Septenary

What a lovely lovely day to check out Septenary. Friday it rained all day. Saturday it rained in the morning and then was dark and scary with high winds all night. Today started off chilly but sunny and hit thee 60s.

We started off at Hazy Mountain for amazing Chenin Blanc and flatbread pizza. It was a lovely time, with incredible views. But the drunken 20-somethings and all the people with shrieking tiny humans made it a bit less relaxing. It’s a great venue. I recommend going early and having your lunch before it gets crowded. But the chenin is simply lovely, as chenin tends to be.

Then it was off to Septenary for my first visit.

I was pleasantly surprised by the cozy atmosphere. The setup is great — there was a big bridal shower party, but they had their own building and were clearly having a great time, but I couldn’t hear any of it, so it didn’t disrupt my zen mountain views with a side of wine.

Though I miss the traditional tasting bar routine, I liked the setup. We were greeted and chose to sit on the front porch with my friend in the sun and me in the shade. We chose five of the eight wines to sample: the 2019 unoaked Chardonnay, the 2021 Summer Kitchen Rosé (+5 points for an amazing name), the 2017 Cabernet Franc, 2017 Merlot, and the 2016 Coleman blend. We loved the wines.

The unoaked Chardonnay was everything I like about chardonnay in Virginia – it was crisp and clean and light and pleasant. This is a good warm day wine.

The Rosé was also quite lovely but had a sweet quality that neither of us could place. It was dry, but there was a fruity quality that I thought was strawberry-ish but my friend couldn’t identify.

Third up was the Cab Franc. I am a Franc Fan™ and this didn’t disappoint. When my friend asked me to describe it all I could say was “It tastes green.” And I really mean that in a great way — Green is fresh and lush and full. This Franc has a fantastic smell and is really a pleasant sipper. It paired well with the shade and cool breeze.

Next was the Merlot – this was darker and fuller. Like the cab franc it was blended with 19% Petit Verdot. As such it had a great tannic feature going on but the wonderfully lush and soft merlot flavors balanced it out well.

Finally we had the Coleman red blend. When we chose our wines, the server recommended this from the two red blends. It was fantastic – it was dark and rich and wonderful. We thoroughly enjoyed this.

The setting is gorgeous and peaceful. It’s a great place to relax, and I imagine that even on hot days where you have shady places to sip and enjoy it would be fabulous. I will definitely be back, and I am so glad to have visited this one and added it to the list!