Winery Visit: Williamsburg Winery

Williamsburg Winery

For my sister's last weekend in Williamsburg before moving to Northern Virginia, my family and I took a trip down to visit her, and decided to do a tasting and tour at the renowned Williamsburg Winery. I had heard a lot about this particular winery from my sister and several other friends, so I was definitely excited to experience it myself, along with my family.

Williamsburg Winery is located on the southern side of Williamsburg proper, on a 300 acre farm called Wessex Hundred, and is presided over by two generations of the Duffeler family. The family aims to share their enjoyment of wine, stewardship of the land, and love of family and friends with all the individuals that visit their establishment. The plot is filled with history, and they invite tourists and locals alike to visit their tasting room, restaurants and inn. Patrick and Peggy Duffeler came upon the land in 1983, the vineyard planting began in 1985, and the first crush took place in 1987. This winery has experienced significant continuous growth since it's opening, and one of our Geography of Wine textbook authors and noted wine educators has proclaimed that Williamsburg Winery produces “Some of the best wines in the world".

The winemakers are extremely selective with the grapes used to make their wines, and if a particular harvest does not yield the quality of fruit that is desired, Williamsburg Winery simply does not produce that vintage. It is amazing to hear that the wine that you are drinking and paying for it literally individually evaluated and the quality is always going to be the best. We did not get a full tour of the winery because my nephew was with us and my family was eager to taste and eat, but the staff did tell me about the processes they utilize.

 The white wines at Williamsburg Winery are pressed and the juice extracted is placed in tanks or barrels for fermentation.  Fermentation is usually conducted at temperatures around fifty-five degrees. There are many traditional varietals used to make their white wines. Some of these that are aged in barrels remain in the barrel cellar six to eight months before filtration and bottling. 

Their red wines are fermented in tanks or in barrels with the skin and the seeds. The fermentation temperature is very important to color extraction and is kept at around eighty-five degrees. Light-bodied wines are usually young and can be consumed within a few weeks after harvest because they are not designed for long-term cellaring. Williamsburg Winery's medium-bodied red wines are usually aged in barrels for a short period of time and are selected from varietals that deliver less flavor concentration and color than those for full-bodied wines. These wines will age in barrels for a year or more before filtration and bottling. A full-bodied red wine will need another six months or  longer of bottle aging prior to release. However, this aging is beneficial because under good cellaring conditions, a well balanced full-bodied red wine can last over twenty years.

  

We then went inside to the tasting room to participate in a tasting of 5 different wines. They had several options when it came to their tastings, but we decided to do a smaller one since there was a larger group of us, and because we were going to a friend's house later where we would be drinking. The tasting room was beautiful and we had a lot of fun walking around and looking at the different labels on the bottles and prizes that they had won.

•  2009 Adagio: The tasting staff described this wine as a superb and wonderfully balanced wine. The fruit, oak, tannins and alcohol all come together perfectly in this premium blend of Bordeaux varietals from the best barrels of the vintage. This wine was great. It really does have a smooth finish and everything blends together nicely, without having an overwhelming fruit flavor or taste too strong.
• 2009 Gabriel Archer Reserve: I was a little unsure of exactly what this wine was composed of, but found out that it is made from four varietals: 33% Cabernet Franc, 30% Merlot, 22% Cabernet Sauvignon, 15% Petit Verdot. This is a premium red wine, skillfully styled to reflect the art of blending in the Bordeaux tradition. Lovely berry nuances are followed by figs, dates and prunes and balanced with smooth earthy aspects like leather and spice. As always the Gabriel Archer Reserve is a food lovers wine. I enjoyed this wine due to the berry flavors, but we did not pair this with anything, and from the winemaker's comments, I think I may have liked it even more if I had it with food. 
• 2010 Vintage Reserve Chardonnay: The winery's description was "The oak in this multi-dimensional and classic wine is balanced with a fruity and floral character and a clean, buttery finish which lingers on the palate". However, I really did not detect any oak or butter flavors. I am not usually a huge fan of Chardonnay because it tends to be a drier wine. This particular wine wasn't extremely dry and had good flavor, but it still was not one of my favorites.
• 2010 Virginia Viognier: This wine was very fruity with hints of orange, apple and lemon. I really enjoyed this wine because it slightly sweet and rich, but had great unique flavors that really pleasantly surprised me. 
• Vin Licoreux de Framboise - Raspberry Merlot: I found this wine very interesting because it is 100% Merlot, but infused with raspberry juice. It was the only dessert wine we tasted, so I was excited to see what flavors came through. I could definitely detect a strong raspberry aroma and flavor with this wine and enjoyed the combination of the berry and merlot. They also gave us a chocolate covered strawberry to try with it, and that pairing was absolutely AMAZING. My mom bought a bottle to take home and serve during dessert at a dinner party or family gathering.

 

 We all had a wonderful time touring and tasting the wonderful wines at Williamsburg Winery. The staff guides and winemakers were all very friendly and accommodating, especially with our many questions and bringing a baby along. The grounds were beautiful this time of year, and I would recommend this winery to anyone looking for a nice tasting or dinner in Williamsburg. But hopefully they don't have too much wine like this little guy... ;)