Cardinal Point Winery grand opening.

I went to the grand opening of Cardinal Point Winery, out near Afton, VA, this past weekend. They actually opened for business on May 1, but waited until we got through the miserable Seattle-like weather to have their opening celebration.

Very good wines for a brand-new winery. They've got 4 wines: a chardonnay-viognier blend, a riesling, a cabernet sauvignon, and a cabernet franc. The chardonnay-viognier (54%/46%) blend, called the A6, has good fruit from the viognier and enough body from the chardonnay to stand up to food but is good on its own. The riesling is slightly sweet - 2% residual sugar, as I recall - and would be good on its own or a really good choice with a chicken curry. The cabernet franc is deep red and intensely flavorful, and was my favorite. It'd be good with a thick, juicy, grilled steak. The cabernet sauvignon was light, a result of the drought we had last summer. Lighter in color than you'd expect from a Virginia cabernet sauvignon, lighter in body, lighter in tannins. It comes across as young, and drinkable now (and not something to sock away into your cellar to age for 3 or 5 years). Unlike most cabernet sauvignons, I would not drink this with a steak or roast beef; it would pair better with lighter fare: grilled chicken, pastas, and the like.

Not a real surprise the wines were good: the vineyards have been around for quite a while - the oldest vines date to 1985 - and through 2001, the fruit has been sold to other wineries. Some of those wineries even kept the Cardinal Point juice separate and made single-vineyard designated wines with it, and were those wineries' best wines.

At this point, Cardinal Point wines are available almost exclusively at the winery or at festivals (and they'll be at the Virginia Wine Festival at Great Meadow in August and the Boar's Head festival in Charlottesville in October). Definitely worth a visit and a try.

In the spirit of full disclosure, I have to note that I've been friends with the winemaker and the general manager since the mid 80's, and have been a fan of their vineyard's wines from the beginning, around the late 80's. I wouldn't recommend their wines if they weren't good, though, and I'm happy to recommend them.