My husband and I celebrated our 13th wedding anniversary at the end of July. We took a little 2-day trip to nearby Fredericksburg to celebrate with our friend James and Andrea who celebrated 14 years, the following day. We had tons of fun, lots of laughs, and ate way too much!
We stayed in this old house. It was quaint, cold and nights and perfect for our short little stay. We had decided to go to Fredericksburg for wine tasting. Both Marcus and Andrea like red wine and James and I are not big drinkers. We knew it would be fun for them to drink and he and I would be well entertained. ;)
Here are some pictures and notes from Marcus on the wineries we toured...
Nice grounds, very good staff. The Praire Rotie was one of the favorite Reds. The Raven was the wine to set the bar for all other wines for the trip. In an attempt to expand our palette, we tried a Port. This was not well received.
While they were friendly enough, and the inside area had things to do beyond wine (pool, checkers, dress up props), it was quite the drive out there. Of the first 4 wines we tried, nothing really stood out as great or good...then we finished with the Port again....we remembered why we weren't Port drinkers.
A combination of three vineyards, this place was it. Great outdoor and indoor area (if not right off the highway). Staff was very nice. We got 7 wines for our $10 here, and we were hard pressed to find one we didn't like. We had dethroned the Raven as a favorite with the La Herencia (although I would pick their McPherson Cellars Cab up without hesitation). They had no Port to try. We knew we had our favorite place.
Another nice layout of the grounds, but wasn't quite as attended inside. We tried 6 different samples again, none really grabbing our attention. The Merlot was good...best of all of them. To keep the newly started tradition, we finished with a Port. A different taste, but equally ill received.
This was a good one to catch at the end of the day. They had a good staff, if not an ordinary layout for a winery. After a Brut, the two Cabs were tried were very good...If and when I see this in the store, either the Reserve or the Paulo Cab are a real deal. Finished with a Port again...not as sad about it, but not thrilled.
Any other area vineyards we should try next time?
