7/29/2012

Back from Wine Weekend

I'm back from my wonderful wine weekend!  I went to Charlottesville, VA from Friday to Sunday for a mini reunion with some friends from graduate school.  And a wonderful weekend it was.  I packed my work out gear but did not end up hitting the gym.  It turns out that drinking wine makes it really hard to get up and exercise in the morning!

We stayed at a Double Tree in Charlottesville, which was really amazing and comfy.  It was not within walking distance of the downtown mall or any of the vineyards and that was my only complaint.  We had a wonderful stay there otherwise.
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Friday night we went out for dinner and drinks at the downtown mall.  The downtown mall is an outside area filled with restaurants, shops, bars, and an outdoor amphitheater where they hold free concerts in the summer.  We ate dinner at Commonwealth Restaurant and Skybar and the food was very good, but a little bit pricey.  We also stopped for drinks at Citizen Burger Bar and a place called The Box.  I was a good little Kelly, drinking mostly vodkas with soda water and lime juice, although I did have an Abita Purple Haze with dinner.  I'm sure that I had too many drinks for this to be a truly low carb day, but all things considering, not too bad.

Blenheim Vineyards
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Saturday we spent the day touring wineries and sampling their wares.  We went to 6 or 7 wineries and I'm not going to list them all but the high points for me were Virginia Wineworks, Blenheim Vineyards, and Trump Winery. If you are ever visiting Charlottesville, I would highly recommend stopping by these three places.

At Blenheim Vineyards
in Charlottesville, VA
Now, on to the good, the bad, and the ugly.  Saturday was not a good low carb day for me.  I started off the day thinking that I would only drink the dry wines, which have 2-6 carbs per glass.  Since we were doing tastings and not having whole glasses I thought that I would be fine.  In some places tastings happen slowly and the person pouring tells you about each wine and takes time to answer your questions.  In other places tastings happen fast and as soon as you are done with one sample the next one is already in front of you.  Some of the wines were really sweet so I'm sure that they were loaded with sugar.  Another hiccup that I did not anticipate is that you have to eat crackers when you are tasting wine, sometimes between each sample.  I'm not sure how many oyster crackers I consumed, but I know it was more than zero, which is what a good low carb diet would have consisted of.

Having a snack at
Carter Mountain Orchard
Sunday we went out for brunch at a place called Beer Run and this was probably the best meal I had the whole time we were there.  The produce was all extremely fresh and the portions were huge.  After an awesome serving of eggs, ham, and cheese over a yummy salad I hit the road home.

Sparkling at Trump Vineyard.
Ultimately, the trip was amazing and I would do it again in a skinny minute.  Friday and Sunday were pretty good days, Saturday not so much.  I'm going to chock it up to a cheat day, although unplanned, and keep it moving.  Sunday I was exhausted so I cuddled with awesome boyfriend on the couch all day.  Back to the gym and buckle back down on the diet this week!

Marigolds at First Colony Winery.






Also at First Colony, taking a break in the shade.  













The view of Charlottesville from Carter Mountain is really amazing.
This picture does not do it justice.  






























Virginia Wineworks is great because you actually get to go down to the
basement where they are making the wine and look around.  


















Inside Blenheim Vineyards.  The tasting room is beautiful and has a
wonderful porch with a view of the fields.  




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