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| Owner Dean Vanhuss |
By Dathan Kazsuk | Jan 6, 2011
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The Norton grape is used in a handful of wineries in Virginia (Dry Mill Vineyard being one of them), but according to Wikipedia, the grape is the "official" grape of the state of Missouri. While the Mourvédre grape is more of an international variety grown in many regions around the world.
This red wine was one of the standouts at Dry Mill Vineyards when we were there for a wine tasting. The vineyard also offers up a Viognier, Traminette, Cabernet Franc, Syrah, Rosé and two types of Chardonnay (barrel and steel). If you make it out to Leesburg, this is one of the wineries I recommend you visit.
I do have one gripe with smaller wineries ... and I know why they do this ... but just don't like it. My gripe is that they always charge way too much for a bottle. I know they don't produce the quantity of the bigger vineyards such as Robert Mondavi (Constellation Brands) or Charles Shaw (Bronco Wine Company), but it's hard to fork out $19.00 for a bottle, when you know you can buy something with similar tastes for $6.99 at a Beverages & More or Total Wine.
$19.00 is what we paid for the Norton. The more I'm drinking it here typing this blog, the more I'm liking this wine. And right now, I say I won't pay $19.00 for another bottle, but if we make it back up to Leesburg again, and make another visit to Dry Mill ... who knows.
I remember they had a real nice Viognier as part of the tasting, but were sold out. And while looking on the website, I see the going price for one bottle of Dry Mill Viognier is a whopping $22.00.
As the late Steve Irwin use to say, "CRIKEY!!!"
Double Crikey! I just went to a recent blog to see that wine I'm drinking right now has gone up in price, and is now $25.00 a bottle. I better enjoy this one!