Tag: Septenary Winery

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Living

Winter pairing: wine and fire

The comfy fireplace furniture creates an intimate feel in Veritas Vineyard’s tasting room. Photo: Stephen Barling

Whether it’s bitterly cold or just damp and dreary, one of the best places to wait out winter is beside a roaring fire (preferably with a glass of wine). Luckily, plenty of area wineries fit the bill, with cozy couches and toasty fireplaces to sit beside while you sip.

“We go for a living-room kind of feel in our tasting room,” says Paul Summers, owner of Knight’s Gambit Vineyard. “It’s homey and comfortable, and the fireplace no doubt adds to that.” So does the resident hound, Fig, who often lounges on a sofa near the fire.

The tasting room at Septenary Winery also feels like a living room, with four chairs by the hearth. A two-sided fireplace warms up the cavernous public room at Barboursville Vineyards, cranking out heat for visitors seated at tables on one side and patrons at the tasting bar on the other. At Veritas Vineyard & Winery, the most coveted tasting room seats are the overstuffed leather sofa and chairs near the fireplace.

At King Family Vineyards, a big fieldstone hearth anchors the winery’s Pavilion—and draws a crowd. When the oak logs are crackling, fragrant smoke fills the air and a beer-hall vibe prevails, with patrons engaged in animated conversation at the Pavilion’s long wood tables. “It’s very relaxing and warm, like sitting in someone’s great room,” says King Family’s events coordinator, Kelly Bauer. —J.B.

More kudos for BBQ Exchange

Recently recognized by the Food Network for one of the best BBQ pork sandwiches in America, The Barbeque Exchange, in Gordonsville, has been nominated by the USA Today 10Best for Best Brunswick Stew in Virginia. An expert panel selected the nominees, and readers will choose a winner (to be announced March 8) by voting on the 10Best website. —Simon Davidson

Greens (and more) cook-off

Calling all cooks and fans of good home cooking: The African American Heritage Center’s fifth annual Greens Cook Off takes place from 3-5pm February 9 at the Jefferson School. Greens, macaroni and cheese, and pound cake will be judged; visitors can graze on the entries and vote for their favorites. Learn more at jeffschoolheritagecenter.org. —S.D.

Cheese, chocolate, and champagne for lovers

On Valentine’s Day, the holy trinity of cheese, chocolate, and champagne will converge at Oakhart Social. Righteous Cheese’s Carolyn Stromberg Leasure and cheesemonger Sara Adduci, formerly of Feast!, will open four rare-producer champagnes and give instruction on pairing bubbly with cheese. A spread of local chocolates will also be available, because…Valentine’s Day! For tickets and info search Chocolate, Cheese & Baller Bubbly at eventbrite.com —S.D.

Ladies get their Galentine’s on

It started with Leslie Knope, Amy Pohler’s character on the TV sitcom “Parks and Recreation,” but craft distiller Vitae Spirits is carrying on the tradition of Galentine’s Day with its second annual party, at 5pm February 7. As Leslie said, it’s all about “ladies celebrating ladies.” Vitae’s version will feature a pop-up shop—along with booze, of course—with products from women-owned businesses. A portion of the proceeds will benefit the Sexual Assault Resource Agency. —Jenny Gardiner

Super cidery

Potter’s Craft Cider—with a little help from Virginia’s taxpayers—is growing. Potter’s will invest $1.68 million to quadruple its production and refurbish Neve Hall, a former church built in 1924, as a tasting room. The project gets a boost from a $50,000 grant from the commonwealth’s Agriculture and Forestry Industries Development Fund, and matching funds from Albemarle County. —J.B.

Duner’s chef to become owner

Duner’s executive chef Laura Fonner has announced she’ll be acquiring the upscale Ivy restaurant from current owner Bob Caldwell after his retirement next year. “It’s a natural move for me,” says Fonner, who has worked at Duner’s for 15 years. —J.G.

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Living

Buzzkill: Government shutdown put squeeze on Virginia wineries

Brian Schornberg (right) of Keswick Vineyards says the government shutdown hurt business. Photo: Amy Jackson Smith

Even though the federal government shutdown is temporarily on hold, Virginia’s winemakers have taken an economic hit that will only worsen if the freeze resumes as announced, on February 15. Regardless, the negative effects are likely to linger into the spring and summer,  industry sources say.

The primary sticking point is the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau, which must approve formulas and labels for new products before they are issued for public consumption, whether by bottle, can, or keg. While TTB employees were out of work, the fine folks who make your adult beverages were out of luck.

“If a winery loses a new wine because it has sat too long [before bottling] and aged-out, that’s a big deal,” says Mary Beth Williams, of Williams Compliance and Consulting, which represents 150 wineries statewide. “The government is tying winemakers’ hands.”

Luca Paschina, general manager and winemaker at Barboursville Vineyards, says most of his recent vintages will make it to market in spite of the shutdown, because wines produced the same way year after year are not subject to TTB approval, known in the industry as a COLA (Certificate of License Approval). Regardless, he’s still concerned.

“I do have two labels awaiting approval,” Paschina says. “They are for wines we intend to release later in the year. We’ll have to wait and see what happens.”

Other wines hijacked by the TTB closure included a new viognier by Septenary Winery, in Greenwood, and a sparkling white by Peaks of Otter Winery, in Bedford. “We wanted to have this wine ready for sale by this summer, but I’m not sure that will happen now,” Danny Johnson, Peaks of Otter’s co-owner, told The News & Advance of Lynchburg.

