Visiting Attimo Winery

I visited the Attimo Winery with Renee Robus AKA my partner in Wine.

Unfortunately we did not get to tour the winery because of the day that we went so we ended up asking a ton of questions about it. 


History: The winery was started in 2008. It was initially just a hobby by the vineyard owner who wanted to make her own wine. Eventually however she began to sell it and it went from being a hobby to being a career. The house that we did the tastings in was initially not apart of the vineyard and all of the tastings were actually done in the living room. Once the owner had become comfortable with her business however she expanded her vineyard as well as purchased the house that is used for the tastings. 

We inquired about their grapes and were told that most of the grapes are grown on site directly behind the tasting house or at their satellite location in NOVA. Additionally the grapes that they cannot grow in Virginia are imported from California. 


The winery was named Attimo because it means "Moment" in Italian. This is because the owner believed in remembering moments instead of days or times. Each of their wines is named after a moment that the owner or someone in the owners life experienced. I really liked the names of their wines, the reasoning behind it and the thought that went into each wine. 

This is a list of the wines that are available to taste and on the left hand side are the wines that we tasted. We sampled 8 wines and each of them was good. I don't believe that there was more than one that I did not enjoy. 

We sampled the following wines:

Yesterdays Song: This wine was named after the owners grandmother who could remember song tunes but not the lyrics. The nose had a delicious apple pear combination that blended well with a bit of oak. It was perfectly sweet with just a hint of sour.

Off The Cuff: This was a Riesling and it too shared the apple and citrus notes of the last wine. It is blended with a chardonnay however to cut some of the sweetness. The flavor was crisp and refreshing and was easily drinkable. 

Wonder: This was another strong apple driven wine, however this gave off an earthy/grassy smell as well to accompany the fruity component. The taste was light and some of that grassy smell came through on the back of the palette. The finish was very dry.

I Do: This is their signature wedding wine. The nose of this wine smelled very sweet, however there was also a subtle hint of ammonia that was slightly put-offish. The flavor though was deliciously sweet with just a hint of dry that really made for a good wine. I honestly could consider this wine for a special event just because of its drinkability. 

After Midnight: The most noticeable component of this wine is definitely its strong blackberry nose. Blackberry wine is blended into this and it makes it a huge factor in both flavor and taste. However behind the blackberry are the smells that you would find typical in a Merlot (black cherry, caramel etc). This wine tasted amazing, with strong hits of blackberry in the beginning and long drawn out finish. 

Deep Silence: I loved the scent of this wine as it was very strong with berries. Blueberries being the easiest to detect for me, but followed closely by blackberries and a small whiff of strawberry. The flavor was something else however, it was really smokey and honestly repelling for me. It was dry and did not have enough flavor to justify how dry it was. 

AD325: AD 325 is the year that the bible was written and it was written in ink that was made from the grapes that this wine is made of. The smell of this wine was inviting and warm, caramel and black cherries graced the start of the nose as it faded into black currants and a hint of cinnamon. The color was gorgeously dark and the flavor was sweet but with a mask of bitter dryness that allowed it to keep a strong complexity about it. 

Sudden Downpour: Finally their dessert wine. It is an apple wine that has been oaked in bourbon barrels. It smells like cinnamon applesauce and has the same light brown color. It did have a small bourbon undertone to the smell that added a kick that was unlike anything I've smelled before. The flavor was amazingly not too sweet because it was blended with a white wine. It was mellowing and relaxing and honestly the perfect dessert wine because it was not too sweet but just the right amount. 

Before leaving we asked what type of grapes were grown on site and unfortunately the woman facilitating our tasting did not know specifically which grapes were grown on site. She did mention that the grapes for deep silence were grown on site so I would assume Cabernet Franc is grown, as deep silence is a Cabernet Franc. We also know that some of their wines are oaked but we do not know what type of oaking takes place. 

The bottling process and location were not mentioned.


