Today was a good day.
Poor Dad Unfortunately there is a respiratory virus running through his community, and so he needed help with groceries and such. This was a simple task with a trip to Wegmans and then that was done. We had the option of a restaurant for lunch…. or…..
One of my favorite benefits of club membership at La Grange, the member party days with food trucks and fun tastings! Not only do we get fantastic discounts on good wine, but we get these monthly opportunities that are fun and just GREAT value.
So, we made the awful Rte 66 trek (they really need to fix that stretch that enters 66 from Fairfax County Parkway and then all the way along to the Rte 28 interchange. – it’s awful). We got there around 1:30, plenty of time for Barbeque sandwiches, potato salad, and wine.
On these member party weekends, we start with a tasting in the barrel room – sometimes it’s library wines, sometimes it’s new releases. This time it was the new release 2018 Catherine’s Blend (Petit Manseng and Traminette), 2017 White Meritage, and the 2016 Meritage red blend of cabernet sauvignon and petit verdot. We got tickets for a glass of our choice from those three, and tickets for the barbeque.
The Catherine’s Blend has that sweetness that I always find in traminette and I just don’t like. It actually probably went great with the barbeque. I have yet to find a white wine made from any amount of traminette that I like. Sorry guys, I dumped this one. Sweet wine drinkers will appreciate it, however.
Now the White Meritage is another story. This blend of sauvignon blanc and semillon is ridiculously good. A little while back we had the 2016 release, which was a good bit oakey. This one had virtually no oak, and it was smoother and crisper. I LOVE this wine. I should have picked up a few bottles, but hey, I had a glass with dad.
Finally, the 2016 Meritage or as I like to call it, Ol Reliable. This wine is consistently good, every time I have it at La Grange. It doesn’t matter the year, and even going back 2 or 3 winemakers, it’s always solid. This was my “Wine Moment” with La Grange 12 years ago, and it’s still that way for me. Fruity and red, but in no way overpowering. I don’t know how anyone could dislike this wine.
Dad and I grabbed the barbeque and potato salad and found a nice set of Adirondack chairs facing the vines and not overrun by children.
We enjoyed our white meritage, and then I remembered that Awesome Alex told me that GSM was back on the tasting menu.
This is probably one of my other “Wine Moments” with La Grange. This wine is incredible, and one of my very favorite they’ve made. I first had this blend from them about a year and a half ago at the club pickup, when my nephew was visiting and wineried with me. The grapes are not Virginia, but I’m ok with that, because the complexity in each glass is stunning. This wine blows my mind. It is soft and smooth, but it also has the dark fruit, complexity, and earthy quality that I just adore. I truly love this wine. We drank some of the first bottle and brought the other two home. Dad refused to accept one for his birthday, the stinker, but then I’ll just have him over for dinner and open it.
In the shade, in the adirondack chairs, there was a nice breeze on this 90 degree day, and it was perfectly relaxing. This is what I love about going to La Grange. It’s not far, but it feels far away from the craziness of our days, and I get to deeply relax and let go, enjoying wine and countryside.
So thanks for another great day, La Grange. If anyone wants to pop another GSM cork, let me know :).
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