The 38th Annual Virginia Wine Festival - Life is Grape

On a glorious Saturday morning, hubby and I headed a bit north to Great Meadow at The Plains for the 38th Annual Virginia Wine Festival. We were sent a couple of media passes from Madison+Main to check out the celebration of the grape in the Commonwealth.

First of all, the weather turned out to be perfect. Temperature in the low 70's; blue sky dotted with fluffy white clouds; a gentle breeze.

About 50 wineries had gathered around the Great Meadow fields along with wine-related vendors and a wide variety of food vendors. Throughout the day participants streamed in traveling by bus or snaking their cars through the fields to park. Due to the popularity of the event and the vast numbers of wines available to taste, wine tents became more crowded after 1 PM and a strategy was implemented to taste the wines that interested us. Being big red fans, we opted to skip most of the whites.

A couple of standout wines for us included Rogers Ford Petit Verdot. This was a new winery for us and we were impressed by the nose and flavor of this red grape which grows well here in Virginia. We were also attracted by the unusual bottle that was sourced from Milan.

Another standout was Rosemont. We enjoyed each of their wines we tried - Lake Country Red, Cabernet Franc, and Merlot. This up and coming winery located in Mecklenburg County continues to impress.

Right beside Rosemont, Castle Hill Cider offered a dry sparkling, Celestial, and hint of sweet cider, Gravity. The sparkling tickled our noses and our fancies.

The best wine of the day was the Virginia Trianon from the Williamsburg Winery. This Cabernet Franc sported a wonderful flavor and also contained a lot of body with a bit of tannin. While most of the wines we tasted were at least decent and some were very enjoyable, most of the time, the wine was light to medium-bodied. Not the Trianon. It was great to see this long-established winery producing a lovely product.

And let's not forget lunch. Various food trucks were offering anything from Mediterranean fare to shark tacos to vegetarian selections. We were intrigued by Christina's Sexi-Mexi Food Truck burritos. I opted for the East Indian Chicken and hubby tried the Crazy Cuban. I liked the fact that the wrap was seared. A very nice a flavoring detail. Both burritos were packed with ingredients. Hubby's featured pork, black beans, pickled onions, cheese, jalapenos, and avocado. Mine contained chicken sauteed in tikka masala with rice and pineapple. We got away from the crowd and settled upon some rocks jutting out from the ground beneath a shade tree. Great food, good wine, perfect day. As it stated on on wine tasting glasses - Virginia Never Tasted So Good.

A wine festival is always a great way to try wines produced in Virginia. In some cases the winemaker attends and pours the wine for your enjoyment. Most wineries produce a variety of wine from dry to sweet and if one is an imbiber, at least one wine (if not more) should be a palate pleaser.

Enjoy a few more photos as you plan your next trip to a Virginia Wine Festival.

Unicorn Winery explaining the benefits of wine

AmRhein sported the best hats

Everyone was having a blast at Rockbridge

A unique wine tote from one of the many vendors offering wine related items

Mountfair proved to be popular

Democracy Winery had the best T-shirts

Enjoying the white wines from Barboursville

Hazy Comfort

During the horrendous triple digit spell we moseyed over to Comfort. We had not visited Comfort in a coon's age. We grew up with Southern-style cooking. I can cook these oh-so-familiar dishes. While I appreciate the concept, eating at Comfort has never been the priority.

I finally got a whiff of the drinks list. The cocktail menu is not on the website, unfortunately. There is a prodigious whiskey listing, but when I finally heard about the mixed drink offerings, hubby and I had to visit. Comfort features a lengthy list of interesting and not-sweet concoctions. Comfort mixes the new with traditional classics such as a Sazerac, Bitter Restaurant Staffer (with Fernet), Pale Rider (with Irish whiskey and Cynar), and Old Pal (Wild Turkey Rye, Campari, and Dry Vermouth). Since travelling to Italy last year, we have become fast friends with Amari - Italian herbal digestives that have a bitter edge. We were pleased to see Comfort employing a number of these for their libations. On this evening both of us tried the Old Pal. We became fast friends.

For dinner hubby ordered a home-style item that I will not fix - meatloaf. I do not like meatloaf and I will not make it. Even if I did, it would not be like his Mom's (isn't that always the case?). Comfort's meatloaf was denser and different enough that he enjoyed it without having to compare it to his childhood memories. His sides were green beans (not cooked Southern-style, thank goodness) and mac and cheese.

I had a pork chop with corn and mashed potatoes. The chop was large and tasty with the right amount of salt and pepper, the potatoes were potatoes (good, but I can make them good, too), the corn was spectacular - fresh and buttery. The meal was large enough for me to take half home to enjoy later in the week.

Comfort has a decent wine list and we decided to stay in the Commonwealth. We enjoyed a 2009 White Hall Vineyards Petit Verdot. Inky dark red color, but medium-bodied to pair with the Southern comfort fare.

For dessert, hubby could not resist the banana pudding - served up creme brulee-style. He really liked it. I can just show you the photo. I can't eat bananas.

But I had a different after-dinner treat: Averna. Averna is one of those Italian amari that is traditionally served after a meal to aid in digestion. Herbal and sweet with a slight bitter edge. It was great to see this offered and I was happy to have the opportunity to indulge.

One word of caution: While Comfort's air conditioner was working overtime, she just was not up to the task of cooling the vintage building in the record-swelter heat. We sweated through the meal (this Southern lady was definitely not "glowing") and decided we would need to return to Comfort when temperate weather reappears.

