On April 7, 2013, my roommate and I decided to take
advantage of the beautiful Blacksburg weather and adventure up to Beliveau
Estate winery. We hopped in my roommates convertible car, put the top down and
started to drive up Mount Tabor Road’s windy, but scenic road. Located only 20
minutes from downtown Blacksburg, this newly established winery boasts of not
only wonderful wine, but also a great staff and an amazing atmosphere.
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| Courtney's car, which we have nicknamed Franny, and our bottle of Afternoon Delight. |
Upon arrival at the winery, we noticed a huge building.
Unsure of what it was, we followed the signs and found the tasting room. As
soon as we hopped out of the car, we were warmly greeted by the cutest little
black dog. Although we could have stayed and played with the little pup for
hours, we eventually made our way into the tasting room. This time we were
warmly greeted by the wine pourer named Amy. Before beginning the tasting, she
was extremely kind and asked us questions about our majors and so forth, which
I personally really enjoyed. She made me feel extremely comfortable doing the
tastings.
Without wasting anymore time, we went ahead and started our
tasting. For only $5.00 we got to taste 10 out of their 11 different wines. The
tasting consisted of three whites and seven reds. My personal reviews are as
follows:
Name: Afternoon Delight
Variety: Vidal Blanc
Region: Roanoke, Virginia
Country: United States
Year: 2011
Price: $18.00
Winery Notes: This lightly oaked dry Vidal Blanc has overtones of
grapefruit and vanilla.
Personal Review: The nose of the Afternoon Delight was
extremely citrusy and refreshing. When tasting it, the first thing I thought to
myself was how crisp it was, but it had a nice, light oaky finish to it. It
really had a nice well-rounded palate that tasted like citrus as well.
Name: Destiny
Variety: Vidal
Blanc
Region: Roanoke, Virginia
Country: United States
Year: 2011
Price: $16.00
Winery Notes: This dry, crisp Vidal Blanc is an
excellent sipping wine. Serve Chilled.
Personal Review: The Destiny Vidal Blanc had an extremely
soft and elegant nose to it. Similar to the Afternoon Delight, it had very
citrusy nose, but also had a hint of of green apples. This wine was very dry
and crisp and also refreshing. As compared to the Afternoon Delight, I
preferred this vidal blanc because of the lack of oakiness.
Name: Lover's Quest
Variety: Vidal
Blanc
Region: Roanoke,
Virginia
Country: United
States
Year: 2011
Price: $15.00
Winery Notes: A semi-sweet
Vidal Blanc – a favorite to those who like wine not too sweet not too dry.
Personal Review:
The Lover’s Quest had a strange nose to it. It almost reminded me of vegetables,
which I really wasn’t expecting because of the way that Amy had described the
wine while pouring. When tasting the wine, I was relatively pleased. It had
just the perfect amount of sweetness to it and it had soft, delicate tannins.
Name: Silhouette
Variety: Cabernet Sauvignon
Region: Roanoke, Virginia
Country: United States
Year: 2011
Price: $20.00
Winery Notes: Our Cabernet Sauvignon is a cornucopia of light berry
flavors topped with spicy overtones.
Personal
Review: Before even tasting this wine, I had a feeling that I wasn’t going to
be a fan, because I am generally not a very big Cab Sauv fan, nor do I enjoy
spicy wines. Regardless, it had a wonderful aroma to it, consisting of vanilla,
cherry and berries. When tasting it, I was extremely shocked. It was
unbelievably smooth and light with soft tannins. Amy explained to us that this
was not like a typical California Cabernet Sauvignon and that they tend to be
much lighter on the east coast. It
had a very mildly spiced finish that was just perfect. This ended up being my
favorite red from the entire tasting.
Name: Rainbow
Variety: Zinfandel
Region: California
Country: United States
Year: 2011
Price: $24.00
Winery Notes: A full bodied zinfandel with the peppery overtones
zins are known for – Delicious!
Personal Notes:
The first thing I noticed about the nose of the Rainbow Zinfandel is that the
alcohol was extremely prominent, which is not too surprising seeing as it has
16% alcohol content. There were also hint aromas of berries. This Zinfandel was
extremely dry and peppery. It was a little too spiced for my palate, however, I
think that a mature palate would enjoy this paired with a nice steak.
Name: Sunset Sipper
Variety: Zinfandel
Region: California
Country: United
States
Year: 2011
Price: $24.00
Winery Notes: Our winemakers chest bursts with pride at the release
of this luscious red zinfandel.
Personal
Review: The Sunset Sipper Zinfandel had a nose very similar to that of the
Rainbow Zinfandel. The two were very similar in every way except for the taste.
It was very dry as well, however, it had more well-rounded flavors and softer
tannins.
Name: A Cappella
Variety: Landot
Noir
Region: West
Virginia
Country: United
States
Year: 2011
Price: $16.00
Winery Notes: 100% Landot Noir
red table wine has distinct berry overtones. A wonderful sipping wine!
Personal
Review: That nose of the A Capella Landot Noir was bursting with berries! It
honestly made me regret saying any other wine had berry aromas because this was
the real deal. It almost reminded me of grape jelly as well. It was extremely
sweet on the palate and kind of reminded me of a big kids grape juice.
Name: Warm
Glow
Variety: Chambourcin
Region: Roanoke, Virginia
Country: United States
Year: 2011
Price: $20.00
Winery Notes: Our semi sweet Chambourcin is rich in
flavor of plum, dark cherries, almond and succulent pear. This is velvet to the
palate!
