White Barrel Winery

Hey there,
So Saturday 4/23/16, my boyfriend Rees and I decided to go to White Barrel Winery. I didn't realize we were supposed to take lots of pictures while we were there, but I took some of the wine we bought and of my tasting sheet. I learned that the winery used to be called Attimo Winery. It was a very nice, brand new looking building that we went up to, it was blue in color. It was very nice and spacious inside, and the food did smell delicious even though we did not eat anything while we were there. Also so we are clear, all the stuff in "" is straight from White Barrel Winery tasting sheet.

When we arrived we were greeted at the door, and were told to go up to the bar. We asked for a wine tasting. We first got to try Chardonnay "(similar to Masquerade/Yesterday Song). mellow with soft bouquet of honey, vanilla, and green apple. Dry and crisp with pear on the palate. Aged with VSOP oak to give it a slight tannin finish. Great with fruit, cheese, light appetizers 12.5% alcohol, 0% residual sugar. $6 a glass/ $19btl."

This wine was a pale yellow in color, it smelled of apple and honey. It was served cold. It was very crisp and dry and the aftertaste was not that great in my opinion. I thought this wine was OK.

Second up we got to taste Vidal Blanc "(similar to Sonnet 98). This has floral bouquet and vanilla undertones and fresh greens and herbs. This wine has a delicate flavor with a clean finish. Perfect for holiday dinners, chicken, and crisp salads or fish dishes. 12.5% alcohol, 0.25% residual sugar. $6 a glass /$18 btl."

This wine was darker in yellow color than the last, it was served cold. I thought it smelled lovely and had a good taste to it. 

The third wine we got to taste was BIN #704 "(similar to Off the Cuff): This is a blend of white wines, which is mellow, slightly sweet, and bright. This wine has a sweet, mineral and citrus characteristics. 12.5% alcohol. 1.75% residual sugar. $6 a glass/ $18 btl."

This wine had a lovely bouquet of some sort of fruit that just smelled delicious. When I tasted it, it was crisp and light and fruity. It was very pleasant, something I think of drinking on a hot summers day. It was sweet, but not overly sweet. I have a picture of this wine because I liked it so much I bought one bottle. Here are two picture of this bottle of wine:

The Fourth Wine we got to taste was BIN #997 "(similar to Just Kissed blush): This wine has a raspberry undertones and a sweet fruity flavor. 12.5% alcohol. 3.0% residual sugar. $6 glass /$17 btl."

This wine was served cold. It was a darker yellow in color. Almost orangish. The smell was delicious, it was hard to pick out all the delicious notes of different fruits. This wine tasted really good, it was a little dry, and crisp, but was fruity and delicious. It was really good. I didn't get a bottle only because I couldn't afford to pay for another one.


The fifth wine I got to taste was BIN #127 "(similar to Tropical getaway): This is a white wine and then blended with mangos. It is sweet, soft, and amazing tropical. 12.5% alcohol. 15.0% residual sugar. $6 glass/$18 btl."

This wine was delicious. It smelled of mangos, and tropical paradise, with pineapple and other delicious flavors. It was so delightful in taste that I bought two bottles. here some pictures of this wine:

We then got to change it up, rinse our glasses and taste the reds. Which by the way have been the best reds I have ever tasted. Apart of me thinks you should get some for the class to taste next year so they know what reds should taste like. Or at least in my opinion, these are just wonderful. And this is coming from someone who does not like reds, so that is really saying something.

SO the sixth wine we got to taste was BIN #260 "(similar to After Midnight): This deep, mellow red blend has a sweet start, with a dry finish and velvety texture. 12.5% alcohol. 2.25% residual sugar. $6 glass/$18 btl."

This wine was served warm, but can be served cold. It was pretty good. It was refreshing to taste sweet and end dry. It was different, but really good.