Closer to home, at Keswick Vineyards, the shutdown impact has been both immediate and quantifiable—and a hindrance to expansion plans the owners had hoped to realize in the spring.

“The majority of our traffic on the weekends is from the D.C. area, and that has been drastically reduced,” says Brian Schornberg, Keswick’s wine club manager and son of Al and Cindy Schornberg, who bought the winery in 1999. “A lot our customers work for the government and [were] not receiving a paycheck. So, they put off visiting, which put a dent in tasting-room sales.”

Keswick has also had “about a dozen wine-club cancellations,” which translate to monetary losses of “several grand a year,” he adds.

Keswick had also applied months before the shutdown for TTB licenses to execute expansion plans, Schornberg says. He declined to reveal specifics, but hinted that the winery may be looking to increase wine production or make another type of alcoholic beverage. Whether that’s cider, beer, or spirits, the plans are on hold.

“We were hoping to have all of our plans approved so we could begin production by April,” he says. “That’s not going to happen. We’re kind of handcuffed, to tell the truth.”

The shutdown came on the heels of a grape harvest depleted by the year’s record-breaking rainfall, which caused some wineries to lose 40 percent or more of their fruit.

“The 2018 vintage was already weird,” Williams says. “Winemaking, and bringing a wine to market, is extremely time-sensitive. It may not seem like a huge problem today, but I do think it’s going to emerge as one in as soon as a couple of weeks.”

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Living

Lucky seven: Septenary Winery opens with mature vines and historic style

Sarah and Todd Zimmerman bought the historic Seven Oaks Farm in 2014, and opened their winery last year. Photos by Kristen Finn and Meredith Coe

By Robert Harlee

How does one create a successful winery? Make delicious wines, promise an engaging customer experience, and site the winery in a beautiful place. The new Septenary Winery at Seven Oaks Farm has done just that.

Todd and Sarah Zimmerman, who met in graduate school at the University of Virginia, bought the Greenwood estate in 2014 and opened the winery last year. The property is on the National Register of Historic Places and contains 14 buildings, including a manor house built in 1847. It has had several noteworthy owners and neighbors, from Lady Astor, a next-door neighbor who later became the first female member of the British Parliament, to local music mogul Coran Capshaw, the most recent owner. Beyond grapes, Seven Oaks has been a working farm for its entire history—free-range ducks and grass-fed beef are still raised here using traditional, sustainable methods.

The site’s vineyards, planted during Capshaw’s ownership, are about 15 years old. That gives winemaker Sebastien Marquet an advantage in making quality wine, as newly planted vineyards must wait until at least their third harvest to begin producing wines, and even then the wines can be simple and bland.

Marquet has been making wine at the Zimmermans’ other vineyard, in Essex County, for nine years. A native of Burgundy, he has 30 vintages under his belt—valuable experience for any winery, new or established. Assistant winemaker James Phillips worked five vintages in New York’s Finger Lakes region.

In honor of the property’s history, Septenary’s wines are named for its buildings, with labels such as the Summer Kitchen Rosé and the merlot-cabernet franc blend called Carriage House. The name Septenary (and the numeral 7 on its labels) recalls the seven ancient oaks that famously grew on the manor house’s lawn, each named for a Virginian president. After six were felled by Hurricane Hazel in 1954, the sole surviving oak is Thomas Jefferson.

A steady breeze flows over the sloping vineyard around the tasting room, not only making the area cooler, but drying out the vines and preventing the various detrimental molds and rots that can ruin the grapes.

Septenary offers several wines from both its estate vineyard and the Essex vineyard. Their reds are based on the Bordeaux grapes of merlot, cabernet sauvignon, cabernet franc, and petit verdot. The whites include two viogniers and a rosé of syrah.

The 2017 estate viognier is a classic unoaked Virginia viognier with a vibrant acidity and aromas of peach and honeysuckle. In contrast, the 2016 California viognier spent 12 months in neutral oak, which shows in its light oak notes with more intense apricot and peach flavors.

The 2017 Summer Kitchen Rosé is made from 100 percent syrah in the Provençal style, light in color, with strawberry and watermelon notes. The finish is crisp and refreshing.

The 2015 Carriage House Red from estate fruit is a blend of 89 percent merlot and 11 percent cabernet franc, a classic Right Bank blend in the style of a Saint-Emilion. Creamy and velvety in the mouth, it shows pleasing spice notes from oak in the soft finish.

Two vintages of the Coleman red blend are currently available. The 2014 is a cabernet-dominated wine (40 percent), with equal parts of merlot, cabernet franc, and petit verdot. Its nose shows this with dark fruits, dark chocolate, and notes of cigar box and hints of vanilla. It is sourced from all-Essex fruit. Alternatively, the estate- and Essex-blended 2015 Coleman displays more red fruits and strawberry, with herbal notes due to its 33 percent merlot and 27 percent cabernet franc with equal parts of cabernet sauvignon and petit verdot.

Both wines are similar in style, but they clearly show the intriguing variations of different vintages and different vineyard sites.

Enjoy these wines in the Zimmermans’ comfortable, nicely decorated tasting room (formerly Capshaw’s pool house), or take a bottle outside, where there are multiple spots to congregate and relax with friends. An upstairs wine club is well-appointed with leather couches, a trés-cool wine decanter collection, and a euro-style self-service wine dispenser. Nothing seems to be an afterthought, and no matter where you sip, you won’t be distracted by kids­­—in contrast to many area wineries, Septenary is adults-only.

Septenary Winery is located at 200 Seven Oaks Farm in Greenwood. (540) 471-4282