Virginia Whirlwind

We took a whirlwind one-week trip back to the East Coast, two days of which were spent traveling, leaving just five days to see Ann's mother, go to Ellie's graduation, visit Carter in Morgantown, and to see our friends.

Here are some photos from the trip. There's a lot of beer involved in these photos. Ann's mom is in a nursing home and not doing well, the source of much consternation. It took a lot of beer to get through the days where she did not recognize her own daughter and son-in-law.

One of our Favorite Portland Breweries

We started off by spending the night in a hotel at PDX because of our early morning departure and desire to avoid the heinous rush hour traffic. We stopped by Culmination Brewing, one of our favorite East Portland breweries on the way for a bit of dinner and a couple of beers.

Mad Fox Brewing, Falls Church, VA

After a long and grueling flight and dealing with DC rush hour traffic on the other end, we ended up in a brew pub in Tysons Corner. Not only was it yuppie mating hour at the noisy overcrowded bar, the beer sucked by Portland standards. Ultimately, we found Mad Fox brewing in Falls Church as a place with decent beer, as an escape from the drama of dealing with Ann's mother.

Rosé at Linden Vineyards

After a couple of days of seeing to Ann's mother and her house, we took a drive out west on I-66 to visit with Jim Law at Linden Vineyards. Shari was very kind to bring us a glass of 2018 rosé to enjoy on the deck while we waited for Jim to come in from the vines. He was gracious enough to spend a few minutes chatting, but it was clear that he needed to get back to the vineyard, so we took our leave after soaking in the landscape that we love so much.

It was pretty interesting that while talking with Jim, we met a young guy who works at another local Willamette Valley winery and with whom I had corresponded via email, but had never met in person. It is truly a small world.

I Never Get Tired of This View at Linden

From Linden, we made the short drive north to visit with Jim and Betsy Dolphin at Delaplane Cellars, just months before they would sell the property and retire to Florida. Jim was just starting on blending trials when we arrived. Suffice it to say that he never got to blending trials, especially after Betsy showed up and we started cracking bottles. Jim had previously invited us to go out to dinner with them, but we had to demur because of a very early morning departure for Charlottesville and Ellie's graduation.

Jim Dolphin at Delaplane Cellars

Lemonade from Lemons

2018 was a horrible year in the vineyard with feet of rain playing havoc on the grapes. Many winemakers focused on making rosé as a way to salvage something from a crap year. Jim was showing off his label poking fun at the whole disastrous situation. Betsy also opened a bottle of her special ICOE cuvée. ICOE is fitting for Betsy: In Charge Of Everything. Traffic going back in to McLean was hellish with an accident blocking the Beltway. Miserable.

My Spirit Animal

And sure enough, Saturday morning came very quickly. We left very early in the morning from McLean to make the two and a half hour drive to Charlottesville. Although we left early to beat the traffic and to find a good place to park, when we arrived at the Grounds for graduation, it was teeming and the lines to get in were very long.

Lillie met us and went ahead to save seats for us while we went across the street in search of coffee. Wouldn't you know that there is a Starbucks in the bottom of Newcomb Hall, a vast change from the days when I was there. Though not a fan of Starbucks, I was in need of coffee and Ann in need of a little breakfast.

Waiting for Ellie to March

The morning started out warm, humid, and cloudy, the cloud cover being the only thing that kept the day even moderately comfortable. About 30 minutes before the ceremony the sun popped out and made things truly miserable, especially for the kids in their black gowns. Unlike when Rita Dove kept us entertained with a short and focused speech at Lillie's graduation, Ellie was blessed with one of the worst commencement speeches I have ever heard—long, disjointed, rambling, and largely self-congratulatory. Finally, graduation wrapped up and we all walked a half a mile or more to the theater building where Ellie's diploma ceremony was to be held.

It was a long mile and a half walk for me in the blazing sun to retrieve our car and meet the rest of the gang who Ubered to a local brewpub for lunch.

Parched After Graduation in the Heat

Ann and I stayed with Lillie, Ellie, and her friends after lunch to have a final beer at the bar, before we headed back to Northern Virginia late Saturday. Sunday, we headed out to see Jeff and Kelly White at Glen Manor Vineyards. We spent a beautiful afternoon with them before heading back to McLean.

