Virginia's Cab Sauv's

One of the things Rob and I enjoy doing is touring Virginia wineries. The drive is always so nice; we usually pack a picnic basket to take with us, enjoy the tastings, purchase a bottle of two, and enjoy a bottle while taking in the view and partaking in the goody basket.

We haven't toured the south-western part of the state yet, but we did discover Rapidan River's semi-dry Riesling a few years ago. It's an inexpensive bottle of good Riesling. Because it's a semi-dry, it's a little less sweet than some.

In my quest to satisfy my adventuresome side, I picked up a bottle of Rapidan River's Cab Sauv. The website says it's about $10 to buy from their online store. I'm not sure how much I paid for it at Kroger, but I'll wager it was $10. Frankly, I picked it up thinking it might be under $10, since I knew the other wine normally is. And I'd still love to find that Cab Sauv that was as wonderful as "The Lohr" but at 1/2 of it's price. Did I mention how, oh-how should we say-frugile I am?

I didn't tell Rob the wine wasn't anything he had never had before. I uncorked it and let it breath for a bit before serving it. I twirled it in the glass to check out it's legs, and it wasn't as leggy as "The Lohr." I took a sip; I thought it was good -- not great, not bad, but good. Rob took a sip, looked at me, and said, "so, is this something new?" And I said yes, sheepishly. I told him what it was. He took another sip. I then asked, "well, what do you think?" And he said "it has a burn." In fact, he finished his first glass but not his 2nd (an aside: We have these very cool wine glasses we found at Pier One ... they're like a blown sheer black color, and they're big. With these glasses, not even filled 1/2 full, we finish a bottle in four glasses). I did finish my two glasses, started to sip his, and realized I should stop while I was ahead. So, even without being leggy, there's definitely enough alcohol content in this wine.

Would I buy it again? Probably not. The price is not that much less than some of the Cabs we enjoy a lot. But I'm still looking forward to touring the winery:

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