Winery Visit: Grayhaven Winery

My friends Keith, Matt, Abby, Katelyn, and I went to Grayhaven Winery in Gumspring, Virginia on March 3, 2012.  After driving down many roads that looked to be deserted, we arrived at the winery.  Walking up to the house where the tastings were going to take place had a deserted feeling as well.  There were old medal playground and this tiny house.  We also saw one field of of dead looking grape vines in the distant.  As we approached the house the feeling changed into more of a rustic feel and inside everything was wooden looking.  They had these awesome stools for sitting down that were comfortable and had handles on the side of them. 

This is the house where the tasting was done.

Our tour guide's name was Bunni and she absolutely loves her job.  Unfortunately there were not guided tours since the winery is so small but she explained in detail to us about the rootstock and the making of the wines.  Buni has been working at the winery for 8 months and was very knowledgeable about it.  Grayhaven planted its first root stock in 1978 which makes it the 6th oldest in the state of Virginia.  They have 26 varietals of grapes which is more than any other winery in the state of Virginia.  

This is one of the fields where the grapes are grown

Grayhaven produces over 33 types of wine per year and makes about 4,000 cases of wine a year.  Most of their wines are unfiltered so there are sediments at the bottom of the wine bottle but they add more flavors to the wine.  They do not add any sugar or sulfites to the wine.  Only four or five of the varieties of wine made are oaked in oak chips and not barrels. 

These are the wines that we tasted.

Here are a list of the wines that we tasted:


Moonlight- This was a white pinot gris wine.  It was oaked using the oak chips.  It smelled like peaches.  It had a lemon flavor and was very light and dry.  I enjoyed this wine the most. $16
Eventide Sangiose Rose- This wine was unfiltered.  It tasted like apples and smelled of pear and floral aromas. It would go well with delicate food and is very versatile.  It can also go with chocolate. $20
Trekker Marechel Foch 2011/ Cabernet franc 2009 blend- This was a red wine that takes nine years to ferment.  It has a very small opportunity for the grapes to ripen so they have to be watched carefully on the vine.  It has very little making.  It smelled of black cherries and spices.  It was somewhat dry and medium bodied.  It had a short smooth finish and did not have an aftertaste but fell almost flat.  I liked this one. $24
Sojoun Marechal Foch/ Petit Verdot 2012- Petit verdot softens the flavor of the Marechal Foch.  This was a red wine with a smoky flavor.  It smelled deeply of spices.  It had a deep purple color.  It was a bigger bolder red than the previous one and had more of a mouth feel.  It smelled like blah cherries and spices.  It was a little citrusy and had deep woody flavors.  $26
Rendezvous- This was 100% Petit Verdot.  The vintages of the grapes was both 2010 and 2011.  Between medium and full bodied.  It smelled like chocolate.  The wine tasted a little of spices and earthy tones but had a very smooth finish. 

Tasting room

There was one more wine that Grayhaven usually has to taste which was their Pinotage.  Unfortunately there was a drought three years ago and they lost the vines in it so it will be a couple more years until this grape is ready for harvest.  After tasting all of the wines, Buni told us that we were free to walk around the vineyard and give ourselves our own tour of the property.

Us in front of the Winery

Overall I thought this winery was ok.  Even though it is very small scale I was impressed on how old the root stock was.  They had a lot of varieties of wines and grapes for such a small scale winery.  I did think that it was kind of run down looking upon arriving to it with the old medal playground.