Finally we found a Saturday to visit some Virginia
wineries. With C as our DD, JP, SEG and
I made our plans and headed out. We
headed out about 9:30, met JP for coffee and headed west on Route 60 to Route
29, destination Lovingston Winery, Lovingston, VA. Now I know that we were just there and no, I
don’t do many repeats, but we thought the gang would enjoy it. But when you make plans there are those
elements that we cannot control. In this
case, it was the weather – the severe thunderstorms that felled trees and power
lines across our great Commonwealth and particularly what we will call the
Greater Charlottesville area, which, yes, includes Lovingston. We were aware that a storm came through on
Friday night, but never thought about massive power outages. When we got to Lovingston, sadly for what
appeared to be lack of power, it was closed and sadly, it had been awhile since
we had those cups of coffee!
With Lovingston closed, we headed to a bit further west
thinking we could grab lunch at Devils Backbone and then hit a few of the
wineries in that immediate area. With
the restaurant closed, we headed the ¼ mile to Wintergreen Winery. They were open, but without power - meaning
no air conditioning and no running water – i.e. restrooms (see cups of coffee
above!) so we decided to move on. This
would be a good point to add that the temperature was over 100 that day even in
the beautiful mountains.
At that point we all got on our phones searching for an open
winery – one with air conditioning AND running water. Finally one winery answered the phone and
they assured us they had power, air conditioning, wine, running water and
food. Thank you Early Mountain Vineyard
which is in Madison County, just about an hour away from where we were at the
time. It wound up being worth the
trip! Even if we were not desperate for
food, wine and a restroom (see coffee above!) Early Mountain would be a very nice
place. After they pointed us to the
restrooms, they took very good care of us.
They brought the wine flights we requested to our table and the tastings
were generous enough that we could enjoy them as we ate our lunch. For those days when it is not over 100 in the
mountains, they have a beautiful patio with a fire place and furniture sitting
round fire pits spread around the property (fire pits not necessary on this
trip). The indoor space was beautiful
with a large central fireplace and seating areas set up all around.
I enjoyed the time spent at Early Mountain; the wine flight
was nice with lunch and our visit was relaxing, but if I were going for just a
tasting, I do not think I would have been as happy. The tasting was expensive, $12 for 4 wines,
red or white. At that cost you really
want to take time and enjoy, not just stop by for a quick tasting.
Leaving Early Mountain and heading home, we thought we could
fit in one more winery so we stopped at Keswick Vineyards. C and I had been there a few years ago and
enjoyed it. It was about 4:25 when we
arrived and felt okay because they did not close until 5. I guess our server did not feel that
way. Our server was neglectful,
bordering on rude. It was sad since we
had other options but chose Keswick and got such bad service. People - service is huge in this
industry. Do not act like we are
imposing on you.
These pictures are Early Mountain. So beautiful!
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