I Also Never Tire of This View at Glen Manor Vineyards

We got back late and then Monday went to see Ann's mom. We made plans for a late dinner with Ann's cousin Chris. Surprisingly, Mary wanted to go along with us and we were happy to have her with us. She even managed a tiny sip of Ann's beer.

Mary Tasting Ann's Beer

For our last full day, we drove out to Morgantown to see Carter, taking a ten-minute stop at the Farmers Market in Winchester to see Beth, Mark, Jessica and the other vendors. We arrived in Morgantown mid-afternoon and got the grand tour of his grungy frat house. We could tell we were cramping his style, but ultimately he decided to go to the brewpub across the street from our hotel with us. The Iron Horse Tavern has a great local beer selection and pretty decent food as well. I was really happy that the pub featured ales from Stumptown Ales in Davis WV, which I believe is my benchmark brewery for craft beer on the East Coast.

Beer Board, Iron Horse Tavern, MorgantownWV

Back to Northern Virginia with 1200 miles on the odometer completed the final leg of this whirlwind trip to Virginia. The flight from Dulles to PDX was routine. After driving from the airport to the house, it was good to have the trip behind us.

Special Linden Tasting

For the month of December, until they closed for their annual holiday break, Jim, Shari, and the crew at Linden were doing a special tasting, rather than their usual cellar and counter tastings. I believe that Jim guinea-pigged this tasting on us when we were in a few weeks ago. I had thought that perhaps we were going to have a short hike in the morning before going to the winery in the afternoon, but in retrospect, it seems that was never in Ann's playbook. Good thing it was pouring all morning making the whole idea moot.

Each weekend in December would see a different tasting. You can see ours in the photo below.

Tasting Menu at Linden

The star of the whites was the Avenius Chardonnay 2008 which is displaying some gorgeous oxidized notes. I could drink a lot of this wine and it certainly shows why you should lay down your Chardonnay for a few years. The Viognier, I can report, is not terrible! I just really don't care much at all for Viognier and I have had hundreds of them including Condrieu and Château-Grillet. Winemaker Jonathan Weber poured our whites for us. I remember when he was just an intern and would schlepp wines to us up at the restaurant. Now he's all grown up and is the winemaker. It's good to see.

Avenius Chardonnay 2008

The Avenius Red 2008 in half bottle was a revelation. I've had a lot of this wine over the years, but in half bottle, it was really advanced showing great mint, cedar, and eucalyptus notes. Spectacular.

Avenius Red 2008

After the tasting, I asked Jim what we should be drinking. Pondering it for a second, he said, "I have just the thing" and went off to the back to fetch us a delicious bottle of Avenius Red 2013. He knows my predilection for high acid reds and my fondness for the wines from Shari's vineyard with their mineral core. He came and sat with us and we shot the breeze for a half an hour or so. This is why we visit in the off-season. It's my off-season too and we can all relax a bit, the pressures of work being so much less than in the fall.

Avenius Red 2013

I Love This Woman!

What was I supposed to do? Put a "no cell phones" sign on the wall and I'm going to whip out my cell phone and take a picture of it. The point is moot anyway: there's no signal at Linden.

I Couldn't Resist

Back home, Annie got to baking another couple batches of Christmas cookies and we brought home a bottle of the Hardscrabble Red 2013 to drink with dinner. At this point, the Avenius Red 2013 is drinking better.

Cookie Monster

Finishing Out the Night

Linden Vineyards

The last couple of weeks have been a whirlwind. Last weekend, our normal weekend was upended by my having to cater the annual Delaplane Cellars Club Barrique dinner out at their winery in Delaplane. It's an event that I enjoy in that it is a pretty easy gig at a beautiful location, but it robs Ann and me of a very, very precious day together. And the lead up to it is always very involved. All the planning and sweating of details takes about two weeks and makes the dinner look easy, but leaves me exhausted.

In spite of being exhausted, I decided that after the Sunday night dinner gig, on Monday after I got out of work Ann and I should go on a real date to try to get some us-time before I turned back around and jumped into another 1200-piece catering job this week, which is now delivered to the customer giving me a spare couple of minutes to think.

