We knew we wanted to hire a driver/car for the day so that we didn't have to keep one person sober. I took on coordinating this and looked into the campground's option ($250 for a van for 5 hrs) and Wish Wish ($210 for a suburban for 5 hrs) with JNJ Transportation. We decided to go with Wish Wish. I talked with Jennifer from JNJ to set up our pick up time/date.
We had set up an 11am pickup (based on the fact that most wineries are open from 10am-5pm) on Saturday and that it'd give us plenty of time to get to places. We woke up to a kind of dreary & drizzly day. Jennifer called me around 10:45 and asked where to go once at the campgrounds & I told her we'd meet her at the front. Our campsites weren't far enough to have her come in to get us.
We met Jennifer and discussed the logistics of the day. We knew we needed to grab lunch somewhere. Beyond that, we didn't have much of a plan. Jessica wanted to go to Jefferson Vineyards, but upon the recommendation of Jennifer, we didn't go. She said it's gotten a bit too commercial recently. Jennifer recommended the Greenwood Gourmet Grocery for sandwiches. She said if we wanted to, we could order and then she'd pick it up if it was too much of a wait.
But first, wine! Our first stop was King Family Vineyards. We really enjoyed the atmosphere here. Enough that we bought a bottle, some cheese, and baguette, and chilled for a while. The tasting fee was $7 per person, which included the glass. I'm not sure I've ever been to a winery that includes a glass for you to take with you in their tasting fee. Guess it gets them out of doing dishes.
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| They had probably the only VA viognier that I've ever liked. |
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| "I use antlers in all of my decorating..." |
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| Roseland wine. Tasty! |
After King Family, we decided to go ahead and get lunch. This way, it was on the way. Jennifer had given us the option of placing the order and then her coming back for it, but it was only a 15 minute wait, so we decided just to wait for it. While we were in the store, RH found a beer that he liked, so he bought some and had Jennifer run him back to the campsite (since it was literally 2 minutes down the road) while we waited for the food. After we got the sandwiches, we piled back into the car and headed towards our next winery. We all ate a bit before we got there and all agreed that we enjoyed what we got.
Ou second stop was Pollak Vineyards. I personally felt like we were in their way or that they weren't thrilled to have people tasting. Not sure if it was just our person or what. Turns out that they were having issues with their internet connection making processing payments very difficult (which is probably why they seemed annoyed). The building was very modern/contemporary and not super warm & comfy. For some reason, I like wineries to be more "homey"; I guess they make me want to stay a bit more. The wine was ok, but not great.
After we got back in the van, Jennifer asked what we thought and we all said "a little too modern for us", so she took that into account with the next one. We finished lunch on the way to the next winery, which was a very good idea.
Our third stop was Afton Mountain Vineyards. We loved it here. The wine was good, the people were awesome, and it was so relaxing. I could've spent the rest of the day here, on their porch. They have two tastings, the house ($5) and reserve ($7). We did the house tasting, with the pinot nior thrown in (I have no idea how much our tasting fee ended up being since the pinot nior is on their reserve list). Jon & I ended up buying a bottle of everything we tasted. Yes, we liked it that much. But before we bought all of the wines, we bought a bottle for the four of us to split and a cheese ball with a baguette. I hate cheese. No seriously, it's not my thing. Well, certain types are, but not all of them. I'm picky. I recognize this and I just go along with the flow. So, the other three were enjoying the cheese ball and RH says the magic words "this tastes a lot like parmesan". That's one cheese I like! Now I had to try it. And it was amazing. We kept the card off the cheese ball so that I could look it up later. I'm glad we did because I now have three of them in my freezer. Simply Cheddar delivers! (And yes, they're just as good sober as they are "happy".)
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| This was our view while we were tasting |
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| Our view while relaxing |
After spending at least an hour (maybe an hour and a half?) at Afton, we decided to head to Bold Rock Cidery. Now, I'm not into cider, but the other three are, so I was cool with making a stop there. Besides, you'll never know if you really like/don't like something if you don't try it. So, we made our way to Bold Rock. They have four ciders; one light, one dark, two sparkling. I liked the light one the best, Jon liked both. We got a mixed 6 pack that was already chilled to enjoy during the rest of the trip. The tastings here are done in the warehouse, which is a little weird, but it works. If the weather had been nicer, there are places outside to sit and enjoy a cider or two.
After Bold Rock, our time with Jennifer was running up, so she took us back to the campground. She was kind enough to drop us off at our respective campsites so that we didn't have to lug our purchases all over the place (and look like alcoholics).
We put everything we weren't planning to drink that night (read: everything but the Bold Rock) in the truck and headed to RH & Jessica's site for dinner and a campfire. It had finally cleared up some, which was good. I'll let the pictures tell the rest of the story.
We had a great time socializing with RH & Jessica. We all called it a night and set plans for Sunday morning.
Next up: Monticello
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