An Adventure to Maggie Malick's Wine Cave

 

Ever been to a wine cave? It sounds pretty adventurous and exciting, right?

Well, on Columbus Day Monday I went to my first one in Loudoun County with my heart on four feet and the Evil Red Genius. 

 

 

 It was a dreary, foggy, rainy afternoon but we all needed to get out of the house for a few hours so off to the land of wine we went! It took us 1.5 hours to get there and that’s without any traffic. We were only 10 miles shy of Charlestown, West Virginia and it was so serene and peaceful!

 

 

 

Maggie's (the owner) wine cave is a man-made cut and cover type of cave. She excavated the hillside and built the cave with concrete, rebar and I-beams. The cave was covered with four feet of earth, after waterproofing, to help it maintain a more constant temperature and reduce energey costs.
 Plus it's just super cool to see grass covering the roof of what looks like a rounded garage!

 

 

This 100% female-owned business is located on 215 acres of rolling hills with four ponds at the base of the 1400-foot Short Hill Mountains. 

You cannot see the wine cave from the road but the entry is absolutely stunning,

even on a gloomy day.

 

 

 

 

This was our first sighting of the wine cave as we drove down, around and up to the back of the property.

 

It was really interesting to be able to walk along side of the wine cave and see grass growing on top of where we just were inside!!!

The stainless steel tanks are outside along with other wine-making paraphernalia.
It's fermenting time. What does that mean? We were attacked by crazy gnats and fruit flies!

Annoying maybe but they aren't stupid! They gravitate toward the delicious stuff.

As we were approaching the entrance two lab mixes came barking and happily bounding toward us from what was the huge backyard of the wine cave!
Prowler was super excited to meet them and Moxie and Abby seemed excited to make a new friend!!

Once we got inside, he stood guard next to me at the tasting bar but kept an eye on the door.
He had to greet every new guest that arrived.
 He was such a happy and well-behaved boy and made me a proud momma!

 

 

At one point, he even laid down without me even asking!



Abby wasn't too crazy about Prowler, but Moxie loved him. In fact he loved him so much he eventually ignored him, which is the best sign of all.

 

Sweet Moxie has the life - sleeping on a Sunday afternoon on a dog bed in a room of wine barrels. I'd like my second life to be as a winery dog, I think.

 

 

 

All Maggie Malick wines are estate produced, meaning the grapes are grown on the estate and the wines are produced on the estate.

 

 

We tasted 11 wines at this wine cave, which goes against my rule of thumb. I'd rather a winery focus on four or five wines and make them exceptionally well, than making 10 or more and they are mediocre.

 

We had five whites including a Petit Manseng (PM) which was sugary, a Melange Blanc (60% Chard/40% PM) which wasn't as sweet but not that exciting, a Vioginer which was better than most Viogniers, probably because it was blended with PM, a Chardonnay which was drinkable, and an Albarino which actually tasted salty!

We had six reds including a Cab Franc which never makes me happy but is grown in every Virginia vineyard, a 2011 Melange Rouge which was our favorite, a 2012 Melange Rouge which was no comparison to the 2011, a Tannat which tasted no more like a Tannat than a cucumber, a Petit Verdot which smelled like roasted skunk but had a pretty good flavor and the newly-released Cab Sav which was just palatable.

 

 While the wines were nothing exciting, we had a fun experience! The last libation we tried was a sangria made with apple cider and the Melange Rouge which was quite yummy.
However, it would be even better as a mulled wine... hint hint...Oh Maggie....

"Life is too short to waste the ones (wines) you don't like."



 

Heard that quote while we were at the wine cave. Made me think.
Never heard it put that way but it sure does make sense, right?

The Evil Red Genius and I have a rule that we do not waste wine. Period.

 

 

 

 

Barrels of wine make me happy. Kind of like barrels of monkeys when I was a kid, but different.



We decided to purchase a bottle of the 2011 Melange Rouge because it was the least offensive of the 11.  I also chose to call it Moulin Rouge because it seemed the right thing to do at the time. Even though it was a dreary day we chose to go sit outside and enjoy the views.

 

 

"There is a way that nature speaks, that land speaks. Most of the time we are simply not patient enough, quiet enough to pay attention to the story."

~Linda Hogan

"Earth and sky, woods and fields, lakes and rivers, the mountain and the sea, are excellent schoolmasters, and teach some of us more than we can ever learn from books."

~John Lubbock

 

 

There aren't many times you could put the Tiny Wine Girl, the Evil Red Genius, the best dog ever and wine together and it not be a fantastic day.

This day was no different.