Monday afternoon, after I got some errands done and the fire suppression-system contractor had come and finished maintenance on the system, I got quickly to the "Aw, screw it!" point with the remaining paperwork on my desk. I've learned over the years that that never-ending pile of crap will still be there tomorrow, so I headed home mid-afternoon to be with Ann.

I hadn't been home very long and was sitting in my chair pondering what to do on our date night when Ann asked "Are there any wineries open on Monday?" I grabbed my phone and checked and found that two of three local favorites, Delaplane and Linden, were open while Glen Manor was closed. We were just at Delaplane in October and I was just there working the night before, so it was a no-brainer to go down to Linden and visit before they closed at 5pm.

Petit Verdot: Ann's Choice

When we arrived after an easy 40-minute drive, there were perhaps five vehicles in the parking lot including the winery pickup so we knew it wouldn't be crowded. There was only one person behind the counter doing a tasting for another couple. We were waiting our turn to do a tasting when Jim popped out of the office on some errand, spied me (Ann was in the bathroom at this point), and instantly an impromptu off-script comparative tasting was on. He clearly needed to get away from paperwork as much as I needed to.

Honestly, I hadn't expected to see Jim at all. We spent a good half an hour catching up, running through this harvest, chatting about his and my plans for turning over more of the reigns at our respective businesses to a younger crew, and my and Ann's plans to relocate to Oregon. In between chatting, we got a really good comparative overview of most of the wines they have on offer. The big fruity Petit Verdot struck Ann and so we got a bottle to enjoy out on the deck with a little light lunch.

It Was a Happy Time

Late Lunch

Drinking Al Fresco

Shooting a Panorama

Lovely Any Time of Day or Year

What Ann Was Filming

Linden Vineyards

Sunday, Ann and I made our first trip post-harvest to Linden Vineyards to meet up with Karen and we had a wonderful afternoon doing a cellar tasting and then chatting until just before they closed for the day. It was just really great to get out of the house and have some adult conversation for once.

Happy Girls!

Annie surprised me by wanting to drink Petit Verdot. In the past, the tannic structure of PV has put her off. With each passing month, she comes more and more to the dark side, appreciating acid and tannins more and more. Petit Verdot is not one of my favorite standalone grapes (it's wonderful for adding color and structure to a blend), but darned if it doesn't do really well here in Virginia in the right hands.

Artsy Photo of Ann

The highlight of the cellar tasting was the 2013 Avenius Chardonnay. It is a phenomenal, taut wine with hints of underripe pineapple. I have to say that it is the best Chardonnay I have ever tasted from Linden and certainly from Shari's vineyard. The 2010 Late Harvest Vidal is absolutely nuts, being Vidal on steroids. I could only drink tiny sips of it, so intense was the experience. The 2008 is much more drinkable.

Linden Vineyards/Panzanella

It was early Sunday morning (10am is early in our house) on our last day of annual holiday and Ann and I were sitting in the sun room, drinking coffee, chatting, and chewing on what to do for our final act of vacation, when I received a text from Mike, "Scott and I are doing to go to Linden today. Would you all like to join us?"

Linden, Beautiful in all Seasons

Needless to say, Ann said yes in a nanosecond and 90 minutes later, Mike and his friend Scott rolled up to our house and Mike offered to drive. While we were texting, I mentioned that I was making a big panzanella for dinner, way more than we could possibly eat, and invited them to dinner after the winery.



Mike's Friend Scott



Jim's Wisteria is Ten Days ahead of Ours

World's Most Expensive Panzanella

I call this panzanella the world's most expensive because I was in sticker shock over how much things cost in a grocery store. I get into a grocery store once or twice a year and then only to pick up a specific item that just cannot be found elsewhere. The last time I actually shopped for ingredients for a dish in a grocery store, well, I just cannot remember the last time. It would have been well more than a decade ago.

We all pitched in making the panzanella when we got home. Ann made a dressing from balsamic vinegar, mustard, and olive oil in a big salad bowl. I sliced a loaf of multigrain bread into croutons and tossed them with olive oil, garlic, and herbs before putting them in the oven on a sheet tray under the broiler. The other items in the salad are salame, mozzarella cheese, grape tomatoes, thinly sliced red onions, and arugula.

