#willowcroft

Quick Review: LoCo's Willowcroft Farm 2012 Chambourcin - Like So Many DJ Jazzy Jeff Sidekicks, Homeboy is Fresh!

Honest Wife, the kids, and I had a dynamite Easter. Instead of going to church we went to a winery. Frankly, for us the two are synonymous. We wanted to do something relaxing, close by (we live in Virginia's Loudoun County, colloquially referred to as "LoCo"), and conducive to nature immersion. We [heart] the Virginia mountains. Plus, having laid sod and planted two [large] trees the day before, my joint (and joints) was not drivin' Kenny's highway to the danger zone. I was instead listening to Franky and aiming to relax!

Oh...we didn't want bad wine either. Though a lot is money, there's some baaaad wine in these here parts. 

Willowcroft is the oldest winery in Loudoun - 30 years old this year. It shows in their wines. They had a portfolio of 15 to taste, plus two wine club wines to taste, and of the 17 total we tried I'd say 10 were really nice, and four were excellent. None were dumpers. Win.

Honest Wife and I bought a bottle of the 2012 Chambourcin to have with filet mignon. Here's the quick and durrrty:

Put this baby in a big ol' Burgundy glass. BOOM! Suck it, tiny cheap restaurant glasses!

Dark ruby/garnet red in color. Looked like a champ just by sight alone.

Aromas were of cherries and red fruit...a little strawberry maybe. Simple bouquet (i.e., aroma), but not overly so.

Taste was medium bodied: steered clear of the oft-confused vegetal flavor profile of Cab Francs (which I tend to enjoy when done well) that can unfortunately consume Virginia Chambourcin. This baby's sugar was well in check with the acids (meaning it was neither too sweet or dry nor too sour or buttery).

Nice bold fruit - again - on the flavor with just a hint of that green pepper (though again, not like a Cab Franc) and lots of big red fruits (there's a theme here). I got a bit of black pepper too, but just a tad.

Great tannin once it breathed a bit. (Knowledge drop: Tannins are the part of red wines which come from the skins of red grapes that make you want to kind of bite your cheeks and sides of your tongue, and they "mellow" or dissipate as wine is exposed to oxygen; "breathing" wine means letting it do just that - giving it access to oxygen through sitting in a glass, pouring into a decanter, or just opening the bottle, and this makes that sensation fade). Tannic wines are great for foods with fat in them, like steak, so this met the mail.

Tasted like grapes. 

That's a joke, but it's also true.

The finish (what you experience after you've swallowed the wine) was very nice - medium in length (i.e., duration) and also reminded me of red fruits (THEME! Plums, bing cherries, etc.).

Overall, this was a super great wine for what we paid - I think it was something like $15 after our wine club discount. Was crazy delicious with the grilled filet mignons that were rubbed with Rufus Teague Fixed Up This Rub meat rub...rub...

Maybe I should just call this review "red fruit" and leave it at that. 

I'd buy more! Giddy up, LoCo wines! 

Disclaimer: I used to sell wines so I know a bit more about them than I do other kinds of drinks, so in this case I'm the Very-Minimally-Qualified-But-Not-Enough-So-For-Anyone-To-Care Drink Critic. Just want to provide full disclosure. Just want to be honest. Unlike Madonna's baby, I don't have a secret.