Winery Visit - The Winery at La Grange

The main house with a tasting room and shop

On Sunday, April 29th I visited The Winery at La Grange in Haymarket, Virginia with my brother, sister, and friend.  Upon our arrival, I was shocked to see how many cars were in the lot and how many people were enjoying food and wine on the grass.  We all thought there was an event going on.  I got worried that they were closed for a private party and that we'd have to turn around and go home.  We walked into what looked like a home and saw groups of people tasting a variety of wine.  I went up to the counter and they welcomed us with open arms.  I proceeded to tell the young lady at the counter how crowded the place was and she informed me that it was actually one of their slower days. She told me how the line at the register is usually out the door as people visit often to enjoy their wine and appetizers.

Petit Verdot grapes growing

Cabernet Sauvignon grapes growing

This winery is currently in a premature stage of harvesting, so they do not actually harvest any grapes.  Petit Verdot and Cabernet Sauvignon are the two grapes that they are growing, but they will not be harvested for a few years.

Award winning wines from La Grange

We started off with tasting the wines before exploring the winery.  There were 9 reds, 1 rose, and 5 whites.
2010 Pinot Gris: This is a new world style wine with a citrus aroma. It had a very earthy taste to it.
2010 Fletcher's Chardonnay: This was my favorite white that I tried! It seems to be everyone else's favorite too due to all the awards it has won.  It is a non malolactic French Oak fermentation produced wine.  It had a sweet taste to it, but not overbearingly sweet.
2007 Fletcher's Chardonnay: This wine tasted very similar to the 2010, but had a more dry taste to it.
2009 Viogner: This wine is extremely aromatic with fruit flavors, such as honeysuckle and lychee.  It is fermented in stainless steel and aged for 6 months in Hungarian Barrels.
2010 Rose of Merlot: Very good! Extremely crisp and refreshing rose. It had a beautiful light cherry and strawberry aroma with hints of flavor from raspberries. I would definitely like to enjoy this wine with a nice fruit salad.
2010 Cuvee Blanc: This cuvee had a strong aroma of lychee fruit.  It tasted like a mix of flowers and honey.  The host told us that it'd be great to pair with spicy foods.
2010 Norton: I was excited to try the Norton because I keep hearing about this grape since it's popularly grown in Virginia.  This wine had extreme oak flavors.  It had a hint of spice to it.
2009 Cabernet Franc: This is a complex wine blended from four of Virginia's vineyards.  It had notes of fig and berry aromas along with flavors of cocoa, spice, and oak. The oak flavor was way too strong for my liking.
2010 Reserve Cabernet Franc: This emerged from a double aging process.  There are dark cherry chocolate flavors with a  hint of black pepper.  A very smoky, but smooth finish.  There is a ton of flavor in this wine.
2010 Merlot: This wine had hints of cedar and spice on the nose with an integration of black cherry and tannin.  This wine didn't wow me.
2009 Meritage: This wine is a blend of 4 of the 5 grapes from Bordeaux.  It includes Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Cabernet Franc, and Petit Verdot. It is aged 14 months.  Very tannic, but also very smooth.
2010 Cabernet Sauvignon: A classic Cabernet Sauvignon.  It was dry, but I feel like it'd be great to pair with food.  The host informed us that it is great aged and has a strong age-worthy component.
2009 Tannat: A full bodied red wine with an extreme tannic structure.  It made my mouth pucker and left a dry feeling.  Not my preferred style of wine.
2009 Snort: Snort is a play on the word "Port". Delicious! I loved this wine. It was sweeter than most reds I've tried, so I really enjoyed that. They gave us pieces of dark chocolate to pair with it.  When I tried to wine before the chocolate it was sweet, but once I tried the chocolate and then had a sip of the wine all those flavors just intensified! It had such a great impact on it.
General's Battlefield Red: This was a special wine they were allowing us to taste.  I really enjoyed all the flavors I was exposed to.  There was oak and fruit flavors. It was very subtle yet had a big impact on my palate.


After we were done tasting these wonderful wines, we grabbed a menu and ordered a few snacks to enjoy with our glasses of wine.  I ordered a glass of the 2010 Chardonnay along with a baguette.  My siblings and friend order crab and artichoke spread, jalapeño cheese spread, pita chips, and prosciutto.  The wine tasted even better with the food.  For some reason it seemed as if the taste of the Chardonnay was sweeter once I had food with it.  It was such an enjoyable experience.  We sat outside in the beautiful weather listening to a band that was playing.  It was very relaxing.

Drinking a glass of Chardonnay with bread and spreads

Another view of the winery

Once we were all done with our meal, we began our tour of the winery.  We didn't need to have a formal tour because we were free to roam everything at the winery and ask questions to the employees around the area.  I got to see their barrel room and production site. It was such a great visit! I would definitely come back and enjoy more food and wine here!