Virginia - Fredericksburg - Hartwood Winery

Hartwood Winery - (December 2015) Traffic was moving slowly south of the DC area while we were on our way to Williamsburg and we decided to take a side trip to this winery.The winery is similar in nature to one we wanted to go to in Maine; it was located in the front and back yards of a home residence; this one is situated on seven acres.

Before we could start our tasting, both of us were carded. This seems to be a new Virginia law that has not been enforced. The wines for the tasting were already chosen for the day and it started with the Hartwood Station white, a blend of rkatsiteli and chardonel; smooth, but dry. This was followed by the Rappahannock rose, made from chambourcin, Rappahannock white, a 50/50 blend of seyval blanc and vidal blanc, was crisp, and the Deweese white, a vidal blanc named after the first winery in the county. We enjoyed the Rappahannock white the best of the three. Before going to the reds, they tried the blushing hart, a blush with seyval blanc, niagara and chambourcin; my wife enjoyed this but was too sweet for me.

The red wines started with the Rappahannock red, primarily chambourcin, the 2013 cabernet franc (the 2012 was said to be the best they have ever produced), and 2012 cabernet sauvignon. I enjoyed all three, especially the cabernet franc. There was an interesting grape on the tasting, although sold out. I asked about the tannat wine, which I learned is a French varietal that has become the national grape of Uruguay. This particular grape is typically used in blending but this winery had it as a single grape wine. We decided to purchase a bottle of the Rappahannock white, cabernet franc and the petit verdot, even though we did not taste it; I'll compare to others I have in my collection.