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.

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