Blenheim Winery

On Sunday, January 27, 2013, my sister, her boyfriend, and I went to the Blenheim Vineyards in Charlottesville, Virginia. The land was originally owned by John Carter, who was the secretary of the colony of Virginia at the time. The winery's building was built in 1730 and named in honor of the War of the Spanish Succession. But this winery was also known for housing Thomas Jefferson and his wife during the cold winters. 
I was quite excited about this trip because not only was it my first visit to a winery but also because of the amount of history surrounding it as well as. The only downside to the trip was how cold it was. Driving to the Vineyard was a trip in itself. We drove on gravel paths for about 10 minutes before we even got to the Vineyard, but along the way we saw a lot more Vineyards that we were thinking of trying next time. I was amazed at how many were in that one area.

Inside Blenheim Vineyards

When we first get to the Vineyard we immediately go inside because of how cold it was. The first thing we did when we got there was try the wines! They told us they only had 3 types of wines left to taste because they were sold out of all of the other wines they produced. They told us that they normally sample about 5-10 but because of the busy we only got to sample 3. We paid $5 for the wine tasting but we got to keep the glass that came with it and they said that the next time we came back with the glass we would not have to pay for a wine tasting. I thought it was a pretty good deal. 

Blenheim Vineyard Glass

The 3 different types of wines I tasted were painted white, red table wine, and painted red. They only offered crackers to wash out the taste after every wine. I was actually hoping for some sort of cheese but I guess have crackers was better than nothing....My favorite wine was the painted white wine. I loved how fruity it smelled and tasted. My next favorite would have been the painted red. It went down really smooth and it also had a bit of a kick to it. I really did not enjoy the red table wine. Something about it just made me want to make a face every time I sipped it. It smelled decent but when I tasted it, it seemed like there was too much alcohol in it and I couldn't taste the flavors. Needless to say I ate quite a few crackers after trying the red table wine. While we were finishing up the last drops of our wines, my sister, her boyfriend, and I went out their back door to see the view. It was amazing because their entire back door was made of glass.

Backdoor

 While my sister and I were enjoying the view outside, we noticed our wines getting colder by the second. To me the colder my wine the better it tasted. I stayed outside until I finished my wine. Their back door also had an amazing view of their vineyard

My sister and I

Backyard view

After we finished our wine we continued our exploration of the vineyard inside the house. Downstairs of the house was where they made the wine. There were barrels and barrels of wine. They told us that the new wines would be ready by the beginning of March if we wanted to come back and try them. It was a bit chilly downstairs but they said that was how they kept the wine good. I was expecting their downstairs to be a lot bigger because of what I saw from the movies but it wasn't as big as I thought.

I plan on coming back here to taste their new batches of wine in March!