Finally it can be seen from the wine tasting picture above that several of their wines have won awards. They are the wines denoted with the double cross, but to list a few are deep silence, I do, and off the cuff. 



I had to have one of their stemless wine glasses so I purchased it when I paid for my tastings. I really enjoyed the Attimo winery. It is a really small winery but it is a lot of fun, very affordable and very down to earth. The people there were friendly and helpful and I will definitely going back on a weekend. 

Wine and Cheese II

Sunday Night April the 26th my partner in wine Renee Robus and I got our wine and cheese on for a second time.

Our wines and cheeses were as follows:


Gallo Family Chardonnay
and Bruschetta Jack

The Chardonnay had a delicious nose of apples and citrus. Lemons were very present on back end of the nose and there was a small hint of melon that added the perfect amount of complexity. There was a good deal of oaky smell that made its way through the nose and made a strong appearance in the flavor as well. The cheese pairing for this wine was not ideal unfortunately. The Brushetta aspect of the cheese was really mild and creamy and I think that it would have blended better with a complex red wine instead of an in your face chardonnay. The Chardonnay was sweet and sour and had a lot of zing, while the cheese was really mellowing and it caused for this clash of flavors that fought a battle right on the middle of the tongue. I will say that the "Jack" part of this cheese, AKA the spices were a great complement to the zing of the chardonnay and those two aspects did get along quite well. However overall I think that we could have paired better. 

Gallo Family Merlot
Smokey Chipotle Cheddar Jack

The Merlot presented with fantastic notes of black cherry, caramel and cinnamon. It had a very warm smell about it that I usually associate with red wines. This Merlot was the perfect blend of sweet and dry and that is something that you will very rarely hear me saying. We pairing it with Chipotle Cheddar Jack was slightly confusing for me. The dryness of the wine did not allow the taste buds to escape the onslought of spice from the cheese and so it seemed that the wine and cheese clashed. It was even more confusing however because the creamy texture of the cheese did blend well with the thick complexity of the Merlots texture. I am not sure whether I think this paired well or not. I find that I am quite neutral on it and that I could take it or leave it. There are definitely better pairings out there. 

Cooks California Chardonnay Brut
and Garlic and Herb Jack

Finally the Brut. This wine was fairly similar to the first wine that we paired. However there are some differences to note. There was a more noticeable note of pears in this wine that really brought about a difference that necessary. It was also a champagne so the bubbles created this odd sensation when they mixed with the cheese that was almost like a palette cleanser. Finally there was some notable toasty smell on the nose like a nice piece of breakfast toast.  This pairing experienced the same downfall that the first pairing suffered from unfortunately. The jack was a good deal sharper the bruschetta and paired well with the Brut. As before the spicy notes in the cheese were sort of "put out" by the crispness of the wine and it created a great blend in the mouth. The flavor of the cheese itself was just sharp enough that it was able to be tamed by the Brut but not so mild that I would have preferred a red. 

The more wine and cheese I seem to pair together the more I am realizing I would much rather pair a red wine with almost any cheese. It seems like no matter what the cheese is, I don't enjoy it with a lighter colored wine. I really enjoyed doing this again though and probably will continue to after this class because it is not only fun but is educating for my taste buds. 

Tasting - Bera Asti 2011

Name: Bera
Variety: Asti
Region: Neviglie, Piemonte

Country: Italy
Year: 2013
Price: Regular Price $9.95

Winery Review

90 pts, Decanter Magazine

Bera is a soft and plush wine with creamy foam, lemony mousse and loads of fragrant peach blossom, honey and sweet almond on the bouquet. You’ll love the intensity of elegant,  fresh, rich flavours and vibrant acidity.

My Review

This wine was very light and sweet smelling. It had a great lemon nose that accented beautifully by peaches and a slight jasmine note. There was another floral component that I wasn't quite able to pick up but it was all tied together beautifully. The flavor was sweet and refreshing. The lemon really comes through on the mid range and just makes this feel like the perfect wine for a special occasion. 

