I hate paying for overpriced oil changes and hard to find parts, and while I can appreciate craftsmanship, I have to say that I’m not really sorry that I don’t own a Ferrari. One of the biggest reasons I’m glad to not have one is the fact that many of Virginia’s wineries are reached via gravel roads, which are probably not ideal for low-slung vehicles with way too much power going to the rear wheels. This occurred to me as we powered up the hill to Mountfair Vineyards in the Winery Assault Vehicle, which is decidedly not a Ferrari. It’s also not a DeLorean, which kind of sucks.
We’ve tasted here numerous times before, so we were familiar with the great little post and beam tasting room as well as many of the wines. Every vintage is different, of course, so we came back for another taste. The tasting now kicks off with two Thibaut-Janisson wines. The first was the Blanc de Blanc ($30), a dry sparkling wine with yeast and apple and winning in it. This was followed by the Virginia Fizz ($25), a sparkling with a little sweetness that still has great acid backbone and gobs of flavor.
The Mountfair wines started with the 2009 Merlot ($25). I got light berry fruit, and found it to be a solid, drinkable red. The ’09 Belated ($30) was next, a blend of Merlot, Cabernet Franc, and Petit Verdot. It had a big rich nose but was lighter than expected on the palate. We ended with the 2010 Inaugural ($30). Sorry, I didn’t catch the blend. There was a nice fruit character to the wine but the acid was a little off for me on the finish. I’d have to say that this time around, I preferred the Merlot to the two blends.
Oh, and you all should be proud of me. We noticed the pool table in the barrel room, and not once did I make a crack about getting felt in the barrel room. So, score one for me!
Swirl, Sip, Snark 
April 26, 2012 at 9:12 am
I like Mountfair, and I so want them to be a success, but I struggle a bit with the wines. There was something about the acid balnce in all 3 that was off for me. My favorite, like my partner, was the merlot. It was a solid wine, although it didn’t overly excite me. The Belated had a hint of barnyard along with plenty of dark fruit and some acid that really hit me on the nose. The Inaugural (a cab franc dominant blend with some merlot, cab sauv, and petit verdot) was very fruity, but there was some acid on the finish that was killing it for me. I also felt this wine lacked depth. it is a fairly young wine as it had only been in the bottle for about 2 months, so it will likely change a bit. I will say that I love that they’ve partner with Thibaut-Jannison – it’s great that people can now taste these wines since they don’t have their own tasting room.
April 27, 2012 at 5:25 am
Good to know about the Merlot. ‘Getting felt in the barrel room?’ That’s a classic. I hope you don’t mind if I use it, GEG. If I ever go there with one of my female friends, I’ll make a ham handed segway. “Hey! There’s a pool table in the barrel room. Let’s go in, and see if you get felt.”
September 24, 2012 at 10:23 am
I,too,like Montfair. We happened on them on a trip down the road from Glass House and they were open, so in we went. We have a Subaru, so the road wasn’t much of a problem except for the fact of some guy raising the dust with his tractor.
My feelings about the MF wines are similar to VWD’s. They were tasting 2010 & 2011. The wines had some acid and were a bit too young and that didn’t sit too well with me. But I’d love to try them a year or so down the road and see if my opinion changes. They were also a bit pricey at $25.00 and $30.00 per bottle.
They were tasting a winecalled Wooloomooloo which was Petit Verdot /Cab Franc &, Merlot. This was my favorite of the pack and was the most beautiful deep violet red color in the glass. It was deep and fruity. But IMO, it still needs time in the bottle to be a really good wine.
Like y’all, I just love me some TJ Blancs des Blancs! Woo Woo!
The ladies in the tasting room were knowledgable and nice as can be. One of them had a guitar and we ebven sang together out on the porch! My sometimes over-powering dramatic soprano pipes are rusty, so perhaps its a good thing we were the only tasters left in the room!
September 25, 2012 at 4:27 pm
The Wooloomooloo is the wine that gets the most buzz (and we always seem to miss it). This is definitely a place where I wish they could hold the wines back longer as they’re so young at release. Darn those financial realities…