Virginia is for (wine, food & fun) Lovers

prior to two weeks ago, the "virginia is for lovers" slogan befuddled me. what about all the millions of single girls and guys out there? is virginia not for them? after one weekend at the williamsburg winery i quickly realized it is , in fact, a clever marketing ploy and would be more aptly stated as "virginia is for wine, amazing food, and small luxurious hotels of the world lovers."
brett's always been quite the history buff and as his time in virginia is rapidly dwindling, we finally made it a point to visit williamsburg. while brett was spending 5 miserable, rainy, hot, muggy days playing rambo in the quantico highlands - the neurotic, over-planning girlfriend that i am researched every possible williamsburg activity since i couldn't talk to him. williamsburg really is chalked full of activities - its rich in history, culture, restaurants, and just happens to be home to virginia's largest winery.
finally friday afternoon rolled around and i got to hear brett's voice for the first time in days!!! i hurried to the base so we could plan our weekend's activities. between colonial williamsburg, busch gardens, jamestown, and the winery we really had too many options for one weekend but when we really prioritized williamsburg winery came out on top. we opted to tour the historic area on saturday morning and head over to the winery in the afternoon. we learned our lesson the previous weekend with our double duty saturday when we stumbled off the grounds of winery at la grange after multiple tastings. we decided to make a preemptive strike and stay at the inn located on the winery so we could truly enjoy the fruits of our tasting labor. brett sweetly reserved a room for us at wedmore place but that merits another post entirely.
with a room reservation we received two free tasting passes and decided to use those immediately. it was certainly evident that this was virginia's largest winery when we arrived. there isn't simply a tasting room there is a restaurant with a beautiful ivy-covered terrace, a multi-room retail shop, museum, and 100 x 50 ft great hall that seats over 300. a wine tasting isn't simply a sampling of great wines at williamsburg winery, its a production tour, fermentation tour, museum tour that ends in wessex hall to finish with a 7 wine tasting. the williamsburg winery has made literally hundreds of wines, so our tasting barely made a dent in their repertoire. We absolutely fell in love with a few of them:

Governor's White
Light, smooth with a hint of sweetness in the finish. I greedily lapped up two of these during dinner.

Two Shilling Red
An easy to drink table red that is a blend of fruity flavors.

Vintage Chardonnay Reserve
I think Brett would trade me in for a case of this wine. Aged in french oak barrels, this chardonnay is so buttery it coats the tongue for seconds after swallowing.

Plantation Blush
Wow, talk about a step up from my usual Sutter Home White Zinfandel - this was a fruity light blush that was perfect on a hot day.

Vin Lecoreux de Framboise
Wow. In one word = heavenly. A rich merlot blended with fresh, concentrated rasberry juice. move over ambrosia, this truly is the nectar of the gods.

Late Harvest Vidal
This wasn't included in the tasting but we were able to garner a taste in the gift shop after the official tasting. Of course we fell in love with this sweet dessert wine.

We purchased a few bottles and headed back to our the luxurious bed and breakfast that awaited us! We also opted to try the restaurant on the grounds and certainly were not left disappointed. We started with the baked brie, truly magnificent, and moved on to the most succulent chicken and tortellini i have ever tasted. the chicken was covered in a reduction of the raspberry merlot dessert wine. we decadently finished the evening with a 7 layer strawberry cake all the while sampling new wines from the impressive list.
we ended the night, on the terrace sipping glass upon glass of vintage chardonnay. we sat on that patio oblivious to that fact that every other patron had left during our two hours of laughing, talking and staring at the night sky. in a word, perfect.

http://www.williamsburgwinery.com/index-hs.htm