Winery Visit- Paradise Springs

While home for Spring Break, I decided to take advantage of the wealth of wineries located around the area.   Paradise Springs caught my attention with their first annual barrel tasting weekend series.

Paradise Springs in Clifton, Virginia

Paradise Springs Winery encompasses 3 acres of land in Clifton, VA.  It is the first and only winery in Fairfax County.  Overall, the location and facilities are gorgeous.  Cabernet Franc was the first grape variety planted at the vineyard in 2008, but the wines are made from grapes grown all over Virginia.   The 2 acres of Cabernet Franc vines only account for 6% or 6 tons of the fruit they use.  1 ton of grapes only gives about 2 or so barrels of wine.

Tasting Room

The Wine Thief used to get the wine out of the barrels

 The barrel tasting was composed of nine different 2011 vintages divided into three different stations each paired with different foods.  A tool aptly called a wine thief was used to extract wine from the barrel for us to taste.  We also learned about the Angel's Portion of wine in a barrel.  About 10% of the alcohol and water in a barrel evaporates while the wine is aging and no one's really sure where it all goes, so they say it's for the angels to enjoy :)  Our guide, Drew, also explained some of the chemistry that goes on behind making a wine.  The BRIX, or sugar content, of the grape is very important.  The pH and total acidity of the wine are also closely monitored.  They don't necessarily correlate either, because a 3.5 pH may have a high or low total acidity.  Drew also shared that the workers consider themselves 80% glorified janitors and 20% wine makers because sanitation is so important to the wine making process.

Oak Barrels

The first station examined the influence of oak barrels on white wines.  The first wine was a 2011 Chardonnay from a new French oak barrel, while the second wine was a 2011 Chardonnay from a neutral French oak barrel.  The neutral barrels are 5 years old and most of the tannins and color that can be extracted from the oak are probably gone.  Both wines were nice and fruity, but the second one was sweeter.  Both were nice and citrusy, but the first one tasted more like white grape juice while the second one tasted like green apples.  The third wine at this station was a 2011 Viognier, which is Virginia's signature grape.  This wine was more tart and slightly more acidic.  The wine was still young, but the sharper flavors should soften with age.  There were crackers, crab cakes, and cheese to go with the wines ate this station.  It didn't think any of them made a huge impact on the taste of any of the wines except for to help soften some of the acidity.

Ashley, our guide for the second station

The next station was guided by Ashley and highlighted the influence of different terroir on three different red wines.  Terroir had to do with the geography, climate, and all the different factors that come into play developing a grape into a wine.  All three wines were paired with steak and cheese.  The first two wines were both 2011 Cabernet Sauvignons that had been aging for the same amount of time in the same type of barrel with the same yeast strain.  Ashley told us that this was not a very good year for cabernet sauvignon, but I still enjoyed both of mine.  The first Cab Sav was from (Donald) Trump Vineyard in Charlottesville, Virginia  and the second was from Breaux Vineyard  in Loudon County.  Trump Vineyard is further south with a warmer climate, while Breaux has a cooler climate that typically leads to more acidity.

The first wine smelled of darker fruit and had some heat.  It almost had a licorice taste and was slightly bitter.  The steak helped lessen the acidity and spread the flavor on the mouth.

The second wine smelled more acid.  It had a more spicy and prominent fruit taste.  The food dulled the spiciness of the wine, but enhanced the fruit flavors.

This shows how the grapes from the different regions picked up the oak differently.  The plan for the final product from these grapes was to combine the two barrels to help balance them.  Since I was luckily enough to be in such an awesome group for this tasting, someone asked if we could try the two wines mixed together.  Apparently, we were the first group to ever ask to try that.  Interestingly enough however,  the combination of the two was my least favorite of the three.  There was a lot of heat afterwards and it was very tart.  I liked it less the more I drank.  However, maybe it will be better once the Cab Savs finish aging and are properly combined in a proper ratio.

The third wine at this station was a 2011 Petit Verdot aged in a Chinese oak Barrel.  This is the first Chinese oak barrel on the east coast!  (The Cab Savs were in New American oak.)  This wine had a nice fruit smell and was more tannic.  There was heat upon first tasting it and it was heavy on my tongue afterwards.  The steak helped soften this a little bit.  I did not care for this wine as much as the Cab Savs.  The tannins were just too high for me.

Jen found this gem in the bathroom.

Richard was our guide for station 3 that highlighted the lesser known varietal and wine styles.  The first wine at this station was a 2011 Tannat.  It is a late ripening grape that grows well in Virginia, and was paired with peanuts.  It had a nice purplish color and smelled soft and smooth.  It had a dark grape taste and slight heat at the end.  It was full bodied, but I did not get a lot on the finish.  It was slightly dry with a little mouth pucker effect at the end.  I liked it more with the peanuts, because they helped with the mouth puckering at the end.

The tables in the tasting room
are made from old wine barrels

The next wine was a 2011 Norton (a variety native to Virginia).  It had a beautiful dark purple color and sugar smell.  I liked the taste a lot.  It was fruity up front with some heat to finish.  It was paired with prosciutto.  I liked it less with the food because it took away some of the fruity flavor.  The wine did make the food taste better though, because I did not like the prosciutto at all.

Me with the wine barrels

The final tasting was of a 2011 Port that was fortified Chambourcin in a used whiskey barrel.  It had only been in the barrel for 4.5 months and was HOTTT!  But it was still sweet with a great POP at the end that said, "Oh, Hey! I'm a baby grape and that's what's up."  It won't be bottled for a year, but I think it will age well. This was probably one of my favorite things that we tasted since it was dessert and paired with some dark chocolate.  I'm usually not a huge dark chocolate fan since it tends to be too bitter for me, but the sweetness of the wine compensated for that and made the salt in the chocolate come out so that it tasted amazing!  The chocolate also helped soothe the heat at the end of the port.

Overall, my visit to Paradise Springs was AWESOME.  My group was fantastic and all the other guests employees were very friendly and helpful.  I will definitely be visiting Paradise Springs again next time I'm home.