I did not eat food with this wine.

Tasting - Tarima Monastrell 2013

Name: Tarima
Variety: Monastrell
Region: Alicante
Country: Spain
Year: 2013
Price: Regular Price $9.95

Winery Review

90 pts, Stephen Tanzer

Bright purple.  High-pitched red and dark berry scents show good clarity and pick up a licorice nuance with air.  Tangy and focused on the palate, offering juicy black raspberry and spicecake flavors with an exotic touch of candied violet.  Closes spicy and long, with silky tannins building slowly and adding gentle grip.  This is a fantastic value.

My Review

This wine was pretty entertaining to get a whiff of. It reminded me slightly of Jagermeister because it shared that black licorice smelling component. Coming in the background was the supporting cast of blackberry and cinnamon. This wine offered so many smells that I was having difficulty picking them out. The taste was extremely acidic and had a long oaky finish that I really enjoyed. 

I did not eat food with this wine.

Tasting - Coreto Tinto 2013

Name: Coreto 
Variety: Tinto
Country: Portugal
Year: 2013
Price: Regular Price $6.95

Winery Review

Caladoc , Alicante Bouschet , Castellan , Pinot Noir , Tinta Roriz , Touriga Nacional.  Great as an aperitif, is a perfect wine for the day-to-day. Excellent addition to dishes with meats, stews, roasts, barbecue, pasta, pizza, vegetarian dishes, Mexican food, Chinese, Thai and cheeses. Excellent with food or by itself. You can follow for example, roasts, barbecue, pasta and vegetarian dishes or made of cheese. Serve at a temperature of 14-16ºC which enhances the fruity, also being much more enjoyable in warmer weather, on a terrace or a party. 

My Review

This wine smelled strongly of black cherries. It also gave off a warm soft caramel note that pulled the rest of the scents together. I honestly was not too impressed with the nose on this wine, but I was also able to pick out a small blackberry component. The taste was very light and soft and had a long finish that was full of fruity complexity that I was not able to pick up on straight off the nose. It was definitely a surprise from a taste perspective. 

I did not eat food with this wine.

Tasting - Tarima Blanco 2013

Name: Tarima
Variety: Blanco (70% mereseguera, 20% viura and 10% moscatel)
Region: Alicante
Country: Spain
Year: 2013
Price: Regular Price $8.95

Winery Review

(70% mereseguera, 20% viura and 10% moscatel):  Light yellow.  Perfumed aromas of Meyer lemon, melon and white flowers show good clarity and a hint of ginger.  Juicy, open-knit citrus fruit and peach flavors are firmed by a zesty mineral quality and a touch of white pepper.  The melon note repeats on the clinging but slightly warm finish.

My Review
The nose on this wine was exceptionally fruity. There smell of lemons and peaches is very evident directly off of the nose of this wine. It finishes softly with a slight hint of a flowery note that really brings the fruits together and gives the smell a really balanced feel. The taste was really smooth and had a strong ginger component that I really enjoyed being a big fan of ginger. 

I did not eat food with this wine.

Tasting - Dom de la Condemine Macon-Peronne “Le Clou” 2012

Name: Dome de la Condemime
Variety: Macon-Peronne "Le Clou"
Region: Burgundy
Country: France
Year: 2012
Price: Regular Price $19.00, Sale $7.95

Winery Review

Made from 100% Chardonnay. Sustainable agriculture: very low use of chemicals.  Their philosophy is to produce a wine in the traditional style of Mâcon, with minimal intervention and not use of Oak.  The soils is made of Clay and Limestone (Argilo-Calcaire) and the parcels are located right next to Viré Clessé Appelatio.  A light golden hue, floral aromas. Intense, clean and fresh on the palate. Citrus notes, bold acidity. Excellent match to seafood with butter or cream sauces or rich blue cheeses.

