Simple pleasures of food and wine and......all that is mine!: 951 feet above sea level

Bluemont Vineyard opened in Loudoun County in 2007. They are a natural extension of Great Country Farms and as a result have quite a few fruit wines.

I first went to Bluemont back in 2009 and fell in love with the scenery. They pride themselves on being 951 feet above sea level and it is evident why when you get to the top tasting room deck. The views are breathtaking and on a clear day you can see Washington D.C., Tysons Corner and Dulles.

When you are traveling on Foggy Bottom Road, you will see the entrance to Bluemont on the right.

Then you approach the winding, gravel trek up the hill to the actual tasting room.

The first building you see is a new pavilion that Bluemont is using for weddings.

Higher up is the actual tasting room.

Views from the top are gorgeous, even after the autumn colors have started to fade.

"The poetry of the earth is never dead."

~John Keats

Along with the beautiful scenery at Bluemont, I also am fond of the fact that it is a dog-friendly winery. This was the fourth time that I have visited Bluemont and each time my best friend, Prowler, has joined me. I love being able to take him and he is excited about accompanying me.

However, it is always an adventure because at any given moment, an unassuming adult could approach him, or a clueless, selfish parent decides to bring their child to the winery. Prowler thinks most children (at least those his height or smaller) are loud, obnoxious squeaky toys. In most cases, I have to agree with him. I could rant about how I don't believe that children should be allowed in wineries (and some wineries don't allow them, thank you!) but I'll save that for another blog post.

As you can see, Prowler is always in protect mode. Luckily we were able to find a table against a wall. He doesn't like it when someone comes up behind us. To be honest, I can't say I do either.

Once the perimeter was cleared of all pesky cats (yes, one showed up and made him crazy even though P was inside and the cat was outside) and children, the love of my life decided it was ok to lay down next to my chair and relax. Notice, however, the ears are still upright. Don't think you're going to get anything over on him.

This trip to Bluemont was more special than usual because after many attempts, the Evil Red Genius and I were finally able to get my parents and her mother together on a trip!

Then came the wine tasting......

At Bluemont, there are six wines on the tasting list. They make many more; however, but some are reserved for wine club members - the good ones, in my opinion.

The Peach

50% peach wine with 50% Rkatsiteli

The rkatsiteli grape orignates from the country of Georgia and is one of the oldest grape varieties. Only recently have I started seeing Virginia wineries using the Rkatsiteli grape but it's usually in sweet wines so I'm not impressed yet.

2013 Vidal Blanc "The Cow"

100% stainless steel fermented, 2.2% residual sugar so a bit sweet. Great for sipping on a hot summer day. When I first went to Bluemont many years ago, I fell in love with "The Cow", but back then I didn't know much about wine. It was a great "starter wine". Back in March, the Evil Red Genius actually tried a bottle I had and enjoyed it; however, that was a few vintages ago and I also had it on my rack a while. It didn't quite taste the same. I thought my tastes had changed. Perhaps it was the wine that changed too.

2013 Rose "The Donkey"

100% Chambourcin off-dry Rose

Bleh - it's a Rose. That's all I need to know. Didn't do much for me.

Farm Table Red

Bordeaux blend with a bit of Chambourcin

Decent enough but nothing to jump up and down about, in my opinion.

2012 Norton "The Pig"

100% Loudoun County grapes

The "biggest" red we tried but still not big enough for me.

The Blackberry

dessert-style wine

82% blackberry wine and 18% red wine

The tasting was over and I was disappointed. Maybe it was the wine, maybe it was because I was sidetracked making sure Prowler didn't break the glass window trying to get to the barnyard cat on the deck.

There were wines listed on the tasting sheet as "Available and Popular" and one was the 2013 Chardonnay. I asked if it was possible to taste that one and was told it was only available by the bottle. By the description, I figured I'd like it and definitely had a better chance of liking that before anything I had already tasted, so I made her deal. I told her if she let me taste it and I liked it I'd buy the bottle. Was I so sure that I'd like it or was I just so sure that it had to be better than what I was "allowed" to taste already. I also knew we would be getting cheese and even if it wasn't fantastic the cheese would make it better.

Guess I was pretty convincing because after one taste, I considered it sold and Dad was pretty fond of it as well! At 60% stainless steel and 40% barrel fermented and aged, this dry Chardonnay was crisp and clean in its start with a slightly creamy finish.

It not only went well with the cheeses we chose but was also a great pairing with the

baked potato soup!

Between the four of us who were drinking that day, we bought three different bottles of wine. Momma Wood wanted the Farm Table Red (which had a screw top and was the first screw top I've ever seen at a winery), the Evil Red Genius and Dad enjoyed the Norton and well, I was pretty darn happy with my own bottle of the 2013 Chardonnay which of course I shared with Dad.

Once we settled in our corner table, Prowler decided he could settle down a little as well. He got some loving from a random GSD (german shepherd dog) lover dude from Pennsylvania whose daughter is getting married at Bluemont in May 2015.

He scared the hell out of a woman who wanted to walk past and look at something in the gift shop. I told her she probably wanted to go buy something from another winery or I'd be happy to get anything that she was interested in for her. She walked away and didn't seem happy.( I didn't lose sleep over it.) Perhaps she shouldn't have walked up behind Dad and Prowler would have been fine.

He stared down a 10 year old girl who had on Minnie Mouse ears - yeah, I probably would have growled at her too if I could have gotten away with it.

It didn't matter how mediocre the wine was that day.

It didn't matter that it was too windy and cold to enjoy the outdoor deck and the spectacular views.

It didn't matter that I couldn't really relax because I had to keep one eye on "Prowler the Protector" and one eye on my wine.

Know what did matter that afternoon?

The five of us.....

laughing, smiling, sharing, and just enjoying being together!

"I love everything that's old: old friends, old times, old manners, old books, old wines."

- Oliver Goldsmith

Years ago, I had a perfect photograph taken of me and my heart on four feet in the vineyards at Bluemont. I wanted an updated picture and maybe even would try to recreate it. It didn't work exactly as I expected but after about 20 tries we came up with a few that work!

We even survived the blessed cat coming out of nowhere and photo bombing us!

I had a little chat with the cat and explained that he needed to go find himself another spot in the vineyard while Prowler was there.....for his own sake.

One thing I also love about Bluemont is the drive to get there. I have always admired this structure but never stopped. This time we stopped. Did we have just enough wine in us? Was it because Dad was drinking and I persuaded him? Whatever it was, I'm glad we stopped. It was a beautiful day to photograph this beautiful little spring house.