Keswick Vineyards

After many months of wanting to visit, Dan and I were able to go on a Charlottesville area wine tour. Our first stop on the tour was Keswick Vineyards.

Entering the grounds, we were greeted with rows and rows of vines arching over the hills. The puffy clouds and blue sky really showed of the beauty of this location right from the start.

The tasting room at Keswick is nestled in a wooded section of the property and has a beautiful little lawn area right in front of it that is perfect for event games. Inside, Dan and I found out we were the first customers of the day, and we got our pick of locations at the warmly lit bar.

Keswick offers red, white, and rose wines in their tastings. Among our favorites were the V2 (pronounced V squared), the Les Vents d’Anges Viognier, the Consensus, and the 2010 Cabernet Sauvignon Reserve. We were also big fans of their decadent chocolate wine sauce. Mmm…

Dessert we made the day after: Vanilla ice cream topped with freshblack raspberries and Keswick's chocolate wine sauce. Delicious!
After our tasting, we wander the grounds with the tasting room manager looking for a good geocache location. There were lots of fun locations, and we finally settled on one. You can find the geocache coordinates on its webpage.

We hope you have a chance to stop by Keswick if you are near Charlottesville! When you do, be sure to tell them that At The Lamppost says “Hi!”.

Horton and Barboursville Vineyards

During a recent wine tour we slipped off our planned track to visit Horton Vineyards and Barboursville Vineyards. It was very easy to stop at both places, because they were literally right down the street from each other.

Horton Vineyards

Since we were traveling west, we stopped at Horton first. The tasting room was a really unique brick, castle-like building that was guarded by long rows of vines.

Horton Vineyards offers TONS of different wines. Reds, whites, roses, fruit wines, dessert wines – if you can name it, Horton more than likely has some. :) Dan and I were also really happy to see how reasonably price the majority of them were too. Among our favorites were: Eclipse Red, Freedom, Route 33 Red, Tannat, Acai fruit wine, Peach fruit wine, and Raspberry fruit wine.

Another fun thing about Horton is that for our tasting, we got to try ten different wines of our choosing. This is especially nice if you are visiting with someone else, because you can each try different wines and get a better idea of what they have to offer. :)

Barboursville Vineyards

Just down the road, we made a quick turn and arrived at Barboursville. Even though it was still early, this place was already flowing with customers.

The tasting is very different at Barboursville. Instead of having one person serve you, you move down the bar, trying different wines at each section of the bar.

We had a great time chatting with the servers there and found them to be friendly and happy to chat about their wines.

Among our favorites were their Nebbiolo Reserve, Cabernet Sauvignon Reserve, and Cabernet Blanc.

Stonefire Kitchen

After two wine tastings, Dan and I were ready for some lunch. The servers at both Horton and Barboursville suggested a small café called Stonefire Kitchen, and they were right in suggesting it. The food was fresh and delicious, and it is defiantly a good food stop if you are in the area.