Celebrate June

Just to celebrate June we headed out on a cloudy Friday morning toward the Culpepper area.  First stop Prince Michel Vineyard.  This is a large facility and we were surprised that we were the only ones there when we first arrived. Several other people did arrive before we left.  Our pourer was young and energetic in explaining the levels of tastings, there are several, and encouraged us to take the self-guided tour through the wine making facility.  After our tasting we did do the tour and just to put things into perspective, Lovingston Winery that we visited last week, they had 2 large tanks for wine making, someone was at the winery from 5 a.m. until 11 p.m. to push the grape skins down into the tanks every 2 hours to get the color and flavor they wanted for the red wine and they use gravity to move the wine between the areas of the facility.  At Prince Michel, they had many, large tanks for wine making and they used a series of pumps and hoses to push the skins and juice around.  That is the difference between hand crafting and mass production.

If you have a group of people you want to take to a Virginia winery, Prince Michel would do.  It has several areas inside and out to sit, a large gift shop and you can wander around the self-guided tour, but I have a feeling on weekends it can get really crowded. 
 

And then there are places that when you walk in, all you can think is, I cannot wait to come back here and bring others.  That is how I felt as soon as I walked into DuCard Vineyards in Etlan, VA.  Between wineries it had gotten really cloudy, there had been some rain and we were thinking is the weather just too bad to enjoy another winery today?  The rain had just stopped as we got to DuCard and we walked in, it was just perfect.  The clouds were hanging on the mountains that you could see through the large windows of the tasting room, there was a fire going in the fireplace which was flanked by leather chairs, just a nice place to hang out.  The beautiful bar and floors are made out of wood from buildings that were originally on the property and the owner likes to keep things local, so there was bread, cheese, meats and even chocolate made locally.  Yes, I bought some of the chocolate and it was oh so good!   Our pourer was so nice, the wines were tasty and I am looking forward to another visit and the opportunity to it out on the patio.