Winery Visit - "James River Cellars Winery"

Unfortunately, due to its location, Richmond, Virginia isn't home to many wineries or vineyards. There are only a few in the general area. It just so happened that one of those few was within 30 minutes of my house. James River Cellars Winery is located just off Route 1 in a very unconventional location. Anyone who is familiar with route 1 knows it is reminiscent of early highway development. Running parallel to I-95, route 1 is lined with rundown or abandoned gas stations, car dealerships, restaurants, and motels. There are a few businesses that have survived closer to a more developed area of the road. A driving range and batting cage business is one of those businesses. Directly next to the range lies the vineyard. I have driven by this stretch of road my entire life and have never noticed this winery before.

One of the entry signs

To the right is the netting from the driving range and just beyond the cars are the vines

The house where the tasting room was located was very pretty. The grounds are nicely landscaped and maintained. In the far left of the picture below, you can begin to make out the area where the actually winery facility was.

My boyfriend, Chris, in front of the main building

The winery has an event every Friday during the summer called "Fridays on the Patio." Each Friday features a tasting of their full list of wines, live local musicians, and tours. Local vendors sell their food but guests are allowed to bring their own. Most people there had their own spread of cheeses, crackers, fruits, and other munchies. We had planned on eating dinner afterwards so we didn't eat anything there. The cost of admission was $10, which included a souvenir glass. I was so excited about the glasses they gave because they were stemless! We don't have any stemless wine glassware and already have a wide collection of souvenir wine glasses from other vineyard visits that all look very similar. These glasses were really nice and cute!

Stemless glass! Cool!

The winery had a tent set up over the patio area with tables and chairs underneath for patrons. The tasting table was also located under the tent.

The tent and tasting area

The winery had their entire list of wines available for tasting. Fourteen wines total! Holy moly! They only poured about a quarter of an ounce in each glass though. Due to the high volume of people wanting to do the tasting, we had to go through each wine relatively quickly. That was one thing I didn't like. I didn't really have much of an opportunity to truly delve into each wine (let alone write down my thoughts!). Therefore, I only have a couple quick words to describe each wine. I will list each wine and those words below. A write up on each wine can be found at the following two links: Whites - http://jamesrivercellars.com/white_wines.html, Reds - http://jamesrivercellars.com/red_wines.html.

1. 2010 Chardonnay - smooth, no oak, green apple and pear on the nose and palate

2. 2010 Gewurztraminer - very floral nose, lots of tropical fruit smells and flavors

3. 2011 Vidal Blanc - no real depth in flavor, sharp, high alcohol, little peach on nose

4. 2010 Chardonel - hybrid chardonnay grape, sweet-ish, tangy, light, nothing special here

5. 2010 Rad Red - Cab Franc & Merlot, very very jammy, spicy, smoky, tobacco

6. 2008 Cabernet Franc - very yummy, spicy, currants, great tannins, great deep flavor

7. 2008 Merlot - cherries, tannic, peppery, 

8. 2009 Petit Verdot - minerally, oaky, some leather, wasn't much of a fan

9. 2009 Hanover - sweet, cherry, little bit of cedar

10. 2011 Chambourcin - tasted like a light port but not a very good one, very sweet

11. 2008 Colonial Red - LOTS of cinnamon, tasted like wassail, apple flavors, weird

12. 2008 Montpelier Blush - very sweet but not sickeningly, honeysuckle, not for me

13. 2011 Hanover White - lots of pear, smelled like someone squeezed a pear and bottle the juice

14. 2010 Divino - concord grapes, welch's grape juice, sweet

Chris and his parents talking about the wines

We really liked the Cabernet Franc! We ended up buying a bottle to share and enjoy the music on the lawn. 

We went in for a second taste on a few of the reds to pick which bottle to buy

Me enjoying some wine!

Overall, the experience was average. The facility looked nice, but its unlikely location made it a little off-putting. The staff was pretty nice and the music was okay. The wines were okay as compared to other Virginia wines. This is our 5th VA vineyard/winery visit. I would say this one falls probably last in atmosphere, tied at 4th in wine quality, and 4th in overall experience. It was a nice evening out, but we likely would not go back for a second visit.

Me with Chris's parents outside the festival