Heading east on Rt. 360 we passed through Tappahannock and over the Rappahonnock River. Our first stop was at Belle Mount Vineyards in Warsaw. It was a small winery with the tasting room in the basement of a large banquet facility.
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| First stop of the tour |
Even tho they were a small winery they had some good wine. I got a couple bottles or their Workboat wine to make sangria at our next big family function. This winery told us about a "passport program" that various regions in Virginia offered. If we visited 6 wineries in the Chesapeake Bay Wine Country we would get 10% all the wineries in this area for the rest of the year. All we had to do was have the wineries stamp out "passport". Mark and I had only planned on visiting one or two but decided why not at least get the couple we visited to stamp our new Passport. And with that idea we got our first stamp and headed down the road.
We probably only travel 15 minutes along route 3 to our second stop Vault Field Vineyards in Kinsale. A good size winery with a tasting room about the size of an average house room. We lucked out here and got a discount for their "After Labor Day Sale" :) We got a few bottles of wine but bought 2 bottles of the Conundrum wine. After getting our passport stamped we realized it was still pretty early in the day and there was a third winery very close by.
General's Ridge Vineyard, our third stop, was literally 5 mins away from stop # 2 so it was super easy to find. This winery has a Manor House that you see when you first drive up. Tasting is NOT done here but the Manor can be rented out for special events or just a weekend away. Wine tasting is done just a little further down the lane in an old out building. The wine for this winery is actually made off site and then transported back here to be tasted and sold. We enjoyed the tasting and got a couple bottles, Viogner and the General Ridge White. With our third stamp we again loaded up and headed for a different type of location.
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| Love my state parks |
I love to visit the state parks in Virginia. Call me crazy but I like to go to the different parks to see what each one has compared to the other. I like to be outside and do all the things that go along with the parks like hiking, biking, swimming, rafting, tubing, fishing. We had planned on stopping at this park for the first time and checking out the views of the Chesapeake Bay. Sadly because of damage from a recent Hurricane the park was CLOSED! Dang it! Now what? Um oh that's right we were in wine country. So off to winery #4....
The Hague Winery is located in Hague and is the home to the historic Buena Vista Plantation, circa 1835. The tasting room is in an old barn (you really can't tell that) and offered a good selection of wines. We got a few bottles here as well. I don't love dessert wines but did enjoy the Cynthia Dessert wine. Yummy. Again we got our stamp and figured with four down and only two wineries to go what the heck? Let's do it!
Wine stop #5 was at a very popular Virginia Winery, Ingleside Vineyards in Oak Grove. This winery has to be the prettiest. They have a courtyard right outside the tasting area and on this particular day they were setting up to host a wedding reception. With the candles lite and small white lights twinkling it was so romantic :) Now we had our 5th stamp on our passport and could see the end in site!
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| Wine stop #5 |
All the while we were touring we were going through some of the cutest little town and passing some truely beautiful country. I have never visited this area but it's now on my radar to make a visit back very soon.
Our last stop was at Oak Crest Vineyard and Winery in King George. We made it here by 4:30 or so....just in time to try all of their wines before they closed for the day. Now I have to be honest....by this point we had already been at 5 wineries and tried numerous wines. I was tired and by now a little hungry. So I really had a hard time figuring out if the wine was really as good as I thought it was....or if I was just a wee bit tipsy :) Mark said they were really that good so I just went on blind faith and bought about one of each. We also go our 6th and final stamp! Yay we made it!
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| Stop #6.....we made it! |
All of these wineries were just off of route 3 and if you continue on this route it takes you right back out of the Northern Neck area to Fredericksburg. It wasn't really that late but after our long day we were exhausted and hungry. Mark found us a place to stay for the night in Fredericksburg and we got a nice steak dinner to finish off the evening. It was a great trip and an exciting day. My dreams were filled with visions of Colonial Beach and the Chespapeake Bay and my car was full of sweet Virginia wine :)
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