Winery Visit- Veritas

View of the Veritas Tasting room as we were walking up.

On Sunday, March 29^th my girlfriend and I visited the Veritas Vineyard on Afton Mountain. This vineyard was just a short 45 minute trip outside of Charlottesville and ended up being a very nice trip. We went to do a tasting and get a tour of their wine facilities. This was the first ever visit that I have taken to a winery, so I was very interested to see all that it had to offer. 

Fireplace in the corner of the tasting room and shop.

Veritas grows all of its grapes on premises, and use almost exclusively vitis vinifera grapes. Though the winery itself only opened in 2002, it is fast growing and is starting to become known for producing quality wines. They do use modern day technology when it comes to producing the wines, but they try to keep many aspects of the process old-style. All of the grapes are picked by hands, and they try to emphasize the terroir of each grape appropriately. 

They offer picnics on nice days for those who want to buy a bottle or glass of wine and want to go and sit out in the vineyard. Cheese plates were also everywhere when we were there, as they recommend tasting many of their wines with cheese. They do The Farmhouse at Veritas which allows patrons to stay and enjoy fine food. We did not go and explore this area, but it was highly recommended by many of the employees while we were there.  

When we arrived, the first thing we did was do the tasting. Everything in the tasting room was very cozy and warm, with a nice fire going in the corner of the room.  Though there was a $10.00 per person fee for the tasting and tour, we sampled 10 different wines and were allowed to keep the glass that we tasted with. The wines that we tasted with my reviews are listed below:

Veritas wine tasting bar. It Was a nice setup.

Sauvignon Blanc 2013 ($25.00)- This Sauvignon Blanc was excellent. I thought it had a beautiful perfume bouquet with nice hints of citrus on the nose. It had a very nice mouthwatering feel to it, with some very nice green apple flavors coming through. I really enjoyed tasting and drinking this wine.

Saddleback Chardonnay 2012 ($22.00)- This Chardonnay had a very nice nose for me because it was aged in Stainless steel, and did not go under the malolactic fermentation process. This left the grape extremely zesty and fruity, with some nice hints of pear. This wine would go very nicely with some fish or other dishes with citrusy sauces.

Viognier 2013 ($25.00)- This was my first Viognier that I have had and I was very impressed with it. I thought that it had an extremely appetizing peach component to it with a slight orange citrus as well. This was not my favorite of the day, but I did think that it was a very nice wine.

White Star ($18.00)- This was a very nice blended wine. It had Chardonnay, Traminette, Vidal Blanc, and Petit Manseng. This combination gave very tropical flavors to the wine, with the main flavors coming through being pineapple, and mango. I think that this would be a very good summer wine on a hot day.

Rosé 2013 ($18.00)- This wine was aged in neutral barrels, and provided a very nice pink color. I thought that it was a very dry wine, with nice cherry aromas and flavors. It also had nice hints of floral components, which I liked. I was not a big fan of this one.

Merlot 2012 ($22.00)- I really enjoyed this merlot. It had extremely nice tannin levels and very nice deep purple color. It was extremely pleasing on the palate and was easy to drink with nice dark fruit expressing itself. This was aged in American oak which gave it another nice component on the finish.

Claret 2012 ($22.00)- Extremely smoky tasting and smelling wine. This was a blend of 50% Merlot, 42% Cabernet Franc, 5% Pinot Verdot and 3% Malbec, making it very similar to that of a Bordeaux. This was aged in new heavily toasted American oak barrels and provided nice blackberry and coffee flavors. The oak flavor was a little much for me, but I think it would be excellent with a nice steak.

Harlequin 2012 ($26.00)- This Chardonnay was extremely buttery with a nice full mouth feel. It went through malolactic fermentation, and was aged in French oak. I got nice subtle apple, pear and mellor flavors that were kept under control by the oak.  This would be really good with a soft chicken dish or a butter sauce. This was by far my favorite wine of the day.

Me tasting the Petit Verdot

Petit Verdot 2010 ($50.00)- This wine was off the charts big. It was extremely full bodied, with very high tannins. Other than the smell it was hard to get and fruit flavors as it was very earth and had nice black pepper feel.  It was aged in 16 months in French oak and had an extended maceration process to extract more color and tannins. Personally, I would love to have a bottle and allow it to sit for 5-10 more years because I thought that it was still a little young.

Othello Reserve ($40.00)- This was an extremely interesting dessert wine. This port wine was extremely sweet with high residual sugar content. I was put off by this because it was so unlike other things that I have felt. It had a very high alcohol with some bottles reaching near 18%. Not at all my favorite, but it was nice to try something new.

Veritas bladder press used for extracting juice.

As you can see from the list above, they grow a wide variety of grapes and during picking season things can get very hectic. The tour that we went on was very interesting. Because we were not there during peak season, most of their equipment had been disassembled and put away. We were still able to see all of the machinery like the bladder press, conveyer belt, and the destemmer. We also had a chance to go and see the holding tanks that were al being cooled and kept at very specific temperatures. 

Close up of an American oak barrel.

Our tour guide, Susan, was not that knowledgeable about all of the grapes grown and the process, but she was able to help answer most of my questions. They have been making wine since 2002, and do everything on premises. They pick, store, and bottle from their location. To bottle, they bring in a truck that has everything they need to perform the procedures. Though in most of their reserve wines they still use natural cork, they have moved to using screw tops for their many benefits. They do oak some of their wine, using about 40% French and 60% American barrels. They use both new and neutral barrels, using none beyond 8 years. 

Storage room for barrels that are aging wine.

They just recently planted 2 more acres of vines, and are looking forward to great things from these new vines in the upcoming years. I greatly enjoyed my time here at Veritas, and will definitely make a return trip during peak season. I would really like to see everything when the whole process is going, as I think it will be very interesting. Though the weather was slightly windy and cold, the warm atmosphere was great. I really enjoyed some of the wines that I tasted, and enjoyed the entire experience.

Me walking around the vineyards before leaving for the day.