What did you do for the Fourth of July? I have to say that we spent an amazingly fun day along Virginia's Route 151 visiting some of Virginia's best wineries, breweries, and even throwing in a cidery. What a great day!
Heading out, we started at
Wintergreen Winery, which was set up for the holiday celebration. For $10, we each received a stemless, Wintergreen Winery glass, the tasting to go along with it, and access to the musical entertainment that they were having that day. The rain coming and going early in the day just made it that much more of an adventure.
As always, the tasting was just pure fun. Unlike some of the more pretentious wineries that are out there, Wintergreen Winery is just down-home and real. Without all of the froo-froo, you come into a smaller, rustic tasting room with a little, side shop with a few tables. Is it worth the visit? Absolutely! The wines are wonderful, and the Thomas Nelson White is fantastic for a summer afternoon and is always a favorite around festival time. It's common for this wine to sell out. And if you enjoy something along the dessert side, you have to go for their raspberry, fruit wine to pair with a little, dark chocolate. That one is always a big hit.
After sharing a bottle of Wintergreen's Viognier, which is now sold out online, we headed north on 151 and quickly veered into
Bold Rock Cidery. Part of the fun here is that the tastings are free, and they were being done in their apple barn. What a great setting for tasting ciders, which ranged from the ciders that you can find on tap or in the bottle in our favorite pubs and restaurants around the commonwealth to the premium ciders that resemble wines more than they do the fizzy ciders that we've come to love in Virginia. It was a wonderful time, with our tasting being led by Robin Washburn, wife of Bold Rock founder John Washburn. She was really a lot of fun, and we had a great time listening to her talk about their history while also telling us about the ciders and their successes. Today, it was announced that Bold Rock would be undergoing a $4 million expansion. Awesome!
Bold Rock Cidery begins work on $4 million expansion
From Bold Rock, we headed north again on 151 and dropped in at
Veritas Winery in Afton. One of the most beautiful, tasting rooms in the commonwealth, Veritas is never a disappointment when it comes to wines. I hadn't intended to, but I ended up joining their wine club, which automatically gave me my first shipment. So for $62.65, we enjoyed two tastings and then walked out onto the terrace to enjoy one of the three bottles that came in the shipment, while taking in the amazing view. Also, club members receive 20% off of all purchases AND free admissions for two to their Starry Nights events. Win-win!!
Now, some day I want to go and stay at
The Veritas Farmhouse. I've checked out the website so many times, but I still can't choose which room in which I would like to stay. They're all beautiful; but if I really had to pick, I think I'd go for the Nottingham Suite.
Now as if all of that wasn't enough fun, it was time to head back out to get something to eat. So, we chose to make our way on over to
Blue Mountain Brewery, which was packed for the Fourth. And, why wouldn't they be? In addition to the awesome microbrews, their food is amazing. As much as I haven't had a thing there that I didn't love, my favorite is their pizza. Whichever one you choose, you can't go wrong. Their pizza is some of the best that I've ever had, and I've even been to Italy.
To add even more to the fun, not only was it the Fourth of July, it was also Steal the Glass night! It was so crowded that night that we couldn't get a table right away, so we had a blast hanging out with people who we had never met and playing cornhole with them. Mind you, all of this was also while enjoying the brews. So much fun to be out on the lawn, playing cornhole with new "friends," and having the waitress still bring us our drinks. We really did have a great time.
Be prepared though. Steal the Glass nights (the first Thursday of each month) are always packed. Get there early and stake out your table. It's well worth it!
And in attempting to bring the day, which was now night, to a close, we headed back toward Lynchburg, hoping to stop in at
Devil's Backbone Brewpub, truly looking forward to their smoked meats. They're absolutely wonderful! But alas by the time that we got there, they were already closing down for the night. So, there's not much to share there. :( I guess we'll have to save that for another visit. :)
Instead, we ended up checking out Thai Mex 2 Restaurant in Nellysford. Yes, that's right. Thai...Mex... I've laughed every time that I've ever driven by there. What a combination of cuisines, but I have to say that we had a great time there. We sat at the bar and had a rough time choosing what to get; and even though I was actually leaning toward getting breakfast food (yes, they have that, too), I ended up with the chili dog. (The menu just kept going...) It was the perfect stop for the-end-of-the-evening food bender. We had a great time, and the guy running the place was awesome.
Wow, we really are blessed in Virginia!! Make mine Virginia wine...and beer...and cider!!
