Winery Visit - Attimo Winery

On Saturday February 22, 2014, five of my friends and I went to Attimo Winery to take a tour of the winery and participate in a wine tasting. I have done wine tasting before but had never been to a winery for a tour.

Attimo Winery, Christiansburg VA

Attimo Winery is located off of Childress Road in Christiansburg, VA. They have been operating for 8 years and have been open to the public for the past 3 years. The winery is 17- acres and has 15,000 vines.

Small view of the vineyards, due to the time of year there are no grapes

 On the property they have a tasting room, wine-making facilities and a wide variety of grapes. They primarily produce 5 varieties of grapes, Vidal Blanc, Chardonnay, Riesling, Cabernet Franc and Cabernet Sauvignon. They harvest around 60-70 tonnes of grapes by hand every season with around 25 lbs of grapes per vine. Each vine has an American root that has been grafted to the grape vine to prevent against phylloxera.

Root grafted onto the grape vine

To make the wine, both reds and whites follow a similar process. Once they are harvested, both grapes are pressed using a basket press to control the pressure. Once the whites are pressed, they are taken away whereas the reds are placed back in the original storage bins to ferment longer. The winery utilizes both cool and hot fermentation to achieve different flavors. The cool fermentation is achieved using dry ice. After harvest in September, in October, the wines are stored in oak barrels and plastic tanks until January.

Oak storage barrels

The winery uses American, French and Hungarian oak barrels. Once these barrels become neutral they get used to make furniture. If an oak flavor is desired, they will buy oak chips and make a teabag of oak chips that are placed into the wine. Plastic tanks are also used if no oak flavor is wanted. The winery uses plastic instead of stainless steel primarily because it is cheaper. Like stainless steel, the plastic imparts no flavor into the wine although it does allow it to breathe.

Plastic storage tanks

After fermentation, the white wines are bottled around April while the reds are usually not bottled until the end of July. The entire process of harvest to bottle takes from September to April for whites and from September to July for reds.

After the tour, we got to taste some of Attimo Winery's standard wines as well as two of their reserve wines. The selection include, a wide variety of whites and reds, as well as some unique sweet reds and was a good sample of what kinds of wines Attimo makes. We sampled the following 11 wines:

Name: Yesterday's Song
Variety: 100 % Chardonnay
Region: Christiansburg, Virginia
Country: United States
Year: 2011
Price: $18.00

Winery Review: This delicate Virginia Chardonnay reminds you of the vivid moments of old times. This chardonnay is mellow with a soft bouquet of honey, vanilla and green apple.

My Review: This wine had an acidic, oaky nose which was surprising for a white wine. Upon tasting however, it was mellow with flavors of apple coming through and overall not bad.

Name: Sonnet 98
Variety: 100% Vidal Blanc
Region: Christiansburg, Virginia
Country: United States
Year: 2012
Price: $17.00

Winery Review: This Vidal, with its floral bouquet and vanilla undertones brings to mind crisp spring mornings and the first spring flowers bursting forth to find the sun.

My Review: This wine had a green apple aroma with some floral smells underneath. After tasting, the fruity, green apple taste was immediately present and finished slightly acidic.

Name: Off the Cuff
Variety: 67% Riesling, 33% Chardonnay
Region: Christiansburg, Virginia
Country: United States
Year: 2012
Price: $16.50

Winery Review: Not every moment in life is planned. In fact, some of the best times are spontaneous and unscripted. This unscripted blend is mellow, slightly sweet, and bright to pair well with a variety of life's unplanned events.

My Review: This wine had an immediate sugary, fruity aroma to it. Upon tasting, there was a nice balance between the sweet, berry flavor and the acidity to create a crispness that was enjoyable. Despite using a drier Riesling, the wine still had a nice sugary component. This was my favorite wine of the tasting.

Name: Just Kissed
Variety: 80% Vidal Blanc, 20% Raspberry Grape wine
Region: Christiansburg, Virginia
Country: United States
Year: 2012
Price: $16.00

Winery Review: Kisses are an integral part of the human existence. To gently touch your lips to a surface in an expression of adoration is one of the most basic moments we have. This delightful wine, with its floral aromas, is beautifully accentuated by the kiss of a light sweetness and dainty color.

My Review: This wine had a sugary, almost dish detergent smell which surprisingly was not bad. Upon tasting, the raspberry grape wine used was immediately noticeable which gave it a nice fruity flavor. The wine finished with some acidity to counterbalance the sweetness.

Name: Blaze
Variety: Vidal Blanc/Traminette
Region: Christiansburg, Virginia
Country: United States
Year: 2012
Price: $22

Winery Review: It is what gets inside you and lights you up. Blaze is made in the noble Kakhetian style where the white grapes are left on the skins during fermentation. This gives the wine a copper-colored white wine with high levels of tannins and a sharp, fiery flavor.

