Big Wine Weekend Day Two

This weekend is a rare occasion when I have a number of wine events backed up together. It started Friday with the Generous Pour benefit. Saturday was spent with a meetup with Kenny at Pollak and Valley Road. I’d been to Pollak once previously. They make solid wine, are frequent medalists in the Governors Cup, and have a solid presence in Virginia Wine.

Pollak is in a fantastic and peaceful setting in western Albemarle County. It’s close to big names like King Family and Afton Mountain, and easy to get to from Route 64. Kenny is a longtime member who knows their lineup backwards and forwards. We went to do a dive into their current lineup of reds, with a few club member only wines. We started with the brand new 2024 Rosé which was exceptional. This wine is 25% Nebbiolo from their second harvest of this grape. I feel like the Nebbiolo is adding very interesting notes to this Rosé – there was a beautiful tanginess with the slightest sensation of effervesence – it was not any kind of carbonation and no secondary fermentation issue- there were no bubbles – but it tingles on your tongue. I grabbed a few bottles so I’d have some to enjoy this summer.

We tasted our way through a lineup that included the 2022 Merlot which was soft and pleasant, the 2021 Cabernet Franc Reserve which at first was wound up tight and surprisingly tannic, and required decanting – when we came back to this wine later in our tasting and it had opened up a bit. Once opened, it was showing a lot more fruit. This would be great after about two hours in a decanter. We had the 2021 Meritage which was incredible – beautiful soft tannins with a great Petit Verdot backbone in it. It is primarily Merlot and Cabernet Franc, and the soft Merlot balanced beautifully in this blend. The 2022 Cabernet Sauvignon was our next wine, and this wine was the winner of the day. The standard Cabernet Sauvignon softness aligned with some tannic finish. I grabbed a bottle of this for later enjoyment. Finally, the 2022 Petit Verdot rounded out our tasting. As my good friend Petit Verdot normally does, this wine was dark and inky, and was the nice, big wine at the end of the round that I love.

The vines on site seem to be thriving, and Kenny and I talked about hoping that we were past the frost danger period, and that the site here seemed to keep these vines safer from damage. Fingers crossed that we’ve seen the last of the brutally cold evenings.

We headed down the road to Valley Road afterwards. I’ve now checked off my second new-to-me winery for 2025. Valley Road was a mere six minute drive from Pollak. Kenny and I had been talking about Valley Road for a year, since their 2023 Albariño was supposed to be fantastic. Kenny felt it was one of the very best available during summer 2024, and I missed out on that one, so I needed to check out this vintage.

There was a small crowd at the winery, given that it was so beautiful out on the Saturday afternoon. While the clouds came and went, it was mostly sunny and 80 degrees.

While Kenny went straight for the 2024 Albariño, I sampled the Governor’s Cup flight they offered, with a five medal winners.

The 2023 Sauvignon Blanc was a good one – nice acid and less on the floral notes, but they were still present. The Petit Manseng from 2023 was a very strong one. I loved the tropical notes and the higher density on this wine – it had greater volume and weight to it. It’s still dry with that characteristic sensation of sweetness to it. As far as I could tell there was no residual sugar on this wine. I could drink this all summer long. Next in the tasting was the 2022 Cabernet Franc. This was light and fun, and a well-ripened Cabernet Franc. The 2021 Meritage was very pleasant. While it would be solid for a cool fall day, it was nice enough on this warm and sunny day. The Petit Verdot was also a good example of this grape, but at this point we were very warm in the sun and it was harder to get at the characteristics for this wine. Thus, we decided to go back in and get a bottle of the 2024 Albarińo, which Kenny was loving.

I’m going to say that this was outstanding. The wine was bright with acid and intensely refreshing. Sipping this and looking out at the mountain in the distance (see cover photo for our view) was the very definition of “weekend.” Kenny and I both got some to take home.

Corry Craighill (from Septenary who also does her personal line “Wound Tight” and collaborates with Walsh on “Sunroom“) is making the wine at Valley Road now, and she’s rockin’ it. Kenny believes she took over bottling with the 2022 vintage and 2023 forward is all her work from harvest to pour. I have to say she is on to something with this 2024 Albariño.

We parted ways after Valley Road with Kenny heading north for our meetup at Glen Manor on Sunday. This winery is a great stop – right on the main road, and while they’re on the Crozet Trolley circuit, there are plenty of indoor and outdoor areas where you can relax and sip and not have to worry about other people around disrupting your enjoyment. They also have baguettes and pizza (yum!) so they can be a great post-hike or skyline drive leaf peeping lunch spot. They’re going to be on my list to take family and guests. I strongly suspect that they will show us some incredibly strong 2023 vintage red wines in the near future. I’m here for it.

So the wines of the day were:

Pollak 2024 Rosé (Nebbiolo in Rosé!)

Pollak 2022 Cabernet Sauvignon

Valley Road 2023 Petit Manseng

Valley Road 2024 Albariño

These are high on my “buy now” list for you, dear readers. I’d guess the Pollak 22 Cabernet will sell relatively fast (which is great cause 23 will be even better!), as will the Valley Road 24 Albariño, so don’t delay in checking this out!