One of the things we enjoyed doing twice a year in the DC suburbs was the Loudoun County Farm Tour in the fall and the spring. From the website you can download a map that will show you all the farms and vineyards that open their doors to the public for the day during the farm tour.We weren't really aware of all the vineyards in Loudoun County until we did the "farm" tour. In hindsight, I would use the farm tour to visit the farms that aren't normally open. There's a lot to see on the tour, and you'd be crazy to try and do it ALL in one day. The vineyards all have tasting rooms that are open throughout the year. You can download the Loudoun County Wine Trail map or use the interactive version on their website and go tour the countryside and try the wines separate of visiting the farms.
So anyway, getting back to the reason why all this came to mind in the first place... We have a small collection of wines from Loudoun County as a result of doing the farm tour. Tonight we opened up a bottle of Tarara red table wine. It was EXCELLENT!
We didn't even realize the bottle wasblue until after we poured the wine.
Pretty, isn't it?
Out of all the vineyards in Loudoun County, I think Tarara is probably the nicest, most expansive with many beautiful picnic areas and facilities to support big catered functions like weddings.
Grandpa, me, and the boys look for a geocache
on the Tarara Vineyard. (April 2007)
The man-made cave they have for wine
storage is pretty neat to see, too.
Grandpa, me, and the boys look for a geocacheon the Tarara Vineyard. (April 2007)
The man-made cave they have for winestorage is pretty neat to see, too.
If you asked me to pick the top three vineyards to visit out of all the vineyards listed on the Loudoun County Wine Tour, I would recommend:
1) Tarara (see above)
2) Loudoun Valley Vineyards - Their pear desert wine is legendary and we buy a few bottles every time we go there. They offer a nice Mother's Day or Father's Day brunch there in a very pretty setting.
3) Hillsborough - This one is a hit with the boys because they have a small pond with frogs going "ribbit!" The scenery is pretty, too.
1) Tarara (see above)
2) Loudoun Valley Vineyards - Their pear desert wine is legendary and we buy a few bottles every time we go there. They offer a nice Mother's Day or Father's Day brunch there in a very pretty setting.
3) Hillsborough - This one is a hit with the boys because they have a small pond with frogs going "ribbit!" The scenery is pretty, too.
Funny! I would have mentioned Hidden Brook and Lost Creek. One of them was super kid friendly and even provided coloring for the kids while we tasted wine.
ReplyDeleteYou know as I remember this, We'd spent all day hiking and geocaching and this was perhaps referred to as 'payback'. But that was fine with me as the wine was good.
ReplyDeleteLS - Yeah, I didn't mean it like we spent all day wine tasting. We did a whole bunch of geocaches across country out to Harpers Ferry and back, and stopped for a little respite at LV Vineyards. The caption of the photo is true though - you and LW are, in fact, wine-tasting in the photo. :-)
ReplyDeleteHi, Great blog! I found it via Bubblehead. Spring 2007 my fiancé and I were looking for wedding venues at the NOVA vineyards and our two favorite were Tarara and Hillsborough Vineyards. Tarara had the hospitality and gave us a free tasting but Hillsborough had an outstanding view. Unfortunately the father-in-law did not like the distance from Centerville and the cost of the venue, they are rather pricey. Another thing that I like about your blog is you trips of Hawaii. We will be PCS ing there in September, Can’t wait! Do you have any recommendations on where to start looking for places to live? Thanks!
ReplyDeleteCS1/SS Tim Poole