My Review: This reserve wine was a very unique white wine. It had a very floral nose but upon tasting, the tannic component was very present. In addition to the tannic component, the alcohol came through stronger in this wine giving it a warm almost spicy finish like a red wine.

Name: After Midnight
Variety: Merlot, Blackberry Grape wine, Zinfandel
Region: Christiansburg, Virginia
Country: United States
Year: 2011
Price: $17.00

Winery Review: After Midnight is a time for quiet, understated actions. When the sky is dark and smoky, beings can glide past each other nearly unnoticed. This deep, mellow red blend is reminiscent of night in both color and tone. The sweet, fruity flavors hint toward late night treats.

My Review: This wine had a nice jammy aroma. After tasting, the dark fruit flavors came through with light tannins on the finish. This red was sweeter than most reds with lower tannins which I enjoyed.

 Name:Bull Frog Symphony
Variety: 50% Petit Verdot, Cabernet Franc, Cabernet Sauvignon, Chambourcin, Merlot, Zinfandel/Sangiovese
Region: Christiansburg, Virginia
Country: United States
Year: 2012
Price: $18.00

Winery Review: Anyone that has spent time near a lake, pond or stream knows the calming sound of the bull-frog symphony. Often a single frog will begin, and then slowly others will join in, or answer. Soon, the night air is filled with this cacophonous melody. Our red table wine began much the same way: as six individual grape varietals. Each was harvested, fermented, and finally blended together to form the symphony.

My Review: This blend had a very strong woody, oak smell combined with some undertones of tobacco. Taste wise, the wood was definitely present and a tannic body. The tannins on this red were too high for me and it was very dry.

Name: Deep Silence
Variety: 100% Cabernet Franc
Region: Christiansburg, Virginia
Country: United States
Year: 2012
Price: $19.00

Winery Review: This smooth and smoky Cabernet Franc is calming with traditional flavors of pepper, blackberry and currant. This is a dark, serious wine that turns your reflections inward. Cabernet Franc can be paired with Mediterranean dishes and goes well with ham, pork and veal.

My Review: This wine was made in the Bordeaux style and fermented cold. Because of this process, the fruit was very forward and was evident in the smell and taste. In addition to the jammy taste, a light herb flavor was also present. The finish on the wine was mildly tannic but with some acidity to balance it out.

Name: Aviator
Variety: 100% Cabernet Franc
Region: Christiansburg, Virginia
Country: United States
Year: 2012
Price: $25.00

Winery Review: The aviators of the early nineteen hundreds were pioneers and were known to defy all odds to fly. This Cabernet Franc is a reserve wine that is heavily oaked with French oak, with smoky and mocha undertones and hints of leather aromas.

My Review: This wine was made from the same grape as Deep Silence but fermented hot. Due to this process, the oak flavors were much stronger both in aroma and taste. The fruit was there at the finish but much more reserved, although this did make the tannins slightly sweeter and less dry.

Name: AD 325
Variety: 100% Chambourcin
Region: Christiansburg, Virginia
Country: United States
Year: 2011
Price: $17.00

Winery Review: This Chambourcin, like Constantine brings together a rich, brillaiantly colored wine with vibrant aromatics and slightly-sweet flavor. Chambourcin is best served with dark chocolate or with a rich chocolate dessert, as the flavors of the wine and chocolate intermingle exceptionally well.

My Review: This red had a very jammy, red fruit aroma. After tasting the fruit flavors were evident, however I found the tannins to be quite high so the finish was very dry and took away from the fruit flavors.

Name: Sudden Downpour
Variety: 50% Apple Wine, Vidal Blanc, Viognier 
Region: Christiansburg, Virginia
Country: United States
Year: 2012
Price: $15.50

Winery Review: A sudden downpour often catches us entirely by suprise, and leaves just as quickly. While this surprise may be inconvenient, it is not always unwelcome, making us feel refreshed and invigorated. This sweet apple wine, blended with white table wine embodies that quality of surprise, with warm, vanilla notes drawn from the aged bourbon barrel. The tart, crispness drawn from the apple, refreshes the palette and readies the mouth for another sip.

My Review: This wine, unsurprisingly had a very strong apple and sugar aroma. After tasting, the apple flavors were very strong with a hint of bourbon flavor from the barrel. While sweet and sugary, there was a nice acidity on the finish preventing the wine from become overly sweet.

Attimo Winery was a great experience. Our tour guide Rick is the winery owner. He was very knowledgeable and gave lots of information on the wine making process as well as what he learned from overseas trips. It was a very nice day when we went so walking around outside was pleasant although since it was not growing or harvest season, the vineyard was a bit bare. I was impressed with the variety of grapes grown as well as the amount of wine they produced for being a small winery in Southwest Virginia.