Winery Comments

For Single Girl, I will do an overview of the wine tastings we went attended, and everything else we did.

We got in around 9pm on Friday which gave us just enough time to grab a couple of beers at a bar within walking distance to our cottage and hit the hay pretty early. After having our tasty egg quiche, hash browns, and fruit brought to our cottage at 9am the next morning, we finally got out of bed and walked around the town. We visited a few little nick nack shops as most of these tourist towns have, then had lunch at Rather Sweet Bakery and Cafe for some very delicious tomato basil soup and sandwiches. After coating our stomachs in preparation for some wine, we set off for the wineries for the day sometime around 1pm.

Torre di Pietra
This was the first winery we visited on Saturday afternoon. This winery and vineyard is about 10 minutes away from Main Street. It was a very cozy little place compared to the other wineries we later visited. It had a nice little fireplace and sitting area for if you wanted to sit and enjoy a bottle of wine. When we first arrived, we made our way up to the wine tasting bars. It was $5 for 5 tastes from their wine selection. We decided to do $5 each rather than share so that we can get a taste of 10 wines instead of sharing 5. We were all about trying as many as possible. The tastes are about the size of a 1-count with a shot pourer (meaning one hefty gulp or 2-3 sips). After trying all 10 that we sampled, Baby and I decided to buy two bottles a piece. He went with the Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon (2005) and the lighter, fruitier Grenache Rose. I went with two of their signature wines which happen to have pretty entertaining names - Red Flirt and Dirty Girl. You can click here to get a description of how each wine tasted.

Grape Creek
After about an hour or hour and a half at the first winery, we mosied on over to Grape Creek about a mile down the road. Grape Creek was less inviting as it was just one big room with their winery equipment machines that look like big vats all around you. I think the people here were a bit more personable than at the previous winery, and Baby and I agreed that their wines were better. Their prices were a bit cheaper as well. Here we decided to again buy 4 bottles between the two of us - Salut! Cabernet Sauvignon (2003), Cabernet Trois (2004), Bellissimo! (2002), and Reisling (2004). Here is a description of these wines. We also bought a very awesome Mango Habenero Sauce for Doc since it screamed him when we tasted it. Little birthday gift from Baby to Doc =)

Fredericksburg Winery
This was the last winery we visited for the day. We had a fast-talking guy serving us our wines telling us the rules of all things wine. If we could understand at least 40% of what he was saying, we were lucky. I think he must have a second job as an auction emcee. The most we got out of him was "the spicier the food, the sweeter the wine." They actually carried some of the sweetest wines I had ever tasted, and I'm not talking port wines either (port wines are dessert wines for those not in the know). Their tasting displayed their entire selection from driest (non-sweet) to sweetest. We got to the fourth to the last one, and I told Baby that if I drank anything sweeter I would probably vomit all over myself. We decided that we would stop while we were ahead and not try the last few. I ended up buying their Pinot Noir as it was one of their driest wines and was quite tasty.

In between Grape Creek and the Fredericksburg Winery, we did visit Trade Days which is nothing more than a flea market of crap. It's amazing what people will sell in those places. I guess one man's trash is someone else's treasure, but most of what we saw really was just trash...lol.

After the wineries, Baby and I snacked at the Fredericksburg Brewery eating bad nachos and drinking locally brewed beer. I wasn't all that impressed with this, but again, it was for the experience of saying I went to the brewery there. Although, I forgot to mention for Diana Banana that I drank nothing but Blue Moon at the bar we went to on Friday night.

For dinner later that night, we went to Cotton Gin Restaurant. We had a delicious meal. Baby had a crusted trout and I had a tarragon shrimp scampi. We decided that we liked each other's dishes better so we switched, but it was all good nonetheless. Granted, it's not 5-star restaurant in Houston, but it was good country cooking.

We were so worn out after our 7 hours of wine-drinking that Baby passed out fully clothed while I was getting ready for bed. I didn't have the heart to wake him, so I put the blanket on him and let him sleep.

The next morning, we had another great breakfast brought to us of eggs, french toast, and fruit. We packed up and headed home by way of San Marcus. Baby had never been to the outlet mall out there, so we decided to stop by. Bad idea on my part. I ended up spending more money than I should have... although now I have the sexiest pair of patent leather, 3-inch stiletto, peek-a-boo-toed shoes!!! HOT! I should've taken a picture...oh, well. I also made off with a pair of sandals and a crocheted dress-like shirt thingy that I can either wear with jeans for the "wearing a dress with pants" look or over a bathing suit as a cover up. Very versatile.

