Tag: Afton Mountain Vineyards

Categories
Culture Food & Drink

Drink in color

Stinson Vineyards’ Tannat has an earthy, complex flavor—perfect for fall. Photo: Staff photo

As summer disappears and temperatures begin to drop, wine drinkers look for more weight, more depth, and more complexity in their glass. This is, in part, to temper the chill in the air, but it also means wines that will better pair with the food of the season. Autumn leads to more roasting, smoking, stews, and heavier desserts. It also means more cooking over coals, hanging out on the deck, and time spent around open fire. 

Almost all red wines fit naturally into the seasonal shift. If you stick strictly to white wines, the lean, crisp whites and rosés that were a mainstay of the beach and poolside won’t feel as substantial as wines with more weight and texture. Look to flavors that tend toward stone fruits and tropical fruits, as opposed to just citrus notes.

Here are some new locally produced wines suited to your autumn tailgate, barbecue, or firepit.

The 2020 Keswick Vineyards Rives White is a blend of pinot gris and chardonnay that has lighter citrus fruit notes combined with deeper flavors of white peaches and apricots. The fruit is complemented nicely by hints of vanilla. A medium weight on the palate yields easily to a crisp, acidic finish, and it would be a perfect pairing with roasted chicken or a root vegetable gratin.

The 2019 Gabriele Rausse Winery Roussanne is produced from 100 percent Virginia-grown roussanne grapes, an unusual variety for the state that is not widely known or planted. Rausse’s European roots are obvious here. After fermentation is complete, 75 percent of the wine is aged in French oak barrels and 25 percent is aged in Italian terracotta amphorae for one year. The resulting wine has an elegant floral nose that hints at orange blossoms, a palate that is broad and full, with flavors of tangerine and vanilla that are almost reminiscent of a baked pastry. It finishes without sweetness and just a hint of textural astringency. Try this with a pork roast, smoked turkey, or roasted sweet potatoes. 

When the temperatures are too high, even dedicated red wine drinkers have a hard time thinking about consuming big-bodied tannic wines. So, the transition into autumn is an exciting time because it’s a chance to bring out wines with more flavor and complexity. In Virginia, as in other parts of the world, varieties such as petit verdot and tannat are often utilized in blends with other red grapes to achieve deeply colored, structured, and boldly flavored wines. 

The 2017 Hark Vineyards Spark is a red blend of cabernet franc, merlot, and petit verdot that was aged in oak barrels for 20 months. Deeply garnet colored, the nose is full of sweet tobacco, black fruit, and vanilla. The taste follows the aromas, with black plum and blackberries combining with smoke, leather, and baking spices. While this has enough structure that it should age well, it also would pair well now with a steak, a smoked brisket, or a venison stew. 

In addition to being used in blends, petit verdot and tannat are also being made in Virginia as single varietal wines. The 2017 Stinson Vineyards Tannat is an outstanding example of this. While tannat is a grape that brings very prominent tannins, Stinson has produced a version that reveals a lifted and elegant fruit structure of cherry and plum on top of those tannins. Aged 27 months in oak, there are also flavors of smoke, tobacco, and earth that add complexity and weight. The combination of fruit with a smoky, earthy backbone makes this a great match for barbecue, smoked sausage, or a spicy black bean soup.

Wine as an option during, or even in place of, the dessert course is often overlooked. While some may tend toward harder spirits like bourbon or brandy around a fire, an interesting option might be the many dessert wines produced by adding brandy to wine. This is an old and traditional winemaking technique that stops fermentation to maintain sweetness, and at the same time fortifies the wine (increases alcohol) to give it body and concentration. 

The Afton Mountain Vineyards VDN (non-vintage) takes its name from the vin doux naturel style of winemaking that originated in southern France. Although these wines are sweet, the process of making them does not involve added sugar. Instead, brandy is added to grapes to stop fermentation, preventing the yeast from converting all the sugar from the grapes into alcohol and thus leaving residual sweetness in the wine. The Afton version comes in at 20 percent alcohol and is made from a blend of malbec and tannat grapes. It is full of deep plum and berry flavors combined with a pleasant sweetness. Try it paired with a blackberry cobbler, caramel-pecan pie, or anything chocolate.

