Virginia Wine Expo - AKA "Heaven"

This past weekend, I got to cross something off my bucket list - attending the Virginia Wine Expo. Even though I have lived in Richmond for like 11 years now, I had never attended this event. INSANITY.

Let me start off by saying that my husband got us tickets for the expo as my Christmas gift this year - best gift ever! But he also gave me the tickets in a really adorable way. He sent me on a little scavenger hunt through the house to find them and the final gift was hidden in the tree, complete with a wine bottle ornament!

So, I've known since December that we were going and I've had a countdown on my phone. I was SO excited. I had heard a lot of stories from people who had been in previous years and they said it was so crowded, hard to taste all the wines, too much waiting, etc. I tried not to let any of that get in my head and I stayed pumped for this.

Did I mention that we got VIP tickets? No? Well - we did! Basically, the VIP tickets let you in 2 hours before the "normal" crowd. So, we got to start our wine tasting adventure at 10am rather than noon. I know what you're thinking, 10am and drinking wine!? As long as you eat a balanced breakfast, it's totally fine.

We took our first Uber ride ever and got to the convention center right at 10am. Let me tell you - the early admission ticket was TOTALLY worth it. There was hardly anyone there for the first 2 hours so we got to taste wine at a nice, leisurely pace. My husband's cousin, wife and a friend of theirs met up with us about 2 wineries in and we were off!

Every year they feature a different country at the Expo and this year it was Italy. I was pretty excited about getting to taste Italian wines because I don't typically drink many from there. I was not disappointed. They even had this cool card that you could scan a QR code and it would tell you where to find the yummy Italian wines you tasted. These were some of my favorites:

Not only did they have over 70 Virginia wineries featured at the expo, they had food, cideries and craft vendors too. We ended up bringing home some awesome gourmet ketchups from Chups which were amazing. The spicy pineapple was to die for and I ended up putting it on top of the hot dog I consumed that afternoon. Go check them out - you can make all sorts of yummy sauces and appetizers with their products. We brought home the sampler pack and a full size of the spicy pineapple.

The winery that, in our opinion, won best in show that day was The Homeplace Vineyard. Upon approaching their table, we could tell that this was a small, family operation and didn't know what to expect. Well, they blew the competition out of the water. We brought home 3 bottles of their wines, but easily could have bought more. Their Old Tractor Red and White are phenomenal every day drinking wines. We also bought their Vidal Blanc which was seriously smooth and delicious. I'm not usually a fan of whites so when I find one I like, I get excited. They also had a Chardonnay made with hops that was amazingly delicious!

All in all, it was one of the best days ever and it really never got crowded to the point that I was annoyed. We never had to wait long for a tasting and with that many wineries to choose from, if one was busy you could just move on. My favorite thing they did was will call. You could buy wines at each vineyard and fill out a will call ticket and pick everything up before you left. It was so nice that we didn't have to haul our purchases around with us. The only "bad' part was that it was hard to keep track of what we bought. So when we ended up at will call at the end of the day, we had 10 bottles waiting for us. Oops.

It was an amazing day and I can't wait to go back next year. Hopefully all these bottles will be gone by then!

My Father Didn't Kill Himself

My Father Didn't Kill Himself by Russel Nohelty
Publisher - Wannabe Press
Publish Date - Est. July 2016
Genre - YA Mystery












My Rating:




Reading and posting a review for this novel was a bit of a special treat for me and I am excited to finally get to share it with you! The author is a friend of mine from high school and asked if I would be willing to read a beta version of his new mystery novel. Um, yes! How could I say no, especially after seeing the title?

The entire setup of the novel is very clever and sure to appeal to every 21st Century tech-addicted teen. The whole book is a series of school assigned blog posts between the 2 main characters, Delilah and her best friend Alex. Delilah thinks her family and life is perfect until her entire world is shattered when her father commits suicide. Delilah learns that her father's insurance policy won't pay out for suicide so she sets out to prove that the police made a mistake and her father was, in fact, murdered.

Delilah's journey sends her on a tailspin of emotions and changes her to her core. It affects everything around her, including her friendship with Alex. Each blog post by both girls take you deeply inside the turmoil that they both experience during this difficult time.

You know how people always say "don't judge a book by its cover"? Admittedly, I have never been good at this and this situation was no different. There were a few things right off the bat that made me skeptical about whether I would enjoy this book or not. First, I judged the title - while the title intrigued me, I definitely assumed the worst. The synopsis told me no different. I expected a heavy, depressing journey on how to deal with a close family death as a teenager. Teenagers. Third thing I judged. I knew this was a young adult novel and I didn't know if I had it in me to absorb teenage level angst. The one thing that made me doubt my initial judgement was the artwork on the cover. I knew that there was a good chance this book wasn't all serious with the comic-like high school book cover doodles.

As does most times when I cast a quick judgement, this book surprised me. The format was very unique and I thought it would really appeal to today's younger generation. It was really interesting to see how both Delilah and Alex changed and developed as the plot unfolded. The emotional roller coaster was true to the experience that all teenagers go through during high school. The writing style was refreshing. Sometimes when you read teenage books written by adults, the language is forced and unrealistic. That's not the case with this story. I actually felt like I was reading diary entries by teenagers.

My Father Didn't Kill Himself had some great plot twists and turns that I did not see coming. It kept me guessing the whole way through and I couldn't wait to see how it ended. The story went to some dark places and dealt with pretty serious issues but somehow managed to do it in a way that didn't make you completely depressed while reading. Delilah and Alex are true friends to the end, even though that relationship is tested over and over again.

Even though this is technically a Young Adult novel, I think it's appeal goes beyond that audience. If you enjoy a story with plot twists and a surprise ending, give this one a shot! It might give you some unexpected insight into the world of the modern day high schooler and remind you what it's like to be that young.



Pair This With: Middle Sister Rebel Red

I've loved this brand of wine for a long time. I'm a middle sister so I figured their wines couldn't do any wrong. They are delicious but they also have seriously sassy labels that I'm pretty much obsessed with. Rebel Red's label says "If anyone tells you they don't like red wine, stop talking to them. You don't need that kind of negativity in your life". This wine is an easy drinking, semi-sweet red blend. It tends to be my go-to wine when I want something light and fruity.