We managed to escape the District for a few days over the weekend to spend time doting our friends handsome new lil' man and their good looking toddler on Saturday, but not before making time for ourselves on Friday. After enjoying our last Virginia vineyard visits, we decided to explore a few more.
If you get up before 10:30 am on a day off, you should be rewarded with McDonald's breakfast. Or at least that's how we operate. Seriously, who doesn't enjoy McDonald's breakfast. Combine that with sport talk radio and that's how the morning got underway as we headed towards Charlottesville.
After battling a more traffic than expected, we made our way to Blenheim Vineyards. I was pleasantly surprised by how many of their wines we enjoyed. They are tucked away, but are well worth the journey to seek them out. We brought home a bottle of their 2011 Chardonnay, although it was a tough choice between that and their Viognier. And because I enjoy reds so much more, we also went with a bottle of the 2011 Cabernet Franc that I think will be awesome with some grilled pork chops.
On our way out to Blenheim, we went past Trump Vineyards and circled back to check them out. But after finding Jersey plopped down in Virginia, we quickly backed out the door to make our way towards Charlottesville. As we made our way, there we came past Jefferson Vineyards and figured why not?
Lesson learned, I would suggest driving right on past. The property is gorgeous, but the wine is not so good. They feature 11 wines in their tasting and only one was what we considered a solid table wine. Rather than sample all of them, I would simply recommend purchasing a glass of their 2010 Petit Verdot to enjoy on their patio with this as your view.
There wasn't enough time to make our way to my complete list, so it looks like there might be another trip in our future. Don't worry, I didn't force Keith to give up whiskey for the weekend. We had an awesome dinner of comfort food at the Whiskey Jar on the mall in Charlottesville. If this spot was in DC, it would be a safe bet that it would become a regular place for us.
Aside from a sunburn, it was a great weekend seeing friends and leaving the stress of the District behind. Are there any wineries you would recommend visiting? We seem to be on quite a roll at the moment.