Fall for these local bottlings

2020 Keswick Vineyards Rives White Blend

$27.95 for a 750ml bottle

keswickvineyards.com

2019 Gabriele Rausse Winery Roussanne

$26 for a 750ml bottle

gabrieleraussewinery.com

2017 Hark Vineyards Spark Red Blend

$42 for a 750ml bottle

harkvineyards.com

2017 Stinson Vineyards Tannat

$37.99 for a 750ml bottle

stinsonvineyards.com

Afton Mountain Vineyards VDN (non-vintage)

$32 for a 325ml bottle

aftonmountainvineyards.com

Categories
Living

Stay a while: Lots of area wineries offer overnight lodging, so plan your weekend escape

Most guests at The Farmhouse at Veritas find their way to the porch rockers. Photo: John Robinson

Vineyard lodging is having a growth spurt. As wine tourism grows in Virginia, so, too, do the number of wineries rolling out the welcome mat at everything from refurbished farmhouses to log cabins to luxe suites. More than 30 wineries now offer lodging; here are five local favorites.

The Farmhouse at Veritas, Veritas Vineyard & Winery

A designer’s touch is evident in the updated English countryside feel at The Farmhouse at Veritas, from silk draperies to custom wainscoting to the soft rugs on wide-planked floors. Some of the spacious rooms are snugged up by coffered ceilings over plush, king-sized beds, and a bottle of complimentary Veritas wine waits on a side table. Built in the 1820s as a family home, the Farmhouse at Veritas was updated and reopened as lodging in 2012.

Wine hour begins at 5pm in the salon with small plates of housemade nibbles: cheeses, pickles, charcuterie, and jams. Guests can rack up a game of billiards or take a walk through the Inn’s flower garden and grounds. Most visitors eventually find their way to porch rockers, where they stick like glue until dinner at 7pm.

For late risers, the best part of the Farmhouse schedule is the gloriously late breakfast, served to order from 9 to 11am. A glass of Veritas sparkling wine can be enjoyed solo, or as part of a duet with fresh-squeezed orange juice, along with croissants, fruit, and choice of a sweet or savory main course, such as housemade brioche French toast with house-cultured yogurt, local maple syrup, and granola, or Free Union Grass Farm fried chicken with Gruyère, fried egg, and house-fermented hot sauce honey.

For dinner, guests can drive 30 minutes to Staunton or Charlottesville, but most choose to dine in at the excellent Farmhouse Restaurant. (Reservations required; $85 for four courses, including wine pairings.)

$200-650, 72 Saddleback Farm, Afton. veritasfarm house.com, (540) 456-8100.

Vineyard Cottages, Afton Mountain Vineyards

Last fall, there was a particularly riveting photo of Virginia wine country making the rounds—have you seen it? October’s gone-to-orange vines marching in straight rows toward a glittering pond, backed by rising layers of gold-brown and blue mountains, all topped off with puffy white clouds. That iconic image was taken at Afton Mountain Vineyards, and that’s also the view from your private deck when you check in to one of the four Vineyard Cottages. Apartment-sized at 650-square feet, the Cottages feel fresh and airy, with a wheelchair-accessible quadrant design of king bedroom, huge bathroom with walk-in shower, cozy living room with cute electric fireplace, and kitchen with full-size appliances.

A two-bedroom, two-bath Guest House is also available, just 15 long strides from the tasting room. The full kitchen is outfitted for those who love to cook, while a comfortable living room with fireplace, front patio, and screened porch are perfect for those who love to sit.

Lodging fees include two tastings at the winery, and horseback riding in the vineyard can be arranged with a local outfitter. Two of the cottages are dog friendly, but there’s an extra fee.

Dinner options within a 10-minute drive include the excellent Farmhouse at Veritas (reservations required) and the nacho/wings/pizza/burger goodness at Blue Mountain Brewery, both in Afton.

Cottages $165-338; Guest House $225-355, plus fees. 234 Vineyard Ln., Afton. aftonmountain vineyards.com, (540) 456-8667.

Glass House Winery B&B

An extravagance of color, texture, and whimsy, the B&B at Glass House Winery might seem like the harvest of someone’s wildest imagination, were it not for the winery’s other flagship space—a glass conservatory off the tasting room that blooms year-round with 10-foot-tall banana trees, heliconia, and other tropical flowers. Glass House Winery is delightfully exuberant, to put it mildly.

