Wow, I blew that attempt at mass posting, huh?

The next day, we hit 4 wineries. The first winery was Afton Mountain Vineyards.





The winery was nice with a good-sized tasting room. Some of the highlights were the Sangiovese, the Old Vine Cabernet Sauvignon and the Cabernet Franc, which was not bad for an '05.

The next winery was Veritas. More than any other winery I have visited in Virginia this one reminded me of wineries in Sonoma. It is beautiful with a wrap-around deck and great open space for picnicing. The tasting room is huge with lots of great places to sit and enjoy a glass/bottle of wine after your tasting.





Highlights from Veritas were their Sauvignon Blanc and their Petit Verdot.

The third winery was Cardinal Point. The tasting room was smaller than the other two wineries, but but the staff was very knowledgable.





Highlights: Their Quattro, Cab Franc Reserve and the Rockfish Red.

Our last stop, before the wine dinner, was at Horton (have I mentioned how much I hate the design of their website). The grounds around Horton were not much. The tasting room is large, although, clearly set up to move people in and out, with very few places to sit.





Horton had 40+ wines to choose from, I liked their Viognier, many of their fruit wines, their Cabernet Franc, Stonecastle Red, Nebbiolo.

Overall, a fantastic day and a lot of fun.

The weekend of June 15th, some members of the wine club went to Charlottesville for a wine weekend. To make the details readable, I am going to spread the weekend out over three posts. The first (this one) will detail Friday night at OrZo, the second will detail the wineries we hit, and the third one will cover our wine dinner at Delfosse.

I'll try to get all three posts up this weekend, so that Sonadora has a lot to read on Monday :).

Friday night we arrived in Charlottesville. Most of us stayed at the Acorn Inn, a pleasant inn about 35 minutes outside Charlottesville.

Our first night we dined at OrZo Wine Bar. The appetizers were excellent, especially the Calamari, which was lightly fried. Enough to be crispy, but not drowning in oil. They seemed to do seafood really well the Salmon and Halibut were well-received by everyone.




But, where OrZo really shown (shined?) was its wine list. It was extensive, with a selections from all over the world, including quite a feww Greek wines. Not something you normally see.




The hit of the wine list were, in fact, two of the Greek wines. The Amethystos Red and White (a.k.a the boobie wines) were both really good and both very affordable.



The red was a deep purple, a blend of Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and the native Greek varietal Limnio. It was smooth wine, with a silky aftertaste and overall very enjoyable.

Archaeologists have uncovered France's oldest winery:

The large site, built around 10AD, is still surrounded by vines today on the outskirts of Clermont l'Herault, in the heart of Languedoc wine country.

'It's really exceptional, and very elaborate,' Stephane Mauné, head of the site and archaeologist with France's CNRS research institute, told decanter.com.

No comment...just kind of cool :)