good wine should start and end with a smile

I posted here a few days ago that the hubs had a birthday surprise planned for me for Saturday. After prying for hints and unsuccessfully guessing, the day finally came. All my guesses turned out to be way off the mark, because after a bit of a drive to a still undisclosed location, we arrived at...

a winery! 

Pretty much everybody knows how much I love wine, and I've never been to a winery, so this was the perfect idea. I've always wanted to visit one, and we almost went to Napa for our honeymoon, but unfortunately that didn't work out.

We arrived right before the next tour was about to start, so we didn't have to wait long. We watched a short film about the history of the winery and the wine-making process. Apparently, the Muscadine grape is native to Florida and grows wild throughout the state. The first settlers tried growing the European grapes - that obviously didn't work out so well since the climates are so different. Once they figured out how to grow the Muscadine grapes, they were more successful in establishing wineries. Oh, and this was over 150 years before the California wineries were established.

After the video, we took a walk through the production area with the fermentation tanks, then out to the back terrace overlooking the vineyards. I would have loved to walk through the vineyards because they were so beautiful, but of course they have to keep those restricted to avoid damage or contamination of the vines. We got to see the equipment they used to harvest and crush the grapes.

Finally, it was time for the tasting segment of the tour. We tasted 6 of their different wines, ranging from dry to very sweet. We got a little card listing each wine and the characteristics of each, and space to make notes on your own observations and favorites. Most of the wines were from the sweet Muscadine grapes (these were my favorite), but they also had a few dry and semi-dry wines made from hybrid grapes (DH preferred these). Since the tour and tasting was free, DH let me pick out two bottles from my favorites to buy. I ended up with a bottle of the Sunblush (similar to a White Zinfandel) and the Southern Red.  He also bought me this cute little jar for my desk at work. I'm hoping somebody takes pity on me and actually contributes. With my luck (and considering the people I work with) that probably won't happen - but a girl can dream!

I had such a good time! DH knows me so well, and this really was the perfect birthday adventure. It was a great day that we got to spend together, and let's face it - anything that lets you drink wine before noon has to be a good thing! (I really hope that doesn't make me sound like a drunk, because I'm not!). Now that's I've been to one winery, I can't wait to go visit more local ones. And I really, really want to go visit Napa Valley someday!

DH forgot to bring a camera, so all these pictures are from the winery's website.