Mike Brought Dessert

 We finished off the evening with fresh berries and pound cake that Mike had brought along.

Linden Vineyards/Pig Out

A few weeks ago a letter arrived at the restaurant inviting us to come to the Linden Preview Tasting on the 22nd. I suppose that this is in lieu of the traditional barrel tasting after all the hoopla with ABC in 2012 about giving people samples of untaxed wine. Seriously. ABC couldn't see that all these people who had a few samples of untaxed wine then went and spent a small fortune on wine and generated some serious sales and excise taxes. Bureaucrats in action. After all the to-do, I am not sure where the law stands, but it seems that barrel tastings are back in swing, though this one only featured a single wine in barrel (or egg, as it were).

The Preview Tasting Line Up

Just before we left the house to drive down to Linden, I rubbed a pork shoulder with my special pork dry rub, placed it on a bed of onion slabs, and put it in a slow oven to roast while we were away, intending on having pulled pork for dinner when we returned. Once at Linden, we chatted with Jim Law for a minute and then headed down into the cellar, where we were joined a few minutes later by Kenny G, our sommelier.

Kenny G

The first wine was part of the 2014 rosé which is not yet blended. We sampled straight out of the concrete egg and I must say that this is the best Virginia rosé that I have ever tasted. Jim told me that it is 100% Cabernet Sauvignon from certain blocks purposefully picked early. Contrast this with prior years when the wine has been made largely via saignage: a vast difference.

Next we tasted the 2013 Chards: Avenius, Boisseau, and Hardscrabble. Avenius is still angular and disjointed showing lots of grapefruit and citrus and acts more like a Sauvignon Blanc than a Chard; give it 5 years to come together and I bet it is awesome. Boisseau is pretty decent this year again as they are picking earlier to preserve acid. Hardscrabble is a mouthful, bountiful neutral oak, sappy acid, and lots of flavors going on. On balance, I love the 2013 Chards.

Then the reds from 2012 in the same order. Avenius has this superior blueberry nose and again is disjointed: the fruit, the acid, and the tannins are all separate. It's a really interesting wine to me and I am looking forward to when it comes together in a few years. Boisseau is a young but ready-to-drink crowd pleaser. The wines from this hot site are always forward. The 2012 Hardscrabble is a baby for sure, tasting youthful and grapy, with a nice underpinning of acid and tannin. I love this wine now, but give it 10 years: it will be a thing of beauty.

Annie is not Happy!

Our Own Private Rosemary Plant

After the tasting, we ordered a bottle of Hardscrabble 2010 and some food and ended up sitting upstairs because it was too chilly outside and the main room was jammed. It is some serious hardship to have to drink Hardscrabble red.

Lunch

After an hour or so over a leisurely lunch with Kenny, we headed back to the house, not really wanting to be out all day. As we pulled into the garage, the wondrous scent of pork assaulted our senses. We managed to hold out for an hour or so, but not much longer than that.

Look at the Bark on this Beast

After a total of five hours in the slow oven, I pulled the pork shoulder out and gave it a poke with my tongs. Ready for sure! I left it on the counter to cool while we watched a bit more TV and continued to drink more Hardscrabble red. Next thing I know, my wife is at the counter pulling the pig to bits and stuffing face! I joined her. So much for a proper dinner. We stood at the counter and jammed way too hot pig in our faces until we could no longer stand! Damn I make some awesome pig! Pig out!

Linden Vineyards in Snow

Sunday was a good day and a bad day all rolled into one. A good day in the sense that it was the first spring-like day of the year and a bad day in the sense that we have been going through some struggles of late. I'm not sure either of us really felt like getting out of the house, but in the end, we navigated our way to Linden and took advantage of the beautiful weather to sit out on the deck, even while the vineyard was covered in snow.

Linden is Beautiful in all Seasons

Feasting out on the Deck

One reason we like to go in the off season is that Jim picks a wine from his library to open to pour by the glass and that gives us an opportunity to taste some of his wines with a bit of age on them. In this case, we both enjoyed a glass of the 2006 Boisseau Red.

