Winery Wednesday - First Colony

When I stop to think about it, I feel like I’ve visited my fair share of wineries around Virginia. But the truth is, I’ve barely scratched the surface! There are over 250 wineries in Virginia and (if I can remember them all correctly) I’ve visited (or tasted wines from) about 57 different wineries. Crazy!

My Winery Wednesday feature today is one of my favorites that never disappoints – First Colony Winery.

First of all, this place is beautiful. It’s nestled away in the foothills of the Blue Ridge mountains and is an unexpected little oasis. They remodeled in 2013 and the new building, complete with thatched roof is perfectly European. The tasting room is small, unassuming and perfectly cozy.

So, enough about the design right? What about their wines!? Well, those are delicious! From their whites to rosé to reds, I haven’t come across one that wasn’t on point taste wise.

My absolute favorite wine from First Colony is their Claret. It’s a lighter bodied red wine a bit on the sweeter side. I love this wine because it is so versatile and an easy crowd pleaser. It tastes good chilled or room temperature making it the perfect year-round wine.

I also love their rosé. It’s the perfect summer picnic wine that pairs perfectly with a plate of cheese and charcuterie. It’s light but not too sweet and bursting with yummy citrus flavors.

Since summer is sadly drawing to a close and I’ll begin pulling out my drier, fuller bodied red wines, I will also mention their Meritage. It’s dry without being to biting on the tongue and has a slight spiciness to it that I just love. It’s just right to hold up to some of your heartier fall meals.

Speaking of fall – this is the perfect time to head out to the mountains of Virginia to check them out in person. Once the leaves start changing, it’s a magical place to be!

Wine & Sliders at Pippin Hill

We've been doing a ton of renovations to our house this year, so my husband and I decided that there wouldn't be a big vacation trip anywhere. Instead, I'm going to make the most of my PTO days and make day trips out to wineries. I got an awesome deal on this thing called the Virginia Wine Pass. Basically, it's a membership card good for one calendar year that gets you a ton of awesome deals (like free tastings) at wineries around Virginia. Um, yes please!

The first day trip we made was to my favorite place (of course) - Pippin Hill. We decided to bring my Mother-in-law and her best friend with us. I was so excited to share this place with them and it did not disappoint!

We started off with a wine tasting at the bar inside then planted ourselves on their amazing patio for lunch. It was super hot the day we went so we got a bottle of their Red Pump to drink with our lunch. It's one of those great red wines that tastes good chilled and it really hit the spot!

For an appetizer, we started off with their cheese plate. It was so delicious and I was so hungry that I forgot to snap a pic BEFORE we at all of it. The thing I love about Pippin's Hill menu is that it always changes with the seasons. So, there are always different cheeses and jams to try. This one had a blue cheese, a cheddar and a type of goat cheese, dried fruits, jam, crostini and candied walnuts. Yummy!

Every time we go to Pippin Hill for lunch, I pretty much can never say no to their sliders. These babies are local grass-fed beef with mcclure cheese, caramelized shallots and grapevine smoked ketchup served with amazing parmigiano frites. You cannot go wrong here people!

If you haven't been out to visit this place yet - put it on your summer to-do list. You won't regret it. Beautiful views, delicious food and amazing wine makes for the perfect afternoon!

Winery Wednesday - Rutherford Hill

To celebrate our 5th anniversary, my husband and I were lucky enough to get the chance to travel out to Napa Valley. It was on my bucket list of places to go and believe me - it did NOT disappoint. Our trip was fairly short - only 4 days but we got to experience a ton while we were there. We never stayed in the same place two nights in a row.

Obviously, wine tasting was at the top of my list of to-do's while we were there. It is unbelievable how many wineries there are in Northern California. We spent the time beforehand and planned out our entire trip and chose which wineries we were going to visit on which day. This took some work and research but it made it SO much easier.

Today on my Winery Wednesday feature, I want to share my hands down, FAVORITE winery we visited on our trip -

Rutherford Hill Winery

Rutherford Hill Winery is located high in the hills of Napa Valley, CA. The views of the valley are absolutely breathtaking. The winery was founded in 1972 and has been making delicious wines ever since.

One of the cool features of Rutherford Hill are their wine caves. We took a tour and it was the most fun, unique wine tasting experience I've had. They actually had little stations set up throughout the caves so as we toured, we stopped periodically for wine. So fun! They can store up to 8,000 barrels of wine in their caves at one time!

Here's us at the entrance to the wine caves!

The wine caves were chilly which makes them perfect for storing wine

There were tons of alleys off the main walkway with wine barrels stacked as far as the eye could see!

We tasted a bunch of delicious wines but my favorites were their Malbec and Merlot. We brought back a bottle of the 2008 Malbec with us - soooo yummy! Merlot is the wine that Rutherford Hill is best known for and dedicates most of their production towards.

The last stop on our tasting took us to a table outside where they shared their dessert wines with us. They also gave us a bowl of these amazing chocolate covered blueberries. I brought a bag home and have been obsessed with them ever since. Luckily, I found a local store that carries them!

Whenever someone I know mentions they are headed to Napa Valley and ask for recommendations - this is where I tell them to go. If you aren't going to make it out to Napa any time soon, then find their wines online and try them out. You won't be disappointed!

Winery Wednesday - 101 Best Wineries in America

You think I would have learned my lesson about other people's list after my Trash the List post earlier this year. But, I keep going back to lists because while other people's lists may not suit my EXACT tastes, I do enjoy reading them and giving some of their suggestions a try.

My mom sent me this list from MSN.com of the 101 Best Wineries in America and of course I was intrigued. The competitive side of me came out (yes, I'm competitive even with myself!) and I wanted to know how many I had either visited or at least tasted their wines.

It's a cool slideshow that takes you all the way from #101 to #1. Of course, California dominated this list. I was a little disappointed that only 2 wineries from Virginia made this list. Maybe I'm a bit biased but, we have some really awesome wineries here!

I was also disappointed in myself that I had only visited 3 of these wineries. Here are the ones I've been to: