State of the Vine: Sunday Funday at the Winery at Bull Run

I absolutely loved the Winery at Bull Run. Maybe it was the fact that it was such a beautiful day and that we came on a bus with a huge group of great friends (and made some new ones, too), but we just had a fantastic time.

And the most important part... I really liked the wine!

It's one of the closest wineries to the DC area and they had a food truck, corn hole and a huge area outside with picnic tables and a porch with rocking chairs. On the day we went, the winery had live music, too! The tasting room itself was also pretty big and there was a separate area to buy bottles of wine, cheese and bread.

There are two vineyards on the winery property with over 8 acres of vines, mostly Norton grapes, a grape native to Virginia, with some Traminette, used in their Delaney, a white blend.

The Wines

I had two favorites, a sparkling and a red.

The Sparkling

Stonebridge Sparkling Wine

Stonebridge Sparkling Wine, 2012

The grapes were aged in both stainless steel and French Oak barrels and the wine was made using the same method as Champagne, also known as méthode champenoise

Varietal, Region: 100% Chardonnay, Virginia

Where to Buy: At the Winery or online

Price: $36/bottle

My Tasting Notes: Notes of pear and lemon meringue and a little lime, light, crisp and refreshing. Their website says it has "subtle hints of pastries." No wonder I loved it so much!

My Verdict: I have been very pleasantly surprised by the Virginia sparkling wines I have tried recently and this was one of them. This is highly drinkable and despite that I drank red wine that day too, not to mention sampling many others, my headache was only mild on Monday.

*Look for a future post on the other Virginia sparkling wines- a rose and a white, coming soon!