Personal
Review: The plum immediately stands out on the nose. It was soft and smooth
when tasting it. This is a weird way of explaining it, but it was just a very
calming experience drinking this. It would be the perfect wine to come home to
after a long day at work.
Name: Summer
Rose
Variety: 50% Chambourcin, 50% Leon Millot
Region: Roanoke, Virginia
Country: United States
Year: 2011
Price: $15.00
Winery Notes: A sweet wine of
blended reds. YUMMY!
Personal Review: This wine
smelled like a mix of alcohol and cherry. However, it was an extremely
interesting wine to taste because it was sweet at first with fruity flavors,
but the finish had an unexpected kick to it.
Name: Serenity
Variety: Chambourcin
Region: Roanoke, Virginia
Country: United States
Year: 2011
Price: $19.00
Winery Notes: This after dinner
favorite is a blend of two chambourcins. Its decadent yet mellow flavor pairs
fabulously with chocolate. A perfect hostess or friendship gift.
Personal Review: This was a fun
wine to taste because Amy told us to take a small first sip of it, and then
gave us a chocolate chip to eat before trying it again. It was really
interesting because it was really sweet before eating the chocolate, however,
after the chocolate it really helped make it a well-rounded experience. She also told us that it is made from two different Chambourcin grapes that come from two different vineyards.
The last wine on their list of
tastings is called Reflection. It is a traminette, which they describe as “a
hearty Traminetter with complex notes of apricot, lychee and lemon. This wine is
a luscious bold sipping wine.” Amy explained to us that it really is a great
wine, however because it is so popular and they have such a small amount of the
bottles left, they are only selling them by the bottle.
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| The tasting bar |
Beliveau Estates quickly became my favorite winery that I have done tastings for a couple of reasons. First of all, I was amazed at how cheap the tasting was for a very generous pour. After the tasting, I was even more pleased because of how wonderful all of the wines were as a whole. I didn't expect to enjoy as many of the wines as I did, and I feel like they have a very great, well-rounded offering of wines. There really is a wine for every sort of different palate with different flavors, aromas and alcohol levels.
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| My roomate, Courtney, and I inside of the tasting room |
During our tasting, Amy was extremely informative and helpful with all of the questions that we had. We learned that the large building we saw when we first pulled into the winery is actually a bed and breakfast. The owners, one of which is a professor at Virginia Tech named Yvan Beliveau, have owned the property since 2001. In 2007 the bed and breakfast opened, followed by the opening of the winery in 2012. There are over 165 acres of Beliveau Estates. We learned that the wine is made on site, and is actually made in the same building where the tastings are conducted. Amy told us that because the vineyards are so young, the grapes that they used for their first batches come from vineyards offsite. Another interesting fact that we learned is that most of the buildings on campus were built by Yvan Beliveau's building construction students over the years as educational projects. I found that absolutely amazing and honestly couldn't believe it.
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| The large, open reception hall that was connected to the tasting room |
We had also mentioned to Amy that we were initially going to go hiking that day, but we changed plans last minute and decided to come visit Beliveau. She lit up when we told her this and she told us that there are hiking trails on the property that have amazing panoramic views. We decided that before we hit the trails, we would buy a bottle of wine and enjoy the warm weather on their inviting covered patio. While I absolutely loved the Destiny Vidal Blanc, my roommate and I both really enjoyed the Afternoon Delight Vidal Blanc, so we bought a bottle and headed outside. We brought along some cheese, crackers, strawberries and chocolate as well and basked in the sunshine while enjoying our wine and snacks for about an hour. While sitting on the patio, we noticed a group of four people sitting at a table near us, and quickly realized that they were the owners. It turns out that they live on site, which I think is really fun and unique.
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| Enoying our crackers, cheese and strawberries with our Afternoon Delight Vidal Blanc |
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When we finished up our wine, we headed back into the tasting room to get directions on the trail. We felt that it was only necessary to buy another bottle of wine before heading on our hike. I mean, you have to stay hydrated, right? ;) This time, we decided to do something different, so we got a bottle of the Destiny Vidal Blanc. My roommate and I poured ourselves some big ol' glasses, and Amy held on to the rest of it in the fridge for us while we headed up to the trail.
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| View of the patio |
The two of us started to head up the hill with steady determination. We got lost in conversation, and finally stopped to look behind us at the view. The sight was absolutely amazing. We felt like we had gotten to the top of the hill in such a short amount of time. The huge bed and breakfast looked like little toy buildings. The hike was definitely the cherry on top of an amazing visit.
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| A panoramic view from the top of the hill. The Bed and Breakfast can be seen really small in the left hand corner |
After sitting on top of the hill and finishing our wine, we finally decided that we should head back down. When we went back into the tasting room to get the rest of our wine and say goodbye to Amy, I noticed a table with a bunch of items made from lavender. I probably wouldn't have paid much attention to the table had I not gone on the hike. My roommate and I had noticed that there were a number of lavender bushes and thought it was interesting. Amy explained to us that Joyce Beliveau absolutely adores lavendar, and that they not only grow it on the estates, but they also host an annual Lavender Festival.
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| A closer view of the grape vines |
I can honestly say that Beliveau Estates exceeded my expectations in so many ways. While I enjoyed this visit extremely so, it was very spur of the moment and my roommate and I were just going with the flow. We found out that every 2nd and 4th thursday of every month, they host Wine and Tapas for 20 dollars, and they also do tours of the wine making facilities on appointment. This extremely young winery has so much to offer and I am looking forward to introducing more friends to Maison Beliveau Estates to enjoy all that it has to offer!
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| Leaving Maison Beliveau Estates, with a view of the bed and breakfast behind me |
