Late Fall Visit to North Mountain Vineyard

Despite the short hours of daylight, we were able to get in a full day of sightseeing in the Valley on Saturday - a sunny day with temps in the 50's. I had a plan to get Mom, Nancy and Mary into Luray for some errands, then a couple of stops on the way over to North Mountain Vineyard in Mauertown.

In Luray, we stopped at Appalachian Outdoors Adventures, where the gang was finishing up on combining stocks and some upgrades after the merger with Evergreen - I'll have a post on that soon. Then we went to Mill Creek Pottery, where Nancy's roaster order was in, plus we wanted to pick up a few more ornaments.

Then on to the day's sightseeing with a stop at the GWNF Storybook Trail, for a view of Page Valley, and onward to the vineyard.

It was mid-afternoon when we arrived, and the place was bustling with visitors, the lot full of Virginia, DC and Maryland tags. There was music in the back room...all of this a surprise to me, as I hadn't checked the website. We settled in for a glass of wine and some of the great snacks they offer - a cheese plate and brie with very tasty raspberry/chipotle preserves on the side.

As the crowd thinned out, we went inside for a tasting, which included some seasonal choices in addition to the standards from this vineyard:

• Vidal Blanc
• 2006 Chardonnay
• Claret
• Tom's Brook Red
• Oktoberfest
• Sweet Caroline's Blush
• Mountain Sunset Apple Blush
• Spiced Holiday Wine

Mary and I picked out a couple of bottles for our "cellar" and Nancy and Mom enjoyed the experience with us. The Chardonnay was described on the tasting card as "This classically made Chardonnay, with subtle flavors of French oak and a citrus finish, will enhance many of your favorite dishes." It only spends about six months in French oak, which keeps it a lighter wine with less tannin. Very pleasant and something it seems we could enjoy with appetizers.

I have a couple of vineyard photos here from the visit - one looking across the vines to West Virginia, and the second, a bit later when I loaded the wine in the car, a view from the vines looking at the moon.

After the vineyard visit I was hoping we'd have enough time for both Sal's Italian Bistro in Edinburg and a stop at Wisteria back in Stanley on the way home, but time and daylight ran out on us. So we enjoyed a big Italian dinner at Sal's, and made a plan to visit Wisteria the next day - I'll post on that tomorrow.