La Grange Pickup Feb 2019 – Cupcakes and Cab!

Today was the La Grange package pickup, and as an added bonus, Inspired Cravings had Vegan Cupcakes there. I brought co-pilot along, as she has never been, and I think she became a believer here. She gets full credit on almost all of the photos.  Here are two solid ones she took to start.

We started our day right at opening in the tank room, doing our package tasting. Edward served us all six wines. We started with a crisp Viognier that left us both thinking “bananas” but not like a dessert, a crisp drink with a banana finish to it. It was a nice Viognier.

The second wine was a 2017 Chardonnay. This had a strong sense of lemon (and co-pilot thought of limoncello or lemon candy). This was not our favorite, and in fact, I wound up trading this one out. It wasn’t a bad chardonnay, it did not have a buttery or oakey thing happening with it, but I didn’t care a lot for it at the end – the lemon was so strong that I didn’t really get to the grapes.

Wine three – Generals Battlefield I. This had previously been in a package last summer. I like this red blend, mostly cab sauv with some chambourcin as the Virginia grapes, and then some zinfandel, merlot, and tempranillo mixed in. The chambourcin muted the cab, but it was still a nice blend. I like this bottle. Co-pilot was less crazy.

Next up, 2015 Tempranillo – I loved this one. I’ve enjoyed their tempranillo from Washington – it always has some spiciness to it which I enjoy.

The 2015 Zinfandel was fruity and pleasant, also from Washington. Co-pilot didn’t really care for this one at all. I always enjoy the darker fruit of a zin.

Finally in this package, the 2016 Petit Verdot. This was standard petit verdot, and all from La Grange property. It had a nice smooth start with the characteristic astringent/tannic ending to it. Co-pilot was ok with it, finding the ending a little difficult. I like petit verdot, and I thought this was a good one, and left to age a year or so, will just soften nicely.

Edward did a great job talking about some of the chemical processes in the wine, and he spoke a lot about what La Grange is doing with some Orange Chardonnay they purchased from another winery. He did a good job with the educational side of the tasting.

We went ahead in and did a tasting at the bar. We got some of the new Tannat (cannot remember the year) and of course the amazing meritage reserve. We ended up with a bottle of the ’12 cabernet sauvignon and cheese and crackers upstairs for the afternoon.

Back to inspired cravings – so when I commented on their facebook announcement about being at La Grange, I earned a free cupcake and bought two more. They’re vegan, and actually shockingly tasty. I was very impressed and recommend the cookies and cream and chocolate raspberry cupcakes (which are super like a valentine treat!).

We also met a nice couple upstairs, and shortly into the conversation found out that one of them went to high school and graduated the year after me! They’re also La Grange and Stone Tower members, and we like and didn’t care care for some of the same wineries. That led to great conversation about local wineries and places to check out.

All in all, a nice afternoon at La Grange, which ended up being quite a hopping place with lots of people there. This was a solid package, and La Grange continues to come through and impress.

Their current tasting menu is very strong. Have you been lately?