Stretch
(Peggy’s Stretch Lincoln Town Car at the Willowcroft Farm Winery on the first short-sleeve day of pre-Spring).
I was going to take off early for the farm but the early news suggested the first fatality of Daylight Savings Time may have happened at the junction of US-29 and Vint Hill Road, which is about a mile south of my shortcut from I-66 to bypass Gainesville.
It is a tricky intersection- coming northbound there is a swale shaped like a humpback whale that conceals the stop light at the junction, so even sober and in daylight it can be a very surprising pop into a line of cars waiting at the red light. The flashing yellow warning lights that are illuminated in consonance with the traffic signal. I am going to take a wild guess and say it was either a drunk or a long-haul driver who was not aware of what was obscured by the modest rise ahead of them.
The whole road was shut down, or at least it seemed to be on the radio version of reality, so I deferred the idea of getting on the road early. Instead, I downloaded the pictures from the smart phone of the wineries tour out in Loudoun.
A cadre of the Usual Suspects from the Amen Corner took a tour of three wineries yesterday via Reston Limousine Lincoln stretch car with able chauffeur Peggy Thompson at the wheel. The limo was a fine way to approach the transportation problem, though the length of the beast on the dirt roads of Loudoun County made her honk the horn with energy at the approach to each turn to advise oncoming traffic of our imminent bulk.
Actually, driving through the countryside honking the horn wildly was just one of the highlights of the trip. Loudoun real estate boomed through the first decade of this century- right through the Great Recession as more and more money concentrated in the National Capital Region, and it beat out Fairfax as the richest County in America (and hence in the history of the West). I looked for property out there a decade ago, and could not find anything like Refuge Farm that did not have a decimal point prominently in the price.
It is quite remarkable to see the sprawl that now accompanies the transportation corridors, but off the main roads you can see it is just a veneer. A half mile off The Leesburg Pike (modern Rt 7) or the Greenway toll road the country is still crisscrossed by gravel lanes that Confederate Irregular horseman John Singleton Mosby would recognize. Except of course for the curious (and apparently) air-dropped gigantic McMansions that stud the old pastures and fields.
Anyway, three wineries were on tap for tasting sessions, and we visited the cellars of the Fabbioli clan, 8 Chains North and the third of the trifecta was a vague tribute to our local watering hole, Willowcroft Farm Vineyards.
Fabbioli Wines: Route 15 North. About 4 miles from the center of historic Leesburg on Limestone School Road. “Our new, upgraded tasting format has been a huge hit! Every month, we offer 7 of our fine wines perfectly paired with 7 gourmet food bites, created by local chefs and food artisans. You’ll enjoy sitting at one of our cozy tasting tables while our wine educators present a fun, unique and delicious experience.” Fabbioli is one of the older of the new school of wineries in Virginia, and they have the tasting experience down. We were sober when we walked in, and though less so when we left, the place was impressive in its professionalism, the contrasting tastes of food and wine, and a marvelous start to the day. I bought a bottle of their Governor’s Cup Tannat, a full-bodied red with plum and raspberry highlights and smoke and earth tones on the finish.
8 Chains North: “A small family-owned and operated farm winery located in the town of Waterford in picturesque Loudoun County, Virginia. Our business began in 2006 when our original vineyard, Furnace Mountain, was planted by father and son on the bluffs of the Potomac River. We believe that the best wines begin in the vineyard, and invite you to enjoy a glass or bottle with us in our Tasting Room.” The name apparently comes from the plot of ground where the first grapes were planted, a place originally cleared by General Lee’s men, eight chains north of the old turnpike for the invasion of Maryland near Point of Rocks. Buckley-the-bartender was fun and approachable and the views were superb.
Willowcroft Farm Vineyard: On Harmony Church Road, past the first Wine Tours sign at Mt. Gilead Rd. to Loudoun Orchard Rd. “One of the oldest of the wineries in Northern Virginia. The historic barn boasts breathless panoramic views of Loudoun Valley and the Blue Ridge Mountains. Willowcroft’s personal attention to detail, both in the vineyard and the winery, has resulted in national award-winning wines, time after time. Once an orchard, the slopes are now planted in mature grapes. The rustic beauty, historic red barn, and the award-winning wines, will give you reason to return to this peaceful spot.” This was the least organized of the three stops, since we brought two bottles of white from 8 Chains North in the car to tide us over. We talked at least as much about the stink bugs in the barn as we did about the wine. Still, a lovely place and well worth the stop.
They were all fun stops, and each had a distinct personality. We were earnest and focused at Fabbioli, so perhaps that reflects the results of the post-stop quiz from Peggy.
Everyone agreed that was the best of the three, and we were equally unanimous that three stops was preferable to four, since we would have been completely trashed when we got back to town.
According to the survey conducted by Driver Peggy, Fabbioli was probably the best enjoyed, since there were paired food morsels- tiny ones- that were paired with each of the seven vintages we sampled in really small doses. Each of the wineries was happy to sell us uncorked bottles to go, and the party was very well lubricated as we left 8 Chains, passing by a Llama farm in which the furry beasts looked at us with great curiosity.
Being originally from Bolivia, TLB was an authority on the species. She instructed us to address the animals only in Spanish when Peggy brought the limo to a crawl to observe the Loudoun Llamas close up.
Along the way I struck up a lively dialogue with perky Peggy. Her husband was a retired Naval Officer, and we had some shared memories of places far away. She confided that Robert Duval was among her regular customers out in Loudoun, and she rattled off a couple other celebrities I vaguely recognized, and then she got mysterious and said there were others she could not reveal.
I am content to leave her with her limo mysteries, and the image of her long sleek vehicle sliding through the dark nights on the back roads of Loudoun County.
Copyright 2014 Vic Socotra
www.vicsocotra.com
Twitter: @jayare303
