Day Trip: Tour of Paradise Springs Winery

I know I've been hiding in a bit of a hole as of recently. But, you should know that I haven't been alone. The miracles that are Facebook have allowed me to network with spouses living on Bolling AFB with me, and you know what I've found? I'm not the only wanna-be-wine-o on the face of the Earth. I enjoy wine ... but I really don't know much about it aside from the mandatory wine-training classes Olive Garden used to make me take.

I'm still new'ish to the DMV area, so when someone said "Hey, let's go to a wine tasting and tour of a winery in Clifton!" I said, "Okay!!!" (No idea where Clifton is, by the way.) I mean heck, in my mind? I like wine.

My friend/neighbor Stefi offered to drive (good thing, because I'm a lightweight) .. so we piled into her Jeep and off we went.

Source: Google Maps

26 miles/50min later ... we had arrived!

Yep. This is what a vineyard looks like in the dead of winter. ;) But no worries, the inside of the winery was rustic, it was fantastic ... and it smelled absolutely amazing.



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After our entire group had assembled ... down we went to where all the magic happens!

Temperature controls on the pinot gris varietals

All in all? We were able to sample (11) varietals from Paradise Springs ... all of which I had never tried before! Silly novice wine-o. You laugh, but have you ever enjoyed a glass of Sommet Blanc? Voigner? Tannat? Cabernet Franc? Neither had I. Truthfully, I couldn't detect the subtle differences in flavor (I've always been bad at identifying which fruits/flavor I 'm tasting) -- but I did have a few favorites!