Virginia's Dry Mill Vineyard's 2007 Norton Stands Out

Owner Dean Vanhuss

By Dathan Kazsuk | Jan 6, 2011
Twitter: TriangleAT | Facebook: Triangle Around Town | Instagram: trianglearoundtown

Tonight we opened and decanted a 2007 Norton wine that we purchased when we made the trip up to Leesburg, Virginia back in April of last year. The wine is 90% Norton and 10% Mourvédre. The 2007 Norton has a rich aroma of cherries with a nice spicy finish.

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!

A Good Blend: 2009 Domaine les Grands Bois Cotes du Rhome 'Cuvee Les Trois Soeurs'

By Dathan | Jan 3, 2011
Twitter: TriangleAT | Facebook: Triangle Around Town | Instagram: trianglearoundtown

Jen and I had a good wine this past Thursday at Fleming's Prime Steakhouse & Wine Bar. It was our own bottle we brought in, since our friends Kim and Chrissy had free corking cards to use up. First off let me start off by saying ... don't bring in your own bottle unless you are able to acquire one of these cards. We all thought the corking fee was $10 a bottle, but they actually charge $20 a bottle. Yikes!!!

The wine we had was a 2009 Domaine les Grands Bois Cotes du Rhome 'Cuvee Les Trois Soeurs.' It was a blended red wine ... two-thirds Grenache with one-third Syrah and Carignan. It left a nice taste on the pallet, a spicy character found in reds from the Rhone.

I received this wine as payment for shooting a wedding this past October. The list price of this wine varies online from $13.99 to $16.99. So it's very reasonable to pick this up or order it from your local wine store. The guy who gave me this wine works for a wine store here in Raleigh, so hopefully it wouldn't be difficult to get another bottle if we want to.

Jen and I would buy this wine again and pour it for ourselves, or when having guests over for the evening.