More week after Christmas 2011

While we were out with our less experienced Virginia winery buddies, we decided to do a repeat.  You do these things sometimes for your friends and hey, if it is a really nice place, you do it for yourself too!  In honor of our guests we stopped by Blenheim Vineyards on the way home.  How can you help but love a cozy A frame, ski lodge type tasting room with views that hit you as soon as you walk in the door and look out those great windows.   Does it hurt that Dave Matthews, yes, that Dave Matthews, owns the Vineyard and designed the tasting room, no, I say it does not hurt at all.  And the fact that he designs some of the labels each year does not hurt a thing either.  One of the reasons I purchased the bottle of wine that I did was because it had a Dave designed label.  I like the fact that a native son has such interest and is not just a name in ownership only. Besides the Dave factor and actually that is cool, one thing I really like about Blenheim is how the tasting room is set up.  I really like when you walk in the door you do see straight out of those beautiful windows, I like the way you can see through the floor and down into where the wine is stored and the work is done, but most of all, while you are tasting, the bars are set up so that while you taste, you get the beautiful view.  So many are set up so that while you taste your back is to the outside.  Not the case here and I like that.