My First Wine Tasting

My friend Lauri and I went on an adventure today :)

First we met at a nail shop to get our nails done.

Then we ate lunch at the Lost Province Brewing Company in Boone. They have the best Macaroni and Cheese (not low carb I know).

After lunch we drove down the mountain to Raffaldini Vineyards and Winery, in Ronda North 

Carolina.

Lauri belongs to the wine club at Raffaldini, I tagged along as her guest.

 Today was my first wine tasting.

I am not much of a wine aficionado, but I had such a great time today, I really learned allot about wine and wine making in North Carolina.

I think I enjoyed learning about the wine than the actual wine itself!

Mr. Raffaldini, the owner, gave a talk today. He said when he first started the winery there were only 7 winery's in NC and now there are over 100 and projected to soon be over 300!  He  said the old abandoned tobacco barns that used to be for drying out the tobacco are now being re-purposed to dry grapes.  He had a huge map of Italy and talked about the different regions and the different varieties of grapes from each region. He said the southern Italy grapes seemed to work better in our area........I thought it was all very fascinating for a country girl :)

Even in winter the grounds of the winery were just beautiful! I can't wait to visit in the spring and take my friend Mona Lisa for a visit.

Some of the pictures you may have to click on to get the full view.

The inside was just so crowded I didn't get any pictures from the inside :( It's just as beautiful on the inside as it is on the outside.

We ended up starting up a conversation with the couple on the right. They were so sweet! 

My sweet friend Lauri is such a blessing.

I thought this looked fun! I am excited to go back for a visit in the spring.

I am not much of a wine aficionado, but this sweet wine La Dolce Vita is heavenly!
I came home and put La Dolce Vita and Under the Tuscan Sun in my movie que to watch :)

And then I came back home to the snow..........

Two weeks later and I still can't get my car up the driveway.

I love my mountains, but this snow is getting old!

It's crazy what a difference in the weather can make from the foothills to the mountains.

It was fun to get away for the day, but I love home and Granny :)