Well – this post is long overdue, considering I haven’t been in Northern Virginia since the middle of May! However, that is life – and welcome to the fourth installment (and probably last written by me) of our Northern Virginia wine series!
I am so fortunate to have incredible friends – in fact, three in particular are so incredible that they came to visit me on my last weekend in town. Naturally, the first thing I planned was wine tasting. The four of us, plus two friends from home, headed out toward Middleburg on a Northern Virginia wine excursion after the girls arrived on Saturday. We got caught in a massive rainstorm at the first winery and I ruined my new shoes in mud after the rain finally stopped at the second, but it was an amazing last day in town day at Quattro Goomba and Cana Vineyards.
Quattro Goomba’s
Tasting: $7 for five wines
Pizza and wine. My two favorite things. Or so I thought, until I discovered wine slushies. Now, pizza, wine, and wine slushies are my three favorite things. And Quattro Goomba’s has all of them!
Quattro Goomba’s is honestly such a cool place – one building is a brewery, one building is a wine tasting room, and one building is a pizza shop where you can enjoy wine slushies alongside delicious pizza. We ran through the torrential downpour into the brewery to find out we actually had to run to all the way across to the other end to get to the wine tasting room. We ran back out into the rain and into the tasting room to be greeted by probably the most polite tasting guide I’ve ever had. She was so fun!
We tasted the wines, each bought a bottle, and then went to get our pizza and wine slushies. I couldn’t tell you what was more delicious because both things were amazing. The pizza was so cheesy and had a thick, fluffy crust. The wine slushies were, well, wine slushies. The atmosphere in the pizza barn was also incredible with live music, tons of chatter, and the smell of pizza cooking!
Wine – 4/5 | Tasting – 4/5 | Views – 3/5 | Atmosphere – 5/5
Cana Vineyards
Tasting: $10 for six wines
As we drove up the drive to Cana, I couldn’t help but say “wow – this place is stunning!”. It’s a gorgeous building with wrap around decking up on a hill; by this point, the sun was shining, too! When we got inside, the place was a bit disorganised, but we booked ourselves into the next tasting session and waited eagerly. The tasting before ours went over, and when we finally got into the tasting room, we were so ready to try the wine! The tasting room is adorable, with the barrels on display and the intimate setup.
We did our tasting alongside two couples who brought their kids in with them. One couple was also a member of the Cana wine club, and our tasting leader definitely favored them as a result. She poured bigger tasting glasses for them, got more involved with them, etc. Between that, and the kids running around, it wasn’t my favorite tasting setup. The wines also weren’t my favorite.
Back outside, there was a band playing, the sun was shining, and there were plenty of seats for us to sit and enjoy each other’s company. It’s just a shame the wine is not as good as the atmosphere!
Wine – 2/5 | Tasting – 3/5 | Views – 4/5 | Atmosphere – 4/5
Bluemont
We decided to stop by Bluemont after brunch the next day, before the girls left to head home. You can read my previous review on Bluemont here.
If you liked this post, check out more Northern Virginia wineries we visited in Part 1, Part 2, and Part 3.
We would love to keep featuring the Northern Virginia wine country, but are no longer in the area. If you’d like to share your thoughts and photos on a Virginia winery, comment below or email us at info@apairofpassports.com!
Great blog my friend 🙂
What’s up, yes this article is really nice and I have learned lot of things from it on the topic of blogging.
thanks.