Decision Time

After careful consideration, we have chosen a winery for our one hundredth visit. Stay tuned for details . . .

#100 Candidates

On our recent family vacation, Diane and I took our boys (men?) to visit a handful of wineries on the way to and from NC. This was partly strategic, as we were checking out some potential candidates for our 100th winery visit. Yesterday, Diane sent out an e-mail to our 8 top choices. They are:

• Am Rhein (my first choice but farther off the beaten path)
• Gray Ghost (got an excellent e-mail reply)
• Rebec (love their wine, but the atmosphere is not exactly what we're looking for for this event)
• Potomac Point
• Del Fosse (beautiful location)
• Athena
• Prince Michel
• Unicorn

The most important factors in our decision (in no particular order) are:

• the wines
• the location: how far do we have to drive to get there
• the location: how nice of a place is it to spend a day there
• whether or not there are any events going on
• the response we get from our e-mail

What happened at Crooked Run

As I previously wrote, Crooked Run had been a favorite of ours. We learned about them the week after they opened, and made an unscheduled visit. It was such a great time. Although it was at the end of the day, the owners made us feel welcomed, and did not rush our visit. I had a glass of an excellent white wine (can't remember exact details), and I remember sitting and enjoying the end of the day.

Cut ahead to a few weeks ago. We were on one of our custom tours, about an hour away from Crooked Run. We knew Chatham Street was playing there, but we figured it was too far to drive after tasting all day. However, we decided to make the trip anyway. When we finally arrived, we were surprised to find almost no one there. We approached the girl at the bar to find out what was going on. She was less than friendly, and told us Chatham Street would probably not play. We joined them on a porch/balcony and had a nice reunion. Now, I don't know if the owners were just bummed that not very many guests had come, but the friendliness of our previous visit was no where to be seen. That was a disappointment.

We did enjoy Chatham Street's first set. There wasn't much of a crowd, which made it a little awkward between songs, but as usual, I loved listening to them. We decided to leave after that set because we hadn't had dinner. We were hoping that Crooked Run would be offering food, but since there wasn't anything available, we had to go find some place to fill our empty stomachs.

Crooked Run is still one of my favorite wineries in VA, but I wish they had been more inviting.

The Pros and Con Tour

I'm way too tired to go into any detail tonight, but we just got back from another wine tour weekend in northern VA. Diane, Deb, and I did a couple of recons on the way up. We met Mike Friday night and had dinner. Then, we got up early on Saturday and hit Meditteranean, Marterella, Miracle Valley, Philip Carter and Rappahanock. Though we were tired, we took a long drive to Crooked Run to drink some good wine and listen to Chatham Street. Although we loved listening to Chatham Street, Crooked Run (which was previously one of our favorites) was a big disappointment. More about that soon. Today, we hit Glen Manor, Chester Gap, and finally stopped at #92 at Linden.

81

As it turns out, one of us miscounted, and our official winery total is only 81. We did nothing this weekend to add to that total, but we've sketched out our next few trips leading to #100. Definitely subject to change, but here goes.

The weekend of June 19, we plan to make a day trip and hit Woodland, which is outside of Richmond and by itself and Saude Creek (sp?), a brand new winery between Williamsburg and Richmond. We met the owner (and his neighbor) of Saude Creek at the Williamsburg wine festival this weekend. He seems like a nice guy, and his wines were impressive. Right now, he's located right outside of Williamsburg, but he's building a tasting room in New Kent. Anyway, that will get us up to 84.

The following weekend, we'll meet in NOVA and hit the following: Glen Manor, Chester gap, Rappahannock, Phillip Carter (Diane and I made an "unofficial" visit there this past winter), Linden, Hume, and Miracle Valley. That will get us up to 91.

Then, we're looking at a weekend in August when we'd go a little farther south and hit: Gadino, Gray Ghost, Normada, Martarella (anaother Diane and Eric recon), Meditteranean, Unicorn, and Molon Lava. That will get us up to 98.

AmRhein, which is in serious consideration for #100, may have to be preceded by one other stop on the way, so that it is in fact 100 and not 99. And since we'll be doing a bit of traveling to get to that part of the state, it won't surprise me if we hit a few past 100 too. Of course, as I said earlier, all this is subject to change, as we don't want to be too unspontaneous (real word??).

Williamsburg Wine Festival

The PoLo Wine Club met yesterday and spent the day at the Williamsburg Wine Festival. We were disappointed at first because we were not allowed to bring in our coolers, food, and chairs. This was the first festival that we've been to with these kind of restrictions.

However, after stewing for a while because we had to take the shuttle bus back to the car, drop off our stuff, and take the shuttle bus back to the festival, things got much better. It was an excellent festival -- not too crowded, a good variety of wineies, friendly people.

