virginia is for winos

once again i found myself out in the hills of virginia this weekend, indulging myself in two of my favorite activities: drinking wine and spending time with my best good friends. i l-o-v-e being within an hour of so many fantastic wineries, and apparently, so do my friends, because this has become a montly activity with us, especially now that the weather is warmer. we've tried a handful of vineyards but this time decided to go back to one we've already tried (that i discovered, thank you very much), called notavita, a winery that specializes in pairing wine with music (it's run by a husband/wife team that both have music backgrounds and clearly a love of all things vino). the first time i went a few months ago, we were blown away by the view (the tasting room overlooks a small lake with some rolling hills in the background), the sweet love story that started the vineyard to begin with, and the fact that we could bring all the food we wanted, and sit at a gorgeous table in front of a floor to ceiling picture window and drink wine all day long. in case you were wondering, THIS IS WHAT LIFE IS ABOUT. couple this with the fact that the wines are actually really good, and you have a sunday (or monday in this case) afternoon made in heaven.

despite the hour one must spend in the car to get there (and really, what's an hour to three girls who haven't seen each other since the day before??), it is well worth the trip, and i have been promised that next time we will go to hillsborough, which we had to pass on the way to notavita and i think my mouth may have fallen open at how lovely and quaint it was. there are literally DOZENS of wineries we passed on the way out there and back and i think i have set myself a new goal for the summer to get to as many of them as i can. and i like setting goals i can knock out pretty easily. especially goals that involve good wine and good friends.