We finally made it home before 6pm, and were BEAT! We had a fantastic time and would be more than willing to go again to try some more of the other wineries out there. Maybe sometime in April would be good.

So Comfy...

Right now I'm such a lazy bum. I've been up for about an hour now and have done nothing but lay and enjoy our soft bed at our cottage in Fredericksburg. Baby is still out cold next to me, so instead of waking him up, I've decided to read the news and start blogging all via my blackberry so he can sleep in. I suppose it IS his vacation, too. Just because I get up with the sun doesn't mean he has to also, right? I'm such a sweet and considerate person ;)

We stopped in at three wineries yesterday. Basically, Baby and I were drinking steadily from 1pm until about 8pm. Surprisingly at no point were we smashed. Although there was one point at dinner that I started to get loopy, but thatfaded pretty quickly once my food started settling. I'll give better updates when I get home.

Hope you're all have a fantastic weekend!!!

F'burg, here we come!

Like the Pointer Sisters, I'm so excited and I just can't hide it!!! Baby and I head off for Fredericksburg at 5pm today. Yes, folks, the height of rush hour. Although, it is Friday and rush hour won't be too terrible...we hope. I figure we can ride in the HOV lane most of the way out of town anyway.

So what do we have on the agenda? We won't arrive to our quaint little cottage until about 9pm or 10pm, so not much is slated for tonight. With the way Baby likes to drive, we may very well make it there by 8pm, but I've warned him that the cops in all of the towns in between Houston and F'burg live for catching out-of-towners and ticketing the hell out of them. It really is their bread and butter with all the money the towns make from people passing through. I know in college, I probably got enough speeding tickets to pay for a new school gym or something...or at least a small bust of the mayor for display at city hall.

Tomorrow, we plan on walking around the little town and hitting a few wineries. I'm looking forward to tasting all kinds of vino!!! I'm such a wine junkie. Baby is getting to be a bit of a connoisseur himself having been around me so long.

I will give a full report of the trip as soon as I get back (with pictures...if Baby remembered to pack his camera seeing my camera is still kaput). Hope you all have a lovely weekend. Even though it will be freezing, it'll be nice that it isn't raining for a change!

Sophie Suite - Where we're staying in Fredericksburg

I just received a picture of the Sophie Suite. Unfortunately, they just acquired this private one-room cottage so there isn't a website link for it yet. I'm disappointed that I don't know what the outside looks like, but the inside looks romantic (and clean). They tell me it's got all the amenities - full bathroom and shower in addition to the jacuzzi tub, microwave, mini-fridge,hair dryer, etc. It's also less than 1.5 blocks from Main Street so we can walk to all the shops, restaurants, and winery on that strip. And, they bring us breakfast every morning at around 9am. I wish I could go right now!

Daydreaming of Vacation

Yes, I have a case of the Mondays. I have no focus whatsoever for work today. I keep thinking about wanting to take a vacation, but then get yanked back into reality when an email pops up with more work I need to do. Unfortunately, I finish the work so quickly that I'm back to daydreaming of being somewhere else relaxing. It's just one of those days... I think this is mainly brought on by the fact that Baby is on a plane right now on his way to warm Cancun for the week while I'm stuck in cold, rainy Houston.

All this thinking of getting away has pushed me to do a little more research on our trip to Fredericksburg, TX next month for Valentine's Day Weekend. We've decided to drive to Hill Country and visit some of the wineries out there. Considering it's something I've wanted to do for years and have never gotten around to it, we figure it's the best weekend getaway we can do since Baby is still limited on vacation time or PTO (paid time off) because he just started his job at his current company only 6 months ago.

We're staying at a bed and breakfast in one of their individual cottages called Sophie's Suite. Very romantic. I'm waiting for the booking agent to send me pics of the place because it's very new - I'll post them once I get them. The B&B also brings us breakfast to our cottage every morning...tres manifique! And of course being the most anal travel planner ever, I have already narrowed down the wineries we will visit Saturday to four locations that are within close proximity to one another and within the realm of our preferred tastes in wines according to the wineries' self-descriptions and other travelers' suggestions. We plan to visit Becker Vineyards, Torre di Pietra, Grape Creek Vineyard, and Fredericksburg Winery. There are others that I think sound really tasty, but are a bit further for us to drive to from where we are staying. We're not all too familiar with the area, so I guess we can hit those next time if we decide that we enjoyed the trip this first time around.