On weekends.. We take party bus limos to vineyards and drink wine, a lot of wine.

Last weekend a good friend of ours, Sarah H organized a very well planed vineyard tour through Virginia. The group was a great mix of her friends (including her new fiancé, Eli! - congrats to this great couple!), our friends, and my co-worker Nicolas who is here working with us from France. I have a guilty pleasure enlightening him on all our American pastimes from baseball games, wine tours and soon Thanksgiving.

We stopped at three vineyards on our tour. The first stop was Boxwood Estate Winery in Middleburg, VA. Reviews - great tour, great tour guide, and decent red wine. Tasting price was a little high but on the plus side, the tour included seeing the room where they bottle their own wine. It felt like we were inside an episode of "How It's Made" which my inner engineer-dorky side secretly loved. We didn't purchase any wine at this stop but our group picture at the "spitter" turned out great! (I guess serious wine tasters do not swallow every sip and instead spit the wine out in this shinny spitter. If they did swallow every sip they would get wine buzzed and not be able to taste the difference.... It's a real shame!)

Party bus pause for dancing, sandwiches and a cold beer to wash down the wine. (Because every Brenner-Madej is properly trained in what to bring on a limo road trip)

Second stop was Cana Vineyards and Winery which was also located Middleburg. It was a quick ride so our beers were chugged and we were whisked upstairs for a scenic view of the vineyards. Reviews - no tour, pretty decent wine, reasonable tasting at $11, free wine glass, and breathtaking scenery. Nicolas picked up the Reisling and Rose for Thanksgiving. We are excited to try them again and report back on how they taste when you get more than a 1/4 oz sip.

Did I mention Sarah's mom, Rhonda joined us? totally in love! If I didn't already have a #1 Mom I would definitely put in a request for Mrs. Hasselmann!

Party bus pause for more dancing, snacks, throwback 90's music, cleansing our wine pallets with more cold brews and drinking games like Thunder.

Third stop was Paradise Springs Winery in Clifton, VA conveniently located on our way back toward DC. This placing was poppin'. Cute couples with picnic baskets, families with kids and BYOS (bring your own snacks), and a full bar serving their homemade wine. Our private tasting was held in their wine cellar and we got to taste eight of their different wines. In my opinion* this was the best wine we tasted all day. It was also the most expensive. Most bottles were over $30 but it was well worth the $10 tasting fee to try them all.

We finished off the event with a return trip on the party bus which may or may not have included some serious group sing alongs.

*disclaimer - I am no wine expert.

Have you been to any good wineries in the DC area? List them in the comments below and we will try to stop there on our next Vinyard extravaganza! Till next time blog followers!

Coming Soon - My Thanksgiving Turkey Recipe!

Spread the Love & Dream Big,

Mrs. Madej

BONUS: Pictures from our Sunday recovery brunch at the Kennedy Center Terrace. Big check off our DC bucket list. Great views of my Watergate project, good company, and crab legs for breakfast!