My Review
This wine boasted some delicious lemon even a hint of lime notes on the nose. After the lemon faded I smelled a hint of green apple. I really enjoyed the smell of this wine as it finished nicely with a small buttery finish that really just made me think of movie popcorn butter. The flavor was crisp and clean and was the perfect blend of sour and sweet. 


I did not eat food with this wine.

Visiting Chateau Morrisette

A week ago Saturday April 18th, I visited Chateau Morrisette. I apologize for not getting around to blogging it earlier, I have had so many things going on this week that it was just too hectic but here it goes.

I was too stupid to take pictures of the gorgeous scenery that leads to this winery but I can tell you that even without the amazing wine and atmosphere at this winery, the drive alone made the trip entirely worth it. It is seated in Floyed County and is about an hour away from Virginia Tech so if you are interested in going, you need to be dedicated to the drive. I digress.

I showed up to the winery and was blown away by how old and beautiful it looked, it was incredibly reminiscent of a castle. I went inside and purchased my tasting ticket and tried to find out where the tour began.

The winery was started in 1978 by David Morrisette and his family. They had a black dog who lived with them and lived in the cellar where they kept the barrels. Eventually they noticed that the dog would sleep a lot and felt very sick, they grew worried about the dog and feared that he was getting sick. As it turned out one of the barrels was leaking and the dog was getting incredibly drunk. Eventually when the dog passed away they renamed the wine that he had been drinking from "The Trilogy" to "The Black Dog", this name changed caused a 200% sales increase. A similar thing happened with their next dog, whom had blue eyes, they named their Riesling after him when he passed away; "Our Dog Blue" and Riesling sales increased 600%.

Chateau Morrisette is one of the largest salvage timber framed buildings in the world. A large majority of its timber is taken from the St Marie River and dates back to the 1300's. It is all Douglas Fir.

All of the fermenting is done on site in these large containers and they have special compartments for the type of wine that they are creating. The White wines go through a quick pressing process because they only want to extract the sugar and juices, whereas the Red grapes must go through a longer process where the juice will ferment with their skins for a longer period of time in order to get those bold and rich flavors.

There are a few varietals of grapes that are grown on their own personal vineyards
including Concord and Cabernet Sauvignon. The rest of the grapes are either imported from other vineyards, or they use concentrated juices to ferment into wines. The juices are stored in these large metal bins.











All of the bottling also takes place on site. The bottling room seen in this photograph can be used to produce thousands of bottles a day. Because the bottling equipment needs to be safe to use on bottles that hold liquids that people consume, the equipment is sterilized using Aristocrat Vodka instead of harsh cleaning chemicals. I found this comical at first considering people drink Aristocrat and it is truly bad Vodka, but she was completely serious when she said it.

Another interesting fact about the bottling process, they recently switched from real corks to synthetic corks due to a bacteria being found in cork that is causing a lot of health problems, and a cork shortage. However the new head winemaker that will be taking over next year wants to switch back to real cork.

Some of their wines are oaked in barrels while others are stored in these large holding containers waiting to be bottled. 

This is a picture of a prototype of a barrel that Cornell made to make barrels more affordable. Instead of crafting them from hand and taking the time to curve the wood, they created this straight boarded prototype that allows for the boards to be easily interchanged, which means even if the barrel breaks that the boards can be easily replaced and they do not have to spend thousands on new barrels. The new barrel was initially tested with water, but burst open, the Chateau is waiting for Cornell to send them a replacement. 









The barrels used at Chateau Morisette are bought from France and cost approximately $1200 per barrel. Once they have lost some of their luster the Chateau donates them to smaller wineries that cannot afford to buy brand new barrels.

The tour was incredibly short, lasting perhaps 10 minutes but it was gorgeous and incredibly eye opening about the process that wine bottling goes through. My favorite part by far however was the wine tasting. I actually discovered my new favorite wine here.

