Two weekends ago, my friend Jaclyn and I took a road trip down to the “wine country” of Charlottesville, VA. We had both been wanting to visit and explore the area wineries, so we made it happen together when I had a little break in the wedding season. I’d like to say it was the end cap to my 2012 season, but it was close enough. 🙂 It was also Jaclyn’s birthday weekend, which was a great “pick-up line” (not sure you can really call it that!?) when we were out and about. Because of that, we walked away with lots of good conversation, new friends and free drinks!

The many shops, restaurants, bars, wineries, and historical sites made it hard for Jaclyn and I to do everything we wanted in one weekend. Thanks to my friends Denise and Stuart, we did have a condensed list of what the locals recommend (thanks guys!), but it was still a smidge overwhelming at times. So we trotted along with our visitors map, cameras, knee-high boots and Pittsburghese accents and enjoyed every minute of tourist-y girl time in Charlottesville! Maybe this blog post will help other Charlottesville-goers in making a game plan? 😉

We started our weekend with dinner at One Meatball Place and I had falafel for the first time. The food was good, the staff was super friendly and it was reasonably priced. Of course we ventured out for some celebratory drinks afterwards, ended up meeting two guys who hollered at us during our walk to dinner (I no longer have such a negative idea of these kind of guys, ha!) and dancing to good music at a local college bar! Charlottesville treated us pretty well the first night!

Then it was time to hit the wineries! First we visited Jefferson Vineyards, which was probably our favorite tasting. We tried a dozen wines, learned lots about how wine is made and got a complimentary wine glass…all for $10!

Next we went to Trump Winery, formerly Kluge Estate Winery. Apparently Donald Trump’s son owns it?? But that’s not the coolest part. The coolest part about this winery is that I shot my first wedding here! And it was Denise and Stuart’s, the same couple that gave us a long list of recommendations for our weekend. It was so neat to return to the place where JFP essentially got its start…

And there’s my friend Jaclyn! Don’t you just love her blue pants and pretty blonde hair!?! We’ve been friends for over 10 years now! She’s pretty awesome. 🙂

Denise and Stuart held their wedding ceremony and reception in a tent behind the tasting room house. This front porch area made for beautiful pictures!

Next up was Blenheim Vineyards…just a 1/2 mile from Trump! This winery is owned by Dave Matthews! Pretty cool, eh?? We didn’t see him while we were there, but we tasted his wine. $5 for a tasting of four wines and a complimentary wine glass…score!

I was not a fan of any red wines…

That guy…he thought he was cool gettin’ in my picture.

Such a beautiful building at Blenheim!

I’d like to have wooden beams like this in our new house. 🙂

Our last stop was at Carter Mountain Orchard. We found out they had a Prince Michel tasting room there and because I heard so many good things about the orchard, we couldn’t pass it up. The orchard sits on top of a huge mountain, giving way to beautiful views of Charlottesville…

Carter Mountain Orchard is like apple heaven! They have apple cider donuts, apple cider, apple butter, apple-picking and mounds and mounds of apples! I could have walked away with so many more apple products, but I limited myself to the donuts and some apples for Brian.

The Prince Michel tasting was only $3! I picked the sweet flight and was able to taste all their sweet wines. Unfortunately, I didn’t like any of them. I walked away not buying a single bottle of wine from our winery visits! Jaclyn wonders if I really like wine? Hhhmm…

And finally a picture of me! I knew I had to get one specifically for this blog post so you people can actually see who I am and what I look like from time to time. Jaclyn did a pretty good job taking this one…thanks dear! 🙂

And lastly, a picture of Jaclyn and I…taken on my phone, of course…

We ate dinner that night at Positively 4th Street, recommended by Denise and Stuart. It sits in “the mall” area of Charlottesville which is filled with all kinds of shops, restaurants and bars…definitely a must-see when visiting!

I definitely did not get to do everything I wanted during Jaclyn and I’s 36-hour stay, so I’m pretty sure I need to take Brian with me sometime to do more. He’s not really a wine drinker, but then again, maybe neither am I? My recent favorite wine is Jacob’s Creek Moscato. If you’re a sweet wine lover you should definitely try it!