The seventh wine we got to taste was BIN #214"(similar to Bull Frog Symphony): This is a blend of red wines and offers smooth, fruity, dark jam flavors with smoky, peppery flavors on the finish. 12.5% alcohol. 0% residual sugar. $6 glass/ $20 btl."

This wine was served warm. It was a very pretty dark red. It smelled like blackberry, or grape jam, it was so pleasant to smell. And the taste was good. It had some smoky flavors, and jammy, and just so delicious. It was really good, and had a really nice finish.

The eighth wine we got to try was Cabernet Franc "(similar to Deep Silence): This is a smooth and smoky Cabernet franc, which provides pepper, smoke, blackberry, and currant. 12.5% alcohol. 0% residual. $6 glass/ $20 btl."

This wine was served warm, and was a nice red color. It smelled very nice, had many different notes. You could smell the pepper, like green bell pepper. The taste was slightly dry but smooth, and you got hints of the bell pepper on your tongue. It was very nice and pleasant. The aftertaste was nice, slightly dry, but smooth. It was really good. I enjoyed this wine quite a bit more than I ever thought I would.

The nineth wine we got to taste was Carbernet Franc Reserve "(Similar to Aviator): Dry, rich mocha flavors, smoky, leather, and tobacco come together in this wine. 12.5% alcohol. 0% residual sugar. $7 glass /$25 btl."

This wine was red in color, it was served warm. The smell was of chocolate, leather. You could taste the hints of leather and tobacco, but it wasn't overwhelming. It had a dry aftertaste but was velvety.

The final wine we had the pleasure of tasting was Chambourcin. "(Similar to AD 325): THis Chambourcin is brilliantly colored with vibrant cherry undertones, this wine is made in an old world style, with soft tannins. Perfect with steak, hearty meals, and chocolate. 12.5% alcohol. 0% residual sugar. $6 glass/ $19 btl."

This wine was served warm. It was red with purple notes in its color. It had a nice smell of nuts and fruits. It was delicious, and possibly my favorite out of their red wines. Although honestly, their red wines have been the best I have tasted so far.

After we finished our tasting we decided to get some bottles, and then we left. It was a very pleasant visit. The staff was very kind and willing to share their knowledge about the winery. I wish I would have written down more of what they said. Here are some more pictures:

This is the front of my tasting sheet from the winery.




Here is a picture of the back of the tasting sheet:





Here is me with the wine we bought:

My dog Roxy was even intrigued by the wine I bought, however do not worry, I don't share my wine with my dog, and the legs in the photo are my boyfriends, not mine (hah).

Regardless if you are looking for some great wine to drink, I suggest you go to White Barrel Winery. Their hours are Monday-Thursday 12pm-7pm; Friday- Saturday 11am-8pm; Sunday 12pm-6pm.

Their address is 4025 Childress Road
Christiansburg, VA 24073

Phone: (540)382-7619

email: wine@whitebarrel.com


I hope you all have enjoyed reading another one of my blogs.
Hope you all have a wonderful week!
Cheers!
~Michelle

Wine Week 11 @ Vintage Cellar (Santola, Terranoble Chard., Terranoble Cab. Sauv., Oasis, & Baci Dolci)

Hello Fellow Wine lovers,

This week I got to taste five new wines at the Vintage Cellar in Blacksburg, Virginia. I did not eat anything with these wines. I will rank these wines from 5 being the worst to 1 being the best that I taste this week.

