Saturday in the Foothills.
Yesterday was Spring into Zin on Steiner Road. There are 12 wineries that participate in this event and each one offers wine tastings and paired snacks. for the designated drivers, they get to sample the snacks, but not the wine. TBG and Jeff are my designated drivers and we headed out at ten to drive up to the Shenandoah Valley. We got to the first wineries a little after 11 and the place was hopping (the event started at 11). I had selected Driven Cellars to start our adventure because it was the one we'd started with last year and I had really loved the wines. I ended up joining their wine club (hopefully I won't regret that) and got three bottles of wine to take to Spain. They has decided to start with something more substantial than a snack and we had a choice of three items. Jeff got a locally crafted grilled cheese sandwich and TBG and I had sliders that were so incredibly good. The last item was a pasta salad with locally produced feta cheese.
Stuffed and well lubricated, we then headed for D'Agostini Winery. This was their first year and it showed. They poured three wines, the last was one of the worst things I'd ever tasted. It was like watered down Kool Aid. They offered (seriously) Costco meatballs, a small piece of TJ's focaccia, and a small slice of bread with cream cheese and a wine jam on it.
After that, we went up to Lingstead and while the views were great, the service was a bit lacking. I think they weren't expecting the people that they got. The wines were okay and they served a pasta salad with a pickle. It really didn't go with anything.
At this point, I'd had enough wine to be done. I stopped regularly drinking wine about a month and a half ago and it showed. I had less than a glass of wine and was really feeling it. We headed over to Shenandoah Winery and sat under the wisteria. I only had a sample of their Barbera (I drink their wines on a regular basis, so I know what I like there). The food was really good, though. They did meatballs, but were homemade, and a Caprise salad skewers and a piece of biscotti.
We went to Pokerville Market and I picked up a few bottles of wine and then we headed home. I slept most of the way down the hill and woke up grumpy and stiff. We dropped Jeff off with the promise of returning with pizza at 6 and headed home. The cats were happy to see us and little Trouble was let out into the rest of the house. She has fit right in with everyone. If she was a little older, I would just leave her at home, but she's still too small for that. She has learned to climb up onto the bed, though, so she has to go back into her room at night to avoid squashing incidents.
The pizza was very disappointing and it was from Dante's, our favorite place. That's disheartening... sure slept well last night, though...
And photos just because.
A California Poppy
A bottlebrush tree. I sure miss mine.
Beneath the wisteria at Shenandoah Wineries
And you-know-who jsut because.
Stuffed and well lubricated, we then headed for D'Agostini Winery. This was their first year and it showed. They poured three wines, the last was one of the worst things I'd ever tasted. It was like watered down Kool Aid. They offered (seriously) Costco meatballs, a small piece of TJ's focaccia, and a small slice of bread with cream cheese and a wine jam on it.
After that, we went up to Lingstead and while the views were great, the service was a bit lacking. I think they weren't expecting the people that they got. The wines were okay and they served a pasta salad with a pickle. It really didn't go with anything.
At this point, I'd had enough wine to be done. I stopped regularly drinking wine about a month and a half ago and it showed. I had less than a glass of wine and was really feeling it. We headed over to Shenandoah Winery and sat under the wisteria. I only had a sample of their Barbera (I drink their wines on a regular basis, so I know what I like there). The food was really good, though. They did meatballs, but were homemade, and a Caprise salad skewers and a piece of biscotti.
We went to Pokerville Market and I picked up a few bottles of wine and then we headed home. I slept most of the way down the hill and woke up grumpy and stiff. We dropped Jeff off with the promise of returning with pizza at 6 and headed home. The cats were happy to see us and little Trouble was let out into the rest of the house. She has fit right in with everyone. If she was a little older, I would just leave her at home, but she's still too small for that. She has learned to climb up onto the bed, though, so she has to go back into her room at night to avoid squashing incidents.
The pizza was very disappointing and it was from Dante's, our favorite place. That's disheartening... sure slept well last night, though...
And photos just because.
A California Poppy
A bottlebrush tree. I sure miss mine.
Beneath the wisteria at Shenandoah Wineries
And you-know-who jsut because.