And it had nothing to do with a very boring football game.
I did make spicy wings to eat during the game. We actually ate in the dining room since only one team seemed to have shown up to play today.
The rest of the weekend, though, was really quite nice. Good to see warmer weather before our next round of snow and ice and whatever.
We got to England Acres to pick up filets for Valentine’s Day, and some goodies for dessert (plus one to take to an upcoming Conservancy planning meeting).
Today we had our library wine tasting down at Linden. Postponed from that icy Sunday in early December, we got to savor some really lovely old wines as a treat for hanging in there with a two month delay.
Who would have thought that a 1993 Virginia Chardonnay could still be good? Not just good, but having “fruit” left and structure. We tasted four Chardonnays, and four Hardscrabble Reds.
The Chardonnays show us that you can make wines that age well here on the East Coast of the US. We tasted the 1993, 2002, 2009 and 2012. All from the Hardscrabble vineyard. We them moved to the reds. The 1992, 1998, 2006 and 2010 Hardscrabbles. Last, a comparison of the 1997 and 2004 Late Harvest Vidal Blancs.
Ninety minutes, where we conversed, tasted, asked questions and learned quite a few new things from Jim Law, the owner/winemaker at Linden.
My favorite. The 2009 Hardscrabble Chardonnay. One immensely intense yet elegant example of poetry in a bottle.
My other favorite today. The 2004 Hardscrabble being poured in the winery by the glass. Paired with some surryanna ham, and black and blue goat cheese.
Jim tells us he will be having more of these small events. No release party this year. The 2011 vintage, damaged by the late weather events (who can forget Irene and Lee?), meant no single vineyard reds that year.
We also found out about the building of the new “man cave”. A joking reference to the structure being erected just behind the winery. A heated space to work on equipment, from the winery and for vineyard maintenance.
We picked up a few bottles of the last of the Seyval. It was ripped out this year, to make space for more cabernet planting. The terroir there is better suited for Cabernet. Interesting to hear the changes coming in the future.
On our way home, we stopped in at Delaplane Cellars, near Sky Meadows State Park. Let’s just say, I want to live with this view.
Oh, and the wines are very nice, too. Impressed with their “cinq trois”.
Now, time to get ready for the snow.
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AnnieRie Unplugged 