First up I got to taste Santola Vinho Verde Loureiro and Pederna. It is regularly priced at $7.95 a bottle, and comes from Vinho Verde, Portugal. This wine was served cold, and has a clear light yellow color. The smell was of stainless steal, citrus orange, and mango. The taste was a crisp, sour orange. With a citrusy orange aftertaste. I thought it was good, and I ranked this wine as #2 for this weeks wine tasting. This wine looks like:


Second I got to taste Terranoble Chardonnay 2014. This wine is regularly priced at $15 a bottle and goes on sale for $8.95 a bottle. This wine originated in Central Valley Chile. This wine was served cold and was clear yellow in color. The smell was of apple, sour, avocado? The taste was apple, crisp, and sour. The aftertaste was sour. The wine was good, but not as good as the first I tasted. I ranked this wine as #3 out of the wines tasted for this weeks tasting. Here is a picture of this wine:

The third wine I got to taste was Terranoble Carbernet Sauvignon 2013. This wine is regularly priced at $15 a bottle and goes on sale for $8.95. This wine comes from the Central Valley, Chile. This wine was served warm, the color was dark red with black hints. The smell was pepper, cherry, leather and rubber. The taste was not bad, cherry and dry. The aftertaste was dry cherry. I thought it was one of the better Cabernet Sauvignons I've tried, although I'm still not a red wine drinker. I ranked this wine as #4 out of the 5 wines I tasted this week. Here is a picture of this wine:

The fourth wine was Oasis del Cuyo Malbec. This wine is regularly priced at $12 and goes on sale for $6.95. This wine hails from Mendoza, Argentina. This wine was served warm. The color was darker than the last with a burnt red color. The smell was spicy, pepper, cherry, and rubbing alcohol. The taste was dry, cherry, ok but bitter. The aftertaste was bitter. I ranked this wine as #5 out of the five wines tasted this week. This wine looked like this:

The final wine I tasted this week was Baci Dolci Mosto Di Uve Parzialmente Fermentato Non Vintage 50% Marzemino, 50% Merlot. This wine is regularly priced at $15 a bottle and goes on sale for $9.95 a bottle. This wine is from Colli Euganei, Italy. This wine was served cold. The color was ruby red, burnt, but pretty purple notes. The smell was like dried fruit, or prunes. The taste was delicious, sweet like grape soda or strawberry soda. The aftertaste was sweet notes on the tongue. I ranked this wine as #1 out of the five wines I tasted this week. This wine looks like:

Thanks for reading, I hope you have a wonderful week!
Cheers!
~Michelle

Wine Week Ten at Vintage Cellar(Trattoria; El Cortijillo; Cavit; Jip Jip Rocks; Lost Vineyards)

Hello There,

This week I got to taste 5 new wines at the Vintage Cellar in Blacksburg Virginia! I did not eat any food with any of the wines. Also Spring is finally here! I think at least...*fingers crossed*. I am going to rate these wines from 1 being the best of the wines tasted this week to 5 being the worst wine tasted this week.

First up I got to taste Trattoria Busa Alla Torre Pinot Grigio 2014. This wine is priced at $7.95 a bottle and comes from Veneto, Italy. This wine was served cold and is a light clear yellow color. This wine smells like stainless steal and honey. The taste was crisp and bitter. The aftertaste was bitter. I did not like this wine and ranked it as #4 out of the 5 wines tasted this week. Here is a picture of this wine:

Second I got to taste El Cortijillo Verdejo 2014. This wine is priced at $5.95 a bottle and originated from La Monacha, Spain. This wine was a darker yellow in color and was served cold. The smell was honey suckle. The taste was bittersweet and crisp apple. The aftertaste was bitter. I ranked this wine as #2 out of the five wines tasted this week. Here is a picture of this wine:




The third wine I got to taste was Cavit Alta Luna Pinot Noir 2011. This wine is regularly priced at $20 a bottle and goes on sale fro $9.95 a bottle. This wine hails from Vigneti delle Dolomiti, Italy. This wine was served warm. The color was a warm red. The smell was of cherry and pepper. The taste was a bitter pepper cherry. The aftertaste was cherry. I ranked this wine as #3 out of the five wines tasted this week. Here is a picture of this wine:

