I’m not going to lie.
The facts that Donald Trump owns Trump Winery and Dave Matthews owns Blenheim Winery were my main reasons for wanting to visit both while in Charlottesville. The
third winery we visited on this day was Jefferson Vineyards. Three wineries owned or named after famous
men in America.
Most people who follow wine news in Virginia are familiar
with the backstory on the recent Trump acquisition of bankrupt Kluge
Winery. I’ve heard many people say they
would never visit this winery just because of the Trump affiliation. I had an open mind and wanted to try it
first-hand before making any judgments.
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| Trump Winery: Entrance sign and tasting room |
Trump winery lies along the Southern Monticello
trail, and is located about 20 minutes south of Charlottesville. The drive here felt more remote than the
previous day – but it could have been the route we chose to take. With all of the open territory, it wasn’t difficult
to spot Patricia Kluge’s expansive Albemarle Estate and vineyards nestled in the hills.
The tasting room is across the street and just down the road from this
estate. What I found ironic, especially
given the Trump reputation for acquiring and re-branding, is that the address
of their tasting room is on Blenheim Road!
The tasting room is a small, cute building, but I was
expecting the larger facility which is advertised on the main page of their
website. It appears their website has
been updated since my visit, as the tasting room link now shows this smaller
building. Once inside, we encountered
confusion, and first-hand reminders of where we were thanks to the Donald Trump
book display. We weren’t welcomed, nor
told where to go. Off to the side, we
saw a very tiny tasting room packed with noisy people, and one young man trying
to juggle the pourings for about 15 people simultaneously.
We stood three rows back for about 15 minutes, waiting for our turn, but
ultimately gave up. Their tasting menu
offered six different options ranging from a tasting of two wines for $8 on
upward to a tasting of six wines for $17.99.
Yes, we were definitely in Trump territory.
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| Trump Winery: Entrance table, tasting room, and our two glasses of wine |
Opting out of the tastings, we decided to
just get two glasses of wine for $8/$12 a piece, and invited ourselves over to
sit at a table in the main room. After a
few minutes here, we were finally approached by an employee. He offered to provide us tastings at the
table (thanks, wish you had told us that when we walked in!). We declined and just kept our two glasses. I did take the opportunity to ask him a few
questions. I had noticed some cute Trump
Winery labeled souvenirs – a woman’s shopping bag and etched wine glasses. I asked how much the shopping bag was and he
responded with “More than you want to know.”
Again, thanks. The glasses, while
attractive, were $12 apiece. What I
found most ironic, and confusing, was that the place still seemed to have a bit
of an identity crisis. While the Trump
name was everywhere, all the wines were still labeled Kluge. I asked about this, and the man stated that
he thought a Trump labeled wine was in the works, but beyond that he didn’t
know what the plans were for re-branding.
Huh. Not long after this, the noise
of the tasting room became too much and it was hardly a relaxed setting. The boisterous group of middle-aged adults
celebrating something was getting out of control as their wine kept
flowing. One of the employees shouted at
them to keep it down. Nice. There was more confusion regarding how to pay
as they were seriously short-staffed. We
finally managed to do this. And bolt.
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| Trump Winery: Trump displays, Trump accessories, Kluge wine |
My Experience Rating (relative to other Virginia
wineries): Convenience: 5, Knowledgeable
Staff: 3, Wines: Did not taste enough to judge, Tasting Room and Amenities: 4, Scenery
and Ambiance: 7, Value: 3
Blenheim Vineyards
Driving up the road to Blenheim from our raucous
experience at Trump was a welcome relief.
We instantly felt the more laid-back style and a QUIET setting. The tasting room building itself has somewhat
of a ski-lodge feel. The architecture
inside is really interesting. A glass
floor allows you to see the wine barrels in the cellar downstairs. The tasting counters back to
floor-to-ceiling windows overlooking their vineyards.
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| Blenheim Vineyards: Property, vineyards, and tasting room |
We tasted five wines on their tasting menu for
$5. This included the Painted White 2010
(42% Chardonnay, 28% Viognier, 20% Roussanne, and 10% Marsanne), Red Table Wine
(blend of Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, Merlot, and Syrah), Cabernet
Franc 2010, Petit Verdot 2010, and their Painted Red (47% Merlot, 21% Syrah,
14% Cabernet Sauvignon, 11% Petit Verdot, and 7% Cabernet Franc). Bottle prices ranged from $14 - $30.
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| Blenheim Vineyards: Inside the tasting room and the glass floor |
I asked our pourer how often Dave Matthews
visits the winery these days (and no doubt I was the 4 zillionth person to ask
him this question). He said he does
visit occasionally when he’s in town. We
were told Dave’s mother purchased the property in 1999 as she wanted a fruit
farm, and this was subsequently turned into a winery in 2000. His influence is elsewhere though, as Dave developed
the designs for the building, and also designed the labels of the Painted White
and Painted Red wines.
I would love to go back here!
My Experience Rating (relative to other Virginia
wineries): Convenience: 5, Knowledgeable
Staff: 9, Wines: 8, Tasting Room and Amenities: 8, Scenery and Ambiance: 8, Value:
7
Jefferson Vineyards
This was our last stop of the day. The oldest of the three wineries we visited
this day, the tasting room is smaller and more discrete. This is one winery where we will have to go
back to as we walked into yet again the same inebriated crowd we’d run into at
Trump. [Note: Ladies, if you think it is a good idea to
gather your sorority sisters to celebrate your 45th birthday, or
any birthday for that matter, and get completely wasted while swearing and
yelling at the wine pourers, you WILL make a complete idiot of yourself and you
SHOULD care.]
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| Jefferson Vineyards; Tasting room, grounds, and historical marker |
Our experience was pretty well ruined, but we
did try their tasting menu which consisted of a Pinot Gris 2010, Chardonnay
2010, Chardonnay Reserve 2010, Vin Rouge, Cabernet Fran 2010, Petit Verdot
2010, Meritage 2008, Johannisburg Riesling 2010, and Vin Blanc. We enjoyed nearly all the wines on this menu.
We will go back!
My Experience Rating (relative to other Virginia
wineries): Convenience: 7, Knowledgeable
Staff: 9, Wines: 8, Tasting Room and Amenities: 6, Scenery and Ambiance (boisterous women aside): 7, Value:
8
