Out and About Cellar Tasting at Hark

On Saturday the Out and About (and allies) crew descended upon Hark Vineyards in Earlysville for an incredible tasting in the cellar, guided by AJ Greely, winemaker. The crew seems to really enjoy the educational aspects of these gatherings where we get to hear from winemakers and experts about how the wine is made or what the nuances are between the wines. This day was a great example of how the two (wine drinking and wine education!) come together well.

I started planning this with AJ a while ago, and she was excited to bring this idea to life. Her wines are fantastic, and this is a good, nearby to town location to bring the Out and About crew. We have a nice, dedicated wine following of about 15-20 regulars, with others who attend on and off as their schedule allows. I’ve enjoyed the wines here since I moved back to Charlottesville.

We set this up for the cellar – we were hoping to see the new tasting room, but it’s not ready yet. The cellar is great though for an event like this. It was a nice, albeit windy, day and we enjoyed our time. AJ started us off with a welcome wine – the Virginia Verde- 100% vidal blanc with a tiny bit of carbonation. This is a fun wine, great for hot days and leaves you refreshed. I’m not a huge fan of vidal blanc in general, but this is a pleasant drink to start you off for relaxing afternoon.

AJ took us through a number of wines, Pinot Gris, Chardonnay, Rosé, Roussanne, and then into some reds with the 2023 Cabernet Franc and the 2019 Spark. AJ walked the crew through her winemaking process, talking about bring the grapes into the production facility and putting them in cold storage, moving them into tanks, the concrete egg or cube, or bins or barrels for fermentation, and how she makes decisions about leaving them on the lees or racking them to create specific flavor profiles.

Pinot Gris: This is light and pleasant, there is a little bit of layered mouthfeel to it. AJ spoke about leaving this on the lees after fermentation for a period of time to give it more complexity, and how she will experiment with it.

Rosé from 2023: This is a wonderful rosé, and was widely enjoyed by the group – it’s entirely Cabernet Sauvignon whike the 21 on the menu is 50% Cabernet Sauvignon with some Cabernet Franc and Merlot mixed in for good measure. Several groups bought a bottle of the 21 to enjoy after the guided tasting.

Roussanne: You already know I adore this wine. As a grape I think its really pleasant with honeysuckle being the primary takeaway. This is a great example of the grape, and it’s the only one Hark gets from another site. AJ is hoping to trade out some Vidal Blanc for Roussanne in the future (and hopefully I will see some Albariño too!).

Chardonnay: This Chardonnay is more the creamy style, which is not how I prefer my chardonnay. If you enjoy Chardonnays that are less acidic and more layered, you will love this one. What was extremely cool was seeing the barrel with the plexiglass end where you could see that they had just stirred up the lees and they were starting to slowly settle again, adding flavor and mouthfeel to this wine.

2023 Cabernet Franc: While this is a young wine, it’s showing beautifully. It got even better as it opened up – this is one I’d probably decant a bit to get ready for drinking. But it’s showing great, and I think if there is a reserve Cabernet Franc for 2023, it will be even better than the 2021!

2019 Spark: Oh this lovely wine. Made from vines just 3 years in the ground, this ended up in the governor’s case in 2024. It’s s such a great wine, and it’s what we decided to have after the tasting was done. There is a ton of depth to this wine, and good clean fruit to it. This is a favorite. One bottle remains in my cellar.

Kenny and Kathy from the Wandering Winos joined us for this afternoon, and fell in love with the 2023 Cabernet Franc. Kenny also (yay!) brought the stash of 2022 Glen Manor Nebbiolo he grabbed for me recently when it was released – I put this on the shelf at home and cannot wait to check it out. We also had Allison and Vicki join us for some fun tasting. Hubby made chicken salad sandwiches and also molasses and chocolate chip cookies for the crew that we brought so every could feast and enjoy.

AJ spent almost two hours talking with us, and then took a group through a vineyard tour. I really wish that I had joined this part, because after helping to prune at Mount Alto for a morning and reading about Linden’s pruning practices, I’m quite curious about the vineyard decisions being made at this time of year. I hear that there was tremendous success at crushing egg sacks for our dreaded Spotted Lanternfly. Our hope is that the deep cold we had this winter did severe damage to these monsters and we won’t see them return in droves. Fingers crossed.

Hark Vineyards is not too far from the Charlottesville-Albemarle Airport, so very convenient to town. It’s a must-stop kind of place, for the relaxed vibe and the fantastic wine. They get food trucks and live music on the weekends, and that makes it even better. It’s one of my go-to places when I have out of town guests, and I love taking friends there. This is a vineyard you want to have on your list!

Have you been to Hark? What did you think?