The B&B’s main common areas are modern-meets-jungle with animal print furnishings and lots of greenery around an open kitchen. Outside, wicker furniture surrounds a pool, hot tub, and tiki bar.

Three bedrooms and a large, two-room suite—more sedate in décor—come with ensuite bathrooms, and the live-in innkeeper, Peggy Young, is available to help answer questions and cook up a generous breakfast in the morning.

There’s music and dancing at the winery every Friday from 6-9pm. Children and dogs are welcome at the B&B and winery.

Nearby dining options are few, but Duner’s, a busy local favorite with an upscale American menu, is 20 minutes away, or drive a few more minutes to The Mill Room, reopened this year at Boar’s Head Resort after a multi-year renovation.

$125-395 (book the entire B&B for $650-1,000 a night), 5898 Free Union Rd., Free Union. glass housewinery.com, 964-2190.

Photo courtesy Barboursville Vineyards.

1804 Inn and Cottages, Barboursville Vineyards

An aura of stillness and a sliver of a story begin your stay at Barboursville Vineyards’ 1804 Inn and Cottages, which stands among hulking ancient boxwoods in the shadow of a silent ruin. If former Virginia governor James Barbour’s brick shell of a home (it burned on Christmas Day 1884) reminds you passingly of Monticello, that’s because it was designed in the same Palladian style by a neighbor—Thomas Jefferson.

For sheer elegance, book one of the suites in the 1804 Inn; each has a separate sitting room, fireplace, and wide balcony or patio, plus enough oriental rugs, chintz, and antique furnishings to make you thirsty for an aged brandy. Inn guests breakfast together in the central dining room.

The cottages are more relaxed and casual, each with its own estate history as a schoolhouse, gardener’s cottage, or servant’s quarter. Inside, working fireplaces keep it cozy, and kitchenettes are stocked with DIY breakfast, plus happy hour wine, grapes, and cheese.

A shared deck behind the cottages is great for evening stargazing and sipping on a glass of Barboursville’s luscious dessert wine, Paxxito (available at the winery).

Three additional suites are now open in the Blue Run Cottage, which was the family residence for winemaker Luca Paschina for 30 years.

Though the room rate includes a wine tasting, consider upgrading to the winery’s Library 1821, a quiet, ritzy enclave overlooking orderly rows of cabernet franc vines. For a starting price of $25, you can sample Barboursville vintages dating back 20 years or more. 

Reserve ahead for lunch or dinner at Barboursville’s gracious and welcoming Palladio Restaurant, featuring an a la carte menu of Northern Italian cuisine with wine pairings. The price for a three-course dinner pairing is $75 or $105 with wines, while the four-course pairing is $90 or $125.

$240-550, 17655 Winery Rd., Barboursville. bbv wine.com, (540) 832-5384. Library 1821 open Friday- Monday; reservations suggested, (540) 832-3824. Palladio Restaurant open for lunch Wednesday-Sunday and dinner Friday and Saturday, (540) 832-7848. 

Historic Chestnut Log Cabin and Vineyard Farmhouse, DelFosse Vineyards & Winery

The tasting room at DelFosse Vineyards sits at the bottom of your palm, just above the wrist. Your fingers hold the trellised vineyard rows, rising up and away. At the top of your middle finger is a log cabin, and as you perch on the cabin’s flagstone patio, big enough for 50 of your friends, the entire estate—lake and winery, tiny cars and people—is your view. You rule. You are master of the universe. At least until the sun goes down; then you are bear bait. Ha! We kid: There’s a huge reinforced fence around the property. So instead, you are simply—alone.

The 150-year-old cabin is the best kind of retreat: full of character yet fully-functional. There’s a comfortable bedroom upstairs, satellite TV, and an updated kitchen and bathroom so thoughtfully done that the integrity of the log house—the smoky, dark woodsiness of it—remains.

The Vineyard Farmhouse, just outside the winery gates, has old-house charm in a modern package. Popular with DelFosse’s wedding parties, the Farmhouse holds nine guests in four ensuite bedrooms, plus full kitchen, dining room, and living room.

For dinner, break out the DIY steaks, or take a country drive 20 minutes northeast to Dr. Ho’s Humble Pie, which, in our opinion, has no reason to be humble: It’s by far the best pizza around.

Cabin $175-$395; Farmhouse $695, 500 DelFosse Winery Ln., Faber. delfossewine.com, (434) 263-6100.