I am not going to go too into depth about these wines as you can see from the sheet that I was given the characteristics of each wine as well as my own thoughts on them scribbled off to the sides. But I do want to make special note of a few for anyone reading that may have the same taste in wine as me.  

First off, Red Mountain Laurel is the best wine ever created hands down. I know many of you will not like it but I loved it for this one simple fact. It was created from Concorde Grapes and nothing else. For this reason, it looks, tastes and smells like Concorde grapes. It is essentially adult grape juice and I am all about that. If you don't like sweet or grape juice this wine is not for you. 

Our Dog Blue, their signature Riesling. It is the perfect blend of sweet with a bitter note at the end. It finishes well and has strong notes of citrus. I picked up a bit of a floral component and I really really like it. 

The 2014 Vin Gris was just alright it was lacking complexity and overall flavor. Our tasting host took us off the tasting list and let us try the 2012 private reserve Vin Gris and the flavor difference was night and day. The 2012 nose was so complex featuring apples, grapefruit and a cherry component all while relaxing on a hint of jasmine and it finished buttery. I was blown away by the flavor of this wine. 

Finally I have to rave about "5 Red Grapes" it is just that, a blend of 5 red grape varietals. My pallet was so confused after trying this wine. Being someone that hates red wine I was able to not only appreciate this wine, but I enjoyed it as it was the perfect blend of sweet and bitter. The right amount of dryness brought it all together for an experience that I highly recommend. Smelling graham cracker on the nose really helped my love for it as well. It was very inviting all around. 

After the tasting I enjoyed the scenery and the drive home. I highly recommend a visit to Chateau Morrisette for so many reasons. The History is fantastic and unique. The scenery is breath taking and the wine is incredible. This is a must do for all people over the age of 21. 

Wine and Cheese

Thursday Night April the 16th my wine partner in crime Renee Robus and I got our wine and cheese on.

Our wines and cheeses were as follows:


Gallo Family Cabernet Sauvignon
and New Zealander

The Cabernet Sauvignon smelled like it was going to be delicious but really disappointed when it came down to it. It gave off a scent profile of warm cinnamon, black currant and caramel. It was not very complex honestly and not one of the more exceptional Cabernet's I have smelled but we pushed on none the less. The flavor of it was just incredibly unpleasant it presented nothing really in the way of any unique flavor and was so incredibly dry that I was not even able to finish one glass of it. However it did pair well with the New Zealander cheese. The cheese tasted like a mix of cheddar and brie so it was a creamy cheddar essentially. The dry bitter harshness of the Cabernet brought out the creamy notes in the cheese and was able to tone back the bitterness. Despite not enjoying the wine I could appreciate that the cheeses paired well. 

Gallo Family Pinot Noir and
Creamy Havarti Cheese

The Pinot Noir presented with fantastic notes of blackberries, warm caramel and warm winter spices. It was one of those wines that reminds you of the Christmas season. The flavor was just as good, slightly sweet yet with the right amount of dry it was easily drinkable and I thoroughly enjoyed it. Pairing it with the Creamy Havarti was the best decision we could have made. The creamy cheese really brought out the flavor of the Pinot and made those spices come to life. It was really like a zingy flavor from the wine followed by a mellowing hint from the cheese and I really liked it.

Gallo Family White Zinfandel
and Aged Vermont White Cheddar

Finally the White Zinfandel. This wine smelled great, it had strong floral and jasmine notes with underlying hints of orange blossom, honeysuckle and lemon. It was a great color and being a guy that enjoys the sweeter things in life I was quite excited to try it out. The flavor was a nightmare. It was the most disgustingly sweet thing I have tasted in my entire life and there was no complexity to the flavors. It tasted just like someone had taken juice from concentrate, added sugar and slammed alcohol into it and sent it on its way for bottling. To make matters worse we attempted to pair it with Vermont Cheddar to complement the sweet with the sharp cheddar flavors. It ended up being disgusting. The flavor of the wine completely overpowered the cheese and by the time the cheese was able to catch up in the pallette (somewhere around the back of the tongue region) it was too late and it was a huge burst of sharp coming out a sweet murky stupor. We ended up pairing the Cheddar with the other two wines to finish it off and left the Zinfandel to spend time on the shelf.  

