While I was
recovering from my Saturday morning run, I read Chapter 13 of Drink This Now
and it mentioned that the Barboursville Winery outside of Charlottesville has
the best representation of the grape Nebbiolo on our continent. That’s a pretty big statement so Sunday morning
on my way out of Charlottesville I decided to make a detour. After about 35 minutes of windy roads and
scenic vistas, I found myself at the Barboursville Vineyards. I drove up just in time to catch a tour of
the grounds and facilities.
Barboursville Vineyard main
building
Bill,
our tour guide, gave a colorful and entertaining account of this winery, which
dates back to 1976. The immediate grounds
surrounding the winery are steeped in history that dates to the 17th
century. The winery very much has an “Old
World” feel. Much that of that feel is
due to the winery being owned and run by prominent Italian wine producers. In fact, the Barboursville Winery is part of
the Casa Vinicola Zonin, which has estates in seven Italian provinces and dates
back to 1821. The founder of
Barboursville Winery, Gianni Zonin, is a 6th generation heir of
Zonin wine enterprise. According to
Bill, he visits the Barboursville Winery three or four times a year. During the tour, we happened to come across
the vineyard’s renowned winemaker Luca Paschina. Check out the bumper plate on what I think Bill
said was his truck.
Winemaker
Luca Paschina (center)
Napa is for auto parts bumper sticker
The facilities
were impressive. The most notable thing
I remember was the steps that go into making the barrels used at the
Barboursville Winery. It takes five
years to make one of these barrels, which are imported from France. I was also impressed by the steps that go
into making the winery’s famous Octagon wine.
The wine is a proprietary blend of the estate’s best Merlot (primary
grape), Cabernet Franc, Cabernet
Sauvignon, and Petit Verdot grapes.
Imported French barrels
Following
the tour I did an abbreviated wine tasting.
There were more than 16 wines available for tasting. Here’s a sample of what I tasted:
Octagon 2008:
This is the most famous wine produced at the Vineyard. On the nose, it was fruity and
approachable. On the palate, it was medium-bodied,
well balanced and had a clean finish. I couldn’t
come here and not pick up a bottle.
Malvaxia Reserve 2007:
Other than the Octagon, I got the sense that this was the most notable
wine produced at the winery. This wine
is made using the traditional Passito process and that accounts for its
signature sweetness. It undergoes 6
months of slow and cool formation followed by extended barrel aging. It was full-bodied like a port, fruity, and balanced.
Merlot Reserve 2010: This Merlot is only produced in the
finest vintages. On the nose, it had a nice
welcoming fruity aroma. It had a nice
acidity and a clean finish. Considering
its higher price, it didn’t really stand out to me.
Cabernet Sauvignon Reserve 2007: Again, this wine is only
produced in the finest vintages. The
tannins really came through and the fruit flavors were nice. This was a good wine.
Rosato:
I tasted this wine as a point of reference to the Malvaxia. This wine is actually sweeter than the
Malvaxia but it was a different kind of sweetness. It didn’t have the body and creaminess of the
Malvaxia. The most frequently used
descriptor by the people around me was Kool-aid. Yeah, it tasted like liquid fruit candy.
View of ruins of Gov Barbour mansion
from Vineyard
I’m glad
I decided to make the side-trip to the Barboursville Winery. You definitely walk away from the visit
thinking you’ve been to a world-class estate.
There’s a restaurant and bed-and-breakfast on site so an extended stay
could be worth considering. I wish I’d
had more time to spend there. I
definitely plan to make another trip!
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