Ramble On

Friday, December 4, 2009

...and Around the Corner is Wisteria


Since we didn’t get back to Wisteria after our trip to North Mountain on Saturday, we decided to go on Sunday as soon as they opened. The vineyard is less than a mile away from the Hawksbill Cabin – we’re just separated by the Jordan Hollow Inn and Hawksbill Creek. It’s great to have a little vineyard as a neighbor.

The wines available for tasting this week were: Traminette, Seyval, Chardonnay, Viognier, Merlot, Norton, Pinot Gris, and Carmine. There was also warm mulled wine available. So we enjoyed the tasting and picked up a couple of bottles, and then took a walk around the grounds.

The vineyard is laid out with symmetrical fields on either side of a little road that leads back to the creek and a storage area. This makes a nice walk during the outing at Wisteria. From this area of the farm, Hawksbill and Stonyman mountains in Shenandoah National Park rise to dominate the view to the east.
As noted on the http://www.wisteriavineyard.com/ website, this is a working farm and vineyard – they keep a flock of natural-colored Romney sheep as well as free-roaming chickens. (Click the pasture photo for a better look at the sheep.) My sister and Mom picked up a skein of oatmeal-colored wool for some holiday projects while we visited.



In this post, I featured a few photos of the Trellises that they use at Wisteria – these are mostly made from cedar that was grown on the farm. Cedar planks also form part of the fencing. I’ve been thinking that the trellises are a good idea that I might pass on to neighbor Dan as a way to support his hops vines next summer (or I might adopt them if I ever start growing them...click the Beaver Run Brewery label for more info about Dan's project, by the way).



On the website, they have included a couple of photos of the farm in winter, including a shot when there was about four inches of snow on the ground – that is a sight we’re yet to see during our time at the cabin, but we are looking forward to the possibility.

2 comments:

Unknown said...

...just noticed in the foreground of the pasture picture, there is a ton of black walnuts on the ground...

Brian McGowan said...

That is pretty cool to have a working vineyard (and farm) so close to "home".