Virginia - Lanexa - Saude Creek Winery

Saude Creek Vineyards and Winery - (December 2015) The winery was just opening as we so I  went towards the vineyard and took some pictures before going into the tasting room. As we walked to the tasting room, we went up the side ramp to the deck, which overlook the Pamunkey River. Once in the tasting room, we were greeted by the bar host. As with previous Virginia wineries, they chose the wines for you and we had to produce identification (this is not widely enforced).

We started off with the Pamunkey Fall white, a chardonnay and chardonel blend. It was dry and crisp, but with a bit of sweetness of the hybrid grape. We then tried the vidal blanc, wintertime white, a Riesling, and the tavern white, a blended white. Of the four whites, the tavern white was like by both of us.

We then moved to the reds; we started off with the merlot and the Saude Creek red, a blend of merlot, cabernet sauvignon and cabernet franc. The blended wine had better body and aromas. The red tasting ended with the sweet rebellion, chambourcin, and the tavern red, another blended wine. My wife liked the tavern red. We purchased the tavern white, tavern red and Saude Creek red.

While we were tasting, I had a conversation about wine and the wine industry in Virginia. There was a pork barbeque vendor, the Scottish Pig, selling lunch so we decided to have lunch here before going to the next vineyard. We purchased a bottle of traminette to go with our meal; we thought it would go nice with the spicy dishes and we did not get to try it. We purchased the BBQ sundae, which was pulled pork, topped with baked beans and cole slaw, and the McQ, which was pulled pork topped with macaroni and cheese. We went out onto the deck since the sun had come out. We enjoyed our lunch and wine; some of which went home with us.

When we were leaving, we noticed trailers with James River in the vineyard. This is a winery that I want to go to on the way home from Williamsburg. We also found the perfect resting place; yes, a cemetery just on the outskirts of the vineyard. What a place to rest!