The fourth wine I got to taste was Jip Jip Rocks Shiraz/Cabernet Sauvignon. This wine is regularly priced at $19 a bottle and goes on sale for $8.95 a bottle. This wine was born in Padthaway, Australia. This wine was served warm and was very dark, almost black red in color. The smell was of pepper, oak, and some sort of fruit...cherry? the taste was dry, bitter worse than #1. the Aftertaste was just dry. I ranked this wine as #5 out of the five wines tasted this week. Meaning I did not like it very much. Here is a picture of this wine:

The fifth wine I got to taste this week was Lost Vineyards Spumante Italiano Moscato Non Vintage. This wine is regularly priced at $6.95 a bottle and it originated from Piedmont, Italy. This wine was served cold and was clear yellow in color. The smell was of soap, flowers, and fruity. The taste was delicious, it was sweet and bubbly. It leaves sweet notes on the tongue and was definitely the best one out of the bunch. I liked this wine so much I bought 3 bottles. It was just so pleasant. The cool thing is the bottle has a really cool plastic cork that you can screw back in. Here is a picture of this wine:

That is it for this weeks wine tasting! I think we only have a few more weeks left for our weekly wine tastings, the semester is coming to an end much quicker than I would like. Hopefully I can continue to taste many more wines, as there are many out there that I still have yet to try! I look forward to this weeks wine tasting. I hope you all have enjoyed my input on these wines! Have a wonderful week!

Cheers!
~Michelle

Wine Week Nine Vintage Cellar Tasting (Mars&Venus, Mapreco, Manoir du Carra, Maipe, and Fetzer)

Hello Fellow Wine Lovers,

This past week I had the pleasure of tasting 5 new wines at the Vintage Cellar, in Blacksburg, Virginia. I did not eat anything with these wines. The weather this week has been what I'd like to call mother nature going through menopause , one minute it was hot, the next minute it was snowing. Hopefully this week will turn into a more sincere spring, with a summer in the future. Anyways, as usual I have ranked these wines 1-5, one being the best for this week, and 5 being the worst. I realized these wines are all different varieties and are hard to really compare to one another.


First up I got to taste Mars & Venus Chardonnay 2014. This wine is regularly priced at $5.95, and originates from La Mancha, Spain. This wine was served cold, and was yellow/clear in color. The smell was citrus, stainless steal. The taste was bitter, sour, and just not good. The aftertaste was sour and bitter. This wine was ranked number 3 out of the five wines tasted this week.

Here is a picture of this wine: 

Second up I got to taste Mapreco Vinho Verde Rose 2015. This wine is regularly priced at $10 and goes on sale for $7.95 a bottle. This wine comes from Vinho Verde, Portugal. This wine was served cold. It was a light pinkish yellow color. It smelled like sweet pear or mango. The taste was sweet, citrus, maybe orange? The aftertaste was citrus and fruity. It was very refreshing. I ranked this wine as number 2 our of the five wines I tasted this week. Here is a picture of this wine:


The third wine I got to taste this week was Manoir du Carra Beaujolais Nouveau Gamay 2014. This wine is regularly priced at $12 and goes on Sale for $4.95. This wine was born in Beaujolais, France. This wine was served warm. This wine was ruby red in color, like bright red. The smell was peppery, strawberry, apples, and wood. The taste was dry, bitter, and sour. The aftertaste was fruity, bitter. This wine was ranked at number 4 out of the five wines tasted this week. This wine looks like:

The fourth wine I tasted this week was Maipe Malbec 2015. This wine is regularly priced at $12 and goes on sale for $6.95. This wine comes from Mendoza, Argentina. This wine was served warm. It was a darker red in color, almost purple in the middle. It smelled like pepper, leather, and rubber. It tasted like pepper, and cherry. It was gross. The aftertaste was bitter, sour. This wine was in last place, I ranked this wine as number five out of the five wines for this week. Here is a picture of this wine:

Last but not least I got to taste Fetzer Gewurztraminer 2014. This wine is regularly priced at $12 a bottle and goes on sale for $8.95. This wine hails from California. This wine was served cold. The color was like a clear orange. The smell was like a flower and sweet. The taste was sweet. I really had a hard time deciphering what it smelled and tasted like. However, it was the best our of the bunch. I ranked this wine as number 1 for the wines tasted this week. Here is a picture of this wine:

That is it for this weeks wine tasting. I hope you enjoyed my critiques. Until next week, I hope you all taste delicious wines, and enjoy warm weather!