Categories
Food & Drink Living

Fall for it: Expert tips for throwing a wine harvest party

Table settings that include the color blue, like these from The Market at Grelen, in Somerset, are a good match for the neutral hues of fall. Photo: Courtesy of The Market at Grelen

After the harvest rain-out of 2018, this year’s Virginia wine vintage brings especially welcome news: a healthy, plentiful crop of ripe reds and whites, now bubbling merrily away in fermentation tanks before their long winter’s rest. Wineries are preparing to celebrate with harvest parties scheduled for the weekend of October 19, including events at Valley Road Vineyards, Courthouse Creek Cider, and Veritas Vineyard & Winery, among others.

“We kicked off the harvest party theme last year as a way for wineries, retailers, restaurants, and the public to help celebrate October as Virginia Wine Month,” says Annette Boyd, director of the Virginia Wine Marketing Office. “The concept has really taken off. This is an event we want to build each year to celebrate the bounty of all products grown in Virginia, in addition to Virginia wines.”

We loved the idea, so we asked local experts for some tips to help you plan your own harvest party this month.

Harvest wine and food pairing

Priscilla Martin Curley

Co-owner, The Wine Guild of Charlottesville; general manager, Monticello Farm Table Café

“I think a great way to celebrate the Virginia harvest would be to pair a Virginia wine specialty, such as dry petit manseng, with a fire-roasted pork loin served with paw paw jam. The sweet-tart quality of the paw paws married with the smoky char of the pork will bring out the subtle tropical honey notes in the petit manseng while contrasting with the bitter qualities. Plus, it’s an impressive but simple showstopper for any harvest party meal! You can even use the unique-looking paw paw fruit as part of your centerpiece along with some beautiful fall foliage.”

Where to find it: “Try Horton Vineyards’ 2015 Petit Manseng ($25)—it won the 2019 Virginia Governor’s Cup. I’d also recommend Michael Shaps Wineworks petit manseng ($30). Shaps was one of the first to make a dry version of this wine.” Curley forages for her paw paw fruit, but it’s also available seasonally at farmers’ markets. Horton, (540) 832-7440; hortonwine.com. Shaps, 529-6848; virginiawineworks.com

A fresh take on tableware

Tabatha Wilson

Manager, The Market at Grelen

“When creating your fall tablescape, don’t be afraid to mix up the traditional for something a little more fun—adding color is a great way to spice up your tabletop. Blue is one of our favorites because it is such a versatile color, and when paired with neutral hues it can be very elegant. Colored glassware is a beautiful way to add color to your table. Also, little seasonal touches, like a simple feather in a napkin ring, can make a big statement.”

Where to find it: The Market at Grelen, Somerset, (540) 672-7268; themarketatgrelen.com

Breezy centerpieces

Jazmin Portnow

Owner, Anyvent Event Planning

“My key to a good table setting is to incorporate quirky and unexpected seasonal elements as part of your centerpieces. A wedding trend that will make an appearance in my seasonal and holiday centerpieces is pampas grass. It’s wild, fun, and has a wheat-like aesthetic that’s perfect for fall.”

Where to find it: Pampas grass is readily available at local florists, including Colonial Florist, in Gordonsville. (540) 832-3611; colonialfloristantiques.com

Bring on the fire

Casey Eves

Founder and owner, Casey Eves Design

“For festive events, nothing is better than a supervised fire pit and a s’mores station! The secret ingredient to killer seasonal s’mores? Peppermint bark instead of Hershey bars.”

Where to find it: Feast! co-owner Kate Collier vouches for the peppermint bark personally—it’s made by her mom, Maggie Castillo, of nearby Hunt Country Foods. 244-7800; feastvirginia.com

Blue is a good choice for fall tablescapes because it’s “such a versatile color, and when paired with neutral hues it can be very elegant,” says Tabatha Wilson, manager at The Market at Grelen.

 

More food and wine pairings

The hearty, savory dishes of fall lend themselves well to wines like gewürztraminer, barbera, and cabernet franc. Mulled wine (heated and spiced with cinnamon, cloves, and other typical fall spices) is another great option for outdoor harvest parties. And don’t forget Virginia’s meads, the original party wine. Here are our recommendations; available at the wineries listed.

