Grapes of Max (ie): Winery Visit

On Friday, March 29th, my boyfriend and I and another couple all drove out to Beliveau Estate Winery on the far end of Blacksburg for a wine and chocolate pairing event. I have only ever been on an official winery visit during my time in South Africa so I was pretty excited to try some Blacksburg wines. We drove out there Friday evening for this event. (The first two photos were borrowed from a friend who ventured out on Saturday and snapped some photos with better light!)

Beliveau Estate Winery, Blacksburg, VA

Beliveau Estate is a very new winery. As you can see in the photo above, they don't have many vines. However, they have a large variety of grapes and have done some serious experimentation with their blending. Some of the grape varieties that they have include: Pinot Noir, Cabernet Sauvignon, Concord (yes, like the jelly!), Niagra, Chardonnay, Zinfandel, and Reisling. They first planted in 2009 and first pick was just last year. The winery itself opened in 2012. The bottles that are currently for sale at both their winery and shop in downtown Blacksburg came from their first pick!


At Beliveau, they also grow lavender plants! That pavilion is where roughly 20 weddings a year take place.


The sun was setting just as we were pulling up.

Like I said, we had wine and chocolate which made this experience a little bit more exciting for me. I am a chocolate lover and when I found out that 4/6 chocolates were made from scratch at the winery, I was completely sold.

When we first arrived, they poured us each a small tasting of a Red Zinfandel that had been French-oaked but not yet released. It was extremely delicious, light red in color, and very oaky tasting. This wasn't a part of the tasting though.

1. A Capella

"100% Landot Noir red table wine has distinct berry overtones. A wonderful sipping wine!"

My Review: This first wine was not oak-y at all but was very sweet and fruity. I was definitely able to pick up traces of strawberry in this wine. I liked it quite a bit but it's 2% sugar made it almost too sweet for my taste! It was paired nicely with homemade white chocolate covered granny smith apples and almonds.


White Chocolate covered Granny Smith apples with almonds.

2. Summer Rose
"A Sweet wine of blended reds. YUMMY!"

My Review: I found this wine to be very sweet. It has a sense of fall spice to it and paired nicely with a cinnamon chocolate (which was not made in-house but purchased). As soon as this wine was tasted with the chocolate, the flavors of cinnamon and spice erupted in both the wine and the chocolate - it was pretty incredible. This wine is considered a sweet table wine and I enjoyed it. However, I don't think I could drink more that a glass of it.

3. Warm Glow
"Our semi sweet Chambourcin is rich in flavors of plum, dark cherries, almond, and succulent pear. This is velvet to the palate!" BRONZE MEDALIST

My Review: This wine had a beautiful dark purple color to it. I've never had a wine made from Chambourcin grapes and I was very impressed by it's full-bodied taste. If this wine had been oaked, it would have been considered "Bordeaux" style. It was made with soft yeast, 2% sugar, no oaking, no malolactic fermentation. The cherry flavor in this robust wine was brought out nicely when paired with a light chocolate mousse topped with maraschino cherries. I would have definitely gone back for seconds if given the opportunity to with this one! yum!

Warm Glow & Chocolate Mousse topped with maraschino cherries.

4. Serenity
"This after dinner favorite is a blend of two chambourcins. It's decadadent flavor pairs fabulously with chocolate. A perfect hostess or friendship gift." SILVER MEDALIST

My Review: I picked up strong tannins in this wine. Tobacco, chocolate, and cherry flavors as well. It has a a chocolate-cherry smell to it upon swirling and even has a slight fizz to it upon sipping. I didn't realize this winery made carbonated wines but they sure do, and I love 'em! This was paired nicely with a homemade truffle of chocolate ganache with this same wine infused into the filling! Delicious. (I didn't take a picture of it because it just looked like a chocolate square...)

5. Silhouette
"Our Cabernet Sauvignon is a cornucopia of light berry flavors topped with a spicy overtone"

My Review: 80% Cabernet Sauvignon, 20% California Zinfandel. This was a dry wine. Finally! I really am into Cab Savs but I'm pretty particular about them as I can't handle the super spicy ones quite yet. This wine was a little musky, had a light French oak taste and smell. I picked up strawberry and cherry in the smell as well. It was very easy to drink as it was much lighter than a typical Cab Sav. This wine was paired with a store-bought lavender chocolate and the two complimented each other very nicely. Again, the wine made the fullness of the lavender fully come out of the chocolate when consumed together.

6. Afternoon Delight
"This lightly oaked dry Vidal Blanc has overtones of grapefruit and vanilla"

My Review: This was the only white that we had and it was a dry table white. It was French oaked and went through malolactic fermentation. This wine was also pretty dry but I enjoyed it. However, I wasn't a huge fan of the chocolate it was paired with. They chose a dark chocolate peppermint heart with pieces of broken up peppermint candies in it. I'm not a huge peppermint fan to begin with, but I also just didn't think it did anything for the wine.