As I type, we're asking each other trivia questions about our experiences. We're also planning our next few trips leading up to 100. At this time, we're planning on going to AmRhein for our 100th. They're going to have a festival in October with wine stomping. We think that would be a good selection for this oh, so important event.

Unofficial Visits

Diane and I were on our own this weekend. Heading to VA Tech and coming home, we made a few impromptu visits. We hit Cooper, for our third visit in less than three years. We were the only ones there and had a very nice tasting with two of their servers. (Sorry, I don't know their names.) They recommended Keswick, a winery we have not visited yet. So, on the way home, we pulled off the interstate and went to Keswick. It was a disappointing visit. It's a beautiful venue, and we were hopeful that we could come back with the entire club for our 100th winery event. The wine was good, though there weren't a tremendous number, but the server was a bit snooty and the push to join their wine club was too hard.

Before getting back on the road, we made our second visit to Burnley. The first time we went to Burnley, we didn't even know about its existence. We were at Barboursville and heading to Horton, when a guy we met recommended nearby Burnley. Since it was getting close to closing time at Horton, we jokingly said, "No eye contact" so that we could get in and out of Burnley quickly. Well, visit number two was much better. Lee, the owner, served us, and we spent a great deal of time there, tasting and talking. It was such a pleasant visit. He made us feel at home. That's what a winery visit should be like.

Our First Trip

Our first trip, which we called The Long and Winery Road (later renamed The Long and Winery Road II) began just north of I-64 in Louisa County. The girls had tasted Cooper's Sweet Louisa and were dying to visit the winery where it was produced. But on the way, we passed a sign fro Grey Haven. (This was before we discovered the Virginia Winery Guide map, our bible now.)

At Grey Haven, we learned about the Heart of VA wine trail. For a small fee, you visited the five wineries on the trail, they stamped your card, and at the end you got something, which I can't remember now. So, on that day, we visited Grey Haven (where the server was an entertaining South African) and Cooper (where they had food and music set up outside), saw the sign for Bumpass, VA (had to take a picture), fought the crowds at Lake Anna, and ended up at the mecca of our pilgrimage: Horton.

At that time our palates were pretty unsophisticated, and we mostly enjoyed sweeter, fruitier wines. We went to Horton for the peach and pear and raspberry and plum wines. But we discovered, they had a wide array and a huge selection of wines. (To this day, a tasting at Horton will get you the best bang for your buck, as they have a couple of dozen wines and charge nothing.) I think that was when Mike and I started showing a little interest in drier, red wines.

We left for dinner, then the hotel. I happened to mention in passing a restaurant just south of Harrisonburg that had a pretty mediocre buffet, but included delicious slices of almost every pie imaginable. Despite the 60-something-mile detour over the winding, mountainous roads of rt. 33, we headed for Mrs. Rowe's Country Buffet. (And yes, I called ahead and asked if they were a buffet.) We all did our best to neglect the entrees and vegetables as much as possible, but only Mike skipped the dinner foods completely and focused on the pies. I think he had 8 slices. BTW, my favorite of theirs is the French Apple (or am I supposed to say Freedom Apple?).

Full, slightly hung over, and tired, we headed back to our hotel to get a good night's sleep and get ready for day 2.

The Beginning

Our journey actually began in June of 2006. I was in NY visiting my parents, when Diane awoke with severe chest pains. It's possible to make this a long story, but the bottom line is that she spent the next two years trying to figure out what was wrong with her. There were medical tests, trial medications, and diet modifications. Throughout most of this time, she could not consume any alcohol. My cousin, Michael, who is a phyicisian in CT, suggested a possible diagnosis, which I then researched on the internet. You can imagine the attitude of Diane's gastro-enterologist, when ignorant old me mentioned esophogeal spasms. He politely dismissed my ideas and continue his own diagnostic trail. In the meantime, we battled our insurance company to have tests done that were considered "experimental", and I regularly offered to urinate (or worse) on the doctor's office wall. (Why she wouldn't let me, who knows.)

Finally, the GE doctor sent her to see a specialist at MCV in Richmond. He actually LISTENED to the detailed history that Diane had been keeping. He quickly suggested a specific test (which the other jerk had dismissed as unlikely to give us usable information), which told us . . . that Diane had espohogeal problems. This was almost a year and a half after I first mentioned this to the first GE. The solution was mostly medication and a slightly altered diet. Diane didn't have the nerve to ask, but I did. "What about drinking alcohol?" The answer was to stay away from hard liquor and carbonated drinks, like beer. "Was wine okay?" "Yes."

