"Va La!"

[orginally published July 19th, 2009]

I'm a wino...as in "wine? oh...definitely!". That means I enjoy a new adventure when it comes to the marvelous grapes that constitute the tasting experience. A few weeks ago, a new adventure is exactly what I found for in Pennsylvania there is a vineyard called Va La...

Their name is a tribute to a village called Giusvalla, located in northern Italy, the starting point of their family's immigration; the phrase "va la" means "go there" in formal Italian but their dialect aspires to a more "abrupt" meaning loaded in polite sarcasm. And that's where it begins. Their website is sarcasm at its best and the tasting experience includes more of the same but is saturated with interesting knowledge about their wines, along with an unforgettable tasting. Being from Virginia, I'm more than familiar with wine made in the Bordeaux style so Va La's Italian approach is a treat; it is, to say the least, many, many minutes of flavor explosions on the palette. And since food pairings are always on the Va La brain during the wine making process, the tastings include small samples of food (not crackers!) so that you get the full experience that their bottles have to offer.

So I purchased a glass and am going on record to say that I've never enjoyed an individual glass of wine as much as I enjoyed theirs. I swirled the wine in the glass, buried my nose to consume the aroma, held the glass up high to appreciate the color, sipped...then swirled again, buried, held, sipped, more sipping, more swirling...well, you get the point. Each glass deserves some time and that is why this vineyard should not serve as the final stop in a long day of wine tasting; I wouldn't do more than one other vineyard before or after Va La.

And since Va La has so much to offer, I will leave you to explore their website. There are too many gems of sarcasm and information sprinkled throughout the site for me to ruin the surprise by bastardizing the experience any more than I already have. So go ahead, discover for yourself. But I will say this...if you love wine, go to Va La. Don't "think about it", don't "check your schedule"...just go, it's worth the trip.

http://www.valavineyards.com/

By the way, when you waltz up to the tasting bar and receive that first glorious pour, do me a favor...remember to ask for the monkey cheese!"