Weekending in Virginia Wine Country

The summer has been good, but southeastern Virginia has been oppressively humid and searingly hot. My husband has worked outside in temperatures that reached 120 degrees, and my typical running cycle has been severely curtailed. When a family friend mentioned that they had a condo in Wintergreen that wasn't being used this weekend, we jumped at the opportunity.

Wintergreen is a resort area located on a mountain close to the Blue Ridge Parkway and Skyline Drive. Conveniently, it is also nestled next to a portion of Virginia wine country. I've never been to Wintergreen, but have visited wine country during our annual Garlic Festival journey. And when I say 'been to wine country', I really mean, 'hit the one winery that was on the way to our B&B'.

We left during a sultry Friday morning, and began thinking of lunch as we neared Charlottesville. It was also at this point that I realised with profound horror that I'd left my spare digital camera battery at home, sitting on the recharger. Since the battery in the camera wasn't so fresh, and I'd not even brought a second camera (booh, hiss!). I was very cautious in the number of pictures taken. This certainly shan't happen again, but for now, we'll just have to suffer through.

Anyway, I'd researched some potential lunch spots the night before, and happened upon a place called Crozet Pizza. Fodor's had chosen it the best pizza in the U.S.; Compass Guides said it was the best in Virginia; National Geographic decided it was the best pizza in the world. Those are bold statements, and as devout and dedicated pizza lovers, we realized there was no other choice but to pay homage to a local shrine.

Unfortunately, Crozet Pizza doesn't open until 3 on Fridays, and we were quite hungry. A friend had recommended that we visit two wineries in particular, and both were close to the first Charlottesville exit. We took it, tearing down a road that was long, winding, and very fun to drive. Famished, we finally pulled in under a canopy of gently rustling trees at Kluge Winery.

Being a pathetic newbie blogger, I'll finish this tomorrow. Wine country weekends are fun, but tiring.