Occasionally I do get to scoop Matt and check some new stuff out before he does. Even better than that, a pop-up tasting is a great way to start the final weekend of Virginia Wine Month! Today I got to visit Delve Wines’ first time tasting their first releases on the vineyard itself. Delve is a small batch producer growing wine grapes in Lovingston, Virginia. They have released their first wines, all from the 2023 vintage. While they bear the Delve label, these were not grown on the Colombe Vineyard property. Jake Busching is making the wine right now, as Julie Linker, owner, is part of the Barrels and Tanks incubator project. While she establishes the vineyard, she is collaborating with Jake to get everything up and running. On this special tasting day, many of her neighbors (a number of whom have planted grapevines and been involved in the wine industry in Virginia) all stopped by to sample wines and support the release.
Julie’s background isn’t in wine, but she comes to this as a second career (Delving into wine….see?). She purchased this land on the border of the old Democracy Vineyards site and planted vines in 2022. She now has about 5.5 acres under vine, and said that’s about all she wants to plant, because that is plenty to manage. She is growing Albariño (yay!), Roussanne (yay!), Cabernet Franc, and Petit Verdot on the site. Note: Democracy Vineyards closed some years back and the grapes on the property are now promised to Valley Road. Kenny says Valley Road has one of the best Virginia Albariños, and that means this soil here is going to produce amazing Albariño for Julie. Yay! Julie shared that at its lowest point, this site is 800 feet above sea level, and seems to be in one of those sweet spots where the higher ridges deflect the heaviest rains, leading to some great grapes.
Julie’s two releases are from the stunning 2023 vintage. The white wine is Roussanne from Belle Fox vineyards. I loved the creamy texture and clear lemon, pineapple and apricot in this wine – my untrained palate picked these up right away, and they were gorgeous. This wine will be lovely in cooler weather – while it can be a refreshing summer wine it also has enough weight to it that it’s a nice sipper on a cooler evening. I enjoyed this so much I grabbed two bottles.
The red wine release is a 2023 Cabernet Franc. The grapes were grown at Beacon Tree and Stagebridge (very close to Colombe). While I tend to shy away from younger Virginia red wines, this actually had a very nice nouveau feel to it. It was light and pleasant. I don’t know what the cheeses were that they had available that afternoon for the gathering, but it went beautifully with these cheeses too. I grabbed one bottle to take with me. Given the youth of this Cab Franc, I didn’t expect some of the more typical flavors, but it was absent of oak influence, which made it very smooth and pleasant, despite the presence of tannins. Julie wrote some amazing tasting notes to accompany the wines, and assigned a personality to this wine, “Will help you move, but likely to swear in front of your kids.” I have to say, having read that while sipping, its accurate.
Jake was also on site, tasting some of his recent work. He started us with the Cheninquisition (ahhh yes, my Chenin). This wine continues to show up as a wonderful friend that you really just want to sit on the porch and listen to Steely Dan with for a long afternoon. It was the correct choice for our first sip with Jake. He then took us to the Eastwood 2023 Viognier. While I am in no way shape or form a fan of this grape, it’s actually a pleasant wine. It carried enough acidity to make it a brighter viognier, and bring out some nicer grapefruit-ish flavor. We then had the Eastwood 2022 Cabernet Franc, which Jake made, along with some grapes from Joy Ting. This was a nice Cabernet Franc with some oak notes, but rich flavor more typical of a Franc with some more age on it. Stylistically it was very different from Delve’s, but also very enjoyable. Jake’s flight ended with a tasting of the 2B blend, which you’ve heard me talk about before. This wine gets more exciting every time I taste it. I’ve got one aging right now, next to my last two F8. In a year or so, I will coravin it with some F8 and pretend I won’t drink all of both bottles. Watch me.
Two of our local demon, the spotted lantern fly, chose to land on me while there and had to have their lives abruptly ended. Several others had unceremonious but very timely endings that afternoon there too. These darned things are everywhere. Ugh.
Delve has no plans for an on-site tasting room. Julie stated she’d like to do this kind of pop-up on site a few times a year to let people enjoy the wines in the place where they are grown and made. I love this concept. One couple sampling the wine was talking about the emergence of many places that seem to cater to weddings and bridesmaid busses etc and how much less fun those sites may be for a daylong wine adventure. I still have an article about this in mind, but I’m not there yet. Delve will remain focused on small batch, wine quality, and the experience of the wine on the site. That’s just how I like it.
As the Barrels and Tanks incubator develops, six winemakers will share the space to produce wines they grow, and also have a small tasting room to let people check them out. I love this concept – these wines will be accessible to anyone who wants to try them, but the opportunity to check out the wine in the place it’s grown will remain available – and it will be peaceful. A wine club has already formed, and I suspect my no new wine clubs without quitting a wine club rule could get broken when I sample more of these labels….. just warning beloved husband now.
Jake did share that for the 2024 vintage, Julie’s Albariño and Roussanne grown on the property have been blended – while I desperately seek outstanding bottles of Albariño, this sounds like a great duo to put together, and I’m looking forward to checking it out.
Delve is currently being produced at Commonwealth Crush in Waynesboro, but they expect to move into the Barrels and Tanks facility in 2025. I recommend keeping your eyes open for any more pop ups like this because this is good wine and you will want to get to know this brand.
Speaking of brands, you can rock one of our awesome sweatshirts like this wine lover.
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