Weekend Update

This weekend S and I joined a group of friends to tour four wineries in the beautiful countryside of Virginia. A friend of a friend was ambitious enough to rent a bus for us and coordinate a group of thirty crazy dunken Washingtonians tooling around the state from tasting room to tasting room. The hands-down favorite turned out to be Chateau O'Brien. The Northpoint Red stole the show as far as everyone else was concerned, but I like my reds tart and fruity. So I preferred Buddy's Bistro. All were great, though. The wines here were noticeably absent of the harsh chemical tastes that I find in many wines. They were all incredibly well-balanced and rounded. Mr. O'Brien explained to us how they were guided by the principles of "Biodynamics," which seemed to boil down to astrology. I don't know about that, but they do something right. If you are anywhere near Whistle Stop Road in Markham VA, do yourself a favor and stop by. Good stuff! We also toured Piedmont Winery, where I found a Chardonnay I loved- Hunt Country Chardonnay. This one wasn't for everyone, as it was very tart and generally dissimilar to typical Chardonnay, but that's what I liked about it. I'm going to have to be careful... too much wine and I won't be able to drink as much gin!

In other news this weekend:

• Bear Grylls would still be my favorite show if there were ever any new episodes on. In leiu of that, I am watching this great new History Channel show on the "Underground World" of major cities. Budapest, Rome, Paris, Berlin, and more.
• The Washington Post is so out of ideas they are now officialy just makin' stuff up.