This wine and cheese pairing was a lot of fun and has been further educating for me. It is a long road for me to understand how wines and foods can pair together and doing exercises like this is really helping me on my way.

Dinner At The Palisades

Wednesday April 15th, I had the pleasure of going to a delicious dinner at the Palisades restaurant with my wine partner in crime Renee Robus. We decided to partake in the New Zealand wine selection that they were pairing to foods that particular night.















There was a bit of a wait when we arrived so we decided to just mess around with the photoshopping joys of snapchat to pretend we were enjoying some high class wines.










The wait was a little long so while we were waiting I ordered a delicious sparkling Moscato Rose. The nose on it was incredibly fruity and floral and presented notes of orange blossom and jasmine. It slowly faded into a slightly more citrus feel that had hints of lemon, and tangerine. It was incredibly sweet and I could barely taste any alcohol. This like a few Moscatos I have tasted before definitely felt more like a soda than a wine, but it was a good warm up for the meal to come.











Finally the wines arrived and the food came out, the presentation was fantastic and the wines looked and smelled delicious.

The wine on the far left is the Waimea Edel (2010) it smelled like fresh oranges at the start of the nose and softly finished into a more floral scent that created a well balanced feeling to this wine. It was sweet but not so sweet as to be sickening and finished with the perfect amount of sour.

The wine in the middle is the Pinor Noir Vinterra (2011) this wine has officially brought me out of the world of hating red wines and into a new future that is delicious and beautiful. The nose on this wine was full of plum and caramel and just gave off the most warm feeling. I loved the way it paired with the dish.

Finally the wine on the far right is the Sauvignon Blanc Wither (2013) this was by far one of the most confusing wines I have smelled to date. I got the hints of the orange citrus hints and a small touch of lemon, however I recognized an on component to the nose that I was not able to place. Upon reading the review and seeing tomato leaf I was immediately brought back to the days of growing tomatoes in my garden at home and that smell of the stalks that the tomatoes grow on.

For some reason Blogger would not allow me to orient this image correctly so we are going to make do with what we have here. The food from top to bottom is a shrimp pizza, New Zealand Lamb, and a Bacon Tart. 

Lets start with the first dish: The Shrimp Pizza; this pizza was absolutely delicious and the shrimp was able to accent the orange pieces excellently. The Waima Edel, because of how robust and slightly sweet it was, accented the sour from the oranges and allowed the flavor of the shrimp and cheese to really shine through and made for a great pairing.

The Lamb: This was by far my favorite dish, and my favorite wine pairing which shocked even me as I typically do not enjoy red wines. The lamb was cooked perfectly and seasoned to a slightly salty finish. It was really juicy and had a lot of fullness to its design which was accented amazingly with the fullness of the Pinot Noir. The lamb was such a juicy and refreshing meal that the dryness of the wine was a perfect accent that just left you in a perfect neutral state. I honestly will be ordering this wine and this dish the next time I go back just so I can enjoy it again. I thought that the red wine would be too thick and over bearing for the already thick lamb meat but it ended up being what I enjoyed the most.

Finally the Bacon Tart: The bacon tart, though lacking distinctly in bacon was light and flaky with just the perfect hint of cheese. The refreshing garden feel of the Sauvignon Blanc really paired well and gave the whole ensemble a really light feeling. This is the kind of thing I could see myself sitting on a patio on a summer day enjoying. The Sauvignon Blanc paired great but it unfortunately was no contender compared to the Lamb/Pinot combo.



This was a really great experience and I highly recommend it to anyone who is looking to really learn to understand how foods and wines can pair together. Previous to this I never really understood what that meant but now I feel like I have a greater appreciation for it.