Today I headed off to a fellow William & Mary alum’s Spring Fling party at Green Valley Ranch up in the Wild Horse Valley.  What I expected was a lovely day of picnics in the country.  What I was treated to was an introduction to Ms. Olivia Brion when my friend introduced me to winemaker David Mahaffey who was pouring tastes of his gorgeous wines down at his wine cave on the ranch.

Ms. Olivia was my first introduction to unfiltered chardonnay. While I don’t totally understand it the unfiltered mantra seems to be “Respect the juice.”  That is with less intervention you have more flavor.  Much more to learn on this topic but I am sold as this is one of the first chardonnays in awhile that I liked!  

I also got to try something from the Que Syrah vineyard and look forward to tasting more!  And of course reading more about the fabulous yet fictitious Ms. Olivia.

The lost post…

Orin Swift!  Back on March 15 after checking out a friend’s barn sale up in St. Helena I wandered in to the Orin Swift tasting room and was treated to China Doll their 2013 rose.  I’m also quite smitten with their Bordeaux style red blend the 2011 Papillon a lovely cab based blend with Merlot, Malbec and Petit Verdot.

Week 18 = 17 wineries.

Cheers!