So with this new knowledge in hand, we invited our best friends, Deb and Mike, to go to a local wine festival. We had so much fun that someone suggested a weekend visiting wineries. There are a slew of them, but we chose a handful in the Charlottesville area.

It was during that first trip that we learned A) There were over 150 wineries in the state and B) It would be possible to visit each and every one at least once.

Check us out on Facebook

We now have a page on Facebook. Check us out by clicking here or searching on Facebook for Polo Wine Tasting Club of VA.

Barrel Oak and Chatham Street

Our weekend ended with a visit to Barrel Oak, drinking sangria, and listening to Chatham Street (Google: Chatham Street music). We had just a great time, and we hated to see the weekend end. Although we hit "only" 8 new wineries on this trip, it was great to be back on the trail. The highlights were Piedmont, Chateau O'Brien, and Paradise Springs. Our next big milestone will be #100. We're up to 82, so we need about two more weekends to get to 99. Then we can decide where #100 will be.

Latest Trip

We're sitting in the lobby of the Comfort Suites in Manassas, enjoying the afterglow of another incrdible wine weekend. We hit wineries 75-82, only spit away from 100. Much more to share, but we just wanted to give a special shout out to Paradise Springs, a new winery in Fairfax with wonderful historic atmosphere. Ask for Kirk. He left his post at Homeland Security to serve a more important post: making America safe for wine drinkers. More later . . .

Change of Plans

It's a dirty job, but . . . As it turns out, Woodland won't be able to accomodate us this weekend, so instead we're planning another NoVA trip. We heard Chatham Street will be playing at Rappahanock Cellars on Saturday, so we're trying to hit 5 wineries in and around Front Royal. Our biggest concern at this point is weather and road conditions. In case you haven't heard, the DC area just got a double whammy of snow in major proportions. Cross your fingers that by Saturday, the roads will be clear and the wineries will be open. Our tentative list:

• Chester Gap
• Rappahannock
• Linden
• Phillip Carter
• Miracle Valley

If all goes well, these will be 75, 76, 77, 78, and 79. (Seventy-nine is my lucky number!)

Looking forward to hitting the road again

Mike and Deb are coming down to Williamsburg for a week, so the PoLo wine club will be on the prowl again. We're only planning to hit one next weekend -- Woodland, which is somewhere near Richmond. The following weekend we're going to make our second trip up the Northern Neck and hit a few wineries we missed last year: Athena, The Hague, and Hummel. We'll also make repeat visits to Vault and Ingleside. So . . . that will be # 75-78. We hope to hit 100 by the summer. Now, that will be a great milestone. It'll be important that we choose a special winery for #100.

What makes a winery memorable?

Last night we were talking about our most memorable winery experiences. Here's what it comes down to. First of all, good wine. I guess that's a prerequisite, but it takes more than good wine to make a good winery experience. A knowledgeable server is important. At some wineries, the servers have just memorized a speech. "This one pairs well with Thai food.." Our best times are when we can relax and enjoy a full glass of our top choice and maybe some food (but light on the cheese). Music makes it even better. That's one reason we love running into Chatham Street. On the rare ocassion, I'll even dance.

Good wine . . . good food . . . good friends . . . interesting people . . . laughter . . . these are the things that make a memorable winery experience.

Shouldn't it be easier to mull wine?

Last night we tried to combine several recipes and mull some wine. We had such wonderful mulled wine at Willowcroft, but we just couldn't duplicate it at home. Still, it wasn't too bad, perfect for a cool evening at home.

It doesn't get much better than this . . .

. . . but we're going to keep trying. The PoLo wine club just completed another 2-day tour of some of the wineries in Northern VA. We can check off #64-73. We started off with a private tasting at Zephaniah -- excellent wine, impressive location (antiques galore), and a warm and welcoming hostess. We also visited Casanel, Willowcroft, Bluemont, Twin Oaks (another spectacular private tasting), and Veramar, where we saw our new old friends, Chatham Street. And that was just day one.

Day 2 started off with a bang. We spent more than an hour enjoying the wine, food, and views at Fox Meadow. The day continued on an upward trajectory with visits to Naked Mountain, Aspen Dale, and Three Fox. Knowing that Chatham Street would be performing at Barrel Oak, we adjusted our plans, and went there for the last visit of the weekend. Great wine. Great music. Great people.

We contemplated spending another night up there but then thought better of it. Best to leave on a high note. The Postmans headed south. The Loquastos headed north. We're now in the warmth and safety of our own homes.

There's much more to say about these visits, but I'm tired and my fingers just want to take the rest of me to bed. Our next trip will probably be to hit a few that we've missed closer to home. Stay tuned.