Cheers,

~Michelle

Wine Week Eight Vintage Cellar Tasting (Bricco, Dom, Siema, Carraia, and Beringer)

Hello Fellow Wine Connoisseurs,

This past week was filled with more wine tastings! I got to try five new wines, at the Vintage Cellar in Blacksburg, Virignia. I did not eat anything with any of the wines I tasted. I will rank the wines I tasted from 1 being the best to 5 being the worst. I realize these wines are different in about everything, but I still rank them so that I can remember if it is something I would actually go out and buy.

First up I got to taste Bricco dei Tati Cortese 2013. This wine is regularly priced at $10 a bottle but goes on sale for $6.95. This wine hails from Piemonte, Italy. This wine was served cold, and was a clear yellow in color. The smell was a metallic, fruity, flowery, and pear. The taste was a crisp apple, yet bitter and sour. The aftertaste was sour and dry. This wine was not great, but not terrible. I ranked this wine as number 4 out of the five wines I tasted this week. Here is a picture of what it looks like:

The second wine I got to taste this week was Dom de la Foret Grenache Cinsault Rose de Mediterranee. This wine is made up of 50% Grenache and 50% Cinsault. This wine is regularly priced at $13 and goes on sale for $8.95 a bottle. This wine comes from Provence, France. This wine was served cold, The color was more clear than the last, yet still had a yellow tinge to it. The wine smelled like pear, apple, ctirus, with a hint of metallic. The taste was a sweet, crisp zing, yet sour. The aftertaste was zingy, quenchy, and sour. It was much better than the first wine I tasted. I ranked this as number one our of the five wines I tasted this week. Meaning that this one was the best I tasted this week. This wine also has a really cool bottle. Here is a picture of this wine: 

Next up I got to taste Siema Vino Rosso Dolcetto, Barbera, Nebbiolo. This wine is regularly priced at $10 a bottle and goes on sale for $6.95 a bottle. This wine originated from Piemonte, Italy. This wine was served warm, and was a ruby red color, and in my opinion was prettier than most of the red wines I have seen. The smell was a peppery, leather initially, and a citrussy or fruit smell that I smelled with another wiff. The taste was dry, pepper, fruity, and cherry. The aftertaste was fruity and dry. I ranked this wine as number 3 our of the wines I tasted this week. Here is a picture of this wine: 

The fourth wine I tasted this week was Carraia Aglianico. This wine is regularly priced at $15 a bottle and goes on sale for $9.95. This wine hails from Campagna, Italy. This wine was served warm, and was dark, almost black reddish brown in color. The smell was of chocolate, pepper, alcohol, and leather. The taste was dry, sweet, strange, and chalky. The aftertaste was dry, fruity, chalky. I really didn't like this wine. I ranked it as number five out of the five wines tasted this week, meaning it was the worst. Here is a picture of this wine: 

The last wine I had the pleasure of tasting this week was Beringer Chenin Blanc 2014. This wine is priced at $5.95, and comes from California. This wine was served cold, and was yellow in color. The smell was pear, sweet, flowery, and cat pee. The taste was sweet, it rolls nicely off the tongue, apple, and pear. The aftertaste was fruity sweetness, mouth rushing, and bitterness. I ranked this wine as number 2 out of the five wines tasted this week. Here is a picture of the bottle:

That is it for this weeks wine tasting. I have another wine tasting this week. I hope that you all have a week filled with wine, and warmth! Hope you all enjoyed reading! Have a fantastic week!
Until next time.

Cheers,

Michelle