Winery Visit: AmRhein

On Monday April 16th, 2012, myself and 2 of my other friends, Austin Gauge and Spencer Johnson, went on a winery "field trip" throughout southwest Virginia to get a good experience in visiting a winery. Our last stop on this tour was at a winery by the name of Amrhein which is located in Bent Mountain, VA which is not too far outside of Roanoke. While on our way to Amrhein it was quite odd in that we drove on quite a few gravel roads as well as unlined, and it began to worry us a bit in whether we were on the right path. Upon arrival it became quite evident we were in the right place and it began to excited us greatly.

Winery View from the parking lot

Upon walking into the winery we became very excited to find the way they went about for tastings. We wanted to do a tasting, but then buy some bottles to take home that we could sample at a later date, so we tried to all sample different things and give recommendations to each other on what to buy and see how each other liked the wines when we arrived back home, made it into a sort of game. Here are some brief descriptions of the wines I chose to sample while at the winery:

• AmRhein Pinot Grigio- According to the tasting sheet "This crisp and refreshing wine boasts lemon and apple flavors with a touch of almond on a nice lingering finish", and this wine was one of my favorite wines that I tasted. It was easily one of my favorite Pinot Grigio that I have ever sampled, and was very able to find the lemon and apple flavors.

• AmRhein Sauvignon Blanc- According to the tasting sheet "This is a dry crisp wine using the New Zealand Style and the terrior of Virginia. The unique flavor is mouth-wateringly fresh and bold, featuring bright citrus and lively kiwi fruit flavors." Again this was yet another top notch wine from Amrhein, it was a great balance of sweetness versus the dryness, and all of the flavors coming together was quite amazing.
• AmRhein Saffire- I forgot to snap pictures of the bottles while there because my phone died and I am unable to find one online. The description from the tasting sheet "A harvest blend of vidal blanc and viognier sweetened with natural sugars of the grape for a fruit forward wine" This wine definitely lived up to its description in being a fruit forward wine. It was definitely fruit forward and I was easily able to find a citrus flavors.
• AmRhein Innocence- Again was unable to snap a picture of this, but according to the sheet the description is "This alluring semi-sweet blend of Vidal Blanc and Viognier brings together the tropical fruit flavors of grapefruit, mango and pineapple with creamy apricot, apple and pear laced with the hints of fine French and American oak.

After this brief tasting, the server took us on a brief tour of the property outside of the tasting room and this was quite exciting as it was a very beautiful property:

View from Porch looking onto small lake on property

View from the porch looking up to the vineyards

Another view of the tasting room and property

After the brief tour we were able to just wander the property a bit, and this was a very cool place to see. It is very secluded, and gives it a sort of ambiance that other wineries that we had visited lacked. We then decided to head back into the tasting room and select some wines to purchase, I ended up buying the Petit Manseng, Traminette and the Aglianico. This winery was by far the best I had been to, not necessarily for the sights, but because the wine was so great and there were many things I had never experienced before.