Gewürztraminer, Afton Mountain Vineyards, Afton ($28)

This aromatic, slightly sweet wine originally hails from Germany, but for a fun food pairing, think more exotic: coriander-spiced roasted chickpeas, garlicky grilled chicken wings, or cinnamon-laced chili. (540) 456-8667, aftonmountainvineyards.com

2017 Barbera Reserve, Glass House Winery, Free Union ($30)

This high-acid wine is a perfect match for a high-acid food like tomatoes, so try heirloom tomatoes with fresh mozzarella and balsamic, or spaghetti squash with a sauce of late-season crushed tomatoes and basil from the garden. 975-0094, glasshousewinery.com

2017 Cabernet Franc, Keswick Vineyards, Keswick ($59)

One of Virginia’s top wines for 2019, this cab franc stands up to strong herbal flavors, so how about surprising your guests with some surprisingly easy Cornish game hens roasted with plenty of herbs like thyme, rosemary, and sage? 244-3341, keswickvineyards.com

Spicy Rivanna, Burnley Vineyards, Barboursville ($15)

This blend is perfect as mulled wine—ready to heat and drink. The winery adds natural flavorings of cinnamon, clove, nutmeg, allspice, anise, orange peel, and lemon peel to their Rivanna Red, and sells it by the bottle. 960-4411, burnleywines.com

Voyage, Hill Top Berry Farm and Winery, Nellysford ($22)

Made from 100 percent fermented honey, this is Hill Top’s version of the mead that the Vikings drank. It pairs with hunks of crusty bread, hard cheese, and cured meats. Pick up a bottle of Cyser (apple mead), Lavender Metheglin (spiced mead), or Hunter’s Moon (spiced pumpkin mead) and treat your mates to a mead taste-off. Hilltop Berry Farm and Winery, 361-1266—N.B.

Categories
Knife & Fork

The natural: Winemaker Damien Blanchon cultivates sustainability at Afton Mountain Vineyards

Born into a winemaking family in France, Damien Blanchon received his formal training in the craft there before moving to Virginia in 2006. Photo: Amy and Jackson Smith

One morning last April, Afton Mountain Vineyards winemaker Damien Blanchon stood under a canopy in the rain, his yellow rain slicker a bright spot on the gray day. Smoke streamed out from the firepit he tended. The night’s meal, a freshly butchered pig, dripped fat onto the coals.

Blanchon’s on friendly terms with Polyface Farm’s Joel Salatin—the celebrity livestock farmer, author, and speaker—and earlier the winemaker had driven to Swoope, Virginia, to pick out one of his pal’s celebrated pastured pigs. Salatin’s son, Daniel, normally does the butchering but couldn’t get around to it, so Blanchon, equipped with the necessary tools, got busy with the carving. An hour later, he and the pig were on their way back to the winery.

Big on biodiversity, Blanchon recently introduced goats to the property at Afton Mountain. Photo: Amy and Jackson Smith

Rainwater dripped from the edge of the canopy. Blanchon, who has a scruffy beard and intense blue eyes, peered at the smoke. After pressing grapes later this year, he said, he will deliver pomace—the skins left over after the crush—to Salatin to use as feed. It’s a sustainable, natural cycle that Salatin has preached for years, and which Blanchon also believes is the way forward.

“When I look at this little place, we are trying to do things the right way for the environment,” says Blanchon, who’s overseen Afton Mountain’s 25 acres of vines for nearly a decade. “In the long term, I’m trying to have a beneficial impact.”

Blanchon applies no insecticides to the vines, and only sparingly uses fungicides. “The vines are smart,” he says. It’s his shorthand way of expressing his respect for the plants, and the deep knowledge he has gained during more than two decades of tending grapes.

Blanchon’s winemaking education began when he was a child, on his uncle’s vineyard and small winery in Beaujolais. His formal schooling in viticulture and enology began when he was a teenager and led to work at wineries in France. He arrived in the U.S. in 2006, after answering an ad for a winemaker at Old House Vineyards in Culpeper. When he called, Mattieu Finot picked up. Now the winemaker at King Family Vineyards, Finot was consulting at Old House at the time. The rest, as they say, is history.

Blanchon brought with him the organic practices that he uses to this day. He brews huge quantities of herbal teas and sprays them on the vines, which, he says, bolsters their natural immune systems. It takes years for this to happen, but Blanchon believes using the method will keep the vines healthy and productive for 40 to 60 years—instead of the 20 years he says much larger commercial vineyards plan for.

