Dinner at The Inn at Meander Plantation

Thursday, August 4, 2011 / Paul / 2 Comments

After the wine bloggers conference we decided to spend a few days at The Inn at Meander Plantation. You might remember we spent several days at the inn last year. The inn is not too far from Charlottesville, located in Madison County. This time we thought we’d relax after the conference and maybe go to a few local wineries during our stay. Owners Suzanne Thomas and Suzie Blanchard always remember us and make sure our stay is relaxing and enjoyable. It was great to see them and catch up with them. They invited us to join them for dinner on Monday evening.

The meals at Meander plantation are always elaborate and delicious. Even breakfast has three courses! The dinners are always special because each course is paired with a specific Virginia wine. Check out the menu for Monday night’s dinner:

Each course was a work of art. I took photos of each course. You can see what Warren selected for each course.

First Course

Second Course

Intermezzo-Blood Orange Sorbet (I ate it before taking a picture)

Entree

Dessert

The dinner was delicious! Thank you Suzanne and Suzie! We always enjoy our time at The Inn at Meander Plantation. It’s a very quiet, relaxing place to stay. We are already thinking of booking a weekend in the fall to enjoy the fall colors. If you plan a trip to The Inn at Meander Plantation, be sure to tell them Virginia Wine Time sent you!

Gathering at Jefferson Vineyards

Sunday, July 31, 2011 / Paul / Leave a comment

One of our last events (unofficial) from the Wine Bloggers Conference was to attend a small gathering of bloggers at Jefferson Vineyards. Andy Reagan explained his reason for an after conference gathering on Frank Morgan’s Drink What You Like blog:

“One of the main reasons I hosted the post conference gathering was to get some real time with individual bloggers and try to get my message across, and talk about Jefferson wines, where they’re at, the foods they need to be paired with, etc. before there is an opinion written.”

We spent a few hours socializing with other bloggers, talking with Andy about his wines, and enjoying tastings of some of this wines. We were able to taste the 2007 Viognier, 2010 Vigonier, 2007 Chardonnay Reserve, 2010 Pinot Gris, 2001 Cabernet Sauvignon, 2007 Reserve Cabernet Franc, and the 2007 Meritage. This wasn’t a time for us to review the wines so we just enjoyed what we tasted and didn’t take any notes. I will say though, that I really enjoyed the 2010 Pinot Gris. It was a hot day and this wine helped ease the heat.

Here are some photos from the event. A big thanks to Andy for inviting us and sharing his food and wine with us that afternoon. It was a great way to end the conference.

Day Three

Tuesday, July 26, 2011 / Paul / Leave a comment

One of the highlights from Day Three of the Wine Bloggers Conference was the bus trip to visit some wineries in the Charlottesville area. There were several buses visiting wineries but our bus went to Pippin Hill Farm and Veritas. We had not been to Pippin Hill Farm before so this added to our number of wineries visited. We are now up to 127 wineries. Here are some photos of our visit to Pippin Hill Farm. We will be posting more about our visit to Pippin Hill Farm in a separate post. Stay tuned for that! Enjoy the photos!

Day Two

Saturday, July 23, 2011 / Paul / 1 Comment

The highlight of Day Two of the Wine Bloggers Conference was our trip to Monticello. Bloggers were able to meet winemakers and taste wines from 32 different Virginia Wineries. After a few speeches the wine tasting began. Here are some photos from the evening. It was VERY hot but the wines were cool.