Many months ago, when we learned that Ellie was getting married on Memorial Day weekend, we let Jeff and Kelly know that we were going to be in the area. Although we text now and again, we had not seen them in the flesh in coming up on 8 years.
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| Gorgeous Memorial Day at Glen Manor Tasting Room |
From Richmond, we drove to the winery arriving in early afternoon after having taken back roads from Richmond to avoid all the traffic on I-95 and I-66. Although it was a gloomy day for most of the drive, as we neared Front Royal, the clouds fled the scene and it became a gloriously beautiful day. The clear skies would prove to be fleeting, but for one afternoon, the weather was perfect.
Because we could not check in until 3:00 and could not get in touch with the B&B owner to see if it were possible to check in early, we decided to go by the winery and just hang out until 3:00. After that, we would get situated in our room and then return for the after party around 5:30.
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| Enthusiastic Greeting from Kelly |
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| Recovering From a Long Wedding Weekend |
One of the things that we always seem to end up doing after hours is blind tasting and this visit was no exception. Once we arrived, Jeff, newly showered after a hard day in the vineyard, pulled out a bagged white that proved to be a Fiano, a wine that stumped everyone. We were tasting it as the last few customers left the tasting room.
One of the last customers to leave was a mutual friend, Jason Bise, who was one of my most valued wine reps in the restaurant business. We caught up for a few minutes and I found out that he is now manager of the Purcellville Knead Wine (pizza and wine) store, an offshoot of the original store in Middleburg. He brought a wine for Jeff to taste and left it for us, bagged, on the counter.
Jeff's palate has always been better than mine and he nailed the light-bodied, high acid, lower tannin, lightly extracted red as Nerello Mascalese, a grape I have tasted only a few times in four decades. It proved to be an Etna Rosso (90% Nerello Mascalese, 10% Nerello Cappuccio). I could only say that it was an Old World wine and not Nebbiolo and not Pinot Noir. Nerello reminds me of Pinot Noir in many respects but also of Frappato, lightly colored and fruity, with good acid. The fruits are on the lighter spectrum: cherry, cranberry, and strawberry.
A little later, Jeff returned with a bagged red with tons of cherry fruit that I recognized as Nebbiolo, but not a classic Langhe. Unbagging showed it to be a Valtellina Superiore from Lombardia. Valtellina is the northernmost winegrowing region in Italy and there Nebbiolo does not reach its potential as it does further south in the Piemonte.
Drinking other expressions of Nebbiolo has made me realize how special the wines from Piemonte are. And drinking lots of Piemonte Nebbiolo, my favorite wine over the past five years, has made me realize how much I prefer the more delicate Barbaresco and Langhe Nebbiolo to the more robust and powerful Barolo.
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| Kelly's Spread |
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| She Also Made Chocolate-Pistachio Bars |
Kelly, bless her, brought out a vast tray of noshes that we were not expecting; she always goes overboard. We all migrated outside to enjoy the beautiful day. Once customers left, we got to catch up with our friend Keri, who now lives with her husband in the Silicon Valley, and who had come in for the long weekend. Keri and her father were customers at my restaurant and she also worked the tasting room at Glen Manor.
As we sat around outside shooting the breeze until 8:30, the rabbits came out to eat on the lawn and the sun and clouds made great shadows on the vineyards and Shenandoah National Park behind the vineyards. Towards sunset, the sun shone like a spotlight on the vineyards, a magical sight. It was getting dark as we left, a full hour earlier than in Oregon, something that should not have surprised me, but did.
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| Song Sparrow Serenaded Constantly |
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| Keri and Denise |
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| Telling Another Dumb Joke! |
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| Once Again in One of My Happy Places |
