Notaviva Farm Brewery and Winery

July 26, 2024.  A weather system that had been parked at the Pennsylvania state line for a week or so made days very unpredictable for heavy thunderstorms along the front.  Finally, it cleared a window for good winery travel to the northwest corner of Loudoun Country.  Our first stop was to Notaviva Farm Brewery and Winery outside the town of Hillsboro.  The town of Harpers Ferry West Virginia is only about 15 minutes away.  Notaviva is the creation of Stephen and Sharron Mackey, who founded the vineyard in 2008 and built the tasting room on top of the family home.  The Mackey’s raised their family downstairs while the winery grew upstairs.  If you want hear more about that whole life experience, you should Steve’s book, Dream Build Believe: Love, Wine, Music and the Founding of Notaviva Vineyards (Mascot Books 2016).  He’ll even autograph a copy. 

The tasting room is a three-storey vaulted barn of rough-hewn woods with 19-foot high picture windows looking across a pond and the vineyards beyond.  Raspberry-colored crepe myrtle frames the windows.  They have six acres of grapes under vine and produce all of their wines from these grapes.  All production is done on site without any custom crush arrangements. 

  

Notaviva can host smaller events like rehearsal dinners in the tasting room.  Notaviva also sponsors an open Blue Grass Jam which must sound great in the openness of the tasting room.  Larger gatherings may use an outdoor pavilion adjacent to the house.  There are firepits outside for the cooler months.  The Mackey’s opened a brewery business in 2019 and sell cider as well.  We did not sample those offerings.

Be mindful that this is a 16+ venue - don’t bring the younger kiddos.  Pets are allowed outside.  Outside foot is also permitted although there are some good munchies available for purchase.  (Try the calzone.)

The Mackey’s come from a music and entertainment background, so it is no wonder that they borrowed from Italian to name the place: Nota (a music note) and Viva (with life).  All of their wines are named with reference to music in an attempt to link those music concepts with your taste experience.  Steve can tell you at length about the science behind cross modal sensory perception ~ where one of the senses triggers associations in another like sound to taste. 

Another feature of Notaviva is their use of pouches instead of traditional glass bottles for their wine.  During the Pandemic, it became hard to find bottles, leading the Mackey’s to shift to the Astrapouch® from Spain.  Notaviva has some legacy bottles they are working through, but they are now committed to pouches exclusively going forward.  Steve will tell you how much better of a storage medium pouches are compared to bottles, how much more eco-friendly, how much better for picnics and especially how they are loved by the boating set.  The pouches have a nice pour spout.  He told us that the United States is behind Europe in moving to pouches, and in a few years they will be as accepted as screwtops are today.  We may talk more about the aesthetics of pouches some other time.

We thank Steve and Shannon for spending some time with us and for the hospitality of their pourer, Brianna.  (We wish her good luck in her college career.)  Here’s what we tasted and our impressions:

2021Vicero.  This Viognier is named for the conclusion of Puccini’s aria “Nessum Dorma.”  It means “I will be victorious,” and for such a rousing aria, you might think the wine would be much bolder than it is.  Kim found that it had little of the classic floral aroma and not much taste.  She rated it a D. 

2015 Vierzig.  Notaviva is one of the few Virginia wineries to feature Blaufrankisch.  I’m not sure was Vierzig, or “40” in German refers to, but I found a nice brass quartet rendition of Bach’s “Als vierzig Tag nach Ostern,” which you could sing the bright vegetal, brambly fruit on this wine.  Mild tannin, medium bodied.  Throws some sediment.  12.4% ABV.  I rated it a B.

2015 Cantabile.  I sampled two of Notaviva's four Cabernet Francs – all called Cantabile – indicating a playful singing tone.  The 2015 Cantabile is the traditional Virginia Cab Franc: strong pepper finish, light, and low tannin.  Off-red to brown around the rim.  Reminds me of where we have come in producing this varietal wine.  13.2% ABV.  I rate it a B-.

2019 Cantabile.  The 2019 Cab Franc has more fruit, noticeably lighter in color and playful -like a lyric song.  13.2% ABV again.  I rate it a B. 

2021 Excelsis.  Several years ago, Kim and I sampled awful wine proudly served in pouches by another Virginia winery.  That, and the bad reputation of cheap boxed wines in general, has led us to avoid bag and boxed wine.  You may change your attitude, however, if you have Notaviva’s Excelsis Petit Verdot.  It is served from a 1.5 Liter pouch with J.S. Bach on the label.  (Keep in mind for pricing purposes that you are buying a Magnum.)  A very good Petit Verdot with many layers like a chorus.  Some tobacco on the palate.  Dark plum fruit.  Managed tannin.  A little jam on the edges but very pleasant.   It easily rates a B+ and I bought a pouch.

If you don’t want to read the book, get a nice pouch of wine, put your feet up, and check-out the Dream House reality show series on the construction of Notaviva.  See,  https://dream-build-believe.com/dream-house-episodes/