The day  I have been waiting for for weeks finally arrived; Brian and I left Jameson at his grandma’s house and went out with friends JP & Lisa to the wineries on a co-anniversary trip. We have now decided this must be an annual activity! And Lisa and I decided it will be a little while before we’re drinking wine again. But we had a blast, it was a lot of fun.

We started out at Debonne, our usual first stop. We enjoyed a couple plates of cheese, crackers, bread and finger food basics. The hunks of cheese were sizable and we drank a couple whites wines to start of the day.

When we arrived right around opening time, it was fairly empty, but by the time we left, it had really filled up with what must be the usual jazz Sunday crowd.

Brian and I left with a bottle of Razzberry Riesling (I should say I left with the bottle, because Brian won’t be drinking that fruity sweet rose wine).

Our second stop was at South River, which has always been far and away my favorite winery, in wines and atmosphere. We don’t come here for the food, anyway! The winery sits right against their vineyards, and they have a new pavilion attached to the main building, which is an old church.

Forgive the dark tinge in these photos from our phone:

Our favorites at South River are always their reds, particularly their Trinity blend and Karma. In fact, several years ago we bought a case of Trinity which we have one bottle of left, so of course we had to buy a case while we were there (the $12 a bottle case price is a very good deal, and you can mix and match bottles so we came home with Trinity, Karma, and Semillon, a white wine of theirs that we tried for the first time.)

And a better shot of the lovely South River vineyard, from Lisa’s camera. Brian and I are having a great time!

Hello, random guy who we don’t know!

We then moved on to Harpersfield. This was Brian and my first time visiting this winery. They are known for their whites, and Brian’s parents highly recommended the chardonnay. We tried the St. Vincent since they were sadly out of the cheaper stuff. (Hey, we had already had 4 other bottles, we were trying to go on the cheap!)

This vineyard was a little less polished in terms of decor, but also sits next to the vineyard for some classic photo ops, plus a little two person table that begged for a casually awkward posed photo!

Full disclosure: by this time, Lisa and I were feeling pretty good. After all, we had carried babies for 9 months prior, and had not had a lot of leisurely drinking opportunities for well over a year. But before anyone suggests that we didn’t fully appreciate the wine, I claim that better than many, the taste of wine was savored on our tongues!

Anyway, pictures at this point took an entertaining turn. I’m giving myself permission here to show one funny photo of myself and Lisa, with Lisa cropped out for full effect on my awesome face.

Our final stop was Ferrante’s which is where we always go for the food! Again recommended by Brian’s parents, Brian and I had the seafood alfredo:  “Fresh shrimp, and sea scallops sautéed with broccoli tossed on a bed of Linguine with our Romano wine sauce”. It was a wonderful rich pasta dish to sop up some of that wine.

We arrived home just in time for Jameson’s bedtime, and he had a great time at grandma’s. The little champ has his 6 month appointment tomorrow, so we’ll get to see how much he’s grown which we are looking forward to. It’s going to be a nice short week with the holiday coming up so be prepared for some adorable American pride gear on Jameson!