We Whine for Wine on the East Coast

Hm mm... wine tasting has got to be the most fun anywhere and any time. As you can see Jerome the gnome got into the Spirit of it!

Hanging out at the winery

The wineries on the East coast is not much different then the ones on the West coast except that some of the wineries on the East coast do not use there own grapes.  Our first stop was at La Grange - 14 tastings for $10.00.  What is interesting is that the wines at this winery were from different vineyards.  This was a young winery and the grapes hadn't peak yet, so they feature wines from all over Virgina. They had a 2009 Chardonnay that was absolutely wonderful (and I do not normally like Chardonnay).  Our next stop was Barrel Oak and they are known for their Sangria.  When we arrived, they told us that they do not serve it anymore as it got to be a little rowdy with the wrong kind of crowd that came just for the Sangria and the crowd that they wanted to attract. So we tried a couple of their wines and weren't impress (they maybe should had kept the Sangria crowd), so we moved on. The grounds were breath taking, you can bring your family and pets, they would be welcomed and loved.  They serve food or you can bring your own.  On our next stop, we decided to go to an Irish winery and as usual, the GPS sent us in the wrong direction.  Two guys on motorcycles drinking beer just kind of watched us, shook their heads and laugh.  They finally waved us to the right road and we were on way.  We drove to the gate and the winery was closed..go figure.. We drove back down and I ask them why was that winery closed? They were surprised as well.   One of them suggested another winery called Naked Mountain a couple miles down the road.  They had beer and wine and offered that to us, but we thank them and after a few mishaps with our GPS we made it to Naked Mountain.   And he was right, they had an excellent Cabernet Franc from their reserve, a 2007 Raptor Red, so we bought a glass and sat outside on their deck and had lunch of cheese, pears and crackers.  The day was gorgeous and the view was fantastic.

As we were reluctantly drove back (I did not want the day to end), we notice a fruit and vegetable sign "Pick your Own", so we stopped and got a peck of apples (didn't have to pick them, and yep, I was  told a peck) and then picked our own yellow squash, heirloom tomatoes and peppers.  How fun was that!!! 

My slide show belows has all the wineries I talked about in my blog, plus the fruit and vegetable farm.

Life Challenge: We are all in such a hurry, we never stop to smell the roses.  Next time when you leave for work or play, take a minute and look around and see God's beauty.  We are so blessed and thankful to live where we do, appreciate it, I know I do.