Winery Visit- King Family Vineyard

On Saturday, January 28, 2017, I visited King Family Vineyard with my boyfriend, Tyler. King Family Vineyards is located in Crozet, Virginia on over 200 acres of land. In addition to the tasting room and vineyards, there are several houses on the property where the King Family lives, and there is a large polo field around the center of the property.

Tyler and I standing in the Merlot vines

Although I had been to one other wine tasting at the Vintage Cellar in Blacksburg, VA, this was my first visit to a winery/vineyard. In addition to doing a wine tasting, we also took a bus tour of the entire vineyard and the winery facilities. Jason was our tour guide, and he drove us from the tasting room to the Merlot vines on the other side of the property. The vines were bare, but Jason told us about some of the characteristics of the plant. I found it very interesting that the vine was composed of a combination of an American and European species of vine in order to prevent disease. He also explained that the geographic location of the vineyard is very favorable and that many outside viticulturists tried to buy or rent land from the King’s before they converted their polo field into a full vineyard. The redish soils (visible in the photo above) indicate high levels of iron and this adds mineral flavor to many of their wines.

After walking through the vineyard, we drove to the winery building, where the actual wine is produced. The wine maker was unfortunately not present at the time of our visit, but Jason explained that he is a French specialist that has mastered the craft of making wine. Inside the winery building, the main room contained multiple steel drums, and a few concrete tanks that were used for making wine. The crusher was also located in the back of this room, and Jason told us about how difficult it can be to learn how to use this machine properly and make a quality product from it.

Steel drums in the winery

 Next we walked into the room where all the wine was stored. One half of the room was devoted to white wine barrels, and the other half was for red wine. There was an additional row of whiskey barrels that are used to store their “Seven” wine, which is fortified with brandy.

Red wine aging in barrels

"Seven" wine aging in whiskey barrels

The tour concluded back at the tasting room where we tasted the following six wines:

Viognier 2015: This was one of my favorite wines of the tasting. It was a white wine, with a fruity smell and taste. It was somewhat dry but also had subtle hints of sweetness.

Roseland 2015: This white wine blend was very tasty and named after the King Family Roseland Farm. This wine had a fruity smell with the taste of pineapple and peach very relevant. The flavor lingered for a while and it had a mineral-like after taste.

Chardonnay 2015: This wine was more on the dry side, with some fruity elements as well. Apple was a prominent taste; however, the after taste was very buttery. The wine was good, but different than other Chardonnays that I have tasted in the past.

Cabernet Franc 2015: This red wine had a smooth taste, and an acidic smell. Pepper was also very vivid with this wine, especially in the lingering after-taste. This was my least favorite of the wines that I tried due to its aggressive mineral and pepper taste.

Meritage 2014: Although I do not usually prefer red wines, this wine was very smooth and I enjoyed it more than I expected to.  This red blend was composed of 50% Merlot, 23% Petit Verdot, 21% Cabernet Franc, and 6% Malbec. This wine had a floral smell; however, the taste included flavors like cherry and raspberry with some spiciness. This wine also aged for 18 months in French Oak.

Seven 2014: This desert wine was the final red wine that we tasted, and was very good. The sweetness was prominent, but not overpowering. The wine was produced from 100% Petit Verdot, aged for 22 months in bourbon barrels, and fortified with brandy. I tasted flavors of dark berry fruits such as blackberry and raspberry. The wine also had a higher alcohol content and was served in a significantly smaller than usual bottle.