My husband loves being out of the house and doing something. For those of you that know me, you know that I while I enjoy being socially active, I really enjoy being a homebody. Having these two personalities in a marriage is great though because we get to experience fun things, but also get to enjoy being lazy around the house. Compromise, people!
This leads me to our wine-derful (no?) weekend! Evan found out about this great wine festival called FESTA RAPPAHANNOCK. With 15 wine tastings and local food, who were we to say no?! Plus, part of the proceeds benefited the Hospice of Rapidan. Drinking wine for a good cause, that's how we saw it!
It was held at Rappahannock Cellars, which is a winery located about an hour west of Washington D.C. Four other wineries were also a part of this event: Chester Gap Cellars, Gadino Cellars, Narmada Winery, and Sharp Rock.
In exchange for the purchase of our event tickets, we were each given 15 raffle tickets (each raffle ticket = 1 tasting). Each winery had three to sample, and you could use the tickets any way you wanted. We decided to try all the wines, to get the most out of this experience!
We stopped at Narmada Winery first, and they completely won us over. The owners are from India, and their tagline is "Experience India...Taste Virginia." So fun. We actually purchased one of their wines titled Mom - it's supposed to be a great pairing with Indian food - which we love! I'll be sure to post a picture of the bottle with a full review once we crack that baby open! Side note: having an advertising background, I also fell in love with their bottles and labels. I can't WAIT to show you it!
Next we stopped at Rappahannock Cellars and had a great conversation with the man in charge of the tastings. One conversation turned into another, and somehow our move to California was brought up. The owner happened to be walking by, so we were able to chat with him. He's from California and actually attended Stanford (which is where Evan will be attending grad school in the fall!). He used to own a winery near Palo Alto, so we're excited to check it out once we get there. Small, small world.
We thought food sounded pretty good at this point! The food was prepared by Marriott Ranch, and Evan enjoyed a hamburger made from grass-fed local beef. I opted for the grilled chicken. We both had the chilled rice with veggies, as well as the cucumber and tomato salad.
To wash down our food, Evan enjoyed a glass of Rappahannock Cellars' 2008 Cabernet Franc.
Me? Well, winos, I sipped on some sangria. That's summer right there, folks!
We were able to enjoy music from the Mark Brandt Trio while eating - it was wonderful.
We finished our tastings at Sharp Rock, Chester Gap and Gadino. We must say that Rappahannock Cellars and Narmada Winery stood out the most, but we really did enjoy all five.
We ended the day with a cellar tour. Jason, the Winemaker, at Rappahannock Cellars gave us a wonderful tour of the winery. We were able to see the machines that break down the grapes, as well as the stainless steel and wooden barrels that store the wine. It was very interesting!
How was your weekend? Was wine a part of it?! :)
Wow what a fun way to spend the day! Your glass of sangria looks so refreshing! Unfortunately my weekend did not include wine, but it did include a really nice hike with 2 of my friends, a coffee date with another one from out of town, and a great spin class. Can't complain at all! :)
ReplyDeleteYou guys look like you had a great time! Can't wait to visit Wine Country with you, Best. By the way...love that dress!
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