“Looks like it’s working, because last year it was very rainy and we did only 10 [fungicide] sprays compared to an average of 25 to 30 sprays for [many other] wineries,” he says. “All around the vines, I plant some wild flowers that bring in insects that are beneficial for us, like the bees. Last year it was very humid and dewy in the morning, so you could see the spider webs easily, they were everywhere, and thanks to the spiders, we didn’t have a fruit fly problem. I was like, ‘Well, that makes sense.’”

A few hours later, in the glass-walled pavilion overlooking the vineyards, Blanchon prepares platters of sliced pork. He lays them out on a table with whole roasted potatoes and a simple salad of arugula with vinaigrette. He’s serving dinner for a group of journalists and friends of Afton Mountain’s owners Elizabeth and Tony Smith. The meal is the culmination of a long day for Blanchon, who also led a cellar tour and wine tasting.

The Smiths—whose son, Hunter Smith, is the founder and owner of Charlottesville’s Champion Brewing Company—purchased the winery a decade ago. Since then they’ve doubled the vineyard size, in part to protect the sculpted mountain views. Ask the couple what’s next for their vast acreage, and Elizabeth Smith muses over morels, explaining that their plan is not to exceed the 5,000-case capacity of their current wine operation, but instead explore more ways to farm sustainably. The owners and winemaker are in sync.

“With the freedom the Smiths give me, I’m going full tilt,” says Blanchon, enjoying a glass of his own blended red wine with dinner. “We started [the new approach] about three years ago. Now our first spray was only teas and decoction with nettle leaf and horsetail grass to start. I also use chamomile, oak bark tea, and milfoil grass later in the season.” (Decoction is essentially a reduction by boiling of the elixir he describes.) 

“We try to respect the environment, our little environment around here—we are the only vineyard but we have animals, the lake, so we try to really reduce the heavy spray,” he says.

Goats are Blanchon’s latest addition to the farm. They’re like natural lawn mowers that tidy up—and, um, fertilize—the 135 acres that aren’t covered with vines. He’s also talked with the owners of some neighboring cows about taking over the herd when they retire next year. “Why not butcher and sell them here—maybe sell grass-fed beef to the wine-club members?” he asks.

“The thing I hate is having a recipe, dong the exact same thing I did last year,” says Blanchon, pouring more red for himself and a guest. “The weather is always different, the grapes come in different. As a winemaker, I love the adaptations you have to make.

“I have the chance to be in charge of a small area,” he says. “What can I do—even if nobody knows, but for me, what can I do—to have a beneficial impact? When I leave, or when I retire, I’ll know I’ve done whatever I could to make this place environmentally friendly. And I really believe it affects the quality of the wine.”

An Italian immigrant, Gabriele Rausse is one of Central Virginia’s most prominent and influential winemakers. Photo: Ashley Twiggs

Wine without borders

Damien Blanchon, a native of France, is one of many immigrants now working in area wineries, bringing not only diversity to the industry, but also skills, practices, and knowledge that improve the quality of the commonwealth’s wines. We raise a glass to the men and women who give our local wine its multicultural flavor.—N.B.

Gabriele Rausse, Italy, owner, Gabriele Rausse Winery and Director of Gardens and Grounds, Thomas Jefferson’s Monticello

Fernando Franco, El Salvador, viticulturist, Barboursville Vineyards, Barboursville

Luca Paschina, Italy, general manager and winemaker, Barboursville Vineyards

Andy Bilenkij, Australia, winemaker, Pollak Vineyards, Greenwood

Francoise Seillier-Moiseiwitsch, Belgium, vineyard manager
and co-owner, and Julian
Moiseiwitsch, Northern Ireland, co-owner, Revalation Vineyards, Madison

Jorge Raposo, Portugal, owner and winemaker, Brent Manor Vineyards, Faber

Stephen Barnard, South Africa, winemaker, Keswick Vineyards, Keswick

Julien Durantie, France, winemaker, DuCard Vineyards, Etlan

Matthieu Finot, France, winemaker, King Family Vineyards, Crozet

Claude Thibaut, France, winemaker, Thibaut-Janisson, produced and bottled at Veritas Vineyards, Afton