Cleaning

Spring is here and the busy season is getting a head start! We have been painting and gardening and sprucing up the grounds due to the harsh effects of our SNOWMAGEDDON just in time for our guests to arrive. Everything is looking beautiful and the trees and flowers are in bloom. The birds are singing and a nice picnic in the courtyard is all you need for a nice relaxing evening, sipping on some Ingleside wine to take all the stress away. Come and visit us and enjoy the atmosphere and most of all our award-winning wine!

 

Also today...Maria and Henry are labeling more Petit Verdot Reserve!

Spring Barrel Tasting

This years Spring Barrel Tasting was a hit! Over a hundred people came and enjoyed the sites, sounds, and tastes here at Ingleside this past Saturday. Peter Fields and his band filled the courtyard with beautiful music as our guests enjoyed our wine. The barrel tasting was held in the cellar where guests got to try our Sangiovese 2008 vintage from 4 different types of barrels. This wine came from the same harvest and batch and was put in the barrels the same day, the difference lies in the wood. Each barrel is oak, but from different parts of the world making the characteristics different which have a different effect on the wine. The oak barrels tasted from were French, Virginia, American, and European (French and Hungarian blend) oaks. Come to our next barrel tasting November 13, 2010! See ya there!

- Corey Veit

Doug Flemer wins the 2010 Gordon Murchie Lifetime Achievement Award!

Friday night, February 26, 2010, kicked off the Virginia Wineries Association Wine Expo in Richmond, VA with an awards ceremony. Out of the 200 plus wines entered into the VWA Governor's Cup, 15 won a Gold medal. Our Petit Verdot Special Reserve 2005 was one of those gold medal winners. Our three other wines entered won medals as well; Cabernet Franc 2006 (Silver) and Sangiovese 2007 and Merlot 2006 (Bronze). Though we did not clench the Governor's Cup this year we are still proud of our prestigious awards. On top of the wine awards, Doug Flemer, owner and proprietor of Ingleside Vineyards, won the 2010 Gordon Murchie Lifetime Achievement Award. Click here to read more! The rest of the weekend at the wine expo was very successful and we had a lot of fun meeting new people and showcasing our wine! 

- Corey Veit

Snow Days

Virginia has been getting pounded on with severe winter weather these past few weeks. We unfortunately had to cancel the Valentines Day event due to this weather and the conditions it left behind. However, our work here at the winery keeps on kicking. The new Pinot Grigio 2009 is in the shop for sale and the Rosato di Sangiovese 2009 is being bottled as I type this blog. 2010 is going to be a bigger and better year than 2009 and we are looking forward to its challenges, events, new products, and changes. We here at Ingleside want to thank all of our customers for supporting us throughout the years as your local winery here in the Northern Neck.

- Corey Veit