Sitting in her newly christened tasting room, Penny Martin says “she’s starting to learn to like” wine. It’s an unusual statement to come from a winery owner. Penny and her husband, Bobby, last month opened Weston Farm Vineyard & Winery in Louisa. About 150 people attended their grand opening last month in the self-styled tasting room that Bobby built and that is appointed with a long table covered in a red-checked, picnic-style tablecloth. But if both Martins are still somewhat lukewarm on wine (Bobby allows that he likes sweet wine and that’s about it), or at least in the learning phase, then what do they talk about with visitors who come by for a taste of the five wines they’ve just released?
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Bobby and Penny Martin, seen with Suzie, plan to subdivide about half of their 308-acre property for new housing, which will be out of sight of their new winery. |
“People are interested in how we got started,” says Penny.
To wit, they had operated a cattle farm in Boyd’s Tavern and when it got too expensive to handle any longer, they bought the 308-acre farm property in Louisa with the notion of growing grapes and making wine. Drawn by the “agricultural thing,” as Bobby puts it, along with the beauty of the vines, they put in 12 acres in 2005, including Petit Verdot, Petit Manseng, Viognier, Cabernet Franc, Cabernet Sauvignon and Norton, about which more in a moment. Three and a half years into the project, they teamed up with Gabriele Rausse, the ubiquituous consultant, and that, they say, is when their education about how to drink and enjoy wine first started.
The Martins’ endeavor rings everywhere of direct, hard work rather than the sophisticated appreciation of wine that new winery owners often express when they set up shop in this area. Bobby applied his 23 years experience as UVA’s head carpenter to building the winery and tasting room, which is modestly appointed with artifacts, such as glass bottles and door knobs, from the centuries-old farmhouse. “We were told one acre would cost $30,000 to put grapes in,” Bobby says, explaining his decision to till the loamy soil himself and plant, over the course of 30 days, some 4,600 vines. Homey touches at Weston Farm distinguish it further from some of the area’s sleeker wineries, including nine miniature donkeys on site and seven horses, rescued from abandonment.
And then there are the French bull dogs. Not only do their portraits grace the wine labels, but rotund Charlie and feisty Suzie keep strict watch over the property, too. “They’re on the label, because they’re our babies,” says Penny.
But what of the wines, which, after all, the Martins hope to sell—eventually some 2,000 cases worth? The vinifera reds are soft and lightly aromatic—not too big on acidity at this point. The rosé, with 7 percent residual sugar, is sweet. Steel tank-fermented Chardonnay, made from grapes they purchased from an Afton grower, is the most successful of the five from the 2009 vintage—crisp and appley.
Which gets us to the Norton. It’s not an easy wine to love, and Weston Farm’s Norton might not win any converts. Sharp and almost dank on the nose, nonetheless Weston’s is not as overpoweringly tannic as some Nortons can be. Overall, I’d call it chewy. “It’s definitely a good steak wine,” says Penny, the former cattle farmer. “I don’t like Norton,” says her husband. “Gabriele said, ‘Oh, I hate Norton, but this turned out good,’” Penny adds.
