Virginia Wine Factory Still a Bit Kinky

http://virginiawinefactory.com/

No not that kind of kinky.

With a built in babysitter for the evening, Mrs. Wino and I decided to make a quick rendezvous at the Virginia Wine Factory (VWF) to celebrate a little afternoon midweek date.

Tucked back deep inside Asuburn, VWF is owned by the same guys that own Vino Curioso, Michael Matthews and Michael Sawyers.  I first met the pair at the the Virginia Wine Fest a few years back, and found them both to be extremely engaging and two of the nicest guys around.

VWF is their latest venture, which not only acts as a distribution outlet for Vino Curioso wines, but also prides itself on carrying a heavy stock of Virginia wines for customers to taste right alongside wines from the more established regions of the world. The latter was our goal this evening.  With time to spare, and the weather in our favor we sat down for a flight, asking to taste them blind, knowing that they’d pour both wines from Virginia and elsewhere in the world.

My wife happened to have a notepad in her purse, so we jotted down a few notes.

$10 gets you a flight of 4 wines (we got one red and one white).

White Flight:

1. Pleasant lemon and Hay on the nose.  All the excitement is on the nose with the finish lacking

2.  Loads of mango on the nose.  Long finish of tropical fruit.  Nice acid balance.

3.  Honey on the nose.  Very muted and watered down.  Buttery finish.

4.  Another subdued white.  Forgettable with a bitter finish.

Order of Preference: 2,1,3,4

White Flight

1.  Canoso Soave Classico-Italian Table Wine

2. Marlborough Grace Sauvignon Blanc-New Zealand

3. Blue Crab Blanc-Chesapeake Wine Company (Ingleside Vineyards) Virginia

4. Verget de Sud Viogner-France

Red Flight:

1. Raspberry on the nose.  Palate is very one diminutional.

2. Bad…. Literally…this wine was bad, and was likely sitting out too long.  Smelled bad, tasted worse.

3.  Spicy with fruit leather on the nose.  Chewy and tannic to taste.  Chewyness covers up any fruit on the palate.

4.  Not good.

Red Flight

Order of Preference: 3,2,4,1

1. Pin Point Cabernet-California

2. Finca El Peral Malbec-Argentina

3. Chateau Les Arromans (Merlot) Bordeaux

4. Bradford Reed-Virginia

I wouldn’t exactly call any of the wines tasted stellar.  For the whites, the NZ Sauvignon Blanc was pretty tasty, and one that I’d try again.  The Bordeaux also had some potential.

In fairness to all 8 wines we tried, I’m fairly confident that these had been opened for a few days, and were thus not showing at their full potential.  In any event, Virginia didn’t show well in this round. As for VWF as a whole, after a little over a year in operation, I still think they need to work out the kinks.

I admire the concept and the model (heck, it drew me in), and believe that once implemented correctly will highlight the quality of wine in the Commonwealth.  However, having many bottles of wine open on the counter, allows them to easily turn, and in turn, gives a false impression of the quality of wines, both Virginian and non-Virginia alike.  Wine stations are expensive, but would probably be a worthy investment in the near term.  I’d also consider a different cork stop system, besides just the cork, as an inexpensive near term solution to stretch a little more life out of the wines.

Lastly, I also see price as an impeding factor, with some bottles approaching restaurant markup over other stores, which is a bit steep, even for a small local shop.  VWF does offer a lounge atmosphere, with live music, in addition to uber low corkage fees for bottles purchased and drank onsite ($2).  However, retail prices are inflated to cover it.

I don’t pretend to know the difficulties of running a small business, much less one in the wine industry, but the current price points will be continue to be a headwind. VWF is a good place to go to open a bottle with a date, or some friends, as you expect to pay a premium to drink onsite.  However, as a local wineshop, I think it has a ways to go.