6 Wineries 6 Personalities

For Memorial Day weekend we headed west to Staunton. During our trip we stopped at 6 Virginia wineries in the Monticello AVA region. We were inspired to seek out a few new (or new to us) Virginia wineries during a recent trip to The Roosevelt. The Roosevelt only serves Virginia wine. While I have had some decent Virginia wine in the past, I've also had some horrible pisswater, too. My motto: "Taste it before you buy it." Virginia wine over the years has been inconsistent at best with weather being a key factor. But winemaking talent and eclectic owners have also contributed to the less-than-stellar reputation. At The Roosevelt, we took a chance on a Pollak Meritage (a true unknown to us) and were pleasantly surprised. We were ready to explore.

We visited 6 wineries. All of the wines we tasted were drinkable. Some were good. A couple were stunning. We were pleased at our findings. Each location had a different personality. The trip was a lot of fun and we came back with three cases of wine to enjoy.

Virginia Wineworks/Michael Shaps: A no-frills operation. The tasting room is in the midst of the barrels and tanks. Shaps sources all of his grapes from the local area and only selects the best of the bunch for his high-end wines. He also is a consulting winemaker to many other Virginia wineries. Located south of Monticello at the end of a gravel road. We brought home Michael Shaps Cabernet Sauvignon and Petit Verdot.

Bleheim Vineyards: Part of the celebrity wine trail. Owned by Dave Matthews and situated next door to Trump Winery. Inspiring Americana setting with a white barn, sweeping vistas, and a cool label for their Painted Red series. We purchased Cabernet Sauvignon and Painted Red.

Pollak Vineyards: A large operation producing a series of polished wines in a pastoral setting with vines, mountains, and pond. Pollak grows all of their grapes which is totally opposite from the Shaps approach. For home consumption we carried back Viognier, Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, and Meritage.

Stinson Vineyards: An up-and-coming site with baby vines planted all around. They use a combination of locally grown grapes plus their own production. The also have a cool ceramic vat for winemaking. We purchased the Meritage Red.

Mountfair Vineyards: Hands-down the best winery we visited from the wine view point. Located down a dirt road, this little place only produces red wine. Everything we tasted was hearty and wonderful. They also taste out Thibaut-Janisson sparkling wines. We bought Belated, Engagement, Merlot, Cabernet Franc, and a bottle of the Thibaut-Janisson Blanc de Blancs.

Glass House Winery: The best place to drink a glass of wine. Choose between the balcony overlooking the pond or the tropical greenhouse conservatory. Both wonderful settings. Handmade chocolates are also available along with a chocolate dessert wine utilizing cocoa powder during winemaking process. Glass House also had a healthy sense of humor. We took home the Twenty-First, a red blend and Meglio del Sesso, the chocolate dessert wine.

The trip made us appreciate Virginia wine a bit more. We recognized that over the last 10 years new places have popped up that are making seriously nice-drinking options. Places are figuring out what grows better in the region and branching out to embrace the unique Virginia terroir. Some have honed their skills on a few stellar grapes. I hope they keep up the good work. I now want to explore other new-to-me Virginia wineries.

But in the end "Taste it before you buy it" still reigns supreme. On the way home we stopped at the Greenwood Gourmet Grocery in Crozet. They carry a ton of local wine. And I was taken in by the name - Well Hung Vineyard. I bought a bottle of Verdot-Merlot, untasted. Once we opened the bottle and tasted it we had a new name: Strung Up (and I was strung along). Oh well. Wine, no matter where it comes from, can be good or not. At least 6 Virginia wineries are making a reputation for the Commonwealth and are leading the way to putting Virginia on the global wine map.

Iron Horse and Wine - A Friday Night Roundup

Friday night provided some nice wine experiences and dinner in Ashland.

Free tasting at Once Upon a Vine on MacArthur - The ever pleasant and very knowledgable Charlie Knight poured selections from White Hall Vineyards. Our favorite was the 2006 Petit Verdot. Virginia is producing some very good Petit Verdot. It may be worth a few road trips to try some more.

Next we drove to Ashland. Before dinner we visited The Caboose for a free wine tasting. The knock-our-socks-off choice here was 2006 Avieso Reserve Malbec Mendoza from Vinos de los Andes. The most hearty malbec I have ever tried.

On to dinner at Iron Horse Restaurant. The was the first time we had been.

Pros - Very good wine list with reds in all price categories from the high elegance of Chateau Gloria ($72) to the very drinkable Montebuena Rioja ($20). Great Fried Oyster appetizer -very sweet with just the right amount of breading. Large portion entrees (House-Brined Pork Chop and Brazilian Rubbed Rib Eye) ensured that no one left hungry and both meats were delicious. Reservations were made on Open Table. One other plus - watching the trains roll by.

Cons - Half of the establishment was a bar/pub with a live band later in the eveing, the other half was fine dining. We were not able to join the live band because that area allowed smoking. The noise from the bar echoed around the dining room, thus our table for two was not very intimate. The side dishes were less than par. My roasted red potatoes were raw and crunchy (inedible for me). Also, while the highest priced dish on the menu was $27 for a NY Strip, my Rib Eye special turned out to be a whopping $35 (discovered when the bill was presented). For this price, my potatoes should have been perfect. For dessert we shared a poached pear and pound cake, but we were not told that it would be accompanied by a raspberry sauce. I can't stand raspberry and had to send it back.

Best perk of the evening - Our wine. We selected a 2004 Provenance Vineyards Merlot, Napa Valley for $40. A tasty bottle at a very good price.

If we lived in Ashland, we might frequent Iron Horse occasionally (sticking to the menu offerings where the prices are known), but given the uneveness of our experience, we would be hard-pressed to drive the extra miles from Richmond.