Weekend in the Shenandoah Valley

We went to the Shenandoah Valley Hot Air Balloon and Wine Festival last Saturday. The weather was beautiful, as Fall usually is around here. Unfortunately, the hot air balloons usually launch in the morning and late afternoon, not around midday when we were there. Regardless, we got to do the usual Fall festival kind of stuff: hay ride, merry-go-round, musical performances. They had a really bad comedian for the kids. I say this as an adult, but then I'm not really the target audience. The one-man-band he warmed up for was more fun. And there were the HUGE pumpkins. This one on the right was carved to look like a demon. Scary. The sign below it says it was over 1000 pounds.

Ally wasn't scared of the scarecrows. She had a good time, in spite of the fact that the only balloons we saw were helium-filled. She still takes a nap in the middle of the day, so we ended up leaving around 1:00, at which time she promptly fell asleep in the car and stayed that way for the hour-long trip home.

Did I mention the wine festival part? There were 17 Virginia wineries offering tastings of some of their recent vintages. Lauren and I have been to these before and they tend to be somewhat zoo-like, with people crowded around the individual booths waiting for a pour. I'd rather go to the individual wineries and relax a bit. Some of the wineries that were there are located pretty far from where we live, so the chances of me visiting them are remote. And the smaller ones, in particular, only sell at the winery or in a very limited area. So before we left, we picked up six bottles from several of the smaller, more distant places: Afton Mountain, North Mountain, Farfelu, Wintergreen, Rebec and Windham.

The Windham selection was their Vintner's Reserve (2003). This is a Bordeaux blend that, I think, tasted better at the Festival. We had it with some shepherd's pie and it turned out to be about average and a little on the acidic side. Maybe not the best pairing, but there are better examples out there (Barboursville's Octagon being one of the best.) Grade: B-.