To continue our series of regional winery visits and tastings, I though I’d pull some notes from our visit to the wine country of Virginia last year. We ventured out from the Charlottesville area which is considered the Monticello appellation as well as the birthplace of American wine. There are many stories you can find about Thomas Jefferson and his contributions to this notion and Virginia is still among the top 5 wine producing states in the U.S. behind California, Oregon, Washington and NY. Unfortunately, due to some strict regulations, you may have trouble finding Virginia wines in your area.
One of the more popular places to visit is Barboursville http://www.barboursvillewine.net
It was very busy the day we went, which was most likely due to the open barrel tasting (over 41 to choose from) for only $15 and the main room was just nutz! Getting a taste in your glass was trying to get a mind-eraser shot at the Purple Porpoise in Gainesville on a Friday night. So, instead, we bought a bottle of their Cabernet Sauvignon (only $15) based on the tip of our previous night’s waiter at the Boar’s Head restaurant and had a picnic of sandwiches while listening to a 2 person folk band… a very nice recovery. We had bought those trendy and fabulous sandwiches at the Bel-Air market that was part of an Exxon station that we would have never known was there had we not got yet another tip from two ladies we met at Cardinal Point. I should also not forget to mention the cool ruins of James Barbour’s 1800′s mansion designed by Thomas Jefferson on the premises.
