Conner Ayers: Geography of Wine Blog: Winery Visit #1: Beliveau Estate Winery

My first winery visit ever at the Beliveau Estate Winery in Blacksburg, Virginia. It was an incredible experience and I learned a lot about not just the wine-making process, but the culture and passion that goes into making great wines. The Beliveau Estate Winery consists of over 160 acres of grape vineyards. My roommate, Johnny, and I both went up there last Saturday, April 12th, and we kind of crashed a Kappa Delta sorority parents weekend function but they were still good sports about it.

View of a small portion of the whole vineyard

The first thing we did was get a tour of the winery and look at all the different machines and equipment they have, the processes of making the wine, and the final product of the winery; the actual tasting of the wines during the wine tasting.

I forgot the tour guy's name but he did a great job of explaining the different types of wine grapes they were growing at Beliveau. He listed a bunch of different wines they were growing and I only got a few: Chardonnay, Pinot Grigio, Vidal Blanc, Reisling/Niagra blend, Zinfandels, Cabernet Blanc, Sauvignon Blanc; They were looking at experimenting with new grapes such as Merlot and Tempranillo. The tour guide explained that many of these grape vines can take up to 5-6 years to grow and mature and be ready for harvesting. I thought that was ridiculous because that payback period must be so long!!!!

Merlot was one of the wines being aged in the stainless steel containers

We then entered the wine storage building at the winery. One thing that got me was how small it was, given the sommelier actually told us that Beliveau was the smallest possible winery that could be accredited. They had the two main type of wine storage: Wooden barrel storage and the steel wine containers. The tour guide told us that they used two type of wooden barrels to age the wines: French Oak and White American Oak barrels. They said their main Oak-aged wine was their Cabernet Sauvignons which is one of their favorites too. The tour guide also said that the winery really does not grow a lot of "sweet" wines because the owner tends to like the dry wines more. So no Muscat wines here.

Panoramic of the Wine storage building

Oak-Aged wine in French/White American oak barrels

Stainless steel aging containers

Next the tour guide showed us some of the equipment used in the wine-making process. We saw the destemmer/crusher of the grapes, the "old school crusher", the wine pump, and the bottle filler. I know these aren't the exact names but that's what I was able to discern from the tour guide's explanation of the equipment's uses were.

Wine pump (bottom right) and bottle filler (Top left)

Old School Crusher

Modern day de-stemmer and sorter

After the tour we went and tasted their wines they had for us to sample.

1. "Kaleidoscope"- This white wine was a "refreshing Pinot Grigio with hints of melon, pie apple, and distinct undertones of white pepper". This wine had that aroma of cat pee and floralness. It had a crisp, clean taste that made it easy to drink and would go extremely well on a nice summer day. This was also a chilled wine.

2. "Mystique" - This white "dry oaked" Chardonnay "displayed notes of honey and vanilla with a refreshing lemon-lime finish". In the nose, I definitely got the honey smell, but also smelled a candy shop aroma and lemon. This was for sure a full-bodied Chardonnay with a little bit of the oak-monster in it. Not a bad wine though at all.

3. "Lover's Quest" - The third white wine was a Vidal Blanc that was rather sweet for a Vidal Blanc. I did not much care for this wine and the was probably one of the rougher white wines I have ever tasted. It had a floral nose that was nice and refreshing. The taste of it was apricot and melon that was very sweet , crisp and had a good long finish. But mediocre none-the-less.

4. "Silhouette 2012" - This was the first of the 3 red wines we tasted and it was a Cabernet Sauvignon and was a "cornucopia of red berry flavors, topped with spicy overtones". I personally enjoyed this wine and would definitely recommend it to anyone who likes dry Cabernets. It had that typical Cabernet smell that you associate with this particular wine. This was a very good wine, I definitely recommend it.

5. "Rainbow" - This $24 red Zinfandel was probably my favorite of all the wines we tried at the tasting. This Zinny had "soft peppery overtones" that would go "great with beef and blue cheese". This Zin was 16% ABV so of course it had a hot finish, but it wasn't a bad finish at all. It was a long full wine that really was incredibly good.

6. "Sunset Sipper" - This other $24 dollar Zinfandel was also very, very good. It was dry and had a hot finish due to the high alcohol content of Zinfandels. This Zin had a fruity flavor that was a little spicy. It had a smooth finish that really sat well on the palate. This was a very good wine. I would definitely recommend this wine as well!

AWARDS: Below are pictures of the awards that Beliveau has won in its short operating time.