This Week's Library Pour

Linden Vineyards

2014 has been a tough year financially for the restaurant and that has really put a damper on our ability to get out and visit wineries like we had been accustomed to in the past. I knew it had been a while since we visited Linden, but it really struck home when we pulled up out front to see that they have undergone a renovation of the winery since our last visit back in April: new windows, some new siding, new doors, a new tasting counter, and one doorway closed off. The upstairs is also now open and looks much different with large, arched windows filling each of the gable ends.

Beautiful in all Seasons

I had figured that the weekend after Thanksgiving would be a great weekend to visit, the snow and the holiday keeping traffic low. And it was: traffic was minimal. Not good for the winery, but not unexpected, but very good for us. When I visit, I like to take my time and taste the wines and compare and contrast them with vintages past and that is nearly impossible to do when people are lined up three deep at the tasting counter behind me.

We tasted through the current line up very unhurriedly. Most of the wines I had not tasted before (well, I am sure I have tasted a bunch of them in barrel) as they are mainly from the 2012 vintage. It's pretty obvious that the lack of wine in 2011 is forcing Jim to release wines more quickly than I am sure that he would like. New to me were 2012 Chardonnay, 2012 Claret, 2012 Petit Verdot, and 2010 Hardscrabble Red. They are all delicious but the Petit Verdot needs a good bit more time before it is ready.

Lunch Outside on the Deck

Despite the snow on the ground, it was a very pleasant 60 degrees outside and we took advantage of the beautiful weather to have lunch out on the deck, the only people to do so. The venison summer sausage and the Meadowcreek Appalachian cheese are old stand bys. The smoked duck from the Marshall IGA is new and is a bit too heavily smoked for my liking. Delicious, but too much smoke. The Merry Goat Round goat brie from Firefly Creamery is new to Linden in my experience, but it is a regular on our cheese plates at the restaurant.

2013 Hardscrabble Red Barrel Sample

Unbeknownst to us, Jim was doing library tastings this weekend (a 30-year retrospective of Hardscrabble: had we known, we would have signed up). While we were out on the deck and between tastings, he came out to say hi bearing a small carafe of 2013 Hardscrabble Red from the barrel. It's a young, fiery beast with good minerality and structure. I am looking forward to tasting it in a few years when it calms down.

Tasting in the Cellar

We also did a cellar tasting where we tasted Boisseau 2012 Chardonnay against Hardscrabble 2012, Boisseau 2010 Red versus 2012, and Late Harvest Vidal 2007 with Late Harvest Petit Manseng 2009. The Boisseau 2012 Chardonnay is probably the finest Chard from that site that I have yet tasted; clearly it has been picked earlier than in years past and has more acid to help it balance. The 2012 Hardscrabble Chard is to me the finest Chard that Jim has ever made, very nicely balanced and very Burgundian. I'm very familiar with both dessert wines: we pour both of them at the restaurant. The Petit Manseng is always over the top.

It was a great day with Ann to be able to sit and savor delicious wine.

A Perfect Fall Sunday

We could not have asked for a better fall day here in the very northern tip of Virginia. The sun was shining most of the day with a few clouds from time to time and a rather nippy breeze out of the southwest. It felt good to put on a jacket for the first time since late spring and it felt even better to be able to sit outside on the patio and enjoy some precious time with Ann, while drinking a bottle of 2009 Linden Hardscrabble Red. I'm afraid this bottle was a little off: it was a bit disjointed with less fruit than usual, more woodiness, and coming off tart. Still, it's been a long time since we wanted to sit outside and drink red wine. Fall is our collective favorite season.

Fall Sunshine and Red Wine

Bread, Cheese, and Hard Chorizo: a Stellar Lunch

When I bought this little Camembert-like goat cheese at the farmers market on Saturday, I texted a picture of it to Ann, who replied, "I'll make a loaf of bread." And a loaf of bread she did make! This one was bacon-gorgonzola: awesome!

Casarecce, Pancetta e Salvia

For dinner, I made the pasta we have been trying to have for three weeks, with my very own pancetta and sage. This last batch of pancetta that I put up, I might have forgotten and left in the cure for at least three weeks rather than the usual week, and it has turned out to be the best pancetta I have ever cured. Delicious, but after months of strictly watching my carbs, extremely filling. Who would have thought that there would be leftovers from 500g of pasta after Ann, I, and Carter got done with it? That wouldn't have happened six months ago!